protonscr

Nier: Automata terrible performance

protonopen appid 524220Game compatibility
ValveSoftware/Proton#875 · opened 2018-08-28 by viggy96 · updated 2025-09-16 · 22 comments · github · game page · search this game
Vviggy96 2018-08-28 github

I was very excited to get this game, but once I got it, I was disappointed by the performance. I think a lot of the animations and things in the game are time based (which makes sense for a console game but not for PC), so if the frame rate drops to even 58 fps, its already laggy as hell. I've seen on steam community posts that the FAR mod is pretty much required to have a good experience on PC. We've got to figure out a way to get more performance out of this game. I know its not my PC, as I'm running a Ryzen 7 2700X, and dual R9 Fury cards.

Can we figure out a way to maybe install the FAR mod?

System information: https://gist.github.com/viggy96/fc80364943ba98fd3960ebefbcd2bbe5

Aaqxa1 2018-08-29 github

Most of Kalaiden's mods (and injector mods in general) don't work in Wine. I agree that getting injectors/overlays working in Wine/Proton would be very nice to have, given the amount of poor quality ports that require it for a good experience.

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2018-08-29 github

Hello @viggy96, please copy your system information from steam (Steam -> Help -> System Information) and put it in a gist, then include a link to the gist in this issue report.

EEignar17 2018-08-29 github

@viggy96 add comand WINEESYNC=1 in to set lauch options

Vviggy96 2018-08-29 github

@kisak-valve Here's the system information:
https://gist.github.com/viggy96/fc80364943ba98fd3960ebefbcd2bbe5

Ddoitsujin 2018-08-30 github

Make sure to disable MSAA in game. An R9 Fury should be able to run this game at 60 FPS at all times at 1080p.

Vviggy96 2018-08-30 github

Probably should have mentioned this, but I'm playing on an ultrawide, 2560x1080. Even so, I'm sure that I should be able to run this game at a constant 60fps. @doitsujin I do indeed have antialiasing disabled on the game, and even so, I encounter frequent dips when running at my monitor's native resolution. I have to turn the game down to 1280x960, texture filtering 4x, medium shadows, low effects, ambient occlusion on, motion blur off, in order to run the game smoothly.

Ddarkpumpkins 2018-09-17 github

I do also encounter some low performances compare to my Windows. At the first cam after the "tutorial part" i'm around 35 - 40fps on linux while i'm around 55 - 60fps on Windows. The most odd is that i tried high and low profile and it doesn't seem to affect the performances. If someone has any trick to improve performances.

My config :
OS : ubuntu 18.04.1
Proc : Intel core i5-2500k@4ghz
Gpu : GTX 970 4G on 396.54.05 ( but was also tested on the stable version )
Desktop : Gnome 3.28.2
Ram : 12 Go @ 1600Mhz

Jjeffshee 2018-09-20 github

Encounter low performance compare to Windows as well. The game is quite playable on Windows (had cleared the main story without any issue, using default setting), while on Linux ~20 fps during battle scene, ~30 fps during cinematic scene (tried low profile as well, doesn't seem to affect the performances). Below is my config:

OS: Fedora 28
Memory: 12GB
Processor: Intel Core i5-6200U CPU @ 2.30GHz × 4
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M 4GB Driver v: 396.54

Any advice? Thanks!

Ddarcalus 2018-09-30 github
Ddoitsujin 2018-10-01 github

@darcalus Please update your graphics driver to 396.54, your current version is not supported.

Ddarcalus 2018-10-13 github

@doitsujin -- drivers updated. currently using proton beta 3.7-8 . performance still the same.

edit : playing game at 1920*1080 all settings low. vsync off.

Jjeffshee 2018-10-15 github

Proton 3.16-1 Beta, performance still the same. Everything seem slow motion.
1600*900, all settings low

Ddarkpumpkins 2018-10-19 github

On 720p ( 1 280 × 720 ) i can play at 60 fps almost all the time.
GTX 970 + core i5-2500k@4ghz

update : I updated my graphic card and with a nvidia GTX 1070 ti I'm able to reach 60fps 1080p with all max ( without any anti-aliasing )

Ddarcalus 2018-10-19 github

1920*1080 3.16-3 Beta -- performance still low. all settings are on low

steam information : https://gist.github.com/darcalus/708da494996a4e84312cc955fbd5bf62

Jjeffshee 2018-11-19 github

Possible solution: Disable Esync
Source: https://www.protondb.com/app/524220
Tried this and the game had became smoother and playable for my case.

Kkakra 2019-07-05 github

I think this is some timing or scheduling issue. I've seen similar problems in Witcher 3 before where it seems to have been depending on the DXVK version. Current DXVK versions run Witcher 3 just fine with ultra details and HD texture pack.

This never depended on whether ESYNC is enabled or disabled.

With NieR Automata, this observation repeats: Quality settings seem to have no visible effect on performance. Only when I set resolution very low (to 720p), it works like a charm unless I run it for some longer time. After that time, slow downs return in some more complex gaming scenes.

Fun fact: When running the game multiple times, in 1 out of maybe 10 or 20 times, the game runs perfectly smooth even with 1080p resolution (and even 1440p). This is until I modify only one random graphics setting within the game. As soon as the graphics engine reinitializes, it performs bad again, even when returning to the "good" setting.

Slow performance here means: The games runs like slow-motion, everything is slo-mo. Even when FPS looks smooth, it runs like half the speed it should: Fighting is like watching a slo-mo replay of some sports event.

Looking at nvidia-smi, the game always uses 100% GPU - no matter what. This was different with Witcher 3 which peaked at around 30-50% when it ran slo-mo for me.

So maybe this is a clue? Maybe it's a scheduling issue between threads?

Kkakra 2019-07-06 github

@doitsujin I'm curious: Would it be possible to add a switch to DXVK to disable or limit global illumination as the FAR mod does for NieR?

Ddoitsujin 2019-07-06 github

It's just just as simple as toggling a switch somewhere, there's some rather complex state tracking and game-specific trickery involved that (in my opinion at least) just doesn't belong into a D3D11 translation layer.

Of course it would be nice to get FAR to work with it, but I'm not sure what's holding it back (especially since SpecialK does work with Proton with a differnent injection mechanism).

This game has some known performace issues, but:

  • On AMD, RADV with ACO is much faster than LLVM (and outperforms Windows on my system)
  • On Nvidia, DXVK 1.2.3 should offer better performance than what Proton currently ships, especially combined with the latest Vulkan Beta driver (418.52.14)
Kkakra 2019-07-06 github

@doitsujin Does winevulkan from Proton properly support the needed features of DXVK 1.2.3? Because I saw no difference using that version with NieR...

Ddoitsujin 2019-07-06 github

What's your hardware anyway? It's pretty hard to comment on performance issues when we don't even know what kind of system you're using.

Kkakra 2019-07-06 github

NVIDIA 1050 Ti with current vulkan beta driver, i7-3770K

WWedge009 2025-09-16 github

It just be the advancements in hardware and software, but I didn't observe anything like this having only just played and finished this game in September 2025, amdgpu + vanilla Proton 9.0-4.

Proton versions

Launch options