Assassins Creed Origins CPU Usage

[Nate Ortiz]

So I just upgraded my system to an I5 8600K, and I did fresh driver installs and updated my PC. I installed Assassins Creed Origins and even in seemingly non-demanding areas physics or AI wise the CPU is bottlenecking my gtx 980Ti which I don't believe should happen. all 6 cores get pegged at 100 % very frequently, which causes a lot of stutter to the gameplay. Is this normal or is there something else going on here?

 

[futurefields]

I've heard a lot of reports about high CPU usage. I bet there will be a patch that lowers it, too what degree who knows.

What kind of fps are you getting?

 

[Nate Ortiz]

It ranges from a steady 60 fps in the desert and fairly stable 50-60 in most areas but there are a lot of stutters with cpu usage spikes. And ive seen as low as the 20s in fps drops in big cities like Alexandria. But those don't last long at all. It's just really inconsistent performance and high cpu usage overall.

 

[TheELF]

The AC games have a history of starting up with too high a priority which screws with windows task manager,putting it on a lower priority will make it relax a bit,also if your 980 is at ~100% usage as well then it's 100% the gpu bottlenecking and not the cpu,use task manager again to limit the game from using all the cores, remove one core at a time until you start to see the FPS drop.

 

[BSim500]

all 6 cores get pegged at 100 % very frequently, which causes a lot of stutter to the gameplay. Is this normal or is there something else going on here?

It's broken multi-layered DRM:-

"The explosive accusation comes from noted game cracker Voksi, who tells TorrentFreak that an analysis of Origins' binaries shows the game adds a protection method called VMProtect on top of well-known (and now easily cracked) Denuvo DRM. Voksi alleges that Origins uses VMProtect's virtualization protection, which "tank the game’s performance by 30-40%, demanding that people have a more expensive CPU to play the game properly, only because of the DRM. It’s anti-consumer and a disgusting move." In a Reddit thread, Voksi further detailed how breakpoint debugging of the code showed VMProtect's code being "called non-stop" in the game's core control loop".

I personally loved the candid response by ArsTechnica Moderator Lee Hutchinson:-

"Frankly, as a many-times jilted PC gamer, I trust the scene groups considerably more than I trust Ubisoft. When a cracked version of AC:O eventually happens, that'll be the definitive statement on whether or not the issues are due to DRM. I truthfully don't think ubi is familiar enough with their products to be able to issue accurate statements—or, more specifically, I don't think the ubi PR mouthpiece has any idea what it's talking about and it's just repeating the approved shareholder-friendly company line. A more nuanced technical statement on the function and impact of DRM would have bottom-line impacts. When the game is cracked, we'll actually know for sure. For now, we're just being pandered to"
https://arstechnica.co.uk/gaming/20...-drm-is-slowing-down-assassins-creed-origins/

https://www.techpowerup.com/238377/...oft-deploying-vmprotect-above-denuvo-for-ac-o

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquire...ling-gamers-cpus-due-to-anti-piracy-drm-tools

On top of that, ever since the above news broke, fake positive reviews have been mysteriously flooding into Metacritic as seeming "emergency damage control"...
https://www.techspot.com/news/71685...s-assassin-creed-origins-pour-metacritic.html

Throw in self-gifting TimeSaver mechanics pay2cheat micro-transactions, and the whole game (and Ubisoft's "response") sounds like a total train-wreck to be honest that I'll 100% be skipping...

 

[Ranulf]

Yup, another Ubisoft clusterfark.

 

[Rifter]

Wow what a joke

 

[cmdrdredd]

Wow and I almost bought the game this weekend, glad I passed on it. Now that I think about it I don't think there's been any games from Ubisoft in a very long time that I've actually played. Might be a good thing.

 

[Nate Ortiz]

That's really sad to hear about the DRM, issues. I don't think this is an issue thats ever gonna be resolved then? Do you think it will be possible to optimize the game for better cpu usage in the future with patches even with the multiple DRM layers?

 

[Rifter]

"Nate Ortiz, post: 39151185, member: 403206" I don't think this is an issue thats ever gonna be resolved then?

Not true at all, DRM will be cracked, likely within weeks.

 

[BSim500]

That's really sad to hear about the DRM, issues. I don't think this is an issue thats ever gonna be resolved then? Do you think it will be possible to optimize the game for better cpu usage in the future with patches even with the multiple DRM layers?

