AMD users guide to reducing stutter.
Notes on 1.3 release.
For those still having stutter problems after 1.3, this guide still seems to be mostly relevant.
There are a few changes needed to the guide, Ill update the OP once Ive had a day of testing. This might be a while, since I just want to enjoy the game for now.
A few things to note.
The <WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame> numbers need to be put back in or changed to what the guide says.
If you get crazy colours from the bloom setting and have to turn it off, you might need to restart the game then turn bloom back on. For some reason, having bloom turned off introduced some stutter for me.
In Radeon Pro, you might be better off now with Vsync set to "Always on" instead of "Always on(Double Vsync)"
These changes have got the game playable for me for now. At some stage ill do a bunch of testing and see if I can get it any better, and update the main post as I said.
Its well worth making a backup of your settings files before you start, then you can revert them to original before downloading any future patches. This way you are seeing if any patches fix your problems without any tweaks in place. Its a little extra time to spend before being able to play after a hot fix, but worth it imo.
Good luck commanders.
With 1.3 and its possible fix being further away than I would personally like, I decided to write up
everything I have done to achieve a nice looking and relatively smooth, playable game.
This guide is aimed mostly at "micro stutter", as I like to call it. This
is the constant graphics stutter that can range from several milliseconds to possibly 0.25-0.5 seconds.
This is the problem I feel affects game play the most, so its what I have spent my time on.
There does not seem to be a simple fix in most cases. I have had to use a series of tweaks, each of
which help to reduce stutter. There may be cases where a single tweak may fix it for now, but
these cases will almost certainly be for high end machines only. I will try and point out these cases
as I write them up.
1
Editing "Graphicsconfiguration" file.
This tweak might help users with GPUs other than AMD too.
This .xml file is located in your instal folder. Depending on your instal, it should be someting like,
\Frontier\EDLaunch\Products\FORC-FDEV-D-1010/GraphicsConfiguration.xml
The settings I use were taken from this thread by Omnar_Grezard
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=103962
then tweaked to work better with my lower specced system. Im hoping the settings I postwill work for
most people, but those with better systems may want to take the settings straight from his thread.
-Backup your GraphicsConfiguration.xml file before starting.
-Open the file with notepad or something similar that works.
-Scroll down to find the section below, and edit the text so they look like this.Unfortunately, copy>paste
may not work as the file needs the spaces and tabs in place to work. Manually editing will not take too
long though.
<Planets>
<Low>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_LOW;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>512</TextureSize>
<AtmosphereSteps>4</AtmosphereSteps>
<CloudsEnabled>true</CloudsEnabled>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</Low>
<Medium>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_MEDIUM;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>1024</TextureSize>
<AtmosphereSteps>5</AtmosphereSteps>
<CloudsEnabled>true</CloudsEnabled>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</Medium>
<High>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_HIGH;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>2048</TextureSize>
<AtmosphereSteps>6</AtmosphereSteps>
<CloudsEnabled>true</CloudsEnabled>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</High>
</Planets>
<GalaxyBackground>
<Low>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_LOW;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>512</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</Low>
<Medium>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_MEDIUM;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>1024</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</Medium>
<High>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_HIGH;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>2048</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</High>
</GalaxyBackground>
<Bloom>
<Off>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_OFF;</LocalisationName>
<Method>Off</Method>
</Off>
<High>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_HIGH;</LocalisationName>
<Method>HighPassCount</Method>
<MinThreshold>3.940000</MinThreshold>
<MaxThreshold>200.000000</MaxThreshold>
<GlareWeight0>0.800000</GlareWeight0>
<GlareWeight1>0.700000</GlareWeight1>
<GlareWeight2>0.800000</GlareWeight2>
<GlareWeight3>0.250000</GlareWeight3>
<GlareWeight4>0.415000</GlareWeight4>
<GlareScale>7.600000</GlareScale>
<LumBasedThreshold>false</LumBasedThreshold>
</High>
</Bloom>
<Envmap>
<Low>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_LOW;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>256</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
<NumMips>8</NumMips>
</Low>
<High>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_HIGH;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>256</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
<NumMips>8</NumMips>
</High>
</Envmap>
-Save the file and close it.
-Open your game and select the quality preset, "HIGH", then apply. You
may need to lower the bloom setting if it looks crazy.
Additional instructions for those with high end systems who want to try
using only this tweak without others.
If your machine can maintain 60 fps constantly with this, then your
game may run silky smooth.
-Open game
-set V Sync option "OFF".
-Set frame limit option, "OFF"
-Apply.
If you have a mid range system, you may be able to try this as well, by
using the ingame graphics quality preset to "LOW" instead.
If this did not give you smooth game play, make sure quality preset is
on "HIGH", and continue below.
2.
Editing the AppConfig.xml file.
This tweak also may help users with GPUs other than AMD.
This tweak is taken from this thread
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=129605
DO NOT follow ALL the instructions in this thread, it will mess with
the settings needed for smooth play.
Follow just this step
-To disable the seemingly overzealous texture swapping, use Notepad to
open the AppConfig.xml file located in your
EliteDangerous\Products\FORC-FDEV-D-xxxx folder.
Look for
PerformanceScaling="1"
and change it to
PerformanceScaling="0"
3.
Radeon Pro
This is a great tool for forcing settings when the game doesnt have
the options.
It is not an oficial AMD supported progarm, so use at your own risk.
I have been using it for years now, with no issues with it.
Installing
-Download it here http://www.radeonpro.info/download/
-Install
-Restart computer
-Open Radeon Pro
-You may need to go to task manager processes and start the
"Radeon Pro support service" before running the program.
Making it work properly with Elite Dangerous.
-Add a profile by clicking on the icon that looks like a sheet of
paper with a green + on it.
-Direct it to the EliteDangerous32.exe located here
C:\Games\EDLaunch\Products\FORC-FDEV-D-1010 or wherever you have it
installed
-Once the profile is made, select it and open the "Launcher" tab.
-Select "Custom" from the dropdown menu.
-Under Launcher details, click "Browse" and direct it to the
EDLaunch.exe located here C:\Games\EDLaunch or wherever you have it
installed.
-To properly save the settings of Radeon Pro, close the program,
both on desktop and via the task bar.
Settings
-Open Radeon Pro and select the profile you created for ED.
-Go to "Advanced" tab.
-Make sure there is a tick in the "Anisotropic optimisation" box.
-Make sure the other 3 out of 4 top boxes are empty.
-tick "Texture filtering quality" set it to "Quality"
-tick "Mipmap Quality" and set it to "Quality"
-tick "Texture LOD" and set it to 3. I havnt yet confirmed if this
option helps or not, but it is working for the moment.
-tick "Flip Que Size" and set it to 1
-Close Radeon pro completely without changing the tab you are on.
-Open Radeon Pro and select profile
-Go to "Tweaks" tab
-Tick "tripple Buffering"
-Tick "Dynamic Framerate Control" and set keep up to 30 fps
-Set VSync control to "Always on (Double Vsync)"
-Under "Misc Tweaks" tick "Force High Priority"
-Tick "Disable Aero". This is optional.
-Close Radeon Pro without changing tabs.
-Open Radeon Pro and select profile
-Go to "OSD" tab
-Tick "OSD Settings" box to enable OSD
-Tick "GPU Core utilization" and "GPU Core Temperature".
-Set your prefered size, positoin, and colour of the OSD. I suggest
a colour close to that of your HUD to keep it inconspicuous.
-Close Radeon Pro completely without changing tabs.
Optional manual GPU fan control.
This involves unlocking the overclocking panel. I feel its worth it,
as ED seems to make the GPU throttle down as soon as the temperature
gets a little high. I dont know how or why, just what I have seen. If
you think your temp control is fine as is, or you dont want to unlock
the overclock panel then skip this.
-Open Radeon Pro and select profile
-Go to Overdrive tab
-click the padlock icon
-Tick the :Enable Graphics Overdrive" box
-Be careful not to change any sliders other than fan control
-slide the fan control to the desired setting. I start pretty high,
and work my way lower if its overkill.
-Click "Apply Changes"
-Close Radeon Pro without changing tabs
4.
Into the game we go.
-Open Radeon Pro before staring the game. Heres where I like to have
Aero disabled, as it gives you a nice easy confirmation that your
profile has beel applied. The profile will only be applied once the
game is started, noth just with the launcher open.
-Start the game and press control+F to bring up your FPS indicator.
if your FPS is sitting at 30 then your profile has been applied
succesfully.
-Find somewhere in the game that usually taxes your GPU pretty hard.
Usually a RES or inside a station.
- Fly around and monitor your GPU % Usage.
-If your GPU usage is lower than around 40% you might find the game
still stutters a little.
We want to make your GPU work a bit harder, so if your usage is
below 40%, open your graphics options and start raising settings until
your usage gets higher. If your FPS ever gets below 30, then lower the
settings back down a little.
DONE
Hopefully your game runs with very minimal stutter.
Its going to be clear to most long term gamers that the game is
running at 30 FPS instead of 60, it basically gives the look of the
background blurring when its in motion.
For me I find this blurring effect is well worth it to be able to
play the game smoothly. I can even play in Open again without my game
going to the dogs when other commanders are in instance with me.
I hope some of you have luck using this process and find your
game experience improved for the time being. And I hope I
havnt forgotten anything.
Feedback from anyone who tries this method would be greatly appreciated,
weather its good or bad.
Knowing if this works or not for various people other than me could
be really helpfull.
Notes on 1.3 release.
