Camera Choppyness and Stutter in 2.6.1

[Crimsonlyger]

I am experiencing an issue with the camera being choppy and stuttering in patch 2.6.1 This started for me in the newest patch's 2.6.1 and 2.6.0. I own all DLCs and have no mods installed.

I can confirm this issue is not present in 2.5.1 - a rollback and test confirmed this just a few moments ago.

Rig specs:

Ryzen 9 3900x
32GB RAM
GTX 1070 FTW
144hz Monitor.
Latest public release of Nvidia Drivers 442.59

Additional Info: The game runs butter smooth when paused, but when it unpauses the stuttering is immediately noticeable on highest speed. Makes camera movement very choppy.

I sit at around 450-550 FPS when the game is paused in a fresh game on a large galaxy with 13 AI, mouse wheel zooming and camera movement are 100% phenomenally smooth. The moment I unpause the FPS drops to 79-85, and fluctuates depending on what I am doing. The graphics settings are all at maximum although there is similar discrepency with lower graphics settings.

Another strange bit of info. When the game is Paused - 3D GPU Utilization skyrockets to 99% but drops when game is unpaused.

 

[Crimsonlyger]

I can record a video of this issue in action if its helpful!

 

[tapewormlondon]

I have the same problem
16gb ram
2080 Super
i7 6700K

Latest drivers

144hz monitor is the only matching component i have with OP

GPU utilization sits between 20 -30%
FPS goes from 150 to 40....

 

[Crimsonlyger]

I have the same problem
16gb ram
2080 Super
i7 6700K

Latest drivers

144hz monitor is the only matching component i have with OP

GPU utilization sits between 20 -30%
FPS goes from 150 to 40....

Is your Monitor Gsync enabled? I tried turning it off and then forcing refresh rate to 60, but still had the same issue. The fact that it didn't happen in 2.5.1 and doesnt when I roll it back leaves me to believe it's related to the game version somehow.

 

[tapewormlondon]

Is your Monitor Gsync enabled? I tried turning it off and then forcing refresh rate to 60, but still had the same issue. The fact that it didn't happen in 2.5.1 and doesnt when I roll it back leaves me to believe it's related to the game version somehow.

No not Gsync enabled. Ive not had this problem before the Expac and patch. I know the term is overused, but it makes the game unplayable for me. Gives me motion sickness.

 

[AndrewT]

DXDIAG is a program you run from a command prompt or the Windows start menu 'run' dialog box (or 'search programs' in Windows 7 or later). After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach your Documents/Paradox/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox/Stellaris/logs/ folder, attach system.log .


Please report the temperatures of your CPU and video (GPU)
1/ before starting the game up and
2/ after say 10 minutes' play.
If your PC's vendor has given you no way of reading temperatures, install
SPEEDFAN http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

 

[Crimsonlyger]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the reply. Attached are the requested files. I have also attached some images to demo what I'm seeing.

GPU Temp at System Idle: 44C
CPU Temp at System Idle: 41C

GPU Temp after 10 minutes of play: 57C
CPU Temp after 10 minutes of play: 47C

 

[AndrewT]

So you are in Windowed mode, no Vsync, and desktop at 144hz.

Does the game run in fullScreen for you? If so can you please try changing to enable Vsync and set the game to 60hz?

 

[MisterOrrie]

Exactly the same thing is happening to me. I rolled back to the previous version and it runs smoothly. Now the camera and all movements (ships, planets, etc.) are choppy since installing Federations. The 2.6.1 update hasn’t improved anything. Really frustrating.

CPU: Intel(R) Core i7-9700K (8-Core 3.60GHz)
VIDEO: MSI GeForce(R) RTX 2070 8GB
MEMORY: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4/3200mhz

please advise.

Edit: my monitor is running at 60Hz

 

[Crimsonlyger]

So you are in Windowed mode, no Vsync, and desktop at 144hz.

Does the game run in fullScreen for you? If so can you please try changing to enable Vsync and set the game to 60hz?

Correct. The game does not run in fullscreen. It starts to launch and then immediately goes to not responding in task manager. Running in Windowed, or Windowed Bordlerless, at any refresh rate presents the same effect.

Edit: Turning Vsync on at any refresh rate, 144hz, 120hz, 85hz, and 60hz, all lock the frames at the appropriate refresh rate but the issue is still present.

 

[MisterOrrie]

I’ve just cycled through all available refresh rates in the game menu and it makes no difference to performance.

Upon checking my FPS during games, as soon as the system/galaxy screen loads it’s running at 58-60 FPS. As soon as I unpause this is dropping to 30-40 FPS max.

