Support NeoGAF

[slapnuts]

Phenom II x4 965 OCed to 4Ghz. My 7970 is also overclocked to 1125Mhz, memory clock to 1575Mhz. Stuttering goes away entirely when I drop the texture quality.

Yeah...maybe you are right on that texture issue with 3GB then. Its just that i keep reading conflicting reports where these 7970 3g's get maxed just like 4gb cards do? I think it was over at guru3d forums where i read this at. Maybe the game uses up all available vram for caching like some games do. I just dont know.

Like i said in my previous post which i did edit in case you didnt see it...my vram gets close to 3gb right on the 3gb spot actually at times.

Your CPU..im not too sure on that CPU being enough but than again i dont know how CPU dependant this game is...i know on my 3770k which is a quad with 8 threads which are used as independent "cores" seems to help over those without it....

I need to look into it further but thanks for your input..

 

[Pakoe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_A6Z3gkXlk

Sighs..This makes me depressed.

I hope The Division doesn't turn out the same way..

Jesus, how is this even possible.

 

[TSM]

The only way I get no stutter is on medium textures. I can max out everything else, even MSAA 8x, with no stuttering. Anything higher than medium textures and the stuttering comes right back. I've tried high textures with everything else low or off and no AA. The game still stutters and I just can't get into the game. It makes driving difficult and just takes me out of the game completely.

This is on GTX 780 Ti SC, i5-4670k, 8GB ram at 1920x1080.

I give up with trying to make it work from my end. Hopefully Ubi, NVIDIA or the community release something. The worst thing for me is not being able to send the message to Ubi because I already bought the game and apparently it's their best first day release so they don't really have any incentive to fix the issue.

I don't think we'll see any realistic looking sandbox games that look "next gen" that will be using less then 3GB of vram when playing on "ultra". People are already complaining about how plain the textures in the game look on ultra and it's maxing out 3GB cards.

 

[Mattenth]

The only way I get no stutter is on medium textures. I can max out everything else, even MSAA 8x, with no stuttering. Anything higher than medium textures and the stuttering comes right back. I've tried high textures with everything else low or off and no AA. The game still stutters and I just can't get into the game. It makes driving difficult and just takes me out of the game completely.

This is on GTX 780 Ti SC, i5-4670k, 8GB ram at 1920x1080.

I give up with trying to make it work from my end. Hopefully Ubi, NVIDIA or the community release something. The worst thing for me is not being able to send the message to Ubi because I already bought the game and apparently it's their best first day release so they don't really have any incentive to fix the issue.

I'm in the exact same boat (780 Ti SC, i7-4770k @ 4.0, 16gb RAM, 1080). It's honestly very frustrating, and kinda shocking that it's even happened? For a company that's said they're trying to "repair their relationship with PC gamers," they sure haven't done much to show that.

It's also kinda surprising that NVIDIA hasn't made a statement on it either - their high end GPUs seem to be getting blown away by AMD when it comes to frame times.

 

[dawid]

Anyone else decided to put the game on hold until the stuttering is fixed? Or are you playing and just enduring it?

 

[Slackbladder]

Yep, Borderless Windowed = no tearing and no need for v-sync at all. Everything at max and getting from a minimum of 45fps to over 60fps at times (capped it to 60 now). There is still stutter annoyingly but I have'nt had the game drop to 5fps at all since I started today, unlike when I first played yesterday. Even after driving at high speed for 5 minutes or longer frames are pretty consistant. But the stutter is irritating but again only when driving. Personally I'n quite happy.

 

[TSM]

Anyone else decided to put the game on hold until the stuttering is fixed? Or are you playing and just enduring it?

You are assuming that there is some fix that won't involve lowering settings until the game fits within your available vram footprint. You already see lots of people that fixed the stuttering, but it means that they are playing on medium/high settings. That's not to say that the they won't improve it some with better memory management, but they aren't going to magically make 2GB of ram hold 4GB of data (since people with 3GB cards are maxing out their vram as well).

 

[Skyzard]

I'm in the exact same boat (780 Ti SC, i7-4770k @ 4.0, 16gb RAM, 1080). It's honestly very frustrating, and kinda shocking that it's even happened? For a company that's said they're trying to "repair their relationship with PC gamers," they sure haven't done much to show that.

It's also kinda surprising that NVIDIA hasn't made a statement on it either - their high end GPUs seem to be getting blown away by AMD when it comes to frame times.

Are you on the latest drivers - 337.88 ?

