DLSS 3 Frame Generation produces severe stutters/freezes

[boogayman]

I'm playing on RTX 4090 + Ryzen 5950x and 64GB DDR4 3200 RAM.
Gsync ultrawide monitor
Playing at max settings RT all on. But noticed this happens on any setting.

When Frame Generation option is enabled I'm getting severe stutterings/freezes. Noticing 2 types of situation when this is happening:

1. During cinematics or sometimes during gameplay. From the observation and replaying same parts again those freezes mostly go away so I concluded this first type stutters are because on the fly shader compilation process and it get's exaggerated with Frame Generation because DLSS 3 trying to generate frames during those stutters resulting in even longer stutters.

2. This is most annoying situation. Happen every time I close the map/inventory/pause menu or even quick read of the book/note. From the observation and measuring frame rate/times I concluded this is happening due to sudden change in fps. For example map operates at the maximum monitor fps for me of 167 fps (it's actually 175hz monitor but Nvidia Reflex + Vsync On in drivers caps it at 167hz) then when return to gameplay fps drops to say 90 so frame generation takes a few seconds to keep app with new dynamic fps situation of gameplay.
When pause menu is enabled frame gen is disabled altogether (very useful to see actual fps game is operating at before frame gen actually) and then when un-pause Frame Gen kicks in again and that produces a few seconds lag again.
Though I suspect that could be some other internal problem not connected to fps changes that devs need to look into.

What makes this second situation more annoying is that if first situation minimizes itself with time (as more shaders get compiled and stored at disc - until game or gpu drivers get updated - then all over again back to square one stutters) this second situation happens all the time. What's weird sometime those freezes after closing invenry screen could be 1-2 seconds long. sometimes those could be 5-10 seconds. Very annoying. Please fix. Haven't seen this type of behavior with recent DLSS 3 Frame Gen games like Portal RTX, Darktide or NFS Unbound and others. Only happens in Witcher 3 so far for me.

 

[Dr Doakes]

I'm seeing the same behavior with DLSS 3 enabled, #2 is especially egregious due to how long the stutters are and now often you access the menus.
RTX 4090 + Ryzen 5800X3D + 32GB DDR4

 

[mackanz]

I had major issues yesterday with severe stutters and fps below 60. Enabled HAGS in windows and enabled Frame generation in game and suddenly everything is super smooth with great fps.

 

[Dr Doakes]

This fix worked for me:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/zm4s4f/_/j0e4bew
Maybe the menu stutter issue is related to the Nvidia Reflex/Vsync cap that is enabled with DLSS 3 Frame gen? It seems as long as your LimitFPS + Frame gen fps total output is below that threshold (in my case Reflex caps fps at 116 on 120hz display) you don't get those prolonged stutters that can last several seconds.

 

[tjery]

This fix worked for me:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/zm4s4f/_/j0e4bew
Maybe the menu stutter issue is related to the Nvidia Reflex/Vsync cap that is enabled with DLSS 3 Frame gen? It seems as long as your LimitFPS + Frame gen fps total output is below that threshold (in my case Reflex caps fps at 116 on 120hz display) you don't get those prolonged stutters that can last several seconds.

Yep, i can confirm, 100% working, i set 55 fps limit on 120hz display and all stutters are gone.

 

[boogayman]

That didn't help me. I have 175hz monitor and I was setting 77fps limit. No difference whatsoever - still stuttering after menus

 

[Dr Doakes]

That didn't help me. I have 175hz monitor and I was setting 77fps limit. No difference whatsoever - still stuttering after menus

Try 55fps, this video mentions the issue may be due to any fps limit above 60

 

[wakeman570]

Just wanted to pitch in that the 55fps limit set in the DX12 settings file worked perfectly for me on a 4090/5800x3D setup with a 120hz screen. All stutters from gameplay and cutscenes gone, solid 110fps, feels perfectly responsive. This was driving me nuts, appreciate the help!

 

[boogayman]

Try 55fps, this video mentions the issue may be due to any fps limit above 60

Tried. Better in terms of stuttering. But frame pacing graph still shows some funkyness. I guess it's because game is capped at 55 and menu caps at 55 which removes shift between different frame rates menu vs gameplay. Still not super smooth tbh and 55 is too low. my system does 90-110 fps at 5160x2160 at Balanced DLSS + Frame Gen and full RT

Post automatically merged: Dec 17, 2022

Just wanted to pitch in that the 55fps limit set in the DX12 settings file worked perfectly for me on a 4090/5800x3D setup with a 120hz screen. All stutters from gameplay and cutscenes gone, solid 110fps, feels perfectly responsive. This was driving me nuts, appreciate the help!

It doesn't make sense. If you capped you frame rate in DX12 ini file to 55fps how are you getting 110fps in game after that?

 

[Dr Doakes]

Tried. Better in terms of stuttering. But frame pacing graph still shows some funkyness. I guess it's because game is capped at 55 and menu caps at 55 which removes shift between different frame rates menu vs gameplay. Still not super smooth tbh and 55 is too low. my system does 90-110 fps at 5160x2160 at Balanced DLSS + Frame Gen and full RT

Post automatically merged: Dec 17, 2022

It doesn't make sense. If you capped you frame rate in DX12 ini file to 55fps how are you getting 110fps in game after that?

After you set LimitFPS your menu FPS cap will be 55 but if Frame Generation is on your in-game fps should be 110 max. Are you not getting above 55ps in game with frame generation enabled?

And yes this does not fix all stutters. Shader comp stutters and general menu stutters remain but this should help with those prolonged stutters that happen when navigating in and out of menu.