I'm no cracker / programmer, but even I know that complex VM based DRM claims of "it has no CPU impact" is a blatant lie. Here's two examples of Denuvo by itself:-

- Syberia 3 (Denuvo) crack notes : "Game starts up about 40 secs faster without D sooo... yeah Denuvo kills performance... especially when you are using two Denuvos in one Game."

- RIME (Denuvo) crack notes : "In Rime that ugly creature went out of control - how do you like three f**king hundreds of THOUSANDS calls to "triggers" during initial game launch and savegame loading. Did you wonder why loading times are so long - here is the answer... after 30 minutes of gameplay it became 2 MILLION of "triggers". Protection now calls about 10-30 triggers per second slowing the game down. Don't forget each "trigger" is under VM + heavily obfuscated"

^ And that's just Denuvo. The link in the ArsTechnica article to the VMProtect page explains aside from virtualization it also does other obfuscation stuff like "adds to the application code various excessive, "garbage" commands, "dead" parts of the code, random conditional jumps. It also mutates original commands and transfers execution of certain operations to the stack". So millions of additional instructions fed to the CPU are literal cr*p that does nothing but deliberately bog down the CPU more by design. Now put the two of them together, and the result is the "hot mess" that is AC:O...

"Optimising" multiple layers of hostile DRM is like polishing a turd. Obfuscation cripples CPU performance by design by flooding it with fake instructions to try and hide DRM code. Don't see how that can be made faster without toning it right back reducing its effectiveness. The only serious way performance will improve is if 1. Ubisoft removes it, or 2. It gets cracked (resulting in another amusing example of paying customers seeking out the illegal version anyway because it runs faster with far less stutter...) Until then, they're long desensitized to people complaining in forums. The only real "bottom line" message that gets through is enough people voting with their wallets.

 

[TechFan1]

I was planning on buying this game, but since I have a non overclocked i5-2500 I'm guessing it would be a terrible experience.

 

[Ackmed]

Supposedly it's high CPU usage to fight against piracy.

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquire...ling-gamers-cpus-due-to-anti-piracy-drm-tools

Devs say no, who knows.

 

[Sadaiyappan]

What is the dive underwater button while using K/M?

 

[AdamK47]

What is the dive underwater button while using K/M?

If you go to your Steam purchase history for the game you'll see it there. The button is labeled "I'd like to request a refund".

After that, you'll be able to play a game without anti-consumer DRM and be able to dive under water in blissful joy.

 

[Sadaiyappan]

WHat?

 

[AdamK47]

Yes

 

[shortylickens]

I'm looking forward to Far Cry 5 except for the fact its Ubisoft.
I know theres gonna be issues. I know it.

Bunch of bastard sons of bitches.

 

[Sadaiyappan]

Got it, it is "C" for crouch button, but it does not say this in the key binding in options menu.

 

[Jeshu4ever]

LOL they slapped 2 DRMs and 2 Anti tampers on top of each other, guaranteeing that the pirated version will be the far superior one.

 

[you2]

As a general rule suites suck. They make shitty decisions; then they fire you when it doesn't work out.

 

[BFG10K]

Re: longer startup times from DRM.

It's not just Uplay/Denuvo monstrosities that cause it, Steam does too. I've personally experienced examples where Steam games (e.g. Call of Duty BLOPs, Serious Sam 3, etc) launch about 20-30 seconds faster when Steam is cracked out of them. But that's ok because Steam has trading cards, and Valve make great games. </sarcasm>

If you go to your Steam purchase history for the game you'll see it there. The button is labeled "I'd like to request a refund".

My policy is to ban any games that use non-Steam DRM, which includes all Uplay titles.

 

[TechFan1]

I don't have evidence to back it up, but it seems like this will lose them more in sales than they would lose to people pirating the game. Not only that, but in the future people will be less likely to buy their game due to Ubisoft not being reliable. I waited to preorder because Ubisoft puts out games with these kinds of problems, and now I'm afraid to buy it because people with better systems then mine are having trouble.

 

[TechFan1]

Well, I bought it anyways, and it actually plays quite well on my system. Forgive all my gloom and fretting. FPS is around 50 according to their game performance tool. It actually 'feels' more consistently smooth than I remember Assassin's Creed Unity. I'm only about 2 hours into to playing so far though, but actually really liking it so far. CPU: i5-2500 8 gigs of ram GPU: GTX 970

 

[slag]

Got it, it is "C" for crouch button, but it does not say this in the key binding in options menu.

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