(Finally) Found a fix for stutters, GPU usage drops, FPS drops

[ДЇД]

Update from win10 to win11 + installing all optional drivers fixed the issue for me

Played ER about 2-3 months ago on the same laptop (Lenovo Legion 5) and everything was perfect - the game ran smooth. Decided to prepare for the DLC, created new character and found out that the game is basically unplayable. I get stutters even in main menu. Basically what happens: the game works perfectly, but every 5 seconds it stutters, FPS drops to 3, GPU usage drops from 80% to 0% and in a second its back to normal. I did nothing to my laptop except Nvidia drivers update and windows update (i use win10). This happens ONLY in ER, every other game works fine.

The list of things that i tried is pretty big, but these are one the most common advices that DID NOT worked for me:
- Drivers and BIOS update;
- NVIDIA control panel stuff: VSync ON, shaders chache UNLIMITED, FPS capped at 58, threaded optimization OFF;
- Graphic settings changes;
- Different screen options (windows borderless etc);
- ER anti-cheat disabled;
- Game reinstall;
- Overlays disabled;
- Different microsoft services disabled;
- XBOX uninstall (don't ask);

As i was about to give up i found a solution from @dark-breed in one of the Steam threads. So the thing that fixed everything for me is:

Press WinKey+R -> type Msconfig -> open "Boot" window -> Advanced options - > set value "Number of proccessors to 16 -> restart your device.

I DO NOT KNOW why this works so please if you know please explain it to me!

EDIT: played for 2 hours yesterday and everything was great. Today the same problem reappered and fix DO NOT work anymore.

EDIT #2: updating things that i tried to no avail: downloading AMD software and updating drivers; enabling GPU overkloak via BIOS; changing different parameters in Nvidia contol panel for VSync, chaders chache, turning off Low Latency Mode; uninstalled wimdows media players; deleted some legacy stuff from my laptop; CCleaned old unused files. No changes at all, stutters continues.

EDIT #3: I updated my win10 to win11, double-checked any available updates and for now the game rans just fine (like it did before the issue happened). Other users (god bless them for all advices and especially @dark-breed who contacted me personally and helped me analyze what is going on with my system) suggested that i should perform a clean reinstall of windows, but i am unable to backup my files right now so i decided to just update to win11. No conclusions for now, I'm gonna test the game for some time and then update and (hopefully) close this thread.

FINAL EDIT: So i tested a game for a while, different locations, different characters. Update to win11 fixed the issue for me, but maybe some things that i did before also did something, i honestly do not know. Good luck to anyone who'll stumble upon this. And big thanks to all who contributed to discussion.

[dark-breed]

INTEL e core CPU with 8 p cores/16 threads and additional e cores by set the processors in use to 16 you cut out the e cores from working and this way the latency problem e cores create no longer cause problems

the number can be different for different CPU's there are also some with less p core threads and some with more p core threads.

so normally what to set in msconfig is related to what cpu is in use

[ДЇД]

Originally posted by dark-breed:

INTEL e core CPU with 8 p cores/16 threads and additional e cores by set the processors in use to 16 you cut out the e cores from working and this way the latency problem e cores create no longer cause problems

the number can be different for different CPU's there are also some with less p core threads and some with more p core threads.

so normally what to set in msconfig is related to what cpu is in use

Mate u are a savior! But I don’t understand why this issue happened in the first place, because again, I did nothing to my laptop and no patches came for ER since last I played without this issue.

[purpl3 h4z3]

Originally posted by dark-breed:

INTEL e core CPU with 8 p cores/16 threads and additional e cores by set the processors in use to 16 you cut out the e cores from working and this way the latency problem e cores create no longer cause problems

the number can be different for different CPU's there are also some with less p core threads and some with more p core threads.

so normally what to set in msconfig is related to what cpu is in use

What about a i5-10400F?

