General Discussion (dev branch)

[liquidpinky 11]

Game played great till they fixed it for 32bit users, now it stutters like a bitch.

[comp_uter15776 1]

Game played great till they fixed it for 32bit users, now it stutters like a bitch.

This. :L

[thr0tt 12]

or just be like me, with 32GB , the game content on ramdisk and enjoying the ride

(i know i know, i do want native x64 build of binary too but that ETA is in between stars)

btw. difference between ramdisk and fast SSD is barely noticable (only in settings beyond ultra)

So, I've got Win 7, 64 bit, 8gb DDR 3, HD7850 and mechanical HDD, what would benefit me most so the game runs smoother a SSD or another 8gb ram ?

[Varanon 892]

So, I've got Win 7, 64 bit, 8gb DDR 3, HD7850 and mechanical HDD, what would benefit me most so the game runs smoother a SSD or another 8gb ram ?

I can live with the fact that there are occasional stutters like there were in Chernarus and other large maps. However, I honestly hope that BIS will fix the game for release so that no SSD or 32 GB of main memory is absolutely essential to even play the game. That would be pretty ridiculous.

My specs are way beyond the minimal specs and a bit above the recommended specs. Don't now tell me that I need an SSD ot 32 GB of memory to play it without second long hickups.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Varanon

[xendance 3]

This. :L

Same. Previously turning around resulted in the game loading the terrain textures and stuttering a bit. After that it didn't seem to stutter even if you were turning around like a maniac. Now it stutters all the time when you turn around.

[Ekko 1]

Well, just look on the bright side of it, we might be able to play the game without gameplay-ruining stuttering when turning around in about 5 years... maybe if we are lucky- 3 years...

Or wait just a minute, did stuttering get fixed in A2?

[Varanon 892]

Or wait just a minute, did stuttering get fixed in A2?

In the current developer build, the game suddenly stops for a few seconds and then continues to run. That is not stuttering, that's making the game unplayable. As I said, there's been slight delays with loading stuff in Arma 2 as well, but not several seconds long.

This is a severe issue, not something that should be ridiculed, downplayed or ignored.

[nikiforos 450]

^Yep, I have this issue as well.

[Ekko 1]

This is a severe issue, not something that should be ridiculed, downplayed or ignored.

Yes, it shall not be ridiculed, downplayed, ignored, or even asked about for that matter because thats just outright silly, it will make you look like you just committed the first three in some peoples eyes.

[Varanon 892]

Yes, it shall not be ridiculed, downplayed, ignored, or even asked about for that matter because thats just outright silly, it will make you look like you just committed the first three in some peoples eyes.

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean ? Where did I downplay the issue ?

[Ekko 1]

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean ? Where did I downplay the issue ?

Maybe you don't understand because I used the word: you. When I could have used words such as: some, people and probably many more words to explain why I did not either downplay the issue at hand.

[Varanon 892]

Maybe you don't understand because I used the word: you. When I could have used words such as: some, people and probably many more words to explain why I did not either downplay the issue at hand.

In that case, I suggest using phrases like "I agree with you" or "You are right", or "I don't agree with you" or "you are wrong", because these aren't as misleading as your cryptic words.

But never mind, this is going far off topic, and since you also seem to agree let's leave it at that.

[CaptainObvious 95]

Game played great till they fixed it for 32bit users, now it stutters like a bitch.

I thought this happened due to me upgrading GeForce drivers from 314.xx to 320.49, darn if it's the game itself, not the drivers :(

[Azzur33 1]

In the current developer build, the game suddenly stops for a few seconds and then continues to run. That is not stuttering, that's making the game unplayable. As I said, there's been slight delays with loading stuff in Arma 2 as well, but not several seconds long.

This is a severe issue, not something that should be ridiculed, downplayed or ignored.

Where do you have these few second stops? What are you doing when they happen? Is the problem in SP or MP or in both equally? What kind of settings do you have when you experience these stops?

Don't get me wrong, few second stops ARE bad.

But really, Chernarus is quite easy to handle compared to Altis.

Chernarus had two major towns, mostly unenterable buildings.

