Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

ShodanCat
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:13 pm

Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by ShodanCat »

TL;DR below if you want to keep this short and sweet... Giants, please read this fully because there is clearly a game or engine issue here related to the interplay between frame rate, frame rate cap, refresh rate, and possibly Gsync or Freesync.

First of all, if you don't think you have any problems with microstuttering or bad frame pacing (or have no idea what I'm even talking about) then go ahead and move along to the next thread. However if you DO find yourself frustrated by FS22's frame pacing even with a very high end PC and Gsync display, read on.

My PC specs, to start with:

Intel 9900K
Nvidia 2080 Ti
32gb 3600mhz RAM
nVME SSDs
1440p 120hz Gsync monitor
Windows 10 Pro 20H2

The problem I was having is that FS22 just would not want to run smoothly no matter what I did. The *framerate* was fine as I could easily maintain 60 FPS 100% of the time with the game's built-in 60 FPS cap, or 100+ FPS with all the graphics settings maxed with the framerate unlocked with the F3 key after enabling dev controls - but it was with microstutters or bad frame pacing (i.e. frame time graph would look like __/\__/\/\/\__/\/\__/\/\/\ instead of just a smooth --------------.)

I tried every single iteration of Vsync settings, game settings, low latency modes, driver FPS cap vs game FPS cap, fullscreen vs exclusive fullscreen vs windowed, disabling fullscreen optimizations, you name the "fix," I tried it. I literally spent 4+ hours just testing iterations of settings. One thing I noticed is that if I had the frame rate unlocked, and as long as the framerate did NOT exceed the 120hz refresh of my monitor, the game ran smoothly. The obvious thing to try here given that would be to cap the FPS to somewhere between 60 and 120, which I tried with the Nvidia FPS cap setting but it would always result in the same frame pacing issues.

FINALLY I came across a post here on the subreddit containing the framerateLimitFPS console command which allows you to change FS22's default framerate limiter. I can't tell you why, but if I set it to 119 FPS, the game is suddenly buttery, silky smooth (whether I run up against the 'new' cap or it drops down to the 80s, the frame pacing is perfect.) There are still occasional stutters when the game loads something in or maybe compiles a shader, but they are few and far between.

TL;DR: Have a > 60hz refresh rate display (with Gsync or Freesync) and good PC specs but seem to have bad frame pacing (microstuttering) no matter what you do? Try turning on the development controls by going into the game.xml in your Documents\My Games\FarmingSimulator22 folder and changing

<development> <controls>false</controls>

to

<development> <controls>true</controls>

Then load your saved game and press ~ twice to bring up the console and enter "framerateLimitFPS xxx" where xxx is one less than your monitor's refresh rate, e.g. 143 if you have a 144hz display or 119 if you have a 120hz display.

Don't change the renderer in the game.xml to DX11, OpenGL or Vulkan, just use DX12 which the game defaults to anyway.

You MUST leave MSAA turned OFF and have either TAA, DLAA, or DLSS enabled. If MSAA is turned on or all post-processing AA is turned OFF, the game seems to default back to the old FS19 renderer where it hard stutters frequently (presumably on compiling new shaders.) You don't want that. I recommend TAA because of the ghosting issues that are present with DLAA or DLSS (until that issue is patched, anyway.)

You don't need exclusive fullscreen (although you can if you want.) The fix works with fullscreen or windowed modes just fine.
Lankspeed
Posts: 62
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2014 11:37 am

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by Lankspeed »

Thanks for this Yes I am seeing this on my 60hz 4k display.
bojanh66
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2016 4:08 pm

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by bojanh66 »

Is this the same as unlocking FPS in game and then limiting FPS in rivatuner statistic server (if you have 144hz monitor, put limit at 141-143hz) ?

Because thats what i do in every game i play, unlock FPS and limit FPS -1 or -2 or -3 of monitor max refresh rate in RivaTuner.
MilennialFarmer
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2018 7:03 pm

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by MilennialFarmer »

Have same problem since F19,GSync monitor, RTX 2080, etc. you cant do nothing about it , I think its game engine problem. If you have cap framerates and yout PC can handle that framerate cap without frame drops, you wont see any microstutreing, but like I said I think it's game engine problem, if it's same engine just updated assets or something else, you cant do nothing. You can try every setting on low I think you will still have same problem, microstuttering.
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b101uk
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Location: UK

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by b101uk »

as an aside, if you have mods that cause a crash upon exit to the main menu, like sleep anywhere dose, then the shader cache .sharc file is not written/updated, and thus each time you play there are always some shaders to be processes as seasons changes while playing a map, which are then lost upon the crash as you try to exit to the main menu when they are not written to the .sharc.

updating of shaders as you move around the map as season change, or use equipment for the first time including from the internal view causes lots of shuttering initially, just as in FS19.17/15.
plays FS15/FS17/FS19/FS22 on PC
:zunge:
GrandTickler
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:16 pm

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by GrandTickler »

its just a 1 time shader cache building thing, there is no fix for it. it will fix itself by playing (need to use both first person mode and third person mode and have everything rendered onscreen at least once before it stabilizes)
yetior
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Nov 24, 2021 9:43 am

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by yetior »

After loading-> tab spam, camera spam, mosue movements (360) , and Little pickup ride around farm to render everything and after 2 min fps is stabilied :)
ShodanCat
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:13 pm

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by ShodanCat »

As I've played more and more I've discovered even the fix I posted is not quite right and a couple of things to note for devs reading this post.

