Skill tree display using GPU, causing issues with unwanted fullscreen in PoB and FPS drops in-game

[FunFountain]

I have an (nvidia specific?) graphic issue - for the last year (or longer, I have no memory), the app has been running in some sort of 3d accelerated manner that makes use of the GPU for the skill tree display.

This is on Windows 10, latest updates, 3080TI Reference, AMD 5900x, 32gb ram system, triple monitor system - but it has been happening (same PC) for at least a year.

Or at least, I think that's what's going on, this is just a guess, because I don't know what else is causing this issue:

PoB will sometimes start up as a fullscreen app, and refuse to go windowed unless I pull some windows-fu on it (using windows hotkeys to move it to another window, maximizing it there, alt-enter won't work if it happens on my main monitor, and I can't figure out any other way to get out of fullscreen).

There's more too - even when not fullscreening itself, it appears to occasionally interfere with overlays in-game, or something about it interferes with fullscreen borderless in-game, either way it'll occasionally tank my fps and I cannot figure out why.

I apologize for the incredibly mushy bug report, but this issue is so strange I don't know how to write up a full repro with any coherence.

I'd be happy to provide more system/setup details if requested, this bug does make PoB noticeably more irritating to use.

[Wires77]

How did you install PoB? Some of this sounds like it's failing to load/save your SimpleGraphic.cfg file, since that should store however you last had the window positioned.

What kind of monitors do you have setup? Are they all the same resolution?

The tree will always use your GPU for rendering, but on some setups it...misbehaves. You can try this experimental branch of the graphics backend and see if it works better for you. https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding/issues/4736#issuecomment-1211478087

[FunFountain]

It's installed in a custom directory (/games) instead of Program Files on an admin account

I should note that the issue isn't consistent, which is why it makes me feel like I'm going crazy - e.g. I started it up several times over the last few days checking for an update, windowed like normal, no issues, today I started it up to update to the 3.21 patch and it was fullscreen (before the update), requiring win-shift-arrow to another window then adjusting it there and moving it back. After closing and restarting, it was windowed like normal.

The other half is even while running seemingly normally, it will seemingly interfere with PoE such that the FPS tanks - I think the game thinks it's running in the background for some reason, or the GPU is prioritizing PoB over PoE for some weird reason.

For overlays (awakened poe trade/poe lurker), I run the standalone client outside steam (no steam overlay) and usually (though not always) have the nvidia overlay disabled, discord overlay disabled, sometimes the overlays will break - this is minor though, the random fullscreening and fps tanking are much more directly impactful.

Monitor setup is two Acer Predator 1440p 144hz Gsync displays (display port), and one LG CX 4k 120hz HDR Gsync TV (hdmi 2.1) - all monitors are set to 120hz with gsync enabled for windowed/fullscreen both.

This issue occurs inconsistently whether I am using a monitor OR the TV as the primary display for PoE (both the fullscreening and the fps drops), and it also occurs whether PoB is on the same monitor 'behind' PoE (TV usually) or a second monitor (if playing on a monitor).

I'll give the experimental .dlls a shot, thanks. I realize my setup is hardly standard, so I chalked it up to that and nothing else and didn't bother reporting this for a long time, but since it just hit me again right before league start, I figured what the hell, I'd drop this report ;)

[FunFountain]

Just a quick report, the custom .dlls launched at least, however it started without respecting the 4k TV resolution scaling so the fonts were unreadable (tree looked nice and crisp at least :D)

Fixed by setting Path of Building.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> High DPI Scaling override -> check Override high DPI scaling behavior. Scaling performed by: -> select System (Enhanced)

I'll try running this for a few days and see if the fullscreen/fps/overlay issues persist.