30FPS 'Bad' Frame-Pacing: Why Do So Many Games Get It Wrong?
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
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I’ve been saying it for years: frame-pacing > frame rate. Whenever I play a game on my PC, I try to find a frame rate I can consistently hit, and then cap it with Riva Tuner to maintain an absolutely smooth frame-time graph without hiccups.
To my eye, this approach feels smoother than getting 10 or even 20 FPS more but inconsistently.
Yup 20 fps with perfect frame pacing is playable
Sure buddy, you've been saying it for years... Everyone seems to say that these days. People love to express their supposed foresight only in hindsight.
I used to try to cap the framerate, but after a got a gsync display I just use gsync + vsync + reflex if available and it feels smooth to me.
Let's add to that: lower input lag > frame-pacing > frame-rate.
Too many devs ignore what should be priority #1.
Also has the added benefit of your CPU/GPU running cooler and quieter.
When you look at 30fps games like Driveclub, and 30fps presentations of Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Santa Monica, and Kojima productions, it's clear that it's a developer problem.
HFW and Spiderman 2 had bugs. Returnal had serious bugs. .
@startraffick all games have bugs bro, this is not news
Last of Us Part 2 was so smooth on my PS4 Pro I hardly even noticed it was 30fps, and I'm a PC user with a 144hz monitor and a 4090 that runs pretty much everything I play over 90fps
@@mttrashcan-bg1royeah frame pacing is very important that good frame pacing could make you forget the frame rate on games that you enjoy, i remember playing cnc 3 recently and i dont care about 30 fps because atleast frame pacing is good on that and no massive input lag
@@mttrashcan-bg1royou are a fanboy, the last of us and uncharted at 30 very bad frames
Demons Souls PS3: FromSoftware 30 fps with frampace issues
Dark Souls 1 & 2 PS3: FromSoftware 30 fps with frampace issues
Dark Souls 3 PS4: FromSoftware 30 fps with frampace issues
Elden Ring PS5: FromSoftware 30 fps with frampace issues
Even DS3 with 60 fps patch (PS4 Pro) is still using bad implement of framepacing.. not all developers care that much about smoothness
At least even a settings toggle.... Software vs hardware frame pacing cap, let people choose between stable yet higher input lag frame pacing vs the devs implemented one with bad frame pacing but lower lag.
To be honest, that would be an ultra specific niche setting to have. Not saying console players are stupid, but consoles are all about simplicity and plug and play.
You already have to choose between between 30fps and 60fps and even 40fps, 120fps and ray tracing toggles in some games, the console options are already getting a bit convoluted. I rather developers focus more on absolutely hitting that 1440p-ish 60fps target most consoles titles are aiming for nowadays than to add a alternate version of an already optional 30fps mode.
Sure, options are always good, but it feels like the more options the less optimization.
I'm a simple man. I see Bloodborne, I click
Sekiro better
As per Blurbuster recommendation: vsync always on in driver settings, off in-game, VRR on, cap framerate 1 or 2 fps short of refresh rate
Do you recommand this with vrr too?
@@sinavaghefi1603These recommendations are specifically for VRR.
You are wrong. 3+ fps below refresh rate is recommended not 1 or 2.
@@dmer-zy3rb i go 6 below just to be safe
Whenever I play something on my Steam Deck, I always disable in-game V-sync solutions and just use the built-in frame limiter. The input lag it introduces is nothing compared to the buttery-smooth frametimes you get
True, I've also often opted for driver limiter on PC. That said, for precision timing games, which requires perfect timing input. Latency is far more important than consistency.
The running Man, on John's TV. Great Movie!
Only in a rerun.
on pc using SpecialK on dragons dogma 2 to enforce 60 or 30 fps limits works really well instead of using the default limiters in the game or your GPU drivers
AMD Chill also works really fine, way better than the in game limiter (at least in DD2).
Special K is the best guys!
