Read this if you have a 7950GT, dual core, or if you are plain curious

[stabiz]

I want to thank the many fine members of this board who take the time to try to help us who are in dire need of unofficial tech help.

My game-killing stutters are now gone. Hasta la vista. And I am so happy!

I did lots of stuff at once, so I cant really say what helped the most, but its fixed now, and I dont want to break it.:rotfl:

So ... just an hour ago my game was stuttering just as madly++ as it did in 1.1, even with volumetric fog turned off. The fps was in the green, say 40+ at most times, with everything cranked up. Specs in sig, by the way. Ans as some of you might have read in my countless whiner-posts, the game ran like clockwork when fraps was recording.

The stutters were as if frames were missing, the sub and world around it would jerk ahead at a steady pulse, say every second or so.

After reading advice from several members (sorry, cant remember who, I have been all over the board today, but I remember you, Kant Schwimm) I reinstalled the game, shot patch 1.1 with the deck gun, and went straight for 1.2. After that I set hardware acceleration to low in the sound menu in the control panel, changed the develop-thingies in the main cfg to "No", and finally I set affinity for sh4.exe to one of the two cpu cores.

Then I put all settings at maximum (except volumetric fog), and added 2x FSAA. The game runs like a charm now, I cant believe my eyes. I mean, I got it running okayish at times with 1.1, but nothing like this. Its like SH3-smooth.

Personally I suspect it to be the soundcard, and the settings in the hardware acceleration, but I`ll leave that conclusion to someone who has a clue.

Right now my Tambor is waiting with both engines turned off, right outside Pearl Harbour, the fps a steady 40 with all eyecandy accounted for, and I am going on my first true SH4 patrol.

Thanks to all, this game was very close to the shelves earlier today, I was so sick of restarting this and that to test things.

Here we go, and thanks again!

PS: Hope this helps someone with simular problems.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by stabiz

changed the develop-thingies in the main cfg to "No",

All to no Stabiz I think there are three settings, maybe two:hmm:

[Donavan]

I agree, the guys here are a great help. I'm diggin maxed setting now, what a pretty game.

[stabiz]

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

All to no Stabiz I think there are three settings, maybe two:hmm:

Yeah, got all three of them.

[IsaanRanger]

I get a nice 60FPS locked with Volumetric fog on and all sliders maxed. I have a single 7950GT and a AMD x2. never ever stuttered, only time it did was the environ effect monolith in 1.0 and 1.1, but thats all now everything is nicely 60FPS locked in 1.2

[Cakewalk]

Sometimes it dissilusions me how I get only 20 FPS with these strange stutters with Volm. Fog off, and other can get 60 FPS easy with max settings and a card only marginally better than mine, an EVGA 7900 GS KO.

[Reaves]

Originally Posted by Cakewalk

Sometimes it dissilusions me how I get only 20 FPS with these strange stutters with Volm. Fog off, and other can get 60 FPS easy with max settings and a card only marginally better than mine, an EVGA 7900 GS KO.

Depends on the other specs of your PC. How much RAM? What proc?

Mine runs perfect on:

Nvidia EN7600GS 512mb PCIE
Intel Core Duo 2.4 GHZ
2 gb Kingston Ram (2 sticks)
SATA HDD
XP 64 Bit Edition
Audigy 2

[dangchang]

Originally Posted by IsaanRanger

I get a nice 60FPS locked with Volumetric fog on and all sliders maxed. I have a single 7950GT and a AMD x2. never ever stuttered, only time it did was the environ effect monolith in 1.0 and 1.1, but thats all now everything is nicely 60FPS locked in 1.2

Any AA or AF?

[FooFighters]

What do you mean by "changed the develop-thingies in the main cfg to "No"

I think I missed this conversation

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by stabiz

Yeah, got all three of them.

Great, appreciate it, plan to do the same for my rig

[U-Bones]

Sorry to mention, but sometimes the obvious... CPU affinity can not be permanantly set that I know of. You have to set this ever time you start the app. Also the main.cfg you need to edit is the one in My Documents\SH4


FWIW, my stutters stopped when I stopped running Taskmanager

AMD 4200 Dual
2GB Ram
7600 GT 256 DDR3
SB Audigy 2 SE (not good)

I get 20's with High settings and 4xAA @ 1280x960 120hz

[XanderF]

Stabiz - post your DXDIAG. (Start -> run -> dxdiag.exe. 'Save all information' and post here.)