Using CCC Vsync Forced does not work in all games - worked with Nvidia

xenphor

After briefly using a 550 ti I made the switch to a 6850 for some added performance. Of course the main thing I was worried even before purchasing was the drivers, but thought it could be overblown. Using the Nvidia control panel, I was able to use all available vsync options with every game I tried.

Now with AMD, after only having tested a few games, I am running into problems forcing vysnc. The first game was Half-life, an opengl game so I can't use something like d3doverrider. The game actually was vsync'd by default using my 550 ti somehow but that is definitely not the case with the 6850. I made a profile with vsync on and that didn't work. Curiously enough, if I set the default options to force vsync on, it did work.

Next game I tried was Nexuiz. Here, forcing vsync did not work whether in a profile or as the default setting.

Now, one game that did actually work with a vsync profile was Doom 3. Of course Sikkmod did not work properly although I already knew that going in.

So what's the deal here? I knew I'd probably be running into problems with drivers with AMD but didn't expect something so basic as vsync to not work properly. The way to make 3d profiles is very odd as well, because I have to change the default settings, click "save", choose "exe", and then discard what I just changed so that it doesn't become the default. Very weird. It seems like I should just select the exe first and have it be separate from the defaults from the get go. What am I doing wrong?

teleguy · 07-30-2012, 10:05 | posts: 1,016

The vsync option in CCC only applies to opengl games. Try Radeonpro instead.

xenphor · 07-30-2012, 10:49 | posts: 37

I got Radeonpro and forced vsync/triplebuffer in a profile for Nexuiz and it didn't do anything. I even selected aggressive API detection and that didn't work.

I tried d3doverrider but for some reason that isn't working either, which is weird because it worked with my 550 ti.

As an aside, it's strange that the game actually runs quite a bit worse than it did on my 550 ti. I was not expecting that.

teleguy · 07-30-2012, 11:19 | posts: 1,016

Seems there is something messed up with your system. Did you reinstall Windows or use drivercleaner when you switched cards?

Rich_Guy · 07-30-2012, 15:01 | posts: 6,679 | Location: UK

Yeah AMD's way for v-sync is correct, as thats the new rule by Microsoft, they are just following it, instead of doing a Nvidia and breaking it, by allowing it to be forced on (which they shoud have done tbh), but as said above, something else is possibly up if Radeonpro or D3DOverrider won't work either, as i use D3DOver to force v-sync/triple buffering, and it works fine.

xenphor · 07-30-2012, 16:43 | posts: 37

Hm no I just uninstalled the Nvidia stuff normally. I guess I'll try reinstalling Windows to see if that helps.

The Mac · 07-30-2012, 16:44 | posts: 1,391 | Location: USA

try this one, new release:

http://www.radeonpro.info/download/R...ro_Preview.exe

i have a feeling its the dreaded deprecated dll issue.

xenphor · 07-30-2012, 17:54 | posts: 37

Well I still have the same problems. Using the new exe provided, Radeonpro still does not enforce vsync in the profile. D3doverrider seems like it provides vsync, but when it starts up, I get a Windows "success" beep but then a "failure" beep after. Although like I said before, I'm somewhat more concerned about general performance even without vsync, especially on maps like "Strength" and "Tension". Does anyone else have a 6850 to confirm performance? I'm using 1280x1024 at Ultra settings, which seem to run much better on my 550 ti.

The Mac · *Last edited by The Mac; 07-30-2012 at 18:55.*

Nvidia has better tesselators than ATI, thats why your 550 gets beter frames.

You wont see that kind of difference in games that arent heavily tesslilated.

also. try ATI Tray Tools by Ray Adams, just to round out the tools...

xenphor · 07-30-2012, 21:49 | posts: 37

Hm that's sad to hear, tessellation is probably the one thing I actually notice with DX11 lol. I tested out Metro 2033 and it's probably the first game where I noticed a decent performance jump from my 550 ti, even with DX11 effects on.

I tried ATI tray tools but that wasn't able to force it either. I think something happened after I installed it because when scrolling through webpages I got a glitch where the task bar would sort of freak out and flicker in the browser window.

The Mac · 07-30-2012, 21:56 | posts: 1,391 | Location: USA

run atiman uninstaller and reinstall the drivers.

xenphor · 07-30-2012, 23:38 | posts: 37

Uh well I just reinstalled Windows again. I'm using 12.7 beta drivers now but haven't seen much of a difference. I think I may just stick with RadeonPro since it seems to have what I need, if it would only work, lol.

