Crysis 2 DX11 stutter

[jessterman21]

I've had this issue since I got Crysis 2 for Xmas. I can play the game just fine with all settings up to Ultra in DX9, but when I switch to DX11, no matter what settings I choose (High, Very High, Extreme, Ultra - Vsync on or off), I still get random stuttering. The framerate stays fairly consistent as measured by Fraps, but once every few seconds or less (not consistent at all), one frame takes about 500ms to render. Here's a video I took with Fraps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS6W6DWNPHM

I'm almost positive it's my weak CPU, but you think it would be affecting my overall framerate, or even my minimum framerate - not just causing random frames to take forever to display. Any help?

 

[casualcolors]

Can you list your hardware?

Nevermind, I see that it's in your youtube video comment. 3 things to try and check. First make sure that you're not capping out your system memory. That's a risk with only 4gb. Secondly, if you have vsync enabled make sure you enable triple buffering with it. I would never recommend this for multiplayer, but you're looking for image fidelity in single player. If you're not using Vsync, make sure triple buffering is not enabled. Having one without the other either way can cause those hitches. Thirdly, set your render ahead limit to 5 frames instead of the default value (usually 2 or 3 for AMD and Nvidia hardware).

And yes, your CPU is a potential choke point for your system. If none of those suggestions get you anywhere good, I would suspect the CPU. Also, if you have the Hi-Res Texture pack downloaded, disable it. 1gb VRAM on your card won't cut it for Hi-Res Textures and DX11 and can potentially cause the game to stutter.

 

[jessterman21]

Thanks - my hardware is in my sig as well. How do I set my render ahead limit? Also, I have a 32-bit version of W7, so I can't use the Hi-res Textures...

I'm going to try it in windowed mode - someone on another thread said that worked... I do plan on upgrading my platform sometime next year to LGA 1155 - probably an i3, which I know will alleviate my bottleneck.

Also, a few more random issues: does anyone know why Anisotropic Filtering only works in DX11? And why the DX11 bokeh DOF filter doesn't activate when looking down the sights? And lastly, the ocean in DX11 looks exactly like the DX9 ocean when I play. I've tried changing the settings for tesselation in CCC, but it only seems to affect the bricks in the buildings. Thanks!

 

[casualcolors]

Thanks - my hardware is in my sig as well. How do I set my render ahead limit? Also, I have a 32-bit version of W7, so I can't use the Hi-res Textures...

I'm going to try it in windowed mode - someone on another thread said that worked... I do plan on upgrading my platform sometime next year to LGA 1155 - probably an i3, which I know will alleviate my bottleneck.

It's not just a simple issue of bottlenecking your 6870. Crysis 2 in DX11 is a beefy game and actually will push those 2 components to their limit (an i3 and the 6870). You can adjust your render ahead limit in CCC/Ati Tray Tools.

 

[jessterman21]

No windowed mode didn't work, though it's less noticeable. Triple buffering didn't solve it. I'm pretty sure its my CPU - it's at 99% the whole time in DX11 and the stutter gets worse around groups of enemies and explosions.

 

[casualcolors]

No windowed mode didn't work, though it's less noticeable. Triple buffering didn't solve it. I'm pretty sure its my CPU - it's at 99% the whole time in DX11 and the stutter gets worse around groups of enemies and explosions.

Yep. Sounds like that's the case then. Sorry couldn't help ya boss.

 

[HEXiT]

your cpu is most lilely the culprit. at a low end amd athlon 2 so it has been binned and rebinned till it was chosen and released as the 250 you would do much better if you swapped out your cpu for an am3 960t or an amd 631, but currently your cpu doesn't have enough grunt to cope with a gts 250/ati 4870 without choking... never mind a 6870

so you really do want a new cpu and maybe a motherboard with ddr3 1600 ram.

as for dx11 you have to turn it on in the games options... you will need the 1.9 patch and the tessellation patch b4 you will see the tessellation in action... in your case you would be better maxing out all the settings to get the most out of the gfx...

running the gfx higher means the gpu cant create as many extra frames so it doesnt send as many back to the cpu reducing the overall workload per cycle of the cpu... hopefully this will rase your minimum fps but its unlikely to raise the maximum... this is a symptom of a cpu bottleneck...

 

[jessterman21]

your cpu is most lilely the culprit. at a low end amd athlon 2 so it has been binned and rebinned till it was chosen and released as the 250 you would do much better if you swapped out your cpu for an am3 960t or an amd 631, but currently your cpu doesn't have enough grunt to cope with a gts 250/ati 4870 without choking... never mind a 6870

so you really do want a new cpu and maybe a motherboard with ddr3 1600 ram.

as for dx11 you have to turn it on in the games options... you will need the 1.9 patch and the tessellation patch b4 you will see the tessellation in action... in your case you would be better maxing out all the settings to get the most out of the gfx...

running the gfx higher means the gpu cant create as many extra frames so it doesnt send as many back to the cpu reducing the overall workload per cycle of the cpu... hopefully this will rase your minimum fps but its unlikely to raise the maximum... this is a symptom of a cpu bottleneck...

