WINDOWS 10 PLAYERS / DX11 Known issue and workaround

[Bernabucket]

Some players on Windows 10 have reported performance issues since the release of the last patch on Thursday, August 19 (https://www.curve-digital.com/en-us/ascent-patchnotes) and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and issues you may be experiencing.

For clarity, the Microsoft Store version of The Ascent on PC currently only supports DX12, regardless of whether players see “DX11” displayed in the in-game menu.

Whilst we are continuing to investigate with the help of our partners, we strongly advise players encountering performance issues to:

1. If you don’t have a GeForce RTX or equivalent GPU > Select DX12 mode in the game menu and check that ray tracing is disabled. Selecting DX11 doesn’t currently work (the game will still be in DX12 mode with ray tracing on, even if it displays DX11, unless you manually disable ray tracing and switch to DX12 mode).
   
2. If you have a GeForce RTX or equivalent GPU > You can turn on DLSS and play with ray tracing on.

Please note that when booting the game in DX12, framerate takes a short time to stabilize fully. We are working on fixing this and improving performance for players across all platforms.

***

Some players have also reported issues with downloading updates on the Microsoft Store. Please make sure you are running the latest available version of the game to have the best experience. This is how you can check if you are playing on the latest version on Windows 10:

1. Launch the device to the desktop.
   
2. Ensure the title is installed from the Microsoft Store.
   
3. Open Windows Search and Type “The Ascent”.
   
4. Right-click “The Ascent” app and select “App Settings”.
   
5. This should open a page with the version displayed under "Publisher”. The version should read as: 2.1.4.0

If you are not playing on the right version, you will need to uninstall the game completely and re-install it to get the latest version of the game.

***

We are incredibly grateful to every single player who has reported issues via the bug-report form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeL8E4yB2Ey_kh30AC1p00a0PQOCKPA1prSaaM2rlgnVdBCpw/viewform

Your feedback is very precious to us and, with your help, we are continuing to work hard on improving The Ascent for players across all platforms.

Many thanks in advance for your continued support and patience!

The Ascent Team

[Let's Go Brendan]

Many more bugs would be reported if you guys would stick to the Steam forums. They really are the best place for players to report bugs. Maybe even make a sub-forum for bugs. Besides, many don't like nor trust Google...

[grooner]

a) did you mean "the game will still be in DX12 mode with ray tracing on, even if it displays DX11, unless you manually disable ray tracing and switch to DX12 mode"

b) Ive had probs getting updates in store games recently but uninstalling a game to get an update is quite severe.

There are several things to try before a complete re-download

- Reset the game from app/features

- Click Check for updates from the store app
- Visit the game page in the store app
- Reset the store app from apps/features

- Install the xbox app if you dont have it
- Visit My Collection -> Manage Installs in the xbox app
- Reset the xbox app from apps/features

[Deltium]

keep up the good work devs. You have a really beautiful game here, and after a bit of work, it's going to be even better. Cheers.

[DarkReturns]

Love the game devs, keep up the good work with the patches! It keeps crashing for me unfortunately when I play single player mode. Haven't been able to play as a result.
2080ti, i7 8700k, 16Gb RAM and installed on an SSD. Ultra settings with ray tracing on, DLSS on performance mode at 4k. Cant find a solution anywhere...

[MRCP]

You are doing a great job dev !
Even though it's full of bugs at the moment, you all are making the right choice by communicating with the players, make sure things are getting fixed in a timely manner.

Keep those patches rolling.

[udtojan95]

I have an RTX2080 Ti, i9-9900k, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD and DirectX12 doesnt work for me. I can play the game only on DX11. If i choose DX12 everything is stuttering and sometimes i am even not able to launch the game or getting to the main menu.

[Let's Go Brendan]

Originally posted by udtojan95:

I have an RTX2080 Ti, i9-9900k, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD and DirectX12 doesnt work for me. I can play the game only on DX11. If i choose DX12 everything is stuttering and sometimes i am even not able to launch the game or getting to the main menu.

Did you try waiting a few minutes for stutters to go away?

[DantistSPB]

Quite a lot of games work badly in 12 direct . So maybe you shouldn't include it in the game at all ? This is a fairly common problem .

[tor]

Originally posted by udtojan95:

I have an RTX2080 Ti, i9-9900k, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD and DirectX12 doesnt work for me. I can play the game only on DX11. If i choose DX12 everything is stuttering and sometimes i am even not able to launch the game or getting to the main menu.

Is that with raytracing on? Raytracing is on by default currently, and raytracing will always have to compile additional shaders (with a fair chunk of that happening in the frontend), which is why it will have a heavier time compiling things compared to DX12.

[pedde07]

I am a little bit confused. Is your recommendation for all Windows 10 players or only for those who run the Microsoft Store version?

I have the Steam version and not the Microsoft Store version.
Should I use DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 and disable Ray-Tracing?

By the way I have a GTX 1080 and experience constant crashes (report already submitted).
I am looking forward to really enjoy the game when the problems are addressed.

[StructuralCalamitySaveHumanity]

Originally posted by Diabetus Maximus:

Many more bugs would be reported if you guys would stick to the Steam forums. They really are the best place for players to report bugs. Maybe even make a sub-forum for bugs. Besides, many don't like nor trust Google...

Or at least didnt use something forcing login to submit a bug, like why do i need google for this??

Id like to submit a bug report not login to a service

[FloppySword]

I have NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, played over 10 hours and game ran fantastic, updated, now the game is horrible running DX12. I have the Steam version. It stutters a lot to the point it is unplayable. I thought something was wrong with my graphics card but it's fine. Switched to DX11, rebooted, had small delay on start screen and then everything seemed fine after that.

[PlagasX]

Ray Tracing needs to be fixed. It's smooth without it but what do I have an RTX card for if I can't take proper advantage of all the new features of RT without crippling the performance??

[omgilovesteak]

I just cranked the game up again after 2 weeks of not playing... WOW the stutters all of a sudden and the fps is crapping out xD

[Let's Go Brendan]

Originally posted by omgilovesteak:

I just cranked the game up again after 2 weeks of not playing... WOW the stutters all of a sudden and the fps is crapping out xD

Give it a few minutes, it should only happen once per driver update.