Sudden Performance Issues, Can't Play!!!

[bschu]

I've had FO4 since it came out. Good game, I played through once, then put on the shelf for a while. I don't remember because I've been super busy, but I think I ALWAYS had to reduce the quality settings which is annoying considering my specs below.

Recently I downloaded again and have tons of performance issues. Firstly I had to put it on lowest quality for everything, and also followed some guides for optimal ini settings.

It played well enough for me to get to an ending a second time, and I started to explore more and realize how much more the game had to offer. And now that it got me hooked - I SUDDENLY CAN'T PLAY. I was trying to make Ultra quality graphics work and now everything I try just doesn't work. But even still, why did I have to use low quality to begin with?

It seems good for about 5 minutes, I can play at low quality with 60 FPS, but then FPS drops to 10 and everything is slow and laggy and impossible to play.

* WINDOWS 10 (64 bit)
* GTX 970 (nVidea's RECOMMENDED CARD by the way https://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/fallout-4-geforce-gtx-970-recommended)
* 8GB Ram.
* Ample hard drive space.
* And an i7 processor.

Everything else runs as expected.

I have tried EVERYTHING I CAN FIND via our friend Google. I've updated the Geforce drivers, Windows Update is up-to-date.

I've spent days on this and I am literally just exhausted at trying to stab in the dark about what the problem might be. Is it the driver? Is it windows 10? Is it something to do with Bethesda?

I'm totally lost. And by the way, according to nVidia's own website (link above) I should be able to play this game out of the box with authentic quality and 60 FPS... So having paid for all of this... I would really like to EXPERIENCE THAT.

[denPes]

i7 4770k, 970GTX, SSD's. Win7 pro, older nvidia drivers: 378.92

I have FO4+ all DLC's

Everything on ultra, running smooth. I even have to cap fps. Otherwise FPS is too high. So yeah, there must be something with either Win10, stuff running in background, or the nvidia drivers on your side.

Because my hardware isn't much better.

[bschu]

So is there anything I can do to get support for this?

[GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™]

Originally posted by MrNoGun:

i have a similar problem, after the mod shop update it runs worse then before. i tried many things, lower my shadows, lower my graphics and some ini stuff, nothing helps, my drivers are up to date, like i said, before the update it was smooth 60Fps, now i have drops to 20, any solutions?

my rig

Xeon 1230 v2
GTX 1060 6GB
16GB Ram
1x ssd win 10
2x ssd games

i use the offical high res texture pack, no mods, i play in 1920x1080

Your issue lies with your machine not meeting the requirements to run the high resolution textures.

It calls for a real six-core processor (that's six physical cores vs your 4).

And you lack the video ram for it also.

Now feel free to uncheck the high resolution textures.

[GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™]

Originally posted by denPes:

i7 4770k, 970GTX, SSD's. Win7 pro, older nvidia drivers: 378.92

I have FO4+ all DLC's

Everything on ultra, running smooth. I even have to cap fps. Otherwise FPS is too high. So yeah, there must be something with either Win10, stuff running in background, or the nvidia drivers on your side.

Because my hardware isn't much better.

You have 50hrs and two achievements so you're obviously using mods.

[GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™]

Originally posted by b_turtle:

I've had FO4 since it came out. Good game, I played through once, then put on the shelf for a while. I don't remember because I've been super busy, but I think I ALWAYS had to reduce the quality settings which is annoying considering my specs below.

Recently I downloaded again and have tons of performance issues. Firstly I had to put it on lowest quality for everything, and also followed some guides for optimal ini settings.

It played well enough for me to get to an ending a second time, and I started to explore more and realize how much more the game had to offer. And now that it got me hooked - I SUDDENLY CAN'T PLAY. I was trying to make Ultra quality graphics work and now everything I try just doesn't work. But even still, why did I have to use low quality to begin with?

It seems good for about 5 minutes, I can play at low quality with 60 FPS, but then FPS drops to 10 and everything is slow and laggy and impossible to play.

* WINDOWS 10 (64 bit)
* GTX 970 (nVidea's RECOMMENDED CARD by the way https://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/fallout-4-geforce-gtx-970-recommended)
* 8GB Ram.
* Ample hard drive space.
* And an i7 processor.

Everything else runs as expected.

I have tried EVERYTHING I CAN FIND via our friend Google. I've updated the Geforce drivers, Windows Update is up-to-date.

I've spent days on this and I am literally just exhausted at trying to stab in the dark about what the problem might be. Is it the driver? Is it windows 10? Is it something to do with Bethesda?