Yeah I figured my CPU is it. I can play all my games pretty well, but I do get some drops below 20fps in some... The thing is, usually my overall framerate is just reduced (as in GRID and Dirt 3), or I get a lower average framerate when I'm looking at a huge vista or a bunch of enemies/explosions (Mass Effect, Crysis, Prince of Persia, Dragon Age). The stuttering thing is unique to Crysis 2 DX11.

I have the 1.9 patch with the DX11 Ultra settings. The water just doesn't look tesselated to me - looks no different on all settings in DX11 - also the DOF doesn't activate unless I'm in the weapon menu. That might be due to playing in 32-bit mode on my 32-bit OS. That's the only explanation I can think of...

Whatever, it plays very well in DX9 with shaders on Ultra (and doesn't look much different than DX11 Ultra besides the weird no AF thing I'm seeing...). Thanks all.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

Yeah I figured my CPU is it. I can play all my games pretty well, but I do get some drops below 20fps in some... The thing is, usually my overall framerate is just reduced (as in GRID and Dirt 3), or I get a lower average framerate when I'm looking at a huge vista or a bunch of enemies/explosions (Mass Effect, Crysis, Prince of Persia, Dragon Age). The stuttering thing is unique to Crysis 2 DX11.

I have the 1.9 patch with the DX11 Ultra settings. The water just doesn't look tesselated to me - looks no different on all settings in DX11 - also the DOF doesn't activate unless I'm in the weapon menu. That might be due to playing in 32-bit mode on my 32-bit OS. That's the only explanation I can think of...

Whatever, it plays very well in DX9 with shaders on Ultra (and doesn't look much different than DX11 Ultra besides the weird no AF thing I'm seeing...). Thanks all.

Just a side note, the beauty of DX9 is that it can look good and run well. DX11 and it's tessalation (w/ HD textures) makes it extremely difficult for any system to run at high FPS. In your case, your CPU & RAM Transfer are under performing (referring to your video). There's two ways you might be able to fix this sluttering...

1 - Do a clean uninstall of your videocard drivers and install the latest version (but I'm assuming you've already done that)

2 - Overclock your system: bring up your CPU a notch and time your memory along with your FSB (which is required when OCing AMD platforms. I'm not sure what configuration you have as stock but it might be as silly as bad timing between CPU, FSB and RAM. It'll be a pain but that might get rid of your sluttering (for free!!!)

3 - Pay $$$ to upgrade your system (see below for details).

Looking at your system, you'd want to upgrade your entire system (and prepare for future game releases with DX11 or above requirements). Let me explain...

Your CPU is bottlenecking the amount of data your GPU is sending. So a CPU upgrade would be in order. If you want to make is a reasonable upgrade you'll need to change platform (aka your motherboard). By changing your motherboard, you'll end up changing the following:
- Your CPU
- Your RAM (From DDR2 800 to DDR3 ???? ... this would allow better transfer rates and bigger memory bandwith when dealing with HD textures w/ tessalation)
- *Your PSU (there are chances you might end up having to buy a new PSU depending on what sockets you're looking for)
- *Your Case (if you're adding a bigger CPU and/or bigger components, it means more heat and therefore you might opt for a better case to allows better airflow - or water cooling).

Worth it??? probably not...

Hope this helped.

 

[jessterman21]

Just a side note, the beauty of DX9 is that it can look good and run well. DX11 and it's tessalation (w/ HD textures) makes it extremely difficult for any system to run at high FPS. In your case, your CPU & RAM Transfer are under performing (referring to your video). There's two ways you might be able to fix this sluttering...

1 - Do a clean uninstall of your videocard drivers and install the latest version (but I'm assuming you've already done that)

2 - Overclock your system: bring up your CPU a notch and time your memory along with your FSB (which is required when OCing AMD platforms. I'm not sure what configuration you have as stock but it might be as silly as bad timing between CPU, FSB and RAM. It'll be a pain but that might get rid of your sluttering (for free!!!)

3 - Pay $$$ to upgrade your system (see below for details).

Looking at your system, you'd want to upgrade your entire system (and prepare for future game releases with DX11 or above requirements). Let me explain...

Your CPU is bottlenecking the amount of data your GPU is sending. So a CPU upgrade would be in order. If you want to make is a reasonable upgrade you'll need to change platform (aka your motherboard). By changing your motherboard, you'll end up changing the following:
- Your CPU
- Your RAM (From DDR2 800 to DDR3 ???? ... this would allow better transfer rates and bigger memory bandwith when dealing with HD textures w/ tessalation)
- *Your PSU (there are chances you might end up having to buy a new PSU depending on what sockets you're looking for)
- *Your Case (if you're adding a bigger CPU and/or bigger components, it means more heat and therefore you might opt for a better case to allows better airflow - or water cooling).

