I have noticed while playing some fps games, especially older ones that whenever some explosion happens within the game, frame rates start dropping, and the game becomes laggy for a couple of seconds. Does anyone know what is causing this issue, and is there any way to fix this problem. This problem truly breaks in-game immersion, and I would like to find a solution for it.

The AI had this on offer for your query

Sudden FPS drops during explosions in games are often caused by the game engine struggling to render complex visual effects and physics calculations associated with the explosion, especially when the system's hardware (CPU, GPU, or RAM) is near or exceeding its limits. A way to mitigate this is to lower graphics settings or upgrade your hardware.

Here's a more detailed explanation:

Hardware Limitations:
Explosions involve rendering a large number of particles, dynamic lighting, and potentially destructible environments, which can be demanding for your computer's CPU and GPU. If your system's hardware is already near its maximum capacity during normal gameplay, the additional workload from an explosion can push it over the edge, causing a drop in FPS.

CPU Bottleneck:
The CPU handles game logic and physics calculations, including the effects of explosions. If the CPU is already under heavy load from other game processes, it may not be able to keep up with the additional processing required for explosions, leading to a temporary performance drop.

GPU Bottleneck:
The GPU is responsible for rendering the visual effects of explosions, such as smoke, fire, and debris. If the GPU is already working hard to render the game's environments and textures, the additional load from an explosion can lead to a bottleneck, causing a drop in FPS.

RAM Limitations:
If your system has insufficient RAM, the game may be forced to swap data between RAM and the much slower hard drive, which can significantly impact performance, especially during intense scenes like explosions.

Software Issues:
Outdated drivers, corrupted game files, or even background processes can also contribute to performance issues and lag spikes.

Troubleshooting and Potential Solutions:

1. Lower Graphics Settings:
Reduce settings like resolution, texture quality, shadow detail, and particle effects to lower the strain on your GPU and CPU.

2. Check System Requirements:
Ensure your PC meets the minimum system requirements for the game, especially regarding CPU, GPU, and RAM.

3. Update Drivers:
Make sure your graphics card drivers are up to date. You can usually find the latest drivers on the manufacturer's website (NVIDIA or AMD).

4. Close Background Processes:
Close any unnecessary programs running in the background to free up system resources.

5. Monitor Temperatures:
Overheating can cause performance issues. Use monitoring software to check your CPU and GPU temperatures and ensure proper cooling.

6. Defragment your Hard Drive:
If you're using a traditional hard drive, defragmenting it can help improve performance, especially if your game is installed on it.

7. Consider upgrading:
If your hardware is consistently struggling with the game, consider upgrading your CPU, GPU, or RAM to better handle the game's demands.

8. Check for Game Updates:
Make sure you're running the latest version of the game, as updates can sometimes include performance optimizations.

9. Use a Performance Monitoring Tool:
Utilize in-game or third-party tools to monitor CPU, GPU, and RAM usage while playing. This can help identify bottlenecks and pinpoint the cause of the performance issues.

edit: layout

Yes. And yes.

If you want a more detailed answer, you'll have to provide basic information: Which OS, graphics card, sound chip/drivers? + Affected game(s).

Here is another one named :

P-Cores and older games

Older games, developed before widespread multi-core processors, often don't utilize more than a couple of cores effectively, and may even experience issues with more than 4 or 6 cores. Modern processors with "P-cores" (Performance cores) and "E-cores" (Efficient cores) can sometimes cause problems with older games, as the game may not be optimized to work with the heterogeneous core architecture.

Here's a more detailed explanation:

1. Older Games and Core Count:
Older games were typically designed for single-core or dual-core processors.
They may not be optimized to distribute tasks across multiple cores, leading to performance issues when run on modern CPUs with many cores.
In some cases, older games might not even launch or become unstable on systems with a high core count, especially if those cores are not all P-cores.

2. Intel's P-cores and E-cores:
Intel's Alder Lake and newer CPUs utilize a hybrid architecture with both Performance cores (P-cores) and Efficient cores (E-cores).
P-cores are designed for high-performance tasks, while E-cores are for more efficient, background tasks.
Older games may not be compatible with this architecture, leading to potential performance issues.
Intel's Thread Director technology: is supposed to automatically manage core assignments, but it may not always work perfectly with older, unoptimized games.

3. Troubleshooting:
If an older game is experiencing issues on a multi-core system, try disabling some cores or setting the affinity to a specific set of cores.
You can use the msconfig tool in Windows to adjust the number of active cores during startup.
For specific games, searching online forums or communities dedicated to those games may reveal solutions or workarounds.

4. Future Considerations:
While older games might have limitations with multi-core systems, newer games are generally designed to take advantage of the increased core counts offered by modern processors.
When purchasing a new PC, consider the core count of the processor, especially if you plan to play a mix of older and newer games.
In general, 6-8 cores are a good sweet spot for most modern gaming setups.

Anyone can ask chatgpt something, I really don't think this worth posting, the internet could use less slop

Which games specifically? The potential solution(s) will vary heavily depending on the game(s) in question.

For example, if the game(s) in question has / have source ports, those might help with your issue since they support the games much better on modern hardware:

https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Game_Engine_Recreations_and_Source_Ports

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_port#Notable_source_ports

https://www.reddit.com/r/FPS/comments/1jxl7f9/helpful_links_for_fps_source_ports/

The internet could use a lot of things....

Well, that's what happened, back in the day, whenever too much happened on-screen.
Enjoy experiencing these old games, the exact way, we all experienced them. ;)

I think Nier Automata was the last game i noticed this....

Of course it is not an FPS

For example, I play Delta Force Black Hawk Down Platinum Pack(2003), and I have noticed that the game lag appears whenever some explosion occurs, for example when a vehicle blows up the frames start dropping, and the vehicle parts fly through the air in a slow motion kind of way.

To add to the discussion, I play on a Windows 11 HP Victus gaming laptop, with a modern graphics card, so it is weird for me that a game from 2003 (DFBHD) has issues with performance, and that is why I am inquiring here on this forum, since I would like to find a solution for this problem.

Have you taken a look at the following?

[url=https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Delta_Force:_Black_Hawk_Down#Essential_improvements]https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Delta_Force:_Black_Hawk_Down#Essential_improvements[/url]

[url=https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Delta_Force:_Black_Hawk_Down#Widescreen_resolution]https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Delta_Force:_Black_Hawk_Down#Widescreen_resolution[/url]

Also, have you tried setting compatibility mode to Windows XP for the game's executable file?

Yes I have, but unfortunately nothing is solving the problem that I have in regards to lag and stuttering within the game.

In relation to the Delta Force Black Hawk Down widescreen fix, from pc gaming wiki, when applied the FOV is cropped in a weird way, half of your screen becomes visible when playing, and the hand models are cropped out, since this eliminates immersion for me, and I do not like the way it looks, I just prefer not using it at all, but thanks anyways.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=Delta+Force+Black+Hawk+Down+stuttering&ia=web perhaps?

This link refers to the new Delta Force Black Hawk Down game that came out recently, and I am talking about the classic Delta Force Black Hawk Down game from 2003.

You can edit that search term to look for results for the 2003 game instead.