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Are they going to fix the stutter issue?

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Hey cryptic, are you going to fix that intermittent stutter issue ? It seems I can play fine for 15 minutes then suddenly I get 20-30 seconds of really bad stutter (about 2 seconds a frame stutter) before it clears for 5 minutes.

Champions Online had this and I didn't sub past the first month because of it. It suggest there is something wrong in your core engine. I really dont want to have to look in future at any game and think "Oh, its cryptic, I'll have to give it a miss because their engine stutters on my hardware."

(Yes I've tried drivers 190.62, various NHancer settings and other things - they didn't work and I shouldnt have to do it anyway. I work and have precious little free time which I would like to spend playing this game rather than fixing it).

Love the game, hate the stutter - sorry to moan but nofix == no subscription.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Dont have this issue running maxed.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Kassidus wrote: »
    Dont have this issue running maxed.

    same

    10 chars
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Haven't had this issue either. I'm more concerned about when they're going to fix the freaking ground combat input lag. It's driving me nuts on ground missions.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Are you possibly running a background app that eats up your resources every once in a while?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Well, bluntly , bully for you.

    I have this issue, its bad and I will not re-sub to a game in this state.

    On my system this game is pretty close to "unmerchantable quality".
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Try installing the nVidia drivers 190.38. They're old but very fast and very reliable.

    Very specifically 190.38, not the 190.62 that you have. If 190.38 doesn't work, I will personally shoot myself in the foot.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Kassidus wrote: »
    Are you possibly running a background app that eats up your resources every once in a while?

    I wouldn't have thought so since the OS install is relatively new. But I'll double check it later. Is there some common windows 7 candidate for this ?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Without knowing for sure, i do not think this is a Cryptic problem, may be more a your system problem.

    And this post should really be in the technical help section so maybe some of the really fantastic nerds there can help you out.

    I also think there must be a background app that is eating resources every 20-30 sec.

    I have not had any problems at all and i am running everything at max as well.

    Run DxDiag and paste the information into a new post under technical help, maybe someone can shed some light on the problem. Use several posts if you have to. (i usually paste into notepad first as it is easier to divide into smaller pieces then).

    Hope this will get you the help you need.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    You tried bringing this to the tech forums? The people in there are very very helpful. Probaly best tech support section of any game Ive ever been a part of.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I'll try the 190.38 drivers and then the tech forums. i've really got little time to tinker with this. I'm at work at the mo, so I'll try and post a dxdiag output when I get home.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Try turning off dynamic lighting. it worked for me.:)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Khufu, I've got it turned down so low I might as well be playing a cartoon....... doesnt help.

    I think the background process Idea might be the way to go. Perhaps I should play windows so I can keep an eye on process explorer.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    To the OP. I saw that issue with the 191 and 195 drivers in CO. I also saw it in other games, though not as bad as in CO. I went back to 190.62 and the issue went completely away. I am now on the latest 196 drivers and the issue has never returned for me. So I think this was a driver issue and is fixed.

    I am also running Windows 7 64-bit. So that means a lot as well.

    Your DX Diag posted here would be a great help. I am not aware of any issue that Windows 7 has that would cause this unless it is something else you have installed, like a virus checker that is badly designed or something.

    In fact, Windows 7 is so good, I discovered that while I was playing STO on Sunday my weekly backup ran. It backed up, compressed and copied 1GB of files over the network. I never experienced a blip during the process. I was surprised to find after I quit the game that the backup had run and I hadn't caused any issues. Multi-core systems with lots of RAM, FTW ;)

    So it is possible to get very good results with Windows 7 and the latest drivers. So post your info and lets see if we can help.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Well beam me sideways - Graphics Card overheat.

    Tried the 190.38 drivers last night, all sorts of settings and still got the stutter. Then I tried removing my side panel and voila! it worked.

    So STO is overworking the graphics card on all settings, high or low. I suspect I may need to remove the stock cooler and add a better one.

    This is still, IMHO , a problem with the client , and I can say that with 20+ years of programming under my belt. Standing still in space should not cause stutter - they are doing something wrong.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Well beam me sideways - Graphics Card overheat.

    Tried the 190.38 drivers last night, all sorts of settings and still got the stutter. Then I tried removing my side panel and voila! it worked.

    So STO is overworking the graphics card on all settings, high or low. I suspect I may need to remove the stock cooler and add a better one.

    This is still, IMHO , a problem with the client , and I can say that with 20+ years of programming under my belt. Standing still in space should not cause stutter - they are doing something wrong.

    You might want to try limiting your maxfps first, if you haven't already that is.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010

    Nice one. Couldn't find it myself anymore.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    and i say the best drivers for STO are the 196.21 or the newer beta 196.34(for overclocker)
    no problems at all with them better then the 190.xx and better for newer games like mass effect 2 and other
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    i only get it when there is heavy load on ther servers - so i attribute it to lag - they have said they are testing and adding machines as fast as they can, which if it is lag will be the fix.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    /maxfps - nice tip, thanks for posting. I wonder if this is settable in a configuration file. I'll have to scout around and have a look for it over the weekend. I was going to fit my GPU with it's watercooling block today (had one on my old ATI card, just hadn't got road to moving it yet). Dont know if I'll bother now. Would be nice to get it all sorted thoug.

    Since I've seen the same problem in Champions Online (and was why I quit) this is almost certainly an engine bug . They obviously are using the same engine for both games.

    You know, this should be simple to fix, scan the code for "maxfps" and find where the default is. I could do it in 10 minutes on a project I'm familiar with, and I'd be suprised if cryptic's dev didnt know this. What I suspect may have happened is that they're working with a graphics engine developed by a dev or devs who've left. I'm certainly familiar with the problem of old legacy code that works so you just dont touch it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    deleted by poster
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I'm asking an honest question here:

    How can a game overheat 1 video card and not someone elses?? I mean I run nearly full blown max settings and my card never goes above 60c and the fan speed is at 60-70%.

    I figured if the client was bugged to overheat a card, it would do it on all cards. Not trying to be a smart TRIBBLE, just wanting an honest answer as to why this doesn't happen with 100% of the players.

    The OP even turned his settings way down and still had same issue, so I don't think its related to settings issue..
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    It might be as simple as the firmware version of the cards that overheated. Or perhaps the players that had cards fried had problems already that they weren't aware of and the intensive usage by the game pushed it over the line.

    OP - check the "proxy" settings in the client launcher. Select "none" if there is one selected or try the "US" if none is selected.

    As for the game engine for STO and CO - yes, same engine.

    p.s. - I'm running 8800 GTS 512's in SLi and had some stuttering on the ground and stations during CB. I reverted the video drivers back to August version and the stuttering stopped. nVidia released the updated drivers on Jan 19th and I've been using them since without any stuttering at all.
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