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

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

Ill try, I didn't even know you could mess with FPS in afterburner, I just use it to set my fan speed and monitor temps.

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

This has helped me, thank you. I'm always stuttering between 50 and 60 fps, so capping it to 50 helped smooth things out a bit.

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

Ill try, I didn't even know you could mess with FPS in afterburner, I just use it to set my fan speed and monitor temps.

In fact is in Riva Tuner. The program turns on with MSI Afterburner (usually minimized)

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

Ill try, I didn't even know you could mess with FPS in afterburner, I just use it to set my fan speed and monitor temps.

In fact is in Riva Tuner. The program turns on with MSI Afterburner (usually minimized)

Your game is set to Max Settings? Black players are with the greenish color?

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

Ill try, I didn't even know you could mess with FPS in afterburner, I just use it to set my fan speed and monitor temps.

In fact is in Riva Tuner. The program turns on with MSI Afterburner (usually minimized)

Your game is set to Max Settings? Black players are with the greenish color?

Everything to max but AA which is set to x4. Black players look spot on on my PC.

Nvidia User here with 980card.

This problem doesn't have a solution yet.
Solutions works for someone and not for Others...

We really need a patch as last year. Please game is unplayable

Which site we know it will release a patch and what date?

Any improvements after the PC patch, guys?

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.

Which motherboard model you use the PC that has the AMD video cards ??


Could any chip, such as audio, play a role in some aspect of performance in the game??
I recommend that all who have the game running well or badly passing their complete setups so we can better analyze.

Any improvements after the PC patch, guys?

for me it improves, before patch, every time I set the res to 1080, it stutters and lags, so i set it to 1600x900 instead, in both gameplay broadcast cam, and cutscenes.

after patch, I can set the res now to 1920x1080 without any lags or frame rate drops, and some minor cut scenes stutters / lags..

Note: I have to set the refresh rate to 48hz to achieve a much smoother gameplay though. with V-Sync On and Media people on Low, but Shader now is Ultra , everything else is ON and High.

Any improvements after the PC patch, guys?

Nope. Still the same. No new findings, except the ones described in the topic and 1st post.

Crowd settings is still the culprit, at least on my system..

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 cut-scenes 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.

Any improvements after the PC patch, guys?

for me it improves, before patch, every time I set the res to 1080, it stutters and lags, so i set it to 1600x900 instead, in both gameplay broadcast cam, and cutscenes.

after patch, I can set the res now to 1920x1080 without any lags or frame rate drops, and some minor cut scenes stutters / lags..

Note: I have to set the refresh rate to 48hz to achieve a much smoother gameplay though. with V-Sync On and Media people on Low, but Shader now is Ultra , everything else is ON and High.

what is your gpu?

@lorenzo81

Im using Alienware 17 r3, the GPU is GTX 970m

@lorenzo81

Im using Alienware 17 r3, the GPU is GTX 970m

Thank for the info, but how is your nvidia controll panel configuration?

FYI I just installed new nvidia game ready drivers for Gears of War 4 (373.06) and now my 2k17 has crazy micro stuttering. It's basically unplayable for me now.
Gonna have to revert but just a warning for anyone who has nvidia cards

update on October 12, 2016
So after thorough testing (+ after experiencing frame rate drops during cut scenes even with Crowd set to low, which made me think that Crowd setting is not the one) I found the achilles heel of nba 2k17 . See the update settings on the first post and you will see which setting jumps out with everything else maxed out.I am finally able to go through a full game @constant 60FPS with no frame rate drops/stutters whatsoever during certain cut-scenes and during half-time dunk show

and I am running it on the latest nvidia drivers (373.06, windows 10 (x64), so deluxxe drivers are not an issue here.

Today I was looking "Forza Horizon 3 PC 1080p 60fps Performance Problems In-Depth Analysis" h
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofFpnArXbJ8 and as I was listening to the findings I already knew before testing it out on nba 2k17 that this will be the problem solver.
I don't have any precise info regarding the type of Anti-aliasing NBA 2k17 uses on its console version from which pc version ported, but I know for a fact that not all PS4 games have AA enabled and the type of AA differs from game to game (its all sort of variations (FXAA high, FXAA medium, TSAA, MSAAx4 and even custom AA types like for example for Assassins Creed 4 which uses in-house AA), so here the reasons for it (in game AA setting from 2-8) to be causing random frame rate drops on more than capable system can be many, but I am pretty certain that its one of the following:
1. no AA in console version and badly coded AA in pc port which causes in explainable frame rate drops;
2. some custom type of AA used in console version which was ported to PC although nvidia drivers do not recognize such custom AA;

One thing is for certain - at least on my monitor with 1440p resolution I cannot tell a difference between MSAA=0 and MSAA=8.

