Low GPU utilization and terrible frame rate - please help

[TwopennyQuasar]

I ran this game for 85 hours with no problems on my RTX 3080 TI and I9 processor. A few months ago I started getting single-digit frame rates in the menu and the game and GPU utilization under 10%.

My Intel onboard graphics are disabled and the game claims it is using the 3080 TI. I have tried setting NVIDIA Control Panel settings and Windows graphics settings to force it to use my 3080 TI but it doesn't change anything,. I'm really frustrated after posting multiple times on Reddit and on the Larian support forums for no one to have a solution. I just want to get this working again and I have no idea what the problem is.

[SkaldedDawg]

TwopennyQuasar a écrit :

KeepCleaving a écrit :

It's weird, it seems like your system does 't use your graphic card for your primary display.

Are you using Vulcan mode in your launcher? Have you tried directx instead? I would highly suggest the latter.

I've tried with both Vulkan and Directx, with no differences between the two.

Ryzilynt a écrit :

Nvidia control panel has an option to choose which graphics card is used under the manage 3d settings.

Make sure you set it correctly by program.

I have the system set to use the 3080 TI in both graphics settings under display and NVIDIA Control Panel.

ogilviemt a écrit :

i just hit f5 to autosave and it fixes poor frames
more hardware is not always the answer

Unfortunately the poor frame rate starts in the menu, which feels to me that the game is not using the 3080 TI despite claiming to.

Sorry for the duplicate advice. I'm sure you've tried a re-installation. It will probably do nothing, but so has everything else.

[SkaldedDawg]

hate to spam you, but this is the closest thing I can find and it doesn't mention a temperature spike. You probably have seen this. Not my words.
==========================================

One way to get around these performance issues, however, is to bypass the Larian launcher completely and start Baldur’s Gate 3 from Steam instead.

We when tested this with an Nvidia RTX 2070 at 1440p, our game went from an unplayable 20 FPS experience to running at over 30FPS by simply bypassing Larian’s launcher. It’s also important to adjust your graphic settings, and choose your rendering API wisely – we’d recommend the DX11 for stability or Vulkan for speed to get the best performance from the RPG.

[Hunnik1001]

I had something like this. its like the videocard thinks it can run in eco mode(2d mode). try evga precision en then set is to boost mode it force the gpu to run full power. cant test it now because i am using amd card now.

[TwopennyQuasar]

Thwackinator a écrit :

>Video Card:
>Driver: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630

Based on that alone your game is not using your card. Reinstall NVIDIA App, update drivers/restore all default settings.

After disabling the iGPU in the bios the Steam system page indicates the right card is being used:

Video Card:
Driver: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
DirectX Driver Name: nvldumd.dll
Driver Version: 32.0.15.6094
DirectX Driver Version: 32.0.15.6094
Driver Date: 8 14 2024
OpenGL Version: 4.6
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 239 Hz
DirectX Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
VendorID: 0x10de
DeviceID: 0x2208
Revision: 0xa1
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Logical Video Cards: 1
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 5120 x 1440
Desktop Resolution: 5120 x 1440
Primary Display Size: 42.13" x 23.62" (48.27" diag), 107.0cm x 60.0cm (122.6cm diag)
Primary Bus: PCI Express 16x
Primary VRAM: 12287 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x

Still no change to the performance though

[TwopennyQuasar]

Skalded a écrit :

TwopennyQuasar a écrit :

I've tried with both Vulkan and Directx, with no differences between the two.





I have the system set to use the 3080 TI in both graphics settings under display and NVIDIA Control Panel.





Unfortunately the poor frame rate starts in the menu, which feels to me that the game is not using the 3080 TI despite claiming to.

Sorry for the duplicate advice. I'm sure you've tried a re-installation. It will probably do nothing, but so has everything else.

Yeah, I've uninstalled and reinstalled many times, as well as verified game files. No dice.

[TwopennyQuasar]

Skalded a écrit :

hate to spam you, but this is the closest thing I can find and it doesn't mention a temperature spike. You probably have seen this. Not my words.
==========================================

One way to get around these performance issues, however, is to bypass the Larian launcher completely and start Baldur’s Gate 3 from Steam instead.

We when tested this with an Nvidia RTX 2070 at 1440p, our game went from an unplayable 20 FPS experience to running at over 30FPS by simply bypassing Larian’s launcher. It’s also important to adjust your graphic settings, and choose your rendering API wisely – we’d recommend the DX11 for stability or Vulkan for speed to get the best performance from the RPG.

Thanks for sharing. Yeah, I've tried bypassing the launcher and it didn't affect anything, unfortunately.

[TwopennyQuasar]

Cinemax a écrit :

Farsha a écrit :

Well the game is much more CPU intensive than GPU, specially in Act3.
Too many npcs doing too many things all at once, it's not about GPU.

They have a better CPU than I had the first time I went through Act 3. Assuming the thermals are good I doubt it's that.

Have you tried turning DLSS on, or off, if it is on? Did you do something really stupid like turn on FSR?

My DLSS randomly shut off during Act III on a startup load after an update. So even if you haven't touched the settings they might have changed on you.

FSR is off. I've tried DLSS off and on and neither seems to have an effect.

This is by far the most baffling troubleshooting situation I've ever been in

[eRe4s3r]

TwopennyQuasar a écrit :

Cinemax a écrit :

They have a better CPU than I had the first time I went through Act 3. Assuming the thermals are good I doubt it's that.

Have you tried turning DLSS on, or off, if it is on? Did you do something really stupid like turn on FSR?