For those still having stutter problems after 1.3, this guide still seems to be mostly relevant.
There are a few changes needed to the guide, Ill update the OP once Ive had a day of testing. This might be a while, since I just want to enjoy the game for now.
A few things to note.
The <WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame> numbers need to be put back in or changed to what the guide says.
If you get crazy colours from the bloom setting and have to turn it off, you might need to restart the game then turn bloom back on. For some reason, having bloom turned off introduced some stutter for me.
In Radeon Pro, you might be better off now with Vsync set to "Always on" instead of "Always on(Double Vsync)"
These changes have got the game playable for me for now. At some stage ill do a bunch of testing and see if I can get it any better, and update the main post as I said.
Its well worth making a backup of your settings files before you start, then you can revert them to original before downloading any future patches. This way you are seeing if any patches fix your problems without any tweaks in place. Its a little extra time to spend before being able to play after a hot fix, but worth it imo.
Good luck commanders.
With 1.3 and its possible fix being further away than I would personally like, I decided to write up
everything I have done to achieve a nice looking and relatively smooth, playable game.
This guide is aimed mostly at "micro stutter", as I like to call it. This
is the constant graphics stutter that can range from several milliseconds to possibly 0.25-0.5 seconds.
This is the problem I feel affects game play the most, so its what I have spent my time on.
There does not seem to be a simple fix in most cases. I have had to use a series of tweaks, each of
which help to reduce stutter. There may be cases where a single tweak may fix it for now, but
these cases will almost certainly be for high end machines only. I will try and point out these cases
as I write them up.
1
Editing "Graphicsconfiguration" file.
This tweak might help users with GPUs other than AMD too.
This .xml file is located in your instal folder. Depending on your instal, it should be someting like,
\Frontier\EDLaunch\Products\FORC-FDEV-D-1010/GraphicsConfiguration.xml
The settings I use were taken from this thread by Omnar_Grezard
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=103962
then tweaked to work better with my lower specced system. Im hoping the settings I postwill work for
most people, but those with better systems may want to take the settings straight from his thread.
-Backup your GraphicsConfiguration.xml file before starting.
-Open the file with notepad or something similar that works.
-Scroll down to find the section below, and edit the text so they look like this.Unfortunately, copy>paste
may not work as the file needs the spaces and tabs in place to work. Manually editing will not take too
long though.
<Planets>
<Low>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_LOW;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>512</TextureSize>
<AtmosphereSteps>4</AtmosphereSteps>
<CloudsEnabled>true</CloudsEnabled>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</Low>
<Medium>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_MEDIUM;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>1024</TextureSize>
<AtmosphereSteps>5</AtmosphereSteps>
<CloudsEnabled>true</CloudsEnabled>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</Medium>
<High>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_HIGH;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>2048</TextureSize>
<AtmosphereSteps>6</AtmosphereSteps>
<CloudsEnabled>true</CloudsEnabled>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</High>
</Planets>
<GalaxyBackground>
<Low>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_LOW;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>512</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</Low>
<Medium>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_MEDIUM;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>1024</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</Medium>
<High>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_HIGH;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>2048</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
</High>
</GalaxyBackground>
<Bloom>
<Off>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_OFF;</LocalisationName>
<Method>Off</Method>
</Off>
<High>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_HIGH;</LocalisationName>
<Method>HighPassCount</Method>
<MinThreshold>3.940000</MinThreshold>
<MaxThreshold>200.000000</MaxThreshold>
<GlareWeight0>0.800000</GlareWeight0>
<GlareWeight1>0.700000</GlareWeight1>
<GlareWeight2>0.800000</GlareWeight2>
<GlareWeight3>0.250000</GlareWeight3>
<GlareWeight4>0.415000</GlareWeight4>
<GlareScale>7.600000</GlareScale>
<LumBasedThreshold>false</LumBasedThreshold>
</High>
</Bloom>
<Envmap>
<Low>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_LOW;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>256</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
<NumMips>8</NumMips>
</Low>
<High>
<LocalisationName>$QUALITY_HIGH;</LocalisationName>
<TextureSize>256</TextureSize>
<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
<NumMips>8</NumMips>
</High>
</Envmap>
-Save the file and close it.
-Open your game and select the quality preset, "HIGH", then apply. You
may need to lower the bloom setting if it looks crazy.
Additional instructions for those with high end systems who want to try
using only this tweak without others.
If your machine can maintain 60 fps constantly with this, then your
game may run silky smooth.
-Open game
-set V Sync option "OFF".
-Set frame limit option, "OFF"
-Apply.
If you have a mid range system, you may be able to try this as well, by
using the ingame graphics quality preset to "LOW" instead.
If this did not give you smooth game play, make sure quality preset is
on "HIGH", and continue below.
2.
Editing the AppConfig.xml file.
