[Resolved] All TM2 games including launcher max 5fps

[browner87]

Windows 10
Core i7-9700k @ 3.60GHz
32GB RAM
GeForce RTX 2080 (461.09)
Lenovo Legion Y27q-20 (1440p, 165Hz, G-sync)

I have most of the Trackmania series on Steam (United, Canyon, Lagoon, Stadium, Valley) and I cannot play any of them. The game opens, I can login, I can even get onto a track and start driving a car, but the framerate (even in the loader where I pick Canyon vs Lagoon etc) never goes above ~5, generally sitting at 2. I just fresh installed TM2 games, running on default fullscreen graphics.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to get this working? I have had each of these games working to some degree at random times in the past on this computer, but they keep breaking and I never know what "fixes" them for a few months at a time. I'd really like to find the root cause and solve it once and for all.

Interestingly, I can run the Benchmark in TMU and it gets >200 FPS. But as soon as I open the actual game, back to 2.
CPU is under virtually no load, GPU under virtually no load, RAM not being used excessively.
I've attached the Ctrl+F12 screen values, nothing looks too crazy, but I also don't know what the "normal" values are for anything.

[Miss]

Is it possible that you accidentally have a maximum FPS set in the game settings? (Or in your driver settings?)

Btw, Ctrl+F7 might provide more details as well. (You can right-click a block in the graph to get more details)

[McBain]

maybe its stupid but check the settings in the launcher if anything is wrong. Maybe the game tries to use the CPU integrated graphic unit by some mistake?

[browner87]

@Miss I love you. That was what I needed. This is so funny, you won't believe it.

I used the Ctrl+F7 and right clicked the lag bars and found the lines were going almost off the screen. And they all said something about "Device" or "Inputs". So I sat for about 10 seconds and wondered what input device on my computer could be upsetting the game? Then I realized, I have a USB joystick plugged in that I've been using to play on an Emulator for the last few weeks. I unplugged it and *instantly* the game went back to >160fps.

This explains all my intermittent problems in the past possibly, I often have this USB input connected for weeks at a time, then in the closet for months at a time. I'll have to save this post and refer back to it every time I can't play TM to remind me

Thanks everyone!

[Miss]

Hah, that's awesome! I'm glad you were able to solve this!