I have same specs, just my 4770k is at 4.4, no issues (ultra, 1920x1200)

Edit: I've got it installed on an SSD too

 

[Ashour]

Try uninstalling / re-installing a fresh Uplay. (You won't need to re-download your games)

Thanks, this worked. I had to download the game once more but it's working

 

[IMACOMPUTA]

-btw if you missed it, sweetfx (exit fraps).

IMO this looks kinda crappy. Way over saturated. Maybe split the difference?
Edit: this shot isn't so bad but the daytime ones at the link are what I'm referencing.

 

[Windom Earle]

Need to test a bit more, but my stuttering seems to be completely gone now (even while driving) with the following specs/settings:

3770K@4,4
GTX680 OC 2gb
SSD, 16gb RAM

Shadows: High
Textures: High
Everything else on max and Temp SMAA.
Vsync: off (Force through Nvidia control panel)
Buffered frames: 1
Lock at 30fps through Riva Tuner.

I am also using disablepagefilecheck, but that might be placebo.

Game looks and runs great now.

 

[Vlaphor]

Mine was running pretty good for awhile with everything maxed out except for high textures and TXAA, then I went to a new area and the fps hit single digits at night time. Dropped the shadows down from the max to high and everything is running smooth again.

I7 930 oc'd to 4ghz, 12gb of ram, GTX 770 2gb. Installed on an SSD, used the pagefile command trick, running in borderless windowed mode 1080p

 

[jediyoshi]

-btw if you missed it, sweetfx (exit fraps).

Mmmmmm yes. Crush it! Crush all the colors!

 

[riflen]

Huh, is that true ? I thought when I forced triple buffering on AC4 via D3D Overrider (and it worked, let me have 55+ fps instead of 30), I was, you know, forcing triple buffering. On DirectX game. So I was actually just forcing 3 frames buffer ?
And in Watch Dogs, I can set 1 frame or 2, 3, 4 or 5, but it seems to have no effect. Vsync is shit no matter the setting.

I believe it's still true in DX11.2. What D3DOverrider labels as triple buffering is not what's commonly accepted as a true triple buffering implementation, just a queue. It's all that's available in DirectX. There's an old Anandtech article on it. I read recent posts on developer forums that say the situation is the same in the current DX build.

Edit: article

 

[Skyzard]

IMO this looks kinda crappy. Way over saturated. Maybe split the difference?
Edit: this shot isn't so bad but the daytime ones at the link are what I'm referencing.

Maybe a little saturated, looks better in full size though I think.

Some more:

 

[Windom Earle]

Sweet FX = meh.

 

[stufte]

Maybe a little saturated, looks better in full size though I think.

Some more:

So SweetFX = Turn down my monitor brightness. Gotcha.

 

[Skyzard]

I'll try and get some bright daylight ones soon

 

[TheD]

You are assuming that there is some fix that won't involve lowering settings until the game fits within your available vram footprint. You already see lots of people that fixed the stuttering, but it means that they are playing on medium/high settings. That's not to say that the they won't improve it some with better memory management, but they aren't going to magically make 2GB of ram hold 4GB of data (since people with 3GB cards are maxing out their vram as well).

Of course there will be a fix that does not involve dropping settings!
Lots of people (myself included) have stuttering when the game is not close to using all the VRAM.

 

[Linius]

I asked this in OT but it's possibly better to ask it here. Anyone experienced that bug where you can't holster your gun after Aiden pulls it out interrogating that guy right from the start? I can't enter the getaway vehicle now and there's just no way to holster my gun.

EDIT

Tried both controller and keyboard btw, but it just doesn't respond.

 

[Eyothrie]

Yep, Borderless Windowed = no tearing and no need for v-sync at all. Everything at max and getting from a minimum of 45fps to over 60fps at times (capped it to 60 now). There is still stutter annoyingly but I have'nt had the game drop to 5fps at all since I started today, unlike when I first played yesterday. Even after driving at high speed for 5 minutes or longer frames are pretty consistant. But the stutter is irritating but again only when driving. Personally I'n quite happy.

How do you cap fps in windowed mode? Vsync just doesn't work in windowed mode.

 

[MrBS]

Running on high settings with AA disabled on my GTX590 & 2600K @ 4.5 and getting 60FPS @ 1080p indoors and most of the time walking. 30FPS with dips to 20FPS while driving. Both GPUs seeing high 90% all of the time with VRAM saturated all of the time. Time to get a 780 methinks!

 

[TSM]

Of course there will be a fix that does not involve dropping settings!
Lots of people (myself included) have stuttering when the game is not close to using all the VRAM.

What I don't understand is why they don't have a running total of vram used when enabling settings like GTA 4 realized we needed 6 years ago. This whole is it or isn't it enough vram thing is a waste of everyone's time.

