Good FPS but gameplay not smooth...anyone else?

[Tvrdi]

Hi folks,

did a test in COD with bomber interception mission (my plane vs one bomber), over the sea. I have 65 fps avg which is quite good (in this stage of dev.) but gameplay is not smooth. I dont have slideshow but its not smooth, its just like I have 25 fps. Anybody else experienced this? I know fps is not the only parameter to have smooth gameplay...but still.....
my rig: i7920@3.5GhZ (stock V), GTX470 TwinFrozr2 (OC to 750 on core), 6GB of RAM, X-FI Gamer, TiR 4 Pro....

[JG52Uther]

Beta patch will be released today,and through steam on Friday,stutters are hopefully gone...

[Rattlehead]

I do.

Like you say, even with 30+ frames per second, sometimes the gameplay just doesn't seem smooth.
Last night I was looking out the side window, and despite decent fps the houses seemed to jerk past as I flew over them. (?)

I find it's not consistently like this though...seems a bit hit and miss for me.

[jimbop]

Even with 60+ fps it still stutters. Let's see after the patch.

[Conte Zero]

Same here, yesterday night thanks to you guys I tweaked a bit my INI, reconsidered my video options and tried a self made mission

Open Sea, 4 Spits vs 6 Bf109, a veriety of settings from High to med and low, good overall graphic level

I got an average of 36, min 21, max 69 frames per second, the mission was not bad

The machine is obsolete : Quad9550 2,8ghz / GTX260 (the model with some 1732 MB vRAM) / RAM 4GB

But that bloody stutter is always there, no matter what framerate you get. Let's see the patch,now :mrgreen:

[mcmatt]

Hi folks,

did a test in COD with bomber interception mission (my plane vs one bomber), over the sea. I have 65 fps avg which is quite good (in this stage of dev.) but gameplay is not smooth. I dont have slideshow but its not smooth, its just like I have 25 fps. Anybody else experienced this? I know fps is not the only parameter to have smooth gameplay...but still.....
my rig: i7920@3.5GhZ (stock V), GTX470 TwinFrozr2 (OC to 750 on core), 6GB of RAM, X-FI Gamer, TiR 4 Pro....

I know exactly what you mean. I was asking myself same question too. I have lower fps than you (30) but it should be smooth (like in A10c for example). But it's not. I don't mean stuttering. Game keeps going but something just isn't right. Will see if new patch will do it.

[Kankkis]

Hi folks,

did a test in COD with bomber interception mission (my plane vs one bomber), over the sea. I have 65 fps avg which is quite good (in this stage of dev.) but gameplay is not smooth. I dont have slideshow but its not smooth, its just like I have 25 fps. Anybody else experienced this? I know fps is not the only parameter to have smooth gameplay...but still.....
my rig: i7920@3.5GhZ (stock V), GTX470 TwinFrozr2 (OC to 750 on core), 6GB of RAM, X-FI Gamer, TiR 4 Pro....

I know what you mean, i have that feeling also. Fps is good(when no stuttering) but gameplay is not smooth to me. Feeling is there is little slowmotion. hard to explain.

Kankkis

[reflected]

Hi Tvrdi,
I have the same rig as yours, and I have an OK FPS (30 ish), but also plenty of microfreezes (known as "stutters" we used to have in RoF, but 10 times worse)

I hope the update will iron them out.

[Tvrdi]

Ok guys thanks for the input...lets wait the patch and report so we can help the guys working on the fixes..fingers crossed

@Reflected, glad to see you here buddy

[etzi]

I hope for the patch too, but my expectations are low. In a few days after release, 1C can not perform miracles.

[Ralith]

I know what you mean, i have that feeling also. Fps is good(when no stuttering) but gameplay is not smooth to me. Feeling is there is little slowmotion. hard to explain.

Kankkis

You're probably feeling the input lag that many others have observed.

[Kankkis]

You're probably feeling the input lag that many others have observed.

Yeah somethink like that.

