[Special K] FFXV Performance Fixes

[Kaldaien]

Performance woes?

It has come to my attention that the game loads input icons synchronously any time it sees input on keyboard/mouse or gamepad.

This means if you are using a gamepad generally but you hit a button on your keyboard -- hitch. If you use keyboard/mouse but hit the analog stick -- hitch.

My own mod framework (Special K) is capable of working around this by preventing the game from seeing input events on devices of your choosing.

Download

I have packaged a version of Special K with a few tweaks for this game here.[github.com]

Install

Extract to FFXV's install directory, done.

Uninstall

Delete dxgi.dll, the Version and logs subdirectories (these are all part of Special K, not the game)

Configuration

Press Ctrl + Shift + Backspace to open Special K's config menu

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1323714752

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1323714894

Pro Tip
Press and hold Ctrl + Shift while the game is starting to access compatibility settings (reset config, remove the mod, disable plug-ins...)

Thread Rescheduling Details < 0.9.9.8 >

This (final?) update includes options that fix thread scheduling on the most important (least important, actually) threads.

Having these scheduled incorrectly is responsible for:

1. Increased load times (as is SteamAPI, as is anti-debug ..... Square-Enix hates us)
   
2. Audio stutter
   
3. Physics twitching

The thread priorities for VSYNC Emulation Thread and SwapChain Flip Thread are set way too high by Square Enix and are making it impossible to distribute a workload across your CPUs. This is known as starvation. You simply have things the game needs to be doing with the CPU that it cannot because Square Enix has too many threads running at a ridiculous priority level that is not generally useful for rendering.

Lower those thread priorities to Highest or Above Normal. I would suggest everyone do this, I even do it and I have plenty of CPU cores.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1348091770

0.9.12

Small compatibility update
Removed debug symbols (.pdb) because Square Enix deliberately broke the symbol loader -- you should manually delete SpecialK64.pdb if you have it.

0.9.13

Added new Thread Performance widget (see Widgets tab of config) and fixed a few issues related to properly identifying and changing the priority of VSYNC and Primary Render Thread

[Zetagé]

Thanks.

[Poklin]

Originally posted by Seraphyx:

Originally posted by Poklin:

I followed the instruction on the first page to get the unofficial reshade to work, but i can't figure out what to do with the dxgi and ffxv.ini files for this preset? do i just copy them to the main directory and overwrite whats in there? i thought not so i wanted to make sure.

There's a step by step guide on page 9 I think by another user, try that one, that's what I used

tyty

[Francis_Mallman]

Does this work with the demo?

[TheSinisterDev]

Originally posted by Rick_Kickem:

Originally posted by Kaldaien:

At the moment? No.

In fact, the game's dynamic resolution scaling is the reason I haven't officially released a profile for this game using my custom version of ReShade. I have to put more work into reverse engineering that whole system, but that would actually kill two birds with one stone.

The resolution scale is the single most effective measure against aliasing, but it needs to be a bit more robust and then I could start bumping up and lowering resolution as performance allows.

well that sucks...cause temporal AA presented in game doesn`t affect hair. SMAA from reshade didn`t nothing, upscaling the image is too expensive performance wise. I hoped they had added TXAA or at least 2X MSAA.

Tried forcing AA throug NVidia tools but "enhancing" did only worse, MFAA is not supported.

There will probably be a better solution in the future,but after giving up on disabling TAA, I discovered that leaving TAA on and using Reshades Lumasharpen and also possibly Adaptive sharpen (if you can spare the fps) makes everything look much nicer and gets rid of that awful Vaseline blur look that TAA smears all over everything ,while keeping the jaggies under control. My game looks SOOO much better now. The blur was making me crazy. But with TAA off all the grass,hair and such was ridicuously jagged. Made me feel like I was running through a field of sawblades lol.

[PrinceVinc]

Tried it, the hitching/occasional stutter is still very present :(

[Doko]

Originally posted by Jehuty:

Game doesn't start after installing the mod. Screen goes black and then I hear this Metal Gear sound. Any help would be appreciated. Here is the crash log https://pastebin.com/hAEUyxEB

I'm in the same boat as you.

Hoping the mod author has a solution to this.

[Hattori_Hanzo]

Why is there an steam_API file inside? I replaced min by error and now it does not let me accept saying I have an illegal copy of the game?? Mine is legit...

[The One]

Thanks a lot for this K! Suttering in games drives me absolutely crazy. It's hard for me to play Witcher 3 no matter how amazing it is because of it's frame pacing issues.

Anyway, a few questions. I'm supposed to manually disable the control devices I'm not using to eliminate the hitching, right? This doesn't automatically fix the icon swapping hitch until I do that, correct?

Secondly, do I need to do anything to enable the Steam API overhead fix or is that automatic?

Lastly, does hitting the windows key cause Special K to automatically convert to borderless window mode? I like to use the windows key and alt-tabbing to test that the game IS actually in fullscreen mode and this threw me for a loop. I figured out how to set fullscreen from SpecialK but which subsetting should I use? Application preference? Any other settings I should mess with to reduce stutter?

Thanks again!

[xBlitzerx]

Just had another crash.

Few seconds after I engaged Deadeye

Here are the log files:

https://pastebin.com/SY1YNjvb - dxgi.log
https://pastebin.com/CHVwXy3Y - modules.log
https://pastebin.com/mdQAPTdD - crash.log

This really sucks.

I do have 2 monitors, could that be the problem?

I have Ansel disabled, Geforce Experience overlay disabled. No other overlays active (except Steam I guess?)

I even disabled GSYNC.

I also tested my drives (the one FFXV is installed on and both others), all check out ok with Seatools.

Arg!

[StarScythe]

Thanks Kaldaien, I had used your mod for Nier Automata, it's nice to see you're still working on it and supporting new games. I definitely notice a lot less stutter in game now and it's much more playable with this.

[Aemony]

Originally posted by someONEgood:

Is there a way to stop Special K from replacing the Xbox One controller prompts with the blue/white base ones? I have an Xbox Elite Controller and the interface gets replaced when using this mod.

That shouldn't happen. Doesn't for me, at least. Have you enabled Xbox Controller Support in Steam -> View -> Settings -> Controller -> General Controller Settings ? If so, disable it and see if that solves it.

Originally posted by gal.exe:

I chose to delete denuvo or whatever and now when I tried to update SK it freaked out and said I broke terms of service or something. I just was curious as to what it did and I guess the mod assumed I pirated the game even though I actually own it and spent money on the steam version ;-;

That Denuvo file is the offline token for the game. It gets recreated on next launch of the game through an online connection. The ability to easily remove it is intended for users whom are planning to go offline for a while and needs to generate a new offline token before-hand to prepare in advance.

Your update check mistakenly replaced steam_api64.dll in the game folder. That function was not intended to be accessible, and have been disabled from the current version of the mod linked to in the opening post. Revalidate the game files through Steam to solve the issue.

[someONEgood]

Originally posted by NetQvist:

Originally posted by someONEgood:

Is there a way to stop Special K from replacing the Xbox One controller prompts with the blue/white base ones? I have an Xbox Elite Controller and the interface gets replaced when using this mod.

Open the UI for the mod and then at the bottom tab there's a submenu called steam compatibility, under it there should be a "load steam overlay early" or something like that. Tick that checkbox and then restart. Should now be using ps4/xbox icons again.

Thank you. I will try that. Part of the trouble was I had a racing wheel plugged in (that I use the pedals for PTT), and I think it was defaulting the icons based on that. I unplugged it, and the icons went back to normal. Would be great if this works though and I don't have to unplug it every time.

[Ashwood]

I just got a 1080ti for this game and it was stuttering really hard all the way down to 25 fps on average preset (I have quite a few input devices on my pc) and this reduced my gpu down to 35% on high with hairworks enabled, thank you so much

[Aemony]

Originally posted by Monkfishy:

Every time the game crashes almost immediately. Deleting this mod fixes it - but it was perfectly fine before I went to bed last night. Nothing has changed.

Can't say more without any logs. Please upload modules.log and dxgi.logs and crash.logs (if one exists) from the logs subfolder of the game to pastebin.com and link them here.

Originally posted by ErBaut:

So, this improves loading times as stated here?: https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-xv-mod-improves-performance-loading-times-and-more/ or only helps with stuttering and in-game hitches?

In any case, thanks for the mod:ChipJoy:

On certain builds, yes. It is not a universal solution, just an optimization of the ridiculous amount of time the game performs a Steam API callback in relation to resource loading.

Originally posted by Poklin:

I followed the instruction on the first page to get the unofficial reshade to work, but i can't figure out what to do with the dxgi and ffxv.ini files for this preset? do i just copy them to the main directory and overwrite whats in there? i thought not so i wanted to make sure.

Check page 9.

Originally posted by Francis_Mallman:

Does this work with the demo?

Yes, but also no. The Steam API callback throttling (that solves some stuttering etc) won't have any effect on the demo as that doesn't use the Steam API.

Originally posted by Hattori_Hanzo:

Why is there an steam_API file inside? I replaced min by error and now it does not let me accept saying I have an illegal copy of the game?? Mine is legit...

Because you used the manual update check that was never intended to be used in such a way. The archive itself doesn't contain any steam_api files, but when you use the manual update check it incorrectly downloads another archive not intended to be extracted to the game folder, which invalidates those files. Kaldaien should've disabled the manual update check in the latest version, I think, to prevent this from happening.

Revalidate the game files through Steam to solve the issue.

[Aemony]

Originally posted by PrinceVinc:

Tried it, the hitching/occasional stutter is still very present :(

This only solves one type of stuttering. It isn't, sadly, a perfect solution. You might have to lower your settings a bit, especially if both your GPU and CPU hits 100% all the time.

Originally posted by AYBABTU BC:

Thanks a lot for this K! Suttering in games drives me absolutely crazy. It's hard for me to play Witcher 3 no matter how amazing it is because of it's frame pacing issues.

Anyway, a few questions. I'm supposed to manually disable the control devices I'm not using to eliminate the hitching, right? This doesn't automatically fix the icon swapping hitch until I do that, correct?

Secondly, do I need to do anything to enable the Steam API overhead fix or is that automatic?

Lastly, does hitting the windows key cause Special K to automatically convert to borderless window mode? I like to use the windows key and alt-tabbing to test that the game IS actually in fullscreen mode and this threw me for a loop. I figured out how to set fullscreen from SpecialK but which subsetting should I use? Application preference? Any other settings I should mess with to reduce stutter?

Thanks again!

1) Do you mistakenly press any other devices that sparks an icon swap? If no, then no, you don't have to disable those devices. That option is merely there as a convenience for users who needs it. It have no effect on the game otherwise.

2) No, the Steam API overhead is enabled by default. You can check the logs\steam_api.log file for what update frequency the callback thread is running at. The default value is something above 2000 Hz or so (Kaldaien even registered 30k Hz on his system, apparently). The new value should be less than 50 Hz.

3) No, that's the game. Use either Alt+Enter or the display menu to swap back.