Apex Legends Stuttering after latest update

Just read this thread, and just posting because it currently looks a bit like an nVidia driver issue or to be nVidia related.

But I've got an RX 5700 and have the same or similar issue. It is hard to pinpoint but it just doesn't run smooth, even the lobby animation are somtimes "jumping".

I'm using a Freesync and  the AMD driver framerate limiter - settinges unchanged since season 5.

I original went to search for this because of  " Texture-Streaming-Budget-keeps-setting-to-low-2-3GB " 

Which is much easier to spot because of the really low texture quality.

Whatever it is, I could not find a workaround yet.

In a Game where a few moments decide about win and loose of a 20+mins game this is frustrating.

Will try to use the "Adaptive Sync" setting recommended above and report back.

Things tried:

1. clean boot
2. driver update, now on "Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.9.2"

@EA_KentI want share my personal feedback, after a lot of tests, I can finally say that I fix the stuttering came with newest apex update, using 452.06 driver "and" UltraLowLatency mode (ULTRA) on the Nvidia Control Panel, with this launch command (+fps_max 141) I can play with the best smoothest, stutter free, input lag free experience. Before the new season I was playing with the same settings and recent nvidia drivers.
So I think maybe there is something bad with new implementation of nvidia reflex, please report it.

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@7empePL wrote:
@ON1MUSH4Yeah, I have the same observations. It seems that Reflex has introduce heavy stutter. I also rolled back to 452.06 and I use Low Latency Mode set to "ultra". However, if you use "ultra", you should not use +fps_max 141, because ultra low letency mode has embedded 138 fps cap for 144 Hz monitors. Use "+fps_max unlimited" to avoid triggering two overlapping FPS limiters (in-game's and nvidia's).

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I can also confirm this, tried both 456.71 and 456.55 and I had stutters even though the FPS was great. After reverting the drivers to 452.06 the problem was fixed so I also suppose the problem is with Reflex implementation.

Are you sure that ultra low latency is capping the FPS? If that's the case I don't need to use the driver max framerate cap, gonna try it out.

@CroL0coNvidia's Ultra Low Latency mode does limit FPS to avoid G-Sync ceiling, which means overlaping with V-Sync frequency. For example, having 144 Hz monitor and G-Sync+V-Sync enabled, the ULL will cap FPS to 138. Higher the refresh rate - more significant the cap is (e.g. 189 FPS on 200 Hz). Not sure though, what happens if you disable G-Sync. I suppose that FPS cap will be disabled too, because there is no risk of constant switching between G-Sync and V-Sync.

And avoid using Nvidia's or in-game FPS limiters. Nvidia's has higher input lag than RTSS and in-game has no constant frame times. Use Riva Tuner Statistics Server (RTSS) fps limiter instead.

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@7empePL wrote:
@CroL0coNvidia's Ultra Low Latency mode does limit FPS to avoid G-Sync ceiling, which means overlaping with V-Sync frequency. For example, having 144 Hz monitor and G-Sync+V-Sync enabled, the ULL will cap FPS to 138. Higher the refresh rate - more significant the cap is (e.g. 189 FPS on 200 Hz). Not sure though, what happens if you disable G-Sync. I suppose that FPS cap will be disabled too, because there is no risk of constant switching between G-Sync and V-Sync.

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That explains why my FPS is capped to 162 (on a 170hz monitor) even though I set the driver limiter to 165. Thx for the info mate. 

So if I want to use g-sync and ultra low latency the setting would be:

1. Turn on g-sync
2. Turn on ultra low latency mode
3. Don't touch the FPS limiter in drivers, Riva Tuner or in game command
4. Turn on v-sync in drivers

??

@CroL0coExactly! I would add "+fps_max unlimited" to the game's arguments. Otherwise game will lock FPS to your refresh rate by default, which is not necessary.

Thx mate 🙌

@FasperaDo you play on laptop? What's the spec? If sounds stutters as well, this may be related to the power plan or hundreds of other factors...

@ON1MUSH4Well it does not matter, because lowest cap takes precedence. However, if different caps are too close each other you may notice microstuttering (it depends on a gap between limiters and limiter's implementation quality). Safe margin should be at least 3 FPS to not see the difference. Setting "+fps_max unlimited" unlocks the game's engine to update the scene to 300 per second. Having 138 cap due to enabled ULL assures that these 138 frames will be always the most current = lower input latency too.

bro I have a 60hz monitor, I dont think fps_max 57 would be a good thing...

last night I reinstalled windows and installed the old nvidia driver that u guys says its the best one now.