My DLSS randomly shut off during Act III on a startup load after an update. So even if you haven't touched the settings they might have changed on you.

FSR is off. I've tried DLSS off and on and neither seems to have an effect.

This is by far the most baffling troubleshooting situation I've ever been in

One thing (its pretty dumb though) you could try, if it is at all possible (not sure how "low" your low fps is), is to set game to a low default resolution but WINDOWED (like 1280x720 and make sure the correct monitor is set, but refresh rate only 120hz with VSYNC OFF and in Nvidia driver global FPS limiter set to 60fps) so you should get 60fps, at 120hz - if the menu works like that then that would be absurdly stupid though.

The only thing that it could possibly be is that the game is not moving ya OS/Driver out of "os-desktop" mode and this would make it very easy to find - it's a variation of a cold boot bug, but I have never seen it only affect 1 game.

[TwopennyQuasar]

eRe4s3r a écrit :

TwopennyQuasar a écrit :

FSR is off. I've tried DLSS off and on and neither seems to have an effect.

This is by far the most baffling troubleshooting situation I've ever been in

One thing (its pretty dumb though) you could try, if it is at all possible (not sure how "low" your low fps is), is to set game to a low default resolution but WINDOWED (like 1280x720 and make sure the correct monitor is set, but refresh rate only 120hz with VSYNC OFF and in Nvidia driver global FPS limiter set to 60fps) so you should get 60fps, at 120hz - if the menu works like that then that would be absurdly stupid though.

The only thing that it could possibly be is that the game is not moving ya OS/Driver out of "os-desktop" mode and this would make it very easy to find - it's a variation of a cold boot bug, but I have never seen it only affect 1 game.

Yeah it's another weird thing with it - graphical settings have no effect. Resolution, FPS limiting, etc. just doesn't do anything.

I've also booted this into safe mode and no changes. I know this started after hotfix #24 but I'm not sure what that could have possibly changed.

[Photonboy]

*MAY have tried this, but...*
1) In the new "NVidia App" go to "Graphics" find BG3 and apply the recommended settings.

YESTERDAY I couldn't change any values. I'd change the FPS and then back out and it would revert back. Or DLSS I'd change to Quality and it would revert back to TAA.

Someone told me to just apply the NVidia App profile, and it not only applied but I could then change the FPS and have it be remembered.

So... got some weird things going on with settings being remembered.

(Update: I tried to change from 60FPS to 80FPS in the game itself. Wouldn't stay. When I applied the NVidia App profile, then went back into the game and applied "80FPS" this time it stayed. Don't ask me what's going on.)

2) Monitor your GPU frequency with an OSD (from your GPU vendor, or maybe MSI Afterburner or whatever it's called. I uses ASUS GPU Tweak III but I don't start it up by default with Windows.).

WHY?
a) to see if the info (VRAM 12GB etc) matches your graphics CARD not the iGPU
b) To see if the GPU frequency is stuck LOW for some reason. Should be what, 2400MHz or so? If it is stuck LOW then try forcing on "Prefer Maximum Performance" under "Power Management" for BG3 (in the NVidia App or under NVidia Control Panel-> Manage 3D Settings-> Program Settings->...)

*The ONLY reasons I can think of that would explain your situation are:
a) wrong GPU (intel), or
b) GPU FREQUENCY stuck low

An OSD tool would likely diagnose this.

[Photonboy]

UPDATE:
My above recommendations still stand, but I just went through all the comments and I do NOT believe your Intel iGPU was ever actually being used.

The ONLY thing I can assume is that your RTX3080Ti GPU is being stuck at a low frequency for this game. And again, the above change to "Prefer Maximum Performance" should fix this.

I'm going to guess that your GPU frequency is under 300MHz, not near the 2000MHz (?) it should be.

Maybe I'm way off base.

(Your GPU is slightly more powerful than mine. I can often maintain 80FPS (my set cap) at max settings with 4K + DLSS Quality. Dropping in city due to CPU bottlenecks.)

[Roth]

Just tossing an idea around, if already suggested please ignore it (I may have not seen it) could you try the game in a lower resolution and lower refresh rate just to check it out if isn't some sort of limitation (or driver performance issue at that resolution/refresh combo), try something as 2K res with 120hz or something

[TwopennyQuasar]

Photonboy a écrit :

UPDATE:
My above recommendations still stand, but I just went through all the comments and I do NOT believe your Intel iGPU was ever actually being used.

The ONLY thing I can assume is that your RTX3080Ti GPU is being stuck at a low frequency for this game. And again, the above change to "Prefer Maximum Performance" should fix this.

I'm going to guess that your GPU frequency is under 300MHz, not near the 2000MHz (?) it should be.

Maybe I'm way off base.

(Your GPU is slightly more powerful than mine. I can often maintain 80FPS (my set cap) at max settings with 4K + DLSS Quality. Dropping in city due to CPU bottlenecks.)

While using MSI Afterburner to track the frequency it claims it is at 1770 MHz but I notice it's frozen on that number and doesn't change as I use the game.

I have it already set to "prefer maximum performance" in NVIDIA Control Panel, which certainly adds to the confusion, as from my perspective all the settings that can be adjusted seem to be in the right spot, yet the game still does not work correctly.

[TwopennyQuasar]

I just launched the Resident Evil 2 remake for the first time and it's having similar issues. No other games aside from these two have had this that I have played recently. What would the common thread between them be?

[Ryzilynt]

Has anyone mentioned windows power options? Should set to performance.