Persona 5 Royal with DXVK: setup and the stutter question

Why Persona 5 Royal stutters

The common report is hitching the first time a new effect appears. That is the pattern of shader compilation: the GPU driver has to build a pipeline for each new combination, and if it happens mid-frame, the frame waits (shader stutter). We have not confirmed that this is the cause in this game.

Install

To undo it, delete the DLLs you copied (F12): see the uninstall guide. The general steps, with the checklist and warnings, are on the Windows install page.

DXVK 3.1.1 has no built-in profile for this game in our extract, so nothing is set for you. Persona 3 Reload has one (dxgi.syncInterval = 1); that is a different game with a different exe.

First run versus second run

DXVK 3.x writes a shader cache to disk (F19), so shaders compiled on a first pass are reused on later runs. We saw the cache files appear on Windows, but measured no frame times in the game, so we cannot say how much the stutter drops. To see it yourself, set DXVK_HUD=compiler,frametimes,fps and walk the same route twice: the compile indicator shows shader work (HUD guide), and the frame-time graph shows the hitches. Keep the first and second run as separate results.

Do you need dxvk-async or gplasync?

Probably not: DXVK 2.0 and newer already compile pipelines ahead of time on drivers that support it, and the async forks are not part of official DXVK. Our page on async and gplasync explains them and their anti-cheat risk. On Windows we do not recommend a fork without data, and we have none.

Remove DXVK

Delete both DLLs from the game folder (F12).

What we have not tested

• Any run of the game: FPS and stutter are unmeasured.
• That shader compilation is the cause of the reported stutter.
• The effect of the 3.x shader cache on first versus second run.
• The exe name and Direct3D version on your copy: confirm with the Game Checker.
• Whether async forks help on any platform.

Check your own copy

The Game Checker reads your .exe on your device and tells you its bitness and Direct3D version. Our checker also flags files in the game folder that use the same name as DXVK’s DLLs.