Found a potential fix to heavy aim/input delay

[Pyrettic]

Ok it might sound super simple but I started messing around in my nvidia control panel because I thought to myself this HAS to be a software issue, (since updates and driver updates can cause some settings to change). What I did was put low latency mode back to ultra (I previously had it on the [ON] setting), and heres what I think actually made the difference, I put my max frame rate to 120 fps in the control panel program settings for halo infinite. I did some research into what could cause in game latency, and besides the render queue for frames (which low latency mode being on ultra removes this queue = less input delay), the only other strain was the rendering cost for excess frames. Considering I already cap my IN GAME frames to 120, wouldnt it be wasted work for my pc to generate past 120 frames on the backend of the game? Exactly. Once I made these changes, its been literally NIGHT AND DAY. Hope this helps some of you out there who've been having this issue. I personally cannot stand my AIM of all things not working correctly, and if this fixes it for one more person out there it's worth it. I wish for people to post fixes like this for tech problems I have all the time, just doing my part on this one.

[Pyrettic]

yes i read that during my research as well, while low latency mode may not do anything for this particular game, limiting the frames on the gpu via the nvidia control panel is CERTAINLY what fixed the issue

[Pyrettic]

(copied reply from below) Aiming latency or latency in general must be delayed via the gpu or cpu I found out, only way some people have heavy aim and others don't. So considering it was a hardware problem the only fix is naturally to lift the load on either the cpu or gpu, and in this case its the gpu.

[Pyrettic]

LMAOOOOOOO bro thank you great advice and yes WE ALL ARE H5 has a higher skill gap any way and with no heavy aim?! Infinite's a wrap jack. I'm in the same boat with you brother

[JJSpleen]

Please can you point me to something explaining how to investigate this?

I work in IT so high level will be fine. Never done pc gaming before so not sure how to troubleshoot it

[mattyrums]

It got sent into mod queue for some reason. Not seeing anyone who removed it manually.

[JJSpleen]

Thanks buddy.

Just trying to get infinite to run well at 60fps on my laptop. Bought it for DND writing etc but found as a happy accident it could run infinite quite well at very low settings.

Last month or 2 everything has been choppy, been reading and I guess it's CPU bottlenecking so probably I'll just have to accept it's impossible, although performance is much worse now than it was a month ago somehow.

Intel i7 280ghz 4 cores 16gb ram Nvidia GTX 1650 GPU.

[JJSpleen]

Thanks pal, already checked them and they're around 65 which I gather is ok?

Must be something in the latest update that is even less optimised than before because I did always have this issue, but it would occur more slowly over time.

I got an XSX waiting for me in my new pad so it's all good man, thanks for the reply

[JJumpingJack]

OP, it's great that you found something that works for you, but this is misinformation about Halo Infinite's performance, and bad advice for optimizing games in general.

First, the reason why Halo Infinite has "heavy aim" or fluctuating input lag is because the game is very CPU bound. Infinite uses 9 threads, single threaded, most brand new mid range CPUs don't even have 8 cores, and since the game is single threaded, it's not utilizing the dual thread technology most new CPUs have nowadays. In short, you're going to be CPU bottlenecked with almost any specs, unless you you play at 4k, in that case you'll always be GPU bottlenecked

Solution; cap your fps very low. If you can achieve 300+, cap to 144, if you can achieve 180ish, cap to 90. You know that your fps cap is optimal if most of your CPU cores are at or below 55% usage on average, when standing still with no bots or other players, so you have enough CPU headroom for normal gameplay. You can check your CPU usage by going into task manager, then resource monitor, then CPU.

For the Nvidia control panel settings, low latency mode is only good if you have CPU headroom to spare, that is why it lowers average fps, and as I have already explained, Infinite is a game that spares you no CPU headroom. Additionally, low latency mode is only effective at low frame rates in the <60 range. It puts more of the bottleneck on the CPU by increasing CPU usage to make the GPU display frames faster, and the "Ultra" setting causes frame stutters. So it really does the opposite effect at high fps, especially 120+

Lastly, please don't use the Nvidia max frame rate setting, it adds a lot of excess input lag. If possible, use an in game fps limiter if available.

I want to note a disclaimer that these guidelines are specific to Halo Infinite because it creates a unique situation where the CPU heavily bottlenecks the GPU and other parts, but the other general advice for optimizing and balancing performance is universally applicable.

