Nasty Screen Tearing: Even with external Vsync options applied.

Gamer Bhoy 89

There's a few games I keep getting put off playing because the amount of screen-tearing I'm experiencing. I spend more time looking at the tear than I do the game itself and it's becoming frustrating that I can't seem to fix it.

I normally manage to fix these problems on my own, but this has me defeated. I'm trying to play The Witcher: Enhanced Edition and there is no VSync option in the game. I tried to enable it using Catalyst Control Center but that doesn't seem to fix the issue.

I found, from multiple sources was to try and download a program called RadeonPro (after trying D3DOverrider and the likes, which didn't work for me, this was the only program I didn't try).

I was able to enable a forced VSync and I still can't get it to work. No other source has the fix I'm looking for, and I keep running into the same issues with the same answers, which work for everyone except me. So I must be doing something wrong, surely?

Sorry for the overload of information, but I'm hoping someone might know what I'm talking about..

I enabled varying types of VSync;
-Vsync
-Double Vsync
-Dynamic Vsync

All with and without Triple Buffering enabled. It was tiresome changing and applying all these settings and having nothing work for me, and I still get an FPS of 90+ in-game, and over 1000 FPS in the main menu... All I want is a limit to 55-60 or thereabouts in order to stop these tears up and down my screen. I have a 60hz display and I have tried changing resolutions and I'm exhausted now.

So, alas, I've accepted defeat and decided to seek help. I'm starting from home, here on Boards, to see if someone has a fix or can direct me to one.

Sorry again. I imagine all this heap of text is going to scare a lot of folk away. But nobody from other sources seems to have the same issue as me so I best start now.

Thanks in advance

jumbobreakfast

You could try and set a framerate limit using MSI Afterburner. Try values from 58-62 and see if it helps.


Also, you didn't mention if you have multiple monitors but I think in certain situations a multi-monitor setup can cause tearing on the secondary monitor. It possibly only happens if you mirror the displays (used to happen with my old monitor + Oculus Rift)

Gamer Bhoy 89

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

You could try and set a framerate limit using MSI Afterburner. Try values from 58-62 and see if it helps.


Also, you didn't mention if you have multiple monitors but I think in certain situations a multi-monitor setup can cause tearing on the secondary monitor. It possibly only happens if you mirror the displays (used to happen with my old monitor + Oculus Rift)

Sorry. I don't, no. I'm using a 40" TV... And before you blame my TV, it's not :P I was using a 23" Monitor before this and I was still having the exact same issues. I've been having this issue for the best part of a year, now. I just never thought much of it until now. (Probably because I'm using this TV makes me realize how annoying the tearing is, to be honest).

I was about to update my issue anyway. I changed the compatibility settings for The Witcher to 'Windows 7' and the tearing went away. The FPS is still flying past 70fps and sometimes even as high as over 100fps if I'm indoors which still doesn't really solve half of my problem; Vsync not working...

I haven't done the compatibility setting with any other game I have yet. The last game that behaved like this was Dead Space. I'll redownload it again during the week and see if I can fix it using that, as the tearing on that just made me uninstall the thing and never look at it again.

I'll keep check on this.

Edit; Oh yeah I didn't respond to your first advice, sorry. I attempted to use Afterburner before (one of the few programs I did try before using RadeonPro) and it didn't work for me

Moon54

Simple fix, just set the 'witcher.exe' (it's in the game's System folder) to Windows 7 compatability mode, works great.
(Right click -> Properties -> Compatabilty tab)

I'm on Windows 8.1 and I was getting a lot of tearing, so once I set it to Windows 7, it's been buttery smooth.
The opening sequence should show that it's working, i.e. no tearing.

Like you I've been playing The Witcher, great game, but the only other thing I had to change was the camera sensitivity,
I had to set it to 1 (lowest), it plays much better for me now.

Gamer Bhoy 89

Moon54 wrote: »

Simple fix, just set the 'witcher.exe' (it's in the game's System folder) to Windows 7 compatability mode, works great.
(Right click -> Properties -> Compatabilty tab)

I'm on Windows 8.1 and I was getting a lot of tearing, so once I set it to Windows 7, it's been buttery smooth.
The opening sequence should show that it's working, i.e. no tearing.

