Framerate Dropoff & Stutering only for ISI tracks (build 218)

Framerate Dropoff & Stutering only for ISI tracks (build 218) - FIXED!

G'Day,

I was hoping someone could shed some light as to why I only receive stuttering and frame drop off's for ISI built tracks? I know this topic is done to death however I am only really noticing a problem with ISI tracks.

For example I have a medium spec pc (GPU upgrade required) and can comfortably cap the Max Framerate (plr file) to 40FPS with no dropoff's for Mid Ohio with all graphic options set to full (except opponent & special effects) with AA=3 and AF=16x. When I bump the capped Max Framerate up to 50FPS it will fluctuate between 40-50FPS however there is no stuttering at all when the dropoff's occur. When driving ISI built tracks such as Lime Rock or Palm Beach at 40FPS if I get 1 or 2 frame fluctuations there is a massive stutter. I monitor my GPU loads and in all 3 scenarios this sits between 85%-95%. I have also tried the Flush Previous Frame="1" option as well which has not solved the issue.

Q1: Is this to do with optimisation as these ISI tracks are still in beta stage?
Q2: Why do I receive framerate fluctuation when my GPU & CPU are not maxed out?

Cheers

mm

PC Specs:
i7 3930k - HT Disabled
Memory: 16GB
Video: HD4890 - 1GB OC
M/B: Rampage IV Formula
Monitor: 27" @ 1080p
Wheel = CSR Elite

 

How are you measuring GPU usage?
At 1GB, I find it hard to believe the videocard is not maxing out sometimes.
An HD4890 will definitely 'struggle' in RF2.
The rest of your system looks fine.

 

Some tracks are just to heavy. I would say that isi tests their tracks with powerful machines. They should try to drive their tracks with the minimum requirement pc and see if they think it is playable.
3dsimed has a fps benchmarking tool where you can compare graphical performace at different points of different tracks
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I am not an ISI emplyed, but i am an internal tester.

My CPU is e6600 (stock frequency) and my GPU is HD 4870 (1MB VRAM), OS is XP and my system has 2GB RAM.

I have to set the graphics details to medium/high, AA to a low level (1), the minimum visible cars (6) because my machine is very sentitive to the number of visible cars and a low screen resolution but i can play all the ISI released contents without problems, with average 60/70 fps alone on track and 40/50 fps with 19 AI.
Tried 2 days ago the Clio with 29 AI, for testing purpose, getting about 35/40 average fps.

In my machine HDR and FXAA cost nothing in performance so i can use both them, np at all.

At the race start (the heaviest moment) i have about 30 fps.

No stutters at all (i run without V-Sync in a CRT monitor) and the allocated memory, with 19 AI, is always below 2 GB.

Seeing my PC is about 6 years old i think rF2 is fully playable also with "ancient machines" as mine and still i have scalability room, for instance i use high player detail, medium opponents detail and medium track detail.

I am pretty sure that after August, when i will purchase a new PC, my rF2 will look better giving me more fps, but atm i have a PC aged more than 6 years, so really i cant complain.

 

@ Saabjock - I use MSI afterburner to O/C and monitor GPU usage.

@ SPASKIS & Max - Cheers I'll check 3dsimed out. My framerate is not an issue just when ISI tracks drop a frame or two it stutters badly and why drop a frame if my GPU/CPU are not maxed? I do not experience this stutter if 10 frames are dropped around other moders tracks such as Mid Ohio. One last one how can Lime Rock be more taxing than Mid Ohio, seems there is way more objects to render in Mid Ohio...?

 

Yes, actually my post was a reply to SPASKIS, trying to explain that ISI is testing their contents also in old machines.

About your stuttering issue, i can only say a couple of basic things:

try the different V-Sync options in Configure sim, hopefully one of them can help you.

Also, keep in mind your system is a bit unbalanced, and the bottleneck is the graphics card.
So, try reducing some graphics details searching for a graphics setup able to run rF2 without stutters.

 

@ max - Cheers for the suggestion. I've already tried all sync options with various refresh rates & with triple buffer enabled but still no joy I know my GPU is the weakest link however it is still not maxed out so I cant understand the bottleneck theory. As mentioned above on a 15 car test day I can comfortably run all graphic settings at max with AA=8x (box), AF=16X & Mipmap=Quality at 40FPS capped with no drop offs for Mid Ohio with no problems. Occasionally If I do get a few frames dropped & it doesn't stutter at all like all the ISI built tracks do. Based on what I have read even racers with high end graphics cards are having the same issue which leads me to believe these tracks are not very well optimised...

Hope the next release tackles some of these problems.

 

Have you tried turning the road/environment reflections off? I recall some users of older AMD cards found those settings prevented their cards from reaching full usage.