 

[boogayman]

After you set LimitFPS your menu FPS cap will be 55 but if Frame Generation is on your in-game fps should be 110 max. Are you not getting above 55ps in game with frame generation enabled?

And yes this does not fix all stutters. Shader comp stutters and general menu stutters remain but this should help with those prolonged stutters that happen when navigating in and out of menu.

It actually doubles it in game you right!
But stutter still present after closing menus. It's minimized a bit but definitely not completely gone.

 

[RealNashty]

The LimitFPS fix helped with menu stutters, but the stuttering during cutscenes is still terrible. Multiple long repeated stutters that not only looks terrible, but it completely ruins lip syncing even after stutters resolve. Then the camera changes angle and the stutters happen again. It's borderline game-breaking tbh, it's happening with almost every cutscene. On a 4080 and 5800x3D.

 

[carlcamper]

The LimitFPS fix helped with menu stutters, but the stuttering during cutscenes is still terrible. Multiple long repeated stutters that not only looks terrible, but it completely ruins lip syncing even after stutters resolve. Then the camera changes angle and the stutters happen again. It's borderline game-breaking tbh, it's happening with almost every cutscene. On a 4080 and 5800x3D.

Yes, that's why I found 55 FPS still had occasional stutters for me, but 50 fps was the sweet spot for my 4K 120hz OLED where there was almost no menu and fast movement stutters, just the shader compilation ones left, which aren't as jarring.

 

[Calmmo1]

The LimitFPS fix helped with menu stutters, but the stuttering during cutscenes is still terrible. Multiple long repeated stutters that not only looks terrible, but it completely ruins lip syncing even after stutters resolve. Then the camera changes angle and the stutters happen again. It's borderline game-breaking tbh, it's happening with almost every cutscene. On a 4080 and 5800x3D.

Probably shader compilation, every unique animation/effect will have it, and those will be especially true during cutscenes. Welcome to DX12 PC

 

[tjery]

Ok, sadly after few more hours not all stutters are gone, they can still happen (especially in Toussaint - and they are not shader comp stutters). And with this FPSlimit set to 50-55 framepacing is bad. So please CDPR fix it, because its probably easy fix. Thank you.

 

[Mike_GS]

Are you people getting crashes with Frame Generation? I'm getting crashes with this setting, that goes away when it's off. Too bad, because the framerate sits typically between 35-65 without it in outdoor areas. I'm using Steam, Windows 11, 4090, 10600K, 32gb RAM.

On the other hand, I don't have much of an issue with stuttering using frame generation, except for a short while when I first tested the game in Toussaint (was maybe shader compilation, I dunno).

 

[Calmmo1]

Not really, but i've deleted the Dx12 dll the game comes with and im using DLSS and Framegen dll's that are newer than the game's ones. Maybe worth a try (2.5.0 and 1.0.0.4 respectively). My only issues were in and out of menu stutters that are mostly gone after going with a 55fps cap (also just to mention the statement above that 55 works because its somehow tied to the refresh rate is false since im on 240hz.. most likely the frame gen chip is hitting its limit or it's just still buggy being a new largely untested feature)

 

[Mike_GS]

Not really, but i've deleted the Dx12 dll the game comes with and im using DLSS and Framegen dll's that are newer than the game's ones. Maybe worth a try (2.5.0 and 1.0.0.4 respectively). My only issues were in and out of menu stutters that are mostly gone after going with a 55fps cap (also just to mention the statement above that 55 works because its somehow tied to the refresh rate is false since im on 240hz.. most likely the frame gen chip is hitting its limit or it's just still buggy being a new largely untested feature)

Interesting. Tried out the latest version of nvngx_dlssg.dll (it's 1.0.3.0 btw.), but still getting frequent crashes with frame generation on. No mods installed, latest graphics and motherboard drivers installed, Windows 11 fully updated.

EDIT: Crashes caused by Reshade files inside the Witcher 3/bin folder. It isn't enough to disable to filter, the files themselves will cause the crashes with frame generation.

 

[RealNashty]

Probably shader compilation, every unique animation/effect will have it, and those will be especially true during cutscenes. Welcome to DX12 PC

No, they're not shader compilation stutters I'm plenty familiar with those. They last way too long and are repeated, by that I mean there's multiple hundreds of millisecond long stutters occurring repeatedly for several seconds before they resolve. Shader compilation stutters don't repeat like that for multiple seconds.

Also, shader compilation stutters tend to improve as you play the game more. If that's what they were (and they're a reaction to camera changes during dialogue like mine seemingly are), they should be improving because TW3 uses a lot of repeated animations in dialogue as characters emote etc. If anything these are getting worse.

 

[Lors]

Exactly the problem I have with my 5800X3D+4090. It must be a problem on Ryzen CPUs. There is no such thing on Intel CPUs as you can see here at 3:55min and every other video with intel CPUs I have seen so far:

I have set the ingame FPS to 30 which gives me a locked 60FPS with frame generation enabled but eliminates basically all coming out of menu stutters and cutscene stutters as far I can tell. I play it with DLDSR x2,25 at 5760x3240 with DLSS balanced (DLSS quality shows too much flickering in trees with fine details because of frame generation in combination with lower base FPS).

Note: with DLDSR enabled these FG stutters are much much worse in comparison to 4K on my rig. And furthermore, the higher the FPS in the menu the worse the stutters with FG when you go back into the game. I also noticed frame time hiccups everytime I look into the sky, which will boost FPS quicky, and then looking straight again. There is a connection between these issues.

Btw. You don't have to change the FPS in the DX12settings under documents. You can disable FG, then change the ingame FPS and turn FG back on.

Really really odd bug.

PLS FIX THIS GUYS.