Stuttering and hitching when loading new textures.

Post by **watercrown** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:13 am

Hello,

For the last few weeks I've been dealing with an unfortunate issue in FNV. No matter what I try I can't get rid of this bad stutter that starts building up after playing for 30 minuts or so. It's been a while since I've played this game but I don't recall the issue being anywhere near as bad on older systems I've had. I should also note I haven't actually installed TTW yet... I really want to get this problem sorted first.

My System

Windows 10 PRO.

i7-3770k running at 4.5GHZ

8GB of Ram.

1080TI (I know nobody cares)

Latest version of Mod Organizer.

Load Order

Texture mod wise, I'm using NMC Large, MGs Clutter, UHQ Terrain and Roads, Textures Over time, Wasteland Clothing HD, Weapon Retexture Project.

FalloutNV.esm

DeadMoney.esm

HonestHearts.esm

OldWorldBlues.esm

LonesomeRoad.esm

GunRunnersArsenal.esm

ClassicPack.esm

MercenaryPack.esm

TribalPack.esm

CaravanPack.esm

YUP - Base Game + All DLC.esm

FCOMaster.esm

oHUD.esm

Project Nevada - Core.esm

Project Nevada - Extra Options.esm

ELECTRO-CITY - CompletedWorkorders.esm

NevadaSkies.esm

ELECTRO-CITY - Highways and Byways.esm

YUP - NPC Fixes (Base Game + All DLC).esp

FCO - NPC Changes.esp

Improved Sound FX Merged.esp

Vicious Wastes.esp

EVE FNV - ALL DLC.esp

Vicious Wastes - Gun Runners Arsenal.esp

IMPACT.esp

357retex.esp

boa ncrpahelmet.esp

Boacombat2glove.esp

IMPACT - AllDLC.esp

Real Recoil.esp

FCO - OHSB NPC Edits.esp

PipBoyCounters.esp

Pipboy Light Amber.esp

JIP Improved Recipe Menu.esp

Disable Couriers Stash.esp

No Dialogue Tags.esp

MTB.esp

Delay DLC - DM + HH + OWB + LR + GRA.esp

Tutorial Killer Merged.esp

PMT - Responsive Kill Reactions.esp

FP gun follows crosshairs.esp

The Mod Configuration Menu.esp

Vicious Wastes - Old World Blues.esp

Project Nevada - Old World Blues (No Cyberware).esp

Project Nevada - Lonesome Road.esp

Project Nevada - Honest Hearts.esp

Project Nevada - Gun Runners' Arsenal.esp

Project Nevada - Dead Money.esp

Vicious Wastes - Dead Money.esp

Vicious Wastes - Honest Hearts.esp

Vicious Wastes - DM + HH.esp

Vicious Wastes - HH + GRA.esp

Vicious Wastes - HH + OWB.esp

Vicious Wastes - Lonesome Road.esp

Vicious Wastes - LR + OWB.esp

FOVSlider.esp

AllCompanionsEssential 2.0b.esp

Manual Reload Merged.esp

MiscItemIconsNV.esp

Assassin Freq14.esp

Enhanced_Sensors_Rebalanced.esp

CompanionEquipment.esp

Reload Speed Game Start Fix.esp

HZSmoothLight.esp

Rebuilt Sequoia.esp

TakeYourTime.esp

Harsh Item Rarity.esp

NoFastTravel_NV.esp

NevadaSkies - Ultimate DLC Edition.esp

merged.esp

Symptons

Like I mentioned, stuttering/hitching just keeps building after the intial boot of the game. It's easy to ignore at first, but eventually it becomes really distracting in outdoor areas. PCB (and related mods) don't seem to do anything for this. Only thing that fixes it is a restart of the game. Also, I have tested this without texture mods and the problem does take longer to build up, but eventually it does stutter just as bad.

What you have already tried?

This is on a new install of New Vegas and Mod Organizer (making sure to purge everything related before reinstalling both).

I did everything in TTW Performance guide (including downloading the new sound files).

Only thing I'm not 100% clear on is how my nvse_config.ini should look like. It should imply read...

[Memory]

DefaultHeapInitialAllocMB=420

Correct?

Only thing I touched for NVSR is...

bHookLightCriticalSections = 0

bManageFPS = 0

(I'm using RivaTuner to cap my FPS since other options gave me a slight micro-stutter and I'm also on a Gsync monitor)

I also downloaded ENBooster.

[MEMORY]

ExpandSystemMemoryX64=false

ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true

DisableDriverMemoryManager=true

DisablePreloadToVRAM=false

EnableUnsafeMemoryHacks=true

ReservedMemorySizeMb=512

VideoMemorySizeMb=4096

EnableCompression=false

AutodetectVideoMemorySize=false

This is the only section I touched.

