Ever since sometime around the launch of Version 7.3 in the Fall of 2025 to 7.4 in Winter 2025, my framerate periodically drops down to roughly 15-20fps for a span of about 1 to 2 seconds in situations which are otherwise stable, making most content nearly unplayable (On my system, framerate is typically 45-55 fps in areas with many other players, and 80-100 fps in areas without.). During these framerate drops, GPU usage sharply decreases as well (as low as 0%).
This stutter/slowdown occurs by far the most frequently in areas where there are many other players around (as frequently as every 10 to 30 seconds in overworld zones, alliance raids, and PvP matches), though the issue is not exclusive to them. My CPU and memory usage are normal and do not change when this slowdown occurs. This is not a connection/lag issue.
System Specs:
- Motherboard: Intel B560
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060 12 GB
- CPU: Intel Core i7-11700K 8-Core
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 RAM 3000MHz (2x8GB)
Things I've experimented with which do NOT fix the problem:
- Every in-game graphics setting, including dynamic resolution
- Every in-game display setting, including frame limiter
- Every in-game character/object limit/range setting
- Hardware mouse vs software mouse
- Borderless mode vs windowed vs full screen
- Controller connected vs disconnected
- Controller enabled vs disabled in-game
- Gsync enabled vs disabled on monitors
- Primary vs secondary vs dual monitor
- Monitor refresh rate settings
- USB devices connecting/disconnecting and presence of Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator
- Presence of other running programs
- Hardware acceleration being enabled in other running programs like Discord or Firefox
- Steam overlay (when standalone Windows version is added as a non-Steam game)
Other things I've tried which also do NOT fix the problem:
- Uninstalling & reinstalling the game
- Running the game from 4 different SSDs
- Rolling back Nvidia graphics card drivers to an earlier version
- Reapplying thermal paste to reduce possibility of CPU overheat
- Reconnecting GPU to motherboard to ensure there isn't a loose PCIe connection
This problem has been asked about on the official forums a number of times with no consensus on a solution being discovered, and even more players have discussed the issue on social media (also not finding a consistent solution). Even users running the game on Linux through a translation layer are also reporting experiencing the same problem.
Examples of players inquiring about this problem and not arriving at a solution:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...t-loss-related
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...er#post6813399
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ince-patch-7.3
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...udden-FPS-drop
This and all of the above information heavily implies that this is a bug in FFXIV itself and not the result of user error or hardware, and thus I have also reported this in-game as a bug.
Continue reading...
This stutter/slowdown occurs by far the most frequently in areas where there are many other players around (as frequently as every 10 to 30 seconds in overworld zones, alliance raids, and PvP matches), though the issue is not exclusive to them. My CPU and memory usage are normal and do not change when this slowdown occurs. This is not a connection/lag issue.
System Specs:
- Motherboard: Intel B560
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060 12 GB
- CPU: Intel Core i7-11700K 8-Core
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 RAM 3000MHz (2x8GB)
Things I've experimented with which do NOT fix the problem:
- Every in-game graphics setting, including dynamic resolution
- Every in-game display setting, including frame limiter
- Every in-game character/object limit/range setting
- Hardware mouse vs software mouse
- Borderless mode vs windowed vs full screen
- Controller connected vs disconnected
- Controller enabled vs disabled in-game
- Gsync enabled vs disabled on monitors
- Primary vs secondary vs dual monitor
- Monitor refresh rate settings
- USB devices connecting/disconnecting and presence of Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator
- Presence of other running programs
- Hardware acceleration being enabled in other running programs like Discord or Firefox
- Steam overlay (when standalone Windows version is added as a non-Steam game)
Other things I've tried which also do NOT fix the problem:
- Uninstalling & reinstalling the game
- Running the game from 4 different SSDs
- Rolling back Nvidia graphics card drivers to an earlier version
- Reapplying thermal paste to reduce possibility of CPU overheat
- Reconnecting GPU to motherboard to ensure there isn't a loose PCIe connection
This problem has been asked about on the official forums a number of times with no consensus on a solution being discovered, and even more players have discussed the issue on social media (also not finding a consistent solution). Even users running the game on Linux through a translation layer are also reporting experiencing the same problem.
Examples of players inquiring about this problem and not arriving at a solution:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...t-loss-related
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...er#post6813399
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ince-patch-7.3
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...udden-FPS-drop
This and all of the above information heavily implies that this is a bug in FFXIV itself and not the result of user error or hardware, and thus I have also reported this in-game as a bug.
Continue reading...