Is this "studdering" and is it memory related?

[Hauk]

Running The Witcher @ 1680x1050 w/high settings, frame rates are good indoors, outdoors, and during combat. Generally it seems the G92 is able to run the game on high settings just fine.

Only thing, when I'm running around the city I get little split second pauses, likes it's accessing system memory for data. Settings to medium seem to help (esp texture quality). Latest drivers/patches.

I recall the same thing happening in Oblivion prior to buying a GTX. I knew the GTX was fast, but I figured the 768MB & bandwidth was what helped with the pauses.

Think it's a memory size/bandwidth issue?

Q6600 @ 3.2
Asus P5E X38, Vista 64
4GB Ballistx DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15
EVGA 8800 G92 GTS 512 @ 750/1800/2000

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: SteelSix
Running The Witcher @ 1680x1050 w/high settings, frame rates are good indoors, outdoors, and during combat. Generally it seems the G92 is able to run the game on high settings just fine.

Only thing, when I'm running around the city I get little split second pauses, likes it's accessing system memory for data. Settings to medium seem to help (esp texture quality). Latest drivers/patches.

I recall the same thing happening in Oblivion prior to buying a GTX. I knew the GTX was fast, but I figured the 768MB & bandwidth was what helped with the pauses.

Think it's a memory size/bandwidth issue?

Q6600 @ 3.2
Asus P5E X38, Vista 64
4GB Ballistx DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15
EVGA 8800 G92 GTS 512 @ 750/1800/2000

Hmmm could very well be the 256MB difference in VRAM but I didn't think that was really a problem until 1600x1200+ resolutions. Don't think its a paging/RAM issue, does the hitching continue even when you cover the same areas again?

Lowering texture size even with 4GB system RAM does seem to point to the video card though. G92 does show some memory bandwidth bottlenecking at high core clocks with AA enabled. Enabling AA also has a pretty significant impact on VRAM used. What level AA are you using (I'm guessing 4x+ via Control Panel since game is limited to 2x)? I'd try turning off AA and leaving everything else the same, and see if that decreases hitching.

I don't see any hitching on my rig, although I do get a short pause/slideshow when going outside during the daytime in Trade Quarters (Chp.3), but I'm pretty sure that's a CPU/client issue as it loads up all the non-static objects and NPCs etc.

 

[Hauk]

Good question, I only see it once. Cover same area again and little or no "hitching."

I have CP AA set to use program default (2xAA in game). I'll try turning AA off and see what happens.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: SteelSix
Good question, I only see it once. Cover same area again and little or no "hitching."

I have CP AA set to use program default (2xAA in game). I'll try turning AA off and see what happens.

If you're only seeing it the first time it could be system RAM as the game loads up new textures. There's not too much you can do about this with 4GB and x64 other than improving your storage subsystem with faster HDDs (RAID 0, Raptors, large platter discs with fast seek times ec.) or going crazy with some SSD. Still, everything besides SSD probably wouldn't improve this dramatically; you'd still see some hitching with first loads, but the benefit of more RAM and a 64-bit OS is that you shouldn't see it again after that. I'd still try lowering AA though just to make sure its not the VRAM, although I don't think 1680 is enough to create a problem with 2x AA.

 

[madh83]

I was having problems with that chapter too, on top of the things mentioned, do you disable executive paging? That helped me a little, but I think the way the engine handles memory isn't very efficient.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: chizow

Hmmm could very well be the 256MB difference in VRAM but I didn't think that was really a problem until 1600x1200+ resolutions. Don't think its a paging/RAM issue, does the hitching continue even when you cover the same areas again?

Lowering texture size even with 4GB system RAM does seem to point to the video card though. G92 does show some memory bandwidth bottlenecking at high core clocks with AA enabled. Enabling AA also has a pretty significant impact on VRAM used. What level AA are you using (I'm guessing 4x+ via Control Panel since game is limited to 2x)? I'd try turning off AA and leaving everything else the same, and see if that decreases hitching.

FWIW, when I had my GTS 640s The Witcher would allow me to select 4x AA inside the game, but the GTs only 2x.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: madh83
I was having problems with that chapter too, on top of the things mentioned, do you disable executive paging? That helped me a little, but I think the way the engine handles memory isn't very efficient.

It could certainly be better, but the 1.2 patch helped a ton with load times. I never really had any problems other than the load/save/zone times. Honestly I think this game would benefit a lot from client optimizations as its extremely CPU hungry and part of the slow load/zone times are because the system partially hangs. I've seen the client go "not responding" a few seconds at a time on zones and CPU utilization is 100% on core 1 and 70-80% on core 2 most of the time. If I record in FRAPs both CPUs spike to 100% which results in a drop in FPS.

Originally posted by: aka1nas
FWIW, when I had my GTS 640s The Witcher would allow me to select 4x AA inside the game, but the GTs only 2x.

