Precise stutter - all stages/settings.

[IHazABone 0]

Since update 0.6 (I believe, it might have been previous) I've been getting a weirdly consistent stutter. Almost exactly every three seconds, the game freezes for a half second (not audio, but input and visuals) and then jumps ahead to where I would be had it not done that. This issue has become extremely apparent and problematic on the very fast Finland stages. Game visual settings do not seem to have any effect on it. Here's what I've tried:

• Changing every and all matters of visual settings.
• Changing controls (keyboard, Xbox 360 controller, and through a third party program I hooked up my Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick for lols.)
• Tried running on Linux Mint 14. That didn't work anyways. 
• Admin mode.
• The supposed 0.8 stutter fix.
• Every fix I could find on here and other forums. 
• Updating all my drivers.
• Going back to the drivers I had when the problem didn't occur.

Specs:

• Asus GTX 760
• FX-8350 @ 4.6GHz (I have tried stock clocks to no avail except a performance decrease)
• 14GB RAM (assorted brands and in unlinked mode, I think this may be an issue)
• MSI 970A-G43
• Windows 10

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

[os3n 2]

Are you using a wheel? Does the stutter go away if you unplug it? Not clear from your description if you're just changing controls without unplugging or not.  A lot of people are experiencing this after 0.8, you're not alone. My stutter goes away instantly if I unplug my G27 (regardless of what input I'm actually using (keyboard/gamepad), as long as my G27 is connected the stutter is there). I got rid of the problem temporarily by applying the worker map "fix" and deleting the XML files in My Documents but now it's back again. I have no idea why. Very frustrating problem. Something with wheel input handling (?) seems to be broken in 0.8, I really hope the devs can get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

[IHazABone 0]

No wheel. Yes, I unplugged it. I've been experiencing this since a couple months ago, but I could deal with it on the slower stages. It's bugging me too much now (seems to be getting worse, actually). 

[IHazABone 0]

Unplayable. I try my best and I can't make it five minutes before slamming on Alt + F4.

[OzoreXS 0]

Try this:

Remove some of your RAM modules in order to get a couple of identic modules (if you have).
This will activate the "dual channel" feature of your motherboard.
Please note and follow the procedure to assign RAM modules to banks. The usual way is, for example setting 1 of them en "A1" and the other in "B1".... or just pair them in the color of the physical bank.

This is an attempt to remove some botleneck.

[paulieGTR 0]

snip...

IHazABone said:

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

^^ ^^
Also try turning off "V-sync" and do a benchmark test(not ideal i know).

At the end...
Check your maximum and average fps, but especially the minimum fps and let us know what the numbers are.

It could be that you it's difficult for your system to keep above your refresh rate(Hz)

[IHazABone 0]

OzoreXS said:

Try this:

Remove some of your RAM modules in order to get a couple of identic modules (if you have).
This will activate the "dual channel" feature of your motherboard.
Please note and follow the procedure to assign RAM modules to banks. The usual way is, for example setting 1 of them en "A1" and the other in "B1".... or just pair them in the color of the physical bank.

This is an attempt to remove some botleneck.

Problem still there, but with lower performance overall as well. I've been meaning to get around to a 2x8GB or 4x4GB back at some point, but money is short. One day, perhaps.

paulieGTR said:

snip...

IHazABone said:

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

^^ ^^
Also try turning off "V-sync" and do a benchmark test(not ideal i know).

At the end...
Check your maximum and average fps, but especially the minimum fps and let us know what the numbers are.

It could be that you it's difficult for your system to keep above your refresh rate(Hz)

Average FPS - 61.99
Minimum FPS - 40
Maximum FPS - 87.31

Settings for that test (usually everything that's low is medium, I get about the same results for FPS)
[spoiler]

• Night Lighting - High
• Shadows - Low
• Advanced Fog - Off
• Particles - Low
• Weather - Low
• Crowd - Medium
• Ambient Occlusion - Medium
• Advanced Ambient Occlusion - Off
• Mirrors - Medium
• Ground Cover - Low
• Vehicle Details - Medium
• Track - Medium
• Trees - Medium
• Objects - Medium
• Vehicle Reflections - Low
• Water - Low
• Skidmarks - On
• Texture Detail - High
• Shader Detail - Medium
• Anisoptric Filtering - Low
• Smoke Shadows - Off
• Advanced Blending - Off
• [/spoiler]

[IHazABone 0]

Also, Finland and Germany perform noticeably worse than the original three locations.
Edit - did a run of Finland with an FPS tracker running. Averaged 42, minimum 18, maximum 55.

[paulieGTR 0]

snip...

IHazABone said:

Minimum FPS - 40

If you usually run with v-sync "on" then there's the problem.

It will cut your fps from 60 down to 30 every time you cannot keep the 60, and if your fps go below 30
it will cut it down further to 15, which will seem like major stutters, especially if this is happening often during a stage.

The minimum fps are killing you.
I would keep Benching until i could keep the minimum fps above 60, with some headroom of 'cos.

[IHazABone 0]

paulieGTR said:

snip...

IHazABone said:

Minimum FPS - 40

If you usually run with v-sync "on" then there's the problem.

It will cut your fps from 60 down to 30 every time you cannot keep the 60, and if your fps go below 30
it will cut it down further to 15, which will seem like major stutters, especially if this is happening often during a stage.

The minimum fps are killing you.
I would keep Benching until i could keep the minimum fps above 60, with some headroom of 'cos.