In Altis you may have 10 Chernogorsk sized towns (with mostly enterable houses) or building complexes visible at the same time, especially on the eastern part of the island. The density of the buildings and objects is far higher than in Chernarus too. They do "attack" your CPU, graphics card and memory a lot harder than in Chernarus when you travel fast or take the first looks around. But after all that stuff is in the memory, you shoudn't have any "few second stops".

The only occasional few seconds stops I've had, was when trying to fly 600 km/h in 3000 meters with 12000 visibility and 6000 obj. vis. ...which is like murdering your poor PC.

If you are experiencing that in the ground with moderate visibility, then there is a performance issue for sure.

But is it something that the devs can resolve.

To be "on topic" for a while: I haven't noticed any weaker performance after "32 bit user fix", maybe(?) textures take a bit longer to load? Difficult to say.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Azzur33

[Tyl3r99 41]

Game played great till they fixed it for 32bit users, now it stutters like a bitch.

ive noticed this too... fuckin horrible

[griffz 1]

I don't think it would matter all that much with this game , I got a single 780gtx and can max it out , it bottlenecks at the cpu if you got high end cards .

i totally disagree. 200% sampling + 4x FSAA ... or even 2X :D

ps: for those who don't know, sampling@200% is supersampling AA.

Edited August 31, 2013 by griffz

[bad benson 1733]

In the current developer build, the game suddenly stops for a few seconds and then continues to run. That is not stuttering, that's making the game unplayable.

this is exactly it. the game isn't running bad. it's running like it's broken. i know this from other games. bf3 had some memory leak problems in some versions and it became unplayable for me for a period of time too. it's not loading stutter it's violent stutter that chops the game off and stops it from running for short periods of time. people know how arma games sometimes run. this is not just the game running badly.

i'd really suggest that people who don't have this issue stop acting like people are making it up or use bad settings. i have turned down my settings to a point where the game now looks ugly just so i don't get killed when i enter a village because of violent stutter (aka game stops for a seconds). yes it's better but i still get it.

if the game works for you, then good for you. but please stop with the "works for me, must be you"-logic. it's really annoying.

[NeuroFunker 11]

i only have massive stutter, if i have the vie diestance set to 12km and obj to like 8km. I can play 7km and 4km obj view disatnce very smooth.

[Alwarren 2765]

if the game works for you, then good for you. but please stop with the "works for me, must be you"-logic. it's really annoying.

Exactly. Plainly, I don't see why people to this. Who do they think is served with this kind of blinker logic. If it is ignored, the reviewers will most likely see it and that will reflect negatively on the publicity. I have pointed out repeatedly that my machine is well within the RECOMMENDED specs and I still have issues running the game, but it seems everybody thinks "upgrade your machine" is a valid response.

[Varanon 892]

Where do you have these few second stops? What are you doing when they happen? Is the problem in SP or MP or in both equally? What kind of settings do you have when you experience these stops?

Happened in both multiplayer and singleplayer. In different situations... one time I was driving an APC over a relatively empty plain, the second time when driving a motorboat with view of the coast.

Don't get me wrong, few second stops ARE bad.

But really, Chernarus is quite easy to handle compared to Altis.

Chernarus had two major towns, mostly unenterable buildings.

In Altis you may have 10 Chernogorsk sized towns (with mostly enterable houses) or building complexes visible at the same time, especially on the eastern part of the island. The density of the buildings and objects is far higher than in Chernarus too. They do "attack" your CPU, graphics card and memory a lot harder than in Chernarus when you travel fast or take the first looks around. But after all that stuff is in the memory, you shoudn't have any "few second stops".

Chernarus had bigger forests than Altis, and back in the days when Arma 2 came out, my machine was much lower specced than it is now. And even then, there were no several second dropouts.

The only occasional few seconds stops I've had, was when trying to fly 600 km/h in 3000 meters with 12000 visibility and 6000 obj. vis. ...which is like murdering your poor PC.

If you are experiencing that in the ground with moderate visibility, then there is a performance issue for sure.

But is it something that the devs can resolve.

