Change in FPS with 2020.2??

Something in the last couple of days has changed in my project that is resulting in lower FPS. One possibility was the upgrade to Unity 2020.2.

I'm developing on a Mac and in the when running from the editor, I was getting anywhere from 500 to 2000 FPS. Now I'm getting between 60 and 120. Even if I turn off all my objects(uncheck in the Inspector), I still get this low range.

I'm fairly new to Unity and it's possible I've inadvertantly flipped some setting somewhere that is causing this. Or maybe it is something about the 2020.2 upgrade.

I've also tried adding:

Application.targetFrameRate = 1000;​

to Start() for the Camera but it doesn't help.

Any ideas?

 

Is your issue perhaps related to VSync?

https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/QualitySettings-vSyncCount.html

It's also possible upgrading your video driver suddenly exposed the VSync property differently to Unity.

 

Take a look at the Profiler. In newer versions of Unity the Profiler now gives VSync its own separate CPU Usage category, so it is pretty easy to spot VSync as the culprit. Previously you'd infer it by looking deeper into the data. Whenever you see FPS locked to a value roughly the same as a monitor refresh rate, VSync is probably a safe assumption, or at least a good first thing to check.

Here's some good reading on using the Profiler for looking into these kinds of issues:
https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/diagnosing-performance-problems

 

Tried setting the VSync setting to 0 in code as well as in the Quality project settings (VSync Count = Don't Sync). This didn't make any difference.

It is curious that the FPS seems to hover around 60 (or occasionally in the 120 range).

I'm aware that bumping the FPS higher than 120 probably will no have any useful effect, but I'm not done adding elements to the simulation and I want to make sure I haven't inadvertently set something incorrectly.

I haven't tried profiling yet, but do notice that in the Stats window of the editor it shows:

CPU: main16.7 ms; render thread 0.4 ms

 

But did you confirm in the Profiler it actually is VSync causing the performance drop? If it isn't, then the Profiler will show what else the CPU is spending all its time on.

 

I tried profiling, but this is the first time I've used it and it's not clear I'm interpreting it correctly. It seems that all the time is spent in rendering. However, I've built a version that has all my GameObjects disabled (unchecked) so the screen is blank and it still shows all the time in rendering.



In this run I have the following in my Camera' Start() method.

QualitySettings.vSyncCount = 0;
Application.targetFrameRate = 1000;

What else should I check?

 

I've the same exact problem, suddenly its locked to 30FPS while targeting android platform.

I've disabled Vsyc, run an empty scene with URP , 30FPS locked, setting targetFrameRate in code didnt change anything.

Higher framerate actually reflect for me how to expect performance in mobile

Example at old way:
Editor: game run on 1000FPS, then I may expect it run 50-60FPS on my phone
Editor: run on 30FPS , I cant even imagine it would run on mobile

Now when editor run by default at 30 or 60FPS whiling setting target platform to mobile, now I feel like I must make a build to see how that effect the overall performance.

I hope you you adjust that and make it like before.

EDIT:

Also I notice an awkward issue, when game view while the scene view is active, it run on 30FPS, if I switched the scene view with profilier view, suddenly the game view jump to 60FPS

 

I added the following to the Start() method of my main script.

QualitySettings.vSyncCount = 0;

 

I assume you meant this? As you can see, it is off.

 

I've GSync, but before it was ok until I made the upgrade to 2020.2

 

No, I did disable GSyc, and the problem still exist

 

I do have a two monitor setup. Disconnecting the second monitor does make a significant difference.

Running from the Editor with "Maximize on Play":
2 monitors : ~60 FPS
1 monitor : ~ 102 FPS

Running a stand alone build on Mac:
2 monitors : ~110 FPS
1 monitor : ~ 150 FPS

I'm happy with the performance with 1 monitor. If a customer has two, will they see the same performance drop?

It is still a mystery as to why a build for iOS gets 30 FPS almost exactly. It really seems that something is clamping the frame rate there. As I've previously explained, I believe I have everything set to allow it to run as fast as possible.

 

Both monitors are set to 60 Hz refresh rate. This problem just showed up with the latest Unity release so I suspect it was something changed there.

 

Do you happen to have Windows 10 1909? I remember reading about nonconstant Time.deltaTime issues with multimonitors.

 

No, this is on an iMac with an external monitor.

