The NA client runs extremely poorly for me. The game runs at around 20-30fps in lobby and small fights, but drops significantly in urgent quests to around 10fps, basically slideshow levels.

I can also repeat this problem on command by just opening up the customise menu, this drops my frame rate to 10fps instantly. This is definitely a CPU issue vs a GPU issue as this problem still exists at 480p vs 1080p.

In comparison, I tried installing the JP client as there's a few differences, as the JP client is 32bit vs NA's 64bit client.

Performance on JP is as expected on my laptop, with 60fps all around and my GPU being the main limiter as opposed to my CPU.

Some comparisons between NA and JP below.

NA, shopping plaza in front of fountain. 9fps with customise menu open.

JP, shopping plaza in front of fountain, 60fps with customise menu open.

The game seems to be using similar amounts of CPU usage in both clients, nor is the game using 100% cpu usage in either client. There's something wrong with the NA client that makes it run so poorly.

Specs: CPU: i5-1035G1 RAM: 16GB 3200MHz GPU: NVIDIA MX350 Both clients running on an SSD.

I've noticed this as well. I don't get consistent bad framerate, it's actually on par with JP most of the time, but if I ever open/close a UI element such as my inventory or even switching chat tabs, my game will freeze for at least 10 seconds. Very bizarre, hopefully they fix this soon.

@TooFab4U3347 said in UI causes FPS drops, NA client runs worse than JP:

NVIDIA MX350

If you're on a laptop, you need to tell windows to use the dGPU for the game. That GPU is relatively weak (eg it's about the same spec as a GTX 1060)

@Kisai The game is using the GPU in both JP and NA. The GPU isn't bottlenecking the NA game here to 9fps, as the GPU usage (The % next to the temperature) is next to zero on NA, and the game runs at 60 on JP with the same GPU.

I have similar issue after my PC updated windows to the June update. Opening any menu/personal shop or doing 12 man zones would cause my FPS to drop and this didn't happen before the update.

Walking around the lobby is perfectly fine.

Have the same problem as well, ever since launch. On a laptop, Nvidia GTX1070 GPU, Intel i7-7700HQ 2.8GHz, 16GB RAM and 120Hz screen.

Regardless of min or max settings the frame rates and performance doesn't change. 40-50+FPS in lobby and ship, but in the field it's in the mid 30s before rapidly sinking into 15-18FPS soon as combat starts. Friend of mine with a stronger system can get 130+ frames while in the lobby since the lobby fix, and generally has had no problems in quests. Another who's running a 1050Ti Laptop gets stable 60+ FPS, with his only complaints of lag being when he opens menus (not as prevalent anymore for me but after awhile of being in menus it starts to lag, i.e. browsing player shops) or if too many AoEs or photon blasts are going off.

Walking around the lobby for me randomly stutters too. If i stare at the ceiling and idle I'll break the 60FPS "limit" and actually see 70+ or so frames, but soon as I move it drops. Frame drop isn't even significant but it stutters heavily for a second or two, makes no sense, i.e. 45FPS drops to 41 and the camera rotation just gets super choppy for a second or two.

So, I initially solved this problem by using DXVK, which converts the game to running using vulkan instead of DirectX (used for linux machines...). It shot me back up to 60fps and had the performance of the JP client. Unfortunately after updating my NVIDIA graphics driver today to 451.48 this solution doesn't work anymore, but maybe it'll help the both of you out.

Download DXVK using the github link below (or google it), Extract the x64 files into the pso2_bin folder and run the game. Though since this isn't an official solution use at your own risk. https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk

EDIT: have since done a system restore to before the driver update and game runs at 60fps. Running driver 446.14

How on earth did this game make it out of its ALpha state with these kind of game-breaking glitches.

@TooFab4U3347 Gave it a try, it does seem to work, thanks! However, there's a strange lag to camera panning when moving. Do you get the same and if so how to fix that?

EDIT : After further test it only gives me stable frames in the lobby. Still the same horrible frame drop when running missions, with the added camera pan stutter/lag :(.

Thank you though!