An overlay that with SaltyNX allows to set custom display refresh rate and FPS in Nintendo Switch retail games.
Disclaimer: Tool is utilizing detection of graphics API to manipulate FPS and in special cases it requires using patches made per game for each version to get more than 30 FPS. You can find those patches HERE
Max supported yaml size is 32kB, though it can be expanded in next updates.
DON'T USE 60 FPS CHEATS SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THIS TOOL, EITHER YOU NEED A CHEAT OR FPSLOCKER, YOU DON'T NEED BOTH AT ONCE! THIS CAN CREATE COMPATIBILITY ISSUES LEADING TO CRASHES!
- Atmosphere CFW
- My fork of SaltyNX, version 1.3.0+
- Tesla environment: ovlloader + Tesla Menu
How to setup everything: HERE
Overlay runs in two modes:
When game is running
If game is supported by SaltyNX and you installed everything correctly, you will see menu where first line states NX-FPS plugin is running.
Short explanation: The best approach if you want to run 30 FPS games at higher FPS:
- Connect your Switch to internet, in FPSLocker go to
Advanced Settings, pressCheck/download config file. If your game and version will be compatible with FPSLocker Warehouse repository, menu will be refreshed with optionConvert config to patchappearing. Press on it, restart game and now change FPS target in FPSLocker. - Go to Advanced Settings, if you will see "Set/Active/Available buffers: 2/2/3", press on
Set buffering, chooseTriple (force), go back to FPSLocker main menu, pressSave settingsand restart game.
Explanation of each option and information:
Interval Mode- it's used by NVN API to set limiter to either 30 FPS (2) or 60 FPS (1).Custom FPS Target- it's used to lock game to certain FPS. If game is using engine proprietary FPS locks, it may not be able to unlock more than 30 FPS without additional patches.Big number on the right- it shows how many frames have passed in last second for currently running game. This is to confirm that lock is working as expected.Increase/Decrease FPS target- Shows up only in handheld mode. Change FPS Target by 5. Minimum is 15 FPS, max is 60 FPS.Change FPS target- Shows up only in docked mode. Shows up table with different FPS values, from 15 to 60 by default with possibility of expanding to 120 FPS.Disable custom FPS target- Removes FPS Target. Since we cannot predict what interval mode is expected at this point, it is in user's discretion to manipulate FPS to bring back correct interval before disabling FPS target.Advanced settings- submenu which consists of:- If game is using NVN
Window Sync Wait- this is dangerous setting that disabled can crash game, but in some can bring benefit of disabling double buffer vsync at the cost of small graphical glitches (check list of games compatible with this solution at the bottom of README). Use it with caution. It won't show if game is not using double buffer.Set Buffering- if game is using any other buffering than double, this option will show that will allow you to force game to run at any other buffering that is not higher than original one (so f.e. you cannot change double buffer to triple buffer). Lowering buffer is recommended only for games that have near perfect performance at 30 or 60 FPS, but suffer from bad framepacing or big input lag. If you will force double buffer in games with uneven performance, FPS drops will be very severe. It can be applied only at boot of game, so after changing buffering you must save settings in FPSLocker and restart game.
Explanation ofSet/Active/Available Buffers:- Set - how many buffers were set by using
nvnWindowSetNumActiveTextures. If game is not using it, it will be 0. It can be used by games to set lower buffer value than reserved space allows. If this is detected to be used and lower than Available Buffers, you can use "(force)" variant next to default option. Without(force)it will reset to default settings. - Active - How many buffers are actually used by game.
- Available - How many buffers is actually provided to NVN. We can use this information to force games to utilize all buffers when they are not doing it.
- Set - how many buffers were set by using
- If game is using Vulkan
Set Buffering- switch between double buffer and triple buffer. Lowering buffer is recommended only for games that have near perfect performance at 30 or 60 FPS, but suffer from bad framepacing or big input lag. If you will force double buffer in games with uneven performance, FPS drops will be very severe. It can be applied only at boot of game, so after changing buffering you must save settings in FPSLocker and restart game.
