Stutter when panning around in Galaxy Map and System View [2.7.2]

[Blackwinged]

Been having this issue for some time now. I have over 1000 hours with Stellaris, and recently (2 weeks ago) I came back to the game to try the 2.7.2 patch, since the last one I played was 2.6. However, when I started a new game, I noticed a stutter when panning the camera around the Galaxy Map and System view, regardless of galaxy size. The stutter is especially noticeable when the game is running at the fastest speed. I've never experienced this stutter before in my 1000 hours with the game.

I've contacted the Stellaris Discord and they suggested a couple actions, but with no results. I then opened a support ticket, but it has gone radio silent for over a week now.

I've recorded the issue and I can confirm it's not a monitor problem. I've also encountered similar reports to mine around reddit and this forum, all of them also unresolved or with little to no comment.
Here are the things I've tried to fix it:

• Clean reinstall of the game
• Drivers are updated (nvidia version 451.48)
• No mods installed
• Tried changing the affinity of CPU cores
• Checksum is 60bf and I have not opted for beta
• Launcher version is 2020.8
• Have tried disabling V-Sync, changing to fullscreen and windowed mode. All of this to no avail
• GPU is GTX 1070 Ti and CPU is i5-4670
• I really, really don't think it's a problem with my computer, as I've been running other, much 'heavier' games perfectly fine. I know Stellaris is CPU intensive, but I don't expect stutters when starting a new galaxy. I also never experienced this stutter with other versions of the game.

Any help is appreciated!

Link to the videos. I tried attaching the files to the post, but apparently the videos won't load. In these videos, I first show how it looks when the game is paused (barely no stutter at all) vs when the game is played at higher speeds. I find it easier to notice in the Galaxy Map.

Stutter in Galaxy Map: https:// youtu.be / GM8Yc6iICIg
Stutter in System View: https:// youtu.be / qytCWKQ2XO4

I've also attached the files that were requested of me when I opened a support ticket.

 

[AndrewT]

Tried changing the affinity of CPU cores

Have you undone that now, left it at defaults?

The stutter is especially noticeable when the game is running at the fastest speed.

Speed 5 works differently to the other speeds; essentially it means you sacrifice visual smoothness for speed in time passing. Check out this excellent post on the subject!

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/low-fps-on-good-pc.1400522/post-26681142

So I suggest we concentrate on your experience at say speed 4. Firstly try unloading GeForce Experience if running.


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 .

 

[Blackwinged]

Have you undone that now, left it at defaults?

Yes, it's at the default setting, with all cores enabled.

Speed 5 works differently to the other speeds; essentially it means you sacrifice visual smoothness for speed in time passing. Check out this excellent post on the subject!

That was an interesting read, thank you! But still, I drop from 252fps to 80fps, it should still feel and function smoothly, right? And I don't recall experiencing this before this patch, even when I played with V-Sync on.

Firstly try unloading GeForce Experience if running.

By "unloading", you mean not running the game with the GeForce Experience overlay? Or not launching the game via GeForce? I don't do any of those (in the videos, I use the overlay just to show fps).

And I've attached the files you asked!

 

[AndrewT]

But still, I drop from 252fps to 80fps, it should still feel and function smoothly, right? And I don't recall experiencing this before this patch, even when I played with V-Sync on.

80fps is pretty damn good I have to say! Especially for a non-action game like this. However your stuttering is a different matter of course. If you revert to 2.6.3 in the Steam betas tab for the game to you get the play experience you used to with the that version? This tests whether this is an issue with the new patch, or somethign outside the game.

By "unloading", you mean not running the game with the GeForce Experience overlay? Or not launching the game via GeForce?

I mean unloading it entirely. Right click on it in the task bar, and Exit.

I see you have several drives. Are Steam, the game, and the Window User folder all on the same drive (usually C : ?

I don't see anything else of concern in those files.

 

[Blackwinged]

80fps is pretty damn good I have to say! Especially for a non-action game like this. However your stuttering is a different matter of course. If you revert to 2.6.3 in the Steam betas tab for the game to you get the play experience you used to with the that version? This tests whether this is an issue with the new patch, or somethign outside the game.

Yes! Stellaris netted me a ton of high-quality, smooth cinematic experiences! I reverted back to 2.6.3 and it did not resolve the issue. I also tried 2.5.1 and it had the same stutter. I guess it's something outside the game, then. Besides updating my drivers for my graphic cards, I haven't done any changes. I've decided to test if I could notice any sort of stutter when following a ship around a system, and I couldn't notice any in any version (2.7.2. 2.6.3 and 2.5.1). It strictly appears when panning around in Galaxy/System View

I've also watched several youtube videos with vanilla 2.7.2 gameplay to confirm that what I'm experiencing isn't expected.

I mean unloading it entirely. Right click on it in the task bar, and Exit.

Did that, but also to no avail.

I see you have several drives. Are Steam, the game, and the Window User folder all on the same drive (usually C?

Yes, Stellaris, Windows and Steam are all in the main driver (C

Thank you very much for your patience with this!

 

[AndrewT]

I see. Then we are reduced to basically guessing what change in Windows or your computer might have triggered this for you, and only in this one game apparently. I assume you don't see anything like this in CK2?

