Is it legit to use Max. Pre-rendered Frames set to 1?

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Hello fellow Touhou fans,
something I was experimenting with these past couple of days and just want to confirm it's legitimacy before proceeding. In my Nvidia Control Panel I've had Max. Pre-rendered Frames set to 'Use the 3D application setting' just to make sure I get less stutters and lower slowdown percentages due to a lesser number of dropped frames. As far as I know 'Use the 3D application setting' is 3 frames pre-rendered. Anyway, I'm testing out this setting set to 1 instead, and the drop in input lag (i.e. characters are more responsive) is too good to ignore, even paired with the VSync patch. I did a couple of full Lunatic runs in Touhou 6, and the slowdown percentages stayed the same, never skipping 0.30%, and I didn't notice any stutters thankfully.

So, what I'm asking is, is it legit to use Max. Pre-rendered Frames set to 1? Or is there some rule that only the VSync patch is allowed to reduce input lag, setting this in the Nvidia Control Panel counts as a tool-assisted run or something?

Any idea what pro players have it set at?

I did some research but couldn't find out anything at all about this subject. Thanks in advance for any help!

[shockdude]

Graphics driver settings are totally fine. I use max prerendered frames = 1 for all of my games, not just Touhou.

A while ago I played around and iirc got even less input lag by setting vpatch framerate to like 300 and using Rivatuner as the 60fps framelimiter.
Don't remember if this messes up replay saving though.

[nintendonut888]

I don't see any problem with using something like graphics drivers settings or the vsync patch in order to get the best performance on a game. I think what's important to remember is that beyond a native 1 frame of input lag found in every Touhou game, there should not be input lag in Touhou games to start with. Vsync patches and what you are doing are only removing a technical problem that shouldn't exist to begin with, and varies from computer to computer. So short of hacking the game and changing the code, anything that improves the performance should be allowed, at least in my opinion. At the very least, it makes playing a lot more fun.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

That's awesome, thanks for all the positive replies guys Really appreciate the help here, and sorry for the constant paranoia :/

[Despatche]

Now this is something that's less clear-cut and actually kinda funny.

Any sort of driver-related setting? That's fine. Messing with your driver settings has nothing to do with any particular Touhou game itself.

The vsync patch? Technically not fine, because it's modifying game files, and especially for a gameplay benefit. Perfectly understandable, actually, especially for games made after Eiyashou where input lag is far less of an issue. Most people hate input lag so they use it anyway, but if you flaunt things like the vsync patch around places like royalflare, you're probably going to get banned from those places. It's kind of an unwritten rule that most people use it but they don't advertise it.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Now this is something that's less clear-cut and actually kinda funny.

Any sort of driver-related setting? That's fine. Messing with your driver settings has nothing to do with any particular Touhou game itself.

The vsync patch? Technically not fine, because it's modifying game files, and especially for a gameplay benefit. Perfectly understandable, actually, especially for games made after Eiyashou where input lag is far less of an issue. Most people hate input lag so they use it anyway, but if you flaunt things like the vsync patch around places like royalflare, you're probably going to get banned from those places. It's kind of an unwritten rule that most people use it but they don't advertise it.

Hello again, thanks also for taking the time to pitch into this thread

So, that's awesome about the driver settings, another confirmation is always nice

Regarding the Vsync patch, there's some contradicting information from my scrounging around the web, and also nintendonut888's post above. Look here at what I mean:
https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/9e291n/is_using_vsync_patch_in_touhou_6_cheating/
and also this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/78zwvn/is_using_the_hitbox_patch_considered_cheating/
It's a thread about the hitbox patch, but in it Yatsuzume (who is a highly respected player, he hit all the main games from Touhou 6 - 16 Perfect Lunatic! I think he's the best player I've ever seen) states the following:
'Vpatch is allowed for WR and other high-level runs that you want to be acknowledged for.'

The Vsync patch also has the added benefit of fixing the Touhou 10 Marisa B Power glitch. Wouldn't the Vysnc patch in truth be doing the same thing as what Max. Pre-rendered Frames set to 1 is doing (i.e. reducing input lag), or better yet G-Sync, or buying a monitor with very low input lag?

The Vysnc patch is technically fixing a problem which shouldn't be present in the first place, and which probably wouldn't be present if using a CRT monitor?