With TAA enabled, for some reason there are still certain times of day, weather, and/or location combinations that can cause frame pacing to fall apart again even if frame rate is over 90+ FPS (one specific example is the vehicle store on the US map during sunrise - if you look towards the sunrise itself, or look toward the gap between the service and dealership buildings, you will get frame stuttering no matter what your FPS or what you limit it to.) What I found is that enabling DLSS (have not confirmed with DLAA or FidelityFX yet) eliminates this issue and will give nearly flawless frame pacing 99.9% of the time.

Also, the "flickering trees" issue that some users here have reported (including me) goes away with DLSS enabled.

@GrandTickler and @yetior posts above: You will find that if your hardware and OS supports DX12, and your graphics settings are configured correctly, there is NO pause whatsoever for caching of shaders. :)
MilennialFarmer
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2018 7:03 pm

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by MilennialFarmer »

In day time it's fine with DLSS, but at night oh boy, oh boy... Also even without DLSS in Haut-Beyleron map, with TAA enbaled there is some "ghosting" on tractor and trees, when sun going down... Lets wait for fixes, fingers crosed :)
michele1048
Posts: 189
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:08 am

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by michele1048 »

the new reshade: TRASH TRASH TRASH
ShodanCat
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:13 pm

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by ShodanCat »

MilennialFarmer wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:50 pm In day time it's fine with DLSS, but at night oh boy, oh boy... Also even without DLSS in Haut-Beyleron map, with TAA enbaled there is some "ghosting" on tractor and trees, when sun going down... Lets wait for fixes, fingers crosed :)
Yeah, everything is a compromise right now... the FS games usually get patched up pretty nicely, let's hope :)
Hwyroller
Posts: 78
Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2017 7:02 am

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by Hwyroller »

Never had this problem until I got deep into Calmsden farm while hiring workers for contracts and doing my own fields. This makes it hard to play without getting a fn headache from it...
PS5
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skenzer
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat May 16, 2015 4:42 am
Location: West MI, USA

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by skenzer »

I am also dealing with this "micro-stuttering" issue. It seems to happen most often while driving inside the cab view. This lead me down a rabbit hole of it possibly being an issue with eye-tracking so I not only disabled it in game but also in the game.xml file. At first I thought this was the fix but alas the issue seems to persist.
I think it's important to distinguish Micro-stuttering from normal stuttering/lag. Micro-stuttering is NOT part of the "build up your shader cache" routine. It's a separate issue and one that isn't helped by simply driving around a map and building up shader cache. It also doesn't seem to be a hardware specific issue. I've seen this issue posted from people with a wide variety of hardware. For me, it's a random slight stutter, usually inside the cab, that isn't always there in specific areas of a map or with any particular vehicle
One thing that I have been noticing recently (and continuing to investigate) is the micro-stuttering seems to be more prevalent with mod maps, not the base game maps. I'm starting to do some testing on this.
I haven't tried adjusting my frameratelimitFPS as of yet, that will be next. This is a really frustrating issue no doubt. One that I'm only experiencing in FS22.
This is not a hardware issue or heat issue. I have gone down that road already and cooling is quite sufficient for both my GPU and CPU. The game is also installed on a RAID 0 NVME drive setup which is also cooled by additional heat syncs.

My hardware specs:
Windows 11
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite
Ryzen 7 3700X
MSI RTX 3080 (latest drivers)
32gb RAM
2 WD Black NVME RAID 0
Samsung Evo 870 boot drive
EVGA Supernova 1000
Multiple Noctua fans front and rear
Noctua NH-D15 cpu cooler
Farming since 2013
Specyfinder
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2022 3:41 pm

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by Specyfinder »

Not working :( after last update i can't play, drops, drops, drops..... shader cache starting build from about 5000 kb, now is about 26000 kb and is still going up, what is going on!!!!! giants !!!#%@&*!!* I'm pi** off because my pc isn't low and i can't run the game smoothly!!!! even on giants maps i have drops, i'm using mods with clear log
Asrock B460 Pro4
i5-10400F 4.30 GHz
RTX 3060 Ti
Xpg Spectrix S40G NVME
16gb ram ddr4 2666 to 3000mhz
cheftec ctg-750c 750W
iamFerr
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2023 2:49 am

Re: Fix for stuttering/frame pacing problems despite good framerate (Giants please read)

Post by iamFerr »

This fix worked perfectly for me. Thank you for sharing!

I've not played this game at all because I can't stand the stuttering. I have loaded into the same save weekly to see how it goes hoping an update has been pushed out, but nope. It's a software issue Giants needs to fix. It's gone too long like this already. I can play MW2 2022 on Ultra locked at 120fps 1440p but can't run farming sim? Lol give me a break. Poor support from the devs when a random user has to fix their problems for them
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