2023 Esports Optimization Guide

[imprecise]

Even after optimization, I've still been seeing horrendous desync in online games. In CSGO there were red errors in console after every desync... and the errors say desync in them. In CS2, the errors are yellow and say time rewinding and interpolation. I tried opening a ticket and Valve closed it saying they don't support console errors. I think I found the problem, but I need other people to test and verify. First, I did the audio changes from the above post. Second, I did that Process Lasso change of I/O priority.

I played really late at night and carried a game, so I thought maybe the fix had been found. However, playing midday the next day, desync took over the game again.

I went on to try some more things:

I disabled Steam Cloud for CSGO:

stcloud.png (44.96 KiB) Viewed 8315 times

I kept searching online and found this post:

alarmed.png (29 KiB) Viewed 8315 times

From here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensiv ... nd_hitreg/

I decided Nvidia Profile Inspector would be worth a shot, however it did get detected as a potential trojan:

vtnvpi.png (107.03 KiB) Viewed 8315 times

I downloaded from a second site, which also had the same issue. Reading around about similar programs, there were many comments that it's likely a false positive so I took the risk and tried it.

Here is what I found:

Like the other commenter said, I couldn't find the setting Alarmed mentioned, but I did find something else.

Continued next post....

[imprecise]

I turned GSYNC off in NVCP, but this setting remained on:

fullscreen.png (44.58 KiB) Viewed 8306 times

It appears when running fullscreen games, the drivers are trying to use GSYNC. I'm guessing this is connected to Fullscreen Optimizations replacing Fullscreen Exclusive, and Nvidia trying to be clever and use GSYNC instead of VSYNC in the process.

After setting this to Force Off, games seem way more responsive. I still see some time rewinding errors in console but it's like 2-4 at a time instead of 10-20 at a time.

I also looked into the game config files and found some problems:

csgomaxpre.png (47.32 KiB) Viewed 8306 times

Setting max pre-rendered frames to 1, also known as Ultra Low Latency Mode, can cripple 2D performance. Nvidia drivers appear to force this on for CSGO, even when it's off in NVCP. CS2 is set to Use the 3D Application Setting. See this post for the benchmarks I found using NULL: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=11711

Here is what it looks like when GSYNC is actually off: (also, found the frame delay present setting after disabling GSYNC)

gsyncoff.png (49.59 KiB) Viewed 8294 times

I closed and reopened the Profile Inspector and the Frame Rate Limiter mode lost its setting, and frame delay present option disappeared again. It doesn't seem to save any changes to this variable.

One more thing... After manually disabling GSYNC in NPI, my monitor remained in GSYNC mode. I had to go into NVCP, turn GSYNC on and back off.

[imprecise]

Update: The time rewinding errors are back in full force during peak hours again.

I disabled fullscreen optimization and it appears to be what was causing the desync. However, I have to wait until peak hours to verify.

fso.png (20.76 KiB) Viewed 8019 times

I was able to verify the desync issue returned again.

Update: I found my connection has been suffering from bufferbloat (200ms or more). I'm not sure how long this has been happening, since I tested this previously with good results.

More info here:
viewtopic.php?t=12493

[imprecise]

For anyone who has fiber and also high bufferbloat, it looks like it's being caused by 10G -> 1G buffering. You can somewhat alleviate the issue by using SQM (Cake, fq_codel) but the underlying issue will remain.

The general rule of thumb is that you need 50ms of line-rate output queue buffer, so for for a 10G switch, there should be around 60MB of buffer. This is particularly important if you have a 10G host sending to a 1G host across the WAN. But there are a number of switch design issues that make it hard to quantify exactly how much buffering is actually required.

https://fasterdata.es.net/network-tunin ... ze-issues/

Switches are usually 48 ports, so having a 10G uplink and 40 1G connections will completely saturate the switch under peak times, which leads to buffering and delayed or dropped packets. If you're experiencing this, maybe your ISP will fix it, or maybe you will have to find a better connection.

Some settings that might help on the client side:
Jumbo Frame (MTU 9KB)
Flow Control (Intel network adapter setting)
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled (Turns off TCP auto-tuning in Windows. Default setting is "normal")

These sites use 2 different methods to test bufferbloat:
https://www.dslreports.com/speedtest
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat

Here is a site by a subject matter expert:
https://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/bl ... Solutions/

[KingAzar]

3. Disable power savings in Device Properties.

This is a quick powershell command that will do this for all your devices with USB power management instead of going in 1 by 1:

Get-WmiObject MSPower_DeviceEnable -Namespace root\wmi | ForEach-Object { $_.enable = $false; $_.psbase.put(); }

[rekaa02511]

Did you come to any final conclusion which "devices" was best with MSI mode?

[oenay]

Do you all not think its the internet or servers on face it who makes this delay?

[oenay]

Did you change all 3 or just the first 2 tweaks?

All 3 of them

Thanks and to confirm you're using c-states and a 5800x3d?

No, I use a 5600(non).

These are my bios settings
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10232&hilit=AMD
The SoC/Uncore OC Mode is an exception under this, I left it on the default setting (disabled), my experience was that it stutters a bit.

I have to say that I almost only play Apex, and this game itself is stuttering, and you quickly notice the wrong direction changes (even in Firing Rang).

What is interesting to me (after the changes) is that with SMT turned on, my mouse is more direct and I feel the input is better. However, this was reversed before the changes, I never used SMT, because the input of my mouse became noticeably worse with SMT...because I felt as if I was playing with G-sync

Sorry for the translation.

Hi, i have an asus rog strix x570 f gaming with amd 5600x. Can you help me with the bios to disable all power savings and all to have low dpc latency?

[amorou]

First lines I read and guide recommending chipset drivers...

[imprecise]

Did you come to any final conclusion which "devices" was best with MSI mode?

The conclusion I reached is it depends on the hardware of the computer and how it's configured. Some people will find improvement changing between MSI and legacy, and some people will find it makes performance worse.

First lines I read and guide recommending chipset drivers...

It's true updating drivers can increase latency, but it's better to start with the latest drivers in order to avoid known problems that have been fixed.