NBA2K17 PC Frame Rate Drops - found a fix for Nvidia GPU's - new finding!!!

From Leftos on Twitter:

Latest NVIDIA driver (372.90) appears to have fixed regressions that were causing issues in NBA 2K16 and 2K17. Recommend you update.

From Leftos on Twitter:

Latest NVIDIA driver (372.90) appears to have fixed regressions that were causing issues in NBA 2K16 and 2K17. Recommend you update.

This didn't work. I updated. Here are my brothers system specs:

CPU: AMD FX 6300 6 core processor (3.5 GHZ)
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 960
RAM: 16 GB
OS: Windows 10

On his computer, we can run Witcher 3 at high/ultra maintaining almost a constant 60 FPS. We can also run Elder Scrolls online at 60 FPS on Ultra with no drop. On NBA 2K17, it stutters with everything on LOW and AA at 1. We have experimented with and without VSYNC on, we have experimented with everything in the NVIDIA control panel. My other computer (with almost the same processor with 4 GB less of Ram) with a R9 280X graphics card (rated the same as the 960 basically through GPUBOSS and other benchmark sites) can run NBA 2K17 on the highest settings with AA at 8 with no FPS issues.

It's not even a small stutter either, the screen shakes constantly (especially in the halfcourt).

The driver update didn't do any good for me as far as FPS is concerned. I am waaaay, way above recommended settings and this game runs badly.

The driver update didn't do any good for me as far as FPS is concerned. I am waaaay, way above recommended settings and this game runs badly.

In what situations exactly do you get FPS drops ? I will try out the new drivers today.

Here are my current conclusions of nba 2k17 on my system in regard how its running (fps, fps drops, stutters and whatnot:

1. Gameplay part runs super-smooth with no frame drops whatsoever @constant 60FPS. There's NO stuttering when passing, shooting or in any other dynamic scenario which was the case with nba 2k16, so I am actually quite pleased that this main bit (gameplay part) runs smooth!
2. Some cutscenes (almost guaranteed it happens with a cut-scene right after And One when all players are being shown gather around the basket..)have frame rate drops in the range from 60 to 50 FPS~.
3.There are frame-rate drops during the halftime trampoline dunk show, but only in its second part when all participants, crowd and other details can bee seen. The first part runs @constant 60FPS.
4. WIth latest settings all my replays run fine with no frame-rate drops, however they could be a tad slower, buts it has nothing to do with stuttering or frame rate drops.

It was the f%!)!$ crowd setting that was causing random frame rate drops from 60 to ~50 fps during certain cutscenes, replays and halftime dunk show (2nd) where crowd was visible with no blur effect.

Now with all the mentioned settings (see 1st post) and final tuning (Crowd set to "Low" (=CROWDLOD = 2) in video settings the whole game runs @constant 60fps with no visible frame rate drops or stutters

Odd is the fact that gameplay part runs supersmooth with Crowd set to High in such angles as Broadcast camere which includes basically the whole crowd in the background, but as you get to those cutscenes, replays and halftime dunk show (2nd part) frame rate drops occur. Its just does not make any sense. Its definitely not the GPU (gtx 1080), since it has a lot more to process during the gameplay part, where it shows no problems whatsoever.

The crowd has always been a demanding aspect of the game. It sucks that changing the detail of the crowd doesn't actually reduce the quality of it, but the amount of people.

The crowd is a pretty big part of the immersion feeling though; if I had to choose I'd rather play with a lower resolution than without a crowd. That's just my preference.

I hope the crowd problem can be patched. If you a great GPU, it would be a shame to use low settings.

i thought it was the crowd at first, but it ended up being the media people for me. give it a shot, it might help.

For me, out of the box, is way smoother than 2k16!!!

ignore this post. wrong thread.

Last edited by dyopopoy on Fri Sep 23, 2016 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i thought it was the crowd at first, but it ended up being the media people for me. give it a shot, it might help.

I will give it a try once more but if I remember correctly I tried everything @max and media people @medium and even @disabled and it was the same result..
diamenz, which Camera type are you using? I am on Broadcast always and I guess that's one of the most demanding camera types as it includes the whole picture.

