S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl: Fix for systematic drops to 5-15 FPS

Systematic drops are when you systematically, every time, after a certain period of time of playing the game, experience drops to 5-15 FPS, while before the drop you often have stable +60-+75 FPS.

Stable +60-+75 FPS

Drops to 5-15 FPS

For example, every time after 30 minutes of playing with +60-+75 FPS, there are drops to 5-15 FPS for me.

The only thing that guaranteed to help in these moments was a complete restart of the game. That is why I restarted the game every 30 minutes of play.

Download MSI Afterburner (or any other) application, then enable monitoring graphs like mine.

After you have enabled the necessary monitoring graphs, go into the game and play, waiting for the moment of a systematic FPS drop . At the moment of drop, you will notice that not only your FPS drops, but also, most importantly, the Watt consumption of your video card drops! For example, at +60-+75 FPS, the Watt consumption of my video card = +75 Watt, but with a systematic drop to 5-15 FPS, the Watt consumption of my video card also drops to +25 Watt, almost twice!

FPS drops, Watt consumption drops, terrible Frame Time

I think many have already understood that the reason for the systematic drop in FPS is the systematic drop in Watt consumption of your video card.

Also curious readers noticed that something strange and terrible is happening with Frame Time.

That is why if, like me, the reason for the systematic FPS drop, is the systematic Watt consumption drop of your video card, you have the same problem as me with 99% probability.

It is also an interesting fact that the problem of systematic FPS drop (systematic drop Watt consumption of your video card) has a proportional dependence on the amount of VRAM in your video card.

For example, I checked the game on the RTX 4050, 4060, 4090 video cards and noticed that:

• RTX 4050 allows you to play without a systematic drop in FPS for about +-30 minutes.
• RTX 4060 allows you to play without a systematic drop in FPS for about an +-hour.
• RTX 4090 allows you to play without a systematic drop in FPS for about +-8 hours.

But what is the reason for the systematic Watt consumption drop of your video card??? Read about it in chapter #3.

Now that we have determined that you have exactly the same problem as me, namely a systematic FPS drop (a systematic Watt consumption drop of your video card) and poor Frame Time performance, let’s move on.

If you go to your DLSS settings in the game, you will see that you have the DLSS Frame Generation option active (it can be changed). It does not matter whether you have it enabled or disabled, the main thing is the fact that you can change this parameter.

DLSS Frame Generation option active (it can be changed)

Also, for example, the following features are not available to me (they cannot be changed) such as Vertical Sync (V-Sync) and Nvidia Reflex Low Latency:

Vertical Sync (V-Sync) and Nvidia Reflex Low Latency cannot be changed

In some people, on the contrary, the frame generation option (DLSS Frame Generation) is not active (it cannot be changed). And such parameters as Vertical synchronization (V-Sync) and Nvidia Reflex Low Latency are available in these people (they can be changed).

So I noticed a pattern that those people who have the DLSS Frame Generation option in the game’s DLSS settings not active (it cannot be changed), they have no problems with a systematic drop to 5-15 FPS (a systematic drop in the Watt consumption of your video card).

DLSS Frame Generation option not active (it cannot be changed)

How to disable (make it inactive) the frame generation option (DLSS Frame Generation)?

You need to do the following:

Windows 11 Settings → System → Display → Graphics → turn off Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.

Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Now if you launch the game, the DLSS Frame Generation option will be inactive (it cannot be changed). And such parameters as Vertical Sync (V-Sync) and Nvidia Reflex Low Latency, on the contrary, are available (they can be changed).

DLSS Frame Generation option inactive (it cannot be changed)

Vertical Sync (V-Sync) and Nvidia Reflex Low Latency are available (it can be changed)

Congratulations, you will no longer have a systematic drop to 5-15 FPS (a systematic Watt consumption drop of your video card). Enjoy the game.

• Disadvantages: Reduced FPS (It makes sense that it doesn’t work now!)
• Advantages: You will never have a systematic drop to 5-15 FPS (a systematic Watt consumption drop of your video card). Your input lag will decrease. You will have a sharper picture with fewer graphics artifacts.

If you want to get rid of a systematic drop to 5-15 FPS (a systematic Watt consumption drop of your video card), you need to disable the Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling option in Windows 11. Most likely, the Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling option in the game has errors, we are waiting for further fixes for this option.

For some reason, the game may stop responding at the shaders compilation stage. In this case, you can get a notification about error #1 or a notification about error #2.

Shaders compilation stage error #1

Shaders compilation stage error #2

But when you close and restart the game, you will get a notification about error #3,

Shaders compilation stage error #3

and the shaders compilation stage will be skipped and the game will work correctly.

Shaders compilation stage will be skipped

I noticed this feature now, whenever I see the beginning of the shaders compilation stage, I immediately close the game and launch it again, the game skips the shaders compilation stage, which saves me time. Use it.