Game forcing 60fps LOCK on every start-up while actually set to 144hz variable refresh, fix needed!

[Slayer Seraph]

My game is set to maximum settings.
144hz - I have Gsync.
Full screen On.
Variable Refresh Rate.
When set right it should be 120hz maximum on DMC4 due to the engine.

However when I relaunch/boot the game it ALWAYS automatically LOCKS/CAPS to 60fps, despite still being set at 144hz!

Also happens whenever I switch from Full Screen OFF to ON. It will get stuck at 60fps.
So I suspect the act of going fullscreen on every launch makes the game lock forcefully (glitch) to 60fps.

The only current solution I found is to go to PC Options every time and change 144hz to 119hz back to 144hz.
But it's super tedious and annoying to do every startup before you play.

Changing fullscreen/vsync/variable doesn't change anything.

Help!

[Liandri]

I may be able to help but in the end it may take much longer than for you finishing the game.

Did you apply hex edit from this thread? Doing so would prevent the buffer overflow from happening in case it's the cause of the issue. If your display is 4k I recommend limiting resolutions to 3840xAny (00 0F 00 00).
https://steamcommunity.com/app/329050/discussions/0/1291816880499283959/

[Slayer Seraph]

Originally posted by Liandri:

I may be able to help but in the end it may take much longer than for you finishing the game.

Did you apply hex edit from this thread? Doing so would prevent the buffer overflow from happening in case it's the cause of the issue. If your display is 4k I recommend limiting resolutions to 3840xAny (00 0F 00 00).
https://steamcommunity.com/app/329050/discussions/0/1291816880499283959/

I'll try that, also forgot to report issue #2:
On my 4K TV (Samsung QLED 2160p 60hz) it DOESN'T LAUNCH at all!
Basically crashes on start-up every time. You see a black window for 3 seconds, then it closes and nothing happens.

While on my 2560x1440 144hz PC monitor it locks to 60fps on start-up.

[Liandri]

The mentioned hex edit should solve that issue. Limit it to 2560xAny if you are going to play it on both displays.

[Slayer Seraph]

Originally posted by Liandri:

The mentioned hex edit should solve that issue. Limit it to 2560xAny if you are going to play it on both displays.

Can you guide me through it a bit? I have HxD.
How exactly do I find it and how do I mark and replace just the right values without messing it up?
It's rather hard to visibly find and select what you need.

And how exactly do I set it so I can play both on 2160p 60hz and 1440p 144hz? (changing resolutions in-game)

[Slayer Seraph]

When I use CTRL+G and puts it in, it doesn't mark anything in blue, just scrolls to it... I don't know how to actually mark the exact block and change it...
I remember it was easier last time I did this with HxD, there was a way to highlight the block and change it.

[Liandri]

Read this https://steamcommunity.com/app/329050/discussions/0/1291816880499283959/?ctp=12#c1745645926460205547

Go to offset (with Ctrl+G), see the cursor is at 80 02 00 00 bytes, change them to 00 0A 00 00. Save the file.
You can say you did it correctly after the game launches successfully on your 4k TV display.

[Slayer Seraph]

Originally posted by Liandri:

Read this https://steamcommunity.com/app/329050/discussions/0/1291816880499283959/?ctp=12#c1745645926460205547

Go to offset (with Ctrl+G), see the cursor is at 80 02 00 00 bytes, change them to 00 0A 00 00. Save the file.
You can say you did it correctly after the game launches successfully on your 4k TV display.

Ok, so I managed to make it run using your fix on the 4K TV display. But I had to go to PC Options and change it to 3840x2160 which was very buggy at first, showing like 1/4 of the screen in super zoom.
Now it works, however there's a new issue: it won't work well on my PC Monitor 1440p.
It starts the game as "windowed" mode where the image takes only 1/4 of the screen, sitting on the upper left corner, the rest is pure black screen. It's also locked to 60fps.
When I go to PC Settings to change that - it turns black and crashes to desktop...

[Liandri]

Forgot this bit

After this change, even if the game will run, it will not allow you to change the screen resolution from PC Settings menu. To solve this issue, open this file for editing (use Notepad or any other text editor here): %LOCALAPPDATA%\CAPCOM\DEVILMAYCRY4SPECIALEDITION\config.ini
Locate the following line:

Resolution=Unknown

and change it to your desired resolution. For example:

Resolution=1920x1080

Then save the file (Ctrl+S). Done.

See if this fixes anything. But either way I wouldn't expect the game to launch correctly if the last session was at 4k resolution and you try to run it on non-4k monitor next time.

The issues with non-fullscreen image on screen and reset to 60hz may be unrelated to the hex edit.

