Huge FPS drop when building / terraforming

[Caleb367]

Windows 10, Intel i5 3.3GHz, GeForce 1050 Ti 4gb, latest (06/2021) Nvidia drivers installed (to be clear, this machine runs The Outer Worlds on medium/high and RDR2 on medium settings with no issues).
Every time I try to build something or terraform - every time the red / yellow / green dots circle comes up actually - I get a massive fps drop, to 2-3 per sec, on an empty map.
I've had this problem for years on Windows 7, I've recently upgraded to Win10 (fresh clean install on an SSD bought for this specific purpose) and the problem's still there if not worse.
I've tried minimum settings, modifying the Nvidia Control Panel settings, to no avail.
A few months ago I've tried installing the game on an old Asus laptop (4GB RAM, dual core, integrated Intel graphics card, the kind of old machine just good enough to surf the internet and watch netflix on)... and it worked smoothly with no FPS drops at all.
Is the game just incompatible with either the CPU or the GPU then?

[Bufnitza]

There definitely is something happening there. If you press F7 (or F8, not sure, but it is one of the function keys) the FPS counter is shown. I have observed that on my system which is higher spec than yours I get a substantial dip in FPS, although not large enough to affect gameplay (say, 70fps to 40fps) when having the building/terraforming tool open.

It is however very interesting that you have not seen this on such low-spec system as your laptop...

[3division]

Hmm.. thats really bad if it doing on empty map.. what about to try windows 7 launch option? .. it uses different version of DirectX.. also windowed mode.. ? Maybe it will helps? Let me known...hmm also some special recording SW not running such as fraps, OBS etc?

[Caleb367]

I've tried running the game both in windowed mode / Win7 and windowed mode / Win10. The slowdown keeps happening, slightly less severe on the Win7 mode (6 FPS instead of 2), no difference from fullscreen in both cases.
Odd thing is, as long as I don't have the building reticule open, everything runs smoothly at maximum detail with no hiccups (also, strangely enough, slowdown seems to not happen when building footpaths and bridges, only buildings and terraforming). Basically if the red/yellow/green building reticule appears on the screen for whatever reason, FPS drops like a stone regardless of resolution, windowed / fullscreen or launch option.
(I don't have any recording software running, only Steam)

UPDATE: I've just tried running the game (windowed / Win10, high details) while monitoring it with System Explorer in the background, and when the building reticule appears I get a spike on CPU usage, especially on Core 2. I've tried playing around with the affinity and with Core 2 deactivated the spike appears equally distributed on the other 3 cores. I've seen no changes modifying priority.

[Caleb367]

Just tried running a test game as before, but monitoring the GPU using GPU-Z. No difference at all on that, no usage spikes or memory use or anything when the building reticule is present on screen or not, so I guess it's safe to say it's a CPU issue.

[3division]

I would say.. it is normal some FPS drop.. or more CPU usage when terraforming tool present.. there are much more checks for collisions etc.. even if it is huge on empty map.. could be issue.. but still I would check rather for GPU than CPU..

Really no idea.. anyone with this problem.. ??? please let us known there!

One idea.. I get on mind is try verify integrity of game files.. maybe default terrain mask texture get somehow corrupted.. causing this.. worth the shoot.. but not a big chance :-(

[rostalex]

Hello!
I have the same problem. It appears after the last update.
On an absolutely empty map in terraforming mode or building placement mode I have FPS drop from 60 to 5.
Task Manager shows reduced CPU usage from 25% to 10% in this case.

AMD Phenom2 965, 4x3300 MHz, 12 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 760 2GB VRAM.
All drivers are updated.
Game files integrity is cheked.
Framework, Visual C++ and Directx are reinstalled.
Antivirus check says nothing...

[3division]

Hey.. hmm you can verify if it is update related.. by jumping into older version... it is same steps as there.. unless you will not set "test" branch but 0.8.5.X old stable version
https://www.dropbox.com/s/124rmnf25yrg090/betabranch.jpg?dl=0

But for me it seems if it appear just after update..it could be connected to fact that game is running now on integrated graphics card... please try check left bottom corner in the main menu, if there is stated your 760 GeForce

[rostalex]

Thanks, I will check now.
But my PC does not have an integrated graphics card.

[rostalex]

All previous versions of the game showed the same problem.

Then I installed some previous versions of my GeForce760.
FPS drops from 60 to 25.
It really better than 60 to 5.

Thank You, Comrade!

[Aberro]

Originally posted by 3division:

there are much more checks for collisions etc.. even if it is huge on empty map.. could be issue.. but still I would check rather for GPU than CPU..

Are you doing those checks on GPU? With compute shader? That's unorthodox, but actually good, but then it raises question why it hits performance so bad?

[vajeeking]

I tested run game with windows 7 launch option just to see FPS count if its faster option for me.
I have integrated graphic card , but seems like it just shows "0" and then checked cheat mode to see more info. All information there also just 0. those counters work fine in win 10 launch option.

[ash]

I don’t know why, but after I reconnected the Video card to the motherboard several times, this problem was solved for me.

[Caleb367]

Originally posted by mamel:

I don’t know why, but after I reconnected the Video card to the motherboard several times, this problem was solved for me.

That is interesting. BTW, since then I've upgraded my GPU to a GeForce 3060 and guess what, the problem not only it's still there but it got even worse. Everything else is the same, except the GPU and when I get the building reticle FPS tank to 2-3. For reference, my PC can run stuff like Cyberpunk 2077 on high detail with no issues, but had some serious FPS drop on certain Unity games (Chaos Gate Daemonhunters and Hard West 2).

[3division]

mamel / Caleb367 >> Who knows.. but what I can said.. problem is caused when game tries to read the big texture of terrain (to determine where are rocks) note the code is done according best practies.. but it is tricky part.. when CPU accessing GPU.. so maybe even the motherboard issue...

[Caleb367]

Originally posted by 3division:

mamel / Caleb367 >> Who knows.. but what I can said.. problem is caused when game tries to read the big texture of terrain (to determine where are rocks) note the code is done according best practies.. but it is tricky part.. when CPU accessing GPU.. so maybe even the motherboard issue...

I've done some poking around, and if it may be of any help, I noticed that the FPS drop also happens when I hover the cursor over the gravel mine icon, even without selecting it. It seems to be an entirely CPU-related issue (either the CPU itself or in its interactions with the MB or the GPU) as it gets a massive spike in usage on core 2 every time it happens with no effect whatsoever on the GPU usage.