I'm totally lost. And by the way, according to nVidia's own website (link above) I should be able to play this game out of the box with authentic quality and 60 FPS... So having paid for all of this... I would really like to EXPERIENCE THAT.

Top of steam > help button > system information, copy and paste here.

[Miss Me]

Do you use a Steam Controller? If yes, try disable the Big Picture Overlay via Steam Settings.

I ran into a similar issue a few days ago. I run an i7 16 RAM with GTX 660. I have always been able to run the game smoothly on high setting since day one. I stop playing for a little while and just returned to it recently. Last week, my game started to lag so bad that I can't play. I tried reinstalling without mods and starting brand new games. I can't get a game to run smoothly for more than 5 or so mintues even on the lowest setting.

My resolution is disabling the BPM through Steam Setting > In Game > uncheck Use BPM when controller is plugged in. The game is now running smoothly on high setting.

This might be a long shot though...

[The Streaming Preacher]

Originally posted by MrNoGun:

i have a similar problem, after the mod shop update it runs worse then before. i tried many things, lower my shadows, lower my graphics and some ini stuff, nothing helps, my drivers are up to date, like i said, before the update it was smooth 60Fps, now i have drops to 20, any solutions?

my rig

Xeon 1230 v2
GTX 1060 6GB
16GB Ram
1x ssd win 10
2x ssd games

i use the offical high res texture pack, no mods, i play in 1920x1080

I am having the same problem. I get FPS crashes all of the sudden, from 60 to the "teens".

ASUS Rog 16GB RAM
NVIDIA 1200 series
win 10

[bschu]

So we can note here that some people having the same problem have better hardware than I do (why did I just know that someone would always be there to blame the hardware, despite the fact that I emphasized how well it was working before).

I tried unchecking the Hi Rez Texture pack. That didn't help.

Here are my specs via Help -> System Information

Computer Information:
Manufacturer: System76, Inc.
Model: Bonobo Extreme
Form Factor: Laptop
Touch Input Detected

Processor Information:
CPU Vendor: GenuineIntel
CPU Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4710MQ CPU @ 2.50GHz
CPU Family: 0x6
CPU Model: 0x3c
CPU Stepping: 0x3
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 2494 Mhz
8 logical processors
4 physical processors
HyperThreading: Supported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Unsupported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Supported
AES: Supported
AVX: Supported
CMPXCHG16B: Supported
LAHF/SAHF: Supported
PrefetchW: Supported

Operating System Version:
Windows 10 (64 bit)
NTFS: Supported
Crypto Provider Codes: Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0

Video Card:
Driver: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
DirectX Driver Name: nvldumd.dll
Driver Version: 22.21.13.8205
DirectX Driver Version: 22.21.13.8205
Driver Date: 5 1 2017
OpenGL Version: 4.5
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
DirectX Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
VendorID: 0x10de
DeviceID: 0x13d8
Revision: 0xa1
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Logical Video Cards: 1
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Desktop Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Primary Display Size: 15.04" x 8.46" (17.24" diag)
38.2cm x 21.5cm (43.8cm diag)
Primary Bus: PCI Express 8x
Primary VRAM: 6143 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x

Sound card:
Audio device: Speakers (Logitech USB Headset

Memory:
RAM: 8142 Mb

Miscellaneous:
UI Language: English
Media Type: DVD
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 199005 Mb
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 100320 Mb
OS Install Date: Jan 01 1970
Game Controller: None detected
VR Headset: None detected

[Planewalker]

1. Don't use the HR tex pack; use optimized texture replacers from nexus if you must.

2. Disable steam overlay. (including big picture)

3. Delete the .ini-files in Documents\My Games\Fallout 4 & then run the launcher, set options to low & then load game to make sure it works. You can then crank the settings up one by one.

[nonames]

just toss it in the garbage where it belongs.

[paugus]

Originally posted by nonames:

just toss it in the garbage where it belongs.

Another quality post by nonames.

[fastboyslim]

Originally posted by b_turtle:

So we can note here that some people having the same problem have better hardware than I do (why did I just know that someone would always be there to blame the hardware, despite the fact that I emphasized how well it was working before).

I tried unchecking the Hi Rez Texture pack. That didn't help.