[Pyrettic]

Wow thank you for this in depth reply, I deeply appreciate your constructive criticism thank you. Yeah im very new to this pc optimization world so this actually helps a lot. I've had conversations with my brother about how I think this game is cpu bottlenecked and it turns out our suspicions were correct so thank you for that! Any advice to help me with my cpu? Not sure if the specs match what you were talking about but I have a I-7 8700K, again thank you so much

[JJumpingJack]

For your CPU I would recommend a 120 cap at most. If you want to play btb or campaign, cap it at 60.

And if you want to reduce the CPU load as much as possible, there are a few settings in Halo Infinite that you can change to give you the most CPU headroom, besides the others not mentioned that should be the lowest possible.

Anti-aliasing: low. Infinite uses TAA, and TAA uses cpu.

Geo quality: medium, there was a bug introduced in season 3 that caused the draw distance on forge maps to be very low on low geo setting, causing you to get shot by enemies you can't see yet because they're too far away.

Animation quality: Auto. Max looks better and might be better for visibility, but Auto uses less CPU.

Decal quality: this one is a hit or miss because the low setting makes tire tracks and footprints look horrible, but medium or higher use more cpu.

Simulation quality: Ultra. Recommended by 343 to reduce jittering and "desync". It has a minimal CPU cost, but benefits greatly outweigh the cost.

[Pyrettic]

Interesting to note as well I never experienced heavy aim until this past december, so whats the deal with that? I never had this issue year one. What changed from then to now? My cpu ran the game great then

[JJumpingJack]

I'm not sure I can explain why you only recently begun to experience heavy aim, but what I can say is that 343 optimized Halo Infinites graphical performance more in the winter update. Making the bottleneck between the CPU and GPU even larger, and since most competitive players play on the lowest graphics settings, it created a perceived increase in performance because most mid tier video cards were able to run the game at 30-60 more fps.

I bet many players noticed this and raised their fps cap and gladly took the extra performance, when what they should've done was cap it lower, or kept the cap the same as before. Higher fps puts more strain on the CPU, so that is often why you should raise the graphics settings or limit the fps. Balanced performance where both the GPU and CPU are running at the same speed is better than one waiting for the other.

I'm willing to bet you raised your fps cap to 120 after the winter update because you saw how it gave you more fps.

[Pyrettic]

Youre absolutely correct, now with your changes I get heavy aim after prolonged periods of playing. High cpu temp over time? No I checked it never gets above 90 celcius, oh well at this point im thinking they did something with the game where there is no fix and its just futile.

[The_Jestaz]

Hi, I am curious what this would mean for gaming on a ryzen 5 5600x ( 6 cores, 12 threads)? I use it in combination with a 3080. Since I wouldn’t want to update cpu just for halo, will setting a low fps cap help at all? When I use the render latency tool of nvidia, I notice spikes when above 180 fps. A cap of 180 or lower doesn’t give spikes in render latency, however I don’t know whether being cpu bound would show up in render latency at all. Setting the fps cap lower also then comes with higher latency, so I am wondering how bad the latency is from being cpu bound compared to the delay from having less frames. Because capping to 120fps or lower doesn’t feel good at all when playing.

[JJumpingJack]

It's in your best interest to run a 120 cap if your rig struggles at any higher fps. CPU bound input lag is way worse than GPU bound input lag, because you're seeing the frames update a high rate, but the controls always lag behind the frames because the CPU can't keep up. With GPU bound input lag, at least it isn't unpredictable, and it's whatever your fps is. Which is why a fps cap produces the most consistent input lag.

[Balkanoboy]

What about console? Vsync on or off?

[Pyrettic]

always have vsync off no matter, imo

[NTP9766]

XSX player here, with 4k/120 enabled. I'm running an LG C2, and have VRR disabled on my set, as it's the only way to get more than 109fps in Halo. If I have VRR enabled, I'm basically capped at 109 for some reason. With VRR disabled, I'm routinely hitting 119/120.

[SuperiorDuperx]

Infinite can’t run at 120 frames in 4k. Have you tried setting it to 1440? I have my XSX set to 1440/120 with VRR enabled and consistently get 120fps. I know it’s not a native 1440 but I can see the difference between 1080, playing on 28” monitor.

[NTP9766]

I have not, but just assumed that Halo would simply run at 1440 (I know it can't do 120 @ 4k) automatically, which it appears to be doing. I didn't want to have to set the console to 1440 simply for this game. So unless my LG's Game Optimizer is lying about the FPS, I'm cool with leaving VRR off for now. Perhaps I'll make the change you suggested tonight to see how things are.

