3.21.2b Patch Notes

Ok so, why is poe using 9 gigs of my vram?

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VAD_e wrote:

Contrary to what some people here may believe, this patch (3.21.2) really did introduce a lot of performance issues and random visual bugs, regardless of what kind of hardware you have. If anyone claims otherwise, they either hang out in their hideout all day without playing any actual content, or they have a configuration that is somehow hitting the "sweet spot" for the new particle system (essentially mirroring the rigs of the development team, assuming any form of performance optimization was done from their side to begin with).

Now, my PC is not the best thing money can buy nowadays (far from it in fact), but it is still a very solid machine (capable of running a game like Battlefield 2042 fully maxed out):

I play at 1080p (1920x1080 resolution), use DirectX12 as a renderer and have VSync set to Locked.
CPU: Core i7 10700k
GPU: RTX 3070 Ti
RAM: 32 GB DDR4 3600 MHz

So far, I have tried all 3 possible rendering options and various different settings, DirectX11 and Vulcan are producing random visual bugs for half of my MTX (regardless of the exact Graphics settings), while DirectX12 does not have those same MTX related bugs at least. A specific example for those bugs that I can give is the combination of Sunrise Shield + Sunrise Weapon Effect applied to it.

Apart from that, I am experiencing random visual bugs with Syndicate content - sometimes various textures will bug out and start flashing when exiting a Research encounter, and the Catarina fight is also producing similar visual bugs (with a 100% success rate so far, seems to happen almost always after the first phase).

When it comes to general performance issues, I can notice drops in my FPS (which were never present before) for content like harbingers (especially harbinger bosses, even more so if there are a couple of them next to each other), harvest and blight. The most significant performance problems (based on my observations so far) seem to be associated with lightning based skill effects, but not isolated to them.

As a conclusion, the game is far from unplayable for me personally (it's just annoying at times), but I can certainly see how that can be true for someone with weaker hardware. Also, it appears that this patch introduced a very serious increase in the RAM usage for the game (it would hardly ever take more than 5 GB before this patch).


And no, the game is not running fine for 99.9% of the player base, I am in a guild with almost 140 members, and most of my guildmates are experiencing the exact same issues as me, some are even having a much worse time when it comes to the overall performance (those who aren't are not really actively playing the game at the moment, mostly sitting AFK in their hideouts) ;)

Thank you, well put.

For those having trouble moving over to the technical support side of this forum, here is some helpful information.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/votvq2/deleting_the_cache_folders_and_the_contents_of/

This post explains how he fixed his game. It removed the studdering, and also can remove some visual bugs that most likely happened when the most recent patch dropped on Monday.

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Clear your client's cache
If any cached client data has become corrupted it could also cause a variety of problems, from visual anomalies to crashes.

To clear your client's cache, go to %AppData%\Path of Exile on your computer and delete the cache folders.

Clearing your client's cache will clear out several temporary storage locations that Path of Exile uses for things like downloaded images and graphics shaders. After clearing cached shaders your client performance will be temporarily degraded while the client regenerates the shaders it needs. For this reason we recommend only clearing your client's cache as a last resort when troubleshooting a crash or other graphical problem, or if the size of the caches has become a problem.

Here is from their technical support page. When you delete your cache folders, you will have degraded performance for a while as the client recompiles as needed.

If people are not taking this step it is advised to do so as this can cure seeing visual artifacts that 99% are not seeing in game.

There is someone above me who has the same setup as I do.

Only difference is I have an I9 compared to his I7.

I crashed and studdered alot during the first and second days. I took steps as should everyone, to make sure my client was cleared of the old shaders by deleting folders, and also deleting configuration files.

I made sure to set my graphics options for my gpu back to the default "let the 3d application decide" as path of exile has introduced new options. Only makes sense to do my part to make sure there are no issues on my end.

To have similar pc specs and have completed different issues, is odd. The specs above should breeze through poe right now without a hiccup.

For some reason, it isnt.

some of the bugs mentioned above that the person is seeing is visual bugs, something that is typically from shaders. Maybe poe is looking at both the old shaders and new shaders? maybe there is something they can do for this?

If its not obvious, deleting your old cache folders should remove some of the visual bugs you are seeing.

