The online racing simulator
Windows 8 FPS limiter bug
(9 posts, started )
Windows 8 FPS limiter bug
Short description of the bug:
When running the game on Windows 8, limiting the framerate at 100 FPS drops the actual framerate around 90 FPS and the game microstutters considerably. Other FPS limits are also working weirdly, see screenshots below.

Sample screenshots:
1. No FPS limiter enabled smooth gameplay, no microstuttering
2. Limiter set to 100 FPS results in 90.9 FPS
3. Limiter set to 83 FPS results in 83 FPS
4. Limiter set to 50 FPS results in 47.6 FPS
5. Limiter set to 30 FPS results in 29.4 FPS

Also, the game runs in full screen at around 170 FPS, but when I run it windowed, I'm hitting the hard coded fps limit at 300+ FPS, not sure if this is related to the bug or not. Tried running SLI enabled and disabled, no change. Also tried forcing maximum power setting instead of adaptive in drivers, no change.

System & software:
Rampage IV Extreme
i7-3930K
16GB RAM
2x GTX 680, reference models in SLI, 306.97 WHQL Driver
Windows 8 Pro 64-bit, legit
LFS - Tested both 0.6B and the 0.6B10 test patch, problem occurs on both releases

If this is just a driver problem, I'll update the title.
AFAIK Windows 8 uses hybrid shutdown by default, I have the same problem on Windows 7 with some games when I hibernete system.

Try turn off hybrid sleep/shutdown or try cold boot (when you power on PC, just restart it after system loading).

This always helps me.
I don't exactly see how hibernation could possibly be related to this? I always run hibernation disabled anyway, so that's definately not the case here. Never happened on windows 7, hibernation enabled or disabled.

Does anyone else running w8 have a similar issue?
With that hardware you should be hitting like 500fps anyway Have you checked that your drivers are all up to date? Also does this occur in other games?
Yeah, all drivers are up to date. This only happens with LFS when using the ingame FPS limiter.

All other games run as they should and the system performs just like it did on windows 7. Then again, I use vsync on pretty much all other games, which always limits the framerate to 60 FPS. LFS works fine with vsync enabled too of course and there's no microstuttering then either, but I used to run 100 FPS limit with vsync disabled on win 7 since the physics run at 100Hz.

If someone on AMD graphics and win 8 could comment how the FPS limiter works on their hardware, that would help to pinpoint is this a Nvidia driver problem, or something with LFS code that doesn't like windows 8.
Tried disabling the dynamic cpu tick feature of windows 8 thinking that might be related to this, but it made no difference. I'm starting to think this must be something Nvidia driver related, like the LFS AF bug that they fixed.

Secondly, what does the "minimum sleep" setting in options/misc do technically? Increasing it makes the framerate drop to around 40 FPS at maximum value.

I think it would be more user friendly to have more of the little question mark helpers in LFS options that aren't self-explanatory, see attachment.
Attached images
lfs_00000141.jpg
I have the same problem with LFS in Win8 and still could not find the solution too. In win7 LFS runs without problem. Maybe some developer LFS could check it and respond.
Well, I updated to the newest win8 Nvidia beta drivers (310.64) and the issue is still here.

I did find sort of a hack-solution to the framerate limiter/stuttering bug until it's fixed by whomever. I downloaded and set EVGA Precision (GPU overclocking/monitoring software) to 100 FPS global limit, and that seems to work just fine with LFS atleast. No microstuttering anymore and the graphics card(s) run much, much cooler and quieter now. Screenshot @ 100 FPS

Also took screenshots of the strange FPS drop related to fullscreen and maximized window modes:
Fullscreen @ ~170 FPS
Windowed @ ~275 FPS

Might this be related to the same FPS limiter issue? I also noticed, that Nvidia removed the support for 0 maximum pre-rendered frames setting in the 300 series drivers, with the minimum now being 1. Could that be the cause?
Attached images
lfs_00000165.jpg
lfs_00000166.jpg
lfs_00000167.jpg
Here's my last post to this thread, as I've gone back to win 7 for various reasons.

Using all the same drivers as on win 8, I can confirm that the bug doesn't happen on win 7 on this system. Silk smooth 100 FPS using the ingame limiter and all other FPS limits work like they should too. No more massive framerate drops when windowed/fullscreen either.

So this is definately something to do with win 8 and LFS. I hope it gets solved for those affected by it.

Windows 8 FPS limiter bug
(9 posts, started )
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