massive fps drops and jumps

[dman211]

Whenever I play 7d2d, my fps going into buildings drops often and it is almost unplayable. I have a good enough computer to run the game before the 1.0 update, but with it, I have been experiencing unplayable fps drops. It's to the point where the game isn't fun anymore. I have all my settings to lowest, and dynamic mesh off. Please help.

[Ensign Toby]

First, this is how to properly report an issue:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/251570/discussions/1/3110269850346164467/

Details Matter if you actually want anyone to assist.
Especially your System Specs if you are having performance issues...

What Game Version are you playing?
v1.2 included some optimizations not in v1.0/v1.1 (solid +15% FPS gain for me).

Gotz Mods?

---

play 7d2d, my fps going into buildings drops often and it is almost unplayable.

Out of Curiosity, what are your in-game FPS ranges?

The "most likely" cause for this is due to:
* Lighting Settings (Shadows 'n Reflections) are "too high"
The larger POIs are notorious for lighting-based performance issues.

* If a T5/T6 Infestation, Too Many Zombies Spawning (you Gotz This Survivor)
Nothing to do here, but Thin 'em Out and Go Slower into Infested Areas for fewer spawns.

I have a good enough computer to run the game before the 1.0 update,

Care to define "good enough" with actual specs?

If you have one of those p-Core/e-Core Abominations, the game is probably on an e-Core.
You need to Force the Game onto a p-Core for optimal performance (see Mr. Google).

I have all my settings to lowest, and dynamic mesh off.

V-Sync should be off as well (this game doesn't seem to like it at all).

[Mardoin69]

7d2d
As of 1.1, best graphics settings... for best FPS and quality.

Fullscreen

Dynamic Res--works better now and makes big improvement.

Vsync--enable to reduce screen tearing--experiment--may get better results if off.

AA--FSR... looks best and decent fps using 'Low'
Others impact fps too much or look crappy.

Texture Quality--Quarter (for best fps and quality)
Half--looks better but lose 5 fps.

Texture Filter--may not be working correctly?! no change

Reflection Quality--Off to Medium (lose 9 fps)

Reflected Shadows--barely makes difference, 1 to 2 fps.

Shadow Distance--How far away you'll see shadows for objects.
Can have an impact on fps... low to high lose 5 fps.

Occlusion--Stops rendering of things not in line of view
but, may cause a bug.
Bug--Things disappear if not looking directly at them.
Otherwise, could improve fps.

Bloom--low impact, adds sun glare--prefer off.

Motion Blur--big impact--prefer off.

SSAO--creates shadowing around edges but impacts fps--Off

SS Reflections--large impact higher is set--Off

Sun Shafts (God Rays)--small impact but has glare--off

Dynamic Mesh--large impact at higher set--500=tradeoff with an 8 fps loss.
With it at lowest (100), town structures only show up when getting real close... ick.

***Other things...***

Disabling unnecessary processes
AND
Using Task Manager--Details--right click 7d2d and set 'Affinity' so only using the first 3 PHYSICAL cores and not the phony ones. Intel = cores 0, 2, 4. Unless you have an I5 before they started adding virtual cores... then you're golden.

*Launcher;

Exclusive Fullscreen
DX 11
Disabling Easy Anti-Cheat

*The Boot Config tweak;

gfx-enable-gfx-jobs=1
gfx-enable-native-gfx-jobs=1
wait-for-native-debugger=0
scripting-runtime-version=latest
vr-enabled=0
hdr-display-enabled=0
gc-max-time-slice=3

***Don't forget...
Right click blank area of desktop, choose 'Display Settings' and then scroll down clicking on 'Graphic Settings.'
In there, under 'Graphics Performance Preference' you can 'choose an app to set preference' and hit the 'Browse' button. Then find the 7d2d exe and hit ok. Now that app is in the list below the Browse button. Select it and hit 'Options' which will bring up a window for selecting which gpu is used or, letting Windows decide. You want to select the GPU / High Performance option and hit 'Save.' Now it ensures Windows defaults to using the gpu for the game instead of the cpu--which is what Windows would do by default... using CPU until it figures it needs to offload some to the GPU... a bad thing for games. You can do this for any / all games on your PC / laptop to improve gaming performance.

