NS2 Gameplay Stutter

jamieshepherd

Now, I know for a fact I'm not the only one still having this issue, and I know I'm not in a minority either. I'm using an nVidia 480 GTX, and I'm still getting the ridiculous gameplay stutter every second or two. Have Unknown Worlds just completely ignored the issue because it's been going for months now and it seems they're focusing more and more on gameplay issues like the game is fine for everyone. It's unplayable, I couldn't give a ###### about everyone who's about to start giving me the it's beta or it's early ######, because I've been playing since the first engine test and nothing has changed. The fact they're making changes to the flamethrower and not what is making the game hugely unplayable for a large percent of the users tells me the issue has just been ignored and they're hoping it's going to go away. UWE, is the issue even fixable? I play every gameplay release hoping they've made some ground in that direction but we're at build 160 now and it's no different, so please throw me a bone and tell me if I should even have hope anymore.


***
The following is copied from a later post of mine with a youtube video linked visually detailing my experience, please read the description on youtube for details.
***

Video recorded on lowest quality and lowest resolution just to illustrate it's an engine issue, as with the poster above, the issue arises on all resolutions/settings/graphics card settings too. My specs are as follows, and as a comparison I can play literally any new AAA game right now on ultra settings with no issues, so my hardware is more than capable:

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz @ 3.40GHz
ASUS nVidia GeForce GTX 480 (1526MB)
Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 (1600MHz)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

** <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KcOTfWREIA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KcOTfWREIA</a> **

Edit: Just to be clear, I'm only interested in a few things in this thread. To highlight how many people are getting the issue (and in fact what it is) so the dev team don't overlook the problem, and anything the development team have to say on the matter. This thread was purely designed so the problem would be investigated <by the development team> and fixed. Anything else, do it in another thread.

Kouji_San

What settings are you playing the game on...


<i>BTW, you want the art and game play guys just to do nothing? You do realize they are a team of people each with different skills and the programmers are actually making this game playable. The proof is in the pudding so to speak with my old-school computer being able to go up a notch in graphics (awful->medium) with shadows on even...</i>

IeptBarakat

I hope you weren't playing on a listen server. :V

Kouji_San

<!--quoteo(post=1818081:date=Dec 22 2010, 01:03 AM:name=IeptBarakat)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (IeptBarakat @ Dec 22 2010, 01:03 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818081"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hope you weren't playing on a listen server. :V<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah that is currently a bad thing, we just don't know what the server specs are. The big names are usually full and then you have some weird named server as well, which could be listenserver or just oldschool CPU servers... The people judge the game on that performance and start to flame :/

shiv

That does seem pretty unusual. What are the rest of your system specs? I'm running a video card that is lower-end than yours (GTX 470) and I'm not seeing the same issues you're complaining about.

Vic

I was getting the odd hickup every couple seconds today as well and I've never had it in build 159, with the same settings. I'll see if it happens again, I blamed it on my antivirus.

peregrinus

ATI Mobility HD 4530 here & lots of stuttering. I'm hopeless on the marine side; when a skulk jumps out at me it stutters a lot and I have no chance to kill the damn things unless they're stationary or moving towards me in a straight line. Thankfully I enjoy alien side more so its not a big problem.

I know my system is probably considered low end by you guys but I can play LFD2 really well with it so I hope NS2 is going to give much better performance later on.

daeli

<!--quoteo(post=1818084:date=Dec 22 2010, 01:06 AM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ Dec 22 2010, 01:06 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818084"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah that is currently a bad thing, we just don't know what the server specs are. The big names are usually full and then you have some weird named server as well, which could be listenserver or just oldschool CPU servers... The people judge the game on that performance and start to flame :/<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Its not a server problem. Just admit it - currently the performance of the engine itself is poor. Don't be such a fanboy and ignore all facts. I love Natural Selection too but also i love critical thought.

PS: I have the same issues too and my specs are:

GTX 470
AMD Phenom 1090T
4GB DDR3 RAM
Win 7 64 bit

Chris0132

The performance has been consistently unstable for me as well, FPS wise it runs OK but I get constant hitches and stutters in FPS, latency, animations, sounds, and general stuff teleporting around. Regardless of whether I am connected to a server.

jamieshepherd

<!--quoteo(post=1818081:date=Dec 22 2010, 01:03 AM:name=IeptBarakat)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (IeptBarakat @ Dec 22 2010, 01:03 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818081"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hope you weren't playing on a listen server. :V<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Local and dedicated online, it's engine related not netcode related. My latency is generally semi respectable. I think a lot of the glitches we're getting is a result of the same stuttering rendering feeling. For example, Skulk jumping will glitch at the end and go forward and back a frame. Just seems everyone that has this problem has a really glitchy game, it's hard for people who aren't getting the problem to understand how bad this is, but there's a ton of people encountering the issue so it's not something that can be ignored.


