for nvidia users: "Background Application Max Framerate"

[Zornbringer]

with a recent new driver update for nvidia cards, a new option has been added to the control panel: "Background Application Max Framerate"

it does what you think it does. it will render the application at a specific framerate when the window of the application is in the background. the lowest setting is 20 which i recommend.

why is this relevant for elite? elite always renders at it's max framerate wether it's in the foreground or the background. so, when you have a browser window open and elite is in a background tab and not visible at all, it will still take up the same computation power as it would in the foreground. so, it will render at 60+ fps, even if you don't see the window. this new nvidia option allows you to limit the framerate to 20 for background apps. so, your gpu can (literally) chill which is good for power consumption, heat and noise.

i have just discovered this setting and haven't done extensive testing. so far i don't have any issues. you might want to set this on a per application basis and not as a global setting. also, i use a gtx 1660ti. older cards may or may not have this option. i don't know. check the nvidia control panel for yourself. update your drivers.

 

[Bottom Hat]

Interesting, as some of the squadron will go to the menu when going afk for a few minutes which is a pita for wings when docked at a station.

Can you tell me which driver or version thingy of geforce this is please? I'm not great at tech language. I presume this is with up-to-date GPU drivers as well?

Lastly is it easy to find as an option? Imagine I'm your grandpa asking you that question.

Cheers!

 

[Zornbringer]

Interesting, as some of the squadron will go to the menu when going afk for a few minutes which is a pita for wings when docked at a station.

Can you tell me which driver or version thingy of geforce this is please? I'm not great at tech language. I presume this is with up-to-date GPU drivers as well?

Lastly is it easy to find as an option? Imagine I'm your grandpa asking you that question.

Cheers!

if you have up-to-date drivers, you should be fine. the setting is under "manage 3d settings", "applications settings" . use the dropdown list. if elite is not there, click add and browse to your elite folder and add the executable. should be located at "...\EDLaunch\Products\elite-dangerous-64\". the file is called "EliteDangerous64.exe".

( i would post a screenshot but i use the german translation which might be confusing for some.)

 

[Bottom Hat]

if you have up-to-date drivers, you should be fine. the setting is under "manage 3d settings", "applications settings" . use the dropdown list. if elite is not there, click add and browse to your elite folder and add the executable. should be located at "...\EDLaunch\Products\elite-dangerous-64\". the file is called "EliteDangerous64.exe".

( i would post a screenshot but i use the german translation which might be confusing for some.)

That's a perfect explanation, thank you very much mate, much appreciated o7

 

[Rat Catcher]

Here you go, Mr Hat, sir:

Hope it helps @Bottom Hat

 

[Speedcuffs]

Imagine I'm your grandpa

This is just asking for trouble. Pops.


@OP , nice, thanks.

 

[Bottom Hat]

Here you go, Mr Hat, sir:
View attachment 207477
Hope it helps @Bottom Hat

Thanks mate, very helpful.

This is just asking for trouble. Pops.

Easy now, there will be a backlash you whippersnapper.... and are you near my lawn?

 

[Zornbringer]

What is actually wrong with making this setting globally? So that every 3-D application that works in the background is limited. Of course, this only makes sense if you don't have any background processes that should run at full load. But you should be aware of that in this case.

some people are reporting issues with having this set to global. some games do this automatically, some games have this setting ingame. (wow for example where you can limit the framerate even lower to 8fps.)

you can do it, sure. but be aware that there might be issues.

 

[RyuStaar]

Has anyone tested with borderless windowed mode?

 

[Flimley]

Just wondering, in practice terms what will this setting really help with? The elite dangerous launcher I normally shut down after connecting to the game. track IR ? Perhaps

Flimley

 

[Morbad]

What is actually wrong with making this setting globally? So that every 3-D application that works in the background is limited. Of course, this only makes sense if you don't have any background processes that should run at full load. But you should be aware of that in this case.

I'm sure that plenty of people aren't aware of just how much of a game/app can be tied to render frame rate.

Elite: Dangerous has all sorts of stuff tied to the render frame rate and I wouldn't be surprised if capping background performance causes problems for clients that are also acting as instance hosts.

Just wondering, in practice terms what will this setting really help with? The elite dangerous launcher I normally shut down after connecting to the game. track IR ? Perhaps

It won't do anything to the launcher or Track IR.

What it will do is significantly reduce GPU and CPU load of the game client itself while it's minimized, making the system use less power and allowing other apps to be more responsive.

 

[ebbrell]

To be honest, when ED is minimised and running in background I never really notice.
I've seen this option before it was introduced 2 versions ago.

Does it make a noticeable difference?

 

[Rat Catcher]

Does it make a noticeable difference?

I'll drop the setting and add to the post later - but below you can see clearly when I switched back into the game from desktop:

Below is setting the Nvidia Control Panel to Application controlled rather than 20FPS - a slight increase in useage:

 

[Christopher Roberto]

Just wondering, in practice terms what will this setting really help with?

It's usually for people who have laptops that melt down or struggle when trying to do more than one thing at once, or have an improperly cooled CPU that will convert their box into a jet engine when the GPU stops bottlenecking it due to loss of context. Folks used to use Rivatuner to do this.

 

[WR3ND]

Here you go, Mr Hat, sir:
View attachment 207477
Hope it helps @Bottom Hat

Wouldn't you want the 32bit and 64bit executables, not the launcher?

 

[Susanna]

Interesting, as some of the squadron will go to the menu when going afk for a few minutes which is a pita for wings when docked at a station.

Can you tell me which driver or version thingy of geforce this is please? I'm not great at tech language. I presume this is with up-to-date GPU drivers as well?

Lastly is it easy to find as an option? Imagine I'm your grandpa asking you that question.

Cheers!

Same - I can't find it...
GTX 1080 Ti card
driver version 461.40.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Wouldn't you want the 32bit and 64bit executables, not the launcher?

Brain phart moment by me
You are, of course, absolutely correct... It should have been this one (Which was my error!):

 

[Bottom Hat]

Same - I can't find it...
GTX 1080 Ti card
driver version 461.40.

I think it's the GeForce suite program thing Susie, but I haven't tried it yet myself. I think @Rat Catcher knows the gambit

 

[Susanna]

Wouldn't you want the 32bit and 64bit executables, not the launcher?

Cheers WR3ND - found it now!

 

[Rat Catcher]

Same - I can't find it...
GTX 1080 Ti card
driver version 461.40.

Right click on a clear spot on your desktop - one of the options should be:

Nvidia Control panel
Open it, then manage 3D Settings...

If you have GeForce Experience loaded it may be worth checking if your drivers are up-to-date too.


EDIT: Ninja'd by Susanna!