Special K - v 0.10.3 - [HDR stuff probably]

[Kaldaien]

What's New? (Current Test Build :: 0.10.3)

I've opted to add a new form of frametime analysis to Special K's framepacing graph.

The old data (which still remains), was based on higher-level statistics and standard deviation; an uncommon representation of data not easily understood or comparable to expected benchmark performance and limited to a very small sample window of 120 frames. In short, it was useful to me for performance optimization and analysis but those numbers had no meaning to anyone else!

Fun bit of trivia, however, the color of the framepacing graph is based entirely on the standard deviation.

What are Percentiles and Why Should I care?

To put it simply, when we speak of frametime percentiles, we mean either the bottom N-% or top N-% performing frames recorded. Since I don't care about high framerates and only care about stuttering, Special K's analysis focuses on the low percentiles.

When numbers like "10% Low FPS" are being thrown about, it's another way of saying 90% of all frames drawn were faster than xyz FPS.

Common numbers used for frametime analysis are 10% / 1% and 1% / 0.1%.

It is my strong belief that 1% / 0.1% is not appropriate for measuring and tweaking game performance. 1% / .1% should be reserved only for people publishing benchmark scores because that's really all they're good for :P

I would suggest configuring the framepacing widget manually and selecting something more reasonable such as 5% / 0.5% or even 10% / 1%, but it is pre-configured for 1% and 0.1% since this is the most common percentile ranking published in online reviews of games.

How large is the dataset used?

There are two different datasets for percentile analysis.

There's one that keeps track of the last 1,000 frames and then there's an even longer-term one that gets a summary of all 1,000 frames every time the short-term history fills up with data. Effectively this gives a 1,000,000 frame history and that ought to be enough for anybody :P

If you're trying to find optimal in-game settings, I suggest focusing on the smaller 1,000 frame history. That's at least 8 seconds worth of data even at 144 Hz.

Conclusion

Knowing what this new feature is designed to measure (how poorly the worst-performing part of the game is performing), you should be able to use it to find the perfect set of graphics settings that keeps the two percentile charts in the green. Failing the ability to find any settings in-game that stop stuttering, you can always fallback to Special K's framerate limiter.

[galumn]

Originally posted by Kaldaien:

What's your monitor's native refresh?

My monitor is 60 Hz.

After playing around with SwapChain config, it appears I have to set BackBuffer to 2 and Max Latency to 3 for Prey (2017) VSync to run at 60 fps with version 0.11.0.37.

By the way, Kaldaien, is it important to set Framerate Limit to actual Monitor's refresh rate? Like, value that you got from testufo website[www.testufo.com]?

If I got 59.996 from testing on that website, should I use that value or I can just use 60.000 ?

[Kaldaien]

A fractional value that small isn't going to matter. If your refresh rate were for example 59.4 and you'd been using 60, that's a scenario where you'd want to use the more exact value.

[Fayaine]

Is there a way to use Special K to stop the Overlay Injector Origin uses forcefully on Steam Versions of their games ? I bought Mass Effect 3 and the Origin Overlay is causing the Performence to plummet everywhere while it should run rock solid with 60 FPS. Its known that the overlay causes this but since its forced no matter what in the Steam launch it doesnt work and is unplayable. I tried setting the game settings aswell as the origin option itself it gets ignored so yea its forced sadly : (

[Kaldaien]

I don't know.

I stay far away from all stores not owned by Valve :)

[Fayaine]

Originally posted by Kaldaien:

I don't know.

I stay far away from all stores not owned by Valve :)

Thats the thing it is the Steam version of it so (while requireing Origin ofc sadly)

[galumn]

From a brief Internet search, it seem Origin overlay is used as a part of DRM check.
And EA games sold on Steam will use different Origin client that do not have an option to turn overlay off.



I had planned to complete my Dragon Age collection on Steam. I'm glad that I've learnt about this issue beforehand.

