Low frame rate when using the editor

Development Pipeline & Plugins Editor Scripting
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1

Hello,

I have been experiencing from rates of roughly 15-30 fps while using UE5.4 in editor. However my PC is a good spec and when playing the game in standalone I am getting a steady 60 fps (60 FPS is the cap)

This happens in every Unreal project that I have tried and also happens if I try a different version of Unreal.

Anyone have any suggestions for what could be causing the drop in FPS?

2

It’s totally normal for the PIE mode to perform worse than the standalone mode. You would get even more FPS if it wasn’t capped when you play the packaged game! Now, 15-30 FPS in PIE is indeed low. But of course it can be explained. It’s just that we can’t know if it’s normal or not without you providing the workload and hardware specifications. Nonetheless, here’s a tutorial which covers something that you’ll eventually need to use:

Hope this was helpful! :blush:

3

Thanks for the response.

I think there has been a bit of confusion. The issue is that the project is running at low FPS when using the editor not just when playing the game in PIE.

Also this has not been an issue previously and even if there is a performance difference between standalone and PIE, the difference would be way less than what I am experiencing currently.

This thread also mentions a similar issue. - Bad Frame-rate and Frame-time in Editor - #3 by J5689.

I tried changing the G-sync settings and it did initially work, but now the editor has returned to 15-30 fps again. Still I think the solution will be something along these lines.

1 Like
4

Could you provide these infos:

  • Do you experience the same issue on a blank project? If not, show the CPU and GPU performances from Task Manager while your current project is open. Is the discrete GPU even being used?
  • What are your PC specs? More specifically, the GPU you’re using and your RAM and VRAM specs (such as capacity, speed and latency)
  • Make sure your GPU drivers are updated.
5

Thank you.

Yes it happens when I create a blank project and I have updated my graphics drivers.
I’ve checked on the task manager and the discrete GPU is being used, the usage is around 10-15%.

My system specs are as follows:
• ASUS ROG Strix
• Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics (16 CPUs), ~3.3GHz
• Memory: 32GB
• Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU 16GB

I am not sure what the values are for GPU speed or latency, but I’ve uploaded the DX Diag file here for a more detailed view. DxDiag.txt - Google Drive

6

Capacity, speed, latency etc. are specs of RAM and VRAM. Anyways, since you gave your laptop’s model, I think they shouldn’t be the problem here. I have some guesses though.

  • Make sure your laptop is plugged in. Just like any graphics intensive task, using Unreal Engine also requires the laptop to be plugged in and would definetly cause lag and low FPS in your case if you try to use it on battery.
  • Make sure Unreal is set to run on high performance on Windows Settings > Graphics Settings.
  • Try having the Nvidia GPU Only option enabled from Nvidia Control Panel > 3D Settings > Manage Display Mode

I think your issue will be gone once you do these :blush:

7

I think it is working now. I went into the Nvidia control panel and reset everything to defaults. Now I am getting 60 fps whilst using the editor.

That said I was getting 60fps last night when I changed the G-sync settings so it might not be permanent.

Either way thanks for your help and I’ll let you know if there are further issues.

8

HI,
Nvidia Control Panel → Manage 3D settings → Program Settings (look for UE5 than) → Select Program to customise : UnrealEngine 5 → go to: Preferred refresh rate → change to: Application-controlled

It helps for me with 3090

9

Something strange I noticed recently:

  • If I’m zoomed out all the way with a blueprint in the background = low FPS
  • If I’m zoomed all the way in with a blueprint in the background = med FPS
  • If my level is in the background = high FPS

10

Hello. I have the same problem but i finally fixed it. You have to reinstall your GPU drivers or install a new one. Ive had Nvidia Game Ready but installed Nvidia Studio for RTX 3050. Now my GPU works at normal degrees instead of capped 60 and normal usage instead of 15 to 25%. hope it helps!

11

That probably will not help, and likely mislead others. Game Ready vs Studio drivers and all that? It’s a winding path of confusion due to differing environments, whether or not simply installing any new driver (studio or not) resets Nvidia profile settings, etc.

I’ve seen the opposite happen for random people on the internet, and it had nothing to do with driver versions or channels. It came down to control panel settings.

Be careful hopping around drivers and major changes, without first documenting. You might have a perfectly stable environment that ran into issues due to a simple configuration change, then follow random advice such as this and do more damage than repair… then not be able to get back to stability because you have no clue what was working before. Yes, this is elementary wisdom - people still seem to lack it.

Getting your development/production system stable and then locking it down is also entry-level/elementary workflow. I have machines that have been running years old drivers, because they work and the tools specific to that rig work. Leave it alone, it’s fine, air-gap the sunnuva gun.

If you’re a beginner in software engineering, game development, asset production, etc and only have your daily driver rig, the same logic can apply in your environment… just follow the simple concept I mentioned above and take notes concerning your driver versions, software versions, and so on, before farting around and potentially making breaking changes.