Assassin's Creed Valhalla PC performance thread

Isee · Nov 13, 2020

If you want a good variable refresh rate experience, try forcing a GPU bottleneck in all situations.

To achieve this I've settled for an unorthodox approach: 1440p + 1.20 resolution (3072x1728), Ultra, Adaptive 60fps
(3900x, 2080Ti)

Strange, because I'm increasing internal render resolution, but telling the game to drop it again when I'm not hitting sixty. But this ensures a GPU bottleneck and while it's not holding 60 (55-65 fps) the annoying stutters are gone and it's smooth sailing with G-Sync.

You can of course still use an external method to lock the game to sixty and get even smoother results.
Still frustrating: Ubi hates PC gaming.

Kaldaien · Nov 13, 2020

Without that "bottleneck" as you put it, the game is running at 60 FPS and G-Sync disengages. What you've just described are steps necessary to make G-Sync actually activate. I don't think that's a particularly great goal to have, if you can avoid G-Sync ever activating, it means you've got the best performance possible. Probably better to keep the game above the G-Sync threshold and use a limiter that includes a strong focus on frame pacing (e.g. not RTSS or the NVIDIA driver).

Forceflow · Nov 13, 2020

I'm seeing slightly worse performance on same settings, same GPU, same RAM on my 3900X when compared to my trusty ol' 6700K (4.4 Ghz).
Doesn't this game scale well with cores?

Edit: I'm testing this in the first big village, your hometown. Even at HUB's optimized settings, I'm seeing drops to 54-55 there, on 1080p.

Nintendo · Nov 13, 2020

SunBroDave said:
It's not AA and it's not 4k. The AA setting controls what internal resolution is used to reconstruct up to the chosen output resolution. AA set to High means you're running your set resolution (so 4k), AA set to Medium means you're running at 90% of your set resolution and then reconstructing up to your set resolution, and then AA set to Low is the same thing but 83%. Same as Odyssey was.

It's still Temporal AA though

Isee · Nov 13, 2020

Why should G-Sync disengage at 60fps? My monitors max refresh rate is set to 165Hz and it's "true" Nvidia G-Sync: The range is 20-165Hz.

The problem doesn't seem to be G-Sync related. I'll try to describe it:

There are some "zones" in the game that have severe micro stuttering for me. G-Sync seems to work, at least my monitor's internal refresh rate indicators is working overtime. They are not just visible with RTSS, they are feel able and present with or without RTSS active.
I've noticed that I'm CPU bound when those micro stutters happen. Other than that, it would be smooth sailing with G-Sync.
But forcing a GPU bound scenario eliminates those micro-stutters for me entirely.

(shitty smartphone screenshots to show off the monitor refresh rate counter)

1440p * 0.80
1440p * 1.20

Locking the game to 60, both with RTSS and Special K has a similar effect on "smoothness" for me. It works fine.
Which is not very surprising, as I'm likely not running into CPU bottlenecks at 60 fps. Or at least less often.

Long story short: Forcing a GPU bottleneck allows me to play the game without having to use external tools to lock it to sixty.

Isee · Nov 13, 2020

Sorry for DP, but if somebody ever wanted proof that UBI doesn't care about PC:

[RESOLVED] [PC] Missing Achievements for Assassin's Creed Valhalla | POST HERE

@lockmort oh, dude, my text is not meant personal in any way, but he is the only support guy around, so just maybe he can relay that people are not exactly OK with what they are doing right now.And sure, me refunding won't make a real difference to anyone...

discussions.ubisoft.com

Kanhir · Nov 13, 2020

IMO, PC achievements are worth nothing anyway. I'm much happier with the Ubisoft Connect approach where achievements translate into in-game rewards.

Isee · Nov 13, 2020

Kanhir said:
IMO, PC achievements are worth nothing anyway. I'm much happier with the Ubisoft Connect approach where achievements translate into in-game rewards.

We had both on UPlay.
Achievements and Rewards.

Kaldaien · Nov 13, 2020

Isee said:
Why should G-Sync disengage at 60fps? My monitors max refresh rate is set to 165Hz and it's "true" Nvidia G-Sync: The range is 20-165Hz.

