Good fps but micro-freezing sometimes

Shqke · January 2013

Hello there,

i am not the only one because i already saw someone on a server who has the same problem, here is the problem :

I got a new pc, a good one (100 fps ingame, i5 + gtx 670). But sometimes in game, i get very low fps for maybe 0,3 seconde, like a Âµ-freez (when jumping to a marine in skulk, it's very confusing and i often die because of that).

I tried to lower to minimum my graphic options, but the problem is still there.
I tried to verify the files integrity, no problem.
My drivers are up to date.
I got some some errors in the console about cinematics but i don't know if it's linked.

kalakuja · January 2013

The newest nvidia drivers have power management on for a default. Set the power management mode to "Prefer maximum performance" . This helped me with the problem.

Shqke · January 2013

I'll check, thanks

Rich_ · January 2013

also i dunno if this will help but from that console message u might wanna try disabling the camera effects in the menu in game.

Stardog · January 2013

It's something to do with loading sounds/models/etc for the first time. After the first time it should be smooth for that session.

Shqke · January 2013

I checked and nvidia is at maximum performance, and camera effects are off

Shqke · January 2013

i see a "couln't load texture xxx (file not found)" . i did a file integrity check and it says it's ok

Shqke · January 2013

Error: Couldn't load texture 'materials/descent/descent_floor_01_a_normal.dds' (File not found)
Building pathing mesh for level maps/ns2_veil.level
Finished loading 'maps/ns2_veil.level'
Error: Couldn't open file 'cinematics/alien/gorge/babbler_pheromone.cinematic'

Error: SoundEventInstance::SetPropertyFloat(unknown, 18=0.343046)): setValue(): An invalid parameter was passed to this function.
Error: Couldn't open file ''
Error: Couldn't open file ''

Gamerkatze · January 2013

Shqke wrote: »

Error: Couldn't load texture 'materials/descent/descent_floor_01_a_normal.dds' (File not found)
Building pathing mesh for level maps/ns2_veil.level
Finished loading 'maps/ns2_veil.level'
Error: Couldn't open file 'cinematics/alien/gorge/babbler_pheromone.cinematic'

Error: SoundEventInstance::SetPropertyFloat(unknown, 18=0.343046)): setValue(): An invalid parameter was passed to this function.
Error: Couldn't open file ''
Error: Couldn't open file ''

the first errors are standard for the map and the gorge. everyone gets these when they try to load the map. im not really sure about the soundevent errors but i dont think they cause stuttering or freezing (unless the error still remains ingame).
mikro freezing can be server choke or your internet connection too. you might want to check this the next time you play. (command is "net_stats" )

Shqke · January 2013

net_stats doesn't works

Gamerkatze · January 2013

1. make sure you are on a server (doesnt work in the menu)
2. maybe you had a spelling error ? (with ^ or - maybe ?)

i just tested it and it does work trust me ^^

this is how it should look like when it worked (top left corner)

kafkaesque · January 2013

I'm getting the same issue. My NS2 performance has been steadily improving for the last few patches, but now just this very last while the "microstutters" are unbearable. Nothing has changed on my end and I'm seeing it on two setups - both decent to very decent spec. It's not just when action goes down either. Even if I'm just strolling around alone, every second or second and a half the framerates shit themselves a bit. This completely kills gameplay for me. Has anyone resolved this?

Shqke · January 2013

it did work, but it seems i couldn't do it on the first server i tested.

no chokes, and still freezing (it seems to be less often after 2 hours of playing)

Ironsoul · February 2013

how much ram do you have?

IronHorse · February 2013

type "loadtimes true" in the console AFTER you load a map , and get into the ready room.
Play a game, and right after you notice the hitch immediately type something notable and something u can search for later into the chat for all to see.
This will capture whats being loaded and interrupting your game, and what you say in game will be a good marker to find it later.
Exit ns2 right after you've caught a few.
Dont run ns2 again.
Open your hidden %appdata%/natural selection 2/ folder and upload that log.txt file to somewhere like pastebin.com
Then link it here.

the story is: some models,fonts, and effects werent being precached like they were supposed to. We've been tracking down which ones exactly for the past few weeks so that the culprits can be added in the next patch and reduce this from happening.
More than likely its a harddrive issue for you, since this micro stutter shouldnt be notable, and rare. But this is something great to try.

foolfoolz · February 2013

I am also having this problem, usually the game is completely hung for 2-5 seconds, and happens at least 5-6 times per session. It also usually happens in the first 20 minutes of game play and is much much more rare after that point.

I have an i5-2500k, 8GB ram, geforce 570, although NS is installed on a spindle and not my SSD...

kk20 · February 2013

I had an issue similar. I cured it by putting infestation to low. All my other settings remain high. (w7x64 i5 4gb ram 6870 GPU). If you have a logitech mouse try disabling the logitech mouse software too, that puts a hit on your system I found.