Last edited by jay-r on Wed Oct 12, 2016 8:22 pm, edited 6 times in total.

I agree with your new finding but the problem seems deeper. Bare in mind that this smoothness applies to full windowed screen mode only. So vsync cannot be ruled out IMHO. I also own a 1440p monitor and there is difference, significant one. Not in cutscenes but on player models during gameplay.

I agree with your new finding but the problem seems deeper. Bare in mind that this smoothness applies to full windowed screen mode only. So vsync cannot be ruled out IMHO. I also own a 1440p monitor and there is difference, significant one. Not in cutscenes but on player models during gameplay.

You mean you notice difference on player models with everything maxed out and MSAA@0 vs MSAA @8? Maybe you could post some screenshots to validate your point, because I can't see a difference. Well the most you could get is jagged edges when zoomed in but I doubt on significant effect on the whole player model as such.

Maybe in my case I don't see a difference between in game video setting MSAA@0 and MSAA@8, since I run the game with my "own" AA which I force through the Nvdia Control Panel (combination of FXAA - ON and MFAA - ON). So in fact I have AA enabled (FXAA and MFAA), but not the AA one which is in nba 2k17, which causes in-explainable frame rate drops.

Well, nonetheless I am quite happy that I have found a fix and now I will go even further and push Nvdia Control Panel and it's AA settings to the limit to squeeze out the best possible picture quality and see whether with maxed out AA setting in Nvidia Control Panel any frame drops occur as it is with AA@8 in 2k17 video settings.

Let me get something straight. So you re forcing AA through Nvidia CP. If that's the case then I can understand the lack of difference. I'll try it out.

Update:
Yes my friend that's the sweetspot. No ingame AA MFAA and FXAA from NVIDIA CP. Excellent performance. Shouldn't we communicate this findings to 2K or Nvidia? Andrew what's your opinion?

Definitely worth passing anything like that along. Need to try it myself, too.

Definitely worth passing anything like that along. Need to try it myself, too.

Thanks Andrew. Give it a shot.

Let me get something straight. So you re forcing AA through Nvidia CP. If that's the case then I can understand the lack of difference. I'll try it out.

Update:
Yes my friend that's the sweetspot. No ingame AA MFAA and FXAA from NVIDIA CP. Excellent performance. Shouldn't we communicate this findings to 2K or Nvidia? Andrew what's your opinion?

Yep. I am not saying that everyone will be able to run FXAA + MFAA, but I am pretty sure that up to gpu like gtx 970 nba 2k should at least be able to do FXAA with no hiccups as its the less demanding type of AA.

One thing is for certain - leaving in game AA setting to 0 in VideoSettings.cfg (MSAA = 0) or 1 in the game video settings did make the game super-smooth. I have played ~10 full games and all of them have went @constant 60fps with only minor frame drops (down to 57,Xfps) (unnoticeable to the eye since now the frame drop is without stutter). I am monitoring all of my games with msi afterburner / on screen display of gpu, cpu usage and fps counter. Not only have the frame drops disappeared from cut-scenes and halftime dunk show but also replays have become more enjoyable and smoother, especially in between quarter replays

Moreover jay r the gameplay feels and plays smoother. I get the exact same results. What I dont get is why 2K repeats the same mistake. The game is awesome this year and this stutter problem hapens every year at launch...

Let me get something straight. So you re forcing AA through Nvidia CP. If that's the case then I can understand the lack of difference. I'll try it out.


Update:
Yes my friend that's the sweetspot. No ingame AA MFAA and FXAA from NVIDIA CP. Excellent performance. Shouldn't we communicate this findings to 2K or Nvidia? Andrew what's your opinion?

Yep. I am not saying that everyone will be able to run FXAA + MFAA, but I am pretty sure that up to gpu like gtx 970 nba 2k should at least be able to do FXAA with no hiccups as its the less demanding type of AA.

One thing is for certain - leaving in game AA setting to 0 in VideoSettings.cfg (MSAA = 0) or 1 in the game video settings did make the game super-smooth. I have played ~10 full games and all of them have went @constant 60fps with only minor frame drops (down to 57,Xfps) (unnoticeable to the eye since now the frame drop is without stutter). I am monitoring all of my games with msi afterburner / on screen display of gpu, cpu usage and fps counter. Not only have the frame drops disappeared from cut-scenes and halftime dunk show but also replays have become more enjoyable and smoother, especially in between quarter replays

Friend, is you post your nvidia panel setup and configuration in game, please? I made some changes here, but I could not follow to set in High media option, I can only play without stuttering with this option off.

Just installed the new patch and switched my AA to 8, hoping I would notice a fix. It's worse than before. The game stutters constantly with AA to 8. Back to 1 for now