[Special K] Performance fix

[Kaldaien]

Important Re: 10/4/24 Patch

Atlus has fixed the performance problems that this special version of Special K originally fixed. Special K is no longer essential, though may offer other improvements, such as removing the game's exit confirmation, flip model (for Windows 10 users), etc.

I suggest following this project instead:

https://github.com/lyall/metaphorfix

Made by a friend, it includes a lot more game-specific QoL fixes than Special K will.

Tl;Dr: This fix is no longer needed, the below text is just for archival.

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This game has absolutely insane timing code under the hood that's causing some of the worst performance I have ever seen in a game. I threw together a patch to remove the bulk of the offending threading code and replace it with more efficient scheduling.

None of the problems are graphics API related, they should be so lucky :)

Extract either of these to your game's directory and it will apply the fixes automatically:

Special K

https://sk-data.special-k.info/misc/SK_MetaphorFix.7z

Standalone Fix

https://sk-data.special-k.info/misc/SK_MetaphorFixLite.7z

The standalone fix can be loaded either as XInput1_4.dll or using an asi loader and renaming it; it has not been tested as well and may cause hitching

Please see the Special K Discord for more info.

https://discord.gg/SpecialK

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I have bundled a version with the latest version of DXVK for testing

https://sk-data.special-k.info/misc/MetaphorFixDXVK.7z

In my testing, a few scenes benefit from DXVK, but many are 30%+ slower than NVIDIA's actual D3D11 driver. It's likely only AMD GPU users who will benefit from DXVK.

If you want to test this, please be aware that you must delete d3d11.dll and dxgi.ini to revert back to a working setup. The included INI points to DXVK's DXGI DLL and the game will not start until you remove it and DXVK's D3D11 DLL.

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For those who find DXVK is smoother out-of-the-box, you can achieve the same result in SK by adjusting backbuffer and maximum latency.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3339757586

Smoothest operation is always Backbuffers=n, Maximum Latency=n+1.

If you have an NVIDIA GPUs, you can use the Reflex graph to see the effect this has on latency.

It may be a good compromise if you can't get the stutter from the game's crappy culling in cities to go away.

This is basically the only advantage that DXVK has, it's extremely high latency because it's not framerate limited. But you can easily do the same thing in Special K, and can tweak this stuff to find a good compromise a hell of a lot quicker.

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Press Alt+Enter twice after changing the number of backbuffers to get that setting to take affect.

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Re: 9/28 Patch -- Conflicting reports about performance

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3339374363
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3339374699

There is still a CPU bottleneck here that prevents breaking 240 FPS in this scene uncapped even after the patch. That is the same bottleneck I have been removing from the game's code since day one.

They did optimize some other parts of the game's code, but you are not going to realize those optimizations until the giant honking CPU bottleneck is addressed.

They still do not know how to implement efficient timing code and it is utterly destroying performance (!!)

[REBirthTheEdge]

Thank man.

Love ye little app, hell it's probably why my games run so well.

[HDRcade[Tyler]]

The legend himself. I use SpecialK on the daily. Thanks for your fix, probably going to wait til full release to play this.

[Linus]

The performance increase is great, but it makes my game appear really dark.

[zTheBeastMaster64]

nier automata f.a.r mod flashback

[Crouton]

Originally posted by Linus:

The performance increase is great, but it makes my game appear really dark.

Seconding this, also my controller doesn't seem to work with it active. Rather, I can use my controller to open the menu, but not control the game.

[Argon]

If your game appears darker than normal:

Disable flip model

Special K Control panel -> Direct3D 11 Settings -> Swap chain management -> use flip model presentation

[DPS1985]

I love you this worked!

Can run it on max now and it isn't like a potato!

[Linus]

Originally posted by Argon:

If your game appears darker than normal:

Disable flip model

Special K Control panel -> Direct3D 11 Settings -> Swap chain management -> use flip model presentation

Thanks!

[Yew Nough]

It's crazy how many games have been salvaged by Special K: OP needs to start charging these devs an optimization tax

[GuiLLe21]

It works so much better now, many thanks!

[REBirthTheEdge]

Originally posted by Yew Nough:

It's crazy how many games have been salvaged by Special K: OP needs to start charging these devs an optimization tax

True. Would be better than Denuvo, that is for sure.

[Le Rat]

always where we need you the most

[Leviathan]

Originally posted by Kaldaien:

This game has absolutely insane timing code under the hood that's causing some of the worst performance I have ever seen in a game. I threw together a patch to remove the bulk of the offending threading code and replace it with more efficient scheduling.

None of the problems are graphics API related, they should be so lucky :)

Extract this to your game's directory and it will apply the fixes automatically.

https://sk-data.special-k.info/misc/SK_MetaphorFix.7z

I'll put more work into this before the retail game ships. See the Special K Discord for more info.

https://discord.gg/SpecialK

Does not fix the fact that it STILL only runs on one thread.

This game is an insult to PC gaming.

[DonBureq]

can i use this with DXVK as well?

EDIT: guess i can't: https://imgur.com/a/CuXyqkO

[Albion Hero]

It crashes for me the moment I get to the Studio Zero splash screen.