Given how flat that line is for memory usage, your card is acting like it's maxed out it's vram whether you have or not.

 

[Skyzard]

V-sync gives me poor performance. I'm using temporal smaa too.

 

[Salsa]

best settings to turn down a bit to improve performance without losing that much?

 

[TSM]

best settings to turn down a bit to improve performance without losing that much?

If you are having stuttering? It seems like everyone that has seen improvements lowered their texture and shadow settings.

 

[Salsa]

If you are having stuttering? It seems like everyone that has seen improvements lowered their texture and shadow settings.

just bad framerate in general, at least during the opening bit

OCed 680 2gb and i5 2500k at 4.5ghz

 

[Hawkian]

V-sync gives me poor performance. I'm using temporal smaa too.

In-game Vsync? It's unusable. Even if the framerate tradeoff were perfect, the input lag is some of the worst I've ever seen, and I'm good at dealing with input lag.

The sweetFX realistic preset is nice but just generally too dark.. wonder if I could dull that effect a little and have it still look nice

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

Why can't they release a free benchmark for me to try? :/

 

[Sleeping Lesson]

Yeah...maybe you are right on that texture issue with 3GB then. Its just that i keep reading conflicting reports where these 7970 3g's get maxed just like 4gb cards do? I think it was over at guru3d forums where i read this at. Maybe the game uses up all available vram for caching like some games do. I just dont know.

Like i said in my previous post which i did edit in case you didnt see it...my vram gets close to 3gb right on the 3gb spot actually at times.

Your CPU..im not too sure on that CPU being enough but than again i dont know how CPU dependant this game is...i know on my 3770k which is a quad with 8 threads which are used as independent "cores" seems to help over those without it....

I need to look into it further but thanks for your input..

Yeah my CPU is old to be sure. It generally runs about 60% usage while playing Watch Dogs, and spikes to 80% sometimes. I know it's not as simple as that, but it's not like the game asks a whole lot of it.

 

[Windom Earle]

just bad framerate in general, at least during the opening bit

OCed 680 2gb and i5 2500k at 4.5ghz

As we have similar specs, check out my post above:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=113807878&postcount=1120

Shadows high and textures high have proven to be a must fix to prevent stuttering on my rig.

If you don't want 30fps lock, I suggest turning down reflections and AO a bit for better fps. And I wouldn't use anything else than temp SMAA. Good performance and IQ.

 

[R_Deckard]

Mmmmmm yes. Crush it! Crush all the colors!

Ha ah perfect, sweet fx the candy crush of watchdogs, brightness = 5

Must be the XboxOne scaler function for added pop! Lol

 

[CyberPunked]

What I don't understand is why they don't have a running total of vram used when enabling settings like GTA 4 realized we needed 6 years ago. This whole is it or isn't it enough vram thing is a waste of everyone's time.



Given how flat that line is for memory usage, your card is acting like it's maxed out it's vram whether you have or not.

The thing is, the same issue is happening to people with Titans, meaning there's no way it's VRAM. Also it only happens to me when I enable SLI...

 

[Denton]

Ok, I just spent 2 hours playing "for real" and with settings that I am kinda happy with (even if they are far from ideal):

-1080p
-textures high
-borderless windows (incredible how nicely it works on my 55" plasma)
-therefore there is no tearing and framerate is usually over 40, which, again, not ideal, but game is so immersive I actually stopped noticing
-preset high

Game looks great and is well playable (no stuttering), so I guess this is the best I can get. Too bad that no PC today can get 100% locked 60fps on ultra, or probably even high.

 

[Dennis]

Game looks great and is well playable (no stuttering), so I guess this is the best I can get. Too bad that no PC today can get 100% locked 60fps on ultra, or probably even high.

Is that really true?

I am getting 30 fps with ultra on 2 x GTX580 so I have to imagine two Titans should do much better. Might not 100% locked with the stuttering issue but still......

 

[Skyzard]

In-game Vsync? It's unusable. Even if the framerate tradeoff were perfect, the input lag is some of the worst I've ever seen, and I'm good at dealing with input lag.

The sweetFX realistic preset is nice but just generally too dark.. wonder if I could dull that effect a little and have it still look nice

There are too many settings to mess with in the sweetfx file for me at the moment so I'm just sticking with it for now. It is a little dark at times, but damn does it look wicked:

It might just be the time of day, I'll keep playing for a while.


I also got that can't holster bug - was after using the cameras to look for a bike!

 

[Denton]

Is that really true?

I am getting 30 fps with ultra on 2 x GTX580 so I have to imagine two Titans should do much better. Might not 100% locked with the stuttering issue but still......