@@agentsmith6161 Special K is a really good tool, it got me by surprise with the Metal Gear iconic alert audio when my game crashed 😂
Saints row "5" told me that a solid 30 in rivatuner isn't always the answer like the animations rudder even if it's a solid 30fps the issue, rivatuner stops the cap at the exact 33.33ms and that need like 1 more fps (31fps yikes territory) for the animations to appear more... proper like it needs those extra milliseconds fewer to be a bit smoother. I felt like this was an OK example to share here
I prefer (If may hardware handle more than 40 but can't handle 60+ fps all the time) capping at 40 is way more effective than 30 becouse you cap frametime to 25.00 and feels more responsive than 33.33
That why I use Special K instead. I think it's a bit better overall.
If i can have stable frame pacing in both 30 and 60, i would choose 60 everyday, but if im feeling stutters every second then im more then glad to go back to 30 for consistency, on pc i normally use rivatuner limiter and it works better to clean up the frame time than the actual game frame limiter.
Honestly... and I understand this would be yet another option needed to be added for consoles (not that that's bad), but PC almost always has these anyways. Why not literally just offer both versions of framerate capping (Triple Buffer, and whatever standard solution the dev is offering) and then allow users to choose? I mean, if there really are people that don't notice the issues of improper frame pacing, then they could use the lower input latency version and everyone else who does notice it could use the triple buffered solution. It's still not optimal in that there are of course more complex, better solutions (or in some cases you might be able to get away with Double Buffering if your framerate is capable of ALWAYS staying above 30FPS), but still... It would be nice to have this issue resolved once and for all.
Motion blur enabled at 30fps on steam deck has been amazing for most games for me.
Try it at 40fps. Some games are so much better at 40.
@@Moshenokoji Try it at 60fps, some games are so much better at 60fps.
Try it at 120fps, it feels way better than 60 @Moshenokoji
@@Stefantius The Steam Deck hardware refresh is a 90Hz display. The original Steam Deck is only 60Hz. However, with the Steam Deck being an "Entry Level" device, a lot of the more popular recent titles can only achieve 30 FPS or 40 FPS, or are outright unplayable. As a result, the frame pacing above 40Hz is very uneven and the rare 60 FPS moments in the game make the rest of the game less pleasant. Keeping a consistent 40 FPS across the entire title makes it overall more enjoyable, and 40 FPS/40Hz is more pleasant than a 30 FPS cap on a 60Hz/90Hz refresh. Almost all games are better at 40 FPS (40Hz), like almost all games are better at 60 FPS (60Hz) or 120 FPS (120Hz). 30 FPS to 40 FPS is a sizeable improvement of 30%, which the Deck is often, but not always, capable of.
Can't stand motion blur personally
Stable fps is always better than higher fluctuating fps, even with variable refresh rate technologies.
Not if u have vrr screen
@@KILLACRISIS215 I said “even with vrr technologies” for a reason. A fluctuating frame rate means fluctuating input delay which can mess up your timings in hardcore games. It also prevents your eyes and brain from synchronizing to the rhythm of the frame delivery.
VRR should only be used to smooth out occasional drops below your chosen cap.
@@MerryBlind TenZ, Demon1 and m0NESY would like to discuss your theory of fluctuating frame rate messing up timing in 'hardcore' games. ruclips.net/video/XDHtXDva4Uk/видео.html
@@fwabble Different frame rates and refresh rates literally affects how long a frame is displayed on screen and therefore affects the responsiveness. It’s not a theory it’s literally facts.
Of course the higher the fps, the smaller the difference in frame times, so fluctuating between 220fps and 240fps won’t affect your timings much. However if you’re fluctuating from 60-120 then yes it will surely affect your timings.
@@MerryBlindhardcore gamers would never accept 30fps Lmao
My problem with 30FPS, is that some games just don't work right with it anymore. The latest WWE game runs extremely slowly at 30FPS as in everything in the game slows to a crawl and there is at least one RPG I know where you get severe audio desync if you aren't running it at 60. Then there's the severe ghosting some games give if running at that framerate. I used to love 30 because I can knock the graphics all the way up without a care in the world, but now it's not feasible because certain games break when forced to that speed.
I cap everything on my PC to 60fps even though I could get way more in many titles. But frame consistency at a very manageable FPS is a way better experience.
Love total recall and Arnie.
But it’s Running Man in the background.