Convert config to patch file- if proper config file exists for this game and version, you will get an option to convert it to patch file that will be loaded when you will run this game next time. Patch is saved toSaltySD/plugins/FPSLocker/patches/*titleid_uppercase*/*buildid_uppercase*.binDelete patch file- if proper config file exists for this game and version, you will get an option to delete patch file so it won't be loaded when you will run this game next time.Check/download config file- Checks in Warehouse repository if config for this game and version exists. If exists, it is downloaded and also checked if it's the same as the one on sdcard. If it's not, overlay will remove existing patch and config file, and user must manually convert new config to patch file. 0x312 error means we got unexpected file from github. Any other error code means that something is happening with your connection or github server.Halt unfocused game- Some games are not suspended when your Switch is in home menu. Enabling this option moves into infinite loop game's thread responsible for pushing frames to display when in home menu. Enabling this option can cause various issues depending on game, so be sure to not use it frivolously.
- If game is using NVN
Save settings- save profile for currently running game that will be loaded next time by plugin on boot automatically. Don't use it if you disabled Sync Wait and you didn't test it properly that it won't cause crash. Profile is saved inSaltySD/plugins/FPSLocker/*titleid_uppercase*.datDisplay settings- submenu related to display refresh rate. Consists of:Increase refresh rate- Shows up only in handheld mode. Change display refresh rate up to 60 Hz. In OLED units it's blocked.Decrease refresh rate- Shows up only in handheld mode. Change display refresh rate down to 40 Hz. In OLED units it's blocked.Change refresh rate- Shows up only in docked mode. Choose display refresh rate from list.Display Sync- When turned on, all three options above are not available, display refresh rate is changed only when game is running, and matches refresh rate with FPS Target.Retro Remake Mode- this option shows only for people that use Lite with screenInnoLux 2J055IA-27A (Rev B1)orRetro Remake SUPER5(first revision only). That is because Retro Remake displays require special approach to change refresh rate, and first version of SUPER5 is spoofing ID of already existing display, which makes it impossible to detect which one is in use, so user must manually enable it if they are using SUPER5 display. All other Retro Remake displays are detected automatically.Docked Settings- submenu related to display refresh rate of external displays. Not accessible for Lite units. Consists of:myDP link rate- It will reportHBRorHBR2mode. HBR mode doesn't allow going higher than 75 Hz at 1080p. More at the bottom of readme.Config ID- What is the name of config file used to store settings for your currently connected display. You can find file inSaltySD/plugins/FPSLocker/ExtDisplaysfolder.Allowed refresh rates- you can check and edit manually which refresh rates are enabled for currently connected external display. It consists of 40, 45, 50 and 55 Hz. By default 50 is turned on, everything else is turned off.Display underclock wizard- it goes automatically through refresh rates from 40 to 55, user is asked to press required button to confirm it's working, if not pressed for 15 seconds it goes to next refresh rate. After checking all refresh rates you are moved toAllowed refresh ratesmenu to check results.Display overclock wizard- it shows only if external display reported max refresh rate is equal or above 70 Hz. Goes automatically through refresh rates from 70 to max your display supports with cap being 120 Hz, user is asked to press required button to confirm it's working, if not pressed for 10 seconds it goes to next refresh rate. After checking all refresh rates you are moved toAllowed refresh ratesmenu to check results.Frameskip tester- It allows to check if your display is showing currently used signal at native refresh rates. Many displays may support for example 50 Hz, but they are still displaying stuff at 60 Hz. Instructions how to use it are provided when this menu is selected. This menu is also available in handheld mode.Additional settings- submenu with options related to how FPSLocker/FPSLocker patches are working in docked mode. Currently you can choose from:Allow patches to force 60 Hz- some FPSLocker patches are forcing 60 Hz to fix framepacing issues with 30 FPS cutscenes. When such change happens, game is paused for 4 seconds before continuing. By default is turned on. Turning it off will apply only FPS lock without changing refresh rate and without delay.Use lowest refresh rate for unmatched FPS targets- For example for 60 Hz display 35 FPS target may not have avaialble refresh rate matching it. By enabling this option you will get lowest enabled refresh rate inAllowed refresh ratesmenu. This option is disabled by default, which will result in setting 60 Hz in that case.