For me, out of the box, is way smoother than 2k16!!!

Agreed. Game-play is super-smooth and actually those certain cut-scene and replay frame rate drops are not deal-breakers, since I don't care for most of those cutscenes anyway, so I would rather go for maxed out settings (even crowd @High) and disable cutscenes. Gameplay part is the one that matters the most and that part is perfect, at least on my rig.

i thought it was the crowd at first, but it ended up being the media people for me. give it a shot, it might help.

I will give it a try once more but if I remember correctly I tried everything @max and media people @medium and even @disabled and it was the same result..
diamenz, which Camera type are you using? I am on Broadcast always and I guess that's one of the most demanding camera types as it includes the whole picture.

For me, out of the box, is way smoother than 2k16!!!

Agreed. Game-play is super-smooth and actually those certain cut-scene and replay frame rate drops are not deal-breakers, since I don't care for most of those cutscenes anyway, so I would rather go for maxed out settings (even crowd @High) and disable cutscenes. Gameplay part is the one that matters the most and that part is perfect, at least on my rig.

ya i use broadcast as well - one zoom and ten height.

I think you guys should run fraps or another frame rate counter to see what is really going on.

My system (albeit with a GTX1080) is reporting constant 60fps (locked with vsync) but the game still stutters.

During these stutters, usually from inbounding and when the ball is passed over halfcourt, the counter never drops below 60fps.

It is definitely something engine related because we saw similar last year.

To me, the game isn't optimized either because max settings in 2K16 I can get 140fps or so. Max settings here with vsync off barely goes above 60fps so those on lower spec systems would be struggling.

Mine runs buttery smooth now, even on cut scenes after a few tweaks:

I just lowered my resolution into 1600x900, native res is supposed to be 1920x1080 though. I did change the refresh rate in-game to 48hz instead of 60hz., V-Sync = ON, dynamic = off, Shader = Ultra.., everything else is on High. and turned ON.

for those who are using a bit lower system configuration, try to lower the AA as well and it will be fine.

hope this post helps..

------------
My System:

Alienware 17 R3
CPU: Core™ i7-6700HQ (Quad-Core, 6MB Cache, up to 3.5GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
GPU: Nvidia GTX 970M 3 GB
RAM: 16GB ddr4 2133mhz

I think you guys should run fraps or another frame rate counter to see what is really going on. My system (albeit with a GTX1080) is reporting constant 60fps (locked with vsync) but the game still stutters. During these stutters, usually from inbounding and when the ball is passed over halfcourt, the counter never drops below 60fps. It is definitely something engine related because we saw similar last year. To me, the game isn't optimized either because max settings in 2K16 I can get 140fps or so. Max settings here with vsync off barely goes above 60fps so those on lower spec systems would be struggling.

I am running it with FRAPS all the time and its strange that you are encountering stuttering as you described, since I have none. Its actual frame drops that I am having in nba 2k17, instead of illogical stuttering as it was in nba 2k16 while then the game was running @constant 60 FPS. In nba 2k17 when maxed out the game runs great and when I get to certain cut-scene or replay (not all of them (just some)!!!) frame rate drops happen and then FPS drop from 60 to ~50 but not less..

So after thorough testing I have to 2 kind of setups in both of which the game will run fluid depending on the taste and priorities:

1. Max out everything, except for crowd (leave it @low); <-this will give constant 60fps throughout the whole game;
2. Max out everything and set cutcenes after basket to "none", or <-this will give constant 60fps almost throughout the whole game, except for some unavoidable cut-scenes (like after And One) and during some replays, in which sometimes fps drops to ~50.

Considering that I like crowded arena I can live with those few frame rate drops.

Jay-r I agree. That's the case for me as well. The only difference is that I set vsync to off in Nvidia CP

Crowd on low is pretty rough though. I'd rather have frame drops in replays and after basket action than low crowd. Just my opinion.

