Help! The FPS is broken on FFXIV.

[Ultra-Zed]

Strap yourselves in, this might be a long story, but please bear with me.

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 @ 144hz
Graphics Settings: Borderless Windowed mode (because I have 2 screens and this mode is very convenient when switching between the two)
OS: Windows 10 64-bit (Version 1809, note that the issue also happened in version 1803 also)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700x 3.4Ghz
RAM: 32GB
GPU: MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X (8GB VRAM)
Frame Rate setting: Normally Capped at 72fps
Driver: 417.71, 418.91 (now 391.85 after installing it, not rolling back)
Hard drive/solid State Drive: I run FFXIV off a Samsung 1TB SSD

————-

A year ago in 2018, I decided to update my Nvidia GTX 1080 GPUs drivers from 391.xx to 398.xx. By doing so, the FPS in FFXIV has gone from being at a stable 71fps at cap, to not being able to maintain a good frame rate as the score lingered around the 40s. This was also the case no matter what graphics setting I play the game in.

I then rolled back to 391 and everything was fine again, with me thinking “okay that was a bad driver”

Fast forward to 2019 a few weeks ago. I decided to give updating my GPU another shot to 417.xx , I thought the error would of been dealt with by now either by Nvidia, Microsoft or Square Enix. But to my amazement the problem was still there, turning my GTX 1080 into something worthy of a console’s graphics card as frame rates were crippled once again.

https://youtu.be/Zi7Njyme3_w

I rolled back again and everything was fine with 391.xx.

https://youtu.be/NebLCV0gzhc

Now this time, things went very bad as Windows then updated from 1803 to 1809 and came with a happy little GPU update like a rotten cherry atop cake. Now I have no way to rollback at all! Great! >:(

After. I attempted to fix the GPU issue so I can play FFXIV with newer versions of Nvidia installed.

(Because I don’t want my GTX 1080 trapped on an old version forever what if Shadowbringers requires me to update the GPU drivers)

Here’s what I done:

Reinstalling the game, Didn’t work

Installing game on different SSD, Didn’t work

Manually uninstalling and reinstalling drivers. Didn’t work.

Using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller), Did not work.

Fiddled around with the Nvidia control panel and set vsync to the “adaptive refresh” thingy or whatever it’s called. Didn’t work, I know control panel is meant to take control of the FPS thing but it’s like it didn’t do its job properly and the program’s FPS can still be controlled via FFXIV still. (I saw this on a forum post in FFXIV where one of the GMs on the forums suggested someone to do this.)

https://youtu.be/8ligLlYyuOY

Tried different Hrtz (from 144 to 120) on the monitor. Didn’t work.

Reinstalled windows 10 and only had FFXIV on the PC and nothing else, did not work.

Tried it on my GTX 960, it had to same result so it wasn’t my GPU at all.
(When swapping GPUs, it’s like I had to install the drivers again. I am not sure if that is a normal thing?)

After those attempts, I was just beyond frustrated.

I thought that FFXIV didn’t like the newer updates beyond 391.xx BUT I FOUND AN ANOMALY!

When I took advice from others to re install (not rollback because the option was grayed out) 391.xx itself, upon doing so. This driver that used to work perfectly started to work the same way as the ones after it. 391.xx’s driver was halfing my FPS! So that’s proof it isn’t the games fault.

https://youtu.be/nZLE_3QMzzs

Also the second finding was that Nvidia should put an extraction path folder in the Nvidia directory (My PC > C driver > NVIDIA > Display Drivers) with 391.xx it did BUT with others (like the drivers after 391.xx) It did not do that.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...ia_problem.png

I have got some solution from the Nvidia Forums and my PC repair shop said “system restore it” which I know would never work because I already did that once. But I need advice from here because my friends think it’s best for me to do so.

I deeply love FFXIV, it’s a game that holds a special place deep within my heart.
However I am not good with computers. I shall give further system info upon request.

[Dynratygus]

Good afternoon and thank you for posting in the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

Ultra-Zed, could you provide a system report? Simply go to the 'Config' option on the Final Fantasy XIV launcher and to the right of 'System Information' click on 'Display.'


Hope to see you online!

[hynaku]

[hynaku]

I have my fps set at 60 fps but keeps spiking to 119 fps and then game just freezes up and disconnects me. My cpu and gpu goes up to 100% usage when does this.

