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hl2 gameplay is kinda choppy

S

stickybytes

Golden Member
I recently built a core 2 duo system with the following stats: E6400 cpu, Evga 7600 GT KO video card, 2 GB Corsair Valueselect DDR2-667 ram, Seagate 320GB sata hard drive.

I installed half life 2 and when i started playing it, i noticed that the gameplay was kinda choppy. Every 5 seconds or so, especially when im moving around, the game would pause for a split second. It is quite noticeable but it isn't enough to ruin the gameplay experience however. Nevertheless, there should be no reason why a comp with my stats is struggling with a game like half life 2. Furthermore, the load times are quite long. I would say they are taking anywhere from 10-15 seconds. Is this even normal for a system like mine?

Anyone have any ideas on why this game is struggling so much with my comp?
 
I just checked my fps in the game and for the most part they were 130+. Even when there was a lot of action on the screen, it would rarely dip below 100. So my biggest question is why does the game seem to stutter , especially when im moving around and turning corners?

Update: I ran the Counter Strike source video stress test and it reported an avg of 165 fps.
 
Some people have also been experiencing slow DVD/HD access times (ripping DVDs, etc) with some C2D mobos. Maybe the SATA/IDE controller has problems (JMicron has been fingered as a potential culprit).

The hitching you're experiencing is the result of slow loads from the hard disk.

 
Originally posted by: stickybytes
I recently built a core 2 duo system with the following stats: E6400 cpu, Evga 7600 GT KO video card, 2 GB Corsair Valueselect DDR2-667 ram, Seagate 320GB sata hard drive.

I installed half life 2 and when i started playing it, i noticed that the gameplay was kinda choppy. Every 5 seconds or so, especially when im moving around, the game would pause for a split second. It is quite noticeable but it isn't enough to ruin the gameplay experience however. Nevertheless, there should be no reason why a comp with my stats is struggling with a game like half life 2. Furthermore, the load times are quite long. I would say they are taking anywhere from 10-15 seconds. Is this even normal for a system like mine?

Anyone have any ideas on why this game is struggling so much with my comp?
Click to expand...

Im having the same problems on a 7900GT
 
Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
Some people have also been experiencing slow DVD/HD access times (ripping DVDs, etc) with some C2D mobos. Maybe the SATA/IDE controller has problems (JMicron has been fingered as a potential culprit).

The hitching you're experiencing is the result of slow loads from the hard disk.
Click to expand...

Run HDtach guys, and post the results, along with your storage system specs.
 
Originally posted by: Atheus
Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
Some people have also been experiencing slow DVD/HD access times (ripping DVDs, etc) with some C2D mobos. Maybe the SATA/IDE controller has problems (JMicron has been fingered as a potential culprit).

The hitching you're experiencing is the result of slow loads from the hard disk.
Click to expand...

Run HDtach guys, and post the results, along with your storage system specs.
Click to expand...

I have one sata hard drive. It is the Seagate 320GB sata hd, it is series 10.

I Run HDtach and got the following results:
On the long test, it reported that my burst speed was 134.8 MB/s.
The random access time is 13.6ms.
Avg read was 66.3 MB/s.
 
Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth
Originally posted by: stickybytes
I recently built a core 2 duo system with the following stats: E6400 cpu, Evga 7600 GT KO video card, 2 GB Corsair Valueselect DDR2-667 ram, Seagate 320GB sata hard drive.

I installed half life 2 and when i started playing it, i noticed that the gameplay was kinda choppy. Every 5 seconds or so, especially when im moving around, the game would pause for a split second. It is quite noticeable but it isn't enough to ruin the gameplay experience however. Nevertheless, there should be no reason why a comp with my stats is struggling with a game like half life 2. Furthermore, the load times are quite long. I would say they are taking anywhere from 10-15 seconds. Is this even normal for a system like mine?

Anyone have any ideas on why this game is struggling so much with my comp?
Click to expand...

Im having the same problems on a 7900GT
Click to expand...

Do you have a similar setup as me? Post your system specs.
 
