Good fps but micro-freezing sometimes

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  • foolfoolzfoolfoolz Join Date: 2013-01-24 Member: 181835Members
    edited March 2013
    Visor1 wrote: »
    Ghosthree3 wrote: »
    foolfoolz wrote: »
    is there a way to tell steam to relocate a single game? i wouldnt mind moving my ns2 install to my ssd. i keep it on the spindle because my entire steam folder is 38GB.....

    Curious about this as well, haven't got and SSD yet, but was looking into one for my OS only, my steam folder is 850gb so obviously, that isn't all going on an SSD. I would definitely put just NS2 on it though.

    http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/117259/bad-performance-some-hints-and-tips/p1

    In what wasn't given much publicity, Valve changed the Steam client so that you can now install games to different hard drives at the same time. While you used to have to have all your games in the same directory; now you can specify a new directory on another drive. You can only have ONE directory with games per drive though.

    How does this help?

    If you're like many people you have an SSD drive running your OS. You also don't have Steam on the SSD since your games takes up a ton of space. So if you delete and reinstall NS2, you could install it into a directory on your SSD. While that won't fix any internal game performance issues, it will take out any possible chance that the hard drive will bottleneck your performance.

    To do this, first create a directory on your SSD. I just called it Steam off the root. Once done, when you install there will be an option that says "Choose drive to install to". If this is your first time installing to a new drive you will get a chance to pick the directory. After that you can only pick the drive and they all go in the same directory on that drive.

    I know it's not much, but every bit helps.

    Do not listen to this post. The correct way to do it is move your NS2 folder to whatever location you desire, then create a junction back in the steam common folder.

    A regular shortcut will not work, it must be a junction

    Moving to SSD had a very positive impact on micro freezes and load times. I really do not consider NS2 playable off the SSD. Joining so late you could never be commander, missing interface even if you were com, game freezing at key points such as combat, it was a very negative experience. I am happy that i will be able to keep playing NS2.
  • TheslanTheslan TWG Signature Maker Join Date: 2004-04-27 Member: 28245Members
    Theslan wrote: »
    Last few days (probably after the post big patch (build 241) I've been getting a lot of microstutters no matter where I'm at. Strangely, I see nothing in profiler, and my internet connection is solid. I see no hiccups there. I really wish I could give you more data, but basically after build 241 it's been mostly unplayable for me with a lot of rubber banding.

    And just for point of reference: I've tried other games just to make sure it's not me, and they have no issues.

    Any suggestions for data hunting?

    I've solved my problem; there was an issue with the ISP. Once they fixed it, the micro hiccups went away.
  • shonanshonan Join Date: 2013-01-28 Member: 182562Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    IronHorse wrote: »
    Thanks for doing that shonan, but many of these shots are incomplete, as they arent showing everything.
    Take this one for example: https://i1.minus.com/ibeZ8JffwwWuZt.jpg
    See how near the bottom theres another long purple bar? Would help to see whats there, if you could scroll down with your mousewheel you can see it and expand it.

    The first pic of the profile taking up your resources isnt needed, thats just the hitch that comes with activating profiler.
    The ones that are interesting are the ones that are extremes like 90% game logic or 80% rendering, but unfortunately those ones aren't showing enough, like https://i2.minus.com/iVXjK9zgdNZ8.jpg
    It shows the rendering thread taking the most, but you have not scrolled down or expanded the rendering thread to expose what it is. :-/

    Good effort, and sorry that this tool isn't very user friendly.
    No problem, this time when I actually knew how to use it I took some more shots with the latest patch.

    Its a bunch of them, but I tried to capture "everything" from some moments when I had noticeable gameplay affecting hitches:

    http://imgur.com/a/2HyBJ
  • F0xF0x Join Date: 2010-12-22 Member: 75865Members, Reinforced - Gold
    edited March 2013
    I've got the same problem since build 242. Generally, it happens when i cross a phase gate, i have a freeze of 1 or 2 seconds. I noticed it happens more often on Descent, and sometimes on other maps.
  • TruskoTrusko Join Date: 2013-04-17 Member: 184878Members
    i have a similar problem in game a little freeze for a sec in combat, attach the performance log anyone help me plz
    i have all settings to low my system is:

    Hard Disk Interno Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" Intellipower 64MB SATA2 WD10EARS
    Case Midi Thermaltake V4 Black ATX Nero
    CPU Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz Socket 1155 95W con GPU Sandy Bridge Boxed BX80623I52400
    Monitor Led 23" Asus ML238H FullHD 10000000:1 250cd/m² 2ms VGA DVI-D HDMI Nero
    Asrock P67 Pro3 rev.B3 Socket 1155 Intel P67 DDR3 SATA3 USB3 ATX
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit Service Pack 1 IT OEM DVD
    LG GH24NS70 24x DVD/CD SATA Bulk nero
    RAM DDR3 Corsair Vengeance Low Profile CML8GX3M2A1600C9 1600MHz 8GB (2x4GB) CL9
    SSD Corsair Series 3 90GB 2.5" SATA3 CSSD-F90GB3-BK
    Ali PC XFX Pro Series 650W Bronze 80Plus Pro650W
    asus hd7950 DirectCUIITOP
  • TruskoTrusko Join Date: 2013-04-17 Member: 184878Members
    Anyone try to help me?!
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    @IronHorse:

    I got regular freezes up to 5 seconds in Build 257. I want to make you screenshots form the profiler, but my german keyboard layout (qwertz) doesn't recognize [ and ]. How can I jump through the profile steps? Those freezes killing me. Literally! And makes playing really frustrating. Plz help me on using the profile with my keyboard layout so I can send in screen shots from those freezes.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    Max is working on this now.. Lost non American keyboard support when they swapped to SDL.
    In the mean time there are some cool virtual keyboards / programs out there that can simulate American ones. I'm unfamiliar with their names though :/

    Just small hitches while playing?

    Add -verbose to the launch options for ns2.
    Then,
    Use r_loading true and loadtimes true in the console After you're in the RR. Then check console whenever you get a hitch (and type hitch in the in game chat for marking the spot in the log)
    Then get me that log. ;-)
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Thx for your help.

    Just "small" hitches from 1 - 5 seconds.

    Since starting it with -verbose, I had only 2 short freezes in 5 games.
    The log is appended just search for "hitch".

    The second hitch was when aliens won and it seems that the graphic for "Aliens won" was not loaded before.
    The first hitch could be some GUI smoke shader that needed to be compiled. But look for yourself.

    I will come back with a new log when more hitches occur.

    PS. Could have known, that you can change keyboard layout in windows. I can use the profiler now.
    log.txt 713.8K
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Another game with 2 freezes. The 2nd one could also be lag. I'm not sure. The first one is me coming into terminal on docking. An about 2 second freeze.

    (This time I used Huzes Minimal Alien Vision.)

    I also shortened the log this time. It begins a few seconds before the first freeze now and ends a few seconds after the second freeze.
    log.txt 30.9K
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    And we are back to really nasty long freezes. And many of them. Here is the log. The last one was so bad, (5 seconds) I disconnected after.
    log.txt 184.7K
  • ShqkeShqke Join Date: 2013-01-28 Member: 182544Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    the freezes are more often thoses times for me
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    @_necro_ this is something i was experiencing that no one else was in PT.. interesting to see it effect someone else.
    The good news is that i told Max about it and and already submitted logs to him

    So i guess i'll just try to keep you updated here
    Thanks!
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    @IronHorse @Max

    I finally managed to capture a profiler screenshot of those freezes. With the actual build this freezes got less frequent. They actually happen now only after I played for more than one hour. (Maybe memory related?) But when they start to appear, they happen very frequent. Up to every minute but not regularly distributed.

    ukNvhSR.jpg
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Two other again. It's getting unplayable after a while.

    MfS6E2P.jpg

    K1cXUuU.jpg
  • MigeMige Join Date: 2005-03-19 Member: 45796Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited October 2013
    ^^ I bet that is the "secret" forced streaming textures :D Wondering when they will give option to precache all, like before reinforced (remember the long map loading times).. DX11 will give more hitches
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    edited October 2013
    @_necro_
    According to Max, waiting for buffered frames means that your graphics card is just taking a long time.
    This is, theoretically out of NS2's control..

    edit: should be noted i have experienced the same thing and am currently investigating it as well. http://i.imgur.com/sk9mhqs.jpg
    There's not enough information to be helpful to the devs just yet. Try seeing if you can capture what is being loading during those frames, somehow.
    Try r_loading true , just be sure to mark the spot in the log by typing something in game when it happens, so that you can be sure that exact asset was the culprit.
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Thanks for your time and your answer.

