Why are so many games FPS Limited on PC?

[BabyTyrant]

A lot of games seem to be limited to 60FPS on PC, I know that's usually at 4K

but you would think they could at least give you a couple more options, if they did I'd always pick FPS > Resolution

I'm so Glad that at least MH Rise isn't limited on PC, it's so much nicer running at up to 144FPS (typically saw 120-140FPS range) than whatever the Switch is putting out

 

[KitsuneFox]

The adult human eye has the equivalent “refresh rate” of 30 to 60 frames per second.
The older someone gets, the lower the number gets.

 

[Beowulf]

Most ported games are limited due to the limitations on consoles. Most games that are released for PC and aren’t just a port have the option.

 

[Luminaire]

Most ported games are limited due to the limitations on consoles. Most games that are released for PC and aren’t just a port have the option.

Yep. Definitely console-itis. For many studios the PC is typically the last stop for their product. The big three (xbox, ps, nintendo) are the primary targets, and then often just one of those is the main platform. Consoles are often easier to develop for since you have a locked-down hardware specification, as opposed to PCs which have a huge range of potential processors, memory sizes/brands, monitor sizes, video hardware, etc. PCs often have better hardware than consoles and are capable of better performance.

Once a company picks a primary platform, all of the optimizations for the game are done for that single platform. Then, if/when it's ported to the next platform, the company may not allocate as many developers to the effort and you get poorer performance. It's more of a "do whatever you need to in order to get it to run, and nothing more". Do that a few times and you get the typical PC port. This often manifests as poor framerates (often locked at 30fps) and controls/menus that were designed for a gamepad and quickly converted to mouse/keyboard (if you're lucky).

 

[ShippoFox]

I don't know. anything above 60hz/fps starts to make me feel weird after a while. maybe I just haven't adapted, since I usually set it back down at that point. also, it seems to be less stressful on the hardware.

 

[blaincorrous]

The adult human eye has the equivalent “refresh rate” of 30 to 60 frames per second.
The older someone gets, the lower the number gets.

No. I can easily differentiate 60 and 120. But I don’t know if it’s true that perception changes with age. Might be.

 

[Onesieman]

That depends on your computer. It could be an older 32 bit model with outdated graphic & sound cards so 60 frames might push it to a point of heavy lag. A 64 bit laptop with high quality graphic cards can run at 60 frames & open GL just fine but make sure you have a cooling tray plugged in for games so it doesn't overheat. Even a gaming PC, it's not meant to run higher than that because it's always running other stuff in the background, even if they're not open.
And what the others said about consoles.

 

[LainIsLain]

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[KrankyPants]

I usually cap my framerate to 60 or 120. I like the lower input latency of uncapped frames, however, it does make my gpu run 8°c hotter. It is one of those feeling things. I agree with @KitsuneFox. I also think the perceived fluidity of the inputs is better in some games with engines that run at higher frequencies that are independent of the video refresh rate.

When I am gaming competitively or recording game play I almost always run without a frame cap, even if it induces some image tearing on standard refresh rate displays. There is a definite correlation to capped frames and input lag if the game engine runs at say 300hz. (And your hardware supports high poll rates.)

 

[Near]

A lot of games seem to be limited to 60FPS on PC, I know that's usually at 4K

but you would think they could at least give you a couple more options, if they did I'd always pick FPS > Resolution

I'm so Glad that at least MH Rise isn't limited on PC, it's so much nicer running at up to 144FPS (typically saw 120-140FPS range) than whatever the Switch is putting out

Because a lot of PC ports are not very good and because it used to be common to base things like AI and physics simulation on a per-frame basis (luckily this practice is dying out).

 

[Luminaire]

Because a lot of PC ports are not very good and because it used to be common to base things like AI and physics simulation on a per-frame basis (luckily this practice is dying out).

Even worse is when they based the game logic on CPU clock speed. Trying to play some of those old MS-DOS games on more modern pentiums caused them to play too quickly. To compensate you had to download programs that would purposefully chew up CPU time in order to slow the system down.

 

[KrankyPants]

Even worse is when they based the game logic on CPU clock speed. Trying to play some of those old MS-DOS games on more modern pentiums caused them to play too quickly. To compensate you had to download programs that would purposefully chew up CPU time in order to slow the system down.

That makes me think of the issue with San Andreas on PC running super fast on multi-core systems when you don't manually adjust the CPU affinity.

 

[DiscreetDL]

Theres many reasons, could break the game physics depending on the engine like with Fallout 76 where the players speed was tied to the frame rate

 

[Luminaire]

Theres many reasons, could break the game physics depending on the engine like with Fallout 76 where the players speed was tied to the frame rate

The first Dark Souls port to PC did this if you used a mod to up it from 30 to 60 fps. The physics would cause you to fall through the floor in a few places. Thank you Dark Souls.