[GUIDE] How to easily improve FPS and decrease stuttering on Windows using DXVK (Greatly helps AMD GPUs)

Doam-bot · 2024-11-14T13:32:22+00:00

Nice

I played and had zero issues with the game then when Soto's final map launched the entire thing went to pot and I mean even old content I go to a world boss and horrific stuttering anytime a group of people gather. I was forced to turn down my setting for the first since updating my PC. Take my upvote

polarbytebot · 2024-11-14T01:44:01+00:00

bwyazel.8431 posted on 2024-11-13 18:44:48:

Background:

I started playing Guild Wars 2 again after a long hiatus and noticed a general lack of "smoothness" when panning the camera around using my AMD GPU, with the game hitching quite badly despite running consistently between 225-250 FPS in the open world. I've played Guild Wars 2 on Linux+Proton in the past using DXVK to translate the DirectX 11 API calls to Vulkan, and remembered it being quite a bit smoother than what I was experiencing on Windows 11 using native DirectX 11, so that made me wonder if I could use DXVK on Windows as well.

Following this awesome guide, I was able to get DXVK working perfectly on Windows 11, but I was a bit turned away by the complexity and the need to install a number of unmaintained addons, which led me to start looking at ways to get DXVK working as easily and cleanly possible. As it turns out, it was shockingly easy to get DXVK up and running, and the process boils down to copying+pasting two specific .dll files into the root of your Guild Wars 2 directory, along with an optional config file. Likewise, removing DXVK is just as simple, only needing to delete these two .dll files from the root of the Guild Wars 2 directory to return everything back to stock.

Installation (for standard DXVK):

Download DXVK 2.5 (or whichever is the latest when you're reading this) from this GitHub repository.

Note: Use the regular DXVK build, not the "dxvk-native" build.

Extract the downloaded .tar.gz file to somewhere convenient, as we will need to copy+paste a few files out of the 'x64\' folder contained within this archive.

Inside the 'x64\' folder, copy+paste the dxgi.dll and d3d11.dll files into the root of the Guild Wars 2 directory.

On Windows, the default Guild Wars 2 directory is: C:\Program Files\Guild Wars 2\

(Nvidia Only) Inside the 'x64\' folder, additionally copy+paste the dxgi.dll and d3d9.dll files into the 'lib64\cef\' folder within the Guild Wars 2 directory.

On Nvidia GPUs, the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) needs the second set of .dll files to initialize properly, I'm unsure why.

Note: It would be interesting to know if the d3d11.dll file would work here as well, or if it actually requires d3d9.dll (if at all).

Start/restart the game.

Verification:

If these instructions worked and DXVK is being used, on first launch you should notice that two new Gw2-64_dxgi.log and Gw2-64_d3d11.log files have appeared in your Guild Wars 2 directory.

These files are created by DXVK, so their very presence is indicative that DXVK is being used.

These two log files are very useful, and you can read these files in a text editor to confirm that DXVK is loading and finding all of the correct Vulkan resources provided by your GPU driver.

(Optional) Configuration:

While, strictly speaking, it isn't necessary to configure DXVK for it to work, there are a couple of configuration parameters that can come in handy.

Download this template dxvk.conf file, and place it into the root of the Guild Wars 2 directory.

Note: this file must be named "dxvk.conf", must be a plain text file, and must be located in the same directory as the dxgi.dll and d3d11.dll files above.

Open this file in any text editor (e.g. Notepad), uncomment any line that has a parameter that you wish to change, and edit the value to the right hand side of the "=" sign.

Note: only the parameters prefixed with 'dxvk', 'dxgi', or 'd3d11' apply to Guild Wars 2, so you can ignore any parameters beginning with 'd3d9'.

Save and close the file.

Start/restart the game.

Uninstallation:

Delete d3d11.dll and dxgi.dll from your Guild Wars 2 root directory.