[Slayer Seraph]

I try this^ And it worked. Able to launch the game on both PC and TV, although it's still rather iffy on PC monitor.
However, it still auto-locks to 60HZ despite being on Full Screen, 144hz Variable. Any ideas? It's really annoying. I have to go to PC Settings, change 144hz to something else and back to 144hz every time I want to play on my Monitor.
I'm going to play more on the monitor actually, so I really wants this fixed...

I used to play this game a lot on the 4K TV on 2160p - although my previous KS8500 didn't have any issues launching the game (and switching between monitor/TV too!). It was also very stable overall and no issues as far as I recall (that was back in late 2018 - 2019).
With this TV the game never launches unless I do your HxD Edit. It's really annoying.

And I don't understand why it forces 60Hz limit, despite every setting - including the config.ini saying otherwise...

[Slayer Seraph]

EDIT: I did discover that the issue only occurs if I start the game with VSYNC ON.
So I tried to set Vsync OFF and set Vsync ON in Nvidia Control Panel DMC4.exe - but the same issue occurs.
So it seems that the game THINKS if VSYNC is on - it needs to BOOT the game on 60Hz. Also if you change from Full Screen to OFF and Back it changes to 60hz...
Despite being set to 144hz unlimited.

I need Vsync on even on 144hz Gsync - otherwise I get horrible screentearing. I'm not worried about Vsync giving me input lag- because the game max refresh rate is 120hz - so with Gsync - Vsync shouldn't kick in and cause any lag unless it reaches 144hz, which this game never allows.

Also its a fact that the game can do 144hz variable FPS with Gsnyc and VSYNC ON - because if I do the Hz change/refresh "fix" it works again (until the next startup).

[Liandri]

I see. It could be related to initial engine loading, which I wasn't planning to analyze much. In order to try to fix this I'll need an access PC of someone with the same monitor who could reproduce the issue and test modifications, and probably a lot of time.

One scenario may help - if someone else with 144hz doesn't have the same issue. That way it could take much less time to compare how the game runs between 2 computers and find the cause.

You can also try to remove Gsync from equation and see if it changes anything. But I doubt it'll help.

Like I've said, you may prefer to play the game as is instead, just switch the refresh rate setting twice each time you start the game. You can add me on Steam to discuss this further.

[Slayer Seraph]

Originally posted by Liandri:

I see. It could be related to initial engine loading, which I wasn't planning to analyze much. In order to try to fix this I'll need an access PC of someone with the same monitor who could reproduce the issue and test modifications, and probably a lot of time.

One scenario may help - if someone else with 144hz doesn't have the same issue. That way it could take much less time to compare how the game runs between 2 computers and find the cause.

You can also try to remove Gsync from equation and see if it changes anything. But I doubt it'll help.

Like I've said, you may prefer to play the game as is instead, just switch the refresh rate setting twice each time you start the game. You can add me on Steam to discuss this further.

Hey again.
I believe I'VE FOUND THE SOLUTION for the problem on 144hz PC Monitor where it forces Refresh Rate to 60Hz every time I start the game! (my monitor is Asus PG278Q btw)

I don't know how I actually thought about it, but here's what I did:
I went to:
DevilMayCry4SpecialEdition.exe
Right clicked on it
Properties
Compatibility
Applied: Disable fullscreen optimization <<<<<<< SOLVED !!!
Ok

That's it! It's working - game is now using the proper 144hz in-game setting on every startup!

I also disabled Vsync in-game, and applied Vertical Sync On - in the Nvidia Control Panel > Program Settings > DMC4SE exe.

Originally I thought I'll try Run as administrator - but then I saw the Disable Fullscreen Optimization. And since I figured the issue with 60hz lock is tied to the game going fullscreen on boot - I figured what the heck, let's try it. To my surprise it actually worked flawlessly.

The game is now capped at 120hz, as intended. Better yet the FPS lock on the initial pre-rendered intro scene is 144fps now (not infinite ) which is strange.
Then the game goes to 120hz and stays there!
YAY! Rejoice!

Hope this helps anyone else with the same issue!

--
At any rate, I still applied your fix for the other issue, so it can finally work on my 4K TV as well, and set it to: 00 0A 00 00 (to allow both 1440p-2160p). Great advice!
Thank you for helping out and replying so quickly Liandri. You've been a great help, you're awesome.

[Liandri]

Nice. Maybe it'll help someone else with similar issue.

[薄明の夢想家]

Wait, so DMC4 runs at 120FPS max?

[nwad]

Originally posted by KCTV:

Wait, so DMC4 runs at 120FPS max?

True. "Variable" is 120 FPS max.