Issue with underusing GTA V features
Issue with underusing GTA V features
Hello everyone, new member here.
I’m facing an odd issue with GTA Online mode. Singleplayer works smoothly at over 90 fps, but online performance drops to under 60 fps.
My system details:
GTX 1060 6GB MSI Gaming X
Intel I5-6500
DDR4 8GB 2133Mhz
Game is running on an HDD.
I’ve tried several fixes:
- Clearing the HDD and optimizing SSD settings (pagefile on SSD).
- Changing from DX11 to DX10 – singleplayer improved by 8-10 fps, but online suffered.
- Blocking redshell in the host file.
- Adjusting various settings – no noticeable effect (3-5 fps change).
- Overclocking the GPU – GTA V didn’t respond well.
- Tweaking Nvidia panel settings.
Updated drivers have been installed.
I’ve also experimented with V-Sync in-game and the Nvidia panel.
The issue seems to be that my GPU isn’t being fully utilized in GTA Online. It pushes 99% in singleplayer, but only under 50% online.
It appears there’s a bottleneck in the CPU during singleplayer, yet it still maintains over 90 fps, while online performance drops significantly.
I’ve noticed a CPU bottleneck in SP mode, but it doesn’t affect GTA Online.
DX10.txt and DX11.txt are available for reference.
Take a screenshot of your present graphic configurations. Immediately, it appears the problem stems from RAM constraints. Story mode functions adequately with just 8GB of memory on your system, yet GTA Online presents a different challenge. Additionally, you should disable v-sync. With a 1080p display at 144Hz, there’s no need to keep it active in GTA 5 unless you reduce your refresh rate to around 85 and commit to that specific frame rate while keeping v-sync enabled. Regarding your GPU, it seems certain individual settings have been adjusted to boost performance (which is beneficial). You should notice a decrease in load on the GPU.
You’ll also need to modify the following parameters within the NVidia control panel as outlined below:
FXAA: Set global to Off – ensure this is disabled (activate FXAA in-game)
Antialiasing Gamma correction: Enabled
Antialiasing Mode: Global (application-controlled) – confirm global is application-controlled
Antialiasing Setting: Use global (application-controlled) – this should be hidden
Antialiasing Transparency: Global setting Off – ensure global is OFF
MFAA: Global setting Off – ensure global is OFF
Texture filtering Anisptropic sample opti...: Off – hide this option
Texture filtering Negative LOD bias: Global setting allowed
Texture filtering Quality: High Quality – this forces the NCP to adjust your settings (remove these)
Triple buffering: Global setting Off – ensure global is OFF
Vertical sync: Global setting (use 3D application setting) – confirm global is set to use 3D application setting
Also, remember to disable v-sync in the in-game settings.
This is exactly how my GTA configuration looks in the NVidia panel, and I have no concerns. I did experience FPS problems in GTA Online with only 8GB of RAM, but once I upgraded to 16GB, everything improved.
If you provide a screenshot of your current settings, I’ll gladly share the optimized version. This should help maintain high FPS without sacrificing visual quality, particularly when you add more RAM later.
I made changes to NCP, and I'll run a test in Online. Here you go.
Gpu usage in Online remains at a maximum of 45%. I managed to exceed 50 fps. I added cleanMem and set up scheduled cleanup for RAM (every 5 minutes). The yellow line shows the moment I reached 800x600 resolution without surpassing 50 fps.
First off, be sure to quote me like I did above or I won't know you are responding and you'll get much faster responses. You just highlight anything I have typed and click on quote selection that pops up.
Ok, glad to see you adjusted things in the NCP. Now make the following adjustments to your graphic settings. I assure you that you will not lose any visual fidelity. You will gain a ton of fps though. Be sure to stay in the highest resolution possible. No need to go into 800 x 600.
Population Density: Put this at 0%. This will work wonders for your driving. If you prefer a lot of population, you can keep this at 50%. You lose around 2-5 fps between 0% and 50% and you lose around 1-3 fps between 50% and 100%. So not much impact on this one. Easier driving with this at 0% and a gain of 2-5 fps from 50% as I mentioned.
