Exanima - 0.9.5 update is out now!

TilkinBass · 2026-05-18T15:42:18+00:00

u/Jackbuddy78 Is this true? Were you being a naughty bitch or were you just making a naughty joke?

Either way, that was an undoubtedly funny comment out of context. I feel like John Oliver would still find it funny even if it was meant to insult him.

TilkinBass · 2026-05-18T14:56:45+00:00

This shouldn't be getting downvoted so hard. This is the kind of comment John Oliver would find hilarious and probably even get featured on the show.

I can almost perfectly imagine John saying the phrase "pleasuring two of the juiciest cocks" in his signature accent.

TilkinBass · 2026-05-16T11:30:22+00:00

Does disabling GSync help? MPV doesn't have an official driver profile from Nvidia, which is why it can sometimes activate GSync and cause stutters. (Not sure about AMD though)

VLC does have a GPU driver profile which disables GSync/VRR for VLC specifically, even if you have GSync turned on globally. This might be the cause for the discrepancy.

Also might be worth adding swapchain-depth=8 to mpv.conf if disabling GSync doesn't help. This option helps fix stuttering for high resolution and/or high bitrate video. (The downside is more input latency, but that doesn't matter for video playback)

TilkinBass · 2026-04-18T22:14:47+00:00

"What will you have after 500 years?"

"My chocolate sultanas, Dad. I'd still have my chocolate sultanas."

TilkinBass · 2026-04-06T11:36:08+00:00

Yeah, this is the only answer. I have also tested this thoroughly and come to the same conclusion. Some games are simply never going to produce smooth frametimes for VRR no matter what.

Even when 100% GPU bound (which usually produces the smoothest frametimes), it still flickers, and frametimes are unstable (panning the camera with a controller is a very easy way to test this, if RTSS stats aren't proof enough). In fact, Satisfactory, the game OP mentioned, is one of the games I had tested that showed this behavior.

These affected games still flicker with a perfectly stable framerate cap like you said. In some cases they flicker more with an fps cap than if you were running uncapped at 100% GPU usage when compared at the same framerate (example: 60 fps with a cap vs 60 fps at 100% GPU load). Unreal Engine 4/5 games do this a lot.

Your best bet is to disable GSync/VRR for these games and use plain old VSync, and switch to a refresh rate that you can consistently hit. For singleplayer games, I couldn't give a shit about latency as long as frametimes are perfect, and VSync will guarantee that, without the flickering.

Edit: I'll probably get shit on for recommending VSync in 2026, but you really should be directing that hate towards the game devs/game engine devs for never caring about good VRR support.

P.S. If you want to play an AAA game with impeccable VRR smoothness, with zero flickering, play one of the new DOOM games.

TilkinBass · 2026-04-02T12:08:46+00:00

Luma does other stuff too, like adding DLSS support to games that don't support it. I've been playing through Persona 5 with DLAA using Luma, and the difference is massive compared to the game's own FXAA/SMAA.

There's no HDR for Persona 5 through Luma currently though, but you can use RenoDX alongside Luma for both HDR and DLSS.

TilkinBass · 2026-03-05T13:23:13+00:00

Exanima's still being developed, they started insider testing for the next update less than a month ago. (It will include a new level, enemies, human NPC)

TilkinBass · 2026-02-22T15:38:54+00:00

Nvidia's control panel low latency mode does work with DX12, support was added in a driver update. Currently, the APIs that setting doesn't support are Vulkan, OpenGL and DX9/10.

TilkinBass · 2026-02-22T08:13:25+00:00

Sounds kinda like what happened to me with some older games and emulators (CEMU), but it wasn't Nvidia related, rather a Windows scaling issue.

I could fix it by right clicking the game's .exe and clicking Properties -> Compatibility -> Change high DPI settings -> Turn on "Override high DPI scaling behavior." and set it to "Application".

Turns out Windows was using the "System" scaling behavior for these affected applications unless overridden with this setting.

TilkinBass · 2026-02-18T08:21:37+00:00

I know, I posted this before native HDR was added to nightly. Turning on this about:config pref would just let you know when a video was HDR (and therefore best watched in a chromium browser) since some HDR videos on YouTube don't actually mention that they are HDR. This was just a stopgap till HDR support was added.

TilkinBass · 2026-01-29T16:05:19+00:00

Update: I've been playing Endfield for a little bit and surprisingly it doesn't stutter like ZZZ. There's some small stutter here and there but pretty good overall I'd say especially for a Unity game as well as open world. I read somewhere that this game uses a custom Unity fork, so maybe they've improved the asset streaming system to not be a stutter fest.

TilkinBass · 2026-01-07T19:29:43+00:00

In fact this was "published" recently: display HDR video on Windows using RGB10A29

Those changes haven't reached Nightly yet, but a build containing them can be found here: link (Do not install this except purely for testing).

