Freezes during game

CLU

Hey guys,

hope you can help me with a problem i have
At random moments during playing i get huge freezes. I can´t do anything for ~1-3 sec. After this the game runs normal again.

What i have tried out:
Complete reinstall including fresh download
Delete %appdata%/Natural Selection 2-folder
Different graphic-options (in-game/driver)
Different servers
Texture Handling set to correct amount (1GB)

techsupport.zip
https://dropbox.com/s/ein5ql92mu2igpt/tech_support.zip?dl=0
p_logall
https://dropbox.com/s/vc158k3b1emgv6q/client-0217-184701.zip?dl=0

if you need anything else, let me know

IronHorse

Thanks for the plog ahead of time!
So all I can gather from the data you've provided is that your CPU essentially is occasionally unable to process the LUA gamecode (world update) for a whole 1,120 ms (1 second) for unknown reasons.
This is somewhat good news, in that it means it probably isn't the game's fault (otherwise it would show a culprit), and is instead probably something running in the background on your PC.

I have a feeling something is interrupting and interfering with your CPU every so often.
I recommend closing every single program and process running in the background, and even going so far as to limit what programs automatically start during boot up:
Start > Run > msconfig.exe > Startup tab > unselect all that are not drivers or microsoft based or anything that is absolutely crucial to basic functionality.
Then restart your PC and again ensure nothing is running in the background.

I also suggest *TEMPORARILY* uninstalling any Anti virus programs you are running, (deactivating is not good enough for some) just to test with NS2 only.
Bonus points if you wish to go through the difficulty of running processexplorer.exe to try and catch whatever is stalling or stealing your CPU.

CLU

Ok, I tried everything you suggested without improvements.

Process Explorer shows me no signs of a CPU stealer, NS2 has all the available resources for itself. Of course the CPU/GPU load is around 70-99% while playing. I even checked the Event Viewer, if there are any errors related (nothing).

Is there any Third-Party-Program that NS2 uses and needs special access to somewhere?

IronHorse

Not needed, but there are plenty of 3rd party apps that mess with NS2 in a negative way.
Any sort of overlay like MSI afterburner, mumble, TS3, Anti virus popups, adaware programs etc.

Hmmmm.... Next time you plan on not using your computer for about 4 hours could you leave Prime95 running on the most stressful test?
I am still suspicious that there's a background process doing something.. else it's your CPU having hiccups which is less likely... unless it's temps or faulty. (have you monitored CPU temps while experiencing this issue?) Another workaround for some background apps is to create a new user account in windows, reboot, and use that account to play in temporarily.

If you filtered all active processes inside of process explorer while you were sitting idle in game, what showed in the log during those freezes when you alt tabbed to check?
(also, *temporarily* disable physics multi threading in the game options)

DC_Darkling

Hmm do you mean Process Explorer from sysinternals.com / ms? (because thats not processexplorer.exe but procexp.exe. Hence me wondering.
Process explorer has a graph which may show the peak we need.

What is more likely to find your culprit BUT is much harder on your cpu and shows much more info is process monitor. (same site)
Basicly explorer is what is running, monitor shows what it does.

You make a procmon capture during the problem, and do a full save in pml format. (do save it fully, not with filters)


You then either analyse the file yourself or upload it for us to see. Know that as procmon shows a lot, we will know a lot about your computer, no secrets.
The goal with the procmon save is to look at the cpu times and see whats taking that second of your cpu.

CLU

SUCCESS!!!!

I fount the culprit with process monitor. It was the Steam Client Service, which I had deactivated some time ago. After restarting NS2 runs fine, game+plog show no freezes anymore.


Thank you guys so much, without you I probably would´ve gone nuts.

IronHorse

Process MONITOR not explorer, my bad.

Glad you found it though!
Odd it was steam client service causing issues... although i see other reports of stuttering and lag caused by steam services running.
You could try those solutions (like swapping between big picture mode or push to talk), or others which some have suggested: http://i.imgur.com/YskLEEU.png