DS3 Optimization Summary & Known Issues

[nirvana_sth]

its a bit of confusion going on around, lets figure out what is what.
so, lets summarise known issues here;


1 - low performance - low fps;
some dudes are saying that their in-game performane is low. like they get unplayable FPS (less than 30)
if you are among these ppl, first make sure that your PC meets the minimum requirements.

a - if it does not, then it will be difficult trying to address that issue. simply your hardware is not capable of handling the latest titles.
Some say that Nvidia GTX 500 and 600 series can simply try driver ver 314.22, that would probably fix the low performance issue to a degree.

b - if your system specs meets the required minimum and you have some problems with your performance, please kindly download GPU-Z and HWMonitor from the web. run the game and look at the sensors tab in GPU-Z.

b - 1 - if your GPU load was high, ~90% and above, then it means that your GPU is pushed to its maximum capacity, and to get better performance you might have to try different drivers and DXSETUP*s. try using lower settings and lower resolutions, see if you get more fps, if the GPU load stayed the same and you did not get more performance please comment below.

b - 2 - if your GPU load was not that high (less than 80%) then look at HWMonitor in CPU load section.

b - 2 - 1 - if any of your cores were hitting 100% that is a case of bottlenecking.
try lowering the resolution and see if it helps.

b - 2 - 2 - if any of your cores were not hitting 100%, then we are on the same boat. comment below if you have this problem. it simply means that the game is not well optimized, and FROMSOFT has to patch it up asap.

2 - Crashes:

make sure you set your Lighting Quality to Low.
if it did not help, try to set your Effects Quality, Shader Quality and Shadow Quality to low as well.

a - if that helped your issues, well, good for you.

b - if that did not help, try experiencing with different drivers and DXSETUP* files.
if you still had the crashes, please comment below and let us know how often you get that.

3 - Controller Issues:

read possible controller solutions:
https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/comments/4ej2ej/pc_support_megathread_2/

4 - Stuttering and Random FPS Drops:

Im having that issue at the moment.
please refer to section 1 - b above.

5 - Game Uses Only 1 Core/Thread of the CPU:

my first core sits at 60~70% while running DS3, and other cores are at 20~30%.
that is probably the cause of stuttering and FPS drops.
I am not a software developer though, so im not sure.
to check this out, use HWMonitor and see how many cores are at high percentage.

a - if you are not running any other programs in the background, and all your cores are at the same percentage or are utilized constantly more than 40%, please comment below with your full pc spec and a screenshot of your HWMonitor.

b - if you have the exact problem above, so 1 core is fully utlized and other cores are sitting at low percentages, then again we are on the same boat and it shows that the game is terribly optimized, and the fact that the game can not utilize the hardware to its maximum capacity and it needs to be patched asap.


*DXSETUP files:

most games come with a DXSETUP file in a folder named "_CommonRedist".
DS3 has 1 as well.
different games have different settings in DXSETUP files.
So, installing a new driver or a new game will overwrite these.

For instance, my Black Ops 3 would have random crashes if i install DXSETUP from DS3.
But if i use DXSETUP that comes with my Battlefield Hardline, i would experience no more crashes.
Try experiencing with them a bit.


this might be useful as well.


please comment below if you have any other issues not listed above.
lets get a proper patch by figuring out major problems.

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---------------------------------UPDATE (1) 20/04/2016------------------------------------------

so i ran two tests for the CPU.

first test;
i ran cpu torture-test using prime95, then i set "affinity" to the first core, using task manager.
my first core git 100%, while other cores were normal, and then i ran DS3.
results;
1 - game took longer than normal to load.
2 - i got the same fps and drops, but stuttering was a bit worse.
3 - first core at 100%, 3rd core occasionally hit 53%.

second test,
i ran torture-test again, this time all cores hitting 100%.
ran DS3.
results;
1 - game took a lot more time to load.
2 - fps was 34~42 with drops to 24 when i entered a new area.
3 - last core stopped hitting 100%, instead it was hovering between 60 to 80%

GPU usage in both scenarios stayed the same.
texture quality to high, the rest all low.

for comparison, i ran BO3 to check cpu usages.
while 6 cores were constantly going above 50%, my gpu load was at 97%, and 70 to 112 fps, all maxed.

http://i.imgur.com/B1zjSsz.png?1
(BO3 test).

this game is not CPU intensive at all.
if i run prime95 torture test and run another game like RoTR, BF4 or else, my pc would lock up.

the game is a bad port. i does not utilize the whole cpu and gpu.
needs patching asap.

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---------------------------------UPDATE (2) 21/04/2016------------------------------------------

just tried;
setting compatibility to Windows 7 will drop fps considerably.
setting that to Windows 8 will make it even worse.

