iPhone X gaming problems

[CupertinoSlave]

Got the iPhone X a few days ago and noticed that sometimes framerate would tank in a game. It would go from 60 to 30 after a minute. I assumed this was due to thermal throttling but it isn't. I narrowed it down to raising and lowering the volume while in an iPhone X optimized game.

Try it out on Super Mario Run. Start playing and press the volume button and your framerate will be cut in half. Another thing that sets this off is switching from the Youtube app that playing a video to the game. Is this a iPhone X issue or developer issue?

 

[dotnet]

Steve Jobs would have never...!

So now, with this out of the way, let me add that I've observed something similar on my 7+ with a reasonably simple game (Ticbits' Cruel Jewels). The animations would go rough all of a sudden, for no discernible reason. The phone doesn't get warm during the game at all. Stopping the game and doing something else for a while usually fixes it.

 

[CupertinoSlave]

Update: I just narrowed it even further. Steppy Pants was one of the games would have this issue. Turning it to landscape completely fixed it. Then I tried a few other games that were portrait instead of landscape and it seems like portrait mode is the issue here. The iPhone X is recognizing games that are portrait as regular apps and limits their GPU usage.

 

[Kooper Gu]

Update: I just narrowed it even further. Steppy Pants was one of the games would have this issue. Turning it to landscape completely fixed it. Then I tried a few other games that were portrait instead of landscape and it seems like portrait mode is the issue here. The iPhone X is recognizing games that are portrait as regular apps and limits their GPU usage.

Hey I just saw your post here. I’ve got this problem for months and it drives me crazy.
I’ve tried many games. And most of 3D games happened.
The frame-dropped situation is more often when pressing volume bottom in games.
So have you fixed it yet?
I’m really looking forward to getting your reply

 

[CupertinoSlave]

Hey I just saw your post here. I’ve got this problem for months and it drives me crazy.
I’ve tried many games. And most of 3D games happened.
The frame-dropped situation is more often when pressing volume bottom in games.
So have you fixed it yet?
I’m really looking forward to getting your reply

No fix for it yet, hopefully 11.3! Its a bug in iOS not utilizing the the GPU of the X properly. If you try the iPhone X's at the Apple store, you'll find they have the same issue. Some developers managed to fix this for their games, though.

 

[Kooper Gu]

No fix for it yet, hopefully 11.3! Its a bug in iOS not utilizing the the GPU of the X properly. If you try the iPhone X's at the Apple store, you'll find they have the same issue. Some developers managed to fix this for their games, though.

Hey thanks for your reply!!
I’m so worried that’s a hardware problem.
I just recorded a video:

Is this the same problem as yours??

 

[CupertinoSlave]

Yeah thats exactly what it looks like. Its also very inconsistent, sometimes it wont do it at all if the battery is under 20%. Also if you turn on screen recording it will be a smooth 60 fps, no drops at all. I thought it was a hardware issue at first but after checking out other phones, it seems like its iOS related.

 

[Kooper Gu]

Yeah thats exactly what it looks like. Its also very inconsistent, sometimes it wont do it at all if the battery is under 20%. Also if you turn on screen recording it will be a smooth 60 fps, no drops at all. I thought it was a hardware issue at first but after checking out other phones, it seems like its iOS related.

Yeah the games will be smooth when I turn on the screen recording.
But there is same problem on Asphalt 8.
It’s a landscape game.

I can’t download anything on other iPhone X in Apple Store TW.
So I have no way to check if mine is normal.
Is every iPhone X same situation??

BTW, I just tried the iOS 11.3.4 beta last night, and it still happened(

 

[CupertinoSlave]

Yeah the games will be smooth when I turn on the screen recording.
But there is same problem on Asphalt 8.
It’s a landscape game.

I can’t download anything on other iPhone X in Apple Store TW.
So I have no way to check if mine is normal.
Is every iPhone X same situation??

BTW, I just tried the iOS 11.3.4 beta last night, and it still happened(

I cant say if it's every iPhone X but the ones that I tried in stores all had the same issue. My friends does this as well but he doest care since the games he plays don't do it.

 

[Kooper Gu]

I cant say if it's every iPhone X but the ones that I tried in stores all had the same issue. My friends does this as well but he doest care since the games he plays don't do it.

Could u tell me which game doesn’t have this issue?
Then I can run it on mine.
If it doesn’t happen, I think maybe it’s related to some game engine or development stuff.

 

[CupertinoSlave]

Could u tell me which game doesn’t have this issue?
Then I can run it on mine.
If it doesn’t happen, I think maybe it’s related to some game engine or development stuff.

Forward Assault
Leo's Fortune
Impulse GP
Climby Hammer
Minecraft

These are all fairly intensive games that don't have any issues yet something like Crash Royal which almost has no 3D graphics, still lags..

 

[Kooper Gu]

Forward Assault
Leo's Fortune
Impulse GP
Climby Hammer
Minecraft

These are all fairly intensive games that don't have any issues yet something like Crash Royal which almost has no 3D graphics, still lags..

I’ve played Leo’s Fortune too.
And it’s soooo smooth.
Even pressing volume button.

I have no idea what to do next.
Maybe all we can do is waiting.

Anyway, really thanks for your sharing and reply.
Because not everyone are sensitive about fps like us lol

 

[PatrikCoC]

Yeah thats exactly what it looks like. Its also very inconsistent, sometimes it wont do it at all if the battery is under 20%. Also if you turn on screen recording it will be a smooth 60 fps, no drops at all. I thought it was a hardware issue at first but after checking out other phones, it seems like its iOS related.

Hey!

Clash Royale have a similar issue. If you put brightness to zero, it ll stutter. Starting screen record fixes it. Also taking a screenshot then quickly scrolling will be laggy too.

 

[CupertinoSlave]

Hey!

Clash Royale have a similar issue. If you put brightness to zero, it ll stutter. Starting screen record fixes it. Also taking a screenshot then quickly scrolling will be laggy too.

Yeah its a software issue. Maybe its fixed in iOS 12?

 

[PatrikCoC]

I am running on iOS 12 beta 12, so nope, no fix as expected. This stutter mess started with iOS 10, roughly fixed in 10.3, then 11 came to make it worse.