suddenly micro fps drops

[FabS7AR]

Hey guys,

 

my Fallout 4 suddenly tends to drop fps occasionally by 5-8 at random places for one second which is really annoying, because it wasnt there before. And it happens very randomly indoor and outdoor without no logical reason.

 

It is really weird because I didnt install a new mod which could have caused this and it was fine before. So the issue appeared from one day to another..

 

I tried to play RDR2 because its a high demanding game and everything went good there without frame drops, it is stable there on 60 frames, so it should have something to do with Fallout 4.

Other games like Jedi Fallen Order run smooth too..

 

Mods Im running are:

UF4Patch

W.A.T. Minuteman

PANPC (KI-Mod)

Boston fps Fix

Load Accelerator (vsync is on, but not while loading)

some weapon mods (Wattz-LG, Service Rifle)

backpacks of the commonwealth

 

But to be honest I dont think it has something to do with the mods because it worked without problems before, but if you have some ideas which mods could cause smth like this, ill try to deactivate them of course.

 

Things I tried:

changing from fullscreen to borderless window

deactivating controller

deactivating vibration

changing load order

changing graphic settings

 

Ill be happy about every suggestion you may have, but I tell you beforehand it is not a temperature-problem, most of the time my graphics card and cpu are chilling at very low load and temperature.

Only areas which are demanding are boston for example or near Goodneighbour, but the drops happen everywhere now even when the loads are low.

Edited April 10, 2020 by FabS7AR

[HeyYou]

Check and see what's running in the background, and don't forget to check task scheduler as well.

[StormWolf01]

Yup. I agree it's most likely something else running on your computer.

 

Or...just turn off whatever you've got that is showing your FPS. 8 is probly not even noticeable. And from the looks of it, the counter is more of a distraction to you.

[FabS7AR]

I would agree with you guys, but it worked before without problems. I played the game for 60 hours or more and suddenly it is there. Its almost like a little hickup and it is noticeable otherwise I wouldnt ask for help.

 

There is no new program Ive installed thats the weird part. Only programs running in the background are MSI Afterburner and Steam and they were running before^^..

 

Ill later try to look at the taskmanager but I dont think Ill be able to track something because the hickup is not very long its more a constant thing which happens again and again from time to time.

[HeyYou]

What operating system are you running?

[FabS7AR]

Im running Win 10 with the newest Update. Gaming-Mode is disabled. Drivers should be the newest possible.

 

If my system helps:

 

Ryzen 7 3700X

16 GB RAM DDR4 3200

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080

Game is installed on SSD Crucial MX500

 

Fallout seems to have problems with loading areas properly with my SSD. So I use the Mod Load Accelerator, without the Mod loading takes forever.

 

Ive tried meanwhile to uninstall some mods like PANPC but it didnt do anything. I have the feeling it may have something to do with the settlements, because theyre growing bigger and bigger.

At some settlements I have 19 people. Maybe I reached the point in game where some mods affect the performance, but I dont really know if its true or not. Besides that I dont really use any Settlement-Mods..

 

Its really weird to me, because it was totaly okay for ~60 hours gameplay.

[HeyYou]

You run some of the same mods I do......

 

When did you last update your vid drivers? Might be tempted to roll those back a version, and see if anything changes. When it comes to video, newest is not always bestest. :D

[FabS7AR]

Ive installed the newest graphics-driver-version yesterday, AFTER I had the problems, because I thought it might have something to do with not having the newest drivers, but updating them didnt change the problem. So I was already not running the newest Nvidia-driver when I had the problem.

 

Ive uninstalled Boston FPS Fix but that didnt change the problem too.

 

Im getting out of ideas at the moment. Kind of weird how everything else runs smooth but not my Fallout 4 anymore.

[StormWolf01]

Heyas Fabstar. Ok, I can see where you're coming from where you are thinking "This just came out of the blue, it was fine before".

Here is the thing. This is the kind of game where there can be stuff going wrong in the game. It might be something really small, that you don't notice at all. But problems with this game, snowball. They get bigger as time goes on. What was once a small problem, after 10 hours of play, can grow to the point that it crashes the game.

My point here, is that when it comes to Bethesda games... you have to throw conventional wisdom out the window. Because Bethesda games Don't follow that rule.

 

Case in point. Stuck inside, can't work. I've been playing more FO4. Was a bit glitchy here and there, but otherwise stable. 4 days ago, all of a sudden I can't switch cells or fast travel without going into infinite load screen every other time I do so. (Literally. Every OTHER time).

I had changed some .ini settings. Ok, maybe that was the cause. I replaced the .ini that I made the new edits, with the backup that I made before making the edits. So basically, replaced the edited version with the old stable version.

No go. Still doing it.

(By the way folks.... I'll try to work that out on my own. Please don't derail the thread with suggestions on what might help fix it. If it gets the point that I run out of ideas, I'll post in some of the other threads that are specifically about trying to fix this kind of problem :wink: Appreciate it, if you want to try to help tho. But yeah, don't wanna sidetrack from what Fab is trying to fix.)

 

A couple of the areas that you mentioned are hard areas anyway. Graphically wise, I mean. The way that BUGthesda did the graphics for this game don't suit well for highly congested areas like that. And not all of the fixes the community has tried, work 100% all the time.

 

Here's some ideas of what could be potential problems.

Mods that add in NPCs to the area.

Mods that add in workshops to the area.

ENBs

Weapons/Characters/Items that constantly make noise. (Huge example- Codsworth's constant jet sound. Thats actually hard on the game, and it puts additional strain in rough graphics areas)

Clothes/Texture mods/weapon mods with high resolution graphics (either textures, meshes, or both). Those add up in a strain in congested areas. (But...! I have a great video card, it can handle it! This is a 20+ year old game engine.... can the engine handle it?)

Another thing that could be causing the spikes, is a lot of scripts going off in the background, all at once. The game could be lagging slightly while it's trying to process those. It's not like this engine really handles scripts well.

I know there's more. ADD is kicking in, and brain is wandering off in other directions, and won't focus on subject at hand.

[Edit] Graphics themselves, such as godrays vs weather effects. Or particles and weather effects. Especially fog.

Edited April 11, 2020 by StormWolf01

[FabS7AR]

Hey,

 

thank you for your extensive reply :D. Im kind of used to the Fallout 4 engine and I know that especially in the Boston area frames can drop and it happens even on good rigs, but thats not a big problem for me, because I kind of know that it happens there and you cant do a lot about it besides installing the Boston FPS Fix mod which I did. So we dont have to discuss this specific issue, because its known to me and it doesnt bother me to much.

 

Whats annoying to me at the moment is that I get constant small hickups which kind of slow me down for one second and they appear very often now. And they appear indoor, outdoor wherever I am without high-demanding areas nearby. I would follow your idea that it could be some kind of script in the background which "f*#@s things up somehow", but I dont know which it could be because ive tried uninstalling most of my mods without luck.

 

The thing you mentioned with Codsworth I noticed in the beginning too. He was my first companion and he sometimes made the gpu-load go up for no reason. Now im going with Nick so I think he should not be the problem. Ill change him later anyway, maybe it fixes the problem.

 

Only mod left which could cause this is either Load Accelerator which seems odd to me or W.A.T. Minuteman. Ive uninstalled nearly every mod I listed above and it did not help with the problem.

You could look at the mods I mentioned in the start-post and give me some suggestions. Maybe regarding to the load order or you could tell me if I should uninstall one of them or you could recommend me a mod which maybe helps with the problem, even though I dont think a performance-mod will help here, but like I said, Im open for specific feedback/help.

 

Anyway im thankful for your answer.