Frame cap / Framerate Issues when playing in Borderless Windowed Mode [RESOLVED]
I solved this while I was writing this thread, but I will post it anyways in case this helps someone else.
tl;dr
If you're having framerate issues when playing in borderless windowed, while using the frame cap on a windows 11 pc, then try disabling "Optimizations for windowed games" for FF14 in: "System > Display > Graphics".
Problem description:
When I play the game in borderless windowed mode, and I use the in-game frame rate cap of 60fps, Steam's frame counter tells me it runs at 60fps.
But in-game it is very visibly below 60fps, maybe more like 30-40.
If I do "Main Display Refresh Rate" I get an identical scenario of 60fps from Steam's frame counter, but 30-40 in-game.
It's only when turning off the framerate cap that the game runs smoothly, but then it runs at 200 fps and uses 90-100% of the GPU instead of the 50-60% it did before, and I don't want to waste power.
(Especially when my monitor can't display frame rates that high)
However, when I switch to Fullscreen mode and turn on the frame cap, Steam tells me it runs at 60fps and it's properly running at 60fps. (When i use either "main display refresh rate" or "60fps)
So I think this is some kind of issue relating to Borderless Windowed mode just misidentifying my displays frame rate for some reason? Not sure why this happened so recently though.
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System info:
OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Home
Processor: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-13400F, 2500 Mhz, 10 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
Resolution 1920 x 1080 x 60 hertz
Monitor: Dell SE2417HGX
My NVIDIA control panel settings are:
Image Scaling: Use global setting (Off)
CUDA - GPUs: Use global setting (All)
CUDA - Sysmem Fallback Policy: Use global setting (Driver Default)
Low Latency Mode: Use global setting (Off)
Max Frame Rate: Use global setting (Off)
Power management mode: Use Global setting (Normal)
[Note: I am on Desktop so the only alternate power setting here is "Prefer maximum performance" which I don't want to use and cause my fans to run unecessarily]
Threaded Optimization: Use global setting (Auto)
Vertical Sync: Use the 3D Application Setting
Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames: Use global setting (1)
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A couple extra things I tried:
- I updated my NVIDIA / GPU drivers but that didn't fix the frame cap bug.
- I tried changing the screen resolution via NVIDIA control panel from
"Ultra HD, HD, SD - 1080p, 1920 x 1080 (native) - Refresh rate: 60Hz" to "PC - 1920 x 1080 - Refresh Rate: 75Hz" but that also didn't fix it.
An alternative solution I found is:
1. Uncapping the ingame frame rate
2. Going to NVIDIA control panel and setting my Max Frame Rate to 60fps and Vsync to ON to prevent screen tearing.
This causes the frame rate counter to be at 60fps and the game to actually visibly run at 60fps, and my GPU runs at a more healthy 60%.
However I don't want this to be my permanent solution since apparently external frame rate limiters can add input latency.
If there's any way to get the in-game frame limiter working in borderless windowed mode, that'd be the ideal.
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SOLUTION:
Ok I found the solution.
My Windows 11 settings were:
System > Display > Graphics >
> Hardware accelerated GPU scheduling: On
> Custom settings for applications > Final Fantasy XIV
> GPU preference: High Performance (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060)
> Optimizations for windowed games: On
I turned off "Optimizations for windowed games".
And NOW the in-game frame cap actually functions properly.
Both the Steam FPS counter and what i see/feel in-game are 60fps.
My GPU even went down to like 40-50% usage instead of the 60% i got with the external Control Panel frame cap.
So yeah big Windows 11 moment.