    I don't understand why the graphics card could be the cause. I have a GeForce 660 Ti and around 90 FPS most of the time.

    I will try to capture a new log with r_loading again.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    It's not a performance issue, so it could be driver or dx issue etc.. And yeah it could still be ns2.. So let's both try and find the culprit.
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    @IronHorse:

    Ok, I just found the cause of the freezes. I tried to play the new build, but forgot to close my firefox browser. (Many tabs open around 400MB of space taken.) This time the freezes occurred really soon. Like after 20min of playing. I alt-tabbed out of the game and closed the firefox. After getting back into the game all the textures were gone (like in this minimal texture mod) and the game reloaded them. But more importantly the freezes were gone.

    Conclusion: The freezes start to appear when my RAM is full (I have only 4GB but a 64bit Win7). This means that either the garbage collector is the cause, when it tries to free up memory. Or the changes you made in reinforced to reduce memory fragmentation (If it only kicks in when memory is close to getting full). Also the freezes started with reinforced for me. Together with some memory leaks you missed, (there are always some you don't find) the problem appears more often the longer I play.

    So if you want to reproduce those freezes. Just open applications that use up a lot of memory but no cpu when idling. If you play NS2 with high texture quality and only 2GB free memory left it should start to appear soon.
  • AsranielAsraniel Join Date: 2002-06-03 Member: 724Members, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Retired Community Developer
    It might also be that firefox sometimes does stuff with your gpu (to render the webpages modern browsers often use the gpu) and that causes the microfreezes.
  • LamboLambo Iceland Join Date: 2012-08-07 Member: 154915Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Asraniel wrote: »
    It might also be that firefox sometimes does stuff with your gpu (to render the webpages modern browsers often use the gpu) and that causes the microfreezes.
    If that's true, brb Google Chrome and un-installing Firefox.
  • AsranielAsraniel Join Date: 2002-06-03 Member: 724Members, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Retired Community Developer
    Chrome uses the GPU as well, so dont directly blame firefox. It probably depends more on what page you have open than the browser
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    It is not CPU related. If it were CPU, the frame rate would drop. But what I get are freezes from 2 to 5 seconds. Complete frozen screen in this time. See profiler pics above. Also it was an accident that I left my browser open. I normally close it every time I play a game. But those freezes also appear than, but later.
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    Browsers & flash in browsers these days, aswell as 'new' stuff like html5 all try to use GPU aswell. Often named hardware acceleration.

    Just saying
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    Yea it'd be interesting if you could reproduce those profile shots with a fresh computer restart with ZERO programs running other than NS2...
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited November 2013
    Ok, on micro-freezing. I found I was also having this in BF4, pissed off I googled wondering if maybe it was a hardware issue instead of the game, since it's been happening with NS2 for so long. (I just bought new everything but hard drives and it was still happening).

    Eventually I found this fix, open nvidia control panel, go to the first option on the left labelled "Adjust image settings with preview". Pick the third option in the window labelled "Use my preference emphasising: <value>" and choose the middle slider option to make it "Balanced". Hit apply and try the game again. If it doesn't work, or only works a little, go down to "Performance".

    Amazingly this has actually removed the microstutter (or I was having really good luck) from BF4. I haven't tested it in NS2 yet but I'm hoping it has the same effect. Someone else should give this ago that experiences consistent microstutters.

    EDIT: Here's a screenshot,

    dYp639B.png
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited November 2013
    Bumping to say it sadly didn't solve all micro freezes (maybe it helped some?).

    EDIT: Actually it's possible it was happening because of the classic fox memory leak. Not sure how much it was using at the time, but it likes to creep up, like right now it's using 1.43gb.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    Its really best to close ALL background applications when running NS2, given how resource intensive it is.
  • ShqkeShqke Join Date: 2013-01-28 Member: 182544Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    All web browser are closed when i play and i still have micro freez
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