Here are my specs via Help -> System Information

Computer Information:
Manufacturer: System76, Inc.
Model: Bonobo Extreme
Form Factor: Laptop
Touch Input Detected

Processor Information:
CPU Vendor: GenuineIntel
CPU Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4710MQ CPU @ 2.50GHz
CPU Family: 0x6
CPU Model: 0x3c
CPU Stepping: 0x3
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 2494 Mhz
8 logical processors
4 physical processors
HyperThreading: Supported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Unsupported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Supported
AES: Supported
AVX: Supported
CMPXCHG16B: Supported
LAHF/SAHF: Supported
PrefetchW: Supported

Operating System Version:
Windows 10 (64 bit)
NTFS: Supported
Crypto Provider Codes: Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0

Video Card:
Driver: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
DirectX Driver Name: nvldumd.dll
Driver Version: 22.21.13.8205
DirectX Driver Version: 22.21.13.8205
Driver Date: 5 1 2017
OpenGL Version: 4.5
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
DirectX Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
VendorID: 0x10de
DeviceID: 0x13d8
Revision: 0xa1
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Logical Video Cards: 1
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Desktop Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Primary Display Size: 15.04" x 8.46" (17.24" diag)
38.2cm x 21.5cm (43.8cm diag)
Primary Bus: PCI Express 8x
Primary VRAM: 6143 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x

Sound card:
Audio device: Speakers (Logitech USB Headset

Memory:
RAM: 8142 Mb

Miscellaneous:
UI Language: English
Media Type: DVD
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 199005 Mb
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 100320 Mb
OS Install Date: Jan 01 1970
Game Controller: None detected
VR Headset: None detected

dudesauce was right to ask for the system information! the specs you originaly posted are fine if you had a desktop for running the game but you have a laptop which is seriously downclocked compared to the desktop version of your hardware!
as planewalker says delete your ini files then verify the game cache!
and turn godrays off, shadow quality/distance down and set AA to fxaa or turn off! See if that makes a difference.

[bschu]

Originally posted by fastboyslim:

dudesauce was right to ask for the system information! the specs you originaly posted are fine if you had a desktop for running the game but you have a laptop which is seriously downclocked compared to the desktop version of your hardware!
as planewalker says delete your ini files then verify the game cache!
and turn godrays off, shadow quality/distance down and set AA to fxaa or turn off! See if that makes a difference.

Thank you for pointing that out, I would not have noticed it. Although to be fair this is not your ordinary laptop, it is a huge machine... more like a "portable computer". I'm not sure if that improves the situation at all?

Alas, I have to keep falling back on my "It worked fine before", not as an argument but just a fact check in solving the problem. I have uninstalled the game and doing a full reinstall now. That seems to be a popular thing to try. I changed the other settings as planewalker said, and so we'll give it another go.

Apparently I've played 164 hrs (did not notice that) and without a single mod. I played through twice and was actually enjoying just exploring the map. There is so much to be found!!! But I think I am running out of options and I really wanted to try some mods or add-ons and whatever. What a great game. Too bad it seems my specs are not up to par.

This machine is easy to crack open and repair, I wonder if swapping out a stronger graphics card will help???

[fastboyslim]

Originally posted by b_turtle:

Originally posted by fastboyslim:

dudesauce was right to ask for the system information! the specs you originaly posted are fine if you had a desktop for running the game but you have a laptop which is seriously downclocked compared to the desktop version of your hardware!
as planewalker says delete your ini files then verify the game cache!
and turn godrays off, shadow quality/distance down and set AA to fxaa or turn off! See if that makes a difference.

Thank you for pointing that out, I would not have noticed it. Although to be fair this is not your ordinary laptop, it is a huge machine... more like a "portable computer". I'm not sure if that improves the situation at all?

Alas, I have to keep falling back on my "It worked fine before", not as an argument but just a fact check in solving the problem. I have uninstalled the game and doing a full reinstall now. That seems to be a popular thing to try. I changed the other settings as planewalker said, and so we'll give it another go.

Apparently I've played 164 hrs (did not notice that) and without a single mod. I played through twice and was actually enjoying just exploring the map. There is so much to be found!!! But I think I am running out of options and I really wanted to try some mods or add-ons and whatever. What a great game. Too bad it seems my specs are not up to par.

This machine is easy to crack open and repair, I wonder if swapping out a stronger graphics card will help???

hope the reinstall goes well for you!
If that fails there could still be an underlying issue, all your drivers and setup look to be in order!
Have you noticed any performance drops in othet games? If so it could be caused by to many background programs running or even heat issues! Let us know how you get on when the game is up and running again.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Yeah, a GTX 970M isn't even as strong as a desktop 960.