I did realize that some of the stuttering/dropping I think was due to the fact that Nexuiz was defaulting at 75hz instead of 60hz. Things were a little bit smoother when I did 60hz instead. The game does have built in vsync, but I found with my 550 ti that I got much smoother performance when i did vsync/triple buffer with d3doverrider so I was hoping to do that with the Radeon.

edit: Okay, I may have solved the problem with d3doverrider. I had to disable DX11 in Nexuiz and then I got two confirmation beeps. Gameplay was smooth but, of course, no DX11. I still could not get Radeonpro to work with it though.

Fox2232 · 07-31-2012, 00:39 | posts: 369 | Location: EU, CZ, Brno

Weird thing is, that Doom 3 is OpenGL game, therefore it should behave same as HL1 in OGL mode. In HL1 use command "fps_max 61" or 60. As it limits framerate it is basically v-sync.

Other thing is in CCC v-sync have 4 options instead nVidias 3. ON-DefaultON-DefaultOFF-OFF.

xenphor · 07-31-2012, 00:50 | posts: 37

I actually got Half-life working in a profile but only with RadeonPro. Yes it is weird because it should work with CCC and it did, but not in a profile, only as default settings.

edit: Okay I finally got it working. I had to launch the game from RadeonPro and then the settings were applied. I guess it was problem because I am using Symbolic Links to folders on another hard drive? Although it seems to have been in vain because the performance is not as good compared to d3doverrider, at least in Metro 2033 and Nexuiz. Oh well.

edit: Another problem: Crysis 2 will not work with d3doverrider in DX11 either (one success, one error). If I turn DX11 off, the game will not launch at all with d3dovverider enabled. It will only launch with d3doverrider off. Again, DX11 worked fine with 550 ti.

xenphor · 07-31-2012, 07:22 | posts: 37

Well this may be the end of the line for me, I'm not sure what else to do. I tried reinstalling again using the simplest options available but still have all the same problems. I guess it would be great if I could just get 60 fps in all games, vsync and be done with it but that's not the case so I need things like triple buffering to work well. It also doesn't help that I've seen hardly any performance increase at best and at worst a decrease.

Outrance · 07-31-2012, 09:28 | posts: 1,712 | Location: NZ/Australia/Germany

Forcing v-sync doesn't work properly with CCC, but it works with Radeonpro if you set it up correctly. What monitor do you have and what is its default refresh rate? Are you using DVI connectors?

And a 6850 is not much of an upgrade of a 550ti, so you may see better performance in some games but not others.

xenphor · 07-31-2012, 10:01 | posts: 37

I'm using a 17" Viewsonic VGA monitor 1280x1024 either 60hz, 75hz (60 if I can). I use a DVI to VGA adapter.

The problem with RadeonPro is that I notice a very real performance difference when using vsync/triplebuffer with it VS. d3doverrider, with d3doverrider being superior. RadeonPro triple buffering feels very sluggish, even more than usual.

xenphor · 08-01-2012, 10:50 | posts: 37

Okay I have some updates. First of all RadeonPro definitely does not work with symbolic links, but it does work with junctions so I'm using those for now.

Second thing is that d3doverrider force vsync is apparently a huge problem with this card. Forcing triple buffering will work but never vsync. I guess it's because of AMD cards not being able to force vsync in d3d? Also, combining forced triple buffering with forced vsync through RadeonPro also does not work. So, the only way to combine the two is either to use vsync in game and triple buffering through d3doverrider, or only using RadeonPro to force both. I'm still not sure if I'm sold on the performance I get with the two using RadeonPro. I don't know what could be different, but in low framerate situations it doesn't seem to help much vs. d3doverrider's implementation which worked well on the 550 ti.

One thing I did notice was that the force vsync in RadeonPro seems to work well with MSI's frame limiter. Since I still can't achieve 60fps in games like Crysis, if I limit the frames to 31, I can actually achieve smooth gameplay with force vsync. I have to force it because Crysis 1's vsync sucks really bad. The only problem is that I guess it still wants to sync at 60hz so I will get some stuttering if there's no action on screen.

I still have no idea what is up with Nexuiz. The Vigor map absolutely destroys my framerate in DX11, but the jungle maps all run fine when locked at 30fps.