 

I have the same problem. After update project 2019.4 to 2020.2 I'm getting <=60 fps. In 2019.4 I was getting between 200-300 fps

 

Just wanted to chime in here that I am facing the same. Normally I use the game view fps as a barometer to see how loaded the graphics are so I can get a quick idea of before-vs-after when I'm making changes. But I'm on 2020.3 and I'm seeing the fps locked to 60fps no matter what I do, so I am suspecting a hardware level cap. I too am on an iMac with 2 external monitors, though the same set up with 2019 versions of Unity did not have this behavior. I'll look into filing a bug report; haven't done one before.

 

I had a similar issue, my project suddenly had performance drop. I just exported all the project as a package into a new project and the framerate bug was fixed

 

Im having exactly the same issue, but it happens on Build too
The game built on Android in unity 2020.1.0f1 runs at 72fps fixed in Oculus quest
but after updating to 2020.2 or 2021.1.0f1 . the build runs at 40-50 fps now

I don't know what to do, the workflow in the newer versions is better and the compilation time also

 

I will later today

 

Facing the same issue with two monitors. Macbook pro 2019.

Single Monitor - 60 FPS
Dual Monitor (even with mirror and not extend) - < 30

Just filled a bug report. I'll link it as soon as get an email with the tracking id.

Running 2019 lts btw.

 

Case 1327408_9n3plh7v8m337070

 

I am having a similar issue without the second monitor being plugged in. I'm running unity 2020.3.0f1.

I've done a test run where I have only a few 3D objects laying around and if i turn them all off the FPS jumps up again to "normal" values. I then started drilling down to find a culprit and I found that if I have even one object with a standard shader being loaded at any time, my FPS stays at a max of 30 and dips down to between 18~27 at the slightest camera movement.

Remove the material from the object, everything is back to normal...

This was not happening with older versions of unity, I used to be well in the 50~60 fps minimum.

Edit:

I just built the game and the FPS is fine. Its a Game View issue only in my case so far.

 

Update:

After upgrading to 2020.3.3f1 the problem seems to have been fixed, in my case.

 

New update:

I'm really sorry for coming in here and mixing issues up! Turns out in my case it was nothing to do with unity or its version.

I was running unity in my laptop which was low on battery, I completly forgot it!

 

Sorry Martine, that was rude from me forgetting writing back to you, yes, I've dual monitor setup, and when using only one, it has the same issue)

 

You are right, lucky that the current project I'm working on is using 2019.4.20f1

 

To add to this, I'm having the same issue (FPS seems to be capped at 30 in editor game view), but if I have it maximized (or maximize while running) it increases to 60. I'm using Graphy to check framerate.

2020.3.13f1

 

2020.3.11f1.
The same issue: changed build target to android and got 60 FPS in Editor/PlayMode and 30 FPS on device.
But... vSync disabled, empty scene, stable 60 FPS?
Application.targetFrameRate was set to 75, 120 etc, no effect.

Changed active Graphics API for PC (not android) from GLES3 to DirectX11 and got 200+ FPS in Editor/Play mode.
But stable 30 FPS on Android for empty scene (for both Vulkan and GLES3 APIs).

 

"This", I wasted almost 2 hours of my life because of this. Plugged my charger back into laptop, 200-300fps again. Unity should make a "to check list" with this potential "issues". Thanks for the tip

 

I was lost to the issue for 3 days, don't beat yourself up.

It just happened to me again and I was lost again! I totally forgot it about it once more... but at least I remembered I had a post about this somewhere in the forums... ehe

 

Having a similar issue. If the Scene view is open and/or the Inspector is visible on some asset (this case, a material) it the game view is locked to 30fps. Oddly, I have a tab open in the same window as the inspector, this has a custom editor tool in it, switching the tab to that unlocks the game view frame rate again.

This is on a Macbook Pro, Big Sur 11.6, 16inch 2019 model
Unity: 2020.3.12f1

 

Hi @MartinTilo

It looks like I've hit a similar issue.

Currently a game of mine launched with Application.targetFrameRate set to -1 (on Windows, Android & iOS). Windows & Android devices all ran at 60fps whilst iOS ran at 30fps (on a 2020 iPad)

So I decided to add a target frame rate feature to the game to expand players options with regards to performance. Currently the options are Auto, 30fps & 60fps.

This was implemented using the following code...

