Battlefield 1 running like trash, tried everything. Help, TH, I've nowhere else to go!

[hammer326]

I hope you'll forgive the high drama of the thread wording but it aptly conveys my feelings after dropping almost $40 on a game that can barely be played.

My rig:
Windows 7 64 bit
i5 3330
GTX 1060 6GB
12GB RAM


The issue: CPU maxing out at 100% load per my keyboard's LCD display reading, game freezes, sometimes sound continues to play, sometimes silence. The cinematics freeze in a very similar way at the beginning of the "operations" game mode.

I have tried:
lowering resolution scaling to as low as 34%: SEEMED to take a little while longer for the issue to happen but it indeed did return.

Disabling Origin in-game UI: no apparent effect.
toggling Vsync: Nothing.
Borderless windowed mode: Seemed to fix for awhile, but again returned.
geforce experience optimization of graphical settings: Again, apparently solved it for a time.
manually lowering ALL graphics settings


I've come to the conclusion that my GPU is not the issue, I ran EVGA precision XOC and it shows the card rarely exceeding ~45% load even on ultra if I am reading the numbers correctly. This CPU issue also seems to be much more apparent during large scale games, as I recall a few smaller rounds of Rush or Conquest where it barely showed up if at all.

According to Canyourunit, my CPU is actually below the minimum requirements, which is obviously not true and I would scarcely believe that given how many others on here said I should be fine with this CPU for gaming at least for another year or two.

I am out of ideas. Many others have told me in-game that the latter issue (cinematics freezing) is common, and a few have reported the CPU freezes too. I figured I'd see what you guys think before heading to the EA forums to submit a complaint thread and then hope they address it in a patch, which is basically my last ditch effort here.

Edit: Updated my rig listing to specify I'm on windows 7. One youtube video about this issue actually insinuated that all he did to fix this same problem (that worked) is switch to windows 10, which I have no intention of doing anytime soon nor should I have to. This game was and is advertised to be perfectly functional on windows 7, and if that's not the case, DICE have said one thing and done another, which is called fraud, but whole different rant, I again sincerely hope that my OS of all things is not the culprit here, as 7 to my knowledge is nowhere near unsupported yet.

Thank you!!

 

[Wolfshadw]

Battlefield 1 Minimum System Requirements

CPU - Core I5-6600K

I don't see where there is any question that your CPU is the issue.

-Wolf sends

 

[Rogue Leader]

+1 on above.

This game has been bringing newer gen i7's to its knees, no surprise you're having issues with yours.

 

[hammer326]

Battlefield 1 Minimum System Requirements

CPU - Core I5-6600K

I don't see where there is any question that your CPU is the issue.

-Wolf sends

Well I have a list of reasons I'm equally perplexed:

1: The bewilderment on multiple articles that such a high end CPU was stipulated as the minimum when this game's requirements were first published, especially since the AMD CPU they list as a counterpart is not on par with it, here's one:

http://techreport.com/news/30679/battlefield-1-system-requirements-ask-for-a-core-i5-6600k

"That requirement looks to be a bit of hyperbole, since DICE also states that an AMD FX-6350—a much slower CPU—will handle the game too."

2: If it's indeed the case and so far below the minimum, how and why does the game even start? Hell, Supreme Commander from 10 years ago at least had the courtesy to tell me most of my system couldn't handle it at the time and wouldn't even launch.

3: As I said, Canyourunit was what initially told me this. It also said my GPU drivers were 2+ months out of date; I updated them last week and ran that scan 3 days ago per EA tech support's instructions.

4: What would motivate on multiple other threads I've posted to think this CPU would be fine for awhile?

5: I will concede that I haven't shopped for CPU's in over 4 years, so I have to ask how much more punch the new ones even pack and what numbers to look at when shopping for them as a gamer. For a long time I was under the impression that 3.0ghz quad core= A-OK for running a game at a time.


Thanks.

 

[hammer326]

+1 on above.

This game has been bringing newer gen i7's to its knees, no surprise you're having issues with yours.

