Cure for Stuttering in game

[Stapme 0]

First of all hello all , i bought the game last week installed it and have been plauged with bad stuttering in the graphics ever since. Now i have a good machine 3gb ram ,intell quad 6600 processor nv 8800gt card so i know the pc can handle a game that uses old tech (CFS3). I looked at all the forums and tried all the fixes eg sliders down from 5 to 1 or 2 any way all to no avail. However i came across a site that states that cfs3 will not work properly on mullti core machines, it causes stuttering and screen flickering .It also gave me a down loadable mini programme to fix it so after dl it and running a virus checker on it i thought what the heck and installed and ran cfs3 through the desk top icon that this programme put on. Cfs 3 ran smooth so i clicked the OFF luanch icon and the bad stutters were still there.Now this little programme shuts down 3 of my cores and lets cfs3 run on 1 core which solved the prob but it dosent work when i ckick OFF icon. So i launched OFF went to ctrl alt delete got the task manager up found OFFexe running right clicked on it and under afinity unclicked 3 of the cores and left 1 running . I then went back to OFF and hey presto it was running perfectly no stutters,flickering or any graphic issues at all.

 

If this solution has been posted on this forum then i apologise for wasting your time but i havent found it. I didnt sort this out till midnight last night and i was knackered so i went to bed i am now in work posting on the forum so when i get home i will post up a link to the site i got the mini programme from. The one thing that is needed is for some bright spark to make a mini loader for OFF that shuts down the 3 cores or 1 if you have a duo like the one for cfs3 instead of havind to load OFF and doing the ctrl alt tab thing

Any way hope this helps, basically if you have a multi core processor CFS3/OFF wont like it or run properly and you have to disable all the cores except 1 and then it will run perfectly

 

Ok found the site that explains the core thingy

http://www.easyhr.com.au/software/easy_cfs3.htm

 

This puts the desk top icon to run cfs3 with cores off but 1 what we need is the same thing but running

OFF

Stronty

Edited July 27, 2009 by Stapme

[Stapme 0]

First of all hello all , i bought the game last week installed it and have been plauged with bad stuttering in the graphics ever since. Now i have a good machine 3gb ram ,intell quad 6600 processor nv 8800gt card so i know the pc can handle a game that uses old tech (CFS3). I looked at all the forums and tried all the fixes eg sliders down from 5 to 1 or 2 any way all to no avail. However i came across a site that states that cfs3 will not work properly on mullti core machines, it causes stuttering and screen flickering .It also gave me a down loadable mini programme to fix it so after dl it and running a virus checker on it i thought what the heck and installed and ran cfs3 through the desk top icon that this programme put on. Cfs 3 ran smooth so i clicked the OFF luanch icon and the bad stutters were still there.Now this little programme shuts down 3 of my cores and lets cfs3 run on 1 core which solved the prob but it dosent work when i ckick OFF icon. So i launched OFF went to ctrl alt delete got the task manager up found OFFexe running right clicked on it and under afinity unclicked 3 of the cores and left 1 running . I then went back to OFF and hey presto it was running perfectly no stutters,flickering or any graphic issues at all.

 

If this solution has been posted on this forum then i apologise for wasting your time but i havent found it. I didnt sort this out till midnight last night and i was knackered so i went to bed i am now in work posting on the forum so when i get home i will post up a link to the site i got the mini programme from. The one thing that is needed is for some bright spark to make a mini loader for OFF that shuts down the 3 cores or 1 if you have a duo like the one for cfs3 instead of havind to load OFF and doing the ctrl alt tab thing

Any way hope this helps, basically if you have a multi core processor CFS3/OFF wont like it or run properly and you have to disable all the cores except 1 and then it will run perfectly

 

Ok found the site that explains the core thingy

http://www.easyhr.com.au/software/easy_cfs3.htm

 

This puts the desk top icon to run cfs3 with cores off but 1 what we need is the same thing but running

OFF

Stapme

[Schnitzel von Krumm 0]

I had similar stuttering issues with a quad core and fixed it by setting the CPU affinity for CFS3.exe to a single core and adjusting the priority to high.

 

There are a number of utilities out there to do this on a permanent basis so you won't have to alt-tab to Task Manager every time. I used TaskInfo because I already have a registered copy. It's a great utility for a controlling and killing processes in Windows. I've been using it for many years. It's here if anyone is interested. There are numerous similar utilities out there you can find with a quick search.

[Schnitzel von Krumm 0]

Just found out there's actually a sticky for this.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Go here: OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\default\ and click on the cfs3.xml file. Look for this line: <Graphics OldAircraftRender="No" MaxFPS="0" /> and change the number from "0" to "40." You may have to experiment with the setting a little, but doing that and setting Vsync from "off" to "on" seemed to make a difference in my setup.

[Von Paulus 8]

I've a E8500 @ 3.16Ghz and ATI 4890 graphic card.

I was just feeling quite desperate with the stuttering I was getting when doing a quick/wild turn.

Have tried a lot of things suggested in the FAQ, but none seemed to work. Until I found a workaround in this thread.