@@awesomereviews1561 oh yeah, thats conchita :D
It's 2024. This is pathetic. It's like nobody has noticed were in SPACE AGE DATE and talking about stutters on half assed 2D screens dribbling along at 28FPS....... This is pathetic for 2014, nevermind now. I'm ashamed of humans corporate greed - which is the root cause of this carefully chosen stagnation.
Dude legit got Running Man on in the back......
ur totally right ,i call it Bizarre
Dude, code it yourself since we're in space age and it's so easy.
The stagnation began around the late 00's, after AMD was unable to push the GHz wars beyond 3GHz. After that we settled on the 4GHz thermal barrier, beyond which it was difficult to progress. We found ways of optimizing that 4GHz, by offloading some tasks into separate threads. Digital Foundry often refers to the "Simulation thread" and the "Graphics Render thread". Without "Artificial Intelligence", or other highly trained machine learning algorithms, it seems to be difficult to parallelize instructions for multi-core CPUs.
If by "carefully chosen stagnation" you mean Intel decided... I suppose it could potentially be "Microsoft decided", but Apple did switch to Intel in the late 00's.
Perhaps there is potentially an argument to be made that it is "pathetic" for 2024, however, I would argue against it being pathetic for 2014. 2014 is a direct extension of the single core era of computing, and is a transition period into the multi-core "A.I." era. NVIDIA began experimenting with CUDA cores and PhysX in the late 00's, before which the technology could hardly be considered "mature" enough to move the entire Windows ecosystem/infrastructure to. Apple didn't even make the move until 2020.
Yet, the market interest in Apple Silicon hasn't displaced the Windows ecosystem. There isn't as high a demand for more computing power in the consumer space as there is in Enterprise/Business.
What is pathetic is that game developers and publishers are not properly aware of how technology is progressing, and fail to properly plan for the stagnation by focusing on optimizing their games to provide a better experience than stutters and 28 FPS as we seemingly approach the zenith or "endgame" of traditional x86 architecture and the WinTel platform.
Good comment.@@marvinmallette6795
On singleplayer games (except super fast paced ones like doom) i can accept 30 fps but only if the input lag is fine, no frame pacing, physics problem. Sadly 95% games i play have atleast one of these issues at 30 fps :(
We should stop making all these excuses for developers. If frame pacing is bad, be it on PC or console, it is due to either sub-par developers, laziness from the developers, or games being released too early and once the money has been made, they usually move on and leave games broken or bugged. We keep making excuses for them, they carry on giving the same quality of work. No more excuses, it is unacceptable.
All the morons that pre-order games are a huge part of the problem too. If gamers would "vote" with their wallets by not buying a game until it isn't in a garbage state of performance & bugginess, then developers would learn their lesson.
@@mattspeer01 Agreed
It's the fucking Glitch Gremlins, NOOOOOOO!!!
This is the main culprit of poor performance in dd2 for me. If the locked 30 fps mode had good frame pacing then it would be fine as the game never drops below 30 fps target(so far at least)
A fair target for a platform that only cost $500 for new AAA games is native 1440p/45fps locked solid without RT.
120 or 60 aren't divisible by 45? Why would that be a good FPS?
no it's the gamers who are wrong, game devs never make any mistake
u must be joking :)
Are you trolling or what? Frame pacing issues is really serious problem, i dont need fps meter at all to get annoyed by awful frame pacing
I just use de-judder or something like depending on your tv model along with BFI medium if your tv supports it and games look great mind you the input lag, but it’s not that bad if your not playing competitively.
I don't understand how it is so hard for developers to just use VSync to pace the frames and just make sure you stay just under the frame time with your updates and rendering. Sure, you'll tie input latency to the frame time in a naive implementation, but it's so easy... If you want lower input latency, just let the input handling run at 60 Hz if you're doing a 30 fps game, and, again, tie the rendering and whatever else won't smoothly run at the screen refresh rate to the VSync.
