What causes a target frame rate ignored because VSync is on?

VSync controls the present interval and takes priority, so the engine clamps to the refresh rate and silently ignores your lower targetFrameRate value.

How do I catch this when it only happens for some players?

Capture it automatically from the player's device with the full stack trace, the device and OS, the build, and a breadcrumb trail of what they did. That turns a vague complaint into a specific, reproducible issue you can fix without owning the hardware it happens on.

How to Fix a Target Frame Rate That Is Ignored While VSync Is Enabled

Quick answer: Disable VSync (set vSyncCount to 0) before relying on Application.targetFrameRate, or expose the two as one coherent setting that explains the interaction.

You set a 60 FPS cap on a 144 Hz panel and the game still runs at 144. With VSync on, the present interval wins and your target is ignored. Turn VSync off to let the cap take effect.

How to fix it

1. Understand the priority

In Unity, QualitySettings.vSyncCount must be 0 for Application.targetFrameRate to apply. While VSync is non-zero the frame rate snaps to refresh rate / vSyncCount.

2. Expose one coherent control

Surface VSync and frame cap together in the menu, and grey out or auto-disable the cap field when VSync is active so players are not confused by a no-op setting.

3. Cap with a sleep when off

With VSync off, enforce the cap precisely using the engine's frame-rate limiter rather than a busy loop, to avoid pinning a CPU core at 100%.

Catching the ones you can't reproduce

The hardest version of this to fix is the one you can't reproduce — it only happens on a player's hardware, OS, driver, or save state, under conditions that simply aren't present on your machine. A report that says “it crashed” or “it froze” gives you nothing to act on, so the bug survives release after release while quietly costing you players.

Automatic error capture closes that gap. Each failure arrives with its full stack trace, the device and OS, the build number, and a breadcrumb trail of what the player did right before it broke, so even a failure you have never seen becomes a specific, reproducible issue. Fold identical failures into one signature ranked by how many players each hits, and your worklist sorts itself worst-first instead of arriving as a stream of vague complaints.

This is where a tool like Bugnet earns its place. Its SDK captures every Unity error automatically with the full stack trace plus device, OS, memory, build, and game-state context, folds duplicates into one grouped issue with an occurrence count, and ties each to the build it first appeared on — so you fix the problem that hurts the most players first and confirm it is gone when its signature disappears from the next release.

Reproduce it once with full context and the fix writes itself. The hunt is the expensive part.