Why is the engine frame-rate limited?

[Kleetus]

V-sync times the imaging so that it displays the next image after the old one is done. Limiting your FPS to your refresh rate should help with screen tear, however it doesn't actively wait until the monitor is ready for the next image. Your fps being 60 is simply a side effect of v-sync, since your monitor cannot handle more than that without screen tear. Since limiting your fps to your refresh rate doesn't do this, you still get screen tear.

I appreciate the reply.

My LCD's refresh rate is 60. The game's default config setting is 60FPS.

This is no different to what Vsync does. 60FPS for my monitor means it's synced.

Vsync times the frame buffer so that only entire frames are seen on screen.

If the frame-rate is the same as your refresh rate, only entire frames can be seen because that's all there is.

There is nothing else magical going on, it's that simple.

Quote "When vertical synchronization is in use, the frame rate of the rendering engine will exactly equal the monitor's refresh rate, if it was higher".

That quote was from Wikipedia, and although Wiki is not always accurate, Vsync is a pretty straight forward concept.

Your issue with access violation is very, very, very unspecific. Only advice I can give you is try running it as an administrator.

No, running as Admin doesn't solve it. It's a game bug, it's not "very very unspecific" and it's outlined by the developer in the "Troubleshooting Guide" Sticky:

http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-3754.html

Problem E: Vsync makes game crash

For some cards, enabling vsync does not work correctly and make the game crash.

you can tell the difference up to about 60fps. Anything after that is really pointlessly wasting memory, though. But seriously, wanting anything more than 60 fps is kind of pointless, wanting anything more than 80 or so is just stupid.

That is just wrong. It's not about what you can see, it's about input responsiveness.

As I've posted numerous times in this thread, that people have ignored, frame-rate can have a direct impact on input lag.

That's not just an opinion, it's proven fact.

Do a Google search and see for yourself, as you obviously either don't believe or understand it.