Question Small, brief stutters in very specific areas of Destiny 2 ?

[The Guy From The Thing]

It's a long read but please help.

For a while now, around since late Feb when the latest expansion Lightfall released, I've experienced brief, small stutters in specific areas of Destiny 2 with my RTX 3070.

PC Specs:
Asus B550-F motherboard
RTX 3070
Ryzen 5800X
Corsair Vengeance 4x8 ddr4-3600mhz RAM

I can't really pinpoint if it was happening prior to this, because I had not played Destiny for 2 months, and I only got this PC ^ right before Lightfall

essentially what happens is that my game will kind of stutter, like it tripped/stumbled over the sidewalk, for a second in VERY specific locations, without fail. every time I walk through one of these spots, it will always do this without any inconsistency. sometimes my framerate will noticeably drop with it, but other times it will only drop like 5 frames, with no difference in the actual stuttering. furthermore, although I can replicate the stutter, it won't actually happen if I come back through the area from the opposite direction; for example, if I come in from the south, the stutter will happen, but if I turn around or loop back and come back through from the north, the stutter will not occur

as far as I can tell, this hasn't really been incredibly game breaking, because I haven't noticed the game constantly microstuttering, lagging, or going through huge frame drops at random, in fact when I'm actually playing activities, I can sit at a stable 60 frames with no stutters with tons of effects and enemies around me I also do not believe this to be a matter of loading zones either. when passing from 1 area into another, you can get a slight stutter and frame drop, which is normal because it's loading the area, but this happens outside of these 'load zones'; for example, one of these areas is in the middle of a pathway coming in from another room.

this seems to be an issue with Destiny 2 specifically, as I don't believe this happens in other games I play. I have XMP enabled, here's my memory timings as shown by CPU-Z (HWInfo reports the exact same numbers, and Slot 4 is also identical to Slot 2);

https://imgur.com/a/lw7uOkL

View: https://imgur.com/a/lw7uOkL


to ensure it wasn't a specific issue with my drivers or settings;
-I tried updating the drivers and rolling back to previous versions, neither of which worked. I then reinstalled my current driver, 531.29, which also did not work

-I've set different graphics settings in-game, Low/Medium/High/Highest and also tried each screen setting: Fullscreen, Windowed, Borderless Windowed, Windowed Fullscreen

-enabled and disabled Vsync and tried to also pass through these 'stutter zones' with different framerate caps (60, 90, 120, 140, 200, etc. even 30)

-verified integrity of Steam Files, turned off Steam Overlay, and also tried to pass through these areas with the "-USEALLAVAILABLECORES" command enabled, and then disabled

-tried to run the game with Steam set to Administrator, and again without setting Steam to Administrator

-I've set the Destiny2 file and the Destiny2Launcher file to Administrators in the local files

-turned off FreeSync on my monitor, and tried each setting of "Response Time" to see if that would have any effect for some reason, neither of those worked

-I monitored both Task Manager and HWInfo individually to check the GPU Memory Clocks, GPU Usage, and the CPU Usage when passing through these areas; none of them exhibited any big or sudden spikes or drops when it stuttered

-I even set the Maximum Processor Power on my CPU to 99% instead of 100%, which did not change anything. neither did setting it back to 100%



none of this worked and nothing has also been changed in Nvidia Control Panel beyond my normal settings, which I experimented with as mentioned above (Vsync, with 60fps cap, global refresh rate, and a 30fps background application cap). I also do not have any undervolting or overclocking on my GPU or CPU. with all this information, does this seem like an issue with the game or an issue with one of my components? or if anyone is familiar/plays Destiny 2, do you also experience something like this? because my friend also has an Nvidia card (an older one) and doesn't have this issue. any help would be appreciated

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Have you tried changing the shader cache settings in the Nvidia Control Panel?

 

[tennis2]

What specific areas? I can test on my rig.

Especially if it's repeatable, it could be load zones, like the big jarring one partway through the insight terminus strike (right before the spot you have to crouch under the wall) which is in a hallway.