[dark-breed]

Originally posted by purpl3 h4z3:

Originally posted by dark-breed:

INTEL e core CPU with 8 p cores/16 threads and additional e cores by set the processors in use to 16 you cut out the e cores from working and this way the latency problem e cores create no longer cause problems

the number can be different for different CPU's there are also some with less p core threads and some with more p core threads.

so normally what to set in msconfig is related to what cpu is in use

What about a i5-10400F?

this CPU has no e cores and this setting has no effect at all (you even can not set it to 16 because this CPU has only 12 threads)

if you have stuttering issues with the i5-10400F the problem is caused at a other end.

[dark-breed]

Originally posted by ДЇД:

Originally posted by dark-breed:

INTEL e core CPU with 8 p cores/16 threads and additional e cores by set the processors in use to 16 you cut out the e cores from working and this way the latency problem e cores create no longer cause problems

the number can be different for different CPU's there are also some with less p core threads and some with more p core threads.

so normally what to set in msconfig is related to what cpu is in use

Mate u are a savior! But I don’t understand why this issue happened in the first place, because again, I did nothing to my laptop and no patches came for ER since last I played without this issue.

it is not known if the e core latency problem could also be caused by CPU aging (in short time) or if microsoft changed something in the process management causing that e cores suddenly calculate processes that they should not calculate.

[ДЇД]

Originally posted by dark-breed:

Originally posted by ДЇД:

Mate u are a savior! But I don’t understand why this issue happened in the first place, because again, I did nothing to my laptop and no patches came for ER since last I played without this issue.

it is not known if the e core latency problem could also be caused by CPU aging (in short time) or if microsoft changed something in the process management causing that e cores suddenly calculate processes that they should not calculate.

BTW the problem is back today, fix do not works the second time. Gonna edit the post.

[NoiosoBear]

The games also unplayable for me due to the stuttering. I was able to fix the issue by going into BIOS and turning on XMP, manually setting my DRAM, and manually setting the FCLK. The issue is that whenever I woke my PC up from sleep mode I got the blue screen of death, due to the instability the BIOS changes caused...

[ДЇД]

Originally posted by NoiosoBear:

The games also unplayable for me due to the stuttering. I was able to fix the issue by going into BIOS and turning on XMP, manually setting my DRAM, and manually setting the FCLK. The issue is that whenever I woke my PC up from sleep mode I got the blue screen of death, due to the instability the BIOS changes caused...

I’m trying to revert windows updates to see if it might be the issue. Gonna update the post if something will change.

[dark-breed]

Not normal that the problem reappears if it was related to the e cores, there are a lot of other options that can cause the stutter problem. Specific at Laptops the manufacturers Tools can play a role here.
Did you tried a Windows restart?

[ДЇД]

Originally posted by dark-breed:

Not normal that the problem reappears if it was related to the e cores, there are a lot of other options that can cause the stutter problem. Specific at Laptops the manufacturers Tools can play a role here.
Did you tried a Windows restart?

Yep. I also cancelled changes I did via msconfig, restarted, launched game -> faced problems, did msconfig changes again, restarted, launched game -> the problem still there.
Yesterday it worked, today it doesn’t.

[Japeth Blackwater]

Originally posted by ДЇД:

Played ER about 2-3 months ago on the same laptop (Lenovo Legion 5) and everything was perfect - the game ran smooth. Decided to prepare for the DLC, created new character and found out that the game is basically unplayable. I get stutters even in main menu. Basically what happens: the game works perfectly, but every 5 seconds it stutters, FPS drops to 3, GPU usage drops from 80% to 0% and in a second its back to normal. I did nothing to my laptop except Nvidia drivers update and windows update (i use win10). This happens ONLY in ER, every other game works fine.

