Frame skipping -> view distance?

[Guerrilladawg]

Hello,

I'd like to discuss my problem: frame skipping.

Basically, while running around in the outdoor world (flying/mount/on foot), I sometimes get these small freezes/skips which last for a split second (really fast) but they're noticeable. It looks like my character skips a frame.

I run vertical sync, with tripple buffering AND reduce input lag (I think reduce input lag reduces it a little) + Directx 11

Specs:

HD 6950 2GB (11.1a)
Intel i7 2600K @ 4.5 Ghz
WD Black 640 GB (OS and WoW on same disk)
4GB ram 1600Mhz

I've had this problem on the past 3 builds so it is not pc related I think. I'm wondering whether this problem is "normal" and is a WoW issue.

I've gotten to the point where I can't lvl an alt without noticing it. (Low lvls have to travel A LOT) and I play WoW very little due to this.

I've been thinking the cause could be: we have 3 pc's on one modem (via router). Maybe if they open a slow internet page, I get this? Slow internet would usually mean lag, not frame skips though.

An SSD didn't help either. I used an SSD on my previous build. So it doesn't matter how fast the disk is. My OS has been on the same SSD, but I don't think having the OS and WoW on the same disk causes this? (Windows 7 Ultimate x64 btw)

I don't have any framerate problems at all. Solid 60 everywhere (there are a few exceptions but I don't mind). Heck, I'd rather have a constant 50 fps instead of this

 

[Guerrilladawg]

I think I can reproduce the problem.

When I enable viewdistance at low, then fly around with the video setting open and then change the view distance to high/ultra WHILE MOVING I get the same frame skip.

I run viewdistance at high and my GPU has 2GB Video ram though. Or is viewdistance = HDD speed?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Could you list the past 3 complete builds that also had this issue?

And this skipping, describe it some more. Does it skip often? Does it only skip like once every minute? Once every 10 minutes? Does it have skip for a few moments then stop skipping?

If you suspect the router to be an issue, have you tried connecting your WoW PC directly to the modem without sharing the Internet connection?

When you turn down the graphical settings (view distance), does the skipping stop?

View distance would put strain on the CPU, video card, memory subsystem, and interconnects.

 

[Guerrilladawg]

My past builds:

1) I5-760 @ 4ghz
GTX 480
120 GB SSD (WoW and OS)
4GB 1333Mhz

2) i5-760 @ 4Ghz
HD 5870
Samsung F3 1TB
4GB 1333 Mhz

3) Same as 2 but with an SSD

I'm not sure if the skip has a specific time. It never stops though, I usually run view distance high/ultra and it happens when I fly around very fast in the zone. I just used low view distance and it seems to happen less, but it still happens.

When I play a character which does not have a mount/flying mount and can only walk...it happens too.. but less. (because he walks slower I guess?)

I don't exactly suspect the router, it's more the fact that I play WoW while my brother plays Call Of Duty while my dad views facebook. My ms is green (ok) ingame so I actually think this is not the problem.

 

[43st]

I'd start with disabling audio.

 

[Guerrilladawg]

Disabling it in device manager?

 

[43st]

Disabling it in device manager?

Maybe in playback devices first..

 

[notty22]

You might not have to disable audio completely, try this , disable enhancements, here is directions.
Many people have problems playing videos, audiodg.exe will have random high cpu usage.
http://technicallyeasy.net/2009/03/fix-audiodgexe-high-cpu-usage/
You still have sound after disabling enhancements.

 

[Guerrilladawg]

I disabled the enhancements and the driver itself in device manager. Didn't help

 

[brandonb]

MMO's are created to NOT load all the resources up front.

Which means, when you move around into new areas, assets need to load. Be it for a new character, NPC, zone, etc.

Those assets are loaded in this order:

Hard Drive -> CPU -> Memory -> CPU To Graphics Card -> Video Card Memory -> Rendered on screen.