[Fayaine]

Originally posted by galumn:

From a brief Internet search, it seem Origin overlay is used as a part of DRM check.
And EA games sold on Steam will use different Origin client that do not have an option to turn overlay off.

:lunar2019deadpanpig:

I had planned to complete my Dragon Age collection on Steam. I'm glad that I've learnt about this issue beforehand.

Its only an issue with Mass Effect 3. Andromeda runs without issues im sure Inquisition and DA 2 will run fine too. Its specific to ME 3 sadly.

Also it launches the normal Origin client just in slim mode. Its not a full seperate client or anything.

[Kaldaien]

Updated version of SKIF has slightly improved DPI scaling support.

I also snuck in a new feature, Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Global\master_<DLLName>.ini that will always load the settings from that INI.

Example master_SpecialK.ini

[Render.OSD]
HDRLuminance=17.766251

[Window.System]
Borderless=true
Center=false
OverrideRes=3840x2160

[Render.DXGI]
UseFlipDiscard=true
MaxRes=3840x2160
MinRes=3840x2160
SwapChainWait=200

[Render.FrameRate]
TargetFPS=60.0
LimiterTolerance=2.75
EnableMMCSS=true
PreRenderLimit=5
BackBufferCount=4
PresentationInterval=1
MaxBusyWaitPercent=0.715

The more settings you apply there, the more likely you are to break stuff, so .... be careful :) I didn't bother documenting it because of this. It's not ready for prime time, but for me it's VERY handy to have those settings automatically applied in nearly all of my games.

[HolyDeath3000]

Question does latest SK build have the new Witcher 3 fix you did for HBAO+ issue in the game. I been using that custom build you released a few weeks back.

[TrowGundam]

Well one of the newest versions has broken FFXIV. First it no longer ignores DPI scaling. You can see here that I'm getting a 1440p Framebuffer Resolution despite having the Application set to not use Window's DPI scale (I'm at 4K @ 150% Scaling.
https://i.imgur.com/XC9YSUA.png

Also some of the text is missing.
https://i.imgur.com/qHYAwrO.jpg
In the top right where the little hand cursor is there should be my character name. Also when I login there is no visible text in my chat log, which is obviously a huge problem for an MMO. :D

[Kaldaien]

It changes aspect ratio too it looks like?

[Kaldaien]

Can you also let me know what Special K's INI file states for the following fields?

[DPI.Scaling]
Disable=
PerMonitorAware=
MonitorAwareOnAllThreads=

[TrowGundam]

No, it is all 16:9. The Framebuffer resolution is just 2560x1440, while everything else is 3840x2160. So it is basically just taking into account my DPI Scaling factor (150%), as if it is ignoring the fact that I've gone into the Compatibility settings and told it that the Application handles scaling (because if I don't then the game thinks my resolution is 1440p instead of 2160p).

Here is the section form my SpecialK.ini:

[DPI.Scaling]
Disable=true
PerMonitorAware=true
MonitorAwareOnAllThreads=true

[galumn]

Originally posted by Kaldaien:

I also snuck in a new feature, Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Global\master_<DLLName>.ini that will always load the settings from that INI.

Thank you very much, Kaldaien, for this feature
I have always wanted to globally disable controller rumble.

Also, thanks for fixing compatibility with Prey. VSync now works normally.
This game is very picky with limiter value though. I had tried to figure out why the game still stutter and it turned out that the game does not like 60.000 limit. 😕

This game will stutter if I set the limit to 60.000. (video)
But if I just lower framerate limit to 59.999, there will be no stutter. (video)

Other games are not this sensitive. They all work fine with 60.000 limit.

[HolyDeath3000]

Looks like latest SK works now without crashing in Witcher 3 game again. With global injection. So I am curious Kaldaien. Did you make it so that it only injects into things that is reasonable b/c the 32bit injection is off right now but only doing 64bit. Which I think is totally !00% fine by me. lol.