Refresh Rate Issues in Games

[Darke]

Hey folks,

I've got this really annoying Linux problem and it's the one thing that keeps me from using it full time.

Refresh rates in games don't match what the monitor can do. Unless the game itself has a RR option, I believe it defaults to 60 and it drives me nuts. I can get 100 fps with no tearing with some titles but you wouldn't know it by look.

I use an AMD setup, with FSR. I have a Freesync monitor. I use wayland, and I've have this problem across multiple distros. (Ubuntuu, Arch, Fedora).

I've tried the Xrandr command (I think that's only for x11 though), I've tried '-refresh 144' under steam launch commands and nothing works. I don't have this problem in Windows and it's killing me!

It's possible it isn't an RR issue and something else entirely, but I'm a Linux noob, and know that I don't have the issue with a certain game (SWTOR).

Any help at all, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

D

[Zyro]

Originally posted by Darke:

Refresh rates in games don't match what the monitor can do. Unless the game itself has a RR option, I believe it defaults to 60 and it drives me nuts. I can get 100 fps with no tearing with some titles but you wouldn't know it by look.

This sounds like it "looks" wrong. Did you enable the Steam fps overlay to see actual numbers?

I can tell you that it works for me, but then, my system is different in about every regard: Nvidia, G-Sync, X11, KDE, Debian.

Did you try X11 instead of Wayland?

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

xrandr only works on X11 (hence why it's called X-randr)
At least i don't have such issues in kde plasma with wayland. On X11 my 75hz monitor stutters, forcing me to go down to 60 hz and there is also no multi-monitor freesync support for X11. (unless you do some weird Xorg configs

If you care about vrr (freesync and G-sync) read the archwiki and also especially point 7, the limitations. Like gnome, not supporting freesync in wayland
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/VRR
And remember, Xorg configs won't work under wayland

I hope i managed to help, but i don't quite understand your problem with refresh rates. (maybe you don't describe it well or my english just sucks)

[Darke]

Originally posted by Zyro:

Originally posted by Darke:

Refresh rates in games don't match what the monitor can do. Unless the game itself has a RR option, I believe it defaults to 60 and it drives me nuts. I can get 100 fps with no tearing with some titles but you wouldn't know it by look.

This sounds like it "looks" wrong. Did you enable the Steam fps overlay to see actual numbers?

I can tell you that it works for me, but then, my system is different in about every regard: Nvidia, G-Sync, X11, KDE, Debian.

Did you try X11 instead of Wayland?

Actually, I always switched off the overlay because I thought it caused problems in Linux. If it can tell me RR I'll turn it back on to confirm.

I used to run in X11, but then I was told Wayland was the optimum choice for AMD gpu's.
Same problem there though. :(

I'll try the overlay and see what it says. Thanks!

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

But now that i think about it, maybe try gamescope. It's some microcompositor from Valve
It's available in the arch repos just search for gamescope and it should give you the exact package name

Here's the github page
https://github.com/nullref/gamescope
Hope you'll get it running. Because at least for me it doesn't work. (running steam as a flatpak)

[Darke]

Originally posted by The Nintendo guy:

But now that i think about it, maybe try gamescope. It's some microcompositor from Valve
It's available in the arch repos just search for gamescope and it should give you the exact package name

Here's the github page
https://github.com/nullref/gamescope
Hope you'll get it running. Because at least for me it doesn't work. (running steam as a flatpak)

Thanks Nintendo guy! I'll take a look and see if I can get it running.

I didn't know Freesync doesn't work in Wayland. Could be my issue all along.

Soon I'll record a video of what happens in case my explanation lacks. Best I can describe it would be in games that have a RR setting in the menu, moving around in game is smooth beyond belief. Without it, not smooth. Not choppy or major stutters, just, rough.

Thanks again!

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

Originally posted by Darke:

Originally posted by The Nintendo guy:

But now that i think about it, maybe try gamescope. It's some microcompositor from Valve
It's available in the arch repos just search for gamescope and it should give you the exact package name

Here's the github page
https://github.com/nullref/gamescope
Hope you'll get it running. Because at least for me it doesn't work. (running steam as a flatpak)

Thanks Nintendo guy! I'll take a look and see if I can get it running.

I didn't know Freesync doesn't work in Wayland. Could be my issue all along.

Soon I'll record a video of what happens in case my explanation lacks. Best I can describe it would be in games that have a RR setting in the menu, moving around in game is smooth beyond belief. Without it, not smooth. Not choppy or major stutters, just, rough.

Thanks again!

Same for me with moving windows in x11 with my 75hz display.
On wayland, moving windows is buttery smooth, no matter which refresh rate.
And i don't get tearing, even if i have vsync disabled and games run beyond my monitors refresh rate (which doesn't even make sense)
I personally just accept the bugs kde still has with wayland because the upsides are just better

[Zyro]

Originally posted by Darke:

Soon I'll record a video of what happens in case my explanation lacks. Best I can describe it would be in games that have a RR setting in the menu, moving around in game is smooth beyond belief. Without it, not smooth. Not choppy or major stutters, just, rough.