Code (CSharp):

1.     if (targetFramerate == 0)
2.     {
3.       QualitySettings.vSyncCount = 1;
4.       Application.targetFrameRate = -1;
5.     }
6.     else
7.     if (targetFramerate > 0)
8.     {
9.       QualitySettings.vSyncCount = 0;
10.       Application.targetFrameRate = targetFramerate;
11.     }

The development\test machine specs are...

SurfacePro3 with SurfaceDock (Dual 60Hz Monitors)
Windows 10 (21H1)

And Unity is...

Unity 2020.3.20f1 (Medium Quality, Time.fixedDeltaTime = 0.0166666f / 60Hz)

Now whilst initially testing on Windows, I observed the following...

NOTE: TFR = Application.targetFrameRate & VSC = QualitySettings.vSyncCount

Dual Monitors - Unity Editor

Windows Refresh Rate = 60Hz
Unity Screen.currentResolution.refreshRate = 60Hz

TFR:-1 / VSC:1 = 100fps+
TFR:30 / VSC:0 = 30fps
TFR:60 / VSC:0 = 60fps

Dual Monitors - IL2CPP Master UWP Build

Windows Refresh Rate = 60Hz
Unity Screen.currentResolution.refreshRate = 0Hz

TFR:-1 / VSC:1 = 60fps
TFR:30 / VSC:0 = 25fps
TFR:60 / VSC:0 = 50fps

Single Monitor - IL2CPP Master UWP Build

Windows Refresh Rate = 60Hz
Unity Screen.currentResolution.refreshRate = 0Hz

TFR:-1 / VSC:1 = 60fps
TFR:30 / VSC:0 = 25fps
TFR:60 / VSC:0 = 50fps

Internal Display - IL2CPP Master UWP Build

Windows Refresh Rate = 60Hz
Unity Screen.currentResolution.refreshRate = 0Hz

TFR:-1 / VSC:1 = 60fps
TFR:30 / VSC:0 = 25fps
TFR:60 / VSC:0 = 50fps

So when specifying 30fps it's actually running at 25fps. And when specifying 60fps it's actually running at 50fps (verified with two different frame rate counters). Far from ideal.

Dual & single monitor setups seem make no difference, as does running on the internal display (disconnected from the dock)

What is interesting is that running in UWP Screen.currentResolution.refreshRate is always reporting 0Hz. Could this be the source (or part of) the problem?

I've yet to test Android & iOS.

 

Hi @Tautvydas-Zilys,

Thanks for the reply.

Both bugs reported (1373342 & 1373355)

With regards to your suggestion, I understand the logic behind that, even though I'm far from an expert on the subject.

But looking at the following articles...

https://support.unity.com/hc/en-us/...Target-frame-rate-or-V-Blank-not-set-properly
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/QualitySettings-vSyncCount.html
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Application-targetFrameRate.html

They seem out of date, especially the following comments...

"Typically on mobile platforms the default frame rate is 30 frames per second"
"iOS ignores the QualitySettings.vSyncCount setting"

My game primarily targets mobile players, so I want to allow them to choose a frame rate without getting too technical.

So I've settled on terms Auto, Reduced, Optimal & Maximum and am thinking the following would represent these...

Auto

Code (CSharp):

1. QualitySettings.vSyncCount = 0;
2. Application.targetFrameRate = -1;

Reduced

Code (CSharp):

1. QualitySettings.vSyncCount = 2;
2. Application.targetFrameRate = -1

Optimal

Code (CSharp):

1. QualitySettings.vSyncCount = 1;
2. Application.targetFrameRate = -1

Maximum

Code (CSharp):

1. QualitySettings.vSyncCount = 0;
2. Application.targetFrameRate = 999f;

NOTE: I understand on some platforms Maximum may be the same as optimal.

Does that look correct to you?
Do the two calls have to be set in a particular order?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Ok, thanks.

I've dropped Auto (in the above example) as it didn't seem right to me.

So after changing Auto/30/60 to Reduced/Optimal/Maximum on Windows UWP (switching from TFR to VSC) it produces FAR better results.

With a 60Hz display, it produces a rock solid 30fps at Reduced, a rock solid 60fps at Optimal and 200+ on Maximum. As expected, but still nice to see. Especially as using TFR (-1/30/60) resulted in fluctuating frame rates.

Will test on iOS & Android on Monday and see what they produce.

Thanks for the tip!