Less than 30 FPS on Mass Effect 1

I searched but I didn't find anything on this topic.

With Ultra settings, Mass Effect 1 stays between 24 and 28 FPS.
I also get dips to 5-10 FPS when looking at the star map or during big cutscenes.

The game, bought from Steam, is running on dedicated GFX, no overclock.

Is this normal?

 

no i wouldnt of thought so. i thought the m14x should max games like me1.

 

I think Mass Effect has a 30fps cap, as I cannot go above 30fps but never drop below. That may be why.

 

I can live with that.

But what about the FPS drops with the star map (in the Normandy) and the cutscenes (dialogs are ok)?
It drops to 5-10!

 

Strange. Is it like a stutter or does it stay like that for more than a second?

 

It's a major slowdown on certain shots in a cutscene. The FPS speeds up to normal if the camera pans away from a loaded scene, or from the star map.

On Feros for example, when the Geth ship falls after I destroy one of it's claws, FPS drops to 5-10, then when the camera moves and points to a less loaded scene, such as Sheppard looking or something, FPS goes back to normal.

 

Weird, what drivers are you running?

 

Please use one of the monitoring tools in this thread to see if your CPU is overheating. It sounds like this may be the case. If so, you're going to want to disable Turbo Mode by restarting your computer and entering the bios.

 

I'm using 285.26

 

Dont know then, Im using the same drivers. It could be possible its still using the Intel GPU. Maybe try doing a clean install of your drivers

 

I had no problems with ME1.

Guess you are running on the intel GPU

 

Make sure you whitelist ME1.exe. It seems like your running on Integrated graphics.

 

I have Mass Effect 1 installed on my M14x, and you have to whitelist it. If not, it will run on the Intel GPU. Runs the game with no problems.

 

I have tried:
-Right-click the ME1.exe and running with Nvidia GPU
-Right-click desktop, open Nvidia panel/3d SETTINGS RUN WITH Nvidia GPU
-Launching the ME configuration tool and selecting the NVidia GPU
-ALT-Tabbing to desktop to check the Nvidia activity icon in the tray, it shows ME1 running on Nvidia GPU.
-Drivers are updated to 285.26

I don't want to overclock.

For me, 26-30 FPS is fine to play. I'm concerned with the drops during cutscenes and the starmap animation, and I think that 30 FPS on a M14x for an older game like ME1 may not be normal. I was expecting 50-60 like The Witcher 1.

Could it be because it runs off Steam?

 

You need to add the MassEffect.exe under the nVidia control panel, and tell it to always use the nVidia GPU. I had to do this for Global Agenda even though it said it was running on nvidia, it was truly running on Intel....

File path (assuming default steam install folder):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\mass effect\Binaries\MassEffect.exe

 

I think you are whitelisting the Mass Effect Launcher, and not the game itself.

I don't have the Steam edition though, but it does not matter as long as the executable is whitelisted in the driver.

 

No, I whitelisted the executable. With Steam the launcher is in a different folder than the executable and is actually named masseffectlauncher.exe so it's hard to make that mistake.

I noticed that FPS has stabilized at 25-30, with some dialog scenes going up to 60. Depends what is in the background.
The star map animation is always at 24 FPS now.

Weird.

 

Did you only whitelist masseffectlauncher.exe? If so, thats not right. The launcher is only a launcher (you can use it, but steam doesnt show it in the library). The exe you should whitelist is just masseffect.exe under the binaries folder

 

Yup, that's what I did.
And I didn't whitelist the launcher.

 

I'm pretty sure ME1 isn't capped at 30fps, as someone suggested. I played ME1 on my M11x with an average of around 40fps.

 

Just rune Mass Effect on default settings and the max resolution for your system. I doubt you will see any difference in the game but it will run a whole lot faster.

 

Sorry to bring this thread back up, but I'm getting 25 FPS with Fallout NV on Very High settings.

I'm 100% sure it runs on 555m.

Again, is this normal?

 

Make sure your computer is set to High Performance. Power Saver can severely drop your fps

 

Make sure you're plugged in. Even on high performance, a plugged in Alienware runs a billion times better.

 

Could it be a BIOS issue/setting?

Everything is on High Performance, all my games are running with 555m.
I checked.

Every game seems to be locked at around 30 FPS, which is ok I suppose, but IM wondering if games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion don't go over 40, will I be able to run Diablo 3 and Skyrim at decent settings?

 

Upgraded to 285.38, same thing.
25 FPS on Mass Effect 1, maxed out.

 

hmmmm...I've been playing Mass Effect 1 and FRAPS is showing i'm getting a lot more than 30 with it maxed out. Pretty sure I was getting high 50's - 60's. I do get a crap load of screen tearing though with Vsync off. Gonna have to try it with it on though. I'm running the 6 month old dell driver.

 

Again, my concern is not really with Mass Effect 1, but for upcoming games.

Is there a way to lock a max FPS of 30-40, like with the Bios perhaps (and therefore unlock it)?

My settings are all on High Perf, but I've not yet trifled with the BIOS.

 

Just tried ME1 and with everything set to Ultra/Max I easily got 60 fps (with v sync on) on my 900p screen.

Not sure if you meant this but on Desktop, Screen Resolution, Advance Settings, Monitor, there is selection for either 40Hz or 60Hz.

 

My refresh rate is set to 60, but all my games are played with V-Sync off.