Oh, just for giggles, I can set the view distance to 6000 m without much problem as long as I don't move. And I have a 64 bit system, too, 4 gb of memory, even raised the game's maxmem to 2gb (of which 1.6 to 1.7 are actually used.

And no matter what, I am in the recommended specs, and I expect the game to work. Which it does most of the time. Heck, I can even set the view distance to 20 km if I leave the object view at a lower level. I Don't know what exactly is causing the problem, but it goes beyond the "Wait, let me load this model and texture", because that would also show with lods being swapped in.

To reiterate, I can run Altis with around 30 fps at 3 to 4 km view distance. It will work relatively smoothly, but suddenly stop for a few second and then move on. This is NOT the usual stutter when loading from disk.

To be "on topic" for a while: I haven't noticed any weaker performance after "32 bit user fix", maybe(?) textures take a bit longer to load? Difficult to say.

I fail to see how discussing how the current development built is performing poorly is "oft topic" ?

[instagoat 133]

Exactly. Plainly, I don't see why people to this. Who do they think is served with this kind of blinker logic. If it is ignored, the reviewers will most likely see it and that will reflect negatively on the publicity. I have pointed out repeatedly that my machine is well within the RECOMMENDED specs and I still have issues running the game, but it seems everybody thinks "upgrade your machine" is a valid response.

Agreed there. When I stand still, the game runs smooth as anything. But once I start moving, it begins to stutter up, and finally dies with a freeze and a whimper. There are some significant problems with the way memory is handled right now, it seems. Plus, I also get rather significant LOD trashing that seems to increase as the game gets more stuttery. Still, up until the crash, the average framerate, aside from the stutters, is perfectly fine. So you could say my game "runs", but it doesn't run as well as it should, I believe.

Also, my rig is almost 6 years old and runs the game perfectly fine. There are people with way more massive rigs than mine having problems. Upgrading isn't a solution either since one of the advertised features of Arma 3 specifically was that "If you can run Arma 2, you can run Arma 3 (Dx10 ready system aside)."

Stability is a massive concern at this stage, so these problems should be addressed. Unfortunately for me, my problems are also rather random, and I can't tell when specifically the game clogs up and when it won't (aside from that it only clogs up on Altis). Others have more regular and pronounced problems, so at least those should be reproducable for the crew and be fixed. One big complaint about A2 back at its release was the stability and performance, so I do believe BI are aware of how important this is, since the press fired shots across their bow before about this in 2008.

[Varanon 892]

i only have massive stutter, if i have the vie diestance set to 12km and obj to like 8km. I can play 7km and 4km obj view disatnce very smooth.

Me too, that's the point. I can play at 4km. And then suddenly it stops. I said it multiple times, this is NOT the usual "let me load this model" stutter that we all know from any iteration of Arma (which I play since OFP). It's more than that.

---------- Post added at 02:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:19 PM ----------

(aside from that it only clogs up on Altis)

Exactly the same here. I have 233 hours of Arma 3 on Steam's clock, and at least 220 of those I spent on Stratis with no problem whatsoever. I never had a crash with any of the betas or any significant program errors like "Program doesn't react anymore" etc.

Plus, when it stops for me, Arma 3 has about 1.6 GB of memory in use, which isn't a lot. Windows doesn't even start swapping or anything.

[bad benson 1733]

There are some significant problems with the way memory is handled right now, it seems.

yea i almost think that there's a problem with certain lods. or just too many lods. maybe if they would simplify the lod system it would cause less problems. i'm pretty sure it's related to houses. because i get the chopping even in small villages. it's so frustrating because the game itself runs really good. surprisingly good tbh.

[Azzur33 1]

for you. but please stop with the "works for me, must be you"-logic. it's really annoying.

Is the "The game is definitely broken and totally unplayable for me, so the game is broken and totally unplayable! Fix it! It has to be your fault!" -logic any better.

It doesn't help much either.

A video of the problems would help to understand those who have the difficulties.

Then we could all say "Oh man, that is bad, I don't have it, but that looks really bad. Something must be done."

[ric 1]

i was on a server last night and it was running altis and 3 times i had 3-4 second pauses ,there is a string of code somewhere being very naughty :(