[Ataros]

If the patch does not help with stutters completely check the following:

0. Plan to get rid of your old WinXP and install Win7-64 asap. It has a trial period. Install it as a second OS first to see how much you can benefit.

1. Antivirus.
Exclude both IL-2 folders from antivirus shield/real-time(!) monitoring (both in Steam and Documents folders). Helped me a lot. Test with switched off antivirus program to see if this is the reason. More http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpost.php?p=294425&postcount=33

2. Use a free program like Gamebooster to unload all unnesessary processes before you launch Il-2. Close your web browser!

3. Use a free program like Gamebooster to defragment game files after every patch(!) Use some advanced defragmenting software to put game files on outer tracks of your hard drive which are faster.

4. Try switching off hyper-threading in BIOS.

5. Try CPU-Control program to assign Steam and Launcher to 4 cores and the rest of background programs to cores number 2-3-4. Create profile for this setup. (Yes it helps even in Win7)

6. Defragment your pagefile. Move your page-file to ramdrive, ultra-fast thumbdrive, or just a separate hard drive. If you have 8+ GB RAM try switching off page-file completely (Some say that Windows won't let you do so completely and it is better to leave a small one on a RAMdrive). Put your system, game and pagefile into 3 different physical drives.

7. In video drivers put mip-map levels and texture quality to performance or high performance to save vram (especially 1gb card owners). Switch on filtering optimization and other performance options using programs like ATI Tray tools, nHancer, RivaTuner(or MSI Afterburner now?)

8. Try putting most frequently accessed game files to a RAMdrive http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=20228 (not necessary any more).

9. ATI users force max clocks in drivers. (http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=20342) (Some cards just do not speed up when you launch this game unfortunately).
Delete UBI logo video file to avoid this issue.

10. Switch on triple buffering option using ATI Tray Tools or D3D Overrider if you use vsynk(!). Discussion here http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=29251&page=6

11. Switch off desktop Wallpaper rotation.

12. Make sure you are running 4-core CPU @3+ GHz. 3.8+ is recommended. Buy a good cooler and overclock. Check VRAM usage statistics on the forums. Buy a video card with enough vram to prevent stutters. (1.5 or 2GB vram now before patching).

upd.
13. Switch landscape shading to medium or low. It helps a lot both with fps and stutters. Switch off clouds completely in difficulty(!) settings. Put buildings to very low.

Reduce texture quality from "original/maximum" to "high or med quality" - important to avoid stutters.

Game settings to reduce/turn off for highest performance gain: resolution, SSAO, vsynk, shadows, landscape shading, texture quality, landscape details.

14. Use the Performance improvement mod(s) (no SSAO, no mipmaps, lower detail textures) (http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3265101/Performance_improvement_mod_s_.html#Post3265101) (not necessary any more).

15. to get rid of stutters, set the buildings to unlimited.

16. Make sure your video settings in drivers do not override ingame settings, e.g. vsync, aniso-filtering, AA, etc. E.g. AA must be used in one place only, not in both.

upd. 21.05.11
btw. Check that you do not have vsync ON in both game and drivers. It should be switched on only in one place. This mistake of mine killed performance for me as soon as they introduced fullscreen.

Triple buffering (google it) should be forced ON with a 3rd party utility (ATI Tray tools or D3Doverride in RivaTuner) if you use vsync or your fps would jump from 15 to 30 fps and back very often.

Also if you do not defragment after each patch the performance can reduce with every patch as files get more and more fragmented.

Try installing .net Framework 4 update 1 from March or April iirc. This game depends on .net performance. If something is wrong with it you can not help it.


upd. 22.05.11
You may use whatever program you like to do this but DO STOP all processes and background programs except absolutely essential. Read this: http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpost.php?p=287344&postcount=1

Setup SLI http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=23087 and http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=23199
update http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=26236

Or Crossfire http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=23180 if you have them. 100% fps increase with 4 gpu setup reported.

upd. 3.06.11
Check your Power Management settings. Go to Advanced Power management and make sure NO powersaving options are on (e.g. switching off hard drives, usb controllers, downclocking cpu, etc, etc, etc.). Gamebooster applies a Gaming Power Plan that does it automatically if set up correctly.