Worth it??? probably not...

Hope this helped.

Clean install of drivers doesn't change anything for me, I can't overclock my system besides the video card because it's a Dell, and you're probably right about the slow RAM and weak CPU - it's an AM2+ platform, and honestly I'm amazed at the performance I do get out of it.

I am definitely going to upgrade my system sometime next year to get rid of these annoyingly low minimum framerates and stutters, probably to a budget Ivy Bridge i3 build in a high-airflow case (playing without my side-panel on right now...) - whenever I can convince my wife to let me spend $250 on my rig.

 

[silverliquicity]

its is almost like the frames are not syncing correctly.

 

[jessterman21]

its is almost like the frames are not syncing correctly.

I know, right? So strange.

 

[Dark360]

I had major issues with Crysis 2 in DX11, then found out that its because the voltage on my GTX 570 SC was to low just for DX11 games.

I have increased the voltage +0.02 using MSI Afterburner, had no issues after that. (Not 24/7 btw, have profiles set to turn the voltage up and down)

 

[jessterman21]

I had major issues with Crysis 2 in DX11, then found out that its because the voltage on my GTX 570 SC was to low just for DX11 games.

I have increased the voltage +0.02 using MSI Afterburner, had no issues after that. (Not 24/7 btw, have profiles set to turn the voltage up and down)

REALLY. Voltage? I guess I can give that a try.

I just thought it was me finally seeing the limits of my FSB and RAM speed in a game.

Crysis on Very High in DX10 has some stutters like these, but only once in a while, like immediately after I load a level, when a major explosion goes off, or when I fire into a group of enemies. But otherwise it's smooth.

 

[casualcolors]

REALLY. Voltage? I guess I can give that a try.

I just thought it was me finally seeing the limits of my FSB and RAM speed in a game.

Crysis on Very High in DX10 has some stutters like these, but only once in a while, like immediately after I load a level, when a major explosion goes off, or when I fire into a group of enemies. But otherwise it's smooth.

You can try it, but the voltage fix was specific to certain lines of gtx 570's that shipped with lower VCores than would remain stable at the clocks they selected. The problem it fixed was driver crashing, not the stutter like you have.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

REALLY. Voltage? I guess I can give that a try.

I just thought it was me finally seeing the limits of my FSB and RAM speed in a game.

Crysis on Very High in DX10 has some stutters like these, but only once in a while, like immediately after I load a level, when a major explosion goes off, or when I fire into a group of enemies. But otherwise it's smooth.

You might be able to do a cheap upgrade (if you're into this idea)...simply buying better RAM (which is considerably cheap these days).

To see if it'd be worth it, I'd need to know your a few simple elements...

1 - : CPU clock ( in Mhz)
2 - : FSB Speed ( in Mhz)
3 - : Multiplier ( i.e. X9 or X12 ,etc.)

You can fin these in your BIOS setup (don't change anything though)...

Reason is, if there's a huge gab between the speed of your FSB and your RAM ( FSB > RAM in Mhz) then an upgrade would most likely improve your performance within a respectable budget.

 

[jessterman21]

CPU clock is 3.0 GHz, FSB is 200 MHz, and multiplier is x15. BIOS is locked; it's a Dell.

Also, I've got the quickest RAM my mobo takes, and a 32-bit OS. Platform upgrade next year for an LGA 1155 mobo and i3, plus 8GB DDR3 1333, and installing W7 64-bit!

Like I said, the stuttering I'm getting in Crysis 2 DX11 is not a deal-breaker - I just thought it was a weird problem; I haven't seen this type of stuttering before. It plays perfectly in DX9 on Ultra.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

CPU clock is 3.0 GHz, FSB is 200 MHz, and multiplier is x15. BIOS is locked; it's a Dell.

Also, I've got the quickest RAM my mobo takes, and a 32-bit OS. Platform upgrade next year for an LGA 1155 mobo and i3, plus 8GB DDR3 1333, and installing W7 64-bit!

Like I said, the stuttering I'm getting in Crysis 2 DX11 is not a deal-breaker - I just thought it was a weird problem; I haven't seen this type of stuttering before. It plays perfectly in DX9 on Ultra.

So your FSB:RAM ration is 1/2 (which means your RAM is twice as fast as your FSB). Ideally, you could have tried to put your FSB at 400Mhz for a 1:1 ratio but that means decreasing your multiplier and increasing voltage on your FSB...eitherway, it's locked so...can't help you there.

PS: because your OS is 32-bit, you're only benefiting from about 3.3 Gigs of Ram and not the entire 4 gigs. So your 64-bit upgrade for next year is a wise choice considering the amount of RAM recent games take to run (i'm thinking Crysis 2, BF3 or similar games).

But ya, seems like your bottleneck (causing this sluttering) has to do with RAM-->FSB-->VideoRAM transfer.

 

[jessterman21]

Best answer selected by jessterman21.