Where are my gremlin bros that says framerate/pacing doesn't matter if the game is good 😅
It may not make the game unplaylable still annoying seriously, luckily rivatuner can fix that with fps limiter
Having this problem with dragons dogma 2 and rise of the ronin…got them both when they released the same day…and they BOTH have the worst frame pacing and jitters I’ve seen in a long time. Unfortunately unplayable at the moment…
you could give AAA devs reasonable launch dates, and budget, and we'd still have games littered with technical issues
A Plague Tale Reqium felt not good at 30 on Series S while Starfield was much better at 30. I think Frame Pacing is really important. Especially if the FPS are below the refresh rate of the monitor.
What is playing in the background of John's video? Lol
Looks like Total Recall.
Running Man@@HeavyMetalSonicRM
FromSoftware Disease
😂
IFS - Inconsistent Frame Syndrome
man if only there is a way to lower input lag by like... running the game faster? man... if only there was something like that i wonder.
Well, you could eliminate a lot of modern stuff and play something like the Star Trek: Elite Force series. The "simulation" of rats in "A Plague Tale: Requiem" is a fair case study as to what compromises were required to achieve a locked 30 FPS. Generally, it is easier to achieve a more visually impressive title at 30 FPS. As long as the game doesn't depend on input timing like a Souls-Like or Jedi: Survivor... I don't know where Dragon's Dogma 2 lands. I would be critical of Helldivers 2, I might be too competitive for a sub-60 FPS experience, though the less serious humor of the title might relieve me of taking the game seriously, and enjoy the humor rather than the competitive need to win.
Even if its 0 dropped frames 30fps is too low for my oled TV.
It would have to be a game with static backgrounds like old school resident evil.
Any game where you turn and rhe camera goes with you... Nope.
I’m a simple man. I see The Running Man, I keep watching.
Why consoles don't cap they fps like Afterburner does on PC when i cap any game i get a solid flat frametime graph with no input lag bc don't turn on vsync/triple buffer and with freesync or VRR in consoles in theory you will not get any screen tearing
sometimes i actually prefer well paced 30 in more visually focused games. if done well it can really look like a movie withiut too much input lag, and sometimes 60 can look a little uncanny vice versa
No
@@cured_bacon647 gay
I feel ya. I been gaming for over 30 years. And I don’t ever remember complaining about 30 fps. Certain games I also feel like 30 fps is better especially when good quality motion blur is used.
Same here! I agree!
cant wait the ps6 to have 8K games at 29 fps
Will be 120 fps for xbox
@@1997Ghost I got Xbox, your smoking scooby doo d i c
This is why I pay for good hardware (PC) and always play in 144 fps on games that allow it. Frame-pacing becomes less of a problem at high framerates and the game is so much smoother. I don't wanna be locked into a console and be at the mercy of the game developer, on pc you can tweak ini to turn off frame caps or use mods to do the same thing where ini files do not allow it. You can also use lossless scaling to generate frames on 60 fps capped games. For example on Elden Ring in order to play online you can't use mods coz of the anti-cheat, but you can use lossless scaling to generate frames so you get more than 60 fps because it applies after the cap and is an actual steam app which 100% won't be flagged by anti-cheat.
Yes..but the pc ports are very, very bad. You can solve bad frame pacing (sometimes) but not shader compilation issues or animation stuttering. Consoles are the priority for the developers and it shows. I play on both pc and consoles. Console experience was always better. (at least since PS4/Xbox One generation..)
@@agentsmith6161 Tbh most of these consolised ports are terrible games anyway so I don't even buy them. I came to PC to get away from these garbage games. Half the time they are terribly optimised on console as well. This is not a PC issue, it is game devs these days not having a clue how to optimize a game. Dragon's Dogma 2 for example, runs bad no matter what system you play it on XD
@@AaronWOfficial "This is not a PC issue, it is game devs these days not having a clue how to optimize a game. "
I respect your opinion. But you are wrong. Ths is a pc issue. You probably did not play enough console games. Dragon's Dogma it's an exception. I can give you tons of other examples where console versions are way, way better then the pc version. From The Last of Us that run like crap on pc or older titles like Arkham Knight. Both of them run perfect on console. On pc they were horrible.