Population Variety: Put this at 0%. There is not much of a difference on fps or visual fidelity. You can try to put it at 50-100% and try to find any difference but I gotta tell ya', it's very tough to find any difference whatsoever. You might be able to get it to spawn in a variety of vehicles but like I said, it's very tough to do so. It seems pretty random in occurrence.
Distance Scaling: Put this at 40-60%. I prefer 50%. The fps hit is very minor between 0% and 100%. But to maximize fps without losing any visual fidelity, 40-60% is the way to go.
Shader Quality: Put this at Normal. This will also fix a texture bug you may have been experiencing(if you've noticed it yet). Basically just go drive on rocky or grassy terrain in multiple spots with it on High and you may see the bug. Be sure to drive at a speed of about 5-15 mph and move the camera around and see if you spot it. It's great if you don't see it but putting this setting to Normal is the fix for it. Took me years to figure that out too. Oh and also, putting this at Normal instead of High will improve your fps by around 5-8 fps.
Reflection Quality: Put this at High. You'll gain a good 18-21 fps and not lose any visual fidelity. This is a great setting to dramatically improve fps in GTA 5. Reflections will still look amazing imo. The only really noticeable difference I've found is driving in the city at night. But it's very tough to spot the difference. You have to literally sit in one spot and analyze what you're looking at. But who really does that the entire time they're playing? Here's some pictures to see what I mean...
https://international.download.nvidia.co...-ultra.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...y-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...3-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...normal.png
Be sure to click on all 4 links, then just click from tab to tab to look for the differences. Your eyes should see exactly why to put this setting at High.
Here's another example...
https://international.download.nvidia.co...-ultra.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...y-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...1-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...normal.png
Water Quality: You can bump this one up to Very High if you wish. I did. The difference between Very High and High is around 1-3 fps. Very tough to spot difference visually.
Particles Quality: Put this on Normal. It should require you to restart the game. This setting very much seems to take some strain off your CPU. Also less particles floating around is a good thing imo.
Soft Shadows: Put this on Sharp. This is another great setting in GTA 5 to get a great boost in performance. One because you gain a good 5-8 fps between settings and two because Sharp just looks the best imo. It makes shadows pop. My opinion of course. Here's pictures to see for yourself.
https://international.download.nvidia.co...a-pcss.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...md-chs.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...oftest.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...-sharp.png
Post FX: You can bump this one up to High to make explosions look better(among other things). I've found that putting this at Very High or Ultra can sometimes crash the game(with a GTX 1060 3GB, unsure about a 6GB though) if you by chance partake in a lot of RPG's vs Insurgents or anything where RPG's are going off like crazy. The fps difference between Normal and High is only like 1-2 fps too, which is a good thing. But once you bump it to Very High, you are losing a good 5-7 fps and an additional 2-4 fps on top of that if you bump it to Ultra. Sure explosions will look the best on Very High or Ultra but I have found that on High they still look a hell of a lot better than when it's on Normal.
Here is another thing it will change, so keep this in mind when choosing between Normal and High because imo, in this brightness aspect of Post FX, both look excellent. It's all about your personal preference of how you want to view this aspect of the game. I personally prefer explosions to look better(High setting).
https://international.download.nvidia.co...-ultra.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...y-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...2-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...normal.png
Notice that High and Normal look way better than Very High and Ultra in these pictures(my opinion). It's all about personal preference as I mentioned.
Ambient Occlusion: Put this at whatever you want. Completely a personal preference here. You gain 3-5 fps by turning it off(which is what I chose to do). And I'll show you why...
https://international.download.nvidia.co...4-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...normal.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...04-off.png
And...
https://international.download.nvidia.co...5-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...normal.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...05-off.png
And...
https://international.download.nvidia.co...6-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...normal.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...06-off.png
And one more...
https://international.download.nvidia.co...7-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...normal.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...07-off.png
Best way to describe this, the difference is there, but I just don't care. It's such a subtle, such a tiny difference, I personally prefer the fps boost.