If you have issues, 1st verify game cache/files integrity in Steam. Reinstall all software from the redist folder within Steam/IL-2 folder. Check appropriate sites for newer versions/updates of these programs.

upd. 21.07.11
"Beating the bugs..." Guide from Das Attorney http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=24735

Tips thread http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=24624

Another tips thread to check out http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=24782

System Trouble Shooting Thread http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=31987

Optimization and Performance Thread http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=29004

After defragging game cache in Steam Gamebooster defragger still finds many fragmented files. I downloaded several games demos from Steam last week and every time this was the case. Either Steam or Gamebooster is cheating. Anyway it does not hurt to defrag using Gamebooster as well. It defrags a selected game directory only quickly. I did so since release and had very few stutters (high textures, med landscape lightings, shadows on ~40-45 fps). Gamebooster is free.

upd. 26.01.12
S!
Also try Core Parking, disabling it might help. Link to procedure HERE (http://ultimatecomputers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3644).
http://ultimatecomputers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3644

Update Microsoft.NET Framework 4 Client Profile and DX http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=33075

... I am sure there are some more things to optimize in our systems.

[Tvrdi]

If the patch does not help with stutters completely check the following:

1. Antivirus.
Exclude both IL-2 folders from antivirus shield/real-time(!) monitoring (both in Steam and Documents folders). Helped me a lot. Test with switched off antivirus program to see if this is the reason.

no antivirus installed on my gamer wins (I have dual boot, one is "gamer", other "worker", no antivirus installed or running on win7 gamer installation)

2. Use a free program like Gamebooster to unload all unnesessary processes before you launch Il-2. Close your web browser!

Have something simmilar...no that it does much to improve performance in the game


3. Use a free program like Gamebooster to defragment game files after every patch(!) Use some advanced defragmenting software to put game files on outer tracks of your hard drive which are faster.

I have MyDefrag..Its the best...google why


4. Try switching off hyper-threading in BIOS.

I already did that


5. Try CPU-Control program to assign Steam and Launcher to 4 cores and the rest of background programs to cores number 2-3-4. Create profile for this setup. (Yes it helps even in Win7)

It helps a bit but COD currently have probs with multicore support....


6. Defragment your pagefile. Move your page-file to ramdrive, ultra-fast thumbdrive, or just a separate hard drive. If you have 8+ GB RAM try switching off page-file completely (Some say that Windows won't let you do so completely and it is better to leave a small one on a RAMdrive). Put your system, game and pagefile into 3 different physical drives.

I defragmented pagefile....


7. In video drivers put mip-map levels and texture quality to performance or high performance to save vram (especially 1gb card owners). Switch on filtering optimization and other performance options using programs like ATI Tray tools, nHancer, RivaTuner(or Afturburner now?)

Will try that thanks...but really, is our goal to have textures set to performance??


8. Try putting most frequently accessed game files to a RAMdrive http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=20228

Will try...thanks


10. Try forcing vsynk on in drivers (I use ATI Tray Tools to do this) to increase visual smoothness. Switch on triple buffering option when vsynk is on(!).

already did that....


11. Switch off Aero themes in Win7 and Wallpaper rotation.

yep I did...not that its a big resource hog on new systems


12. Make sure you are running 4-core CPU @3+ GHz. 3.8+ is recommended. Buy a good cooler and overclock. Check VRAM usage statistics on the forums. Buy a video card with enough vram to prevent stutters. (1.5 or 2GB vram now before patching).

My i7920 runs on 3.5 Ghz (default was 2.6) overclocked on default voltage cooled with Scythe Katana


... I am sure there are some more things to optimize in our systems.