I just turn off my framerate counter and try not to think about it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I disabled several options, the game runs at 55fps to 60fps, but the stuttering remains at all times of the game. By the same stuttering sound problem also persists.
I do not like playing with the crowd option mediun or low.
The way is to wait for a correction patch.

Steam: rgpc_RJ
Brazil

Yeah I don't get it. Mine also states its running at 50-60 FPS at all times with my GTX 960... but it micro-stutters like crazy.

I am having NO issues with my AMD Cards (R9 280X and R7 360). They are running the game great.

I disabled several options, the game runs at 55fps to 60fps, but the stuttering remains at all times of the game. By the same stuttering sound problem also persists.
I do not like playing with the crowd option mediun or low.
The way is to wait for a correction patch.

Steam: rgpc_RJ
Brazil

Yeah I don't get it. Mine also states its running at 50-60g FPS at all times with my GTX 960... but it micro-stutters like crazy.

I am having NO issues with my AMD Cards (R9 280X and R7 360). They are running the game great.

Question to both of you -> what is your windowmode setting? It should be Full Screen Windowed on my rig its stutters like crazy if set to regular Full Screen. In fact its the only setting which causes true stuttering in nba 2k17.

I continued my testing with comparing how the game runs in win 7 x64 vs win 10 x64 (pre latest update), and I could not really tell a difference.

I disabled several options, the game runs at 55fps to 60fps, but the stuttering remains at all times of the game. By the same stuttering sound problem also persists.
I do not like playing with the crowd option mediun or low.
The way is to wait for a correction patch.

Steam: rgpc_RJ
Brazil

Yeah I don't get it. Mine also states its running at 50-60g FPS at all times with my GTX 960... but it micro-stutters like crazy.

I am having NO issues with my AMD Cards (R9 280X and R7 360). They are running the game great.

Question to both of you -> what is your windowmode setting? It should be Full Screen Windowed on my rig its stutters like crazy if set to regular Full Screen. In fact its the only setting which causes true stuttering in nba 2k17.

I continued my testing with comparing how the game runs in win 7 x64 vs win 10 x64 (pre latest update), and I could not really tell a difference.

I tried all of this. I tried all 3 modes, I tried reducing the resolution, I tried turning crowd to low. I don't get it, I feel like I should be able to run it atleast on medium because I can run Witcher 3 on high.

I tried all of this. I tried all 3 modes, I tried reducing the resolution, I tried turning crowd to low. I don't get it, I feel like I should be able to run it atleast on medium because I can run Witcher 3 on high.

Also here. I tried all options as well. This only happens in the NBA 2K.

I disabled several options, the game runs at 55fps to 60fps, but the stuttering remains at all times of the game. By the same stuttering sound problem also persists.
I do not like playing with the crowd option mediun or low.
The way is to wait for a correction patch.

Steam: rgpc_RJ
Brazil

Yeah I don't get it. Mine also states its running at 50-60g FPS at all times with my GTX 960... but it micro-stutters like crazy.

I am having NO issues with my AMD Cards (R9 280X and R7 360). They are running the game great.

Question to both of you -> what is your windowmode setting? It should be Full Screen Windowed on my rig its stutters like crazy if set to regular Full Screen. In fact its the only setting which causes true stuttering in nba 2k17.

I continued my testing with comparing how the game runs in win 7 x64 vs win 10 x64 (pre latest update), and I could not really tell a difference.

The only solution that has worked for me is turning off the crowd/media people. Even turning everything else down besides those two options does not improve performance in any way.

I tried all of this. I tried all 3 modes, I tried reducing the resolution, I tried turning crowd to low. I don't get it, I feel like I should be able to run it atleast on medium because I can run Witcher 3 on high.

I already gave up. I will await an update patch and hope to resolve this problem.

Hey guys don't know if you tried this, but my gameplay is really smooth with this settings:

- Turn v-sync off in game and in Nvidia CP.
- Cap FPS to 60 with MSI afterburner

Have to say that the game is really demanding. My 1080 load is around 80-90% during cut scenes @ 1440p

Last edited by seanbarkley on Tue Sep 27, 2016 6:56 am, edited 1 time in total.