That's not technically accurate. When your sustained framerate comes within (Nominal Refresh - Pre-Rendered Frames) FPS, G-Sync kicks out and the system enters fixed-refresh scanning (assuming you have V-SYNC enabled, otherwise it just begins to screen tear). To put this simpler, if your screen's refresh rate is 144 Hz and you have default driver settings (pre-rendered frames = 3), then 141 FPS is the highest you can go before things revert to standard V-SYNC.

On the other hand, I was not aware that your refresh rate was > 60. I don't know what the significance of 60 was, I just assumed that it was your refresh rate because I don't know many people who run a 165 Hz screen at a refresh rate that is not a factor of 165 :)

----
Forcing a GPU bound scenario will effectively cause the render queue to fill-up with more pre-rendered frames. The CPU always works a frame or two ahead of the GPU, if you make the GPU struggle, the CPU will work farther ahead of it. That can pay dividends if at some point in the future the CPU begins to struggle, because you then have a cushion of 2 or 3 frames for the GPU to render while the CPU is stalled.

That behavior, however, increases input latency. It's really not ideal and the setup I have suggested for this game in Special K also isn't ideal, because it actively trims pre-rendered frames over time, thereby erasing the previously discussed cushion :-\

Isee · Nov 13, 2020

Kaldaien said:
The CPU always works a frame or two ahead of the GPU, if you make the GPU struggle, the CPU will work farther ahead of it.

I see.

Nintendo · Nov 13, 2020

Isee said:
Sorry for DP, but if somebody ever wanted proof that UBI doesn't care about PC:

[RESOLVED] [PC] Missing Achievements for Assassin's Creed Valhalla | POST HERE

@lockmort oh, dude, my text is not meant personal in any way, but he is the only support guy around, so just maybe he can relay that people are not exactly OK with what they are doing right now.And sure, me refunding won't make a real difference to anyone...

discussions.ubisoft.com

Idk, sounds like they care more about PC. I'd rather have challenges with actual rewards than useless achievements.

I know Uplay had both but achievements were useless and it's confusing to have both systems.

Nemesis121 · Nov 13, 2020

Kaldaien said:
There really are not that many steps.

This thread post in my forums discusses the configuration and results,

Topic-Free Mega Thread - v 1.11.2020

[API.Hook] LastKnown=128 d3d9=false d3d9ex=false OpenGL=false d3d11=true d3d12=true [Render.FrameRate] TargetFPS=60.0 SleeplessRenderThread=true SleeplessWindowThread=true MaxBusyWaitPercent=0.0 PreRenderLimit=6 BackBufferCount=6 [Render.DXGI] UseFlipDiscard=true SwapChainWait=1...

discourse.differentk.fyi

And this is an updated build:

https://discourse.differentk.fyi/uploads/short-url/cWGLrl7gzdQEwliBroQ5W2f8iAF.7z

You need only extract those files to your game's directory (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Assassin's Creed Valhalla unless you bought the game on Epic).

My config file is setup for 60 FPS, your only change should be TargetFPS=30.0

This fix my instability issues, one sec 60frames, next drops into the teens and stays there, had to restart the game....
Thanks to the dude who made the config...

Koldanar · Nov 13, 2020

Nemesis121 said:
This fix my instability issues, one sec 60frames, next drops into the teens and stays there, had to restart the game....
Thanks to the dude who made the config...

Are you playing on the EGS version, or just the Ubi? I'm having no luck so far!

Nemesis121 · Nov 13, 2020

Koldanar said:
Are you playing on the EGS version, or just the Ubi? I'm having no luck so far!

UBI

Addnan · Nov 13, 2020

The sudden drops to single digit fps after travelling, checking maps, pausing etc is making it really hard to play. Requiring game to be restarted every time. Seen couple of people mention it now on Reddit as well. I really want to just play :(

Isee · Nov 13, 2020

Nintendo said:
I know Uplay had both but achievements were useless and it's confusing to have both systems.

