Fix inside: frame drops on high end PCs (Incorrect CPU Affinity)

[momomo]

Edit 2: Update on the explanation for this section down below

Edit: I'd like to update my findings on this topic. I loaded my backup BIOS settings with all cores enabled and overclocked p-cores and e-cores. The fps drops were back. I can varify it in the first tunnel, with drops to 45fps and even 30 fps when leaving the tunnel. I disabled e-cores again and the fps drops were gone.

I did not want to have all apps running on p-cores, so I was looking for a solution having e-cores enabled and I think I found it, at least no fps drops for 15 minutes straight and the tunnel works fine on 60 fps.

Fix:
1. When the game is running, open task manager
2. click on Enshrouded.exe and go to details
3. Right click enshouded.exe under details and select cpu affiny from the menu. This is where you can decide which cores are used to run the game
4. Select all CPU on the top and press OK
5. Game now runs fine for me

Some more explanations/info on this. Here is where it gets strange. I have P-Cores on index 0-7 and E-Cores on index 8-11 (according to CPUID HWMonitor). If I enable only Cores 8-11 then I get 12 fps anywhere in the game (slow lane E-cores only). So that works as intended. If I only select cores 0-7, The performance is somewhat okayish, but still some drops to 50 fps, with the major drop to 30fps at the tunnel exit still hitting me down to 45 fps. And if I enable the top setting "Use all cores", it works flawlessly.

I checked other apps currently running and they all have "Use all cores" checked. BUT! When I first went to change the affinity for Enshrouded, this was not checked. only cores 0-16 were checked, and my list goes up to 19. I have no idea what 12-19 is, seriously. But checking "use all cores" did the trick. Somehow my Win 10 thought it was okay to not default to this setting for enshrouded

___________Correction to this
I thought CPU 8-11 would be e-cores, but i was wrong. Cores 0-15 are my logical processors for my 8 p-cores. CPU 16-19 are my e-cores. One can check by looking at the task manage graph view, switching it to logical processors. Enabling use one single e-core (15-19) in the affinity will fix the fps problem. But using all of them works even better. Using only the e-cores 15-19 will increase its usage to 60% maximum. Using none will still see some usage causing fps drops. Using a combination of at least 4 logical processors and 1 e-core will also give good fps, but not great fps, depending on the power of the cores it seems. using enough p-cores with at least one e-core will work. using all of them will work too, obviously.


___________ Old post below

I had massive frame drops, especially on dedicated servers. Only on my local saves it was somewhat passable playing on balanced with a cap of 60 fps via Nvidia Control Panel. On servers it was insane, drops to 10fps every couple steps. Here is how I fixed it:

1. Disable your E-cores
2. ~~Disable your CPU overclocking~~
3. Limit fps to 60 in Nvidia Control Panel

Some info: I only intended to disable e-cores, but it also automatically disabled my OC settings, pushing it down from 4.9 Ghz (which was tried and tested for the last two years with benchmarks etc.) to stock 3.6Ghz. I only noticed because of a popup I got when saying bios settings, but I just went for it. Now I have buttery smooth 60fps on balanced with no fps drops whatsoever. I can actually enter the first tunnel on servers without getting to 8 fps or something.

As for the NVidia setting: Use it because the internal refresh rate seems to be capped (look at known issues thread) and this helps smoothing out the game and helps with using the selection wheel when building.

I dont know if it was the e-cores or the overclocking, not testing it, Im enjoying the game now. Never change a running system :D

[momomo]

I edited my post with a solution that does not require disabling e-cores, but was actually a problem with windows. no idea how or why, but it works for me now.

[momomo]

Posted a short update on the situation and new findings in the OP.

tl;dr: Game needs to have CPU affinity set to at least one E-Core to run smoothly. Enough Logical CPU (P-Cores) to generate enough fps.

[MeGa]

Vert interesting ty!

What im doing so far is increasing process priority, as it is set to below normal

[momomo]

Originally posted by MeGa:

Vert interesting ty!

What im doing so far is increasing process priority, as it is set to below normal

Unfortunately this does not work for me, and maybe not for you either. You can raise the priority by opening task manager, but as soon as you tab back to the game, the priority gets set to lower than normal again.

[CelestialSolus]

That is amazing! I was close to refunding the game, but this has removed virtually all of the massive random frame drops.
Thanks for the assist.

[DeLindsay]

This could certainly explain why it's (mostly) only people with "My gaming rig cost >$9000 and I can't get 200 FPS" in Enshrouded. We've kind of collectively come to the conclusion that the game is heavily CPU bound and if it's literally having an issue with specific CPU's, that would certainly make sense.

EDIT: Have you brought this to Keen's attention?

[MeGa]

Originally posted by momomo:

Originally posted by MeGa:

Vert interesting ty!

What im doing so far is increasing process priority, as it is set to below normal

Unfortunately this does not work for me, and maybe not for you either. You can raise the priority by opening task manager, but as soon as you tab back to the game, the priority gets set to lower than normal again.

Not with prio or process lasso that remember priority, I think. Double checking in a sec

[MeGa]

Ok priority gets resetted even if using Prio to remember the new priority. This seems bad! Cant we workaround it?

[Sanddrinker]

Makes sense. I'm using an i7 9700k which has only 8 normal cores and no hyperthreading and the game performs pretty well, even though a single core is definitely slower than a single P-core on a newer CPU.. If anything it is GPU bound for me (2080 super).

[Joxxxx]

You saved it, finally it's smooth ! Thanks a lot !

The game was so laggy although it had 80fps on a 13900K and 3090. How is it possible that the devs didn't check that...

Another thing : The priority is set to "below average" by default, put it on "normal" (same menu as the affinity).

[SnowMew]

AMD here, only real fix for me was limiting the fps to 59fps.

[*360 | shu]

Originally posted by DeLindsay:

This could certainly explain why it's (mostly) only people with "My gaming rig cost >$9000 and I can't get 200 FPS" in Enshrouded. We've kind of collectively come to the conclusion that the game is heavily CPU bound and if it's literally having an issue with specific CPU's, that would certainly make sense.

EDIT: Have you brought this to Keen's attention?

but its just with Intel CPUs never read something about AMD and these probs i have also no issues with 12/24

[AD*Ben*HD]

"High End PC" doesn't bother to state his specs

[DeLindsay]

Originally posted by *360 | shu:

Originally posted by DeLindsay:

This could certainly explain why it's (mostly) only people with "My gaming rig cost >$9000 and I can't get 200 FPS" in Enshrouded. We've kind of collectively come to the conclusion that the game is heavily CPU bound and if it's literally having an issue with specific CPU's, that would certainly make sense.

EDIT: Have you brought this to Keen's attention?

but its just with Intel CPUs never read something about AMD and these probs i have also no issues with 12/24

I have an Ryzen 9 5900 and Enshrouded is pushing my CPU over 80% usage and 95 degrees constantly. Granted my gameplay is smooth as butter but my GPU usage is much less (NVidia 3080) on my Laptop. Still though, if it's true what the OP found, Keen needs to know asap so they can address it.

[*360 | shu]

Originally posted by DeLindsay:

Originally posted by *360 | shu:

but its just with Intel CPUs never read something about AMD and these probs i have also no issues with 12/24

I have an Ryzen 9 5900 and Enshrouded is pushing my CPU over 80% usage and 95 degrees constantly. Granted my gameplay is smooth as butter but my GPU usage is much less (NVidia 3080) on my Laptop. Still though, if it's true what the OP found, Keen needs to know asap so they can address it.

thats weird my cpu usage is always max 30% and gpu 99%

on which resolution you play? you can increase the resolution to reduce the cpu usage