CM/Custom Shader Patch giving better frame rates with CPU/GPU optimising

Mascot · Dec 8, 2018

I'm not sure this is common knowledge and thought it deserved its own thread.
With a recent CM/Custom Shader Patch update we were given some experimental CPU and GPU optimising options.
They can be found in Content Manager's Settings > Custom Shader Patch > General Patch Settings

...and these are the options you need to tick.

Brief descriptions from the coder are (remember - these are still in development):

CPU options:
Merge meshes and Flatten nodes: should give improvement on a few unoptimized tracks, might screw up lighting configs

GPU options:
Optimize draw order: screws up online (will be fixed in next release), currently doesn't do anything when motion blur is enabled, should be safe to use and boost fps with AI and in cockpit view.
Optimize meshes: safe to have enabled, should give some improvement generally.

I've been doing some testing and just got a whopping 20fps increase in frame rate with all four of these options activated, hot-lapping at Zandvoort in the Lotus Evora GTC '14 (Kunos track, Kunos car for best benching). That basically means the difference between ASW and native 90fps in VR for me at high settings, which is pretty bloody impressive (980Ti/6600k). YMMV of course but there are definite gains to be had.

Billy Pilgrim · Dec 8, 2018

Looks great
Thanks for the tip
Any downside?

Billy Pilgrim · Dec 8, 2018

I just tested. I'm not getting your good results.

Until this morning, i had been using the last stable build (1.24).

So, on seeing you post, I installed 1.25 preview30 and tried the hardware optimisations you mention. I was getting 60 to 70 fps (not great). I then turned off the hardware optimisations you mention and tried again: got 60 to 70 fps (just the same).

60 to 70 fps isn't good enough so I uninstalled 1.25 preview30 and reinstalled the last stable build (1.24) and got back to 75 to 90 fps.

Thanks for the tip though. I'll be retesting. Maybe with another build?

Mascot · Dec 8, 2018

Billy Pilgrim said:
I just tested. I'm not getting your good results.

Until this morning, i had been using the last stable build (1.24).

So, on seeing you post, I installed 1.25 preview30 and tried the hardware optimisations you mention. I was getting 60 to 70 fps (not great). I then turned off the hardware optimisations you mention and tried again: got 60 to 70 fps (just the same).

60 to 70 fps isn't good enough so I uninstalled 1.25 preview30 and reinstalled the last stable build (1.24) and got back to 75 to 90 fps.

Thanks for the tip though. I'll be retesting. Maybe with another build?

I'm on preview 30 of the shader patch and CM updates itself automatically, so whatever the latest build is.
I was surprised to be getting a 20fps gain to be honest - most reports I've seen are between 7-10fps. It'll depend on so many different factors though, so maybe my graphics options are in some sort of sweet spot for my CPU/GPU combo.
It's odd that you're getting no gains at all though. Try hot-lapping at Zandvoort in the Lotus Evora GTC '14 - maybe that combo is also a lucky one?

Deleted member 197115 · Dec 8, 2018

Massive jump for me in VR, before night driving was almost 100% reprojection, now it's stable 90 fps all way through.
The only problem I have found so far is Nurburing crashing on a start of the race if Merge Meshes is enabled.

That means I can finally switch to shaders patch for VR 100%. Can't wait for Peter's SOL.

Mascot · Dec 8, 2018

Andrew_WOT said:
Massive jump for me in VR, before night driving was almost 100% reprojection, now it's stable 90 fps all way through.
The only problem I have found so far is Nurburing crashing on a start of the race if Merge Meshes is enabled.

That means I can finally switch to shaders patch for VR 100%. Can't wait for Peter's SOL.

Have you benchmarked the actual gains? Be interested to hear what the actual numbers are. I'm getting 18-20 fps on a lot of car/track combos.
This is using CM's own FPS tracker in settings > assetto corsa > video
This type of framerate was unheard of for my stock 980Ti/6600k previously, and this is with high settings and the shader patch active in VR.

Ian Cameron · Dec 8, 2018

Mascot said:
I'm on preview 30 of the shader patch and CM updates itself automatically, so whatever the latest build is.
I was surprised to be getting a 20fps gain to be honest - most reports I've seen are between 7-10fps. It'll depend on so many different factors though, so maybe my graphics options are in some sort of sweet spot for my CPU/GPU combo.
It's odd that you're getting no gains at all though. Try hot-lapping at Zandvoort in the Lotus Evora GTC '14 - maybe that combo is also a lucky one?

How do you mean CM updates automatically? and how do I enable this please

Billy Pilgrim · Dec 8, 2018

Ian Cameron said:
How do you mean CM updates automatically? and how do I enable this please

In CM go to Settings then Content Manager then General and it's in there. But that's just for CM to update itself. I dunno about the Shaders patch updating automatically.

Deleted member 197115 · Dec 8, 2018

Shaders don't, you have to pick them up and unpack manually, make sure to disable AND remove old version before installing new one.

Deleted member 197115 · Dec 8, 2018

Mascot said:
Have you benchmarked the actual gains? Be interested to hear what the actual numbers are. I'm getting 18-20 fps on a lot of car/track combos.
This is using CM's own FPS tracker in settings > assetto corsa > video
This type of framerate was unheard of for my stock 980Ti/6600k previously, and this is with high settings and the shader patch active in VR.