Far from what I wanted to hear but interesting to know. This is the third game I've bought with an analogous issue, the other two being No Man's Sky and Deathwing which are much more of a mess in the realm of optimization, so understand my trepidation at just throwing more money at the problem with no guarantee that it'll even fix it nowadays since apparently you can just release a game that runs as horribly on $3000 PCs as it does on mine (those being the aforementioned titles rather than BF1).

 

[Wolfshadw]

I didn't write the articles, nor am I a programmer for the game, so I can't speak as to why the minimum specs are listed as they are. What I can say is that the minimum system requirements are not the minimum needed for the game to start, but the minimum required for the tech support team to not have to do anything other than say, "Upgrade your system".

As for your CPU, it is fine for several more years. Just not for the games you've listed.

-Wolf sends

 

[hammer326]

Fixed it myself. Followed these instructions to the letter and, give or take an occasional opening cinematic still a bit stuttery ( a superficial issue) and like ONE freeze for about a second (and in class selection, not when actually playing) the issue is gone. Posting in case others run into it.

https://forums.battlefield.com/en-us/discussion/42847/high-cpu-usage-low-fps-potential-fix

Thanks for next to nothing useful (and quite confrontationally worded) besides the ridiculous notion that a AAA title's minimum CPU spec should be that which is barely a year and a half old. They've also admitted it's not as optimized as it could be and will be addressing it in a patch, in case you actually think everyone whose PC isn't worth more than their car should just be SOL when they spend even $40 on a new title.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Fixed it myself. Followed these instructions to the letter and, give or take an occasional opening cinematic still a bit stuttery ( a superficial issue) and like ONE freeze for about a second (and in class selection, not when actually playing) the issue is gone. Posting in case others run into it.

https://forums.battlefield.com/en-us/discussion/42847/high-cpu-usage-low-fps-potential-fix

Thanks for next to nothing useful (and quite confrontationally worded) besides the ridiculous notion that a AAA title's minimum CPU spec should be that which is barely a year and a half old. They've also admitted it's not as optimized as it could be and will be addressing it in a patch, in case you actually think everyone whose PC isn't worth more than their car should just be SOL when they spend even $40 on a new title.

Interesting workaround and one which we have not seen despite many many many users here running into similar issues with all levels of processor, while strangely in some cases others have not. As you can even read there it hasn't fixed the problems for everyone and its possible you got lucky here. It is still a game optimization issue.

Nowhere in here did we say you needed to go out and dump money into your PC, and as Wolfshadow even said your CPU is fine for several more years aside from a couple of games. I run a CPU much older than yours that works excellently for most games except for a couple, it happens.

We were hardly confrontational, just trying to help based on what we have seen and the amount of work you put into fixing it sometimes it is, in our opinion, time to throw in the towel. Sorry we can't be perfect or aware of every possible forum post that may have a fix that affects part of the population. As an aside there are a ton of our members here that would NEVER accept locking a FPS game at 60 fps, so there is that as well.

I'm glad it worked out for you, but next time just because a couple of volunteers trying to help you out with your PC who aren't even in front of it may have been incorrect, you could maybe just leave the informational as a helpful post for all of us and lose the attitude. Thats what a community is.

 

[hammer326]

Interesting workaround and one which we have not seen despite many many many users here running into similar issues with all levels of processor, while strangely in some cases others have not. As you can even read there it hasn't fixed the problems for everyone and its possible you got lucky here. It is still a game optimization issue.

Nowhere in here did we say you needed to go out and dump money into your PC, and as Wolfshadow even said your CPU is fine for several more years aside from a couple of games. I run a CPU much older than yours that works excellently for most games except for a couple, it happens.

We were hardly confrontational, just trying to help based on what we have seen and the amount of work you put into fixing it sometimes it is, in our opinion, time to throw in the towel. Sorry we can't be perfect or aware of every possible forum post that may have a fix that affects part of the population. As an aside there are a ton of our members here that would NEVER accept locking a FPS game at 60 fps, so there is that as well.

