Eliminating input lag & screen tearing.

[ZzzZombi]

I'm trying to eliminate input lag by limiting my FPS in the game. Here's what I've done:

Enabled iPresentInterval in the skyrim ini files. Set vsync to "force on", triple buffering to on and FPS limiter to 58 FPS in NVidia Inspector.

Usually these settings would work for me. Input lag is totally gone. My cursor and camera movements in the game works like hardware cursor. But for some reason these settings no longer prevents screen tearing.

I've tried disabling vsync completely from both ini and Nvidia settings. I've tried setting the limit to 55, 59, 60 and 100.

Any ideas?

[0varon]

"FPS limiter does not eliminate screen tearing. That's Vsync's purpose."

 

"FPS limiter can help increase smoothness, reduce input lag, reduce power draw, etc."

 

"If the game is capped around 60fps then it's normal to get awful tearing on a 60hz display.

The most noticeable tearing happens when the framerate is close to the refresh rate."

 

"Keep in mind that the FPS limiter can help reduce screen tearing. But it won't remove it like Vsync (even with FPS lower than the refresh rate)"

 

"- enabling v-sync will reduce gameplay smoothness on any big FPS change

- however v-sync almost always gives the most accurate video

- enabling triple-buffer may help v-sync performance but will take a lot of video memory

- both v-sync and triple-buffer may increase input lag"

 

forums.geforce.com/default/topic/517225/geforce-drivers/adaptive-vsync-vs-framerate-limiter-which-one-should-i-use-is-there-a-benefit-to-using-both-/1/

 

 

Hi ZzzZombie,

if you want, you could read the whole topic from nvidia forums.

You may try to decrease "Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames" to 1 or 2 in nv inspector for reducing input lag.

You may also try to decrease FPS limit to 30 (half vsync, should still playable) + vsync 60Hz.

(Some 60Hz monitors are capable of 75Hz vsync -> FPS limit 37.)

35 FPS limit could a way to prevent some longer lasting loading screens as well,

according to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rux0gy4xpyo

video. Hope i could help a bit.

Edited February 16, 2014 by 0varon

[Rennn]

It seems like the framerate limiter in current Nvidia drivers breaks all vsync. I've commented on this before. I think the last time Nvidia's framerate limiter worked with vsync for me was the 320.46 WHQL driver. If you want to use new drivers and limit your framerate, use Dxtory or D3D Antilag to limit fps instead.

Also, if you limit your framerate in Skyrim, don't go below 35 fps or you risk infinite load screens and extra choppiness.

 

Since you have an Nvidia card, have you tried adjusting the maximum prerendered frames? Increasing or decreasing that affects mouse lag.

You might need Nvidia Inspector to see the option.

 

I have standard vsync set to 'force on' in my Nvidia drivers, with triple buffering enabled and smooth AFR behavior enabled. I have my framerate limited at 35 with Dxtory. I don't have noticeable mouse lag or screen tearing. If you don't want a framerate as low as 35, you could theoretically limit it to anything.

Edited February 16, 2014 by Rennn

[ZzzZombi]

It seems like the framerate limiter in current Nvidia drivers breaks all vsync. I've commented on this before. I think the last time Nvidia's framerate limiter worked with vsync for me was the 320.46 WHQL driver. If you want to use new drivers and limit your framerate, use Dxtory or D3D Antilag to limit fps instead.

Also, if you limit your framerate in Skyrim, don't go below 35 fps or you risk infinite load screens and extra choppiness.

 

Since you have an Nvidia card, have you tried adjusting the maximum prerendered frames? Increasing or decreasing that affects mouse lag.

You might need Nvidia Inspector to see the option.

 

I have standard vsync set to 'force on' in my Nvidia drivers, with triple buffering enabled and smooth AFR behavior enabled. I have my framerate limited at 35 with Dxtory. I don't have noticeable mouse lag or screen tearing. If you don't want a framerate as low as 35, you could theoretically limit it to anything.

Yes, that's what I suspected. Regardless of the vsync settings, both in game and nvidia, as soon as I enable FPS limiter within NV Inspector, any vsync option I set is ignored by FPS limiter.

 

Thanks, I'll try your suggestions.

[ZzzZombi]

Hi ZzzZombie,

if you want, you could read the whole topic from nvidia forums.

You may try to decrease "Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames" to 1 or 2 in nv inspector for reducing input lag.

You may also try to decrease FPS limit to 30 (half vsync, should still playable) + vsync 60Hz.

(Some 60Hz monitors are capable of 75Hz vsync -> FPS limit 37.)

35 FPS limit could a way to prevent some longer lasting loading screens as well,

according to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rux0gy4xpyo

video. Hope i could help a bit.

I've fiddled with Max Pre-Rendered Frame setting in the past before. I haven't noticed any difference. The only difference I noticed is that if I don't "Force On" the vsync setting in Nvidia panel (or inspector) I notice a huge input lag. My cursor moves almost 1 second after I move my mouse. So forcing on the vysnc option in nvidia panel does help, only a little bit.

 

Thank you for posting.