@@agentsmith6161 Not wrong. Last Of Us and Arkham Knight both console ports, both poorly optimized because the devs don't have a clue. There are many good console ports that are optimized well. Not a PC issue, pc hardware is leaps and bounds above console in specs it is the devs doing lazy ports that is the issue
Darn gremlins…
I still play on PS3 and many games do have a better pacing than the PS4 and PS5 have to offer. Devs are really lazy shits these days
Just started playing fortnite never ever played it before i have a top spec pc no matter what i do the lock 60fps mode always feels smoother better and better aim and shot lands than cranking the fps and watching it wobbly all over.. 60fps lockd down works best and looks best
If only lumen and nanite high were just slightly less cpu intensive I could say the same, driving a car rapidly shifting the assets I’m near makes even 60fps a stuttering mess for me😔
I do personally think going with a somewhat uneven 30fps is fine if there is lower input latency compared to doing it properly. I find this with the Steam Deck's fps limit where there is a lot of noticible input lag when engaged.
Hi, I'm about to comment on a DF video. I have either not bothered to watch the video, or I watched it but I don't care/don't understand what the guys are saying. I will, of course, complain about game devs being lazy, that everything can be better with just a little more effort and expertise, and that according to my objective, totally universal, layman perception and opinion, that is totally a big issue and why games suck today.
Horizon forbidden west tiene problemas de frame rate , y con reflex.
I can run some games on 60 on my 4K tv by picture smoothing settings
Dragon's Dogma 2... shitty frame pacing and frame rate. The fact people are calling it Game of the Year material is laughable considering what a complete piece of shit it is across all platforms.
Are those new PS5 Pro??
0:44 WTF is that laugh?
Rise of the Ronin, a PS5 exclusive, you got that right, A PS5 EX-CLU-SIVE, steps on stage:
"Hold my fucking beer."
.
Very impressive
Exactly!
I knew you were a racist
Like if fromsoftware care about input lag.
16 fps is al the human eye can see.
It's actually 16 to 24 but only upto 5 hours
@@audie-cashstack-uk4881u ppl r stupid. its only 24 fps when full moon...
16FPS is the true cinematic experience 😂
@@BasePuma4007 It is, it all depends on how those 16 frames are presented for the public.
Because 4 years later this consoles are dated. That simple
They where already dated before they began production.
i wonder if statements like this contribute to the dire situation with performance in modern software.
Not really they are quite capable still but engines like UE5 are dogshit.
Not sure tbh? But have you guys seen King Thrash exposing yalls preference for Microsoft yet again, with yalls recent Hellblade 2 coverage? Its even more blatant than how he exposed yall years ago, with the hilarious Gears 5 coverage. #yikes
What? Is digital foundry merely covering a Microsoft game - and stating positive things about it - evidence of a Microsoft bias? You fanboys are so insufferable. This kind of whining is so stupid.
@@BasePuma4007 Tell me about it. Microsoft flying press to thier offices in exchange for perks works like a charm. John has to be the biggest fanboy by far, yet I dont remember him getting flown out for a wine & dine.
Cant wait to compare Johns early takes on Hellblade 2, & compare them to Hellblade 2 when it actually drops. You Xbots gonna be the laughing stock yet again my guy. Thank you Series S lol
@@ronniepatterson2827 You think John is an Xbox fanboy? Are you kidding me?😂
He's literally been on the record multiple times on DF Direct Weekly stating that he wishes Microsoft never entered the the console business, and that his preference was with PlayStation. You are exactly the kind of fanboy that is ruining discourse on this channel. You are so deluded that you think a guy that has explicitly stated his preference for PlayStation is a fanboy because he doesn't tell you exactly what you want to hear about the $500 plastic box that you're obsessed with. 😂
It doesn't get any worse than this. 😂
@@ronniepatterson2827 Another brilliant comment, no I'm not an "Xbot." I'll be playing Hellblade 2 on my PC, and I'll enjoy it. Just like I'll enjoy Treyarch's new COD this fall, just like I'll enjoy the new Indiana Jones game this fall. Try again with someone else, kiddo.
It's a playstation thing. Xbox is better.
That is a complete nonsense 🤦🏻♂️
its on both consoles someone need to pay more attention to the videos
Definitely a shame last place Sony has zero games, features or specs to compete all gen.
@@Ryan-yi5ro 🤡
@@Ryan-yi5ro 🤡
Less input lag > frame pacing