TimeSplitters Future Perfect slowdown

[DrumFreak89]

This game runs mostly at a solid 60fps 99.9% of the time, however, when throwing a grenade there is a significant dip in fps all the way down to 30 and the audio stutters. This lasts for around 5 seconds and then the game is back to full speed. Tested on multiple maps in arcade, as well as different renderers.

Vulkan is the most consistent sticking to 60fps (and the one I'm using). OpenGL doesn't have as bad of a frame dip as mentioned earlier, however it slows down at various times during gameplay, so not a solution.

I'm using pretty much stock settings with 3x IR, 4x MSAA, and FXAA.

Gameplay videos I've seen of this game are all from previous builds but their game is running a solid 60fps regardless of what happens in game. I'm not sure if subsequent Dev builds inadvertently caused issues or what could be going on. I tried lowering the IR to native with AA completely off and the issue is still present so it's not a hardware issue on my end. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[ExtremeDude2]

Have you tried using ubershaders (asynchronous)?

[JMC47]

Odds are there's a lot of blending and you may need to turn down your settings for grenades.

[DrumFreak89]

To the first reply, yes I use asynchronous ubershaders.

To the second point, I'm not sure what settings I could tick/untick to change my blending that I haven't already done. This is the only game that has occasional slowdown and it's only when throwing a plasma grenade. After further analysis the fps does not dip when using regular grenades such as the second mission of story mode.

It does make some sense that it could just be a bug that was introduced with post 5.0 dev builds. Gameplay videos show no issues but they are all 5.0 official or pre 5.0. Comments in said videos also detail the same issue with plasma grenades.

It's almost nitpicking since it's 99.9% playable but it is slightly frustrating at the same time because it works so well outside of one gameplay aspect

[ExtremeDude2]

Have you tried 5.0 yourself?

[DrumFreak89]

I had it but did not try TS at the time. I can try it later today when I have time. If it ends up working then I guess I have a choice to make. I get better performance from Vulkan which I don't believe was in 5.0. I would hate to take a step back to possibly fix one part of one game.

My specs are
CPU Intel I5 9300H @2.4
GPU Nvidia GTX 1650
RAM 8GB

[Craftyawesome]

Try running 1x without AA as a test? Make sure windows and nvidia power settings are on high performance.

[DrumFreak89]

Try running 1x without AA as a test? Make sure windows and nvidia power settings are on high performance.

I've done that. I even tried running the game at native res and it still slowed down just as bad. It has to be something baked into a release between the official 5.0 and now. I also tried compiling shaders before starting and it didn't help. I don't know what other settings to untick. I'm using async ubershaders as well. I guess I could always have a copy of 5.0 just for this one game if it works on that release lol. TS 2 has zero issues whatsoever. 

[DrumFreak89]

Update...

I tried playing again using dx11 with the same settings I had previously and the issue is much better. Instead of dipping to 17fps and lasting over 5 seconds it only goes down to 45fps and lasts about 3. I think we can mark this resolved. Thank you to all who replied. I'm new to the forum.