NS2 Gameplay Stutter
jamieshepherd
Join Date: 2009-09-04 Member: 68693Members
Join Date: 2009-09-04 Member: 68693Members
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.
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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.
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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.
***
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.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
<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>
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 :/
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
<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>
sounds and looks like the server choking after seeing the video
<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.
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.
<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?
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.
Same here - no change on all settings.
<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.
<!--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-->
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> **
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...
Anyone else get that?