By setting the affinity to a single core solve all my stuttering problems. Thanks stapme.

 

This reminds me how old is this engine. It's quite a miracle what OBD pulls out from it and turn a crappy old simulator into a classical one.

[BirdDogICT 3]

Firstly I also run a Quad 6600, 3gigs in XP, and I've Never experienced the stuttering effect, partialy because it's an older rig, the Mobo is PCI-E Period, Video card is an 8600GT 512mb DDR3, I can't run an 8800 because that is PCI-E 2, and while it would run, it wouldn't be spectacular

Uncleal,

 

You may already know this, but the primary reason for PCIe 2.0 isn't more bandwidth, it's extra power through the slot to the card. PCIe 2.0 offers 150W through the slot now, compared to 75W through a 1.1 slot. So the 8800 and the HD3870 can get by with a single 6pin PEG connector. and technically, according to the 3870's power consumption, that PEG is only a fallback, a safety option. It allows the card to run on 1.1 slots, or overclock on 2.0 slots. 2.0 also allows other options such as digital power management to the slot. You can specify exactly to the watt how much power each slot receives if your BIOS supports this option. The HD4870 I use requires 2 external power connectors. My motherboard allows power control over the 1.0 slot, but not up to the 2.0 standard.

 

 

There shouldn't be much difference in performance when you run the 8800 on a Mobo that doesn't have a 2.0 PCI-e slot, since the 8800 doesn't fully use the bandwidth the 1.1 bus offers. Even a 9800 can run on as little as 4x 2.0 (8x 1.1) without serious bandwidth problems. Powering it may create some issues, though.

 

Just wait until after DirectX 11 and PCIe 3.0...we will all be able to afford new MOBOs and graphics cards when the prices fall.

[Von Paulus 8]

It seems after more testing that all the stuttering hasn't gone after all. :(

It's better when I set the affinity to just one core, but not completely solved.

What is more strange is, even if I have just OFF for only a month, I don't remember to have it in the beginning when I installed.

Besides changing the Catalyst version (to 9.8), changing the page file to another hardisk and patching the game, there were no other changings that could justify this stuttering / freezing. It seems to be something related with the CPU.

 

Anyhow I decided to try install OFF in my Windows 7 (RC1) 32bits (I have 3 hardisks).

Surprise. All the stuttering disapeared and above all I had an increase of performance around (10 to 20fps)

Is this a sustained performance increase? I've to test it more.

[sitting_duck 3]

It seems after more testing that all the stuttering hasn't gone after all. :(

It's better when I set the affinity to just one core, but not completely solved.

What is more strange is, even if I have just OFF for only a month, I don't remember to have it in the beginning when I installed.

Besides changing the Catalyst version (to 9.8), changing the page file to another hardisk and patching the game, there were no other changings that could justify this stuttering / freezing. It seems to be something related with the CPU.

 

Anyhow I decided to try install OFF in my Windows 7 (RC1) 32bits (I have 3 hardisks).

Surprise. All the stuttering disapeared and above all I had an increase of performance around (10 to 20fps)

Is this a sustained performance increase? I've to test it more.

 

Hi

 

was kinda surprised when you said you got stuttering. I have the same cpu, and a 4870, and dont have any stuttering at all. xp64 with 8 gigs of lousy memory (7-7-7-20)

 

I have everything in my ccc set on quaility, and sliders are at 5-4-4-4-4

 

But,,one thing i did do is uninsatll the latest ati drivers,,,(which screwed me up,,,) and went with the ones that came with the card (9.5) Not sure if ver 9.5 is compatable with the 4890 or not,,but belive the 4890 is nothing more than a factory overclocked 4870

 

what guidelines did you use when you set your overieds and texture info in your cfs3config?

[Von Paulus 8]

Hi

 

was kinda surprised when you said you got stuttering. I have the same cpu, and a 4870, and dont have any stuttering at all. xp64 with 8 gigs of lousy memory (7-7-7-20)

 

I have everything in my ccc set on quaility, and sliders are at 5-4-4-4-4

 

But,,one thing i did do is uninsatll the latest ati drivers,,,(which screwed me up,,,) and went with the ones that came with the card (9.5) Not sure if ver 9.5 is compatable with the 4890 or not,,but belive the 4890 is nothing more than a factory overclocked 4870

 

what guidelines did you use when you set your overieds and texture info in your cfs3config?

 

The ones I read in the FAQ for ATI cards.

When I noticed the stuttering I change the sliders to 3-3-3-3-3 but with no improvements.

As for the 4890 I too have read that it isn't much more than a OC 4870. Because of ARMA II I needed to upgrade my 8800 GTS so I bought the 4890. It was almost the same price as the 4870 and so I didn't hesitate at the time.

 

I had no trouble with the 9.7 version and XP. I don't remember to have that stuttering . Maybe I should give it a try.

Anyway it's working "wonderfully" in Windows 7 with 9.8.

[sitting_duck 3]

thats interesting that 9.8 works better with a different os.

 

if you should happen to roll back to a previous version, and the problems go away, let us know. Personally i think there is a problem with the latest ati drivers.