VSync is always off. Tried minimum settings. Managed minimum 55fps, but the problem occurred just as severely. Another note - it seems to get worse the longer the game is on.

[paulieGTR 0]

Hmmm...
Could it possibly be more of a win10 thing, i wonder.

GPU overheating.??

[maximumattack 0]

Hello guys,

I have exactly the same problem like IHazABone, plus: some seconds after the start (maybe 30 sec.) the FFB feels strange, impossible to keep the car on the road.
When I go back to the menue (mouse over the "frames") I've noticed a sort of stutter/delay.
Actually a typical behavior of cpu/gpu on the limit, or to high temps-  but everything is fine there!

I guess I've tried everything what has been mentioned here, also:
http://forums.codemasters.com/discussion/27851/v0-80-stuttering-bug?new=1
http://forums.codemasters.com/discussion/27306/dirt-rally-0-8-update-stuttering-wrong-workmapfile/p1

The problem came up after changing from W7 (64) to W10 (64).
About the same time 0.7 (??) was released, so I'm not sure what the "real reason" is and if it has to do with it anyway.

A strange thing:
I did this http://forums.codemasters.com/discussion/14046/upgraded-to-windows-10-having-trouble-with-any-codies-game-try-this#latest
and all was fine! But the next day (after starting dirt) it was bad again ...

Yes, system/drivers are fresh.
No differents between v-sync on/off.

Any ideas?

By the way: in pcars everything is working good!

Cheers!

[DeputyDiRT 0]

Have you tried running in Steam offline mode?

[maximumattack 0]

DeputyDiRT said:

Have you tried running in Steam offline mode?

  No, not yet ... I' try a bit later! THX!

[maximumattack 0]

I've tried offline- did not work, tried in W7 mode- did not work, deleted the dirt.exe again / renewed- didn't work.
Then I've tried for the 20th (or something ..) time to calibrate the wheel (offline) ... and it was fine! I started a new stage with another car - still fine!!
Rebooted PC ... and again: it doesn't work!

Really guys ...it's not funny anymore!!
After months of trying and trying with no positive result I'm getting tired of this sh** ...........

[IHazABone 0]

GPU not overheating - I always monitor everything. PCars pushes it to the limit but runs smooth as butter. Dirt only gets things ~3/4 as hot as PCars.

[paulieGTR 0]

snip...

maximumattack said:

The problem came up after changing from W7 (64) to W10 (64).

These things can happen within relatively new OS's.

No chance you can go back to win7.??
I know what i'd do.

[maximumattack 0]

IHazABone said:

GPU not overheating - I always monitor everything. PCars pushes it to the limit but runs smooth as butter. Dirt only gets things ~3/4 as hot as PCars.

Just in case it is an answer for my problem ....:
to quote myself:   "Actually a typical behavior of cpu/gpu on the limit, or to high temps-  but everything is fine there!"


@ paulieGTR:
I would have done it ... but who can tell me it's not a problem of one of of the last Dirt-Patches?

To quote myself again: .... "The problem came up after changing from W7 (64) to W10 (64).
About the same time 0.7 (??) was released, so I'm not sure what the "real reason" is and if it has to do with it anyway."

[paulieGTR 0]

Well i would still go back to win7, just to rule out a win10 thing.

Who knows, you won't find out unless you try(surely it's worth it to see :) ).
I fear the alternative is to wait months, for updated and solid win10 drivers.

Edit:
Your sig says you're on win7.??

[maximumattack 0]

Thanks for your reply, mate!

It took weeks to setup my gaming pc properly. I'm a bit afraid it's a waste of time, if it's not the OS. But that's my main problem: time!
I'm pretty sure the devs could fix it. I'm not the only one who is having trouble with Dirt -and pCars is running perfect! :smile: 

[maximumattack 0]

Sorry, but has this problem been reported to the team?
I don't mean it in a bad way-  I would like to know if it make sense to wait. It's since months now and every patch/update gave me hope, but sadly ...

[DeputyDiRT 0]

maximumattack said:

I've tried offline- did not work, tried in W7 mode- did not work, deleted the dirt.exe again / renewed- didn't work.
Then I've tried for the 20th (or something ..) time to calibrate the wheel (offline) ... and it was fine! I started a new stage with another car - still fine!!
Rebooted PC ... and again: it doesn't work!

Try the wheel calibration again as that setting in your profile is the problem by the look of it as thats how Superd00ps fixed it in his DIRT RALLY 0.8 UPDATE STUTTERING (WRONG WORKMAPFILE) thread

Try disabling the Steam Cloud, Right click on DiRT Rally in Steam Libary > Properties > Updates > Untick the Steam cloud check box at the bottom then exit Steam

[maximumattack 0]

Thanks, I'll give it try!                                                                                                         

[IHazABone 0]

Unfortunately I can't go back to Windows 8 or Windows 7 without buying them :(
I would try that though.

[maximumattack 0]

I'm pretty sure: it has NOTHING to do with W10 ...

After calibrating the wheel for the xxx times and after changing/editing ALL the things have been written here, it was suddenly working fine! ...(on different stages with different cars) .. until I rebooted my PC ........

Devs ... after so many months having this problem: is it really so difficult to solve this mess?!
"Something" is definitely overwriting the settings after a reboot!!

Why it's still not possible to load the saved (wheel/pedal- etc...) settings?? After a restart it's always empty!!
And where the hell are this "settings" saved?