Like you I've been playing The Witcher, great game, but the only other thing I had to change was the camera sensitivity,
I had to set it to 1 (lowest), it plays much better for me now.

I know, that's what I said I did :P I tried doing it on Saints Row IV yesterday but I could still see tearing. I understand there's a VSync option within the game, but my point being, the external Vsync still wouldn't work

Moon54

Some games just don't work with external vsync. SR IV, Skyrim, Payday 2 etc are known/notorious for screen tearing,
but their own internal Vsync should fix that.

There is a lot of bs on the the interwebz about this so I'll boil it down.
In general gaming then there are 2 options to eliminate screen tearing;

Vsync On; From within the game, that's probably the best bet, locks the framerate to 60. Triple Buffering should also be enabled if possible,
as it can minimise the occassional dropped frame jerkiness that can occur with double buffering & VSync On.
However, this can give slight mouse lag which can affect gameplay in fast-paced FPS shooters etc.
Obviously, if your GPU is only doing 30-50fps, there is no point in turning on VSync.

Or;

Borderless Fullscreen Mode; advantages are vsync can be off, framerate stays high (60+ hardware permitting),
the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) automatically prevents screen tearing, and it allows easy alt-tabbing to desktop.
The disadvantage is that there is slightly less GPU power available to the game as it also has to render the windows stuff
behind the game at the same time (slightly less frames per second).

Going to the GPU's external vsync options is like a last resort option.

Gamer Bhoy 89

Moon54 wrote: »

Some games just don't work with external vsync. SR IV, Skyrim, Payday 2 etc are known/notorious for screen tearing,
but their own internal Vsync should fix that.

There is a lot of bs on the the interwebz about this so I'll boil it down.
In general gaming then there are 2 options to eliminate screen tearing;

Vsync On; From within the game, that's probably the best bet, locks the framerate to 60. Triple Buffering should also be enabled if possible,
as it can minimise the occassional dropped frame jerkiness that can occur with double buffering & VSync On.
However, this can give slight mouse lag which can affect gameplay in fast-paced FPS shooters etc.
Obviously, if your GPU is only doing 30-50fps, there is no point in turning on VSync.

Or;

Borderless Fullscreen Mode; advantages are vsync can be off, framerate stays high (60+ hardware permitting),
the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) automatically prevents screen tearing, and it allows easy alt-tabbing to desktop.
The disadvantage is that there is slightly less GPU power available to the game as it also has to render the windows stuff
behind the game at the same time (slightly less frames per second).

Going to the GPU's external vsync options is like a last resort option.

I like the idea of borderless fullscreen mode. That might solve a majority of my problems. Cheers

jumbobreakfast

Moon54 wrote: »

Borderless Fullscreen Mode; advantages are vsync can be off, framerate stays high (60+ hardware permitting),
the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) automatically prevents screen tearing, and it allows easy alt-tabbing to desktop.

Didn't know that. I always assumed it was to allow multi-monitor setups have easy access to the desktop or something. Must give it a go, thanks

Gamer Bhoy 89

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

Didn't know that. I always assumed it was to allow multi-monitor setups have easy access to the desktop or something. Must give it a go, thanks

Well after I used a Borderless app I turned on The Witcher, Saints Row 4, then The Forest - 3 games that had screen tear if I had internal Vsync turned off - and the tearing was nonexistent. Downloading Dead Space now, been mad to play it since I got it but didn't want to play with Vsync turned on.

Moon54

That's cool, yeah, I'm glad that sorted the tearing issue for you.

Some newer games now give the option for Borderless Windowed mode in the options screen,
but for other games I'd recommend the open-source Borderless Gaming app;
https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming/releases/latest
It works well, the only thing to remember is to have the game in windowed mode first,
then add it to the right-hand side of app.

TheDoc

I'm playing through Mass Effect 1 at the moment and the screen tear while not serious, is noticable and annoying me.

This app fix that you say? There is vsync options in the game but doesn't seem to work, messed a little with MSI/Radeon app but don't really use it so didnt know what to do.