[SOLVED] Getting less than 10 FPS on i5-12600K Alder Lake (due to Overwolf)

[preditcon 3]

I recently updated my CPU, motherboard and RAM. From i5 2500K to 12600K, so quite a jump (2nd gen to 12th gen Intel). So far the entire experience has been mostly delightful. Major improvement in every program/game I tried.

 

Yesterday our group planned a coop session and I tried Arma 3 for the first time on the new rig, really. I did try a quick Mission Editor scenario on my own just to setup my HOTAS and do not remember anything being wrong, though that mission contains just a few objects.

 

I was shocked to find out that the session was completely unplayable, not just for me, but for the server host as well (if I joined). 5 FPS at best for me and we found out that I was also the cause of my mate's server crashing...

 

At this point, I have tried everything I could think of and am starting to lose hope. No matter what I do, Arma 3 remains unplayable for me, be it an MP mission or one of the SP scenarios (I usually just try Old Man from scratch). And when I say unplayable, I don't mean 30 FPS like some spoiled brat - I GET 1 TO 7 FPS AT BEST (according to Steam overlay). I can actually see each frame as my guy "moves" around.

 

Board: MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4
BIOS: 7D25v13
CPU: Intel i5-12600K
RAM: Patriot Viper Steel 2x8 GB kit 4133 MHz (XMP Profile 1)
VGA: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB SC Gaming
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 1TB (SATA internal port)
PSU: Seasonic X-650 (12V/54A)
OS: Windows 11 Pro - 21H2 (10.0.22000), clean install from scratch

 

These specs should handle Arma 3 with ease, even the old rig could pull it off.

 

Here's what I've tried (about 5 hours of my life wasted):

• turning it off and on again (restarted the game, PC, etc.),
• running vanilla without mods/DLCs,
• setting Video settings to Low in-game,
• fiddling with Launcher parameters,
• ensuring all drivers are up to date,
• wiping Arma folders in My Documents, AppData, ProgramData, then verified game files through Steam,
• setting CPU priority/affinity for main Arma process through Task Manager,
• changing Power profile settings for CPU in Windows,
• setting Power management mode in NVIDIA Control Panel for Arma to "Prefer maximum performance",
• disabling all E-cores in BIOS settings,
• uninstalling through Steam, wiping everything I could think of, including workshop folders inside Steam install, then reinstalled,
• searched for "Arma 3 12600K" all over.

 

The result was exactly the same on each attempt.

 

Please help, I have over 600 hours invested in this thing, wrote my own mods, am a Windows power user and even have a degree in computer science, with more than ten years of work experience as a software developer, if that counts for anything. But I'm just a hopeless fool before this thing...

 

P.S.: asked this same question on r/arma Weekly Thread.

[preditcon 3]

Additionally tried:

• disabling Hyper Threading in BIOS,
• disabling Steam overlay,
• disconnected all USB devices, except keyboard/mouse.

Same thing. The game is unplayable.

 

I've seen other people having trouble with temps, which might cause CPU throttling, but:

• CPU temps seem normal, between 50 - 60 °C (Noctua NH-D15S is doing its job), it is like the CPU is idling at 7% utilization,
• GPU fan doesn't even spin up, since the card isn't really getting utilized in Arma.

 

This guy here reported a similar problem, but never replied if the he was able to resolve anything.

I do not use antivirus software. I have not overclocked anything (except activating the XMP profile).

[preditcon 3]

FINALLY! I've pinned down the culprit.

 

It's Overwolf, the thing that gets installed with Teamspeak. If that is running, my FPS gets capped at 7-8 FPS. Close that and voila, the game suddenly becomes playable with Ultra settings at QHD res...

 

As to why, I don't quite get yet.

 

Edit: people knew about this issue as far back as 2015, so I believe the only reasonable course of action here is to uninstall Overwolf and move on. If they didn't bother to fix this for that many years, they never will.

Edited May 26, 2022 by preditcon
added final solution

[Dana_Overwolf 1]

18 hours ago, preditcon said:

FINALLY! I've pinned down the culprit.

 

It's Overwolf, the thing that gets installed with Teamspeak. If that is running, my FPS gets capped at 7-8 FPS. Close that and voila, the game suddenly becomes playable with Ultra settings at QHD res...

 

As to why, I don't quite get yet.

 

Edit: people knew about this issue as far back as 2015, so I believe the only reasonable course of action here is to uninstall Overwolf and move on. If they didn't bother to fix this for that many years, they never will.

 

Hey preditcon,

 

I'm from Overwolf and I came across your post.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you've experienced performance issues with Overwolf! This is definitely not normal behavior and requires investigation on our side.

If you haven't uninstalled Overwolf yet, it would be super helpful if you could send me your logs so I can have a closer look at the issue. You can send your logs here and link the thread as reference.

 

Thank you!

[preditcon 3]

3 hours ago, Dana Feldman said:

 

Hey preditcon,

 

I'm from Overwolf and I came across your post.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you've experienced performance issues with Overwolf! This is definitely not normal behavior and requires investigation on our side.

If you haven't uninstalled Overwolf yet, it would be super helpful if you could send me your logs so I can have a closer look at the issue. You can send your logs here and link the thread as reference.

 

Thank you!

 

Done.

 

If anyone else encounters this, a possible solution (should you decide to keep Overwolf) is to delete %localappdata%\Overwolf folder while the application is closed. It is recreated on next run, albeit with different content. I was unable to reproduce the issue after deleting said folder, but restoring it from a backup brought the FPS capping back.