FPS unlocks after Alt+tabbing

[makkebakke]

I've searched up, down, and all around for a solution for this problem (which has been a known one since 2012), but couldn't find a solution anywhere.

 

I start up the game, all's well and good, FPS is locked at 60, exactly where I want it to be, as to not have every object in a square mile fly off to Sovngarde. Then, the Youtube video playing on my second monitor ends, and I want to go look for a different one. So, I alt+tab, go about my business, and return to the game only to find out the framerate is now unlocked.

 

First of all, I know I can globally cap framerates in Nvidia Control Panel, which I have done, to 144, since I own a monitor that supports it.

Second, I've tried multiple configurations of the .ini files and NvidiaCP to try to get things working the way I want them, but there's still always that difference before and after alt+tabbing.

 

If I could just completely turn off Skyrim's frame capping, I can set a cap in NvidiaCP to Adaptive-Halved, effectively capping the framerate at 72 FPS, which would be perfectly acceptable (and does work! ... after alt+tabbing), but before alt+tabbing the game is locked at 30... I know about "iPresentInterval", but this seems to have zero difference on the described issue.

 

If anyone has found a solution to this, I'd appreciate it a crap-ton if you'd share that solution with me.

Edited November 30, 2016 by makkebakke

[L3s7ing]

Ever tried enb? You could only use the fps limiter.

However, I've never seen that problem with alt+tab that unlocks the fps ...

I'm also using an 144Hz Monitor and never had any problems with setting iPresentInterval to 0 and then cap my fps through nvidia inspector to any limit I want. (You can set custom limits through editing one of the inspector files, probably easier to explain through a tutorial ^^).

Also the control panel works for limiting fps completely fine for me, have you tried updating drivers?

[makkebakke]

I am one or two Game Ready Drivers behind, I'll update and let you know if anything changes, though I'm pretty sure I got all GRD's related to SSE.

Again, limiting FPS is working fine, but before that first alt+tab Skyrim is over-writing my global FPS limit.
(60 FPS cap before alt+tab, whatever I set in Nvidia Control Panel afterwards.)

I might try Nvidia Inspector. Heard a lot of people mention it, though I've never tried it myself.

EDIT: Oooh, boy... Yeah. Kill me. I had Fallout's INI files open in Notepad++. Not Skyrim's... Sorry for wasting your time!
Though, it would be nice if Skyrim's FPS limiter just worked, instead of having to force Nvidia to do its job.

Edited November 30, 2016 by makkebakke

[makkebakke]

Never you mind, it fixed absolutely nothing. Though, my situation remains... Weird. With "iVSyncPresentInterval" (and "iPresentInterval", just to be sure I put them both in) set to zero...

When I don't do anything with Nvidia Control Panel, FPS is completely unlimited. Hitting 1000 in menus and loading screens, and settling between 100 and 150 in-game.
When I set Nvidia Control Panel to Adaptive-Halved, FPS before alt+tabbing is 30 (so Skyrim has the cap set to 60), after alt+tabbing, it's set to 72 (native to the monitor, halved).

I'm lost.

Edited November 30, 2016 by makkebakke

[makkebakke]

Alrighty tighty. Fixed. I'll go through it top-to-bottom for future reference.

 

The problem

Game is locked at 60 FPS until you alt+tab, vsync will stick to your monitor's refresh rate (why this problem is often described as the "120hz/144hz bug").

High framerates bug out many engine features including but not limited to HAVOK physics, gametime, etc.

 

The fix

Clear any reference of vsync from both "Skyrim.ini" and "SkyrimPrefs.ini" (%Documents%\My Games\Skyrim -OR- Skyrim Special Edition)

That reference being:

iVSyncPresentInterval=0/1 for SSE

iPresentInterval=0/1 for Skyrim Standard

 

Set a 60 FPS lock in the FPS locker of your choosing. I used Nvidia Inspector.

 

Occam's razor. Simplest solution is often the best solution.

 

Known issues

Nvidia Inspector's FPS limiter isn't perfect. Currently, I've only seen it poke 2 FPS over the set limit, but I've also heard people hitting 90 FPS while having their limit set to 60.

 

Ready to be locked and archived.