When game is not running
You will have two submenus to choose from (if you are using OLED model, you will be redirected automatically to Games list):
Games list
It will list installed games (max 32) and as first option it's available "All" submenu.
Inside each one you will find two options:Delete settings- it will delete file created by "Save settings" optionDelete patches- it will delete file created by "Convert config to patch file" option
Display settings- you can read about in previous section.
I want to use this space to clarify few things.
Switch OLED displays require gamma color correction after changing refresh rate. I am modifying OLED panel registers to adjust gamma curve to be as close to original experience as possible. But because those registers have very big steps, it's not possible to do it perfectly, so there are small discrepancies in colors (The worst case I found is 60% brightness at 45 Hz), additionally the lower refresh rate the lower max brightness, that's how register responsible for tweaking gamma at max brightness works for some reason.
From all reports I got, only one LCD screen was getting issue with small flickering in left bottom corner when running at 40 Hz (they were using InnoLux P062CCA-AZ2, but there were other users who also got this display and had no issues at 40 Hz - me included). No other issues were found.
Retro Remake displays require time to adjust itself to new signal, that's why refresh rate is applied with delay on those displays. Too short delay between attempts in changing refresh rate results in black screen which can be fixed by going to sleep mode/turning off/restarting Switch. If you are affected, write your case in Issues so I can increase delay in SaltyNX.
I have decided to limit LCDs and Retro Remake displays down to 40 Hz since lower refresh rates not only were not beneficial to user, also this allows avoid certain risks with underclocking display too much. For Switch OLED that limit is 45 Hz because at 40 Hz it misbehaves.
LCD can be overclocked up to 70 Hz without immediately visible issues but I have leaved max at 60 Hz for now. From 75 Hz all users using original display panels were reporting issues with glitchy image. OLED above 60 Hz is misbehaving.
If Display Sync is turned off, custom refresh rate is not restored after sleep mode.
Changing refresh rate affects animations speed of OS and Tesla overlays, making them more sluggish at lower refresh rates.
Adding support for custom display refresh rate required changing how game configs are written, so you are advised to redownload all FPSLocker Warehouse configs if you want them to properly support custom refresh rates.
I am not taking any responsibility for damages occuring from changing refresh rate. Each time you will go to Display settings, you will be welcomed by prompt with warning that you - user - are taking full responsibility. You must choose Accept to go further.
Cap was set to 120 Hz as this is the max refresh rate supported by OG dock and non-OLED switches, which makes it the most universal.
Many displays are locked to max 75Hz at 1080p because from what I understand something hinders connection between Switch and dock which ends in failed HBR2 training, leaving connection in HBR mode. HBR mode with 2 lanes is where 180 MHz limit comes from that slightly above what 1080p 75 Hz expects. Issue may come from Switch and/or dock itself. Being in HBR mode also can result in audio not being passed to dock above 60 Hz at 1080p.
From tests HOS applets can get unstable from 100 Hz and higher. That means f.e. if currently running game would want to confirm user choice, this may result in game's crash. Some games can get unstable on their own, as an example above certain refresh rate when closing Batman: The Enemy Within it will crash.
Thanks to:
-
<
6C33
li>~WerWolv for creating Tesla environment
- ~cucholix + ~Monked for tests
- ~CTCaer for info about Samsung OLED panels
- ~NaGa for tests on Retro Remake SUPER5 display and providing me Switch OLED unit
- and backers, including: Jorge Conceição, zany tofu, Lei Feng, brandon foster, AlM, Alex Haley, Stefano Bigio, Le Duc, Sylvixor x
In those games you can disable double buffer vsync by turning off Window Sync Wait in FPSLocker:
- Batman - The Telltale Series (Warehouse patch enables triple buffer, so there is no need to use this option)
- Pokemon Legends: Arceus
- Pokemon Scarlet
- Pokemon Violet
- Sonic Frontier
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Warehouse patch enables triple buffer, so there is no need to use this option)
- Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Xenoblade Chronicles X