Interesting, my GTX only allows for 2x AA in-game, so I went and checked it out and it looks like AA-level is application controlled based on resolution. I dropped down to 1680x1050 and it opened up 4x AA. What resolution are you running? It might be controlled by both video card and resolution. Must be some way to change the .inf as I don't remember anything like a performance test.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: SteelSix
Good question, I only see it once. Cover same area again and little or no "hitching."

I have CP AA set to use program default (2xAA in game). I'll try turning AA off and see what happens.

If you're only seeing it the first time it could be system RAM as the game loads up new textures. There's not too much you can do about this with 4GB and x64 other than improving your storage subsystem with faster HDDs (RAID 0, Raptors, large platter discs with fast seek times ec.) or going crazy with some SSD. Still, everything besides SSD probably wouldn't improve this dramatically; you'd still see some hitching with first loads, but the benefit of more RAM and a 64-bit OS is that you shouldn't see it again after that. I'd still try lowering AA though just to make sure its not the VRAM, although I don't think 1680 is enough to create a problem with 2x AA.

Just try [only] lowering textures and see what happens

i should be getting the Witcher pretty soon so i too can experience more 'Atari bugs'

 

[Hauk]

Chizow I forgot to mention I have 74GB 16MB Raptors in RAID 0. Not much else I can do, game is still quite playable on high settings. I'm gonna test this weekend with a GTX @ same settings for hitching.

Apoppin, you're in for a treat! The Witcher is a lot of fun to play. This is an RPG for the real world. Drinking, fist fighting, gambling, and my personal favorite, scoring with the ladies thru gifts, charm, or coin. Add those elements to everything you're used to in an RPG, and you have The Witcher. I love this game... :thumbsup:

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: SteelSix
Running The Witcher @ 1680x1050 w/high settings, frame rates are good indoors, outdoors, and during combat. Generally it seems the G92 is able to run the game on high settings just fine.

Only thing, when I'm running around the city I get little split second pauses, likes it's accessing system memory for data. Settings to medium seem to help (esp texture quality). Latest drivers/patches.

I recall the same thing happening in Oblivion prior to buying a GTX. I knew the GTX was fast, but I figured the 768MB & bandwidth was what helped with the pauses.

Think it's a memory size/bandwidth issue?

Q6600 @ 3.2
Asus P5E X38, Vista 64
4GB Ballistx DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15
EVGA 8800 G92 GTS 512 @ 750/1800/2000

Hmmm could very well be the 256MB difference in VRAM but I didn't think that was really a problem until 1600x1200+ resolutions. Don't think its a paging/RAM issue, does the hitching continue even when you cover the same areas again?

Lowering texture size even with 4GB system RAM does seem to point to the video card though. G92 does show some memory bandwidth bottlenecking at high core clocks with AA enabled. Enabling AA also has a pretty significant impact on VRAM used. What level AA are you using (I'm guessing 4x+ via Control Panel since game is limited to 2x)? I'd try turning off AA and leaving everything else the same, and see if that decreases hitching.

I don't see any hitching on my rig, although I do get a short pause/slideshow when going outside during the daytime in Trade Quarters (Chp.3), but I'm pretty sure that's a CPU/client issue as it loads up all the non-static objects and NPCs etc.

I experiment the same issues with Gears of War when is maxed, even at 1024x768, and that games doesn't work with FSAA currently with ATi hardware, my AGP Aperture Size is 128MB, even when Fraps shows that the game is running between 34 and 64fps, the framerate looks erratic and when you look around feels some pausing in the scene with no Hard Disk activity, strange.

 

[wanderer27]

Is "Enable write combining" turned on?

I've had that cause stuttering in games before - Far Cry for one.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: wanderer27
Is "Enable write combining" turned on?

I've had that cause stuttering in games before - Far Cry for one.

Yeah, turning it off would reduce my 3D game performance? I'm gonna give it a try as soon as I get out of the job. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Hauk]

So I've tested The Witcher with an 8800 GTS G92 and 8800 GTX. I haven't run benchmarks, but I have no "hitching" at all with the GTX, and gameplay is smooth as butter on high settings, 4X AA, 16X AF, Vsync enabled. And you know that delay when you go upstairs to downstairs and vice versa while in a building, greatly reduced.

This convinces me that benchies must be taken with a grain of salt. The GTX with more memory and higher bandwidth clearly has the advantage. I'm returning the GTS for a full refund less shipping and keeping the new $375 GTX. I wish I'd have kept my original one and saved the hassle! Oh well.

Clocking the GTX to 640/1480/1000 with Arctic Ceramique and a bump to fan speed. Best part, I can unplug the space heater I was using.

 

[n7]

Yet another reason i'm not excited about nV's new bandwidth crippled vRAM lacking new 8800s.

This is extremely good information...goes to show benchmarks do NOT always tell the whole story.