Well, Turin Tur here on GAF has R9 290 and cannot get locked (and I mean locked) 60fps...as he says, maybe SLI Titans if SLI actually works, could get to it. But, I mean, that might as well not be an option at all, considering the price tag.
I was rally naive and thought my 280X will handle 60fps on high like a champ, but no dice. However I guess it makes sense, considering it has 2048 stream units, while PS4 has 1152. So I have twice as much, but due to less efficiency of DX11, it does not scale with 100% and I do not get twice the framerate of PS4, as hardware would imply (plus I game on 1080p, compared to PS4's 900p).

I believe it's still true in DX11.2. What D3DOverrider labels as triple buffering is not what's commonly accepted as a true triple buffering implementation, just a queue. It's all that's available in DirectX. There's an old Anandtech article on it. I read recent posts on developer forums that say the situation is the same in the current DX build.

Edit: article

That last page of that article was really interesting. I wish and hope that Mantle and DX12 will all support proper triple buffering then. Because it is A MUST.

 

[Brofist]

Game looks great and is well playable (no stuttering), so I guess this is the best I can get. Too bad that no PC today can get 100% locked 60fps on ultra, or probably even high.

I'm pretty close to locked 60 fps on ultra + high textures on an overclocked GTX 780. Only the occasional drop while driving in a crowded area.

 

[TSM]

The thing is, the same issue is happening to people with Titans, meaning there's no way it's VRAM. Also it only happens to me when I enable SLI...

The guy in the other thread with the 6GB titan was pre nvidia driver release. There was a guy in this thread with a 6GB titan that wasn't having any issues:

i7 3770k @ 4.4GHZ
8GB RAM
SSD
WIN7
GTX TITAN

Downsampling to 1080p from 2560x1440 with everything on max and Temporal SMAA

30FPS locked.
VRAM usage maxed at 4.3GB after 20 minutes of testing.
No stuttering

Pretty happy I guess.

Sweetfx makes the game look nicer aswell:

 

[MarshMellow96]

My PSU makes this clicking or ticking noise, but only when I play Watch Dogs, even on low settings. Wolfenstein, etc. work without a hitch. I've just tried tried rebooting the PC and I now seem to be getting the same clicking on startup now. Is it time to RMA or what?

 

[derExperte]

just bad framerate in general, at least during the opening bit

OCed 680 2gb and i5 2500k at 4.5ghz

What are your settings? Turn down textures to high if they're at ultra.

 

[Dre_G_Writer]

I have a code to download this game, but after seeing all the complaints on the PC version, I might just sell the code for cheaper than retail instead and use the money to get the PS4 version.

 

[Denton]

Made a gameplay video, ultra settings (textures high), temporal SMAA. Just messing around, before I started playing for real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rp425NxWrY

I have a code to download this game, but after seeing all the complaints on the PC version, I might just sell the code for cheaper than retail instead and use the money to get the PS4 version.

What specs do you have ?

 

[Timu]

Game runs smoother for me when I disabled the 2nd card it seems even though I get higher FPS with it but at the cost of stuttering, hope they fix SLI.

 

[Salsa]

got the game to stay at 60 while walking but man, sometimes there's just straight up hangups when driving. Like the screen will show me one frame per 5 seconds or something. calling it stutter is putting it lightly

 

[perfectsil]

I have a code to download this game, but after seeing all the complaints on the PC version, I might just sell the code for cheaper than retail instead and use the money to get the PS4 version.

that makes no sense unless your PC can't play this game at 900p/PS4 settings and 30 fps

 

[Skyzard]

Can't wait to see what GTA V will look like on PC! Really pleased with WD atm.

 

[Yibby]

How do you cap fps in windowed mode? Vsync just doesn't work in windowed mode.

You can use Nvidia Inspector to set the max framerate in the Driver. The only disadvantage i got from playing in windowed mode is that my fps drop by 1-5fps, but no more tearing.

 

[Brofist]

I have a code to download this game, but after seeing all the complaints on the PC version, I might just sell the code for cheaper than retail instead and use the money to get the PS4 version.

The issues are mostly with running the game at the highest settings. You could easily find a happy medium between that and the PS4 version, assuming you have the specs.

If you are interested in dumping a code cheap though let me know, I may know someone who is interested.

 

[riflen]

I made some graphs. This was captured over 5 minutes of very standard gameplay. I walked around a little, a crime was detected, nicked a car, drove to the area, interrupted the crime and killed the criminal. Stole another car and went through a mildly destructive chase with Police. Note the frequently terrible frame times.

Frames Per Second

Frame Times