Originally posted by: stickybytes
Originally posted by: Atheus
Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
Some people have also been experiencing slow DVD/HD access times (ripping DVDs, etc) with some C2D mobos. Maybe the SATA/IDE controller has problems (JMicron has been fingered as a potential culprit).

The hitching you're experiencing is the result of slow loads from the hard disk.
Click to expand...

Run HDtach guys, and post the results, along with your storage system specs.
Click to expand...

I have one sata hard drive. It is the Seagate 320GB sata hd, it is series 10.

I Run HDtach and got the following results:
On the long test, it reported that my burst speed was 134.8 MB/s.
The random access time is 13.6ms.
Avg read was 66.3 MB/s.
Click to expand...

That is a good speed - nothing wrong with the hard drive.

Are you pulling data off DVD while playing? I would make an ISO of the game CD and put the whole lot on your hard drive. Mount with daemon tools.
 
I remember people having those problems with HL2 on any machine regardless of spec when it first came out. did you update the game through steam?
 
Originally posted by: stickybytes
Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth
Originally posted by: stickybytes
I recently built a core 2 duo system with the following stats: E6400 cpu, Evga 7600 GT KO video card, 2 GB Corsair Valueselect DDR2-667 ram, Seagate 320GB sata hard drive.

I installed half life 2 and when i started playing it, i noticed that the gameplay was kinda choppy. Every 5 seconds or so, especially when im moving around, the game would pause for a split second. It is quite noticeable but it isn't enough to ruin the gameplay experience however. Nevertheless, there should be no reason why a comp with my stats is struggling with a game like half life 2. Furthermore, the load times are quite long. I would say they are taking anywhere from 10-15 seconds. Is this even normal for a system like mine?

Anyone have any ideas on why this game is struggling so much with my comp?
Click to expand...

Im having the same problems on a 7900GT
Click to expand...

Do you have a similar setup as me? Post your system specs.
Click to expand...


E6300
DS3
2GB RAm DDR CORSAIR
300GB Drive
7900GT Vmodded 1.5v

 
Originally posted by: stickybytes
Originally posted by: Atheus
Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
Some people have also been experiencing slow DVD/HD access times (ripping DVDs, etc) with some C2D mobos. Maybe the SATA/IDE controller has problems (JMicron has been fingered as a potential culprit).

The hitching you're experiencing is the result of slow loads from the hard disk.
Click to expand...

Run HDtach guys, and post the results, along with your storage system specs.
Click to expand...

I have one sata hard drive. It is the Seagate 320GB sata hd, it is series 10.

I Run HDtach and got the following results:
On the long test, it reported that my burst speed was 134.8 MB/s.
The random access time is 13.6ms.
Avg read was 66.3 MB/s.
Click to expand...


thats good, but what's your CPU usage while HDTach ?

You might wanna consider defragging your HD (diskeeper,perfectdisk) and/or look into cachemanager programs (o&o software clevercache, cachemanxp).

Source engine always had problems with slight stutters once it loads stuff from HD...especially if you're on a fresh install.

There is a trick

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Soundcache

This explains how to rebuild soundcaches in HL2 - which might help too.

Edit: Skip that "crate maplist.txt"...the game already has one - so the above does basically go thru each level, loads the map, pre-loads the sounds and generates new cache files. (Well, yeah, kinda advanced stuff...but i find it's interesting)

HOWEVER, under normal circumstances you should NOT have significant problems if your HD is defragged and you have plenty ram....EXCEPT every first time when something gets loaded from HD
 
Originally posted by: flexy
Originally posted by: stickybytes
Originally posted by: Atheus
Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
Some people have also been experiencing slow DVD/HD access times (ripping DVDs, etc) with some C2D mobos. Maybe the SATA/IDE controller has problems (JMicron has been fingered as a potential culprit).

The hitching you're experiencing is the result of slow loads from the hard disk.
Click to expand...

Run HDtach guys, and post the results, along with your storage system specs.
Click to expand...

I have one sata hard drive. It is the Seagate 320GB sata hd, it is series 10.

