Heavy stuttering even though FPS are smooth and not too low

I have a strange problem with build 107.
Somehow the performance got pretty worse which I don't understand on my end since I haven't changed anything system-wise compared to build 101.

When I look at the in-game framerate counter, it usually reads something between 50 and 100 FPS (all game settings at max).
But to be honest, my screen looks like probably 10 FPS while the counter would suggest the game runs silky smooth.
10 FPS may sound exaggerated, but trust me on this one.

I then wanted to check if Fraps will show me different numbers, but the result was the same. Averaging something around 60 FPS, but I get constant stuttering/really low performance.

I'm using the 306.02 driver (the latest?) for my GTX285.
And I just had a black screen where the driver refreshes and the screen comes back up after probably 5 seconds and textures are mixed/wrong, plus I couldn't press ESC or Enter anymore. The black screen/driver refresh thingy is also only happening with rFactor 1 in DirectX 9 mode for me. I believe there's still an issue in nVidia's driver for years for my gfx chip.

 

Did you make fresh install for this build or just updated from 101?

 

Stuttering happens on nvidia cards when using certain drivers builds. 306.02 work great on my 570 GTX as did 304.48 and all builds older then 295.X. Seeing as you have an older card I would try builds 295.X and older.

The easy cure for fixing stutter seems to be to enable one of the vsync options, software seemed to work best for me any one should do it though.

 

I use software sync and the game is silky smooth at 60fps.

 

How are you syncing?

 

Got same trouble, sometimes, no frame rate drop but suttering with V-sync to software. I've got an ATI HD 5750, 12.8 drivers with a so called good machine (2 years old Dell Alienware with I7 960 3.20 htz, 12 Mo of Ram...)
The worst is on Brianza circuit, very low framerate in the main straight (between 25-30 !!) and suttering on some other places, especially in turns...
Last thing, I've got those troubles from the beginning

 

At the moment not at all. I do believe it wouldn't make sense on my system anyway because it's not very powerful and I'm using a 120Hz monitor. I can never reach 120 FPS so syncing wouldn't help here, or does it?

The point is, my framerate stays up pretty nice (above 50 to 80) if I do trust rFactor2's and Fraps' FPS counter, but it looks like 10 FPS which is of course unplayable.

 

There is an option in NVIDIA Control Panel called "Threaded Optimization" - playing with it may help on dual core processors. With a bit of luck you may get worse framerates but free of stuttering.

I haven't played with it myself though, but if it will force graphics drivers to work on single core only, then it may leave the other core entirely to physics and therefore help simulation to run uninterrupted in realtime.

 

Erm, I think I made a little mistake here...
I tested a little bit and this weird "looks like it runs at a tenth of the framerate it says it runs in" problem doesn't seem to appear on ISI's official tracks.

If I take Virtua_LM's Fuji, for example, it's unplayable. While driving through turn 3 (the long right one), framerate reads 80 to 90 FPS, but then suddenly rFactor2 runs like in slowmotion and looks like it runs with approx. 10 FPS, even though the counter still reads something above 60. Happens on quite a couple of places, but they seem to be always the same.
The same can be said for MidOhio for me.

Had no problems on ISI's Estoril, Spa and Mills. Very strange.

 

I don't know about Fuji, but Mid-Ohio and Sebring are very CPU-demanding. A grid of 25 cars can be even more CPU-demanding.

So when your CPU gets choked-up with handling graphics it may turn out that not enough CPU time is left to physics and simulation falls out of realtime.

Playing with "Threaded optimizations" setting may help to force graphics drivers to use one core only, leaving other one entirely to physics.
Of course the side effect is that your graphics gets less CPU time and your framerates may decrease. But it should still be worthy tradeoff.

 

That is strange that mid-ohio gives you problems...for me this track has always been the best performer through all the builds, even when other tracks were unplayable (previous builds), mid-ohio was always half-way decent.

 

Threaded optimization has no effect for me K Szczech, tried all 3 settings, no changes whatsoever.
But is a Core i7 920 really that slow alreayd these days?

I think I remember you wrote somewhere about Virtua_LM's Sebring that they are using a much higher density of single objects. Could this cause my problems since my i7 clocks only at stock clock which is just 2.66GHz?

I haven't tested it yet, but I think I had no such performance issues with MidOhio for example in previous builds...
Don't have time to reinstall rFactor 2 with build 101 today to check that out though. Maybe in a couple of days.

 

It´s funny, those are the tracks i´ve been in better shape, original tracks for me are the worst!!!

