"Smoothness" Problem in Windowed Fullscreen Mode

While using the Windowed Fullscreen Mode, the game feels "unsmooth".
My FPS keeps stable at 144, it feels more like a Problem with the Refresh-rate.
Switching to Fullscreen solves the Problem and the Game runs totally smooth at 144 FPS.
As im using 2 Monitors, its way more comfortable to use the Windowed Borderless Mode though.
First Monitor, where I do run my Games, is running at 144hz, second one on 60hz.
Switching around the Hz to 120 or even 60 doesnt make any difference.
Switching Ingame graphics doesnt make any difference aswell.

Maybe someone have a Solution for me, otherwise im gonna use the Fullscreenmode.

All Drivers are up-to-date, same as my OS (Windows 10).
No heatingproblems or crashes/blackscreens/bluescreens or any other hardware/software related problems.

Im using: Ryzen 5 3600 @ 3.59Ghz
Gtx 1080ti
32gb Ram @ 3.200Mhz
750W Powersupply

If you need any further information pls let me know.

Thanks in Advance :)

I have the exact same issue. Had to go to Fullscreen mode because it was stuttering like crazy, but it was not like this before the 3.11 update.

I have been troubleshooting exactly this problem for nearly the entire day, including trying various driver rollbacks. This issue was not affecting me before yesterday.


Fullscreen mode, regardless of whether it's DX11 or Vulkan, is completely fine and smooth. Windowed Fullscreen mode, regardless of whether it's DX11 or Vulkan, is unplayably stuttery for me, even though the reported framerate stays solid. It almost feels like an inconsistent frame timing issue or something.


I do want to note that both of my monitors are the same resolution and refresh rate, so it isn't solely due to a disparity there.


Specs:

Windows 10
i7-8700k @ 3.70 GHz
GTX 2080 Ti
16GB RAM @ 3200 MHz

2x Asus ROG Swift PG278QR @ 2560 x 1400, 165 Hz, G-Sync enabled for both windowed and fullscreen.

Yes and its called microstutter.
For me DX11 works the same in Fullscreen and Windowed Fullscreen, smooth,
but Vulkan is smooth only in Fullscreen.
Vulkan in Windowed Fullscreen mode microstutter and I can see it,
but the funny thing is that MSI Afterburner cannot detect it,
zero indication that frametimes are fluctuating, line is flat.
One more thing, for me it only microstutter when I'm approaching mobs
and fight them, after they're dead and there is no more mobs around,
it's smooth again, go to next pack and it start to microstutter, really weird.
In all modes i play with vsync on.
It is known that Desktop Window Manager forces its own vsync for all
applications that work (render) in Window mode, there must be some incompatibility between DWM and POE in Windowed mode when using Vulkan.

I had similar issues, I found that switching to 120hz instead of the 165 I normally run makes it happen a hell of a lot less. This actually started for me after the Windows creators update a long time ago.

This may not be the solution as I really went through tons of "fixes" trying to get it to play nice including disabling windows gamemode completely, editing the registry, changing stuff in the nvidia control panel, disabling g-sync and god knows how much more... It is definitely a windows issue though, as it happens in other games. Good luck, there is a light at the end of the tunnel...




Win10 Pro
Ryzen Threadripper 1950X
64GB DDR4 3200
GeForce RTX 2080
Also have the ASUS ROG Swift PG278QR

Just for info: microstutter is still present in Windowed Fullscreen Vulkan with VSync on. Kinda better that the last expansion but not as smooth as DirectX. Looks like I will be using DX until Vulkan comes out of beta.

Same issue, specs:
LG 27GL850-B, gsync compatible with gsync enabled for windowed apps
8700k @ 5 GHz
RTX 3080 with 456.55 driver
32GB RAM @ 3200MHz
Win 10 with 20H1, hardware accelerated gpu scheduling enabled

Slow motion recordings with the issue clearly visible:

VSync On - Windowed Fullscreen - Vulkan
https://streamable.com/uw5xj8 <- Incorrect frame pacing

VSync On - Regular Fullscreen - Vulkan
https://streamable.com/5dhnxf <- Smooth gameplay

Some extra notes:
- Happens only in Windowed Fullscreen mode
- Two monitors, game runs on 144 Hz Gsync compatible, the other one is also 144 Hz but without VRR.
- Unlocking VSync fixes it but results in tearing. Freesync doesn't seem to lock in (default nvidia control panel settings).
- I've seen similar behaviour before Windows was updated to 20H1. It used to stutter like that if 60 FPS video/game/animation was running on the other screen. It used to cause sync problems on high-refresh rate monitors which resulted in juddery presentation like this. Hardware accelerated gpu scheduling introduced in 20H1 fixes that in other games (and in POE in D3D11 mode).
- Frame time graph doesn't record any fluctuations so frames are rendered properly but presentation doesn't sync correctly.

Willing to run more test cases if GGG wants to explore this issue.

Yeah same issue as you. Trying to fix it but so far 0 success.

The thing is, if I turn on display refresh rate on my monitor it's just locked to 144 in wiindowed fullscreen. Annoying asf having to alt-tab with 2 monitors, buuuut I'd rather have a smooth game until I find a fix

Turning off "Game mode" in windows settings worked for me. Same thing with other games.