Urgent Support Request: Performance Issues with Riders Republic on Intel Arc A770

[The7uphero]

Dear Intel Arc Graphics Support Team,

I am reaching out as a frustrated owner of the Intel Arc A770 GPU regarding severe performance issues with Riders Republic. Despite exhausting every possible troubleshooting measure on my end, the problems persist, resulting in wasted time and a suboptimal gaming experience. Here are the details of the issue and the extensive steps I have undertaken to resolve it:

The Problem

• The game suffers from low GPU usage (~70%) and exhibits extremely poor performance in areas with trees or other detailed scenery.
• During races or fast-moving sequences, the FPS frequently drops into the 30s, making the game almost unplayable in these moments.
• Performance only reaches expected levels when viewing low-complexity scenes, such as the ground or sky.
• This behavior is a well-documented issue related to DX11 on Arc GPUs and can be mitigated by using DX12 or Vulkan renderers. However, neither option is natively available for this game.

Steps Taken to Resolve the Issue

1. Adjusted In-Game Settings:

   • I experimented with every in-game graphics setting, including lowering the quality to reduce the load on the GPU. While performance marginally improves, this is not due to reduced GPU load since GPU usage remains at ~70% to 50%.
     

2. Explored Renderer Alternatives:

   • I explored multiple technical solutions to force the game to use DX12 or Vulkan renderers, which are known to perform better on Arc GPUs.
   • Adjusted command-line arguments and explored modifications to enable these renderers, but these efforts were ultimately unsuccessful due to game limitations.

Proposed Solutions

Given the well-documented incompatibility of DX11 with Arc GPUs, I urge Intel to:

1. Develop a Custom Driver Patch: Address the DX11 rendering inefficiencies specifically affecting games like Riders Republic.
2. Collaborate with Game Developers: Work with Ubisoft to integrate DX12 or Vulkan renderer support into the game.

Additional Info:
Settings: Ultra
Store: Ubisoft Connect
Performance metrics: RTSS and Intel Presentmon
Location of problem: Basically everywhere that has foliage, most prominently the riders ridge itself.
Other games with the same problem: all Guerilla Engine games on PC: Death Stranding DC, Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West; dx11 mode in any game that is not forced(cmd line arguments etc.)

I have gone to great lengths to resolve this issue independently, yet the underlying problem persists. I request Intel's immediate attention to provide either:

• A timeline for a driver-level fix.
• Guidance on additional steps I can take to resolve this problem.

Your swift response and a concrete plan of action would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
The7uphero

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

Thank you for posting in our communities.

I have checked your post, and I apologize if it takes us longer to provide you the recommendation or solution for the issue that you're experiencing.

Let me further investigate our case so I can provide you the appropriate recommendation. I will get back to you as soon as I have an update on our case.

By the way, thank you so much for your patience and cooperation with us.

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The7uphero]

What questions? Thats just an acknowledgement where they said theyre investigating the case.

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

Thank you for patiently waiting on my response, and please disregard my colleague's post; it seems to be a wrong post.

For our next step, please share with me a video showing the exact issues in the game.

Issues in the game:

• low GPU usage (~70%) and exhibits extremely poor performance in areas with trees or other detailed scenery.
• During races or fast-moving sequences, the FPS frequently drops into the 30s, making the game almost unplayable in these moments.
• Performance only reaches expected levels when viewing low-complexity scenes, such as the ground or sky.

Furthermore, please perform a clean installation of the graphics driver using DDU, then install our latest graphics driver: 32.0.101.6449_101.6256, then check if it will somehow improve the performance of Riders Republic.

Note: Your proposed solutions have been noted. If I wasn't able to fix it on my end, I will make sure to ask for help from people in my team that will further assist or help us.

I will be waiting for your update!

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The7uphero]

Hey there!

Since my last update I reinstalled windows and went back to windows 10 and these performance issues seem to be fixed. Going back also meant a clean install of the newest drivers, hence that is already done. I'm sorry I cant upload a video of poor performance now as I didn't record any back when I was having problems. However, the other games I mentioned still have these problems so shall I record and send them?

Thanks for your responses!
Regards,
The7uphero

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

Thank you for the quick response.

This case should only be for the Riders Republic issue; however, let's check the issue from your other games that has the same issue with Riders Republic, as it might also help with the investigation.

Note: When you record the games, please separate each game with its own video, then name the mp4 file with the title of the game.

For example: 

You record Riders Republic or GTA5; you may name the file or video that contains the Riders Republic as Riders_Republic or for the GTA5 as GTA5.

And also, please share with me your newly generated SSU, so I can check if there's new configuration on your system.

• How to Get the Intel® System Support Utility Logs on Windows

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The7uphero]

Hey there!
Thanks for allowing me to continue with other games. For now, I have attached(links to youtube) a recording of Death Stranding. I will attach a recording of riders republic as well soon as ive noticed that it has started to behave like it used to again.
A new SSU has also been attached.
Regards,
The7uphero

Death Stranding 

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

Thank you so much for the quick response.