[dman211]

I am playing V1.2, I have a 2060 super nvidia graphics card and an i5 processor. I already have all my settings to lowest and vsync off and dynamic mesh off

[dman211]

My fps game ranges from 240- all the way down to 10. I am wondering if there is a way I can cap my fps?

[Ensign Toby]

I am wondering if there is a way I can cap my fps?

Yup. The "Best" way to cap your FPS is in the nVidia Control Panel.
* Manage 3D Settings -> Max Frame Rate

You can set it to anything, but I'd recommend 150% of your Monitor Refresh Rate.
This keeps you from having "runaway FPS" in static menus (which overheats your GPU).

There is no such thing as a lower cap of FPS.
However, 7DTD has Dynamic Resolution Mode which auto-lowers settings to maintain FPS.
How well it does this is open for discussion...

I would experiment with the Dynamic Resolution Mode to see how much it helps.

I am playing V1.2, I have a 2060 super nvidia graphics card and an i5 processor.

Which i5 processor? Different Generations have Vastly Different Performance specs.

My fps game ranges from 240- all the way down to 10.

If you're getting 240 FPS (anywhere in the game), your GPU is keeping up just fine.
You are most likely CPU bound (a common issue with this very CPU intensive game).

If your CPU utilization (TaskMgr) stays maxed out +90-95% all the time, it's the CPU.
Aside from restricting core affinity (as above), not much else you can do about that.

[dman211]

my monitor refresh rate is 240hz so I should be fine in that department. My processor specs are here...12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12400F 2.50 GHz.

[dman211]

thank you for your help btw I appreciate it.

[dman211]

i loaded up the game again and it was vsync and put it on my gpu. thank you guys so much I can even have my qualities on higher end now.

[Ensign Toby]

Gratz.
And, yeah, for some (very strange) reason this Game HATES vSync (and it shouldn't).

BTW: You set a Max. Frame Rate in your GPU Drivers to Help Protect your GPU...
It's not to match the GPU to the Monitor Refresh Rate.

In certain games (7DTD is one), in certain static menus (like world selection), it is possible for the GPU to experience "runaway FPS" (ie. providing "infinite" FPS since nothing is moving)...

The result is the GPU goes into Maximum Power Mode (Generating Maximum Heat too).
And, the GPU wiil STAY THAT WAY until the static menu is manually dismissed.

If you step away from the system while a game is loading, this effect overheats everything.
It's not (usually) harmful (if all your fans are working properly and thermal shutdown works),
but it's easier (and much safer) just to avoid the possibility by setting the Max. Frame Rate.

It's totally optional (and doesn't hurt game performance). It's just a safety setting.

[Mardoin69]

If it were me... I'd right click desktop, choose 'Display Settings'--Advanced Settings, and set Refresh rate of that monitor to something much lower... like half that 240--to 120. Then I'd set the 'Max Frame Rate' cap (in Nvidia Control Panel--Manage 3d settings) to 121. Then Vsync should be set to 'application controlled.' Unfortunately, trying to use 'Vsync' with a high refresh rate monitor... it's not going to work properly with any game that has a problem with keeping FPS fairly high... like 7d2d for example.... unless it has a Vsync setting like 'adaptive' or 'half' refresh rate... in which case it 'might' work ok with it. Otherwise, it may be better with it disabled. It's always one of the settings you have to experiment with across different systems and different games. Everyone's mileage will vary with that setting.

Edit: Oh... and that '12' gen Intel... even though it's an I5... they started using that dang 'Hyperthreading' so, it's basically like an I7 now with both Physical and Logical cores. So, it's basically splitting one physical core into two logical cores... sort of tricking the system into thinking it is at least. This little trick doesn't work well with games... for whatever reason... and games work better if just disabling that second 'logical' core so that the cpu is only using the actual physical cores. Anyone can argue this all they want. I'm just stating what I know from experimentation and real world analysis. Those individuals who 'think' they know all the inner workings of a cpu... like to argue this point. I'm not here for a debate. Btw, you'll know if it's using both logical and physical if the specifications say it has X number of cores and double that for Threads.