Reduced framerate on M1 Mac after 9.0.5

Moråx-kelthuzad · March 10, 2021, 12:16am

Turn off V-Sync,
I personally set my resolution down to 1920x1080. with a UI scale of .75
Doesnt look the best, but back to 60-70fps

Odelschvank-quelthalas · March 10, 2021, 2:53am

Mine:
MBP M1, 16-Ram

I’m have same issue, but first I guess are the Addons not update yet, I only run 3-4 addons, also I notice now the recommended settings from Wow, are Settings 2, before I had 5, normally I tuned by my self the Graphs, but I notices some issues while doing my WQ , when I decided to reset my graphs to recommended I notices this issue. what I do since Day 1 is do not use “Default” Resolution is scale to 2880x1880 it eats from 60 (Vsync-on) to 37 or less depends the place. so my settings are:
Resolution: 2046x1280
General:

High
Dynamic
Enable

Environment:

All at 5 (no need to load a super rendered stone 3km away when I’m fighting that’s why I leave it at 5 )

Effects:

High
Good
Disable
High (I set particles at High because I use the mangoes illusion and looks better here, but this can consume so much FPS also in Ardenweald some spots will be so wavy particles like Mist places, but if doesn’t mind some little details in Good stills great and does not drops too much in Ardenweald)
Disable (SSAO always has consume so much FPS at least from my experience, it makes some objects looks better with shadows, you could turn it at “Low” so you could see some better Shadows/Contrast on buildings and ground. you could see this effect better on the stairs the “Black Lines” on them, or walls the inside corners looks darker)
Disable
Disable (the Outline mode I use it this way because is easier to find Quest objects and herbs, mining spots also Quest NPC)
With these settings I’m 70% of the time at 60 fps, only drops in World Bosses and Maps Spots where Particle Density and some other things, I couldn’t find/see.

And with this resolution the only thing you could see when change from 2.8k is the details on the letters (still readable) and spell icons (become less HD kind of)

Ah! about the V-sync some people had issues with this (also me) if you turn off the V-sync some times it Freeze you could still hear the game and other apps if use it but can’t do anything , nothing respond, at this points you have to Hard-shutdown the Mac, I do not know if this only happen with Mac’s own display or external too.

Thanks for reading until here. hope this help you.
Note: I do not cap my FPS in game only background.

Bottles-eonar · March 10, 2021, 6:12am

Thanks! Lowering the resolution seems to be the best workaround for now, until they fix whatever went wrong (hopefully soon…)

FWIW turning off V-Sync just made my situation worse; FPS nominally stayed the same, but I ended up losing even more frames.

Tiapriestess-whisperwind · March 10, 2021, 7:46am

This would likely be because unless you have the framerate limiter active, your system was rendering as many frames as it could, generated (much) more heat, and throttled because of it. Unless you have a high refresh rate display (120/144/165/240 Hz), your max framerate should be set to 60, vSync or no vSync.

Raycappo-khaz-modan · March 10, 2021, 5:17pm

M1 Mac Mini here running at 1080p, with the graphics slider at 7 and shadows set to “low”, particle density set to “good”.

FPS hovered 60 fps almost all the time, now that’s not the case. Experiencing fps drops in places that weren’t dropping fps before.

I can confirm that I reproduced the OP’s problem as soon as a logged on after 9.0.5. This is not an addon issue, I’ve disabled all of them and experienced the same problem.

Edit: Before patch 9.0.5, recommended settings were at graphics slider 5. After the patch, the recommended settings are now 2. Hardware requirements increased with a minor update?

Edit 2: Disabling vertical sync somewhat alleviates the FPS drops. However, with vsync off the game gets stuck to the point in which the only solution is a hard shut down. Happened once last night and once again today, ruined someone’s m+ key

Kaldraydis-1147 · March 10, 2021, 8:08pm

Hey there,

Thanks for reporting this. To better assist y’all I’d like to collect some information. Please reply with the following if you are a Mac user with an M1 chip.

OS Version
Graphics
Processor
Memory

This information can be found by clicking the Apple menu and selecting About This Mac. Info on this from Apple is here.

Thanks again for the reports!

Bottles-eonar · March 10, 2021, 10:14pm

Hi,

My specs:

OS Version: 11.2.3
Graphics: M1 8 core
Processor: M1 8 core
Memory: 8GB

Thanks for looking into this!

Raycappo-khaz-modan · March 10, 2021, 10:54pm

OS Version: 11.2.2
Graphics: M1 8-Core GPU
Processor: M1 8-Core
Memory: 8GB

ty!