Has this got something to do with the recent performance changes that were brought in with Federations to speed everyone else’s games speeds up?

The game is now giving me motion sickness like the user above and has become pretty much unplayable, which is irritating seeing as I only started playing the PC version 2 months ago on a new PC and it was running perfectly.

 

[AndrewT]

Correct. The game does not run in fullscreen. It starts to launch and then immediately goes to not responding in task manager. Running in Windowed, or Windowed Bordlerless, at any refresh rate presents the same effect.

That is a shame, as full Screen would probably fix this I think. Your initial paused frame rates in the 400s are - staggering!

Edit: Turning Vsync on at any refresh rate, 144hz, 120hz, 85hz, and 60hz, all lock the frames at the appropriate refresh rate but the issue is still present.

Oh really, even in windowed mode? I thought that just used the Windows desktop refresh rate. I must be missing something here.

Upon checking my FPS during games, as soon as the system/galaxy screen loads it’s running at 58-60 FPS. As soon as I unpause this is dropping to 30-40 FPS max.

Has this got something to do with the recent performance changes that were brought in with Federations to speed everyone else’s games speeds up?

I'm not sure this is the same issue. The OP doesn't have an fps issue he has a stuttering issue.

In any case, I wonder if @Guraan can help us here?

 

[CommanderO]

I have the same issue as above. I am running in windowed mode, as the game crashes in full screen. My comp specs are i7 processor, GTX 2060, 16GB Ram. The game stutters from the start, have tried changing resolution and all graphics settings. Didn't get this before the patch. Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[MisterOrrie]

The OP did also say they were experiencing a massive FPS hit when they unpaused. Apart from not having to run the game in windowed mode, this sounds like the same problem. It only began with the DLC and the patch.

 

[Crimsonlyger]

That is a shame, as full Screen would probably fix this I think. Your initial paused frame rates in the 400s are - staggering!


Oh really, even in windowed mode? I thought that just used the Windows desktop refresh rate. I must be missing something here.


I'm not sure this is the same issue. The OP doesn't have an fps issue he has a stuttering issue.

In any case, I wonder if @Guraan can help us here?

Okay! I spent about an hour troubleshooting again last night. I had some custom Nvidia profiles that I deleted, just to get everything as close to baseline as humanely possible. I have GSync on, with Vsync forced on through the Nvidia control panel.

I decided after that my time was best spent trying to get the game to launch in fullscreen. I was pulling my hair out until I right clicked the stellaris exe, went to the compatibility tab, and checked to turn off full screen optimizations. That allowed the game to start in fullscreen, but the problem still persists in fullscreen as well.

I really think at this point that it has to be something related to the latest patch, probably just a bug - will wait to see if Guraan can help!

 

[Roflknifer11]

I also experience the same behavior on 2.6 and 2.6.1; rolled back to previous versions and did not had the issue.

have tried running the game in different resolutions, both in windowed and fullscreen mode;
ran steam and game as administrator;
reinstalled steam, game, gpu drivers;
-these did not work

 

[Roflknifer11]

Okay, i'm going over some tests with msi afterburner and double checking the resource monitor - hopefully this is of some use for you guys:
one of my cpu cores is locked 95%-100% usage while the others range from 5% to 20%
(i'd also like to add that i did have chrome with 20 tabs open at the same time so its not a perfect test)
I havent had the chance to test with an older version (that dont have the stuttering issue) - will get to that tomorrow.

---update:
disabling and re-enabling the core from task manager >> process >> affinity
seems to have fixed the issue for now

 

[Roflknifer11]

rolled back to 2.5.1 and 2.4.1 - just started my pc, msi afterburner and stellaris; nothing else running - 2 cores show more activity that the rest but nowhere near 95-100

and again, if i go and bounce that particular core 7 for stellaris on 2.6.1 issue appears to be gone and i see normal usage;

 

[MisterOrrie]

So does this potentially mean it has something to do with how the game is now utilising CPU cores?

 

[MisterOrrie]

Okay, i'm going over some tests with msi afterburner and double checking the resource monitor - hopefully this is of some use for you guys:
one of my cpu cores is locked 95%-100% usage while the others range from 5% to 20%
(i'd also like to add that i did have chrome with 20 tabs open at the same time so its not a perfect test)
I havent had the chance to test with an older version (that dont have the stuttering issue) - will get to that tomorrow.

---update:
disabling and re-enabling the core from task manager >> process >> affinity
seems to have fixed the issue for now

This solved the issue. The game is running smooth as butter again. You are actually my hero. Thank you!