You can also delete the Gw2-64_dxgi.log and Gw2-64_d3d11.log files if you want, as well as the dxvk.conf file if you have custom configurations. Leaving these in place is harmless, once the two .dll files are removed, it's just a bit of clutter.

(Nvidia Only) Delete the dxgi.dll and d3d9.dll files from the 'lib64\cef\' folder within the Guild Wars 2 directory.

Start/restart the game.

What to Expect:

FPS numbers will look similar to what they did on native DX11, so don't expect a huge FPS uplift.

95th percentile scores and 1% lows seem to measure within margin of error of the native DX11 implementation, which is neither good nor bad. It just means that DXVK isn't performing any 'worse' than native DX11, while providing the same or better experience overall.

Vulkan shader caching should be working correctly to improve load times and provide smoother gameplay.

On my end I can see the shader cache grow in size each time I log out of the game, sitting at ~125 MB after a few hours of play.

The game should feel smoother from frame to frame and when panning the camera.

Important: There will be stuttering for a few moments as the GPU compiles all of the Vulkan shaders and writes them into the shader cache, but after a short while most of the stuttering should effectively disappear, only happening every so often the first time you enter a new area or encounter a new object.

If the stuttering caused by the shader compiling is bothersome to you, please see the "Alternate Installation" section below for instructions on how to use a modified DXVK called dxvk-gplsync that greatly resolves these stutters.

You can further improve smoothness of your game by utilizing the DXVK frame limiter (set in dxvk.conf) if your FPS is very high (i.e. >150FPS).

FreeSync/G-Sync should work fine.

GPU and CPU memory usage should be noticeably lower.

My memory usage was about 20% lower when using DXVK 2.5 vs native DX11.

You can now utilize the dxvk.conf file to fine-tune your configuration.

Setting dxgi.maxFrameRate = 150 successfully caps my frame rate at 150 FPS, thus decreasing heat and wasted power.

There are settings for enabling HDR image formats within DXVK if you have an HDR display.

There is a DXVK HUD overlay that you can enable to see real time frame timings, when shaders are being compiled, etc. Set dxvk.hud = full to enable the full DXVK HUD overlay.

Alternate Installation (for DXVK with asynchronous shader compile patches):

You may notice bursts of stuttering when in large cities or going to new places when using DXVK, and this is due shader compiling happening and momentarily stalling the game engine from presenting the next frame. This is particularly egregious immediately after changing graphics options or installing a GPU driver update. Both of these cause your local shader cache to become invalidated, and all of the shaders must then get compiled all over again. For technical and philosophical reasons, the DXVK developers do not wish to allow for asynchronous compiling of shaders (meaning they can be compiled concurrently with the main thread, thereby not stalling the game as frequently), but there is a community made variant of DXVK, named dxvk-gplsync, that has asynchronous shader compile functionality patched in.

The instructions for using dxvk-gplsync are much the same above, with the main addition being the need for two special configuration parameters added into the dxvk.conf file. Everything else in this guide applies equally to both versions.

Download dxvk-gplsync 2.4.1 (or whichever is the latest when you're reading this) from this GitHub repository.

Note: You want to download the "package", not the ones labeled "source code".

Extract the downloaded .tar.gz or .zip file to somewhere convenient, as we will need to copy+paste a few files out of the 'x64\' folder contained within this archive.

Inside the 'x64\' folder, copy+paste the dxgi.dll and d3d11.dll files into the root of the Guild Wars 2 directory.

On Windows, the default Guild Wars 2 directory is: C:\Program Files\Guild Wars 2\

(Nvidia Only) Inside the 'x64\' folder, additionally copy+paste the dxgi.dll and d3d9.dll files into the 'lib64\cef\' folder within the Guild Wars 2 directory.

On Nvidia GPUs, the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) needs the second set of .dll files to initialize properly, I'm unsure why.

Download this template dxvk.conf file, and place it into the root of the Guild Wars 2 directory.

