Question How to identify what software/process conflict is causing stuttering?

[PauloSilva93]

How to pinpoint what process/software conflict causing stutter in gameplay?

Hi, for a while i had been having this wierd stuttering in all games i played, i since managed to limit these issues but the problem still happens, just less nowadays. In witcher 3 new gen, the latest patches have seemingly fixed the problem on its own (wierd). Nonetheless the hitch stuttering still happens in the other 2 games: Naruto ultimate ninja storm 4 and jump force, this hitch feels like a cyclical pattern, my frametime is flat as a board, and then the hitch happens for a split second, rerurning right away back to normal, Both these games are locked at 60 fps btw. In jump force the spikes happen during stage transitions mostly and strangely in naruto, it only happens in online mode fighting cpu batte, while waiting for a match, but kif i return to free battle single player the issue persists.
I have tested my hardware a couple of times already, and everything seems to be working fine, im using wimdows 11 with the current mobo bios, so it must be some kind of sofware conflict or process, i thought, so is there any way i can pinpoint what is causing this bug/conflict?

I have made numerous posts here already, where you can find more info, if needed. Would love to get rid of this problem once and for all, thank you

 

[Colif]

You could use this to check start up programs:

Try a clean boot and see if it changes anything - make sure to read instructions and make sure NOT to disable any microsoft services or windows won't load right - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

It doesn’t delete anything, it just stops non Microsoft programs running with start. Easy to reverse.

if clean boot fixes it, it shows its likely a startup program. You should, over a number of startups. restart the programs you stopped to isolate the one that is to blame.



You could run latencymon to see if its perhaps a driver
https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

Processes are slightly more difficult to track/figure out if they are cause.

What are specs of the PC?

 

[TerryLaze]

Both these games are locked at 60 fps btw. In jump force the spikes happen during stage transitions mostly and strangely in naruto, it only happens in online mode fighting cpu batte, while waiting for a match, but kif i return to free battle single player the issue persists.

The whole video is very interesting but I linked to the relevant time code.
With older APIs the GPU does things one after the other and if it needs to load in new stuff, like on a stage transition, the whole GPU stops doing anything else until the loading is done...causing a noticeable stutter.

View: https://youtu.be/H1L4iLIU9xU?t=921

 

[PauloSilva93]

You could use this to check start up programs:

Try a clean boot and see if it changes anything - make sure to read instructions and make sure NOT to disable any microsoft services or windows won't load right - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

It doesn’t delete anything, it just stops non Microsoft programs running with start. Easy to reverse.

if clean boot fixes it, it shows its likely a startup program. You should, over a number of startups. restart the programs you stopped to isolate the one that is to blame.



You could run latencymon to see if its perhaps a driver
https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

Processes are slightly more difficult to track/figure out if they are cause.

What are specs of the PC?

b550 gaming edge wifi
ryzen 5 5600
6800 xt
crucial ballistix 2x8GB 3600mhz, xmp profile 2
rm 850x corsair

i already tried clean booting, the issue persists, will try latencymon though. tahnk you for the input

 

[PauloSilva93]

The whole video is very interesting but I linked to the relevant time code.
With older APIs the GPU does things one after the other and if it needs to load in new stuff, like on a stage transition, the whole GPU stops doing anything else until the loading is done...causing a noticeable stutter.

View: https://youtu.be/H1L4iLIU9xU?t=921

so is there no fix?

 

[hotaru.hino]

LatencyMon might be able to identify what's causing the problem. But if nothing obvious shows up, then there's really nothing else to do aside stripping everything down or doing a clean reinstall of Windows, installing the absolute bare minimum, and seeing if games still have a problem.

Regarding asset loading causing hitches, I'd argue this is only really a problem if you're on a potato of a system (which you don't have from what I can tell). Game developers have been well aware of this issue. Either

• Everything the game needs is loaded and loading of assets happen during specific transitions
  • This is the most common way things are done.
  • A common way to do this is to transition into a cutscene and do the loading while it plays
• There are places where the player is forced to slow down to mask loading of new assets in parallel
  • In Metroid Prime, the player shoots doors to go into the next room. However, the door won't actually open until the room is loaded
  • Some other games may do something like force the player to walk at a slower pace through a series of obstacles or a long hallway.
• The game loads the bare minimum it needs to run. The obvious benefit to this is you get in the game sooner. The secondary benefit is it makes the game tolerant against loading hitches
  • This is common in modern open world games. I've seen of this on GTAV, where even if your computer has trouble loading assets in, to the point where chunks of the ground or buildings are missing, the game's collision detection still works as if they're there. The only trouble is if you go into another zone and it has to load more data.
  • Another variant of this are games where there's texture/model pop-in.

 

[TerryLaze]

Regarding asset loading causing hitches, I'd argue this is only really a problem if you're on a potato of a system (which you don't have from what I can tell).

One would think so but one would be a hopeless romantic.
Even the latest and greatest have hitches on scene transitions...

View: https://youtu.be/B31PwSpClk8?t=734

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Stuttering is often a symptom of ram, not running at the right speeds

if your game is stuttering while you’re playing, it, make sure that your ram is behaving properly and running at the speed it is supposed to be running at

latency monitor will also show you problems with drivers that it encounters

I’ve had situation in the past where we’ve had to actually do a clean install of windows to fix it, but I wouldn’t go off and do that first thing

can you post the Spd tab and RAM tab of CPUz?