Since updating to version 2026.2.2 (Build 1853), avatar performance has decreased significantly for avatars that use a large number of outfit toggles.

Before the update, one of my avatars consistently achieved around 60 FPS in Desktop mode. After the update, performance dropped to approximately 35–40 FPS. The performance impact is even more severe in VR.

The avatar in question contains 108 Skinned Mesh Renderers and approximately 920,000 polygons in total. However, these outfit parts are only activated when needed. Under normal use, only around 5 Skinned Mesh Renderers are active at any given time, while the rest remain disabled.

No changes were made to the avatar between the update and the performance regression. GPU drivers also remained unchanged. The only variable that changed was the VRChat update itself.

To investigate the issue, I performed several tests by removing different avatar features. The most significant finding was that performance only returned to normal when inactive Skinned Mesh Renderers were completely deleted from the avatar, even though their GameObjects were already disabled. After removing the inactive renderers, performance immediately returned to around 60 FPS.

This suggests that disabled Skinned Mesh Renderers may now be incurring a substantial performance cost, as if they are still being processed despite being inactive.

Another important observation is that the performance drop only affects the player currently using the avatar. I tested this with another user. When they equipped the same avatar and I observed them, I experienced no noticeable performance impact. However, the user wearing the avatar immediately experienced the same severe FPS drop. We repeated this test with several other avatars that contain a large number of outfit toggles implemented through Skinned Mesh Renderers and observed similar behavior.

Based on these tests, it appears that a change introduced in update 2026.2.2 may have affected how disabled Skinned Mesh Renderers are handled on the local player. The resulting performance degradation is substantial and affects multiple avatars that previously performed as expected.

Please investigate any changes related to Skinned Mesh Renderer processing in this update, as this appears to be a significant performance regression.