I have checked the video, and to further investigate it, kindly share with me your CapFrameX data so I can thoroughly analyze the fluctuations of the FPS.

And by the way, I sincerely appreciate that you have shown your game settings on the video.

Note: CapFrameX might be the last information that I may request from you.

And also, we already have a new release driver for the A770; please install it and see if it will improve your game's performance.

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

This is only a quick follow-up; we just wanted to check in with you, as we haven't received any feedback from you.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The7uphero]

Hey there! I've been extremely busy lately but tomorrow, for sure I will send the files you have asked for.

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

Thank you for the update, and I understand.

Please take your time; I am willing to wait for your CapFrameX.

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The7uphero]

Hey there!
Here I am! I have attached the capframex data as requested. Thanks for your patience

I installed the new driver but that made no difference. Riders republic seems finicky, sometimes it runs smooth as butter, other times it runs like it used to. ill be sure to record and send those hiccups.

Please let me know if i need to send anything else.

Regards,
The7uphero

[The7uphero]

Here's footage of Riders Republic (uploaded to youtube), behaving exactly as described. As you can see, moving in the riders ridge itself causes frame drops and i've also included footage of a full race where you can see the performance fluctuating really badly. The start of the race has performance issues and after switching to first person mode, the performance is almost always bad. After the race ends, i did a 360 view of the scene where there were performance problems but this time there were none. CapFrameX data has also been included.

Riders Republic 

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

Thank you so much for sharing the Riders Republic video, which shows the exact issue we are experiencing, and also for the CapFrameX.

For my next step, I will now deeply investigate our issue; it might take some time, but I will get back to you as soon as I already have an update.

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DeancR_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

I'm currently investigating the issue you reported. To assist me further, could you please provide the following information:

• Updated SSU:
  • Can you share an updated System Summary Utility (SSU) of your system?
• Graphics Driver:
  • A new graphics driver (32.0.101.6557/32.0.101.6262) has just been released. Have you tried installing it yet?
• Game Purchase Links:
• I'm trying to obtain the games you mentioned. Could you provide the links where these games can be purchased?
  • Riders Republic
    • Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West
  • Death Stranding Director's Cut
• CapFrameX Data:
  • Could you provide the CapFrameX data for Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West? Follow the instructions here: Need help? Reporting a bug or issue with Arc GPU? - PLEASE READ THIS FIRST! - Intel Community
• Game Settings:
  • Can you share the exact settings you are using for each game?

Thank you for your cooperation. Please let me know if you need any assistance with these steps.

Best regards,

Dean R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The7uphero]

Hey there!

1-SSU attached.
2-Yes, I did install that driver and its the same thing
3-The links to the games you have mentioned are correct.
4-Sorry, I cant provide the CapFrameX data for Horizon games as they're huge and currently I do not have them installed, nor do I have space on my drives for them.
5-Settings: Everything maxed out. XeSS enabled to Ultra quality. The settings for RR and DS:DC I've shown in the videos are the same ones I use basically everywhere. I have a 1080p display so I don't expect performance issues

Regards,
The7uphero

[DeancR_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

Thank you for getting back to me. I will look this up further internally and get back you once I have the necessary information.

Best regards,

Dean R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DeancR_Intel]

Hello The7uphero,

I'm currently investigating this issue, and I will reach you out again when I have the information you need. Thank you for your patience.

Best regards,

Dean R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Ernesto_C_Intel1]

Hi @The7uphero,

Thank you for patience while I continue to investigate the issue you've raised. I've used the latest graphics driver version: 

32.0.101.6647 WHQL Certified (Latest) to re-create the issue with Riders Republic and found that the latest graphics driver does not have the FPS drops that you've mentioned on your post while using Ultra settings:

I would suggest trying the latest graphics driver: 32.0.101.6647 WHQL Certified (Latest) at https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/785597/intel-arc-iris-xe-graphics-windows.html

Please let me know if the issue still persists on your end.

Regards,

Ernesto C.

Intel Customer Support Engineer

[The7uphero]

Hi there Ernesto!

I just tested my performance in Riders Republic and it is almost the same as before. FPS drops happen as they used to and in the same places too, albeit the drops aren't as exaggerated. The lowest FPS i saw was around 45 in the Riders Ridge itself.

Also, I saw the other mails you sent, and I will be waiting patiently for your reports on Guerilla Engine games, especially Death Stranding as I really want to replay it now that Death Stranding 2 is coming soon. (Not on PC but one can hope.)

Best regards,
The7uphero

[Ernesto_C_Intel1]

Hi @The7uphero,

Thank you for responding to my earlier post. I'll keep posted on the other games via email. Regarding Riders Republic, can you share an updated CapFrameX capture so we can further investigate the issue you've experienced? 

Regards, 

Ernesto C. 

Intel Customer Support Engineer