I disagree.

eddy · Nov 13, 2020

Nintendo said:
Idk, sounds like they care more about PC. I'd rather have challenges with actual rewards than useless achievements.

I know Uplay had both but achievements were useless and it's confusing to have both systems.

Fitting username.

First of all, all achievements are equally worthless. Worthless, but useful tools to track progress and coverage.

It wasn't the least bit confusing, and I like them and in fact often decide to NOT buy games that doesn't have them. Ubisoft has always been sketchy with providing them on say Steam, but removing them from their OWN system? WTF.

This is something which is already IN THE GAME for the other platforms, and they even have all the graphical icons and shit done. There is no reason to remove them on PC while they exist on the other big platforms. None other than to drive people away from the PC versions. Why they'd want that, I do not know. They should be making better margins on PC.

mountainmohawk · Nov 13, 2020

I just saw about the lack of achievements, and I have to say, it's a disappointing downgrade, even if I didn't always care for them.

Kaldaien · Nov 13, 2020

Isee said:
I disagree.

So do I. Ubisoft (uPlay, specifically) achievements were especially unique in that they were a form of cross-game currency for various knick knacks. Achievement hunting on its own can be fun, but when earning achievements actually changes your game in one way or another, they're finally ready for the masses (the ones who don't care about completion, but would like costume doodads :P).

Edgar · Nov 13, 2020

Kaldaien said:
There really are not that many steps.

This thread post in my forums discusses the configuration and results,

Topic-Free Mega Thread - v 1.11.2020

[API.Hook] LastKnown=128 d3d9=false d3d9ex=false OpenGL=false d3d11=true d3d12=true [Render.FrameRate] TargetFPS=60.0 SleeplessRenderThread=true SleeplessWindowThread=true MaxBusyWaitPercent=0.0 PreRenderLimit=6 BackBufferCount=6 [Render.DXGI] UseFlipDiscard=true SwapChainWait=1...

discourse.differentk.fyi

And this is an updated build:

https://discourse.differentk.fyi/uploads/short-url/cWGLrl7gzdQEwliBroQ5W2f8iAF.7z

You need only extract those files to your game's directory (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Assassin's Creed Valhalla unless you bought the game on Epic).

My config file is setup for 60 FPS, your only change should be TargetFPS=30.0

so i set it up and it works. My question is this option superrior to nvidia driver frame limiter or forcing game to do 30hz vsync ?

hankenta · Nov 13, 2020

I did a couple of tests with Special K now using different framerate targets, but for me it's not making any difference in stability as far as I can see. At least from reading the report given by the benchmark.
Link to my results
Limiting to 45 fps does a fine job keeping it down to 45, but it doesn't seem stable enough that it's worth it to me. I'll rather keep playing using no limits and let the framerate live its own life.

Flaxh · Nov 13, 2020

I've read in multiple reviews that the game has almost no loading times on the XSX.

Can someone report how the loadings are on the pc version? Please tell as well which kind of hard drive you have.

Nintendo · Nov 13, 2020

Flaxh said:
I've read in multiple reviews that the game has almost no loading times on the XSX.

Can someone report how the loadings are on the pc version? Please tell as well which kind of hard drive you have.

I have it installed on an NVMe and from the XSX videos I've seen, my loading times are similar if not a bit faster.

CrichtonKicks · Nov 13, 2020

Flaxh said:
I've read in multiple reviews that the game has almost no loading times on the XSX.

Can someone report how the loadings are on the pc version? Please tell as well which kind of hard drive you have.

Playing on a NVME SSD drive loading times are very quick. Much quicker than Odyssey on the same drive.

I've played the Series X as well and loading times on PC are very comparable.

Nooblet · Nov 13, 2020

Flandy said:
on a 3080.....? wut
Didn't think the PS5 would provide a better experience

The PS5 version is dynamic res and also not running at ultra.

dgrdsv · Nov 13, 2020

Test wydajności Assassin's Creed: Valhalla - Ragnarok optymalizacji | PurePC.pl

Test wydajności kart graficznych w grze komputerowej Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. To będzie Valhalla czy Ragnarok optymalizacji? Wygra NVIDIA GeForce czy AMD Radeon?

www.purepc.pl

Rizific · Nov 13, 2020

Kaldaien said:
Are you mad? That's the definition of not smooth :)

When your 1% low and 0.1% low are that close together, that's smooth.