In firing range there is almost 0 input lag and 0 stuttering, and my frind has literally the same pc but he can plays the game without any problem.

I guess anyone with a new 3070/3080/3090 is out of luck then, the earliest driver that supports these cards is 452.38. Getting really frustrated at how bad it runs, last night I decided to run the game at 1080p instead of natively 1440p and it seems to help a little but the stutters still happen often.

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@CroL0co wrote:

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@7empePL wrote:
@ON1MUSH4Yeah, I have the same observations. It seems that Reflex has introduce heavy stutter. I also rolled back to 452.06 and I use Low Latency Mode set to "ultra". However, if you use "ultra", you should not use +fps_max 141, because ultra low letency mode has embedded 138 fps cap for 144 Hz monitors. Use "+fps_max unlimited" to avoid triggering two overlapping FPS limiters (in-game's and nvidia's).

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I can also confirm this, tried both 456.71 and 456.55 and I had stutters even though the FPS was great. After reverting the drivers to 452.06 the problem was fixed so I also suppose the problem is with Reflex implementation.

Are you sure that ultra low latency is capping the FPS? If that's the case I don't need to use the driver max framerate cap, gonna try it out.

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Did anybody test this with drivers newer then 456.71, is the stutter with nvidia reflex still there?

I'm going to try the newest one (460.89), I'll report you later bro 🙂

UPDATE: No way, stuttering still persist... If you take a loot at official nvidia web page there is a note about nvidia reflex (NOTE: Due to a bug, NVIDIA Reflex can not be disabled at this time. We will remove this note once the bug has been resolved.) You can search by yourself on google (first result): apex legends nvidia reflex

My opinion is: The Apex Legends game engine is not optimized well and it cause frametime spikes (commonly called stuttering), nvidia reflex provide to you the frames instantly, so you can notice the frametime spikes, if you use gsync + vsync is more noticeable than fixed refresh + no vsync.

I think we should wait a fix from Respawn Entertainment, I hope they let you decide if keep nvidia Reflex ON or switch it to OFF into main settings!
Also Nvidia could fix it by letting you disable Reflex by his control panel !!

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@ON1MUSH4 wrote:

I'm going to try the newest one (460.89), I'll report you later bro 🙂

UPDATE: No way, stuttering still persist... If you take a loot at official nvidia web page there is a note about nvidia reflex (NOTE: Due to a bug, NVIDIA Reflex can not be disabled at this time. We will remove this note once the bug has been resolved.) You can search by yourself on google (first result): apex legends nvidia reflex

My opinion is: The Apex Legends game engine is not optimized well and it cause frametime spikes (commonly called stuttering), nvidia reflex provide to you the frames instantly, so you can notice the frametime spikes, if you use gsync + vsync is more noticeable than fixed refresh + no vsync.

I think we should wait a fix from Respawn Entertainment, I hope they let you decide if keep nvidia Reflex ON or switch it to OFF into main settings!
Also Nvidia could fix it by letting you disable Reflex by his control panel !!

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Thx for the explanation bro! So basically if somebody owns an rtx 3000 card he is forced to play with stutter because even the oldest 3000 driver has reflex... This is just unacceptable.

that's right...sadly...
until nvidia releases a way to force it off by control panel, or Respawn adds an option in game.

I have an RTX 3070 And Went through this same stutter issues My forum post is here.  https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Visual-Glitches-and-Stuttering-in-game/m-p/9870492#M92515

I recommend using a DDU to do a clean install of the newest nvidia drivers.

"Lets try a config change: 

• navigate to C:\Users\*username*\Saved Games\Respawn\Apex\local
• copy the videoconfig.txt to your desktop (so that you have backed up your settings and can restore them later if necessary)
• open the videoconfig.txt in C:\Users\*username*\Saved Games\Respawn\Apex\local 
• delete all
• now copy and past this:

• save the videoconfig.txt
• right click on it, read only

Play apex, and tell me if it's better." -sick1click

Sick1click found this solution for me.  Apex no longer stuttered for me after this.  Although the video quality was poor.  I found In game I could turn the texture stream budgeting to medium and texture filtering to 2x. and I wouldn't stutter and the game graphics looked better but i wouldn't do that until you try it on those settings.

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Latest-couple-of-gpu-drivers-make-apex-perform-worst/m-p/9845776#M92108 

Reflex could be the issue.