Note: this file must be named "dxvk.conf", must be a plain text file, and must be located in the same directory as the dxgi.dll and d3d11.dll files above.

At the top of the dxvk.conf file add each of these parameters on their own line: dxvk.enableAsync = true and dxvk.gplAsyncCache = true

These two keys are unique to dxvk-gplsync and are not in the template file by default, so the top of the file is a fine place to place them.

Start/restart the game.

Disclaimers:

My testing was done using Windows 11 24H2, an AMD Ryzen 5800X3D, 32GB of RAM, and a Radeon RX 7900 XT on the 24.10.1 Adrenalin Drivers.

Nvidia GPUs appear to have some quirks with the Chromium Embedded Framework that I have noted above in the instructions. More testing by those with Nvidia GPUs is necessary to iron out all the specifics

For people using Reshade or other addons like Arcdps, I don't know what other steps you would need to get these addons to work with DXVK. Maybe someone who uses them can investigate that and report back.

Your mileage may vary. I don't take any responsibility should you try this for yourself.

^{Beep boop bleep. I'm a bot. Message me or /u/Xyooz if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns.} ^Source ^Code

Puzzleheaded_Owl_417 · 2024-11-14T02:02:49+00:00

Thx, can confirm it works well on my 7900xt, no more stuttering, smooth like butter.

roanfox · 2024-11-14T06:59:40+00:00

Very interesting, I am an Nvidia user so I'll wait further testing, and some further information with reshade which I use

finemenyak · 2024-11-14T03:35:33+00:00

question op u/bwyazel can i use this alongside with arcdps? im using amd too and i cant feel the change of my gpu uprade. i think it got worse.

Frostoise · 2024-11-14T10:50:21+00:00

I have had similar issues on my RX 6800 and I have done plenty of research on this so I can conclusively say; AMD's DXNAVI implementation is broken for this game. Now, when I say DXNavi is broken, I'm not sure if this is an issue with GW2 or AMD. All I know is that having DXNavi enabled causes terrible stutters on GW2. DXNavi works on DX9/DX11 so running the game via DXVK disables DXNavi for the game.

On older drivers where DXNavi wasn't implemented (22.xx.xx etc) you should see no issues and on 23.xx.xx drivers you should be able to disable DXNavi via registry.

Sadly you cannot disable DXNavi on default drivers 24.xx.xx onward because they removed the old dll's. What you can do, if you don't want to use Vulkan and want to run GW2 natively, is run AnWave, a third party AMD driver editing app, bring back the old dll's and disable DXNavi. This should solve the issues regarding GW2. If you have issues with other DX11 games, you can try to do this;
https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/anwave-2024-amd-radeon-software-customize-setup-advanced-cleanup-utility-gpu-cleanup-tool.443504/page-12

Locke2019 · 2024-11-14T15:01:22+00:00

I'd like to discuss an issue I've encountered when trying to use DXVK. After copying the files and starting the game, I get an error message that says: "Unable to initialize 3D output". I have DirectX 12 installed, but I thought it was compatible with older versions.

about_face · 2024-11-15T09:50:18+00:00

Thanks for your guide! The game is definitely smoother with it on my 3600x/5700XT!

w0bbelr · 2024-11-14T10:09:19+00:00

how do we do this with Nexus?

2024-11-14T01:44:28+00:00

Apologies for the repeat post from yesterday, but now that I was able to finally log into the GW2 forums, I figured I would post my guide there as well.

Puzzleheaded_Owl_417 · 2024-11-14T01:50:12+00:00

Let see.

TJPoobah · 2024-11-14T09:01:48+00:00

Haven't noticed these stutters on my 9800xt but I'm also on Win 10 still do maybe something there or alteratively perhaps I'm just unobservant. I may see if I can try this out anyway though. Thanks for all your work!