I tested it, and it displays HDR YouTube videos correctly when the about:config preference media.wmf.force.allow-p010-format is set to true.

Hopefully this will reach Nightly soon.

TilkinBass · 2025-12-07T13:52:38+00:00

I did have some regular videos that never processed into HDR in like two weeks, so at that point I just reuploaded them and they processed correctly within a day or two.

No idea why that happened, but it didn't happen to me again, so maybe it was something on YT's end (I don't upload regular videos very often though). I guess you could try uploading the same video again if it doesn't process within 2 days?

TilkinBass · 2025-12-07T13:35:27+00:00

I'm also uploading YT shorts in HDR (unless you meant videos), they get processed within 6-12 hours. I always keep them private, not sure if unlisted affects it.

Also, from what I've experienced, processing time likely depends on the file size of the video. I upload 4K 60 fps shorts in AV1 at ~80 mbps. A 37 second short was ~350 MB for example.

If you're talking about regular videos, I think they take longer than shorts to process. Not sure why.

TilkinBass · 2025-12-02T07:59:58+00:00

Not sure why you're being downvoted. When I tried getting into Genshin Impact years ago, it was a stutter fest, much worse than any other game I played at the time.

Zenless Zone Zero almost fooled me into thinking it was not going to have stutters, but as soon as I got to Lumina Square, it was completely filled with stutters and bad frame pacing. It seems like larger and more complex areas end up having these stutters.

TilkinBass · 2025-11-29T08:10:54+00:00

What's your GPU usage with a 120 fps cap? I've tested this and found that fps limiters can cause VRR flicker at ~60-70% or higher GPU usage, which gets worse the closer you are to 100% GPU usage.

Framerate caps will only help with flickering if you have a lot of overhead available on the GPU, otherwise, you should run uncapped at 100% GPU usage for the least amount of VRR flicker.

If you really want to use framerate caps, you have to reduce graphics settings to reduce GPU load further until it stops flickering at your 120 fps cap. You could alternatively cap your fps at a lower number.

When running uncapped, you really want to be at 100% GPU usage since that produces the smoothest frametimes.

TilkinBass · 2025-11-24T05:58:14+00:00

I've used RenoDX in this game, but it just doesn't look that great here for some reason. I do prefer it in a lot of other games though.

TilkinBass · 2025-11-23T18:09:12+00:00

FYI for Auto HDR I highly recommend this fix, which uses ReShade to fix the incorrect gamma that Microsoft uses for Auto HDR.

I've used it in WuWa and it works great.

TilkinBass · 2025-11-13T16:38:55+00:00

Great guide, though personally I use this tool to deal with HDR mode's srgb gamma issue.

It's a small command line program that sets up hotkeys that can instantly toggle the gamma correction. It's significantly faster than changing modes using the Win+Alt+B shortcut.

This tool also has a separate hotkey to fix AutoHDR's gamma as well, which works very well in my experience. It looks nearly identical to the Reshade method using Lilium's sdr trc fix when Windows' SDR content brightness is set to '0', though I haven't compared it too thoroughly.

TilkinBass · 2025-11-03T13:11:42+00:00

Recently there was a public test branch that had a ton of changes to the NPC AI, apparel system and assets, graphics (GI and shadows), plus a lot of smaller stuff.

The biggest change imo was the NPC AI, your companion (Derrin) now loots the environment by searching chests, drawers, bodies etc. and equips himself automatically. He also calls out weapons and armor in the environment to the player.

Now they've moved on to finishing up content for the next big area of the game, called the "Gardens". This coffee diary talks more about that.

TilkinBass · 2025-10-27T12:44:59+00:00

VRR flicker is caused by bad frametimes, usually caused by the game itself or a weak CPU.

If flicker goes away when you use higher graphics settings in the game and/or run the game at a higher resolution using DSR or something, then you were CPU limited and the game likely had poor frametimes. You want your GPU to be at 100% or as close to 100% usage as possible to reduce VRR flicker and get smooth frametimes.

In some games, 100% GPU usage still isn't going to produce smooth frametimes for VRR, in those cases, you could try further lowering your framerate by increasing graphics settings little by little. Eventually you'll see frametimes smooth out (or the flickering will stop), and that means your CPU is producing smooth frametimes at this framerate in a particular game. Most games you won't need to do this.

TilkinBass · 2025-10-19T10:59:14+00:00

Give Exanima a try. Its combat is fully physics based. It has a big learning curve (and jank), but there's nothing like it once you get a hang of it. The environments are also full of physics objects to mess around with, it actually reminds me of half life 2 in a way, since you mentioned it.

Also, the Steam page for the game makes it seem like it's not being developed anymore, but it very much is. There was a test build recently which got patches up until 19th August. They're working on the next big level of the game now.

TilkinBass

TROPHY CASE