I have been playing back at 100% since wednesday. Since i had to let the shaders recompile which took a few hours.

I typically will wait when entering a map to let the shaders finish downloading what they need before starting the map.

Sadly, based on the technical support page, it seems most people arent doing anything about contacting ggg.

Looking over the page there are less than 100 people posting to GGG about their technical problems.

Weird right? You would figure the support page would have threads with 50+ pages if it was affecting a large group of people. I guess no one really wishes to have their client working as they need it to be.

Many of us typically take care of our own problems by following their technical support thread. It really does cover everything you need to know.

Hopefully some people can go ahead and start posting to GGG in the technical support section to get their game fixed. Posting in this thread isnt the best way to get the help they need.

This thread has been posts made by people responding to me, artificially increasing the number of pages we see here. Its a shame most people couldnt just post in technical support instead.

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Seryali wrote:

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roundishcap wrote:

Please slot in a 650ti ( minimum system spec) and tell us the patch was a good idea. Update your specs ffs. Also stop breaking your game.

A card that came out October 9th, 2012 is not an argument. This has never been "a 12 year old game" anything that has consistent updates is updated

Once the patch released, its officially a 2023 game. SNES cartridges released without any constant updates, so they are the 1990s games you love and they will never change.

650ti really? just buy a new card, holy.

So being dense a 650ti is the floor. The minimum requirements. It didn't matter what they add after. It is their own system requirements. They recommend a 1050ti. If the patch can't work on those cards they need to UPDATE the system requirements and communicate that change instead of going into a comms blackout.

I don't use a 65o for the record.

They bring sus with there "upgrades"

The only problems I have are visual by now. As VAD_e mentioned there are several flashing textures after exiting the mine into the Mine Encampment or Research encounters. They are a pain in my eyes especially in the Mine Encampment.
Didn't testing Sirus because I fear, my head will explode.

Bringing out a patch that requires a lot of player troubleshooting is not what we expect.

A patch should come through without bugs, issues, etc. for the player base to have a seamless transition to play the game.

Having this happen right before a huge event means there aren't that many on deck to right the situation until afterward.

Since new patch I keep getting hit with the following crash error in like not more than 1 minute of gameplay: "vk::Device::waitForFences: ErrorDeviceLost".

All drivers up to date, reinstalled everything and PC runs other games at 260-320 fps. Got an RTX 3080 with 64 GB DDR 4, i9-10900K CPU @ 3.70GHz, 2x Xpg gammix s50 lite.

It is utterly frustrating as no other game has this on ultra settings. What is the point of pushing out patches that do NOT fix the obvious crashes?

The lack of concern for players in this is really stark. Destroying someone's PC could have *serious* adverse effects on their life, far beyond just their ability to spend their time on path of exile.
The way the game-systems have been going downhill for years is one thing, but having the lack of concern for players spread over to the engine itself and a risk of damage to their equipment is just too much.
This has become far too much of a worn-in rut in this game's evolution to ignore, so I'll just leave this here for anyone who happens upon it:http://www.memorableplaces.com/mudwimping.html

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SuperNnova wrote:

Since new patch I keep getting hit with the following crash error in like not more than 1 minute of gameplay: "vk::Device::waitForFences: ErrorDeviceLost".

All drivers up to date, reinstalled everything and PC runs other games at 260-320 fps. Got an RTX 3080 with 64 GB DDR 4, i9-10900K CPU @ 3.70GHz, 2x Xpg gammix s50 lite.

It is utterly frustrating as no other game has this on ultra settings. What is the point of pushing out patches that do NOT fix the obvious crashes?

Swap out of the vulkan renderer in game to dx11 and then exit poe.

Then are you using GeForce experience? Get rid of it. Uninstall it. Never use it as it causes problems for everyone.

Delete your cache folders in game. There are guides showing how to do this.

Make sure to download the newest graphics driver and do a manual fresh install without GeForce experience.

Sounds like the driver got corrupted somehow.

Check your windows event viewer. It should show that your driver is having issues.

Jesus, it's going to be this performance forever, right?
Does the person responsible for this update want the PoE to exist?
What's the point of that? Weird...