<!--quoteo(post=1818116:date=Dec 22 2010, 02:14 AM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Dec 22 2010, 02:14 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818116"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The performance has been consistently unstable for me as well, FPS wise it runs OK but I get constant hitches and stutters in FPS, latency, animations, sounds, and general stuff teleporting around. Regardless of whether I am connected to a server.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

This is the same issue, FPS is not a problem I get reasonable FPS, just the stutter every second makes the game unplayable and certainly untestable.

nUfl0w

would you mind making a vid of it? wonder how it looks.

MurphyIdiot

Sorry to hear about these issues. We (the developers) don't experience constant big hitches like you are describing so this may be a problem with your specific hardware. Can you make a video showing the problem?

We are constantly working to get the game playing as smooth as possible but a lot of times there are bigger issues causing these small (or big) hitches so it just takes time.

daeli

I've made a video and i'm currently uploading it - its visible very good in that.

w0dk4

I think a lot of these problems are due to the culling algorithm(s).

I often notice that my fps will increase/decrease depending on where I look, rather than how complex the current scene is Im looking at.
Combined with generally low fps (in combat on ns2_tram down to 10fps) it becomes unplayable. (on a GT 8800, E6750, 4 GB RAM, lowest settings, 1280x720, though resoluting change doesnt do much so Im CPU-bound).

I hope the work on server physics performance can be applied to the client as well so the strain on the CPU is a little less.

Chris0132

Have you ever played a game where you enter an area and the game stutters until it loads? Or a scripted event fires and the game freezes for a fraction of a second as it triggers?

It's basically like that, except less pronounced, but it doesn't go away, and it happens at very inopportune times.

It's actually visible in some of the NS2HD videos, animations jumping around, people teleporting, frame jumps at random times. It wouldn't be a problem in a slow game but it really makes one this fast entirely unplayable.

daeli

<!--quoteo(post=1818132:date=Dec 22 2010, 02:59 AM:name=w0dk4)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (w0dk4 @ Dec 22 2010, 02:59 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818132"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think a lot of these problems are due to the culling algorithm(s).

I often notice that my fps will increase/decrease depending on where I look, rather than how complex the current scene is Im looking at.
Combined with generally low fps (in combat on ns2_tram down to 10fps) it becomes unplayable. (on a GT 8800, E6750, 4 GB RAM, lowest settings, 1280x720, though resoluting change doesnt do much so Im CPU-bound).

I hope the work on server physics performance can be applied to the client as well so the strain on the CPU is a little less.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We are not talking about bad fps here. Its stuttering - in general i have very good fps (around 40-50ish).

daeli

Here is the video i made showing the stuttering.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hz1g-Zl0Oc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hz1g-Zl0Oc</a>

*EDIT* Another one
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRs0853NoBU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRs0853NoBU</a>

Kouji_San

<!--quoteo(post=1818134:date=Dec 22 2010, 03:01 AM:name=daeli)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (daeli @ Dec 22 2010, 03:01 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818134"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->We are not talking about bad fps here. Its stuttering - in general i have very good fps (around 40-50ish).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
sounds and looks like the server choking after seeing the video

Chris0132

<!--quoteo(post=1818136:date=Dec 22 2010, 03:02 AM:name=daeli)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (daeli @ Dec 22 2010, 03:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818136"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Here is the video i made showing the stuttering.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hz1g-Zl0Oc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hz1g-Zl0Oc</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

That is an excellent example, stuff like that is what I'm talking about, every momentary freeze in that occurs while I'm playing, and it's really annoying. Because it keeps getting me killed or disorienting me, the game has enough problems with disorientation, these problems make it quite unplayable.

Chris0132

<!--quoteo(post=1818138:date=Dec 22 2010, 03:03 AM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ Dec 22 2010, 03:03 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818138"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->sounds and looks like the server choking after seeing the video<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

It happens on the client as well, I'm fairly sure the game doesn't need to be in constant contact with the server to render each successive frame. It behaves like a loading stutter, not a lag stutter, although there are certainly lag problems as well.

w0dk4

<!--quoteo(post=1818136:date=Dec 22 2010, 04:02 AM:name=daeli)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (daeli @ Dec 22 2010, 04:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818136"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Here is the video i made showing the stuttering.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hz1g-Zl0Oc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hz1g-Zl0Oc</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Do you have the same stuttering on lowest settings?