 

[The Guy From The Thing]

What specific areas? I can test on my rig.

Especially if it's repeatable, it could be load zones, like the big jarring one partway through the insight terminus strike (right before the spot you have to crouch under the wall) which is in a hallway.

when you come into the Bazaar in the Tower from the Courtyard; there's a Frame and an Awoken Corsair talking in the pathway. if I walk past them, I stutter

again, in the Bazaar, coming back up from the stairs from Ikora

usually entering the building with the Thrilladrome lost sector on Neomuna also stutters, typically right outside

those are a few, they're not all limited to the Tower or Neomuna but from recent memory. not sure if you'll see anything similar, my friend doesn't get these. but D2 in general is pretty poor in optimization nowadays so I haven't ruled out that it's just a me issue atm

 

[The Guy From The Thing]

Have you tried changing the shader cache settings in the Nvidia Control Panel?

I set the Shader Cache to 10gb, but that's it. I haven't Disabled it or set it to a different option. that's the only shader cache-related thing I can really see in NVCP

 

[tennis2]

when you come into the Bazaar in the Tower from the Courtyard; there's a Frame and an Awoken Corsair talking in the pathway. if I walk past them, I stutter

again, in the Bazaar, coming back up from the stairs from Ikora

usually entering the building with the Thrilladrome lost sector on Neomuna also stutters, typically right outside

those are a few, they're not all limited to the Tower or Neomuna but from recent memory. not sure if you'll see anything similar, my friend doesn't get these. but D2 in general is pretty poor in optimization nowadays so I haven't ruled out that it's just a me issue atm

I did (mostly) take last season off, but just from memory, I'm pretty sure I've experienced the ones you mentioned in the tower. I'll check all 3 tonight.

Generally in many games, load zones happen in hallways or similar.

 

[The Guy From The Thing]

I did (mostly) take last season off, but just from memory, I'm pretty sure I've experienced the ones you mentioned in the tower. I'll check all 3 tonight.

Generally in many games, load zones happen in hallways or similar.

thank you. I’d understand the whole load zone thing if it only happened once per area, but in places like the Bazaar where 2 stutters can happen so close to each other, it feels off

I also have an issue on Neomuna where some textures are super glitchy and flickery no matter what driver I use, but that seems more like an issue of Bungie’s trash optimization. and there’s only like, 2 of those textures around the place anyway. hence why I feel like this stuff has been happening since Lightfall specifically

 

[tennis2]

Couldn't replicate the stutters in the tower.

 

[The Guy From The Thing]

Couldn't replicate the stutters in the tower.

I really do wonder if it's my gpu, but it's tough to say. in Heaven Benchmark, some scenes will drop in frames and have the same kind of quick, brief 'stutter'; but I watched a video of a 3070 in HB, and the frames dropped/stuttered in those EXACT scenes

it might also come down to CPU? idk, I have a 5800x with Eco Mode on for temps. my friend doesn't get these drops and he has an Intel cpu...but I know it's also not a "Ryzen issue"



I went to the Throne World and there is a spot (the route connecting the Quagmire to the Miasma) that does a quick drop consistently. but there's also an area in the Miasma that drops the frames too; however, I can't replicate it unless I leave the Miasma and come back. so maybe some of these are indeed 'hidden' loading zones. not sure why I specifically am seeing them with this new gpu tho; my old one was a Radeon RX570

 

[tennis2]

What does ECO mode cap the 5800X TDP to?

My system specs are in my sig.

To be fair, I should add that I'm running my 3060Ti at 70%-ish TDP default (IIRC) and because my monitor is on the fritz, I have a 115FPS framerate cap enabled, which I'm USUALLY able to maintain in D2 at 1440p.

 

[The Guy From The Thing]

What does ECO mode cap the 5800X TDP to?

My system specs are in my sig.

To be fair, I should add that I'm running my 3060Ti at 70%-ish TDP default (IIRC) and because my monitor is on the fritz, I have a 115FPS framerate cap enabled, which I'm USUALLY able to maintain in D2 at 1440p.