 

and this is another set ot tweaks by rabu, that lot of ppl seem to like (me inclucded)

 

ati users also should disable the writeonly index/vertex buffers

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php/topic/44430-suggested-graphics-settings/

[BirdDogICT 3]

thats interesting that 9.8 works better with a different os.

 

if you should happen to roll back to a previous version, and the problems go away, let us know. Personally i think there is a problem with the latest ati drivers.

 

Sitting Duck,

 

I found that interesting too...I've had zero problems with Catalyst 9.7 or 9.8 in XP SP3 with a 512MB HD4870.

 

FWIW, I had struttering problems back in January when I first installed BHaH, but they disappeared when I turned off all in-game messages and relaxed my aggressive memory timings.

[Von Paulus 8]

I've tested in Windows XP Pro SP3 with different catalyst versions.

In terms of performance 9.7 and 9.5 are very similar. However with the 9.8 version there is a huge drop frame about 20%.

In all versions I have stuttering. In 9.7 and 9.5 it seems to happen only when I rerun the mission. But in 9.8 it's always there.

After testing in XP I lauched Windows 7 with 9.8. Like I've told it before, no stuttering at all. Everything is more smooth. As for the fps they are practically the same as 9.7 in XP, at least so it seemed. When I pressed F5 key and the HUD appears, usually I would have some drop frame; in Windows 7 it seemed there is no impact whatsoever. I've to test it more, but for now, I'm very happy with my OFF experience in Windows 7.

We XP users have to get used to the idea, that for now on, manufacturers will begin to optimize the hardware and the drivers for the new operative systemand forget XP. It seems that the XP life cycle is coming close to the end. :-(

 

My system:

Asus P5B-Deluxe // E8500 @ 3.16 // 2x KHX6400D2/2G // Asus 4890 1GB // Creative Audigy2 // HD WD 500GB SATA2 C16 // HD ST 250GB SATA II// HD ST 80GB PATA // LC-POWER HYPERION 700W // Freezer Pro 7// Antec TX1050B // Logitech G5 // Razor Goliath Pad // SideWinder FFB Pro // TIR 4 /

[sitting_duck 3]

funny, although i never got stuttering, i not only suffered the low fps with 9.8, just like you,,when i hit the hud key,,my fps would drop 25%.

 

and, until i started checking my fps with another utility, and not the z key, i didnt realise that just hitting the z key dropped my fps another 20-25%!

 

Now i sent that card back, and when i got the new one, and put on 9.8, the low fps was still there, but the drop in fps from the hud and z key dissapeard. thats when i went back to 9.5,,,where i will stay forever....

[Von Paulus 8]

funny, although i never got stuttering, i not only suffered the low fps with 9.8, just like you,,when i hit the hud key,,my fps would drop 25%.

 

and, until i started checking my fps with another utility, and not the z key, i didnt realise that just hitting the z key dropped my fps another 20-25%!

 

Now i sent that card back, and when i got the new one, and put on 9.8, the low fps was still there, but the drop in fps from the hud and z key dissapeard. thats when i went back to 9.5,,,where i will stay forever....

Like I've said in 9.5 and in 9.7 the stuttering it is mainly noticed when I rerun the mission and only in quick turns when dogfighting. What it seems to happen with Windows 7 is that besides having no stuttering in those situations, the game feels smoother than with XP.

[Parky 8]

 

xp64 with 8 gigs of lousy memory (7-7-7-20)

 

 

 

Duck,

 

Don't let the timings on those modules fool you. Loose timings are typical of any DDR3 memory. That RAM should still outperform any of the DDR2 offerings. Sure doesn't hurt that you're packin' 8 Gig of it either....lol. It's makin' me jealous.

 

In terms of the ATI stutters, the only other thing I can think of is the Index/Vertex Buffer issue. Anyone running ATI should make absolutely sure to have all four of those options disabled in the config file. Nice to hear other people are seeing pleasant performance surprises in Win7. That has been my experience also

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

Parky

Edited September 1, 2009 by Parky

[sitting_duck 3]

parky,,,it is ddr2......(sigh)

[Parky 8]

parky,,,it is ddr2......(sigh)

 

Surprised to hear that. Those timings are far more typical of DDR3. Fairly rare to see them so loose in DDR2. Kingston by any chance??

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

Parky

[sitting_duck 3]

corsair...bout the only excuse i have is that i was so burnt out on researching video cards that when it came time to pick out the memory i just didnt do my homework...

 

worse part is how much bragging i did on the "inexpensive" memory i got....

 

without looking it up,,,im pretty sure the good stuff is 5-5-5-15

 

you think i will notice any performance increases?

[Von Paulus 8]

 

without looking it up,,,im pretty sure the good stuff is 5-5-5-15

 

you think i will notice any performance increases?

 

IMO hardly. Save your bucks for another thing. Unless you can sell without loosing money.

[Parky 8]

 

you think i will notice any performance increases?

 

 

Not enough to justify the overall cost.....particularly when we're looking at 8 Gig.

[sitting_duck 3]

ok,,thanks......