Performance issues in this game

[nasenkobold]

I recently read about how awesome this game supposedly is and I'd really love to play and experience it for myself. It certainly seems intriguing but the constant performance dips (more like deep dives) just make me want to quit.

I have a pretty decent system (i7-9700, RTX 2080 Super, 32GB RAM, WIndows 10, drivers up to date) and tried all the suggestions I could find. Set power mode in windows to maximum performance, same in the nvidia drivers, limited framerate to 60, tried using nvidia driver vsync instead of in-game vsync, tried the "popupwindow" borderless fullscreen mode, etc etc.

Nothing helps. The performance drops seem to be completely random. The game runs great for a couple of minutes, then it starts stuttering when looking around and then after some time (if I can stomach it long enough) the performance miraculously recovers and I can enjoy a couple of minutes of smooth gameplay...maybe.

Totally ruins a (probably?) great game. Too bad. Next time maybe don't use the Unity engine unless you really know how to optimize your game, because that engine is well known to be a little b*tch.

[Quillithe]

Not sure whats causing the issue, but it isn't a normal performance problem because it runs perfectly smooth on my much weaker system.

[nasenkobold]

I'm not sure what a "normal performance problem" is but I'm far from the only one who has this issue. Just do a search for "performance" on this forum, there's plenty of threads.
I'm glad it's running well on your system. But that really only shows there's some kind of problem with the game the devs can't pinpoint or fix...because Unity. At least that's what I'd bet my money on.

[lieutenantkirtar]

I don't recall how to check but maybe try to find out if it is running off an integrated gpu instead of your 2080. I had that issue with some other game a while back.

[LUHLUH]

funny how you blame it on the engine when you're the only one with the problem. PEBCAK

[nasenkobold]

@lieutenantkirtar, thanks for the suggestion but my CPU doesn't have an integrated CPU and if it did, that would probably cause a very different kind of performance issue.

@LUHLUHwhater, learn to read little troll.

Anyway this was really meant more as a feedback for the devs.
Since the last patch released was in 2020, I'm not holding my breath, that this will ever get fixed. And since I already tried all suggested "fixes", I know I'm not going to get to play this until I get a new system and -maybe- get lucky. I'm not gonna loose any sleep over it but it is annoying.
Perhaps for your next game you'll consider investing in better QA/Technical Artists or whatever? Your customers will surely appreciate it.

[lieutenantkirtar]

If you want more direct help from the devs you should probably try the support forum https://steamcommunity.com/app/753640/discussions/1/

Or try using their support system
https://www.mobiusdigitalgames.com/supportforum.html

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by nasenkobold:

Anyway this was really meant more as a feedback for the devs.
Since the last patch released was in 2020, I'm not holding my breath, that this will ever get fixed. And since I already tried all suggested "fixes", I know I'm not going to get to play this until I get a new system and -maybe- get lucky. I'm not gonna loose any sleep over it but it is annoying.
Perhaps for your next game you'll consider investing in better QA/Technical Artists or whatever? Your customers will surely appreciate it.

It's unclear what needs to be fixed, as this isn't a general performance issue and seems to be specific to you. It's a somewhat demanding game by nature, but there's no evidence anyone else is having crippling performance drops that I can see.

Do you have it installed on a non-SSD drive? Maybe it's loading in planets slow or something weird like that.

[nasenkobold]

Why do you keep claiming I'm the only one with this issue?

https://steamcommunity.com/app/753640/discussions/0/3105763714505913250/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/753640/discussions/0/2518023667594479107/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/753640/discussions/0/2518023667589592738/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/753640/discussions/0/2518023667605973635/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/753640/discussions/0/1644290549105471125/

Those are just the first couple of threads that came up in my search. Quite a few posts describe EXACTLY the problem I'm seeing. Do a Google search, you'll find plenty more on Reddit and Co.

I have the game installed on an SSD.
Trust me, I've tried everything on this page:

https://www.mobiusdigitalgames.com/supportforum.html

I've been "troubleshooting" games on a 80286 16Mhz, editing config.sys and autoexec.bat files back in the day. I know how to build and maintain a gaming rig.
I'm using the latest drivers. Did a "clean" driver install. Tried resetting Nvidia driver settings. Tried capping framerate to 60 (I'm playing on a 60hz TV). In-game Vsync, Nvidia Vsync, no Vsync. Everything set to "high performance". Tried Borderless Window "hack". Lowering the settings in game does nada.

The stutter comes and goes randomly. I'm not a coder but my best guess would be that there's some kind of memory management issue.

Anyway, I just bought Hades and I'm happy. Moving on.

[Quillithe]

Those links say it's kinda demanding if you have minimum specs and it has an issue with high fps monitors without vsync on. None of it is about your problem.

I'm not sure what's up with your problem, but it sounds pretty unique - so you might want to try contacting Mobius support.

[nasenkobold]

The first thread I posted is literally called:

"Game randomly gets choppy on 60hz monitor"

I don't know why you want to insist but have it your way I guess. :D

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by nasenkobold:

The first thread I posted is literally called:

"Game randomly gets choppy on 60hz monitor"

I don't know why you want to insist but have it your way I guess. :D

Alright, so two people have this issue.

The point is that it's a very particular bug, not some general unity performance issue, so they can't just 'solve' it without feedback.

[tikiman]

I have similar problems with this game, maybe the same, even with a 9900K and 3080Ti, just random stuttering, which doesn't make a lot of sense. It was like this when I first bought the game on the Epic Store 2 years ago (on a 2080Ti then) and it's still like that with the Steam version. It's not terrible, game is still playable...but it's not great either.

[Snoopkirby]

if the dev can't reproduce it on his machine they need to let you profile the code so you know which part of the game takes way too much time on stuttering frames.
i didn't get the problem(or not as bad as OP), the framerate did get lower than usual on dark areas of the DLC but that was it, nothing unplayable.(with gamepad)

[Tichiya]

You could try reinstalling windows. No idea if that would do anything, but it's worth a shot if you're desperate enough.

[Cocohaddock]

I pretty much have the same problem with my computer (GTX 970 and i5 4690), although I'm playing on Linux using Proton, and haven't yet compared to the Windows version.

Sometimes, at the beggining of the loop at Timber Hearth, the game runs smoothly at 60 fps, but I only get 15-20 fps or so at the next loop...