Star Conflict microstutter and frame hitching [NB]

I loved playing this game 6 months ago, it ran flawlessly, no frameskipping and no microstuttering.

But now it runs terribly, the framerate stays 60 fps all the time (Fraps) but the game feels like it’s 30, and a simple frametimes recording showed with the help of Fraps Bench Viewer that I was right, the frame times were constantly jumping up and down. Another problem is the game sometimes hitching, i.e. minifreezing for a split second, this happens randomly out of nowhere, but also at some predictable instances like when I destroy a ship. It is not internet lag since it happens with the singleplayer training mode as well.

Since nothing in my PC changed, I’m inclined to think some game update is what caused this. Anyone know a solution for any one of these issues?

Please share your experience if you have any.

 

PC specs:

i5-2500

GTX 780

8GB RAM

512 GB SSD

The russian servers are having some trouble last I heard, that is what is likely causing it for you.

The other servers tend to run fine I’ve heard.

I think you’re answering the wrong question?

the stuttering is actually caused by the server, if your ping/FPS are fine then it is most likely the server you are playing on. Trust me, as a Jericho LRF during the lag, it stutters to hell and back.

It stutters in the singleplayer training mode as well.

It stutters in the singleplayer training mode as well.

The only singleplayer mode I know is a custom game with bots, and that’s hosted on their servers like everything else.

There are singleplayer training missions in the top right corner when you click on the Question Mark. They are not internet related.

Here’s something concerning the first issue (the microstuttering):

It disappears when I disable then renable the in-game v-sync in the graphics options. But I have to do this again every time I start the game, and it only works if the game is in Windowed (full screen stretched) display mode. In addition this doesn’t fix the hitching/minifreezes problem (I understand it’s a problem with streaming data that plagues most PC games anyway, but why did it never plague this game until now?).

There are singleplayer training missions in the top right corner when you click on the Question Mark. They are not internet related.

Oh right fair enough, never noticed those.

 

Here’s something concerning the first issue (the microstuttering):

It disappears when I disable then renable the in-game v-sync in the graphics options. But I have to do this again every time I start the game, and it only works if the game is in Windowed (full screen streched) display mode. In addition this doesn’t fix the hitching/minifreezes problem (I understand it’s a problem with streaming data that plagues most PC games anyway, but why did it never plague this game until now?).

The V-Sync option is broken, it only works until the first battle after enabling it IIRC. You can and should limit the FPS via the slider though.

Actually the v-sync option works fine, you just have to be in _fullscreen _display mode for it to work properly (I mean it syncs the framerate fine, but the microstutter would still be there in fullscreen). When in _Windowed (full screen streched) _display _mode _the game uses the desktop’s v-sync instead, which is why you would never encounter tearing in this display mode even though fraps shows your framerate is not synchronized with your monitor’s refresh rate.

I never use FPS limiters, they cause screen tearing which is worse than any benefits they may provide.

I never use FPS limiters, they cause screen tearing which is worse than any benefits they may provide.

Well, I’d never waste electricity on having the game calculate 200+ fps when my screen can only display 60 fps. But up to you.

No I mean I limit the framerate with v-sync instead of FPS limiters, since without v-sync tearing will happen regardless whether the framerate is 200+ or is limited to the screen’s refresh rate.

V-sync is the only option that prevents screen tearing. You are not experiencing tearing because like I said before, you are running _Windowed (full screen stretched) _displa_y _mode (which is the game default) which uses the operating system’s own synchronization, so it doesn’t matter if you have in-game v-sync enabled or not, you still have v-sync running.

That’s not how it works. Your screen will only output 60 fps but the game engine will still render as many frames as your hardware supports if you don’t limit it regardless of output mode.

What exactly are you referring to? It’s not how what works? The game engine will render as many frames as you want it to.

 

I think you might be lacking a little information about what screen tearing and v-sync are. Read them here: http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_9.html, trust me it’s really cool stuff.

What exactly are you referring to? It’s not how what works? The game engine will render as many frames as you want it to.

The game will render as many frames as your hardware allows it to. But the amount of frames that you VISUALLY see on your screen is limited by the MONITOR’s framerate. Most modern ones have 60/100Hz refresh rates, so that’s 60/100fps. It’s what your monitor handles, not what the computer puts out.

And some additional info, I’m a paying customer (just in case somebody hesitates to help)

The game will render as many frames as your hardware allows it to. But the amount of frames that you VISUALLY see on your screen is limited by the MONITOR’s framerate. Most modern ones have 60/100Hz refresh rates, so that’s 60/100fps. It’s what your monitor handles, not what the computer puts out.

No actually the game renders as many frames as you want it to, that’s what those v-sync and fps-limiter options are for. Your monitor does not have a framerate, it has a refresh rate, it displays whatever frames the GPU sends in the order they are sent regardless whether they are sent too fast or too slow, resulting in tearing if the monitor and GPU are not synchronized (which is what v-sync is for). What you VISUALLY see if your framerate does not equal your refresh rate is different frames overlapping on your monitor (i.e. screen tearing).

 

Read the guide for more info: http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_1.html

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