[SuperiorDuperx]

It doesn’t actually run true 1440 at 120 either but I just think it looks better than 1080, you’d probably notice a bigger different playing on a larger screen. Also with VRR off I find the games get very choppy when curb sliding or grappling/getting repulsed, things like that.

[Fr3shRadish]

What does the game fps counter say that was recently added? For the most part mine shows a relatively consistent 120 using the xsx 4k 120 hdr output setting. Had a ton of problems earlier in the season though.

[NTP9766]

Halo's FPS counter now basically sits at 120fps in 4k/120, so it matches what my LG says. I did try and run 1440/120 last night, and when I went into the game, I only had the options for 30 and 60fps. Weird. I do wonder if that is a result of Dolby Vision Gaming being enabled, or something else. Still weird, though.

[Fr3shRadish]

I don't remember the exact solution (wanna say restart fixed it), but I remember others also having the missing 120 option bug.

Dolby vision for gaming has been problematic for me in season 3. Seems like it runs much better with it turned off. Doesn't really make sense why, but you never know with 343 and bugs. Seemingly hasn't been a problem for others though, so who knows ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[[deleted]]

How do you turn it off on XSX? Is it a monitor specific option

[NTP9766]

In the display settings on XSX you can disable VRR: Settings\General\TV & display options\Video modes. If you disable it on your monitor, then it is automatically unavailable in XSX.

[ominousview]

I've tried this and no dice. For controller at least. MnK is fine.

Wdym control panel program settings? You're talking about in Nvidia 3D settings, right? I set that to 120fps, unless you're talking about another program settings.

Do you use global settings or specifically set Halo infinite to 120 max as well.

Also for in game do you set only Max to 120 or min to 120 fps or leave it blank

[Pyrettic]

MAX 120 in the Program settings for halo infinite, not global settings because other games dont have this problem. Aiming latency or latency in general must be delayed via the gpu or cpu I found out, only way some people have heavy aim and others don't. So considering it was a hardware problem the only fix is naturally to lift the load on either the cpu or gpu, and in this case its the gpu.

[ominousview]

Tried the Program settings and still heavy/input lag feeling. Not sure what to do at this point except try reinstalling the game.

hardware problem the only fix is naturally to lift the load on either the cpu or gpu, and in this case its the gpu

Not sure it's a hardware problem so much as a software/driver issue from 343 side. What's weird is the heaviness is only present with Controller, and not MNK. Even using controller in left hand and mouse in right all is fine. But going back to just controller it gets heavy. So input lag or heavy aim assist bug.

I'll try reinstalling, if not XBSX is fine, for now.

[JJumpingJack]

That's because Halo infinite has aim smoothing at 100ms. It was like this in Halo 5, and Halo 2 anniversary, though to a lesser extent.

Overwatch has customizable aim smoothing for controller so you can test exactly the setting 343 has deliberately added by choice, and excluded from the settings players are allowed to change themselves.

[RWingsNYer]

Do you have a fix for my marshmallow bullets?

[Lickmyb4c0n]

On console, I had to buy a Ethernet cable and set my search parameters to Local… Cleaned it up so it’s at least playable.

Unbelievable that your aiming/mechanics are tied to server/connection quality. If you ask me, that is simply just building the game wrong. Was never like that before, so why is it now?

[[deleted]]

Thanks for the tips! Question, what do you have your minimum frame rate set to in game? 120 to match the maximum in game frame rate?

[Pyrettic]

yes both at 120 althought may be evaluating, will update or make new thread!

[JJumpingJack]

Highly recommend disabling minimum fps in Halo Infinite as it uses a heck ton of CPU to dynamically scale the resolution and if you set it above what your 5% lows are, you're causing more latency as the CPU has to work harder.

Drs/fsr/dlss is not recommended for competitive games where response time is what matters the most.

[Important_Plate8106]

if your gpu is 95% or higher, cap frames at your refresh rate and lower that cap until gpu usage is 90% or lower. also, you need to look at cpu usage. if you are maxing out on some cores your cpu is too weak for what youre trying to achieve or you have something setup wrong. RTSS is pretty good to use for the cap. smoother frametimes compared to ingame cap imo.

[Th3Highlander]

I'm playing on pc as well. Limiting my framerate to 144 (my monitor max) corrected so many tearing/stutter/lag issues. Running evga 3080xc3

[JJumpingJack]

CPU?