I Run HDtach and got the following results:
On the long test, it reported that my burst speed was 134.8 MB/s.
The random access time is 13.6ms.
Avg read was 66.3 MB/s.
Click to expand...


thats good, but what's your CPU usage while HDTach ?

You might wanna consider defragging your HD (diskeeper,perfectdisk) and/or look into cachemanager programs (o&o software clevercache, cachemanxp).

Source engine always had problems with slight stutters once it loads stuff from HD...especially if you're on a fresh install.

There is a trick

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Soundcache

This explains how to rebuild soundcaches in HL2 - which might help too.

Edit: Skip that "crate maplist.txt"...the game already has one - so the above does basically go thru each level, loads the map, pre-loads the sounds and generates new cache files. (Well, yeah, kinda advanced stuff...but i find it's interesting)

HOWEVER, under normal circumstances you should NOT have significant problems if your HD is defragged and you have plenty ram....EXCEPT every first time when something gets loaded from HD
Click to expand...

I just ran HD Tach again and got the following results:
Average read: 66.3 MB/s
Random Access: 13.7 ms
CPU Utilization: 3%(+/-2%)

Earlier this morning, I actually decided to defrag my hard drive and found that it was 28% fragmented. I ran Windows Defrager and after it finished, Half life 2 ran much smoother! The only problem is that when i walk really fast and turn, the game still seems to skip a bit. Is this a normal problem with the game or is something wrong with my system?

Edit: Most graphic settings are set on high based on what the game recommends and the anti-aliasing is set to 2x. I get 60fps constantly so i don't think it's the video card at fault.
 
Originally posted by: stickybytes

Earlier this morning, I actually decided to defrag my hard drive and found that it was 28% fragmented. I ran Windows Defrager and after it finished, Half life 2 ran much smoother! The only problem is that when i walk really fast and turn, the game still seems to skip a bit. Is this a normal problem with the game or is something wrong with my system?

Edit: Most graphic settings are set on high based on what the game recommends and the anti-aliasing is set to 2x. I get 60fps constantly so i don't think it's the video card at fault.
Click to expand...

The skipping is not normal, I never experienced that. I'm assuming you have all updates and recent drivers installed? Any resource hogs running in the background?
 
Have you tried searching the Steam forums for others with C2D problems? Sounds like something to do with the chipset/mobo. I get much less FPS than you guys, and even with everything on High/enabled it doesn't have odd stutters like that. So no its not normal... there's something up with that.

What about your sound card? Onboard or PCI add-in? Sometimes that is the issue with stuttering in games.
 
My friend's Core Duo (Inspiron E1705, 7900GS) has these weird stutters in CS and I don't know why. Next time I see him at school I'll try and track down the problem. Memory usage/spyware wasn't the problem, both of the cores weren't saturated during gameplay, setting the affinity to one CPU didn't help, and with all the graphics on low it still occurs. Even with VSync off it happens. It looks so similar to what happens when your FPS goes in half due to VSync, but it couldn't be because VSync is forced off in RivaTuner and off in CS. The next thing we'll try is disabling power-saving features. After that we'll measure HD speed.
 
Originally posted by: stickybytes
Originally posted by: BFG10K
It's a dual-core glitch - set HL2 to just use one core through processor affinity.
Click to expand...

Ok, i'll give that a try. How do i do this?
Click to expand...

Nvm, found it in the task manager. I tried it, doesn't seem to be helping much. Still the slight stuttering when i move quickly and look around.
 
What do you have running in the background?

I get glitches in games when I have BOINC running. I have a different system: X2 3800, 1gb ram, X800XL(same thing happened with 9800Pro). Try turning off all unnecesary utilities running.
 
Dual-core glitch???? You are kidding right? I have never heard of such a thing 😕
 
I tried it, doesn't seem to be helping much. Still the slight stuttering when i move quickly and look around.
Click to expand...
Have you installed the latest chipset drivers for your system?

Dual-core glitch???? You are kidding right? I have never heard of such a thing
Click to expand...
What rock have you been living under?
 
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