Run Task Manager-Performance before you start the game. Then put the game in Windowed mode so you can see that while you generate the problem. Do you see spikes in CPU, GPU or disk when the stuttering happens?

 

[Blackwinged]

I assume you don't see anything like this in CK2?

It has been a while since I last played CK2, but when I loaded it up to test, I did notice a slight stutter, similar to what I'm experiencing with Stellaris, when panning with anything above speed 1. I remember the last speed was always very laggy, but I was surprised to see the stutter even with speed 2.

Run Task Manager-Performance before you start the game. Then put the game in Windowed mode so you can see that while you generate the problem. Do you see spikes in CPU, GPU or disk when the stuttering happens?

No spikes anywhere. The only spike I get is with CPU when the game is loading after launcher, but while generating the problem I get none.

 

[AndrewT]

If it affects CK2 now also, and versions of Stellaris that did not used to get it, then as you say this is clearly something that has changed on your machine to trigger this.

I have seen that when there is a stuck Microsoft update trying over and over to apply, do you see anything like that?

 

[Blackwinged]

I've checked for it, but I couldn't find any stuck Microsoft update. I did find, however, that there is a newer update, released in May 2020 (version 2004), and that my machine is "not ready to receive it". Apparently the 2004 version has only been rolled to some machines and not others. The version I'm using is 1903. I've tried to force update to 2004 and see if that changes anything, but I couldn't update at all. Windows refuses to install the 2004 version.

 

[Blackwinged]

Just an update. Tried playing today beyond the early game, even with the stutter, to see how it would progress towards mid and late game, and it just gets way, way worse, even before mid game happens. It starts to stutter a lot and it gives an effect similar to screen tearing, even with V-Sync on.

 

[AndrewT]

Yes, MS stagger major Windows updates across weeks so as not to destroy the internet or their servers. Mine applied about a week ago.

That said, I'm not saying a new Windows update will necessarily fix this; my concern was more about some older update that is failing to apply and retrying constantly. Please install and run the free utility Speccy. Send its output to a text file and attach that here; thanks!

 

[Blackwinged]

Ah, I see. In that case, as far as I know, that wasn't happening. I've attached the .txt file!

 

[AndrewT]

If you look under "not installed" there are several Windows updates that have failed going back to last year. If you run the Updater manually does it find them to apply? You might need Windows support help to resolve that.


I see AVG still running in there even though Windows Defender is the active AV app - is that deliberate? If not you may need to use the free Revo Uninstaller utility to remove it entirely.

You might also try unloading Tunnelbear and that EaseUS backup app, see if that helps at all.

That's all I can see in there!

 

[Blackwinged]

If you look under "not installed" there are several Windows updates that have failed going back to last year. If you run the Updater manually does it find them to apply? You might need Windows support help to resolve that.

I did run the updated manually and it didn't detect any update available. Is it possible those failed updates were installed later?

I see AVG still running in there even though Windows Defender is the active AV app - is that deliberate? If not you may need to use the free Revo Uninstaller utility to remove it entirely.

You might also try unloading Tunnelbear and that EaseUS backup app, see if that helps at all.

Huh, I thought those programs weren't loaded at all. I downloaded the Revo Uninstaller and it didn't detect AVG as installed. I also made sure both Tunnelbear and EaseUS were unloaded.

Unfortunately, the problem with Stellaris still persists. Whenever I replicate it, I see huge spikes when using the 3dstats. Maybe this information can be useful?

 

[AndrewT]

I did run the updated manually and it didn't detect any update available. Is it possible those failed updates were installed later?

It's possible; I did check the most significant one KB4530684 and it was not there in the completed ones. Whether it was superseded by a later one I don't know. I guess though the point is more, why do these keep failing? Is the updater running as a background process constantly trying to apply stuff?

I downloaded the Revo Uninstaller and it didn't detect AVG as installed.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\AVG Secure Search\vToolbarUpdater\40.3.8\ToolbarUpdater.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG Web TuneUp\WtuSystemSupport.exe

Presumably they are being run at startup time, so you may have to drill down on that and stop them.

Whenever I replicate it, I see huge spikes when using the 3dstats

You mean the website stats service by that name? As in, the game is spiking web traffic? Is that any different if you exit the Steam app entirely and run stellaris.exe directly?

 

[Blackwinged]

It's possible; I did check the most significant one KB4530684 and it was not there in the completed ones. Whether it was superseded by a later one I don't know. I guess though the point is more, why do these keep failing? Is the updater running as a background process constantly trying to apply stuff?

I honestly have no idea. I'll check those and update here later!

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\AVG Secure Search\vToolbarUpdater\40.3.8\ToolbarUpdater.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG Web TuneUp\WtuSystemSupport.exe

Presumably they are being run at startup time, so you may have to drill down on that and stop them.

It's definitely installed, I did miss them before. My bad! They are now uninstalled.

You mean the website stats service by that name? As in, the game is spiking web traffic? Is that any different if you exit the Steam app entirely and run stellaris.exe directly?

I mean the 3dstats command in-game, used to show fps and render time. I don't notice any change in those numbers, but the graph that appears beneath them shows huge spikes whenever the stutter happens.

 

[Blackwinged]

Recently updated Windows to version 2004. After that, I reinstalled Stellaris and the issue, apparently, was fixed.

 

[AndrewT]

That's seems hopeful!