The list of things that i tried is pretty big, but these are one the most common advices that DID NOT worked for me:
- Drivers and BIOS update;
- NVIDIA control panel stuff: VSync ON, shaders chache UNLIMITED, FPS capped at 58, threaded optimization OFF;
- Graphic settings changes;
- Different screen options (windows borderless etc);
- ER anti-cheat disabled;
- Game reinstall;
- Overlays disabled;
- Different microsoft services disabled;
- XBOX uninstall (don't ask);

As i was about to give up i found a solution from @dark-breed in one of the Steam threads. So the thing that fixed everything for me is:

Press WinKey+R -> type Msconfig -> open "Boot" window -> Advanced options - > set value "Number of proccessors to 16 -> restart your device.

I DO NOT KNOW why this works so please if you know please explain it to me!

EDIT: played for 2 hours yesterday and everything was great. Today the same problem reappered and fix DO NOT work anymore.

I’m having the same problem with the same laptop. I’ve tried so many things to no avail, I will follow this thread…

[dark-breed]

Originally posted by ДЇД:

Originally posted by dark-breed:

Not normal that the problem reappears if it was related to the e cores, there are a lot of other options that can cause the stutter problem. Specific at Laptops the manufacturers Tools can play a role here.
Did you tried a Windows restart?

Yep. I also cancelled changes I did via msconfig, restarted, launched game -> faced problems, did msconfig changes again, restarted, launched game -> the problem still there.
Yesterday it worked, today it doesn’t.

it is possible that the legion software is the problem and reconfigure something after the core change, a detailed analysis would be needed to eliminate the possible causes

[ДЇД]

Originally posted by Japeth Blackwater:

Originally posted by ДЇД:

Played ER about 2-3 months ago on the same laptop (Lenovo Legion 5) and everything was perfect - the game ran smooth. Decided to prepare for the DLC, created new character and found out that the game is basically unplayable. I get stutters even in main menu. Basically what happens: the game works perfectly, but every 5 seconds it stutters, FPS drops to 3, GPU usage drops from 80% to 0% and in a second its back to normal. I did nothing to my laptop except Nvidia drivers update and windows update (i use win10). This happens ONLY in ER, every other game works fine.

The list of things that i tried is pretty big, but these are one the most common advices that DID NOT worked for me:
- Drivers and BIOS update;
- NVIDIA control panel stuff: VSync ON, shaders chache UNLIMITED, FPS capped at 58, threaded optimization OFF;
- Graphic settings changes;
- Different screen options (windows borderless etc);
- ER anti-cheat disabled;
- Game reinstall;
- Overlays disabled;
- Different microsoft services disabled;
- XBOX uninstall (don't ask);

As i was about to give up i found a solution from @dark-breed in one of the Steam threads. So the thing that fixed everything for me is:

Press WinKey+R -> type Msconfig -> open "Boot" window -> Advanced options - > set value "Number of proccessors to 16 -> restart your device.

I DO NOT KNOW why this works so please if you know please explain it to me!

EDIT: played for 2 hours yesterday and everything was great. Today the same problem reappered and fix DO NOT work anymore.

I’m having the same problem with the same laptop. I’ve tried so many things to no avail, I will follow this thread…

Gonna update in case something will change

[ДЇД]

Originally posted by dark-breed:

Originally posted by ДЇД:

Yep. I also cancelled changes I did via msconfig, restarted, launched game -> faced problems, did msconfig changes again, restarted, launched game -> the problem still there.
Yesterday it worked, today it doesn’t.

it is possible that the legion software is the problem and reconfigure something after the core change, a detailed analysis would be needed to eliminate the possible causes

Tell me what I can do because I honestly clueless

[nfinite.recursion]

Originally posted by ДЇД:

Originally posted by dark-breed:

it is possible that the legion software is the problem and reconfigure something after the core change, a detailed analysis would be needed to eliminate the possible causes

Tell me what I can do because I honestly clueless

I'd start by reverting the changes you made via MSCONFIG first, rebooting, and reapplying the changes.

BTW, what CPU does your laptop have? If it doesn't have 8 P-cores then setting the available cores to 16 is wrong.