Another Dishonored 2 PC Patch Tries to Fix Ongoing Performance Issues

A third update for the PC version of Dishonored 2 is now available in beta. Like the first two, the focus is again on improving performance, which has been an issue since launch.

Update 1.3 offers "[g]eneral performance and optimization improvements," according to the patch notes. There's now an option to disable camera motion blur, and by default, the FPS limiter has been set to 60 FPS. Be aware that turning off v-sync twice will result in that dropping to 30. This is listed as a known issue and will presumably be fixed down the line.

Among the bugs that have been fixed are those "impacting mouse movement speed" and certain settings not reverting after selecting No when leaving the menu. Issues with running the game on multi-monitor setups and 5:4 or 4:3 aspect ratios have also allegedly been resolved.

As with previous beta updates, you'll need to specifically opt in to download this. You can do so by right-clicking the game in your Steam library, going to Properties, then selecting BetaPatch from the Betas drop-down menu. Close the pop-up window and Steam should automatically download the update.

If you aren't already, you should ensure you're using the 375.95 drivers if you're running an Nvidia card or 16.11.4 if you're on AMD hardware. Today's announcement mentions Nvidia drivers 375.70 & 375.86 present a problem "unique to Dishonored 2 which impacts performance."

Game director Harvey Smith recently addressed the issues facing the PC version, claiming "extensive" testing had been done that didn't reveal them before launch.

Read on for the full patch notes.

Dishonored 2 PC 1.3 Beta Update Patch Notes

Overview

• General performance and optimization improvements
• Added a setting to turn OFF Camera Motion Blur
• Additional mouse improvements
• Fixed various issues related to user interface
• Fixed various issues related to the Option menu
• Fixed various issues related to multiple monitors

Patch Notes

Options

• Added a setting to turn OFF Camera Motion Blur
• Fixed a bug which caused some textures to be missing when Texture Quality was set above Medium for some GPUs
• Fixed a bug where the game sometimes launched in the previously saved resolution in the top left corner of the screen
• Fixed a bug where "Adaptive Resolution" was incorrectly set to "Manual"
• Fixed a bug where changing the Screen Resolution, Monitor, Windowed Mode or Triple Buffering did not properly revert after selecting "No"
• Fixed a bug where the player was incorrectly asked to confirm changes when no changes were made
• Fixed a bug where V-Sync settings did not match the monitor refresh rate when higher than 60hz
• Fixed a bug where pressing "No" in the confirmation prompt when changing Triple Buffering setting sometimes made the prompt appear again

Display / Monitor

• Fixed a bug with multiple monitors which caused the game to not display on the primary monitor by default
• Fixed a bug which caused some UI elements to be misplaced when using 5:4 or 4:3 aspect ratios
• Fixed a bug which caused the game window to appear off screen when resolution was set below the native resolution for 1440P and 2160P monitors.
• Fixed a bug which caused incorrect Resolution Scale FPS Target when changing V-Sync mode
• Set default value for Resolution Scaling Quality to "Quality"

Rendering / Performance

• Fixed a rendering bug affecting the lighting on some NPCs which sometimes caused a red glow
• FPS limiter set to 60 FPS by default
• Adjusted Shadow Quality settings – “High” setting and below have a more significant visual and performance adjustment
• Reduced performance impact of transparent surfaces & VFX

Mouse

• Fixed a bug impacting mouse movement speed

Known Issues

• Switching off the V-Sync a second time sets the FPS Limiter to 30 instead of 60 by default
• Changing the settings from TXAA to FXAA and not applying the change sets the TXAA Sharpness to 1 instead of its previous value
• Disconnecting and reconnecting a controller during gameplay may cause the controls to become locked
  • Alt-tabbing or pressing the Xbox button on the controller should return controls
• The game crashes to desktop when loading into gameplay on a Phenom II processor
  • Phenom II processors are currently not supported
• Adaptive Resolution can get stuck at -1 when restoring video settings
  • Changing the V-Sync option will allow the Adaptive Resolution slider to move again