I can compare this game only to ARMA2 in system requirements because it has similar or even higher visibility distances. This is the reason it performs so differently than shooters like Wings of Prey and demands all the above optimizations to run smoothly already now in 2011. Time for this game has just not come yet. Maybe in 1 or 2 years our hardware will be ready for such ground-to-sea battles with air support

I can compare this to Rise of flight which is very hardware consuming and ROF had probs too (at release) but now devs optimised the sim (still have some issues like graphic glitches (when changing views above frontline) but thats another story)....

[albx]

why not optimize the game?? there is probably a deeper problem in the code... try to fly your plane over the sea, then crash and look around, look at the sky, the FPS are LOW also without any plane.... so i don't think that with the next patch we will see something better... :(

[Rattlehead]

12. Make sure you are running 4-core CPU @3+ GHz. 3.8+ is recommended.



I'm still running a dual core! :-P

[MikeC1980]

I think the stuttering slowdown during flight, especially over towns, is due to how COD loads and unloads data of the terrain that you are approaching. I find that as I fly, it stutters when view is static or rotating the external view around and when I hit pause it becomes absolutely perfectly smooth. I have most settings on low apart from model detail on high.

In task manager I can see that CPU usage is mostly below 75% on all 4 cores, cpu power doesn't seem to be a bottleneck. Sometimes Launcher.exe (COD executable) is thrashing away loading gigabytes of data even when stationary/paused. Mostly happens over towns.

My PC specs:

Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad
4Gb 800mhz DDR2
ATI 4830 512mb VRAM

[Ali Fish]

quite amazing how we an think we can fix this. im sorry but only the devs can fix this, no amount of this that and the next should have to be done to make it work as intended.

[Ataros]

quite amazing how we an think we can fix this. im sorry but only the devs can fix this, no amount of this that and the next should have to be done to make it work as intended.

Patch fixed it for me. Check out my sig. 35+ smooth fps is great especially online.

[Ali Fish]

yeah works good for me too ! \o/ hurrah. (without any tweaks) as is the way it should be.

[adonys]

to get rid of stutters, set the buildings to unlimited.

[335th_GRAthos]

to get rid of stutters, set the buildings to unlimited.


Hmmmm....interesting "out of the box" thinking, nevertheless difficult to swallow as it defies some basic rules of human logic ;-)

Would you care to elaborate some more ????


~S~

[adonys]

is indeed out of the box, but just give it a try, it did removed the stutters for me, in my signature rig. It also didn't improved/worsened the FPS.

Regarding the explanation: unlimited buildings setting means it has ALL the buildings laid out by the level designers loaded via thee terrain prediction loader, ie in the patches ahead of you = a slower speed a loading new, unloading old building resources (having them all displayed and rendered means there's a high probability a building's resources are already loaded into memory, and a lower probability they will be unloaded as it might yet still be in use in some other part of the currently displayed map).

The "optimization" which actually consists in loading just a part of the houses also means a higher probability to have a certain resource loaded/unloaded, which results in bigger amount of HDD-RAM streaming data streaming, which is exactly the thing causing the stutters (see Kegety's performance mods, it's clear that IL2 somehow messes up the dynamic DDS mipmap generation, combined with extremely large textures).

I guess that's why they were working on Carmack's Megatexture technology (see the leftover from the conf.ini), but it seems to not be ready yet.

[Wolf_Rider]

Buildings @ Unlimited or Low doesn't make that much of a difference stuttering wise, this end

something seems to need attention in the way the sim caches, or rather, empties the cache... going in and out of Quick Mission causes inconsistent events

[FS~looksharp]

to get rid of stutters, set the buildings to unlimited.

just gave this a try and it also works for me....:-P

who would have thought that putting my buildings from the lowest setting all the way to unlimited would get rid of these nasty stutters... flew over london and it was near perfect.... amazing :rolleyes:

my pc
i7 920 o/c to 3.8
gtx 285
8 gig ddr3 ram
asus p6t mobo

[fireship4]

Thanks all for the advice.