Which is better: Using the in-game 30fps frame-limiter or using other programs such as Nvidia Inspector?

[himmatsj]

Which is better: Using the in-game 30fps frame-limiter or using other programs such as Nvidia Inspector?

Just curious, is there any difference if I limit my framerate to 30fps using the in-game solution as compared to using 3rd party programs such as Nvidia Inspector? Would one work better than the other? Or should they both be the same?

 

[Brogan80]

Are you forced to play @30fps because of hardware limitations?

 

[himmatsj]

Are you forced to play @30fps because of hardware limitations?

Yeah. I've gotten used to it really. Even without a cap, it only runs 35-40fps, so I increased a couple of graphics settings and put the 30fps cap. A much more consistent and smoother experience without the variable framerates, though obviously 60fps is better.

Anyways, can you answer the question? Any idea?

 

[Brogan80]

Well, I've never used Inspector, so I wouldn't know exactly what it does to the RedEngine. I'm guessing the in game limiter is there for the reason you have. So I would say use it.

 

[SigilFey]

On the whole, if a game cooperates with it, using hardware settings is preferable to using in-game settings. So RivaTuner, NVInspector, etc. will grant more stability and better results than in-game options. Sometimes. But not always. Usually, though. Occasionally.

It varies depending on (approximately) one kabillion different things. Best bet is to try and see.

 

[Brotoles]

I use the frame limiter from RivaTuner Statistics Server, but if you have an nVidia card you can also use the "Adaptive (half-refresh)" v-sync option on the GPU control panel. They´re both better than using the in-game frame limiter, I tested it myself.... Even the movies stutter like hell if you use the ingame option, while the RTSS one make the game very smooth and stutter free. This is also recommended on a Digital Foundry analysis about the game performance:

"We'd also recommend looking into the 30fps cap option. By limiting frame-rate, your CPU requirement goes down and there's more GPU processing time for more advanced visual effects. CDPR's 30fps cap isn't particularly impressive though, introducing frame-pacing issues. Our advice here is to use a 30fps limit in Riva Tuner Statistics Server (a part of MSI Afterburner), while GeForce GTX owners can also investigate invoking Nvidia's half-rate adaptive v-sync in the GPU control panel, a pretty fool-proof way of locking to 30fps on a 60Hz display, while enforcing strict frame-pacing."

link: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-the-best-pc-hardware-for-the-witcher-3

 

[CoconutChriss]

I'm using the NVIDIA inspector for Witcher 3 and I encountered no problems with it. You just have to re-set the fps cap after updates of the graphic card driver. But driver updates are a rare event... so this is not an issue.

 

[himmatsj]

I use the frame limiter from RivaTuner Statistics Server, but if you have an nVidia card you can also use the "Adaptive (half-refresh)" v-sync option on the GPU control panel. They´re both better than using the in-game frame limiter, I tested it myself.... Even the movies stutter like hell if you use the ingame option, while the RTSS one make the game very smooth and stutter free. This is also recommended on a Digital Foundry analysis about the game performance:

"We'd also recommend looking into the 30fps cap option. By limiting frame-rate, your CPU requirement goes down and there's more GPU processing time for more advanced visual effects. CDPR's 30fps cap isn't particularly impressive though, introducing frame-pacing issues. Our advice here is to use a 30fps limit in Riva Tuner Statistics Server (a part of MSI Afterburner), while GeForce GTX owners can also investigate invoking Nvidia's half-rate adaptive v-sync in the GPU control panel, a pretty fool-proof way of locking to 30fps on a 60Hz display, while enforcing strict frame-pacing."

link: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-the-best-pc-hardware-for-the-witcher-3

Ah yes I definitely did try the Nvidia Half Adaptive Vsync option. In fact, I always use A Sync with my games.

however, for some reason, I just felt that with A Sync, the camera didn't feel as smooth as a plain 30fps cap.

I did did try Nvidia Inspector, and it seems with that I am getting way more stutters in Novigrad and the framerate is fluctuating between 30 and 31 fps constantly rather than sticking to 30 like the in game solution.

 

[digitalray]

i tested this with benchmarking the frametime, i also posted screenshots of the diagrams a while ago.

nv inspector and in game limiter only help with the stuttering of the cut scene videos for me.

only RTSS limiter completely solves frametime issues to zero for no stuttering in-game.

i advise to enable both in-game limiter to 30 fps AND RTSS limiter to 30 fps to get a completely smooth gameplay and stutterfree videos

you also need to enable vsync in-game to resolve stuttering of cutscene videos and set vsync in nvidia driver to adaptive.

on lower end systems setting the pre render frames to 3 helps a lot to get a smoother framerate.

here is an article on pcgamer.com that explains it:

http://www.pcgamer.com/durantes-witcher-3-analysis-the-alchemy-of-smoothness/