To adjust the settings as shown in the following two screenshots, you have to download the Program "Ati Tray Tools" from here first:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=733
Once installed and started, right click its tray icon, move the pointer to "3D", then click on "Settings". Adjust your settings as shown on these two screenshots:
General:
http://s5.directupload.net/file/d/2147/85s4h754_jpg.htm
Additional:
http://s10.directupload.net/file/d/2147/o2hlgma4_jpg.htm
Notes:
Although the settings as shown on the screenshots should make the game run even more choppier, quite the contrary is happening in my case. Stuttering is gone; I was even able to crank the ingame detail settings to max (except "dynamic lightning", which crashes the game during ground combat). I'm using a Phenom II 955 and a Radeon 4890, so if you're running a similar or more powerful setup, you might give it a shot and try it out.
I've set the "Texture LOD Adjustment" to "-1" to help with the texture pop up effect a lot of games, as well as STO, have. Each object in a game world nowadays has different textures, starting from very detailed and ranging to almost no details. The highest detail textures are displayed when you're close to an object, the other ones are used the further away from an object you are. This is done to save RAM on your graphics card. The "Texture LOD Adjustment" now allows you to define when the texture with the highest detail should be used. "-1" means it is used one step sooner. You can leave this at "0" if you want.
Final words:
If you tried the suggestions above, please let me / us know how it worked out for you.
Comments
Main PC
Phenom 955 BE
4GB ram
ATI 4870
1920 x 1080 res
Laptop
Asus G1s
T8300
2GB ram
GF9500M
1680 x 1050
I hadn't bothered with the laptop before because I didn't think it would stand a chance, but I needed my main PC for something else this weekend and thought I would try the laptop, just in case. It was fine, no noticeable stutter at all.