I don't know about Wayland, but maybe there's some compositing doing harm? For X11, you would disable compositing to have a smoother result...

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

Originally posted by Zyro:

Originally posted by Darke:

Soon I'll record a video of what happens in case my explanation lacks. Best I can describe it would be in games that have a RR setting in the menu, moving around in game is smooth beyond belief. Without it, not smooth. Not choppy or major stutters, just, rough.

I don't know about Wayland, but maybe there's some compositing doing harm? For X11, you would disable compositing to have a smoother result...

Doesn't that also mean that you'll have screen tearing even on your desktop, due to fundemental flaws in X11? (like that it requires a compositor to fix tearing?

[Zyro]

Originally posted by The Nintendo guy:

Doesn't that also mean that you'll have screen tearing even on your desktop, due to fundemental flaws in X11? (like that it requires a compositor to fix tearing?

I have disabled compositing and can't see the problem - which might be due to what's displayed or due to my eyes. ;) But for KDE, there's a one click compositing switcher if one needs it.

[Ormgryd]

Turn off Freesync on your monitor. Made some games flicker like crazy for me and the fps felt wrong but it was in the 100+. Smooth gaming after freesync off. Also if you haven't already in Display Settings on your DE set frequence there to max, just incase you forgot and it's set to 60 (as it's the default).

[Darke]

Originally posted by Ormgryd:

Turn off Freesync on your monitor. Made some games flicker like crazy for me and the fps felt wrong but it was in the 100+. Smooth gaming after freesync off. Also if you haven't already in Display Settings on your DE set frequence there to max, just incase you forgot and it's set to 60 (as it's the default).

Haven't tried disabling freesync yet so why not!

And it's set to 144....no worries there.

[Darke]

Originally posted by Darke:

Originally posted by Ormgryd:

Turn off Freesync on your monitor. Made some games flicker like crazy for me and the fps felt wrong but it was in the 100+. Smooth gaming after freesync off. Also if you haven't already in Display Settings on your DE set frequence there to max, just incase you forgot and it's set to 60 (as it's the default).

Haven't tried disabling freesync yet so why not!

And it's set to 144....no worries there.

Annnndddd....no effect.

I don't get it. If a game has a RR setting it's fine, if it doesn't it's meh.

[ripper81]

Originally posted by Darke:

Originally posted by The Nintendo guy:

But now that i think about it, maybe try gamescope. It's some microcompositor from Valve
It's available in the arch repos just search for gamescope and it should give you the exact package name

Here's the github page
https://github.com/nullref/gamescope
Hope you'll get it running. Because at least for me it doesn't work. (running steam as a flatpak)

Thanks Nintendo guy! I'll take a look and see if I can get it running.

I didn't know Freesync doesn't work in Wayland. Could be my issue all along.

Soon I'll record a video of what happens in case my explanation lacks. Best I can describe it would be in games that have a RR setting in the menu, moving around in game is smooth beyond belief. Without it, not smooth. Not choppy or major stutters, just, rough.

Thanks again!

Freesync is available on Wayland if you use the latest KDE Plasma Desktop. I am running Kubuntu 22.04 with the kubuntu backports ppa enabled. KDE Plasma Waylandsession detects VRR (Freesync) out of the box without any configuration needed. I use an Radeon RX 6700 XT with the opensource (AMDGPU+MESA) drivers. For best results i recommend to run all games in exclusive fullscreen. Full V-Sync or a framelimiter should be enabled in alle games to keep your fps within the refreshrange of your display.

[Darke]

Originally posted by ripper81:

Originally posted by Darke:

Thanks Nintendo guy! I'll take a look and see if I can get it running.

I didn't know Freesync doesn't work in Wayland. Could be my issue all along.

Soon I'll record a video of what happens in case my explanation lacks. Best I can describe it would be in games that have a RR setting in the menu, moving around in game is smooth beyond belief. Without it, not smooth. Not choppy or major stutters, just, rough.

Thanks again!

Freesync is available on Wayland if you use the latest KDE Plasma Desktop. I am running Kubuntu 22.04 with the kubuntu backports ppa enabled. KDE Plasma Waylandsession detects VRR (Freesync) out of the box without any configuration needed. I use an Radeon RX 6700 XT with the opensource (AMDGPU+MESA) drivers. For best results i recommend to run all games in exclusive fullscreen. Full V-Sync or a framelimiter should be enabled in alle games to keep your fps within the refreshrange of your display.

Running Gnome on both distros...does it detect Freesync as well?

Also, in Windows, I think you run Vsync or Freesync, not both. Is it different for Linux where both must be run?

Thanks!

[KrazyOne]

Freesync and Gsync relate to which GPU you are using for display output. AMD Requires Freesync which is normally already available on Linux for most distros. Gsync is a Nvidia display feature, requires Supported GPU Drivers. Far as I know Gsync is available but not exactly fully functional on Linux.