View attachment 280912

But in VR it's 90 fps locked, I have WMR reprojection indicator enabled, if green that means I am at 90 fps and it stays green all the times.

katikomer · Dec 9, 2018

Mascot said:
I'm not sure this is common knowledge and thought it deserved its own thread.
With a recent CM/Custom Shader Patch update we were given some experimental CPU and GPU optimising options.
They can be found in Content Manager's Settings > Custom Shader Patch > General Patch Settings

View attachment 280852

...and these are the options you need to tick.

View attachment 280851

Brief descriptions from the coder are (remember - these are still in development):

CPU options:
Merge meshes and Flatten nodes: should give improvement on a few unoptimized tracks, might screw up lighting configs

GPU options:
Optimize draw order: screws up online (will be fixed in next release), currently doesn't do anything when motion blur is enabled, should be safe to use and boost fps with AI and in cockpit view.
Optimize meshes: safe to have enabled, should give some improvement generally.

I've been doing some testing and just got a whopping 20fps increase in frame rate with all four of these options activated, hot-lapping at Zandvoort in the Lotus Evora GTC '14 (Kunos track, Kunos car for best benching). That basically means the difference between ASW and native 90fps in VR for me at high settings, which is pretty bloody impressive (980Ti/6600k). YMMV of course but there are definite gains to be had.

Nice post mate. Great that your sharing this info to others that are not on discord.

I am also seeing good gains with VR, noticing moments of 90fps where I was previously solid 45fps. Austria seemed to be the biggest gain for me.

RasmusP · Dec 9, 2018

Mascot said:
I'm not sure this is common knowledge and thought it deserved its own thread.
With a recent CM/Custom Shader Patch update we were given some experimental CPU and GPU optimising options.
They can be found in Content Manager's Settings > Custom Shader Patch > General Patch Settings

View attachment 280852

...and these are the options you need to tick.

View attachment 280851

Brief descriptions from the coder are (remember - these are still in development):

CPU options:
Merge meshes and Flatten nodes: should give improvement on a few unoptimized tracks, might screw up lighting configs

GPU options:
Optimize draw order: screws up online (will be fixed in next release), currently doesn't do anything when motion blur is enabled, should be safe to use and boost fps with AI and in cockpit view.
Optimize meshes: safe to have enabled, should give some improvement generally.

I've been doing some testing and just got a whopping 20fps increase in frame rate with all four of these options activated, hot-lapping at Zandvoort in the Lotus Evora GTC '14 (Kunos track, Kunos car for best benching). That basically means the difference between ASW and native 90fps in VR for me at high settings, which is pretty bloody impressive (980Ti/6600k). YMMV of course but there are definite gains to be had.

Would be very helpful if you could monitor your graphics card's load alongside so we know whether the gain is gpu or cpu related.
My 1070 is fine for my single screen but race starts are a pain with more than a handful ai for my old 2600k

So if your 980 ti wasn't at its limit before and also isn't now, it's related to your 6600k and I would definitely give it a go

If you don't have a tool to monitor the gpu load via plotted graph (msi afterburner for example) I can recommend openhardwaremonitor! A few clicks and you got everything plotted nicely for a 24h time span. 980ti core load not hitting 98%+ - - > cpu limit.

Thanks in advance

Ian Cameron · Dec 9, 2018

Billy Pilgrim said:
In CM go to Settings then Content Manager then General and it's in there. But that's just for CM to update itself. I dunno about the Shaders patch updating automatically.

Thanks, I thought you meant you can update shaders automatically.

Deleted member 197115 · Dec 9, 2018

@RasmusP, in Shaders settings oprimization parameters are grouped into CPU and GPU based.

RasmusP · Dec 9, 2018

Andrew_WOT said:
@RasmusP, in Shaders settings oprimization parameters are grouped into CPU and GPU based.

I know, had a look the provided Screenshots, thanks anyway for the people who might've overlooked this!

What I meant was that it would be nice to know where the mentioned +20 fps are coming from in his specific case. Was he in the gpu or cpu limit before activating these settings?

Ryno917 · Dec 9, 2018

Thanks for the heads up! I usually miss these sorts of new features when they land. I've been having a lot of FPS issues lately, so this is definitely going to get some testing.

Deleted member 197115 · Dec 10, 2018

More optimization options were added in the latest patch. Nurburing with Merge Meshes is still broken, that should be fixed in one of the upcoming releases.
Question to optimization options users, have you noticed any image degradation when having them on.
I for instance discovered today after some extensive back and forth testing that weird softness (bluriness) in VR was caused by Windshield FX effect enabled and disabling it removes that haze.
It is not an optimization option of course, just observation.

Steve D · Dec 10, 2018

Mascot said:
Have you benchmarked the actual gains? Be interested to hear what the actual numbers are. I'm getting 18-20 fps on a lot of car/track combos.
This is using CM's own FPS tracker in settings > assetto corsa > video
This type of framerate was unheard of for my stock 980Ti/6600k previously, and this is with high settings and the shader patch active in VR.

View attachment 280912

Hi Buddy,

I can't for the life of me find that FPS tracker.

It's either staring me in the face or I'm missing something obvious.

Mascot · Dec 10, 2018

Steve D said:
Hi Buddy,

I can't for the life of me find that FPS tracker.

It's either staring me in the face or I'm missing something obvious.

Have you Daley Thompson's Decathlonned your Content Manager version number to unlock developer mode first (ie click the version number a few times quickly)?