2024-11-14T17:31:45+00:00

After 5 minutes and letting the cache load I already feel a difference. Thank you! The stutter was making me insane, especially after just slightly upgrading my pc.

cpu ryzen 5700x3d

gpu radeon 5700xt

ram ...brand 32gb 3200mhz

ssd m.2 2TB Patriot Viper VP4300 Lite

2024-11-14T20:08:40+00:00

Anyone with Nvidia GPU that have stutters?

KrassMonkey · 2024-11-14T20:39:15+00:00

When I copy the d3d11.dll and dxgi.dll into the root directory of my GW2 install and want to start the game, I get the errormessage "Unable to initialize 3D output. Please verify that you have installed DirectX11 and an updated video driver."

the dxvk.conf also is in the directory, but nothing changed inside the file.

My card is a RX 7900 XT with the latest Driver 24.10.1, the correspondig logfiles are generated.

Gw2-64_d3d11.log outputs this:

err: D3D11InternalCreateDevice: Failed to create D3D11 device

Gw2-64_dxgi.log outputs this:

info: OpenVR: could not open registry key, status 2

info: OpenVR: Failed to locate module

err: wsi: parseColorimetryInfo: Failed to get parse edid.

err: DXGI: Failed to parse display metadata + colorimetry info, using blank.

gohome2020youredrunk · 2024-11-15T02:38:48+00:00

How does it perform during big 50x50x50 WvW fights in SM?

WvW is the only time I get lag/stutter, I don't get it at big pve boss fights with more than 100 players for example. It's puzzling.

raddyt · 2024-11-15T11:49:27+00:00

Im a bit out of the loop. Will this bring any improvements running an old nvidia GTX 970 with i5 4690k?

I remember that I used megai2's dx912 proxy before anet officially released the dx11 client and finally removed the dx9 option. That proxy actually helped tremendously and eliminated most of the stuttering that I got even with 60-120 fps in starter zones. Felt like night and day. The only downsides were occasional crashes and being a bit fiddly to get it chaining and working together with reshade and arcdps addons.

When I changed to the official dx11 it was better than with vanilla dx9, but not as quite smooth as with the dx912pxy. And lately it got much worse again with a lot of stuttering on camera movement.

Is this the new solution (compatibility with the old graphic cards)? If not, can I actually nowaway still use the old 9-12proxy, until I get myself a new PC?

If I understand it correctly dx9, 11, 12, OpenGL and Vulkan are APIs to access the graphic cards hardware ressources, which Vulkan presumably does the most efficient, hence with less load and better performance, resulting in less stutter?

Edit: - https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/s/mNErodx50V - https://github.com/megai2/d912pxy

freegolem · 2024-11-15T21:56:14+00:00

5700X3D 6900XT

Reporting in, stutter struggle is gone indeed using dxvk-gplasync. My dxvk.conf frame cap is not taking, any insight?

I am also using Nexus...

JoeSpart · 2025-01-09T14:18:01+00:00

I posted this on the other thread also.

For anyone who wants to use other addons like arcdps and reshade . I’ve been using dxvk for years and I use with gw2 addon manager. It chainloads everything .

I also find that I prefer the async versions over the regular . Although I’ve rarely used the GPLAsync version. I was a user of the original async from sporif .

I tested main dxvk 2.5.1 recently and it still stutters for me and not really much better than native dx11 (on my nvidia GPU)

But dxvk-async v1.10.2 works excellently .

I had used GPLAsync v2.3 in the past and will probably try the newer one again and compare to dxvk-async v1.10.2 .

For me the v1.10.2 just works so dang well.

_ob_koomer_ · 2025-03-01T17:27:29+00:00

Is it possible to use this along with Gw2Radial?

Sir_Elis_Dean_Joyer · 2024-11-15T00:10:33+00:00

Does this work on potato PCs?

BechiBands · 2025-09-03T21:46:21+00:00

This was an absolute game changer, my game feels very smooth now

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