I can’t recall the exact PPT, TDC, and EDC, but I’m 100% confident that in the Bios the setting is “Eco Mode- 65w”


I don’t have access to my pc atm to check Ryzen Master for the specifics but yeah, it’s 65w

 

[tennis2]

65W shouldn't impact a 5800X enough to produce this.

The fact that it's repeatable at specific spots tells me it's a D2/software thing, not your hardware.

 

[The Guy From The Thing]

65W shouldn't impact a 5800X enough to produce this.

The fact that it's repeatable at specific spots tells me it's a D2/software thing, not your hardware.

a bit irritating that it doesn’t seem to affect too many other people, but D2’s optimization has been downhill for a while

some of the hitches that aren’t in the Tower are quite small, I probably wouldn’t overly notice them if I didn’t have the fps counter in the top right. still unsure why 60fps to 58fps always feels like a bigger drop than it is

 

[tennis2]

Maybe try setting a FPS cap? Not sure what your swings are, but if you're sensitive to a 5% FPS drop, just set your FPS cap 5% lower than what you normally get. Might help, might not. Hopefully would smooth out frame rate consistency.

 

[Exploding PSU]

Honestly that specific part of the Tower seems to be a problem child for as long as I can remember, it's always stutters on mine. I've gone through several PC builds with differing components (mix of AMD and Nvidia also), and the FPS in the Tower (along with several other places in the game) seems to be a cropshoot, it stutters randomly all over. My PC can happily sit on 60 FPS even in the most intense of scenarios but few locations can't be helped. I've learned to just live with it though, as in my case the stutters happens in non-combat locations so it's not really that problematic.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

What monitor are you running? Does it have Freesync/Gsync? If you're not a professional gamer, and just like to play, then using Gsync is the answer. Your stutters will stop, and the monitors refresh rate will be synced with the GPus output frames. Super smooth.

 

[The Guy From The Thing]

Maybe try setting a FPS cap? Not sure what your swings are, but if you're sensitive to a 5% FPS drop, just set your FPS cap 5% lower than what you normally get. Might help, might not. Hopefully would smooth out frame rate consistency.

nah I've done that, doesn't do anything. outside of the Tower, it's more so a case of me KNOWING that it's happening which I guess makes it feel bigger than it is

 

[The Guy From The Thing]

Honestly that specific part of the Tower seems to be a problem child for as long as I can remember, it's always stutters on mine. I've gone through several PC builds with differing components (mix of AMD and Nvidia also), and the FPS in the Tower (along with several other places in the game) seems to be a cropshoot, it stutters randomly all over. My PC can happily sit on 60 FPS even in the most intense of scenarios but few locations can't be helped. I've learned to just live with it though, as in my case the stutters happens in non-combat locations so it's not really that problematic.

I guess I got lucky with my previous pc with my little rx570 then, the Bazaar didn't seem to cause issues, but I also didn't go there too much cuz there's not really a reason to. the spots that do stutter outside the Tower are either repeatable if I go back and try to replicate it, or they aren't repeatable unless I reload the area

so it might just be a small loading hitch, I guess? at least when it comes to the 'non-repeatable until I reload' ones

 

[The Guy From The Thing]

Hey there,

What monitor are you running? Does it have Freesync/Gsync? If you're not a professional gamer, and just like to play, then using Gsync is the answer. Your stutters will stop, and the monitors refresh rate will be synced with the GPus output frames. Super smooth.

I use an MSI Optix G32 monitor; it does not seem to support Gsync but does support Freesync. I have tried multiple combinations in regard to Freesync

I've turned it off with Vsync still on, I've tried turning it on with Vsync turned off, I've even tried disabling both (which causes screen tearing so even if that worked, I wouldn't have kept it). none of that works. even more reason for me to kind of suspect it's a game engine-related thing

I restarted my game every time I enabled and disabled something to ensure it would have an effect too