[Ultra-Zed]

Good afternoon and thank you for posting in the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

Ultra-Zed, could you provide a system report? Simply go to the 'Config' option on the Final Fantasy XIV launcher and to the right of 'System Information' click on 'Display.'


Hope to see you online!

-=-=-=-=-=-=- FFXIV Information -=-=-=-=-=-=-

MyDocument C:\Users\Bradley\Documents
FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn D:\SquareEnixx\SquareEnix
FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn Language 1 Region 3
ProxyEnable 0
ProxyServer unspecified
ProxyOverride unspecified


-=-=-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-=-=-

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-=-=-=-=-=-=- Application Information -=-=-=-=-=-=-

FFXIVLauncher
#arts-and-crafts - Discord
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge
Settings
Settings
Microsoft Store
Microsoft Store


-=-=-=-=-=-=- Install Information -=-=-=-=-=-=-

Google Chrome
NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.21005
FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn
Corsair LINK 4
Google Update Helper
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x64) - 12.0.21005
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x86) - 12.0.21005
Corsair LINK 4
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Additional Runtime - 12.0.21005
Windows Driver Package - Corsair Components, Inc. (SIUSBXP) USB (07/14/2017 3.3)
Speccy
Vulkan Run Time Libraries 1.0.65.1
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x64 Additional Runtime - 12.0.21005
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x64 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.21005
NVIDIA Ansel
NVIDIA 3D Vision Driver 391.35
NVIDIA Control Panel 391.35
NVIDIA Graphics Driver 391.35
NVIDIA 3D Vision Controller Driver 390.41
NVIDIA Optimus Update 31.1.10.0
NVIDIA PhysX System Software 9.18.0907
DisplayDriverAnalyzer
NVIDIA HD Audio Driver 1.3.36.6
NVIDIA Install Application
NVIDIA Display Container
NVIDIA Display Container LS
NVIDIA Display Watchdog Plugin
NVIDIA Display Session Container
NVIDIA Telemetry Client
NVIDIA Telemetry Container
NVIDIA Update Core


-=-=-=-=-=-=- Proccess Information -=-=-=-=-=-=-

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C:\Windows\System32\smartscreen.exe 000028C4
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C:\Windows\system32\browser_broker.exe 000003C0
C:\Windows\system32\sihost.exe 00001EB0
C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe 000022E8
C:\Windows\system32\taskhostw.exe 0000284C
D:\SquareEnixx\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\boot\ffxivlauncher.exe 00001F58
D:\SquareEnixx\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\boot\ffxivsysinfo64.exe 00000EB8

[Ultra-Zed]

I've also done further experimentation

It seems that when I lock my Frames per second on "144fps (Refresh Rate 1/1)" The GPU usage shoots up right close to 100%

[Vahlnir]

I have my fps set at 60 fps but keeps spiking to 119 fps and then game just freezes up and disconnects me. My cpu and gpu goes up to 100% usage when does this.

I haven't been paying much attention to my own fps but I've had an issue since Tuesday's maintenance where my game would randomly freeze and just...shut down. Happened during a few TT matches one day and while I was afk yesterday. I don't know why but this could be a culprit. It's the only thing that really seems to come close to the issue I've been experiencing. Did a completely fresh reinstallation and made sure my drivers were all up to date (they weren't) yesterday so I'm hoping it was just a corrupt file or my drivers needing an update. Once I'm able to do an extended play session I'll be able to know for sure. Thing is though I was fine after restarting my PC the first time then a couple days later the problem returned. The game was fine prior to the maintenance on the 25th/26th and other games run just fine so...has to be something on SE's end. I've covered all my bases so the ball's in SE's court if the problem persists.

[Ultra-Zed]

I have not had word from a GM, since the last post I responded to.

Anyway. On Sunday (I been feeling pretty unwell as of late) I am going to attempt some fixes, I am not sure if it will be the right way. But it's the best I can do to my knowledge.

There are some things to me which stick out like a sore thumb about my problem.

* I've tried playing FFXIV on a diffrent GPU (GTX 960) even on the lowest possible graphics setting which did not change a thing.
* Reinstalling/starting afresh with Windows 10
*Reinstalling (Not rolling back because of unavailability of the option) 391.35 that used to work now doesn't

These to me, kind of point to either a motherboard fault or something in the software which is bugging things out.