Tessellation: You're definitely gonna want to put this one at Normal. Should dramatically improve the look of tree trunks and bumpy surfaces you've been seeing.
https://international.download.nvidia.co...y-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...2-high.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...normal.png
https://international.download.nvidia.co...02-off.png
Sure you can leave it off but I personally recommend you at least set it at Normal. It's gonna make the game look better on many objects, surfaces and even people. The difference between each setting is around 1-2 fps and the difference between it being on or completely off is around 2-3 fps.
You also have advanced graphic settings that I haven't seen yet. It's easy to just tell you to turn them all off to dramatically improve fps. Especially extended distance scaling. The difference between 0 and 100% on that is a good 20 fps. If you experience pop-ins, bump this up to around 30% and you'll only lose about 3-5 fps. I have mine set at 0% and it works just fine for me. Remember that going higher dramatically increases how much fps you lose.
Try this out and see how much fps you gain. If your fps doesn't move, then we know it's something else causing your issue. Be sure to try out story mode first to see a gigantic increase in fps. Remember to go to different areas of the game to see the biggest difference because GTA 5 is not the greatest optimized game if you know what I mean. You might get 40-60 fps in the city but if you go up the left side of the map from the city towards the top of the map(best place to get really high fps), you'll notice that your fps will dramatically increase. And this is with ANY PC. It's just how the game is.
I'll make the adjustments, but i already been experimenting with settings singleplayer i can see the changes in seconds, but in online i can only get 47-58 fps , where in SP i would get 90. I did a test (with Afterburner graphs on second monitor) - the gpu usage was around 40% so i went to advanced settings and made frame scaling to 2X and the gpu usage bumped to 99%, but the problem is - FPS did not change, it is either my network adapter, CPU (but it's not even on 99%, so it's not bottleneck) or it has something to do with R* online mode coding....
Glad to hear SP is working better. You should be getting 90 in online too. Can you get 70-90 on that highway I spoke of above? You go to the beach on left side of map and drive up left side. Once you start driving under overpasses, your fps should hit between 70-90 easy. Also, make sure you're in a solo lobby. And check your ms while playing too. Could be your internet.
I am. But i need to upgrade to 16gb RAM, even pagefile on ssd is not helping with those stutters. In solo lobbies i'm fine , in populated >8 people i can't go past 55, looks like cpu can't handle the info it is receiving, even tho it's not hitting it's limit.
Oh you are getting stutters. Well that makes sense with just 8GB of RAM. Your CPU is fine. Add another stick of 8GB RAM and you will be stutter free. But that won't fix fps being at a certain spot like 55. That you can blame on the game and how it performs online and the fact that you're using the i5 you are using and the RAM speed you are using. Mine does the exact same thing. I have an i5 very similar to yours and my RAM speed is also DDR4-2133. My fps drops to around 46-49-54 in the city(or high demanding/high populated areas of the map). That's the game itself, completely normal. Only way I know of to make that 55 fps in online go away is to basically upgrade your CPU and/or upgrade your RAM to a higher speed and/or OC your RAM to a higher speed. This is a very simple process usually and very safe to do as long as your mobo and particular RAM allows it. If it allows higher RAM speed, you could then buy 2 sticks of a higher speed and possibly OC it. You could then sell off the DDR4-2133 8GB you have in there now. It's worth a good $40-$80 at this moment in time, depending on the brand and how you go about selling it.
There is one trick that may help with any CPU strain you may have in GTA 5. If you by chance use self radio, stop using it. You can still use it but without using it, you'll notice CPU usage drop around 20%. I have to do this because my CPU has a tiny bottleneck on my GPU in GTA 5. Turning off self radio helps with it tremendously. I still see 100% CPU usage in the city sometimes but it's not often enough(like I said, tiny bottleneck) to worry about upgrading my CPU. If I had a better cooler, I could then use my turbo CPU clock speed and the bottleneck goes away. I like to use self radio but not while driving around(which sucks because that's the best time to use it). Use self radio when inside apartments or in lobbies or in areas of the game where you are achieving high fps. And I like to use it while flying because most of the time I fly I get pretty high fps. Just use other radio stations in the areas like the city. Again, you'll notice the 20% decrease on CPU usage just by switching from self radio to regular radio stations.
What motherboard do you have? I can check if it allows higher RAM speeds and if its OC'able. And what brand and model is your current RAM?