Can it be that the performance issues are caused by another copy protection software?

Q&A
1

I remember before release there was a big uproar in the community about inZOI using Denuvo (a copy protection software) and not being open about it.
Later Kjun apologized and they removed Denuvo.
(More about this below)

These programs are known for causing the graphics and performance to drop significantly.

So lately I watched my local game news and they reported about another game (from publisher Capcom) (I don’t know if I’m allowed to post about it here since it’s an 18+ title) anyway, they added a Copy Protection software named Enigma and the news showed before/after footage and there was a significant performance and graphic drop.

Here is a comparison without showing the game’s title

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This is funny to see, because inZOI also has these graphic issues where everything is overly yellow and this also seems to have happened in this game

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And this comparison shows the grainyness, exactly how it happened in inZOI after the Cahaya update/DLC in August last year, also the FPS drops

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So my thoughts are:
Did Krafton replace Denuvo with another copy protection software?
And is that the reason for the performance drops and the bad graphics?
That might also be the reason why the graphic problems affect all of us
(because making the game playable for lower end PC’s and consoles wouldn’t affect players with mid to high end PC’s - adding a copy protection would. And that’s exactly what happened.)
And that could be the reason why all the bug reports about the graphic issues were never acknowledged/confirmed or added to the Known Issues list.
Because there is no fix for it.
And this might also be the cause of reported crashes, since these programs add an additional strain on the system.

When I ask google ‘which drm uses inZOI right now?’
It only says it does not use Denuvo.
But not if it uses another DRM (copy protection software), like Enigma, for example.
And even though I did not use the word ‘Denuvo’ in my search, all the results are about Denuvo ö.Ö’

Here is the AI overview I mentioned above
(if you want to dive deeper, google ‘inZOI Denuvo’ and follow the links provided)

Quote:

Here are the key details regarding inZOI and Denuvo:

  • Removal Confirmation: Following intense player backlash regarding the inclusion of Denuvo, Krafton officially removed the DRM from the Early Access version.

  • Reason for Initial Inclusion: The developers, including producer/director Hyungjun ‘Kjun’ Kim, originally implemented Denuvo to protect the game from illegal distribution.

  • Backlash and Concerns: Players expressed concerns that Denuvo would negatively affect the game’s performance, cause stability issues, and hinder the modding community, which the developers promised to support.

  • Apology and Shift in Strategy: The developers apologized for not properly informing players about the inclusion of Denuvo, particularly during the demo phase. They recognized that the protection could negatively impact the player experience more than anticipated.

  • Future Modding Support: The removal of Denuvo is aligned with the developer’s commitment to making inZOI a highly moddable game, with official mod support planned to begin in May 2025.

While some players originally reported that the Denuvo implementation in the demo had little to no performance impact for them, the majority of the community backlash forced the developer’s hand to remove it entirely.

/Quote end

2

An interesting line of thought. I’ve also noticed performance drops, as other players, and there’s sudden lag when there’s traffic on the streets of Dowon, which definitely wasn’t the case before. I’m looking forward to a response, although I guess that topics here in the forum are ignored or given less attention than on Discord. This is just my personal opinion. I haven’t used Discord for inZoi for quite some time now, or rather, I only sporadically check the Discord inZoi channel.

3

Thanks for sharing this. I noticed that a lot of people were very upset about Denuvo, but really didn’t pay much attention to it because DRMs are a necessary evil and have been for decades.

The yellow, dusty / blurry texture responses when moving through vast environments are a very common thing with modern games. It happens in many games from various developers, e.g. Capcom, Rockstar Games, CD Project Red, Konami, Ubisoft, Square Enix, Warhorse Studios, and so on.

However, it is highly unlikely that any DRM copy protection causes major graphical downgrades. This used to happen with very old DRMs only, modern DRMs can have performance overhead, but large graphical downgrades are technically unlikely and not a typical mechanism.

I get that you chose the Capcom game comparison pictures mostly to show certain graphics issues similar to inZOI, but I really don’t agree with anyone who’s created Image 1 and 3. Both show the same game being compared but fail to do so.

Image 1 shows a running character on the left and a walking / slowing down character on the right. The measuring processes are quite different on either side (I can’t say which measurements are missing exactly because it’s a bit too blurry). Disregarding all of that, the results show about 10 FPS (I guess) less with the other DRM → At this performance level (85–96 FPS), this difference is measurable but unlikely to cause a noticeable gameplay impact. All other “lines” are very similar.

Image 3 is also a comparison but was the one that caught my eye right away. The left side shows the FPS, while the right side shows the frametime. While the scene and movement are almost identical this time, the measurements simply aren’t. While FPS are considered best with higher digits, frametime is best 17 or below. Those scales are related to each other but don’t show anything if they’re not both shown for either picture. This comparison makes no sense without identical information provided for either side.
Plus, both scales are fine from a player POV. 85-96 FPS are quite alright for such an action heavy game. BTW, the frametime is good too. No huge differences.

I’m sorry for the small rant about the pictures. It’s not your fault, Lenny. Whoever made these was probably trying to stir things up, depending on the topic.

Coming back to the main question: No, I don’t think an official or inofficial DRM is able to cause these graphic issues we’re experiencing with inZOI lately (“inofficial” would be morally wrong though, of course). I assume the main reason for the graphics changes is the constant improvement to make the game easier for older gaming setups. Performance differences between builds can result from many factors such as engine updates, shader compilation changes, thread scheduling differences, or compiler optimizations.

I really hope the devs can broaden the graphics range wide enough, so younger, more powerful setups will be able to run inZOI with less downgrades again.

4

Np :psycat_paw:

It was more obvious in the videos but I didn’t want to share the links because it’s an 18+ game.
These screenshots are the results of a quick search ^^’

But I don’t think these reports are to stir things up.
Where I saw it was on Game Star News, maybe you know them?
They are one of the most popular/trustworthy Game Magazines here in Germany.

5

Thing is there was a massive drop in graphics and there was no official explanation and no acknowledging/adding to the Known Issues List, so I thought there was a connection Krafton trying to ‘brush it under the carpet’ again (as we say here ^^’)

6

Yes, of course I know Game Star =) I didn’t mean to say whoever created the comparison-pics wasn’t trustworthy, though Game Star can be kinda picky sometimes (but pretty much all press is xD ). It’s just weird that they made such a trivial picture which is clearly not adding anything to their article. The tests behind the pictures were meaningful perhaps, but someone really messed it up. Maybe it was “der Praktikant” xD

7

No, the pics aren’t from Game Star. I picked them from various sources. I just saw the similarities after watching their news video last week.

8

Sorry, my brain is lagging today xD That’s fine. I get your concern about the graphics constantly changing, mostly getting worse. I really hope we’ll see a lot of progress with inZOI this year, including bug fixes and more diversely improved graphics adjustment :slightly_smiling_face: