Microstutter

Now..I know there have been tons of threads regarding stuttering, but my problem is not related to harddisk loading.

If I stand still and stare at a tree, I have 80+ FPS on high settings according to FRAPS, but it will microstutter soooo bad that it completely kills the immersion.

I (and many others) had the same problem in Fallout 3, but there was a trick where enabling vsync would smooth it out. That's not an option here.

I'm also familiar with FPS limiter, but I can't get it to work with my Windows 7 and I don't think you can run betas with it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

Do you have something like AVG chugging away in the background and slowing your system down ?

Hmm..I have NOD32 running. Don't think it's much of a system hog though, but I'll try and disable it and report back.

Goto my documents\Arma 2\Arma2.cfg

Edit that file and looks for the refreshrate. Make sure it's set to the same as your monitor (at least 60)

Turning off NOD32 didn't do anything.

Goto my documents\Arma 2\Arma2.cfg

Edit that file and looks for the refreshrate. Make sure it's set to the same as your monitor (at least 60)

It is set to 60..same as my monitor.

Anything in there that looks odd btw?:

language="English";

adapter=-1;

3D_Performance=93750;

Resolution_Bpp=32;

Resolution_W=1920;

Resolution_H=1080;

refresh=60;

Render_W=1920;

Render_H=1080;

FSAA=2;

postFX=1;

HDRPrecision=8;

lastDeviceId="";

localVRAM=919994368;

nonlocalVRAM=2147483647;

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1000;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=3;

Windowed=0;

winX=16;

winY=32;

winW=1920;

winH=1080;

winDefW=1920;

winDefH=1080;

^ that looks fine

does this happen to you no matter what you are doing with the game? eg on your own in the editor, online, single player campaign? have you tried increasing your view distance to see if it smooths out?

What gfx settings do you use in game, whats your VD currently? Does it still happen if you use "very low" for everything?

I am having the same issue, but it appears to only be when I am playing online coop and the sever is under load. It seems to lessen when I increase my VD.

this ist the I7 Problem.

use -cpuCount=4 in your shortcut or use a Launcher (http://arma2.ar.funpic.de/) to set cpuCount to 4.

sorry for my bad english ;)

@Seany:

It happens no matter what I'm doing. Trees and bushes seem to be the worst, but some other models produces the same microstutter. I will have to get back to you on settings (baby girl screaming her lungs out atm) I can (sorta) make it go away if I lower my settings so I never go below 100-120 FPS...but then it gets uglier then Arma 1 to achive that.

@bensdale:

I have disabled HT via bios long ago.

ok you have disabled HT in your Bios and use "cpuCount 4" to?

Try anyway with cpucount4

ok you have disabled HT in your Bios and use "cpuCount 4" to?

Try anyway with cpucount4

Well..with HT disabled, my cpu count IS 4, but I'll give it a go.

Tried running with -winxp?

Also, have you tried the beta patches?

Tried running with -winxp?

Also, have you tried the beta patches?

Check to both.

I have just spend a couple of hours trying to enable vsync..everybody keeps saying it on by default, but I have frame rates way above my monitor and lots of screen tearing, so it's definitely off.

I noticed in Nvidia control panel that the vsync option only affects openGL...so how do you enable it? I have a feeling that would fix it for me.

Update:

Lol..I couldn't even force it on with Direct3D Overrider :/ This game doesn't like me.

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1000;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=3; Set your maxframes ahead. 1000 is doing nothing. Also are you 'logging" with Fraps? I can get horrendous stutter with fraps at times logging, also Everest too. You have your 2 nvidia profle mostly set for a2 to use the options? Not the profile doing AA or AF ect..

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1000;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=3; Set your maxframes ahead. 1000 is doing nothing.

1000 is just default..ye? So it will do max frames ahead = 3? What should I set it to?

Also are you 'logging" with Fraps? I can get horrendous stutter with fraps at times logging, also Everest too.

No..not using FRAP to log...just looking at FPS

You have your 2 nvidia profle mostly set for a2 to use the options? Not the profile doing AA or AF ect..

Didn't understand this last part.

One thing that happens quite often, and it's probably not the problem here, but people have mentioned many times that they start getting frame rate drops while using FRAPS (including stuttering), turns out that they keep accidently activating video recording in FRAPS (it's the same hotkey and selecting a squad member)

Probably not the issue, but check your FRAPS directory to see if have any video or screenshots in there. Alternatively you can disable the video and SS under FRAPS or use an alternative (like EVGA Precision)

^ FRAPS will limit the framerate to whatever speed it's recording with and the FPS indicator will turn red...kinda hard to miss ^^

The microstutter is evident whether FRAPS is running or not...but thanks for your input :)

I just downloaded the game under my Win XP instalment (I have the Steam version). Nothing changed. I might have gotten a few FPS more, hard to tell, but the microstutter is just as bad :(

So..I finally managed to turn vsync on..lol

Turns out that the vsync option in Nvidia control panel when using Win XP affects both OpenGL and DirectX games (unlike Vista and Win 7 where it only affects OpenGL..go figure)

However, it didn't quite have the effect I was hoping for. It removed the extensive screen tearing I'm having, which was extremely pleasing to the eye, but the microstutter was still there no matter how low the setting were, and it introduced a slight delay on mouse movement.

Anybody know of another way of limiting FPS other then vsync?

So far I have spend way more time trying to optimize the game then actually playing :(

yep, also micro stutters for me.

i have i7 930 and win 7 32bit

these are the primary culprits imo and it's quite enraging that there;s nothing you can do about it. setting render max frames ahead to 1000 just mean it's using your nvidia setting. i have mine at default 3, setting it to others don't help at all. verticle sync helps make the game more stable and less jumpy, but the stuttering is still there and it's like playing a sideshow except the fps is in the 40s. as in way above playable.

If you have an Nvidia card you can force Vsync on in the control panel :)

Try messing with these settings in the arma.cfg . also try using both the -winxp and -cpucount=4 in the shortcut. Those might help with the stuttering.

//GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1000;

//GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=2;

//Might want to change those 2 values as well to get even better //"FPS" AKA feeling of better FPS.

//Change both values to "1" and test. Should give faster reaction //in mouse wich can make it feel "faster". Detected frames will //copy what you have in Nvidia control panel so you can set that //to "1" (render frames) as well and test.

//If its too fast "stuttery" then change to "3" again but leave //max frames ahead in ARMA.CFG to "1".

//Play with the values but min-max in the CFG files is 1-4. The //value "1000" means its not set at all. Change to "1" for me //makes the game quicker in response and thus feels faster.

i get the stutter which is really annoying only when i'm the gunner (air/ground) and zoomed in but sometimes zoomed out which make the job as a gunner so difficult and my teammate thinks that i suck at it :-). I don't get any stutter when standing as the OP describing. I use game booster, i have my game on RAID 0, pagefile on different drive, CPU is OC to 3.8 ghz, 0% fragmentation, latest ATI driver, latest arma beta.

How many of you have the stuttering problems while zoomed in (air/ground gunner) vehicles?

i get the stutter which is really annoying only when i'm the gunner (air/ground) and zoomed in but sometimes zoomed out which make the job as a gunner so difficult and my teammate thinks that i suck at it :-). I don't get any stutter when standing as the OP describing. I use game booster, i have my game on RAID 0, pagefile on different drive, CPU is OC to 3.8 ghz, 0% fragmentation, latest ATI driver, latest arma beta.

How many of you have the stuttering problems while zoomed in (air/ground gunner) vehicles?

your stutter sounds like a "too big of resolution" with to high a ViewDistance. issue for your current HW. Your res is 1280/1024(best) with 2200VD?

Or more like a nice 24in 1900/1200~ with 3800VD, which would be too much for your current hardware to run with out slowdowns and stutters on zooms.

your stutter sounds like a "too big of resolution" with to high a ViewDistance. issue for your current HW. Your res is 1280/1024(best) with 2200VD?

Or more like a nice 24in 1900/1200~ with 3800VD, which would be too much for your current hardware to run with out slowdowns and stutters on zooms.

I'm playing on my screen native resolution 1680x1050 with 1800 VD. 4870 with 1GB should be able to handle such resolution but i will give your recommendation a try to test.

Edit: I forgot to mention that every time the game does it the light on the computer case for the hard drive starts flashing consistently. Another thing i will try is add another 2GB of RAM and use RAMDISK.

could bis fix this please? i have 59 fps, and this totally destroys my gameplay experience.