Dusk - Stuttering Fix

[Josh Has Worms]

This is a quick guide for fixing stuttering in Dusk.

1) Set launch option "-window-mode exclusive"

2) If using an Nvidia card, go to the control panel and select "Manage 3D settings." Change "Power management mode" to Prefer maximum performance. This will prevent your GPU from running at a lower clock due to Dusk not being very demanding.

3) If using an Nvidia card, go to the control panel and select "Adjust desktop size and postiion." Set your gaming display to no scaling.

4) Disable GPU monitoring applications and overlays. Particularly if you have a GTX 1000 series card, polling the power % of the card, as many programs such as MSI Afterburner do, will result in stuttering.

5) Set core affinity to use 2-4 cores. It may not play nice with more than 8. I noticed this issue on a 7950X3D but you may notice the same problem on a 7800X3D or 7900X3D Ryzen CPU.

- You can create a shortcut with the target path as follows:
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c start "" /affinity FF "Path\To\The\Game\Exe" -Steam
- Set Steam launch options for Dusk as follows:
"Path\To\The\Shortcut.lk" %command%
- Bear in mind that Dusk HD has a separate EXE under Dusk\DLC\DUSK HD
- You may need to set a different affinity than FF. Try 55 if that does not work.
- Process Lasso can make this easier to set permanently
- If this helps, you can disable the AMD 3D V-Cache Optimizer Service for best results

6) You can force your GPU to run at full boost clocks using EVGA Precision or MSI Afterburner. In Precision, simply enable the boost lock. For Afterburner, I found the easiest method was to run the OC Scanner (takes a while) and save a new profile using what it detects. Apply this profile for Dusk, but be warned, it may be unstable, even if not in Dusk specifically. You can manually adjust the curve if you're feeling more confident.

7) Kind of a hail mary, but try going to the game EXE path and setting the properties to disable full screen optimization.

[Josh Has Worms]

Updated

[Josh Has Worms]

Updated again

[ChaosBahamut]

I just use SpecialK.

By default, it can force Dusk to use DXGI Flip. (which makes borderless window perform as efficiently as fullscreen exclusive would, and just as VRR-friendly as fullscreen exclusive)