 

For me I get worse performance. I deleted everything and fresh install 107 and then same settings, etc. result no more smooth framerate.

 

Hi there! 1st post here
Anything new on the subject?

I'm having same heavy stuttering in regular times, like if they are "scheduled". It is not GPU related since it all runs very smooth right before and after the stuttering. It's not really a FPS issue but an overall processing "lag" that stutters the audio and the game itself. If it were only visual AI would race away, but they don't. It's like everything comes to a slow motion that feels like 5 FPS. It's not RAM related too because i tested with 2x1Gb and 2x2Gb modules, problem persists.

I'am having exact same issue with another Beta game i'm testing, and it's being a top issue in that forum. Many are saying it's about the Dual Core not totally supported yet. Could it be the case here too? Can it be DX11 issue?
I'll try to run on single core as suggested and give feedback asap.

I have Athlon 64 x2 dual core +6000 4Gb ram, W7 64bit, GeForce 460GTX 1Gb

 

Well, it was CPU related after all. No stuttering if run at Single Core mode. Unfortunatly de performance drop is quite a bit and i had to lower everything. It looks hedious right now, but at least i can do a full lap at Spa.
Test video i made... not the best sights, but that orchestra is quite something
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vc4ovpPku5k

Really hopeing for a Dual Core fix... pretty please?

 

Do you mean "Threaded optimizations"?
Because these are the exact two things I suspected to happen - stuttering gone but FPS dropped. Didn't try it myself, because drivers keep resetting my values to defailt and at the moment I don't have the time or will to check why, so I'm curious if it has the effect I expected.

That's because you have 4-core CPU and these two tracks eat up lot's of CPU power. Sebring will perform well on your system because it's a flat area unlike Monaco or Spa which fill a lot of space on your screen. As long as you have CPU reserves you will not see problems on your system and complexity of track and texturing will determine performance. Compare grass textures between Sebring or Spa for example.

But try VLM tracks on dual core processors and they get choked up, while ISI tracks still perform more less the same.

 

"It's not really a FPS issue but an overall processing "lag" that stutters the audio and the game itself."

The same for me with some tracks only (very strong on Mills Inner LoopC and not at all with PalmBeach or Spa) and it's stronger with some cars (Clio or BT20 but weaker with F2). I play on a gamer laptop Asus G73J (Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 720 @ 1.60GHz (8 CPUs), ~1.6GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4020MB RAM) directx11 ; ATI HD 5870 and windows7 64 bits ...thank you for help me.

 

precision : these failures (lags, graphic lags and crackling sounds) happen only in some parts of the track, not everywhere
I have installed the game in a secondary disc (not in programfiles x86 of the C disc) : may be an explanation? It would be surprising but why not?

 

I do have an Intel Core i7 920 here, it's a 4 core CPU as well, but VLM tracks are giving me huge problems. Fuji being the worst.

I don't know if it will help narrowing down the cause for my problems, but just jrcn50 mentioned, the stuttering occurs for on the exact same spots over and over again. Fuji for example, when standing in my box I get a nice 80-ish Framerate at maximum settings. Then, when I just exit my box and turn right into the pitlane, rFactor 2 almost stalls for approx 2 seconds, after that the framerate is around 40-50, but feels like around 10-15 FPS. Looking back via the "Look behind" key while rolling down the pitlane makes rFactor 2 stall for like 2 tenth of a second every times it's pressed, releasing the "Look behind" key makes it stall again for the same amount of time. At the end of the main straight my framerate gets locked at 120 FPS (tried adaptive VSync for a while now, but this is not causing the stuttering), and when turning down the first corner and every corner that follows, rFactor 2 begins to stutter like hell. Framerate indicator drops to like 30 for a short time, but again it looks more like 10 FPS. Turn 3 (the long right hand one) makes it even stall sometimes for a very short time - only to have the framerate at 50 or so again after it.

On a sidenote, this short stalling happens in rFactor 1 for me too when using any nVidia driver higher than 266.58. Ever since this driver every single revision failed to work smoothly with rFactor 1 on my system. Every time I have a league race in rFactor 1, I need to roll back to the driver 266.58 - very annoying.

I think I'll try this old driver now to see if it gets rid of the stuttering. Will check back after testing.



EDIT:
Even with the (for me) last correctly working driver (266.58) for rFactor 1 I can't get rid of these problems. Updated to the latest again (306.23). Maybe it'll get solved with the next build of rF2.