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Windows Doom (2016) slowdowns

J

jeanlain

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 14, 2009
2,468
963
Hey, anyone else experiencing slowdowns with the latest Doom under boot camp?
I'm rocking a 2017 iMac with radeon pro 580. The game is smooth at 1440 under high settings, but after loading a level or a checkpoint it may become incredibly slow (like 10 fps). Changing graphical settings back and forth (reloading textures) restores good performance (until it tanks again), but not always. I suspect it could be a VRAM issue, but it'd be surprising since I have 8GB VRAM and 24GB RAM.
Updating the drivers didn't solve the issue, neither did switching between openGL and Vulkan.

Any advice?

Thanks. :)
 
I haven't checked, but no it's not throttling since it occurs always after checkpoints or just after starting a map, and changing some graphic settings (even to more demanding settings) can solve the issue. But apparently the problem is widespread. Some say lowering the virtual texture page size should help, but it doesn't for me.
 
This may or may not help, but when playing DA: Inquisition, I have the same issue on the same iMac. I can play the game in full res all on high (ultra) settings with no problems, but once in a while after loading a scene or "checkpoint" the frame rate takes take a huge dive and makes the game unplayable. My fix is to hit the windows key (command key) which takes me to the desktop and puts the game in a window about 1/4 of the size. Then I just click on the game window and the game pops back to full screen and the frame rate goes back to 60. I really have no idea what the issue is, but it's not that big of a deal for me as the fix only takes a couple of seconds.

Since your issue sounds the same as mine, hope this info helps. (Regardless of it being a different game.)
 
I tried alt-tabbing to the windows desktop, but it didn't help.
 
Sure there is, but it would be only for testing purposes as windowed mode is quite tiny on that high-density display, unless I play at 4K or above.

EDIT: I can always reduce the resolution in the system parameters.
 
Last edited:
I mean for testing purposes. After stuttering, when I go to the desktop during DA:I, it then runs well in the window. Then when I click on the window, bringing it to full screen, it runs fine.
 
This is a driver issue. Update to the newest drivers on bootcampdrivers.com and follow the instructions in the readme to enable overclocking mode. You don't actually have to overclock, but it fully enables all the power limiting features of the drivers and prevents it from getting stuck in low power mode. I use to see this across a bunch of games when loading maps and such but this fixed it for me.
 
I already installed these drivers. I believe it's an issue withe game itself as it affects both openGL and Vulkan, which use different drivers.
 
jeanlain said:
I already installed these drivers. I believe it's an issue withe game itself as it affects both openGL and Vulkan, which use different drivers.
Click to expand...

Did you use the MSI tool to enable overclocking? Make sure you can access the Wattman settings in the AMD driver global settings page.
 
Why would I overclock my GPU? It's not a problem of lack of power. Performance tanks after reloading a checkpoint that I just played perfectly fine before.
 
jeanlain said:
Why would I overclock my GPU? It's not a problem of lack of power. Performance tanks after reloading a checkpoint that I just played perfectly fine before.
Click to expand...

Again, you don't have to actually overclock the GPU, you just need to enable it in the drivers. Modern GPUs have very tight coupling between software and hardware when it comes to managing performance and power. Essentially, this is disabled out of the box for AMD GPUs in bootcamp. If you enable overclocking, you allow the drivers to have access to the performance and power settings that were previously disabled. Once enabled, it prevents the GPU from getting stuck in a low power/throttled state when loading a checkpoint and lowering performance.

Being able to see the Wattman settings and graphs is a sign that the drivers are able to manage the power of the GPU.
 
Stacc said:
This is a driver issue. Update to the newest drivers on bootcampdrivers.com and follow the instructions in the readme to enable overclocking mode. You don't actually have to overclock, but it fully enables all the power limiting features of the drivers and prevents it from getting stuck in low power mode. I use to see this across a bunch of games when loading maps and such but this fixed it for me.
Click to expand...

So, who exactly runs bootcampdrivers.com? Why would I use drivers from them versus AMD's Crimson drivers?
 
You can't install regular Crimsom drivers on boot camp. The installer either says that no suitable hardware is found or that files are already installed.
 
Stacc said:
This is a driver issue. Update to the newest drivers on bootcampdrivers.com and follow the instructions in the readme to enable overclocking mode. You don't actually have to overclock, but it fully enables all the power limiting features of the drivers and prevents it from getting stuck in low power mode. I use to see this across a bunch of games when loading maps and such but this fixed it for me.
Click to expand...

My card is not on their compatibility list, NIVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
 
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