weird fps problem: game starts at 60fps then goes to 350fps in game, 1450 fps loading screens

[cheshirm]

started a new playthru a few weeks ago. went from level 1 to level 65. same graphic settings, fps capped 60 fps. no issues. 60 fps the whole time. NO MODS. have played before on old pc, first playthru on new pc.

recently continued the game - do a mission or two game switched to
fps - 350 fps

save and exit game.
ran sfc /scannow and several windows system dism checks. no issues.
steam verify game files - no issues.
I played last evening - no issues.

just now, game started at 60 fps, got another task, went to location, searched a locker
fps 350.
saved game, restarted and game back to
60 fps.
go thru a door where there is a loading screen - loading screen fps says
1450 fps.

exit game. do nothing else. just restart game.
game was saved at 1450 fps but loading screen says
60 fps and restarts at 60 fps.

since the game runs at 60 then changes while in game sometimes,
I can only assume the save file is corrupt. (compared the three .ini files from a week ago to current .ini files - they are identical)

or maybe there is some system/graphics setting where fps=variable I have not heard about.

unless hopefully someone else has a suggestion, looks like I have to start over.
or play until fps goes nuts then exit and restart. but 3 times in the last hour so its getting worse.

thanks.

win 11, nvidia 3060 ti with 531.18 Feb 28 2023 driver, intel i7-11700k

[chakkman]

How did you cap the FPS?

[hawkeye]

There is a process to go thru to cap fps. You haven't mentioned it so I assume you may not have done ir. ipresentinterval = 0 then nvidia control panel cap to 60

You might also have set up a vsync in the the nvcp. If you have then you need to understand how they work.

But I suspect that you don't know how pc's work as (1) you haven't provided your monitor specs and (2) no new pc has an 11700k in it.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3896vs5060/Intel-i7-11700K-vs-Intel-i7-13700K

But if it is new, then it probably has had a windows update or a driver update both of which can reset nvidia control panel settings. A clean nvidia driver install definitely will.

[cheshirm]

ran geforce experience before first playthru.
then optimized the game with that.
been using those settings from level 1 to now level 65 with no issues

[cheshirm]

correction - yr old pc.

from steam system information:
Processor Information:
CPU Vendor: GenuineIntel
CPU Brand: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11700KF @ 3.60GHz
Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz

from fallout4prefs.ini settings have worked level 1 thru 64
iPresentInterval=1
bTopMostWindow=0
bMaximizeWindow=0
bBorderless=1
bFull Screen=1
iSize H=1080
iSize W=1920
sD3DDevice="NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti"

and from bethesda
Please note that if your monitor is set to 60Hz, the iPresentInterval value in your .INI file should be "1"
https://help.bethesda.net/#en/answer/41680

[cheshirm]

so the plan is
downloading DDU to remove driver then CLEAN install latest driver. will reboot tomorrow and try game.

if fps problems continue, still have my 11 yr old desktop running win 10. will transfer save over to that and run the game to see what happens. game ran on that old pc for 4 yrs with no fps issues but never made it to level 65.

[Zekiran]

The loading screens don't actually make 500+ fps. They aren't rendering anything in the game. Ignore that value. If the game itself is playing at 60 it's playing at 60 like it's supposed to. If you're continually checking your fps instead of just playing and seeing how it actually feels to play, turn off your fps counter. Does the game suddenly change fps while you're playing? (there are a couple locations it certainly will drop, for almost everyone, regardless of build or drivers) If it doesn't behave in a way that makes the game actually unplayable, do not fret about your misinformed fps counter. Load screens on almost every game do that same thing. It's meaningless.

[cheshirm]

fps is more than 60. opening locks - the circles snap instead of move slowly. walking is faster, npcs move faster. very noticable when fps changes.

ddu'ed nvidia driver, clean installed latest driver. going to try to capture video when it happens again. if it happens after the driver reinstall.

[Zekiran]

Opprinnelig skrevet av cheshirm:

fps is more than 60. opening locks - the circles snap instead of move slowly. walking is faster, npcs move faster. very noticable when fps changes.

ddu'ed nvidia driver, clean installed latest driver. going to try to capture video when it happens again. if it happens after the driver reinstall.

Are your ini files being ignored? If you're using a mod launcher, make sure that it's current or the correct version - sometimes they forget and overwrite, or load the wrong saved version. It seems weird that you know you've capped it and it's behaving badly.

[cheshirm]

no mods ever on this pc. launching thru steam or geforce experence.

do not believe ini files ignored. game starts and runs fine at 60 fps. played last evening no issues. today opened a locker for swag and fps changed to 350 exit/restart game ran at 60 for rest of quest chain until killed some ghouls then fps changed to 350.

will try to record it later or tomorrow. thank you for suggestions

[Zekiran]

its really weird that you've played with that specific machine without issue until now. That suggests to me that your OS or drivers did in fact change behind the scenes but with windows 11 remember that is not a stable gaming os by any stretch and has been known to mess with this game.

[cheshirm]

update. deleted nvidia driver with ddu. rebooted and clean installed latest driver. rebooted pc. uninstalled game, removed game folder in appdata\local and steam library, deleted ini files in Documents\My Games\Fallout4. reinstalled the game. used game ultra graphic settings again and weapon debris off again.

played for 2 hours with the same save that was doing fps 350 and 1450 on loading screens
and using the fallout 4 ultra settings. no fps issues.

quit game. ran geforce experience, optimized the game, and launched from there.
played another 2 hours with NVidia geforce settings. no fps issues.

appears that the driver and game removal and clean driver and game install fixed the fps issue. have gone from level 65 to 68 and finished the Brotherhood quest line with no fps issues. game continues to run on win 11 with the same graphic settings since I bought the new desktop Dec 2021 with no fps issues.

thank you everyone for suggestions

[Zekiran]

ahh the tried and true nuke it from orbit method.

Hopefully it'll continue to work properly!

[cheshirm]

nope, it has not. fps going 60->350 has happened several times. exitting/restarting fixes it.

today I finished the Emergent Behavior quest (turning robot Curie into synth). dialog started at 60 fps and when finished, game awarded me experience points then fps went into overdrive again. I did not touch the keyboard or mouse.

issue seems to be a game playthru bug. well, made it to level 75, finished all the factions quest lines except minutemen. will do that one on another playthru whenever the graphics update comes out.