Also full settings +8xAA@1080 will be pushing the limits of your vram. Here's a list I posted awhile back of relative vram usages at different tracks.

Car (ISI C6R v1.41) sitting on the grid alone, all in game settings at Full/Max, Level 8 AA, HDR, @1920x1080, no additional AA being set by NVCP or NvInspector. GTX470, 1.28GB vram, 8GB system ram, W7 64 bit.

Code:

Belgium v1.0              - 1077
Brianza v1.0              - 1171
Croft v1.0                - 1020
Limerock v1.41            - 1229
Malaysia South Loop v1.42 - 1162
Mid Ohio v1.91            -  770
Mills ILB v1.3            - 1153
Monte Carlo v1.1          - 1152
Portugal GT v1.2          - 1095
Poznan RW v1.0            - 1148
Sebring 12HR v1.90        -  836

 

This is what I mean when I say ISI tracks are too heavy for low spec computers. https://www.dropbox.com/s/cy1e9umaf7yuph5/tracks size.png
Compared to other tracks you get less performance.
Those 300+ MB are going somewhere in the machine. Mid Ohio occupies about a fifth part of LimeRock does.
When you comment your settings and fps which tracks are you referring to Max?
Don't you have a performance difference between ISI tracks and others?
I am sorry to say that with such low settings and so few visible cars I could not enjoy rf2 and my feedback to ISI as a betatester would be that the game is not playable to the quality level expected. I guess that my understanding of a minimum performance is more exigent. I would like to see ISI's recommended graphical configuration for a minimum 60 fps for minimum requirement machine.
Custormers would have a bteer idea of what they consider a minimum configuration: maybe 800x600?

 

@ MJP - Yeah matey I've tried all graphic settings on & off. Just tried the latest build 228 and its still the same, stuttering on ISI tracks. I run very similar settings to what you have listed however my HDR is switched off and I am running a test day and my memory usage tops out at 800mb & GPU usage at 90% so its still within the limits.

@ - Spaskis - I appreciate ISI tracks are allot more bloated than VLM tracks and sometimes its really hard to see where that is made up however I'd like to see ISI fine tune there tracks as stutters only appear on there tracks even though my hardware is not maxed out.

 

I have the same problem, but I thought it was on all tracks. I re-installed without any mods. Still stutters to much to use. My system is newer. GTX670 latest drivers. AMD 4100FX, Windows 7 64 bit. 8 GB of Ram. Game has stuttered since build 198. So I removed game again, even my profile information. And now 198 stutters also. I've tried many many fixes like turning things on and off, with no joy. I've also talked on other forums (VirtualR) with people who have the same problem. But couldn't even find a thread about this issue on ISI forum? Is there something in the game graphics menu that needs to be adjusted to make this game work? If so it should be mentioned some where prominent!

 

Reduce resolution & switch off AA

Easiest & quickest way to get a big performance boost, you won't like it at 1st but you'll get use to it & actually start to prefer it
(A few jaggies are such a small price to pay for another 30% if fps)sim will be more fluid too

 

@ Adrian - Matey I've tried that reluctantly as I shouldn't have to and even though I can reduce my GPU usage from 90% to 70% even at 40FPS capped Limerock will still stutter and drop frames. Surely this is just another indicator that these ISI beta tracks are poorly optimised...

 

My game will run fine for a lap or so, At say 50-60 fps, then all of the sudden it will drop to around 25-30 and stay that way. I find that odd

 

Overheating?

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dont think so, it never artifacts or anything, and im sure my card at 90 degrees isnt a problem either.

 

hmm not sure about that one blaknift... Now running heavily reduced setting for Maserati v1.7 @ Texas World Speedway and they are little heavy on the GPU, even though its only using 60% of my GPU & I still cap my FPS @ 40FPS (1:3 ratio of 120hz) it still drops a few frames here and there and when it does go down to lets say 38 frames I get a stutter.

My question still remains open, why drop frames stutter if my GPU, CPU, Memory & Temps are all well within range?

cheers

mm

 

is that 90 degrres celcius? if so that is dangerously close to overheating and dying.

 

I am getting this exact issue. RF2 runs smoothly for about a minute and then a stutter that makes the game all but useless to run. It happens at almost every track I run and no matter what graphic settings I use. This is really frustrating.

 

@ blaknift - If your GPU temp is 90deg I hate to think what your GPU VDDC & MVDDC temps are and maybe this is why your card is throttling back? Run a test with GPU-Z and see what the log file gives as it records these values.
It shouldn't be 90deg matey and I would only expect to see those temps under extreme stress testing via Kombuster etc... Not sure what card you are running but maintain your fans/heat-sinks (ie. dust & profiles) and maybe think about a more efficient after market GPU cooler