(im on win 8.1 64bit)
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---------------------------------UPDATE (3) 21/04/2016------------------------------------------

the game seems to be multi-threaded.
although very bad optimized.

using task manager to set affinity to 1 core, will crash the game.
using 2 cores, 3 cores, 4 cores will improve performance respectively.

using 5 cores will be the same as using 8 cores.
(im using amd fx8350 oced to 4.4)

changin priority to "Real Time", makes fps seems more stable, still drops and stuttering are at large.
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---------------------------------UPDATE (4) 22/04/2016------------------------------------------

tried DSR through NVidia GeForce Experience to 1440p.
although GPU load hit 98%, overall cpu usage stayed low at less than 40%, and stuttering and fps drops were still occuring.

btw, i sent an email to Bandai Namco Support.

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---------------------------------UPDATE (5) 24/04/2016------------------------------------------

enabling HPC (High Performance Computing) in the UEFI for AMD cpus seems to have little impact on the performance.
stutters and fps drops are still at large, specially when the auto-saving flame appears.

Also, Razer Cortex seems to have little effect on fps drops and stutters.

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---------------------------------UPDATE (6) 28/04/2016------------------------------------------

no response from Support to my emails yet.
updates scheduled for today did not have any impact on the performance what-so-ever.
still low cpu and gpu utilization, frame drops and stutters are still at large.

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---------------------------------UPDATE (7) 04/05/2016------------------------------------------

turning the controller off and on will tank the fps to nearly half for a few seconds.

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[Piglet]

my 5 cents to DXSETUP section. Its not true. These files are universal Microsoft libraries related to directx and they are always the same. its https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109 nothing else. there are no different "setups". every game installs them silently "in any case". but really you need to install them once after installing windows and its done until MS releases new version - very unlikely

there were no updates to dxsetup since june '10, the link i posted is exactly the same stuff that comes with ds3 - same stuff dxwebsetup installs and can be found in ds3 redist folder - these are older libs, newer ones are already in every windows installation

some more info
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/chuckw/2010/09/08/not-so-direct-setup/
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/chuckw/2011/04/19/dxsetup-update/

so the june '10 is newest version of these old libs.

[nirvana_sth]

Originally posted by Piglet:

my 5 cents to DXSETUP section. Its not true. These files are universal Microsoft libraries related to directx and they are always the same. its https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109 nothing else. there are no different "setups". every game installs them silently "in any case". but really you need to install them once after installing windows and its done until MS releases new version - very unlikely

that is my own experience.

you see, if you install the same DXSETUP, it will tel you that it is already updated.
but if you use a different one, it will copy and install some additional files.

that is why every game (well most games) comes with a DXSETUP.exe file of its own.

as i said, installing DXSETUP that comes with DS3 will crash my BO3 game with DX error.
but if i install BFH DXSETUP, i will experience no crashes in BO3.

[SpacePirate]

"Game Uses Only 1 Core/Thread of the CPU"
No it doesn't it uses all of my threads however it uses around 70-80% of Thread 0(1) but it does not go over that.
http://i.imgur.com/8LTxleM.jpg

But i still think it's something wrong with how Dark souls 3 handles the CPU.

[nirvana_sth]

Originally posted by Dangerous Beef:

"Game Uses Only 1 Core/Thread of the CPU"
No it doesn't it uses all of my threads however it uses around 70-80% of Thread 0(1) but it does not go over that.
http://i.imgur.com/8LTxleM.jpg

But i still think it's something wrong with how Dark souls 3 handles the CPU.

you did not read my post carefully.

first off, use HWMonitor to see cpu usages.

second, as you can see in your picture, your first core is being used by the game, while your other cores are not.

very simple test, run a single core software while playing DS3, and see how your stutters and fps drops get worse.

[SpacePirate]

Originally posted by nirvana_sth:

Originally posted by Dangerous Beef:

"Game Uses Only 1 Core/Thread of the CPU"
No it doesn't it uses all of my threads however it uses around 70-80% of Thread 0(1) but it does not go over that.
http://i.imgur.com/8LTxleM.jpg

But i still think it's something wrong with how Dark souls 3 handles the CPU.

you did not read my post carefully.

first off, use HWMonitor to see cpu usages.

second, as you can see in your picture, your first core is being used by the game, while your other cores are not.

very simple test, run a single core software while playing DS3, and see how your stutters and fps drops get worse.

i tested before and after my threads where close to 0% usage. i don't go in my bios to prove my point.

[RAN]

Hi guys. Updating Nvidia drivers to 364.96 solved ultra low fps issue for me.
Before, I had ~15fps on low settings 800x600 and no online features due to low fps, but now fps is somewhere between 25 and 40. Remember to enable fullscreen (alt+enter).