Just looking for any advice at this point.

Post by **RoyBatty** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:27 am

ENBoost will just make it worse.

The game was not designed to load 4k and 8k textures, you either get used to it or uninstall them.

NVSE config is correct.

Some of your mods are not compatible with TTW, but they are fine for an NV playthrough.

Post by **watercrown** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:44 am

I appreciate the prompt response.

I guess I feel better knowing I did everything I could. I'll probably just unistall the texture mods.

Post by **H1ms3lf** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 9:00 am

[quote=watercrown]

I guess I feel better knowing I did everything I could. I'll probably just unistall the texture mods.

[/quote]

There's a bit of min-maxing approach you could try, it reduces texture sizes to 4k, 2k or 1k, you can actually choose size in the menu (might leave everything at 2k since your system is good =P)

Just look around this guide here, although I find it very hard to follow, but then I'm me.

Anyway, you kinda learn as you go, let us know if you try and it works for good!

Post by **watercrown** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 4:00 pm

I'll give it a shot.

Another question. I notice one of the tweaks in the TTW Performance Guide utilizes fast travel to help with performance over time. Does playing these games not using the in-game fast travel contribute to stuttering over time?

Post by **RoyBatty** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 7:57 pm

No, all that setting does is purge the buffers of unused assets when you fast travel.

Setting the game to use lower quality mip maps (graphics quality) does not prevent it from loading the full sized textures, that's not how it works.

Post by **watercrown** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:52 am

Texture optimization didn't do much. I'm just going to go with vanilla textures. It's easy enough to get use to them again. It's kind of funny how many guides go all out on making the game look modern yet not a single one mentions that performance goes to shit no matter what rig you have because of the innate engine limitation.

Post by **Mystical Panda** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:34 am

Even using something like ENBoost, your likely to still have some stuttering to a degree eventually- especially when it momentarily 'holds up' the game while trying to move unused graphics out of memory and more new ones in.

Let's say we add an 'intermediary' process between the game engine and the graphics API of the system. Not only can we change the data going to the game such as 'enhancing' the graphics (many used SweetFX as the basis for their own 'injector' designs), but we can intercept calls to allocate graphics memory and load data into it ourselves. If we can do this, we could get a game program to use a much larger block of memory- the game generally doesn't care how something gets into graphics memory, as long as it knows where it is and that it's there.

The game engine can load the graphic, let's say a wall texture, into the graphics card's display memory and we see it. What if we could 'intercept' that call and load the texture ourselves? We could, if we run out of graphics memory, start paging things in and out of system memory; what ENBoost does. Now, instead of the graphics card driver saying, sorry, don't have the room for more data, we can use system memory as a very slow extended graphics buffer. But... theres still a problem. The graphic buffer of both the card and system start to fill up- what does the game purge and what doesn't it purge? What about 3D objects whose data is also handled by the graphics card? Do those memory areas also fill up? That I think is the problem your describing- it works ok at first, then slowly degrades over time.

Yeah, I think the problem when memory starts to fragment up a bit is... how do we move, compress, etc.,. graphics data (not just textures) to maximize efficiency measured with frame fps. Some gamers compensate with more system memory, larger and faster graphics cards, overclocking cpus and gpus to increase bandwidth, which all mask the symptom to the point they might not even acknowledge it anymore. But it's still there.

That would, to me, explain why a game restart, loading the game back in the same area runs great. It's not just the loaded textures that might be bogging things down, it's other things the game is keeping track of? It could even be something as low level as a script function 'failing' simply because you moved to another cell before it had completed doing something else? But, if using vanilla graphics seem to keep things chugging, I'd venture a bet that, if you unlock your framerate, your fps would be higher at the start, than hours into the game. Though not dropping below 60 is the target; using modern hardware the game, according to the developers, works as intended, even though the graphics, etc.,. might be considered below modern day standards. Which again, is masking a the symptom of something else (engine design, etc.,.).

Post by **RoyBatty** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 7:19 am

Panda the issue is Bethesda ties everything to frame rate, and that includes loading assets. So the game can only load so many mb/sec due to the way it's threaded.

Post by **Mystical Panda** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:33 am

He's saying though that his frame-rate is degrading over time the more he plays (if I understand what he was referring to) which, even if loading assets are tied to frame-rates, the game should give consistent frame-rates, or a least a yo-yo effect of speedups and slowdowns, depending on where you are and how much is being loaded; that I would consider fairly normal, but it's not. If it's slowly and consistently degrading, to me, it's saying that the game is somehow memory fragmented (just one possibility), either system ram/ gpu ram/ or both, and having a problem moving and managing things internally since restarting the game solves the issue (irrespective of where, what, or how much is being loaded).

It's definitely a strange engine problem per se that's for sure.