Desktop Window Manager (DWM) sits between your game and the display. Even in fullscreen, Windows 10/11 routes frames through DWM by default. This has implications for frame pacing.
The old model (exclusive fullscreen)
In classic exclusive fullscreen, the game had direct control of the display output. DWM was bypassed. This gave the lowest possible frame delivery latency.
The new model (Fullscreen Optimizations)
Windows introduced "Fullscreen Optimizations" which keeps DWM active even in exclusive fullscreen by using a flip model. The intent was to allow Alt-Tab without the delay of releasing exclusive display access.
The side effect: DWM adds its own compositing step. On some hardware combinations (particularly AMD + certain driver versions), this causes frame pacing irregularities — frames that are consistently late or early by varying amounts.
Multi-Plane Overlay (MPO)
MPO is a DWM feature that allows different layers (game frame + desktop overlay) to be composited by the GPU display controller rather than the GPU itself. This is supposed to reduce overlay latency.
In practice, MPO has well-documented issues:
- AMD + MPO: can cause black frame insertion and pacing issues
- NVIDIA + MPO: causes issues on some monitor/driver combinations
- Both AMD and NVIDIA have had driver notes about MPO-related problems
Disable MPO:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
OverlayTestMode = 5
Disable Fullscreen Optimizations globally:
HKCU\System\GameConfigStore
GameDVR_FSEBehaviorMode = 2
GameDVR_FSEBehavior = 2
GameDVR_HonorUserFSEBehaviorMode = 1
DXGI max frame latency
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectX
MaxFrameLatency = 1
Caps the DirectX frame latency to 1 frame, reducing the buffer between what the GPU is rendering and what's being displayed.
IzanagiOP's Frame Pack handles all of this. It's one of the more impactful single changes for frame consistency. Discord: https://terweb.lt/
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