Shqke · February 2013

i tried low and high, issue is the same.
I'll try to disable the mouse software

Shqke · February 2013

foolfoolz wrote: »

I am also having this problem, usually the game is completely hung for 2-5 seconds, and happens at least 5-6 times per session. It also usually happens in the first 20 minutes of game play and is much much more rare after that point.

I have an i5-2500k, 8GB ram, geforce 570, although NS is installed on a spindle and not my SSD...

Yea sometimes 2 secondes for me too, i think this is the same problem, and it has to be related to cinematics or something loading to memory cause it's more rare after that point as you said

Shqke · February 2013

ironhorse wrote: »

type "loadtimes true" in the console AFTER you load a map , and get into the ready room.
Play a game, and right after you notice the hitch immediately type something notable and something u can search for later into the chat for all to see.
This will capture whats being loaded and interrupting your game, and what you say in game will be a good marker to find it later.
Exit ns2 right after you've caught a few.
Dont run ns2 again.
Open your hidden %appdata%/natural selection 2/ folder and upload that log.txt file to somewhere like pastebin.com
Then link it here.

the story is: some models,fonts, and effects werent being precached like they were supposed to. We've been tracking down which ones exactly for the past few weeks so that the culprits can be added in the next patch and reduce this from happening.
More than likely its a harddrive issue for you, since this micro stutter shouldnt be notable, and rare. But this is something great to try.

Ok thanks i'll test that

Shqke · February 2013

Ironsoul wrote: »

how much ram do you have?

Intel Core i5 3570K
Asus Maximus V Gene
Asus GTX670
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8 Go
SSD Intel 180 Go
WD Caviar Green 2 To

Shqke · February 2013

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phoenixbbs · February 2013

Those load times are all pretty damn good - I've been helping Ironhorse with this as a playtester, as I've been seeing delays of over 100ms at times, but it seems to be specific files - the phase gate in particular seems to have a couple of related files that "spike".

I get creative in a text editor (EditpadLite is free, and fantastic for this) to make the log file easier to parse - I search and replace "took" with "took," and "ms<newline>" with "<newline>"

By saving this as a .csv (comma separated variable) file, it can be opened directly into a spreadsheet, select columns A & B, then data/sort by/column B

You'll now have a list sorted from fastest to slowest to scroll through, which makes submitting particular "problem files" easier. You'll note that many of the files are loaded regularly, they're not currently kept cached.

For now, we're looking at anything taking more than 5ms as being an issue, to try to stamp out the "major" lag people can experience.

kk20 · February 2013

Next time I play I will post mine (from a working system) with my specs to see if there is a correlation as I don't have a monster system.

foolfoolz · February 2013

I did the loading time monitor. It actually happened way more than i said in my first post, 5-6 times, this was like 30+ times. Sometimes it was less than a second, only a few times was it multiple seconds.

I attached my log. Some loading times are hundreds of milliseconds, one 482ms. Other times they were shorter, but many files loading at once, which caused shorter blips.

Any time you see a chat message by player wit the name "fool" it was a very long blip. I some times did team chat, sometimes all chat.

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.....

ScardyBob · February 2013

Any loadtime value over 5ms is potentially problematic. Over 100ms is pretty much catastrophic.

IronHorse · February 2013

Holy Crap 482 ms!??
Yeesh!
Interesting that it seems your markers are sometimes near these things loading, and then other times not at all, and seem to be near times when you've killed someone or they've killed you.
Makes me think there's two problems occurring. You should run with net_stats turned on, and when you notice that hitch glance at the info for any odd change and maybe screenshot it with f12.

If you can find a way to reproduce this reliably, get a screenshot with profile turned on:
type profile in the console, and then press spacebar to pause it, bracket keys to go forward or backward one frame at a time, til you are on the frame with the hitching. Then expand the entire tree on the most resource intensive items that are highlighted with purple. Screenshot everything relevant.

Bageesiac · February 2013

I've been experiencing the same thing. I don't have an amazing system so the little hitches (which are unaffected by video settings) mean me dying so much it's hard to play (especially the last 2-3 patches). I watch the fps as they happen and have NO difference. I will try net_stats, as I haven't tried it yet, but it's good to see some work on it. I am not so technically inclined that all the advice on here would be doable for me with the time constraints of real life.

It'd be nice to have a handle on this so I can more easily kill [TN]Mohawk Viking more often! Thanks for working on this ScardyBob and everyone!

[TN]YoYoMa

Bageesiac · February 2013

Net stats was fine, but the micro hitches seem to be vastly improved since p239!

Ghosthree3 · February 2013

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.

Shqke · February 2013

Ok then it's not the loadtimes for me ? Should i try the "profile" thing ?

Good fps but micro-freezing sometimes

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