Issues with battery while playing FFXIV

[hyp3r1onsun]

Just started having issues with battery power while playing FFXIV over the last couple of days. While I'm playing I always have the laptop plugged in and charging and up until a couple of days ago the laptop stayed at 100%, though I do let it drain regularly when I'm not playing games. As of a couple of days ago however, it's started draining and then fluctuating between roughly 75% and 96%. The laptop is a HP Omen 15 and is roughly 4 years old. I've also tested with a couple of other lower demand games, and so far FFXIV is the only one with this issue.
As I imagine that this isn't particularly healthy for the laptop battery any help to identify the issue would be appreciated.

[FreshMint]

XIV isn't a very low demand game, are you sure this isn't a hardware issue?

[Slaanesh]

Originally posted by FreshMint:

XIV isn't a very low demand game, are you sure this isn't a hardware issue?

Definetly the hardware

[hyp3r1onsun]

Originally posted by FreshMint:

XIV isn't a very low demand game, are you sure this isn't a hardware issue?

Hardware was my first thought, but as I said in the initial post, I've tested with a couple of other games, though admittedly less demanding than XIV, and the issue seems to be isolated to XIV I am planning to test some more demanding programs when I have time though. But, as far as I can tell the issue seems to be one of the following:
1) The laptop battery
2) The charger
3) The game itself

[Acoustic Stoner]

battery is f***ed. yes they can last decades if treated right. or they can last 30 days if you abuse them or unlucky.

you got 4 years which is common. all I can say is check if you got a good laptop, one that turns on without the battery.

[hyp3r1onsun]

Originally posted by Acoustic Stoner:

battery is f***ed. yes they can last decades if treated right. or they can last 30 days if you abuse them or unlucky.

you got 4 years which is common. all I can say is check if you got a good laptop, one that turns on without the battery.

It's certainly a possibility, but the reason I'm not sure if it's a battery problem is the fact that the actual time it takes to drain when not on charge hasn't changed, it just won't stay charged while playing FFXIV and presumably anything that places a similar or higher load on the laptop.

[hyp3r1onsun]

Originally posted by °Dofus:

make a virus scan with reliable software.my suggestion.:bfengineer:

Already done with nothing showing up. Thanks for the suggestion though :)

[Sunny]

Battery is probably on its way out. There's nothing code-wise that would do this, so it's just the load on the machine.

Taking it to a repair shop to have the battery tested if you don't have the tools yourself should run you about $40.

(It really can't be the game itself, and chasing that one as an option won't lead to successful troubleshooting.)

[hyp3r1onsun]

Originally posted by i2ttoi:

Does your laptop have an Nvidia GPU, if so check that Geforce Experience doesn't have Battery Boost turned on. This feature will affect the battery after a while.

I would also check if the laptop has an app that allows you to limit the battery charge state.
For example, MSI laptops have MSI/Dragon Center app and has a feature to stop battery charging at certain %, such as limiting it to 50% for extreme prolong use.

If the battery charges to 100% and stays around that and you usually keep the laptop plugged in while you use it, such as playing demanding games, its going to die fairly quick.

If you don't have an app to do so, maybe you can use a third-parties, I don't know, maybe search for info for your laptop model and what people say about the battery and keeping it alive.

Another thing to look out for is what power plan you are using.
In Windows 10 or 11, type "Mobility" in the search bar, click "Windows Mobility Center", its an app, when it pops up, turn it on High Performance.
Doing so the laptop should use the power brick plugged into the wall, but if you use this game at High or Maximum graphics settings, it may need to use the battery as well to get enough watt to the GPU.

What is your laptop make and model and do you play this game with graphics set to High or Maximum at 1080p 60Hz or above?

Here's the system information:
Model: HP Omen 15-EK0054TX 15.6" Full HD Gaming Laptop (512GB) [RTX 2060]
Processor Type: Intel Core i7
Processor Model Number: 10750H
Processor Cores: Hexa Core
Processor Memory Cache: 12
Processor Clock Speed (GHz): 2.6
Processor Max. Clock Speed (GHz): 5
RAM (GB): 16
SSD Storage: 512GB
Graphics processor: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060
Graphics memory: 6 GB

Power Plan: In Settings > System > Power & Battery it says Best Performance. In the Windows Mobility Centre it says HP Recommended.

I play the game at a combination of high and maximum settings, though I do keep the refresh rate at 72hz with a 144hz screen.
For normal use I'll charge the laptop to 100% before unplugging it, but I do keep it plugged in while gaming.
Edit: I don't use GeForce Experience, or even have it installed so battery boost probably isn't turned on.
Edit 2: I've also been doing some research and apparently if the power being drawn is too much for the charger it will default to using the laptop battery, could this be the issue?
Edit 3: I should also mention that I've been playing FFXIV for roughly a year without any issues until now.

[hyp3r1onsun]

Originally posted by i2ttoi:

I would say yes to Edit 2, I personally had this issue with my MSI Raider laptop where I noticed when playing at 72Hz (monitor is 144Hz) that on Maximum settings for graphics the little LED light would pop on alerting me that the battery was being charged, yet I have it set to maximum 50% charge state to keep the battery in good shape for as long as possible, as I have had issues with previous laptops that charge to 100% and after a while the charge state drops slowly to 0 and then, battery is no good, so I am vigilant now and follow the recommendations for long lasting battery life.

Personally, I would check if your OMEN app has power control, GPU and CPU boost features and if they are overclocked, set them to default and don't turn on any boost type things, and in the game I would set the refresh to a 60Hz mode in the list of resolutions, you will have 60Hz selections, this will for sure help with the Wattage being used by the laptop, since most laptop chargers are about 120 to 180 watts, when an RTX 2060 alone will eat 180 watts for breakfast, and that is when the system starts begging the battery for help to keep high frame rates stable.

Thanks for the response, I'll definitely give your suggestions a go. I just wish I could figure out what's suddenly changed to cause this issue, because I haven't been doing anything different to the last year where it's been running perfectly.