I'm glad it worked out for you, but next time just because a couple of volunteers trying to help you out with your PC who aren't even in front of it may have been incorrect, you could maybe just leave the informational as a helpful post for all of us and lose the attitude. Thats what a community is.

I'll concede that the majority of your points here I agree with. This issue has plagued most of my time to game this past week and I don't like that after spending this kind of money on games that start and run and then reveal themselves to have these smaller but inhibiting issues. As I essentially said above, I'm much more used to games 10 years ago that at least had the courtesy to tell me outright "Hey, this won't work on your ramshackle rig" and refuse to even boot. But I digress, and apologize.

That being said, maybe I read it in a tone perpendicular to what it was intended, but you tell me what kind of connotation Wolf's first reply was supposed to have. I got a vibe akin to one that it's obviously my old CPU (but far from ancient, as we all agree) and that I'm an idiot for even posting. I can handle being told what I don't want to hear but the bigger issue was how useless that was to read, like there's nothing I could even try and mess with just to see what happens, as we obviously now see was possible.

Moreover, and without sounding any more interrogative to you, now we agree it's more than partially a game issue? This is another source of my frustration, you used to at least be guaranteed that a few hundred dollars might solve the
problem (dropping in a new CPU), but now there's not even a guarantee these games are optimized right.

Concerning the actual workaround, the issue seems to recur when I manually cap my FPS to 60 or more, I currently have it capped (with the user.cfg file, not in-game settings) at 50 and it's mostly working, nowhere near as bad as it was but it also seems to be an issue heavily dependent on map and playercount, really odd. Even before I began troubleshooting I could play smaller game modes completely unimpeded.

Anyway, concerning that cfg file, is there any conceivable reason that capping the FPS with THAT would be different than just doing it in the in-game graphics settings? It seems to be the deciding factor of what fixed it, bit I'm still not sure.

 

[Rogue Leader]

It doesn't make sense I agree, but then again a game based on an enhanced version of a game engine that powered SW Battlefront, Battlefield 4 and Hardline which worked fine on many lower machines now totally running terrible on many reasonably fast machines doesn't make sense either.

So the map and playercount both will require more computing power, considering its not well optimized, if the processor has to keep track of both more individual players as well as a more complex map that will drag the performance down, as we have seen. So bad optimization + more power needed = stutters.

I will say our tone may have come across that way but I'm sure it was not his intention, I'll also say, not your fault at all, BF1 has us a bit burnt out just because everybody who doesn't have the highest end bleeding edge computer has been complaining of many of the same issues you have here since release day. The worst part is many played the beta which ran better than the final game!

While you do have a workaround its hardly a fix if you have to cap your fps at 50, and your CPU should be able to play this game fine. I hope EA comes out with a fix, unless the game engine is too far gone and pushed ahead that its just not out there.

 

[Wolfshadw]

For my part, I do apologize if my tone came across as confrontational. It was not intended to be as such.

-Wolf sends

 

[hammer326]

@Rogue, so we've had a consensus all along, good to know. Was about to post exactly what you said about the beta btw, as that worked FINE on this rig, actually an even older GPU (my old radeon 7770 replaced in October with the 1060.) Kinda baffling as we've established, but then again nothing like the operations mode was in beta, which is really (THUS FAR) the only mode I really see this problem.

@Wolf, water under the bridge, and a complete misread on my part in my agitation, I've already owned up to it above. Thank you as well regardless as what you said will honestly get me off my ass sooner to get this new CPU, Mobo, and probably even a nice new case while I'm at it.

Thanks again guys!

 

[Rogue Leader]

No problem any time!

 

[hammer326]

I don't normally like to Necropost but for the sake of closing the case proper, I've sinced dropped the nuclear deterrent of system rebuilds in the context of our issue, a Kabylake, into my system. Was a bit of an ordeal to get going but despite running a bit hot it DEFINITELY handles BF1 and anything else thrown at it. Given the great help you all were here should any of you care to stop by my current thread about the aforementioned and a few other minor related issues, feel free, link below, but if not, we're done here, so thanks again.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3366486/kabylake-7700k-running-hot-evo.html