Low LOD and Pop-in

[Cjhalgmad]

Hello,

Around December last year, every game that I play has at least some LOD issues and some games have pop-in issues. For example, in BF4 and BF5, red barels, fences and sometimes even buildings dont load in until I get close enough. it's seriously distracting and I dont know how to solve the issue. 

 

I've tried different GPU's, Reinstalling windows, different OC's on both the GPU and CPU and i've tried loading my games on a different SSD to see if that was the issue. Temps look good on the CPU and GPU and other metrics such as memory usage look normal. 

 

Here are my specs:

CPU: I7-6700k @ 4.5Ghz

MOBO:MSI z170a gaming m5

GPU:EVGA GTX 1080ti SC2

Cooler: NZXT Kraken x62

PSU: Corsair RM550x

SSD's: 525gb MX500 (Boot drive), 1tb Samsung 950 evo.

 

The only hunch that I have is that maybe a bigger PSU could help. From other threads I've read, people have recommended swapping PSU.

 

If anyone knows anything at all, that would be much appreciated. 

Thanks.

[Paul Rudd]

8 hours ago, Cjhalgmad said:

If anyone knows anything at all, that would be much appreciated.

Recently I clocked my CPU to 3.1 GHz instead of 3.0 GHz and I experienced texture pop-ins. Clocked it back to 3.0 GHz and the texture pop-ins disappeared.

 

Shot in the dark, but try clocking your CPU a little lower and see what that does. Maybe try 4.4 or 4.3, then try 4.2 or 4.1. If that doesn't work, try turning down your graphic settings a little lower than where they're set now. If that doesn't work, if you overclocked your GPU in any way, try clocking it a little lower as well.

 

Be sure to try each of these 3 things one at a time to rule them out one by one. Not saying this is the perfect fix but a few troubleshooting steps to start with at this moment in time. If it doesn't work, at least it will rule them out and you can set everything back to how you had them.

[Cjhalgmad]

3 hours ago, Dr. Historic Low said:

Recently I clocked my CPU to 3.1 GHz instead of 3.0 GHz and I experienced texture pop-ins. Clocked it back to 3.0 GHz and the texture pop-ins disappeared.

 

Shot in the dark, but try clocking your CPU a little lower and see what that does. Maybe try 4.4 or 4.3, then try 4.2 or 4.1. If that doesn't work, try turning down your graphic settings a little lower than where they're set now. If that doesn't work, if you overclocked your GPU in any way, try clocking it a little lower as well.

 

Be sure to try each of these 3 things one at a time to rule them out one by one. Not saying this is the perfect fix but a few troubleshooting steps to start with at this moment in time. If it doesn't work, at least it will rule them out and you can set everything back to how you had them.

Thanks for suggesting this but unfortunately, none of these have worked. the only other idea I have is that it is a motherboard issue, such as a bad PCI-E slot.

[Paul Rudd]

8 hours ago, Cjhalgmad said:

none of these have worked.

Well at least you ruled them out.

8 hours ago, Cjhalgmad said:

the only other idea I have is that it is a motherboard issue, such as a bad PCI-E slot.

Do you base this idea from reading something about this on the internet? If so, I wouldn't count on it being the issue.

 

If these texture pop-ins are minor(or moderate), it's very possible that you're not the only one experiencing them. Which means it's just how the game plays.

 

If they are major and super obvious, then record it and post it here. I'll then let you know if I experience it too. What are some games you play? Lets see if I own them too. You can then choose a game we both own, record a game play clip for about 30-45 seconds. I'll then do the same in the same spot in the game and we'll see if the same texture pop-ins occur on my end.

 

This would answer the question of if these pop-ins occur for everybody. What are some games you play? I don't have BF4 or BF5 but I do have BF1.

 

Or you could just play a part of the campaign in BF4 and then watch someone elses game play on YouTube of the exact spot that you find pop-ins occur and just check for a difference. Up to you.

[Cjhalgmad]

I've got a video of BF4 showing off some of the problems that I have. It's not the best quality but you can definitely make out the problems im encountering. 

 

The issues in BF5 and, im sure if I had in installed, BF1, are extremely similar. 

 

Thanks for the help.

[Paul Rudd]

6 hours ago, Cjhalgmad said:

I've got a video of BF4 showing off some of the problems that I have.

I watched the video and those seem very much like a common issue with the game itself. Watch the 1:29 mark of this video...

 

 

At the 1:29 mark between the 2 helicopters, you can see a pop-in occur. To fix this type of issue in BF4, you need to bump up mesh quality. Dunno if it's gonna fix it completely but that is the setting in BF4 and BF1 that this issue is related to. Especially those window roof pop-ins(that's what Mesh Quality is for). Set your Mesh Quality to Ultra and see if it helps any. It may affect fps but not in a major way(especially with your i7/1080ti combo). Maybe 3-5 fps if I remember correctly.

 

If you want to do further testing, if you can play a BF1 campaign mission, I can replicate it since I have BF1. I can't replicate BF4 so finding a video like the one above is all I can do with that game. I think the issue you are having is very common though and game related, as shown above. Hopefully your Mesh Quality is not already at Ultra and bumping it up helps you out with this.

 

Oh and be sure to quote any part of my message so I'll know you responded. I almost didn't even know you responded to this. And also be sure to restart the game after changing any graphic settings.

 

EDIT: I also found another video showing this exact issue on someone elses PC so again, I'm thinking this is game related...

 

 

Even his title is low level of detail and texture pop up issue. Notice the guns(or sandbags or whatever those things on the ground are) disappear and reappear just like in your video. I'm now thinking the Mesh Quality to Ultra may not fix your issue(since he's on ALL Ultra settings) and because it's like I said, the game itself.

 

Also, in the comments of this video, seems more people are having the same issue in BF4... Even on console...

 

 

One more thing, outside of what I see in your video, your game play video looks excellent. This to me is just a minor, common issue.

[Cjhalgmad]

On 5/20/2019 at 11:45 PM, Dr. Historic Low said:

If you want to do further testing, if you can play a BF1 campaign mission, I can replicate it since I have BF1. I can't replicate BF4 so finding a video like the one above is all I can do with that game. I think the issue you are having is very common though and game related, as shown above. Hopefully your Mesh Quality is not already at Ultra and bumping it up helps you out with this.

 

Sorry for the late reply, i'm in exam season.

 

I've got a clip of BF1 but on the first italian mission (forgot the name). The Hellfighters mission was hard to show the problems due to the screenshake and explosions. 

 

 

At the 16 second mark, you can see that the graves pop in and out when I zoom in and out. similarly, the building's texture flickers between poor and good quality.

 

However, i feel like the best evidence I have that my issue is something to do with my PC rather than the game itself is GTA 5. in the clip you can see shadows, buildings, rocks and so on, either pop in or improve in quality as I fly near them.

 

 

For BF1, graphics were on high and for GTA, essentially everything was max/very high.

 

Thanks for helping, appreciate it.

[Paul Rudd]

1 hour ago, Cjhalgmad said:

At the 16 second mark, you can see that the graves pop in and out when I zoom in and out. similarly, the building's texture flickers between poor and good quality.

Dude, these are completely common issues with video games. If you'll notice the graves don't disappear once you get a little closer to them. This issue is a simple draw distance issue. Happens in tons of games and is completely common and well known to video game developers.

1 hour ago, Cjhalgmad said:

However, i feel like the best evidence I have that my issue is something to do with my PC rather than the game itself is GTA 5. in the clip you can see shadows, buildings, rocks and so on, either pop in or improve in quality as I fly near them.

You're talking about GTA 5 now. GTA 5 is my go to game. And everything I see in your GTA 5 video, is the exact same things going on when I play GTA 5. Take a look at this game play video of mine that I made last week. It shows this exact issue you are having. And I didn't even create it to show that. I created it to show how my fps is higher in a solo lobby vs a fully populated lobby.

 

 

Scroll to the 0:19 mark and watch the pop-ins all over the map. Shadows, trees, the buildings in the distance, etc, etc. This is the game itself because I have absolutely mastered GTA 5 graphic settings. Even when I bump everything to Ultra, this still takes place. As shown in this video of settings maxed out...

 

 

The game is to blame. Just as all the other games you experience this in, the game is to blame. There is no fix for this, only a remedy to decrease just how far away you can get before this issue occurs(in GTA 5, it's distance scaling and extended distance scaling). I notice the pop-ins all the time, especially in GTA 5. Once you game for many years, it really becomes tolerable over time. I remember in the beginning it being super annoying. But not now. In fact, I accept it because my fps is as high as I expect it to be. Fps over quality all day long. Fps makes you feel things while visual quality makes you see things if you know what I mean. I'd rather have the better feeling game experience vs the better visual one. But that's just me. People are different so hopefully you'll learn to cope with this common issue.

 

As I mentioned above, one of the only things I can think of to decrease this issue is to bump up your distance scaling and extended distance scaling(which is an advanced setting in GTA 5). This might help a little with this issue(it's not going to make it go away completely) in GTA 5 and understand that these two graphic settings, especially extended distance scaling, will KILL your fps, as shown below.

 

 

You see, regular distance scaling isn't too bad on fps, only around 6 fps max when you're going from 0% to 100%. Which is why I set mine to 60%.

 

 

But when it comes to extended distance scaling, the difference between 0% and 100% is a mere 20 fps, give or take. Which is one reason why I set mine to 0%. Another reason I do that is because pop-ins are gonna occur whether you like it or not, even on 100%. Read further to read more of what I mean...

 

Here's one more thing you could try in GTA 5, there's a setting called High Detail Streaming While Flying. Which you can read about in these photos...

 

 

You may want to try turning this ON for your pop-ins to be as mentioned above, "less noticeable". But I keep High Detail Streaming While Flying OFF because of its impact in the city as mentioned above. Plus I remember it not doing a damn thing when testing it on countless occasions. Minor pop-ins are like the photo above says, unavoidable.