Chris0132

<!--quoteo(post=1818143:date=Dec 22 2010, 03:06 AM:name=w0dk4)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (w0dk4 @ Dec 22 2010, 03:06 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818143"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Do you have the same stuttering on lowest settings?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I have it on all settings. I run the game on high because I may as well get something pretty to look at while it lags all over the place.

daeli

<!--quoteo(post=1818144:date=Dec 22 2010, 03:06 AM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Dec 22 2010, 03:06 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818144"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have it on all settings. I run the game on high because I may as well get something pretty to look at while it lags all over the place.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Same here - no change on all settings.

Vic

<!--quoteo(post=1818136:date=Dec 22 2010, 05:02 AM:name=daeli)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (daeli @ Dec 22 2010, 05:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818136"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Here is the video i made showing the stuttering.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hz1g-Zl0Oc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hz1g-Zl0Oc</a>

*EDIT* Another one
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRs0853NoBU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRs0853NoBU</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've been having exactly the same issue (not that annoying since I mainly played comm). What are your specs? Intel E5200, 4GB RAM, WinXP 32bit, Ati 4890 here.

daeli

As stated earlier:

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->GTX 470
AMD Phenom 1090T
4GB DDR3 RAM
Win 7 64 bit<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

jamieshepherd

<!--quoteo(post=1818138:date=Dec 22 2010, 03:03 AM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ Dec 22 2010, 03:03 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818138"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->sounds and looks like the server choking after seeing the video<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe you should just stop commenting on this thread since you clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

<!--quoteo(post=1818121:date=Dec 22 2010, 02:27 AM:name=MurphyIdiot)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MurphyIdiot @ Dec 22 2010, 02:27 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818121"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sorry to hear about these issues. We (the developers) don't experience constant big hitches like you are describing so this may be a problem with your specific hardware. Can you make a video showing the problem?

We are constantly working to get the game playing as smooth as possible but a lot of times there are bigger issues causing these small (or big) hitches so it just takes time.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thank you, I'm publishing a video now so you can see the issue some of us are getting. I'd just like to emphasize it's not just me that gets this issue, after play testing on a number of servers there's always 1/2 others per game who will be encountering this issue, and it certainly shouldn't be an issue on what is still a relatively high end card.

Video recorded on lowest quality and lowest resolution just to illustrate it's an engine issue, as with the poster above, the issue arises on all resolutions/settings/graphics card settings too. My specs are as follows, and as a comparison I can play literally any new AAA game right now on ultra settings with no issues, so my hardware is more than capable:

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz @ 3.40GHz
ASUS nVidia GeForce GTX 480 (1526MB)
Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 (1600MHz)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

** <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KcOTfWREIA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KcOTfWREIA</a> **

daeli

Also, i'd love to see a video without stuttering as a comparison.

Kouji_San

<!--quoteo(post=1818162:date=Dec 22 2010, 03:33 AM:name=daeli)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (daeli @ Dec 22 2010, 03:33 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1818162"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also, i'd love to see a video without stuttering as a comparison.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm on it, but the audio sync is off. Commentary is 2 seconds behind (looks and sounds weird)

Mind you there were 2 or 3 stutters for about a total time of 2 seconds, this is the reason for the 2 second audio sync problem. But 2 seconds lag over 14:xx minutes is not bad at all. Especially since my computer is oldschool.


I'm re-rendering right now...

daeli

So are the devs looking on that? This issue really keeps me from testing NS2 :(

Wheeee

it used to be really noticeable on tram in marine start, if i spun around real fast i would get stutters like that. one of the recent patches solved it for me though (probably 158?) i noticed immediately that looking around was more smooth. hope this gets fixed for you guys soon, it was really annoying playing with the stuttering.

Kouji_San

IT seems it is either a server side stutter or a occlusion stutter. I know for one that when I move trough the long corridor on east Rockdown going from the hive towards the Marine Start, I will see the floor in that corridor on the edge of the map as invisible. Some kind of odd occlusion bug. And as Soon as I get closer it will popup and there is a slight stutter of about a second maybe two...


Anyone else get that?