first, you claim you're not watching/using a frame counter and you can just tell these "huge" 5 fps differences. but now that it supports your bs ideas you are? nice.

and how can you get any frame count if the game doesn't work for you? maybe your english is bad and you don't understand the phrase "doesn't work"?

the more of these complaints i read the easier it is to tell that people are just mad that they spent so much money and now every game released can't be maxed out at 144 fps, or 60 in your case. though if AMD could mostly fix the issue I'm sure nvidia will also. there will always be games with issues and this is one where they are very minor. even sitting at a constant 60 fps 98% of the time it is no different than it was with those very minor dips i had before the update.

think it's like you stated; you're just too picky("eyes are pickier") that things aren't perfect on paper.

You're so full of [censored] it's kind of amusing. Trying way too hard, kid. you're just mad I criticized your handicapped eyesight.

Also, saying that I'm not staring at a frame counter to tell the FPS dip is happening doesn't mean I don't have RTSS enabled and actively monitor it, you incompetent tool. Enjoy your overpriced gpu lol can't even run 60fps

Excuse me for expecting a game to be finished upon release, but hey. Don't bother replying, I'll just laugh at you.

If you haven't housetrained Windows, then Windows will be a big part of the problem.

Basically, you've got to stop Windows Update from waiting until you're in a full screen application, like a game, before deciding that now, while the you need full machine access the most, is the "best" time to hog system resources with an update. Here's how I keep this under control

1. Get Windows Update under control - or it will consistently ruin your gaming sessions by waiting until you're in the middle of a tense moment before killing your frame-rate (i.e. 60 fps down to between 5 to 12 fps) with an update. This begins with setting Windows Updates to "Manual".
2. Uninstall kb3035583 ("Get Windows Ten"). If you're not getting Windows 10, why allow GWX to hog resources? And I have found GWX to be extremely disruptive.
3. Make a decision about where you get your driver updates: Either through Windows Update or from the hardware proprietor - never both, ever, or one day they'll try to load different drivers at the same time which causes Windows to be unable to start ("Black Screen of Death"). This particular crash requires data recovery procedures and a full reinstallation of Windows (and all software, and housetraining Windows all over again = huge headache) but can be avoided by deciding whose drivers you are going to use ahead of time. Make that decision now. Write your decision on a paper sticky note and fix it to your screen if you have to. Never download drivers from alternate sources. The key, here, is to pick and stick.
4. Make a ritual of always, every time you boot up your system, the first thing you always always always must do (multiple tautologies for extra emphasis) is:
   a. manually update your antivirus program - don't wait for it to fire up mid-game.
   b. start Windows Update manually,
   c. check for updates manually (top left of window),
   d. check for kb3035583, uncheck it and set that particular update to "hidden" if you find it,
   e. download and install all other updates - with the exception of proprietary drivers if you've decided (as per point 3, above) to source those from Windows Update,
   f. go get yourself an espresso for a job well done
   g. close Windows Update once it's done
5. Start your game and wait for it to be full-screen. I never start the related third party applications before the game as I've found, in my case, that this always causes performance issues.
6. ALT-Tab out of the game and start either FRAPS or AutoKey (or whichever programs you use with the game) but never start more than one third party application before returning to the game and verifying that your frame rate is acceptable. I've found that starting more than one third party application on a given ALT-Tab is guaranteed to drop the in-game frame rate to between 20 and 30 fps. Loading third party applications one at a time, however, fixes this issue for me.

The above procedures pretty much fix performance issues for me. The big problem, I find, with Windows, Vista and above, is it does far too much without asking the user first and there is far too little user control over what runs in the background. There are ways of setting these things up but access is not front and center, where it belongs.

This. I had to stop scvhost.exe from using up so much CPU and found it was related to Windows Update. Also I can't thank you enough for providing the information to get rid of that **** Windows 10 update icon, I've been annoyed by it for far too long

Sadly, not even a 980 TI can maintain 60 FPS everywhere at 1080p with Ultra settings. 95% of the game - yes. But some areas are FPS 'sinkholes', and can drop FPS by as much as 50%. So, yeah, much as I hate to say it, Fallout 4 could really use some optimization.

Not sure where you're getting that. I'm running a 970 on Ultra and have zero issues hitting constant 60. Rarely if there's a drop it flicks to 58 if at all.

Zero issues recording @ 60 frames with Action, Dxtory is a different story but both apps reporting 60 fps 99% of the time. And that's not even with my OC'd profile.

I think a lot of people are just running potato PC's and expecting way to much.

If I'm being honest, not hundred percent certain what optimizing actually does. However, if Bethesda puts out a Min/Rec spec for PC's it should be able to run well if your willing to change the settings. I had EVERYTHING on low, Godrays off and DoF. It still dropped to 25 frames after a certain duration in Covega. I really hope this is solved soon. Kinda of ridiculous you pre-order a game and you have to put up with crap like this. Bugs where a few quests don't work I can handle. The game not running well really ruins exploring Boston for me.....

Optimization basically means refining game assets to use less memory - like reducing polycounts (which doesn't do much on modern GPUs, with the polycounts they can push), and reducing the size of textures. It also means refining certain game areas to use less dynamic lights, etc.

For instance, the area where I see major FPS drops - the intersection outside the entrance to Goodneighbor - is likely due to the number of objects casting shadows. The area has tons of twisted wreckage, super mutant cages and spikes, fallen billboards, etc. One optimization Bethesda could do is go into that cell and mark certain assets so they don't cast shadows. They could redesign the area so it isn't using so many assets close together. They could optimize sight-lines so you can't see quite so far down the street. Etc. Etc.

Does that reduce the quality in the textures, etc?

Potentially.

Any guesses when you think they'll release a patch to resolve this crap, major hole in my life....Wish I was like my misses, she's just pushing thru the horrible frames.......

Well, they just announced that the first major patch will be released next week. Hopefully some optimization fixes will be included.

Yes i know and i will make a new topic about that. !!!

...people should know that Beth will get their hands "dirty" to fix as much as possible.

Sorry. Missed your post earlier.

Like I said, I THOUGHT I was having zero issues hitting a constant 60, but I've run into a few areas where that is not the case.

I've run Shadowplay recording, and streamed at the same time, and still maintained over 60 fps at Ultra settings. But then I found a few spots where it tanks to 42 fps. Don't speak too soon like I did. My system is far from a potato - 980 TI, i7 4790k 4.0ghz, 32 GB RAM, and running off a SSD. There are just a very few areas in the game that are poorly optimized - it is always the exact same locations where my FPS dips. I feel bad for the people who aren't running a system like mine.

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I'm currently running Fallout 4 in Ultra mode on a GTX 960. I'm not sure if that's better or worse but the choice of card, on my part, was cheapest bang for buck. When Windows is sitting in the corner where it belongs (and not making little messes all over the system memory), I'm getting 55-60 fps everywhere I've been (even Diamond City) - so I'm wondering if, maybe we're both doing something different? 1920x1080 is the screen resolution I'm running and the CPU is an i7 4790 with 8Mb Cache and 8Gb DDR3 (1600MHz).

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The performance issues on my system are not so much where as when: which is indicative of either operating system fault or software compliance/compatibility issue - which I say, in this case, while pointing my finger at the operating system. In my case, I fixed the problem by http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1544320-incredibly-poor-performance-unoptimised/?p=24549666.

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However, I am curious about that 1080p setting. Could you please tell me where that is found?

1080p is the resolution.That means I'm running the game at 1920x1080.

It is definitely WHERE, and not WHEN on my system. Like I said, it always occurs in the same areas. I can walk 10 or 15 feet out of the area and the FPS shoots back up to above 60. Besides, with 32 GB of RAM, system overhead isn't really a problem for me.

I can run everywhere in the game with 60 fps or over - even while recording with Shadowplay and streaming over Steam to friends. And then in a few areas, even with no background processes, recording, or streaming going on, the framerate takes a 15-30% dip, but ONLY in those areas.

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That's interesting to hear. Would you be able to list the worst affected areas? I'd like to see how my system handles those areas under different operating conditions - and get a feel for the geometry of the problem areas as well.

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Just playing Fallout 4 casually today, after running a few programs (without restarting the system), I had Fallout 4 dropping into the low 40s in framerate. Maybe I've been spoiled in recent years but I remember that 30 fps used to be a good solid frame rate. Unless I'm mistaken, Fallout 4's 40 fps feels like 20 fps in Star Citizen. In the case of Fallout 4, the game begins to feel sluggish below 45 and there's visible latency events below 50 fps. I'm wondering if it's not bugging out the frame counter because games built on some other engines seem a lot smoother at 30-45 fps...?

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One other thing I noticed, that seemed to be more of a WHERE thing than a WHEN thing; crossing certain lines would cause a peculiar latency event. I might get a frame-rate dip displayed if I'm lucky - but there was a definite stall for about 0.6 to 0.9 seconds; as if something bigger than usual was loading. Also, the latency wasn't just stalling the video - it was also stalling keyboard and trackball input as well. Could it be that crossing cell boundaries (initiating a load of the incoming cells) is having an impact?

Same, just gotta wait for a patch :/

Most obvious offender is the intersection right outside the entrance to Goodneighbor. Just go there and turn in a slow circle, and look down at the ground and back up towards the building tops. The framerate gets wildly inconsistent. Either above 60, or as low as 42 in my experience. No enemies present. Tested at both day and night. No difference.

I run this game on a 5820K @ 4.5 GHz, 16 GB of Dominator Plat DDR4 2133 MHz RAM and an EVGA 980 Ti Superclocked card. With all settings at ultra using TAA at 1440p I can sometimes get as low as 30 FPS (most notably when there are a lot of trees, or other tall, complicated structures). To get a constant 60 FPS (on *very* rare occasions I drop to 55 or so), I simply turned the Godrays to high from ultra and shadows to high from ultra. Now it runs flawlessly. HardOCP did a review of settings, and there was a 40% hit to performance between high and ultra settings on Godrays at 1440p. That's just crazy.

I have to agree with this. I modified my .ini file to put Shadow Distance between High and Ultra, and dropped Godrays to High from Ultra. Makes a world of difference on framerate without much of hit to visual quality. It was one of the first things I did on Day 2 of playing the game after reading Nvidia's tweak guide. Of course even with all of that, I still get the dips under 60 fps at the spots I've mentioned in previous posts.

Worst area for me was top of corvega plant, 32 fps (it gets lower if I increase the graphics settings, right now running everything on medium/low)

GTX 770 2gb
FX 8350
8GB RAM
SSD

I actually use that area to benchmark whether fixes work or not. Does your frames start out fine, then degrades to that?

Well I can at least confirm for me that http://steamcommunity.com/games/377160/announcements/detail/128712951172870673 hasn't solved the frame rate instability.

It depends on where I'm looking, if I turn around, back to 60