I guarantee you, Special K will do a much better job than whatever settings you tweaked did. I don't mean to come across as self-promoting or anything like that, but those results you showed just aren't acceptable.

im sure your're right, but it certainly doesnt feel that way to me. i was going into this game thinking it was another Horizon Zero Dawn situation. ill take a look at special k and give that a try to see if it makes anything better, thank you!

on another note, is there a command line or something that lets me skip the splashscreen?

hankenta · Nov 13, 2020

I encountered some very strange performance issues with Special K running earlier. I had forgotten to delete the files before playing the game so it was running with a 30 fps limit. But in the game I got very bad dips into the low 20s accompanied by sound disrupting and glitching out. When I reloaded without SK I got my normal 40-50 fps with no major dips.

Kaldaien · Nov 13, 2020

hankenta said:
I encountered some very strange performance issues with Special K running earlier. I had forgotten to delete the files before playing the game so it was running with a 30 fps limit. But in the game I got very bad dips into the low 20s accompanied by sound disrupting and glitching out. When I reloaded without SK I got my normal 40-50 fps with no major dips.

That problem is caused by Ubisoft's stupid input management code. Make sure that you don't enable hybrid input in the control settings. Any time input comes from a different device, sound drops and the game hitches while it loads a different set of button icons. Watch Dogs Legion does that too. Final Fantasy XV as well... there's a lot of awful input code floating around :-\

hankenta · Nov 13, 2020

Kaldaien said:
That problem is caused by Ubisoft's stupid input management code. Make sure that you don't enable hybrid input in the control settings. Any time input comes from a different device, sound drops and the game hitches while it loads a different set of button icons. Watch Dogs Legion does that too. Final Fantasy XV as well... there's a lot of awful input code floating around :-\

That sounds bad. I haven't had that happen earlier, and I use both controller for gameplay and mouse for menus so I want it on. The Ubisoft menu navigation with controller is so awful I'd rather not.

Deleted member 12323 · Nov 13, 2020

is it better to use nvidia control panel VSYNC or the VSYNC within the game?

Deleted member 12323 · Nov 13, 2020

TheMadTitan said:
So, I think SpecialK resolved my issues. Been playing since my last post and only experienced minor hitching between a handful of loading and transition scenes.

Wish I could hide the program though. Just created another desktop and reopened it there as a workaround.

Should I leave it running for all games or just the ones that might pose issues? And does it impact performance for emulators?

would you mind taking a screenshot showing how you exactly added UBISOFT games in the specialK SKIFF program? I'm not following the instructions it seems

Deleted member 12323 · Nov 13, 2020

Kaldaien said:
There really are not that many steps.

This thread post in my forums discusses the configuration and results,

Topic-Free Mega Thread - v 1.11.2020

[API.Hook] LastKnown=128 d3d9=false d3d9ex=false OpenGL=false d3d11=true d3d12=true [Render.FrameRate] TargetFPS=60.0 SleeplessRenderThread=true SleeplessWindowThread=true MaxBusyWaitPercent=0.0 PreRenderLimit=6 BackBufferCount=6 [Render.DXGI] UseFlipDiscard=true SwapChainWait=1...

discourse.differentk.fyi

And this is an updated build:

https://discourse.differentk.fyi/uploads/short-url/cWGLrl7gzdQEwliBroQ5W2f8iAF.7z

You need only extract those files to your game's directory (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Assassin's Creed Valhalla unless you bought the game on Epic).

My config file is setup for 60 FPS, your only change should be TargetFPS=30.0

we should change the target for 30 instead of 60? or were you specifically talking to the poster here for 30? :)

TheMadTitan · Nov 13, 2020

Kaldaien said:
Err, what? What program?

The version of Special K I released specifically for this game is distributed in the form of a dxgi.dll file, it does not use the Injection Frontend utility.