Tarreth-kelthuzad · March 10, 2021, 11:25pm

Hey, glad to know I’m not alone. Prior to today, I was running on setting 10 and getting 60FPS continually, now I am hovering at 17-20 FPS. Dropping down to even setting 3 or 4 doesn’t do much (I get a few more frames but that’s it).

OS: 11.2.3
Graphics: M1 8-Core GPU
Processor: M1 8-Core
Memory: 16 GB

Eliminator-aggramar · March 11, 2021, 4:52am

OS: 11.2.3
Graphics M1 8-Core GPU
Processor: M1 8-Core
Memory: 16GB

Ran like butter in most spots before, now runs like doodoo even with no addons.

Berdum-earthen-ring · March 11, 2021, 2:07pm

Thanks for looking into this - same issue. Choppy frame rate last night, first time I’d logged in since the patch.

OS 11.2.2
M1 8-Core GPU
M1 8-Core
16GB

Diore-azuremyst · March 11, 2021, 10:20pm

OS: 11.2.3
Graphics: M1 8 core
Processor: M1 8 core
Memory: 8GB

Aleira-thunderhorn · March 11, 2021, 11:50pm

I just want to comment that this problem is not only affecting M1 chip machines.

I am running a 2018 MBP with an I7 6-core and the Pro Vega 20 GPU. Since 9.05, my fps has dropped from 40-50 to 15-20 consistently. I have 32gb of memory. Tuning down particle density and texture resolution has helped get it back to 20-30, but it is definitely lower since the patch.

Ergowolf-kargath · March 12, 2021, 2:43am

I made a separate post about having FPS issues on non M1 machines but figured I would reiterate here. Also happening on my MBP 2019 i9 16GB machine. Not happening everywhere in game but before patch never dipped below 60, now getting 40’s in some instances. Near impossible to reliably tank higher keys at 40 FPS. Please help,

Ergo

Anunnahki-aegwynn · March 13, 2021, 3:49am

OS: 11.2.3
Graphics: M1 8 core
Processor: M1 8 core
Memory: 8GB

Marwenna-azgalor · March 15, 2021, 12:42pm

To add to those above, I’m on a 2019 iMac (not an M1) and experiencing halved FPS (20-30) since patch in Shadowlands zones. Turning particle density off did not help, turning V-sync off created a lot of additional problems, so that is still on. I have little to no issues in other zones currently. I keep graphics quality at 3 to allow for 100% resolution scale and typically get 60FPS with FPS locked to 60 foreground 30 background and V-sync enabled. Ardenweald and a few other areas were already pretty intensive due to the environmental effects, but now I am dropping by half in all Shadowlands zones a good bit of the time. It was not like this prior to the patch. I’m trying to pinpoint the issue further, because there are certain places where I can turn 180 degrees and the FPS shoots up to 60 again. It’s especially bad in the covenant sanctums, but other areas I will be facing something and it drops, then I turn 180 degrees and run the other way and it’s fine again. For example, if I’m at the adventure table at the Night Fae sanctum facing the sanctum in any position between the two, it drops by half, but if I turn away from the sanctum it goes back to 60. Similar issues were occurring in Bastion in various locations. It makes me think something changed with the way a particular asset is rendered in the game.

Model Name:	iMac
OS:	Catalina 10.15.7
Model Identifier:	iMac19,1
Processor Name:	8-Core Intel Core i9
Processor Speed:	3.6 GHz
Number of Processors:	1
Total Number of Cores:	8
Memory:	16 GB
Graphics:	Radeon Pro Vega 48

Canara-gallywix · March 17, 2021, 2:43pm

+1 on significant performance dip after 9.05 for a none m1 mac

I have an MBP 2016, was consistently running at 40-50 fps, but now sit around 13-17. I had to leave a mythic+ I was talking because I couldn’t see the game.

Disabled all add-ons; problem persisted.

Reduced settings to 1, same problem.

Mbp 2106 15”, 16gb RAM, Radeon 460 4 GB, macos big sur, Intel i7 2.6 ghz quad core.

Some help?

Strausswylde-moon-guard · March 17, 2021, 2:54pm

Same issue continuing on non-M1 iMac 27"
From smooth 60 to now 40s after patch.

Diluama-area-52 · March 18, 2021, 1:59am

OS Version: 11.2.3
Graphics: M1 8 core
Processor: M1 8 core
Memory: 8GB
MacBook Pro. Since Big Sur 11.2.3 or since WoW 9.0.5, my M1 is now named as “Apple M1 (low power)” under the “Graphics Card” option in the advanced menu.

Strausswylde-moon-guard · March 19, 2021, 11:23am

CPU throttling

Notice much higher temperature since patch after 10 mins of play. Could be why we are seeing fps drop. I’m on non-M1 (iMac 27"), so guys check your temps as well.