The motherboard theory

My Mobo: Fatal1ty X370 Professional Gaming

The motherboard theory seems to lie at 40% in my mind. As there have been a couple of red flags. like the PC randomly disconnecting components like the Keyboard and mouse. I've even had a big problem where something would prevent my keyboard from connecting to the PC as the disconnection sound would keep playing over and over (with the LEDs on my Razer Blackwidow Chroma, flashing non-stop) till I switch it to another USB port. With the mouse, It does the sound with the LED lights going out and then coming back on again.

I also have 2 Ethernet Ports, the one I was using to connect online. When booting up the machine from cold one day, the port just went dead and refused to work. So I had to switch to the other one (the normal Intel one, the black one).

What I shall try to do as my first fix, will be seeing the GPU works in the other port, since I have not tried that before. If FFXIV's FPS somehow stabilizes without the use of Riva Tuner Statistics Server as the crutch to bring down the fps manually, It will be a motherboard problem and shall try replacing it, that's if it's still under warranty.

Software glitch theory

Now this one stands more at 60%

When looking back to last year, when Windows 10 let me roll back to 391.35. The problems of the FPS errors seem to go away, until I decided to update the GPU's firmware again. So Mainly nothing was wrong with ports.
It also came to my mind that this issue with FFXIV's FPS still lingered after a complete Windows 10 re-installation (I even tried different GPU's post re-installation). So I believe that even though memory has been wiped, there are still broken files lingering around. So this is what I am going to do on the software side if problems are still the same when I put my GPU in another port. (I feel that this is what I did in the old days if things kept failing to work)

First like the people on the Nvidia forum said for me to do, I will update the Motherboard's BIOS to the latest version, so there will be some stability. (then again since this step is kind of risky, I might leave it out)
I shall uninstall FFXIV, then lock myself into Safe Mode, use DDU to uninstall the GPU drivers, then restart.
Then use something like Ccleaner to scan and delete any bugged registry files and any other files left behind - this I believe will unclog the PC of nasty things that might be getting in the way of my GPU's drivers working properly, even when installing older drivers.
After a good reset, I shall install the latest GPU drivers, then reinstall FFXIV and see how it goes from there.

if that doesn't work, I really do not have a clue what to do next...

[Einmimiria]

Thank you for the update Ultra-Zed and I apologize for the delay in our response.

From what you've told me so far, it doesn't sound like the GPU itself is your problem (unless your 1080 and 960 happen to have the exact same issue). However, the motherboard issue may be contributing to it somewhat. As you mentioned, you may want to try the other graphics card slot. My thought is the one you are using may have an issue that might throttling Graphics memory bandwidth (this usually isn't an issue with FFXIV, I don't see why you would be hitting a memory bandwidth unless something is damaged).

I'm not sure if you have tried it already, but you might want to try a clean boot. Simply open the task manager and select the 'Start up' tab. Disable everything here and restart the PC. This will make sure that no background processes are interfering with the game. When you start the PC again, don't start any other programs or open any overlays (Steam overlay, Geforce Experience, etc.).

Please let us know if your other solutions changes your situation.

We hope we can be of assistance in helping you enjoy the exciting world of Final Fantasy XIV!

[Ultra-Zed]

Thank you for the update Ultra-Zed and I apologize for the delay in our response.

From what you've told me so far, it doesn't sound like the GPU itself is your problem (unless your 1080 and 960 happen to have the exact same issue). However, the motherboard issue may be contributing to it somewhat. As you mentioned, you may want to try the other graphics card slot. My thought is the one you are using may have an issue that might throttling Graphics memory bandwidth (this usually isn't an issue with FFXIV, I don't see why you would be hitting a memory bandwidth unless something is damaged).

I'm not sure if you have tried it already, but you might want to try a clean boot. Simply open the task manager and select the 'Start up' tab. Disable everything here and restart the PC. This will make sure that no background processes are interfering with the game. When you start the PC again, don't start any other programs or open any overlays (Steam overlay, Geforce Experience, etc.).

Please let us know if your other solutions changes your situation.

We hope we can be of assistance in helping you enjoy the exciting world of Final Fantasy XIV!

Thank you for getting back to me.

I will try and attempt my fix on Sunday. (it's been pushed back because of busy schedules), I shall also get back to you on the situation.