Even if it did use the Injection Frontend, that tool is just a front-end. It is used to start/stop injection, and injection continues whether the program is running or not.

As for emulators, it usually improves their frame pacing. That goes for pretty much all D3D11/12 software.

Then I dunno wtf. I downloaded the front end and I've been getting far less stutters. But if I got the wrong thing, then I dunno wtf is going on.

Tripwire-Stone said:
would you mind taking a screenshot showing how you exactly added UBISOFT games in the specialK SKIFF program? I'm not following the instructions it seems

Apparently, I did it wrong, but all I did was add the Valhalla directory to the whitelist.

Nintendo · Nov 13, 2020

Rizific said:
on another note, is there a command line or something that lets me skip the splashscreen?

Assassin's Creed Valhalla - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game

www.pcgamingwiki.com

rBose · Nov 13, 2020

performance in cities is absolutely unbearable, drops every couple seconds from 100 to 3-4
rtx 2060
i5 8600k
16gb

Kaldaien · Nov 13, 2020

Nintendo said:
Assassin's Creed Valhalla - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game

www.pcgamingwiki.com

When did WebM become 'middleware'? :) That's like saying MPEG is middleware. I've half a mind to edit that Wiki, but somebody must have put that there for some reason.

TheMadTitan said:
Then I dunno wtf. I downloaded the front end and I've been getting far less stutters. But if I got the wrong thing, then I dunno wtf is going on.
Apparently, I did it wrong, but all I did was add the Valhalla directory to the whitelist.

I've tried to simplify things as much as possible...

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

At the time of writing (v 0.11.0.51 // Nov 13, 2020), the official release of Special K is incompatible with this game (DRM / D3D12 / DXGI Debug issues). A pre-configured standalone release of Special K (v 0.11.1) is available for this game. Before After Install Download SK_ACV.7z...

discourse.differentk.fyi

> There's an entire thread on my forums dedicated to this now.

Note that that forum post contains a pre-release version of Special K that has compatibility fixes for this game. The version of Special K you would get from the Download link in the forum's header is not compatible with this (or very many other Ubisoft DRM booby traps -- games, I think Ubisoft markets them as).

SailorEdwards · Nov 13, 2020

Tripwire-Stone said:
is it better to use nvidia control panel VSYNC or the VSYNC within the game?

I'd like to know this too

Relix · Nov 13, 2020

Tripwire-Stone said:
is it better to use nvidia control panel VSYNC or the VSYNC within the game?

I use Nvidia for all games. Haven't had an issue so far.

Deleted member 12323 · Nov 13, 2020

Relix said:
I use Nvidia for all games. Haven't had an issue so far.

Fixed or adaptive?

Relix · Nov 13, 2020

Tripwire-Stone said:
Fixed or adaptive?

Fixed I believe adaptive drops vsync if it falls below target. Someone correct me if I am wrong of course.

SailorEdwards · Nov 13, 2020

Relix said:
Fixed I believe adaptive drops vsync if it falls below target. Someone correct me if I am wrong of course.

Where do I access these nvidia settings?

TheMadTitan · Nov 13, 2020

SailorEdwards said:
Where do I access these nvidia settings?

Hit the ∧ in the right hand corner of the task bar next to your internet connection and then right click on the Nvidia icon; hover over Nvidia Control panel. After that, go to Manage 3D Settings. From there, you can apply settings to every game/program that uses these sorts of features or do it by a per game basis.

SailorEdwards · Nov 13, 2020

TheMadTitan said:
Hit the ∧ in the right hand corner of the task bar next to your internet connection and then right click on the Nvidia icon; hover over Nvidia Control panel. After that, go to Manage 3D Settings. From there, you can apply settings to every game/program that uses these sorts of features or do it by a per game basis.

Awesome! Thank you

Kaldaien · Nov 13, 2020

SailorEdwards said:
I'd like to know this too

There's zero difference. When this game says V-Sync, unlike a lot of its other settings, it literally means V-Sync and only V-Sync.

Only the driver can implement V-Sync; the game requests it and turning it on in NVCPL is no different than the game requesting it. That said, I have SK configured to force V-Sync on, because there's no other way to have it active during the benchmark (ugh, Ubisoft, WTF?)