This tweak also may help users with GPUs other than AMD.
This tweak is taken from this thread
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=129605
DO NOT follow ALL the instructions in this thread, it will mess with
the settings needed for smooth play.
Follow just this step
-To disable the seemingly overzealous texture swapping, use Notepad to
open the AppConfig.xml file located in your
EliteDangerous\Products\FORC-FDEV-D-xxxx folder.
Look for
PerformanceScaling="1"
and change it to
PerformanceScaling="0"
3.
Radeon Pro
This is a great tool for forcing settings when the game doesnt have
the options.
It is not an oficial AMD supported progarm, so use at your own risk.
I have been using it for years now, with no issues with it.
Installing
-Download it here http://www.radeonpro.info/download/
-Install
-Restart computer
-Open Radeon Pro
-You may need to go to task manager processes and start the
"Radeon Pro support service" before running the program.
Making it work properly with Elite Dangerous.
-Add a profile by clicking on the icon that looks like a sheet of
paper with a green + on it.
-Direct it to the EliteDangerous32.exe located here
C:\Games\EDLaunch\Products\FORC-FDEV-D-1010 or wherever you have it
installed
-Once the profile is made, select it and open the "Launcher" tab.
-Select "Custom" from the dropdown menu.
-Under Launcher details, click "Browse" and direct it to the
EDLaunch.exe located here C:\Games\EDLaunch or wherever you have it
installed.
-To properly save the settings of Radeon Pro, close the program,
both on desktop and via the task bar.
Settings
-Open Radeon Pro and select the profile you created for ED.
-Go to "Advanced" tab.
-Make sure there is a tick in the "Anisotropic optimisation" box.
-Make sure the other 3 out of 4 top boxes are empty.
-tick "Texture filtering quality" set it to "Quality"
-tick "Mipmap Quality" and set it to "Quality"
-tick "Texture LOD" and set it to 3. I havnt yet confirmed if this
option helps or not, but it is working for the moment.
-tick "Flip Que Size" and set it to 1
-Close Radeon pro completely without changing the tab you are on.
-Open Radeon Pro and select profile
-Go to "Tweaks" tab
-Tick "tripple Buffering"
-Tick "Dynamic Framerate Control" and set keep up to 30 fps
-Set VSync control to "Always on (Double Vsync)"
-Under "Misc Tweaks" tick "Force High Priority"
-Tick "Disable Aero". This is optional.
-Close Radeon Pro without changing tabs.
-Open Radeon Pro and select profile
-Go to "OSD" tab
-Tick "OSD Settings" box to enable OSD
-Tick "GPU Core utilization" and "GPU Core Temperature".
-Set your prefered size, positoin, and colour of the OSD. I suggest
a colour close to that of your HUD to keep it inconspicuous.
-Close Radeon Pro completely without changing tabs.
Optional manual GPU fan control.
This involves unlocking the overclocking panel. I feel its worth it,
as ED seems to make the GPU throttle down as soon as the temperature
gets a little high. I dont know how or why, just what I have seen. If
you think your temp control is fine as is, or you dont want to unlock
the overclock panel then skip this.
-Open Radeon Pro and select profile
-Go to Overdrive tab
-click the padlock icon
-Tick the :Enable Graphics Overdrive" box
-Be careful not to change any sliders other than fan control
-slide the fan control to the desired setting. I start pretty high,
and work my way lower if its overkill.
-Click "Apply Changes"
-Close Radeon Pro without changing tabs
4.
Into the game we go.
-Open Radeon Pro before staring the game. Heres where I like to have
Aero disabled, as it gives you a nice easy confirmation that your
profile has beel applied. The profile will only be applied once the
game is started, noth just with the launcher open.
-Start the game and press control+F to bring up your FPS indicator.
if your FPS is sitting at 30 then your profile has been applied
succesfully.
-Find somewhere in the game that usually taxes your GPU pretty hard.
Usually a RES or inside a station.
- Fly around and monitor your GPU % Usage.
-If your GPU usage is lower than around 40% you might find the game
still stutters a little.
We want to make your GPU work a bit harder, so if your usage is
below 40%, open your graphics options and start raising settings until
your usage gets higher. If your FPS ever gets below 30, then lower the
settings back down a little.
DONE
Hopefully your game runs with very minimal stutter.
Its going to be clear to most long term gamers that the game is
running at 30 FPS instead of 60, it basically gives the look of the
background blurring when its in motion.
For me I find this blurring effect is well worth it to be able to
play the game smoothly. I can even play in Open again without my game
going to the dogs when other commanders are in instance with me.
I hope some of you have luck using this process and find your
game experience improved for the time being. And I hope I
havnt forgotten anything.
Feedback from anyone who tries this method would be greatly appreciated,
weather its good or bad.
Knowing if this works or not for various people other than me could
be really helpfull.
Last edited:
