System Specs
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700x3D (had this issue on a 3600x as well)
GPU: AMD RX 6700XT
RAM: 32GB DDR4
OS: Arch Linux
Proton Version: GE-Proton 9.23 (this has happened across multiple versions of proton)
Kernel: 6.13.5 Zen (has happened across multiple kernel versions)
Mesa Version: 24.3.4 (has happened on multiple Mesa versions)
GPU gets hammered under certain circumstances in condos that used to run perfectly.
This seems related to both “too many” lights being active (placeable lights and neon bars are two I’ve noted being problems but I imagine it’s any light source), and also maybe something to do with reflection (reflective surfaces / water).
I truly have no way to pinpoint what is actually happening though.
I have seen others with this issue on Tower’s Discord and also in game but it does not appear to impact everyone.
I wonder if it’s related to either Proton or using AMD GPUs (or a combination of both).
This only started happening after the last Unreal Engine update and has persisted ever since.
I have no way of knowing if this update caused these issues but the timing lines up.
Steps to Reproduce
Not entirely sure! I will attach a condo file that is extremely simple, and yet pushes my GPU to an unreasonable extent.
I will describe the various condos that have caused this issue:
My own condo has a room with some water, trees, canvases, windows, and 1 placeable light. The rest of the condo is completely empty. This does not push my GPU to complete extremes but does push it a lot (more than most games) and prior to the Unreal Engine update I ran this condo, with much more in it, flawlessly.
My friend’s condo which was specifically known for being efficient. Used canvases and flat colors for 100% of its design. However, he extensively used placeable lights (Cast Shadows off). Too many lights impacting performance would make sense to me, but in this case it pushed my gpu to max power, clock speed to max boost speeds, my GPU temps to max to the point of throttling, my GPU fans at max RPM trying to cool off (failing to do so).
This was a condo that prior to the update ran perfectly for me, not stressing a single thing. Every other person in the condo still ran it perfectly, and some had far worse specs than mine.
A variety of random condos cause this same issue. I can never truly predict it but multiple times it has happened in condos that did not really have much going on. Ultimately, even if a condo was quite demanding, I have never seen this type of performance in Tower before among thousands of hours of playing in condos.
These issues are map agnostic. I have seen it happen on Condo, House, Highrise, Smooth Dirt.
I play on medium across the board (I could go much higher with my settings generally given my specs but I like multi tasking and not stressing my PC out since I have Tower open a lot)
DX11 (running through Proton though so being translated to Vulkan api calls)
I play at a locked 60 FPS 1440p
I don’t even have ambient occlusion on
What I expected to happen
Prior to the last Unreal Engine update, I ran tower really well! When performance degraded, it was in a more traditional way. My FPS would drop, and it would happen on condos that made sense (huge ones, or ones with a lot of workshop items, foliage, etc.).
Specifically on both my condo and my friends condo, they both ran perfectly prior to the update.
What happened
My GPU is being pushed to its limits in scenarios that don’t make sense.
My CPU does not struggle, my FPS does not drop until my GPU is pushed to max temps and throttles.
Notes / Media
I understand I run Arch Linux, a rolling release Linux distro which is naturally not the most stable.
However, I have played Tower on this OS for thousands of hours over the last 3 years with essentially 0 issues.
This is only happening on Tower, and has happened across multiple system updates, with no signs of it being a distro specific problem from what I can tell.
Video Example:
Higher quality copy
In this video I initially show the problematic area
I then show it with GPU stats on the screen. What you’ll find:
- my GPU clock speed being pushed to boost speeds (~2600 MHz)
- my GPU power being pushed up to a surprising level given the area
- my GPU usage % being pushed to near 100%
- My junction temperature shooting up to 90+ c
- In response to that my GPU fans increase usage
This is a minor occurrence, in an area with barely any items (117 items, mostly windows, no workshop)
When playing Tower casually without issues, my GPU power consumption, even in some heavier condos, often chills at 50-70 W, and maybe jumps to 120 W in certain reasonable circumstances.
Even in this less intense example, my power consumption is a huge outlier to whats normal.
My experience in some other condos involve this same performance push but way harder. My power would max out at 186/186 W and my junction temperature would go up to 110 (the temperature that causes my GPU to throttle), fans full throttle but unable to cool down.
Junction temperature is the hottest part of the GPU’s die. Its a stat that I believe Nvidia does not expose to the end user but AMD does. The only game I play that pushes it into the 90s occasionally is Monster Hunter Wilds and these are brief occurrences. Nothing I play pushes it into 100+ outside of Tower in the described circumstances.
I have considered the idea that this could be hardware failure but my GPU functions perfectly in every way imaginable outside of these Tower Unite situations.
I am capable of playing significantly heavier condos without any issue. Something very specific is triggering this exponential performance loss.
Condo File
This file is the condo snapshot seen in the video embedded above. My performance degrades in the pool room, and gets worse as I get closer to the water while looking at it. As stated above, this is a really light example but the only one I’ve discovered in my own condos.
Download:
https://files.catbox.moe/ad7akc.zip