My "ancient" laptop has Intel Core i3 as CPU, GeForce GT520MX as GPU and 4gb of ram.

[RAN]

You can find 364.96 drivers here:
http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4086/~/geforce-hot-fix-driver-version-364.96

[nirvana_sth]

Originally posted by Dangerous Beef:

Originally posted by nirvana_sth:

you did not read my post carefully.

first off, use HWMonitor to see cpu usages.

second, as you can see in your picture, your first core is being used by the game, while your other cores are not.

very simple test, run a single core software while playing DS3, and see how your stutters and fps drops get worse.

i tested before and after my threads where close to 0% usage. i don't go in my bios to prove my point.

my first core hits 60~70%, so we r on the same boat.
other cores go from <20% to 30%.
what does that tell you?

i think you have the same results. you were using msi afterburner, that is why other cores of yours showed more usage than usual.

you have directx, OS files, graphics drivers and God knows what going on when you start playing a game, off course you get more usage on other cores.
as i said, run a test in which your first core is partially used, then run DS3.
if what you are saying is true, you should get no performance drop.
if you got performance drop however, that proves my point, and ds3 uses only 1 core.

[SpacePirate]

Originally posted by Цунами228:

Hi guys. Updating Nvidia drivers to 364.96 solved ultra low fps issue for me.
Before, I had ~15fps on low settings 800x600 and no online features due to low fps, but now fps is somewhere between 25 and 40. Remember to enable fullscreen (alt+enter).

My "ancient" laptop has Intel Core i3 as CPU, GeForce GT520MX as GPU and 4gb of ram.

That's actually quite impressive didn't know the GT520 could do that.

[nirvana_sth]

Originally posted by Цунами228:

Hi guys. Updating Nvidia drivers to 364.96 solved ultra low fps issue for me.
Before, I had ~15fps on low settings 800x600 and no online features due to low fps, but now fps is somewhere between 25 and 40. Remember to enable fullscreen (alt+enter).

My "ancient" laptop has Intel Core i3 as CPU, GeForce GT520MX as GPU and 4gb of ram.

i have that driver version already installed. did not help with microstuttering.
can not hold a constant 60 fps no matter what resolution i pick or what graphics settings i choose.

[SpacePirate]

Originally posted by nirvana_sth:

Originally posted by Dangerous Beef:

i tested before and after my threads where close to 0% usage. i don't go in my bios to prove my point.

my first core hits 60~70%, so we r on the same boat.
other cores go from <20% to 30%.
what does that tell you?

i think you have the same results. you were using msi afterburner, that is why other cores of yours showed more usage than usual.

you have directx, OS files, graphics drivers and God knows what going on when you start playing a game, off course you get more usage on other cores.
as i said, run a test in which your first core is partially used, then run DS3.
if what you are saying is true, you should get no performance drop.
if you got performance drop however, that proves my point, and ds3 uses only 1 core.

Fine I'll prove it just to show that i got a bigger e-♥♥♥♥ than you ;)

[nirvana_sth]

Originally posted by Dangerous Beef:

Originally posted by nirvana_sth:

my first core hits 60~70%, so we r on the same boat.
other cores go from <20% to 30%.
what does that tell you?

i think you have the same results. you were using msi afterburner, that is why other cores of yours showed more usage than usual.

you have directx, OS files, graphics drivers and God knows what going on when you start playing a game, off course you get more usage on other cores.
as i said, run a test in which your first core is partially used, then run DS3.
if what you are saying is true, you should get no performance drop.
if you got performance drop however, that proves my point, and ds3 uses only 1 core.

Fine I'll prove it just to show that i got a bigger e-♥♥♥♥ than you ;)

good.

[nirvana_sth]

@Dangerous Beef, you know how to do it, right?

[SpacePirate]

Originally posted by nirvana_sth:

@Dangerous Beef, you know how to do it, right?

Yeah i do but my motherboard doesn't support it sadly. I could only disable amd "Hyper threading" dunno what AMD calls it.

I'll try to test it with only 4 threads.

[nirvana_sth]

Originally posted by Dangerous Beef:

Originally posted by nirvana_sth:

@Dangerous Beef, you know how to do it, right?

Yeah i do but my motherboard doesn't support it sadly. I could only disable amd "Hyper threading" dunno what AMD calls it.

I'll try to test it with only 4 threads.

dont need to.
i tested it.

i used prime95 to utilize my 1st core to 100%.
ran the game.
game loaded very slow, at first all my other cores hit 100%, but then they went down. only 3rd core went occasionally up to 53%, while others were anywhere between <10%~30%

had the same stuttering, maybe a little bit worse. loading was defo longer.

lol, the game is not cpu intensive at all!
wth is going on?