You can speed up any aspect of that, but alot of the problems comes down to CPU to Graphics Card Memory. If you have an 8 megabyte model (or larger if you are loading in a zone assets). That has to be sent to the graphics card at some time, and with DX9 apps, it's not threaded because DirectX is NOT threaded.

DX11 is... However, the video card driver may not be. ATI's video card drivers are not multithreaded... So while the assets are being loaded into video card memory, rendering stalls while it happens, causing your hiccups.

 

[Guerrilladawg]

So these 'hiccups' are normal? Because sometimes I don't get any at all while flying, only to suddenly have 5 close to eachother.

 

[brandonb]

Yes, it's normal. It happens in every game which dynamically loads resources at some point.

Only some games (FPS, like Unreal, Quake) don't have the problem because they load all the resources up front, and nothing gets loaded while you are playing.

 

[Arkadrel]

Yes, it's normal. It happens in every game which dynamically loads resources at some point.

Only some games (FPS, like Unreal, Quake) don't have the problem because they load all the resources up front, and nothing gets loaded while you are playing.

+1

FPS games like haveing alot of Memory, MMOs love haveing a fast HDD.

 

[Guerrilladawg]

So, the best way to get less of these....is an SSD with only WoW on it (No OS or any other games) ?

 

[Arkadrel]

If you have physical drives, just make sure you keep swap drive on 1 and what your reading on the other.

Say drive 1 has windows + game, then on drive 2, put your swap file.

Haveing fast read times, from a SSD would go along way.
So a SSD for windows + game, might speed up things.

 

[Guerrilladawg]

I also take it dungeons/battlegrounds don't have this because they're much much smaller?

 

[Guerrilladawg]

I also take it dungeons/battlegrounds don't have this because they're much much smaller?

bump on this question

 

[notty22]

I've seen this recomended a number of times in forums.
Put your game folder or exe or both in your anti-virus exemptions.
So when its accessed there is not extra overhead / extra scanning.
Example is this link
For those of you who have spawn lag OR have trouble with your game settings

 

[Guerrilladawg]

Don't have a virus scanner

 

[43st]

More ideas..
- disable hyperthreading in BIOS
- disable any unused features in BIOS
- defrag hard drive (defrag steam game cache if it's a steam game)

 

[Guerrilladawg]

Disabled HT
HDD is defragged

The unused features in BIOS could be a problem. Not sure with Sandy bridge and all. Some say things like speedstep are now required for an OC etc,..

I also disabled HPET in Bios. (should give lower DPC latency and better gameplay)

 

[xCxStylex]

Duneons/battlegrounds are all loaded at the start when you load in, hence the load screen...

The world data streams as you reach there, as they already said.

I also take it dungeons/battlegrounds don't have this because they're much much smaller?

 

[Caerid]

Part of the issue is just how the WoW engine works, or for that matter how mmos in general stream content instead of preload everything due to the nature of the game.

There are ways to minimize the stuttering by messing with the view distance and the shadow setting. Another tweak you can do is to change the setting of how much vram wow allocates to precache textures. Wow seems to be very conservative with its use of vram so forcing it to use the max (which is 512) helps.

If you go into your config.wtf and add the line
SET gxTextureCacheSize "512"
should help alleviate some of the stuttering.

I would also recommend disabling vsync and the reduce input lag if you're not sensitive to tearing. There's just too many instances where your framerate will dip below 60 which just seems to amplify the stuttering issue. May also try to lower any AA if you have any if not disable it just to isolate whether or not AA is the cause of stuttering.

Another big issue that many players overlook is their addons with wow. There's many times for no apparent reason some addon will cause stuttering and even 'disabling' them in the addon menu doesn't do it and only when you actually purge your WTF and INTERFACE folders completely and redownload them does the problems from mods go away.

Hope this helps.

 

[Guerrilladawg]

Is 512mb really the max? Because my HD 6950 has a total of 2GB

 

[Arkadrel]

Is 512mb really the max? Because my HD 6950 has a total of 2GB

try putting 2048 instead and see how it plays ^-^
Doesnt work go put 512 again, if it does? why not use it.