Hey guys it's time I updated my competitive input lag guide since I've already made one for SF6/Marvel Rivals. This guide may also inadvertently fix performance or crashing errors in some games too. I wish I had this guide 10 years ago when I started using AMD. You aren't actually bad at fighting games. You just have input lag. :: Street Fighter™ 6 General Dis...
How to fix your lag.
First up is your in game settings. Disable V-Sync and enable Input Delay Reduction in graphics settings. Reduce any graphics you feel is necessary if you are getting less than 60 frames in battle. I have found that Frame Generation and Anti-Lag 2(or regular anti-lag) increases latency by a lot. So unless you're playing a casual AAA game like Monster Hunter Wilds you would want them disabled for input lag.
Second is to check all your monitor settings.
- Click around the buttons and find any gaming mode / FPS mode. Having it on a movie mode would usually have a ton of post processing lag. For my BenQ monitor I have an AMA setting on Premium for fastest frames, and it has 2 FPS modes, FPS 1 is better than 2.
- For Esports you have to disable everything such as blur reduction and Freesync/Gsync.
- Make sure to turn all of those settings off in both/all your monitors! Even having 1 enabled will affect the other monitor! Monitors like my MSI Optix MAG272CQR love to re-initiate Freesync and it doesn't matter if you enable it or not in your display/gaming settings.
Third and the Most important is to set GPU settings
Without having your monitor and GPU at perfect settings, you won't be able to see if you have latency with other settings. Generally you want to disable everything.
For Nvidia you want to set Ultra Low Latency mode and Display Scaling. Open NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D settings > Global Settings. Set Power management mode to Prefer maximum performance, disable any VSync, then enable Ultra Low Latency.
For AMD, you want to disable the performance logging and every feature. This thread explains how Voltage monitors like MSI Afterburner give you stuttering and performance issues so you also have to do it for Radeon. Can confirm this improved my %lows.
https://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=14206&sid=71e7e25901dfcec78b0a0dcae2c31814
There's also 3 ways to install the drivers, Full, Minimal, and Driver only. Minimal feels the best. Honestly it does feel good to have minimal install and disable everything like this youtube guide. (15) The Best AMD Radeon Adrenaline Settings for Competetive Gaming High FPS and Low Input Lag 2023 ...
But if you do have AMD here are my settings.
Per Game Settings (Also Called Global Gaming Settings):
- Anti-Lag Off (please turn this off, it just throttles your CPU)
- Enhanced Sync Off
- Freesync: Off. IF you do want it On, make sure to use ON not AMD Optimized cause AMD Optimized will use a frame limiter.
Display Settings:
- Freesync Premium Off (causes lag, whatever they say about pushing out frames as fast as possible, it doesn't)
- GPU Scaling: OFF, Scaling should be default or Center.(test it)
- Sometimes I also notice that Radeon settings might also have to be on while playing so you would gain the effects?
Fourth, Disable Full Screen Optimizations. Right click your game EXE/icon. Right click > Properties > Compatability Tab > Disable Fullscreen Optimizations and check it.
Then Click [Change High DPI Settings] and check both DPI options and hit OK. Do this for every game and application you want to excel at. https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/11jsqc7/psa_disabling_full_screen_optimization_in_some/?r...
However do note DFSO might be broken and may not affect anything nowadays. https://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7168 Check the reddit link in this thread.
Modern Windows now uses Flip-Model Optimizations in games and you can enable or disable it in settings(not sure if on or off is better) https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/optimizations-for-windowed-games-in-windows-11-3f006843-...
Fiftly, Disable Control Flow Guard or Exploit Protections on your games: This definitely helped in Marvel Rivals for reducing stuttering and improved %low performance too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelrivals/comments/1h8hcd6/how_i_fixed_my_stuttery_gameplay_issue/
Sixthly Disable TPM: TPM is a security feature that is usually required when installing Win11, however if you already installed it you can just go ahead and disable it in BIOS, but it made my mouse feel really really slippery(still better than floaty mouse). https://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13123&start=60
Lastly the most difficult setting is tweaking your BCDEDIT System Timers. Many serious gamers always hear about disabling HPET and that is one of the timers the PC uses.
You have 3 main BCDEDIT Timer Settings: useplatformclock, useplatformtick, and disabledynamictick. Each of them can be set to Yes, No, or Off. By default they are all off. Changing any of these variables in certain combinations can either make the system feel amazing or terrible. To edit them here is all 3 examples for useplatformclock.
bcdedit /deletevalue useplatformclock bcdedit /set useplatformclock no bcdedit /set useplatformclock yes
You simply enter one of these into your command prompt or powershell as administrator, press enter. You can check your current status by just typing bcdedit and press enter. Along with these timers you can also try to disable HPET in BIOS. But now most BIOS have locked that function, so you can use SCEWIN to bypass that. https://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=11847&hilit=chatgpt
So Basically you have 3^3^2 combinations you can try.
Here is a list of combinations I have used. https://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10823&start=30
Lately the combinations I have been using are:
- HPET off, UPC Yes, UPT off, DDT Yes(this one got me to masters)
- For some reason HPET On Bios plus All Yes = Great Smooth
- HPET On, All Yes - UPT no = Almost Perfect
- UPC Yes, UPT No DDT No
- UPC No, UPT Off, DDT No If it's not perfect I'd say it's perfect.
- Just UPC No
- delete everything useplatformtick no
- UPC No, UPT No, DDT Yes = Good
- delete everything, DDT yes
- UPC No, UPT OFF, DDT yes
- UPC No, UPT Yes
- UPC No, UPT No
These are all the settings I've tried and found to be great, and if they don't say HPET it's usually disabled. Let me know which ones you find to be the best/worst, or maybe you know some better combinations?
Super Extra Tweak: disable your Transparency Effects in Windows.
On windows 7 this was called Aero Glass but now it's just Transparency.
Turn Off Transparency Effects
Open Settings: Press Win + I to open the Settings app.
Go to Personalization: Navigate to Settings > Personalization > Colors.
Disable Transparency Effects:
Scroll down and toggle Transparency Effects to Off.
Disable Animations
Press Win + I to open Settings.
Navigate to Accessibility:
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Visual Effects.
Disable Animation Effects:
Toggle Animation Effects to Off.
Adjust for Best Performance
Access Advanced System Settings:
Press Win + S, type Advanced System Settings, and select View advanced system settings.
Alternatively, right-click This PC, select Properties, and then click Advanced System Settings.
Adjust Visual Effects:
In the Performance section, click Settings.
Under Visual Effects, select Adjust for best performance.
Alternatively, use Custom and disable these:
Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide ToolTips into view
Show shadows under windows
Apply Changes:
Click Apply and then OK.
Disable Background Visual Effects
Disable Wallpaper Slideshow:
Go to Settings > Personalization > Background.
Set Background to Solid Color instead of a slideshow.
Disable Dynamic Themes:
Avoid using animated themes or ones with complex visuals.
Registry Editor Tweaks (Optional)
Open Registry Editor:
Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
Navigate to the Following Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Disable Aero Peek:
Look for the value DisablePreviewDesktop.
If it doesn't exist, create a new DWORD (32-bit) value and name it DisablePreviewDesktop.
Set its value to 1.
Restart Explorer:
Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
Restart the Explorer.exe process to apply changes.
These tweaks will ensure the most latency reduction and the BCDEDITs will change the way your timer works so that the OS/game engine runs smoothly. If you have any tweaks you want to send my way I'll gladly test them.