I'd point out that SK can give you a low-latency form of triple-buffering, much better than Adaptive V-Sync would be. But I think people are tired of hearing about my software ;)

Rizific · Nov 13, 2020

Nintendo said:
Assassin's Creed Valhalla - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game

www.pcgamingwiki.com

awesome thanks. for anybody else

Go to <path-to-game>\videos\

Rename, move or delete ANVIL_Logo.webm, PC_AMD_Ryzen.webm and UbisoftLogo.webm.

Go to <path-to-game>\videos\en, or the folder that corresponds to the currently set text language in game.

Rename, move or delete Epilepsy.webm, PC_WarningSaving.webm and warning_disclaimer.webm.

TheMadTitan · Nov 14, 2020

Kaldaien said:
When did WebM become 'middleware'? :) That's like saying MPEG is middleware. I've half a mind to edit that Wiki, but somebody must have put that there for some reason.

I've tried to simplify things as much as possible...

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

At the time of writing (v 0.11.0.51 // Nov 13, 2020), the official release of Special K is incompatible with this game (DRM / D3D12 / DXGI Debug issues). A pre-configured standalone release of Special K (v 0.11.1) is available for this game. Before After Install Download SK_ACV.7z...

discourse.differentk.fyi

> There's an entire thread on my forums dedicated to this now.

Note that that forum post contains a pre-release version of Special K that has compatibility fixes for this game. The version of Special K you would get from the Download link in the forum's header is not compatible with this (or very many other Ubisoft DRM booby traps -- games, I think Ubisoft markets them as).

Ok, I disabled the front end one and used the Valhalla specific stuff, and it's much more stable and consistent than even the last.

Also noticed I had AA maxed out so I dropped that down to low and now I'm flipping between 70-78fps on 1080p. Might dial some more settings up from high to very high and ultra and just settle around 60fps (especially since I only have a 60fps panel), but as of right now, all is golden.

Thanks, you are a genius.

SailorEdwards said:
Awesome! Thank you

No problem yo.

oddjobs · Nov 14, 2020

Weird shit, I had a problem with the framerate dropping to 1-2 FPS every so often.

Turns out it was somehow related to using a wireless Xbox One controller and problems with either the battery or syncing.

Playing with the controller wired removed 99% of those, and now I'm getting solid 60-90 FPS most of the time.

I started thinking about it, and I think I had some similar issues with Origins a few years ago.

Kaldaien · Nov 14, 2020

oddjobs said:
Weird shit, I had a problem with the framerate dropping to 1-2 FPS every so often.

Turns out it was somehow related to using a wireless Xbox One controller and problems with either the battery or syncing.

Playing with the controller wired removed 99% of those, and now I'm getting solid 60-90 FPS most of the time.

I started thinking about it, and I think I had some similar issues with Origins a few years ago.

The game has lots of input-related issues. Special K has a mode where it can "placehold" XInput controllers while they're on the fritz so that the game doesn't shoot its feet clear off trying to poll a controller that's in the middle of re-connecting.

XInput has _extremely_ high overhead for wireless controllers that aren't reliably connected. If a game tries to poll them while they're in limbo, the game can spend as much as 250 ms waiting for XInput to re-establish a connection.

250 ms spent waiting on a gamepad is 15 dropped frames @ 60 Hz for those playing along at home.

It's a very commonly understood problem among competent developers on PC, lol. Ubisoft doesn't qualify.

Tl;Dr: When dealing with a port from devs who don't know anything about this platform, it's best to steer clear of wireless XInput devices, or use Special K to remove the performance penalty for trying to poll a controller that's not connected.

Pizzamigo · Nov 14, 2020

How do games continue to come out with HDR implementations like this? This is some broken arse stuff, almost as bad as how RDR2 HDR was at launch. During outdoor/daylight its passable HDR (but still slightly off). However, any indoor areas, night time, or ANY cutscene the HDR looks busted and worse than SDR. It somehow compresses any dynamic range or contrast and slaughters black levels making everything look washed out.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla PC performance thread

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