Weird Performance Issues, Especially in RES sites

[MassiveD]

Hi everyone,


So for the last few months my machine seemed to be plagued by weird performance issues only in ED.

Mainly when I jump between instances (to super cruise, out of super cruise, relog the game etc) my game always seems to stutter for about 10 seconds very heavily and then goes to normal, silky smooth, I have a pretty good machine.

The above is annoying, but no really game breaking, but I also noticed that in RES sites when I first jump in the FPS would be smooth and steady, but after maybe 10-15 minutes, it would start dropping , first by 10fps, then by 20fps, and it would stay there unless I would log out and log back in again, which then again it would give me 10-15 minutes of smooth fps, and then the same thing would happen, first drop by about 10, than by about 20, and it would stay low.

So at first I thought somethings was wrong with my machine, I looked for solutions online for a long time, even changed few pieces of my hardware (like RAM, and power supply), and I still couldn't figure out whats happening , even tho other games like For Honor, like GTA V would run smooth and perfect without any hickups.

Only yesterday I realized that this perhaps may not be an issue of my machine, when I was playing in a RES site with a friend.

Just as usual, at first it was smooth, but then we both started to experience identical issues at the same time.

First FPS dropped, then sound started lagging (popping, going silent for a few seconds, than back to normal)

Then the game would drop to as low as 10 fps and even freeze for 5-10 seconds before going back to normal, and as we were talking over Discord, we identified that this was happening to us both at the exact same instance.

What was happening?.... Does anyone have any ideas?


Thank you in advance

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

How bizarre.

I was just about to post if anything had changed recently, because I'm getting liquid smooth FPS in RESs now, where as 6-8 weeks ago i wasn't. Lol

All i can think is either memory leak, or server lag...?

 

[BL1P]

Just wondering do you generally do res sites with a crew member ?

I have found that when I do res sites with a crew member i get the lag you described.
When I do a res without crew I do not get that lag.

same happens with wings if they use crew there is a good chance that sound stutter freeze lag will appear.

These maybe false results but so far so good for me without crew or SLFs.

 

[FrogsFriend]

My friend and I (both connected to the same router) get the same stuttering/sound-breakup issues in CZs. Starts after approx. 15mins and gets progressively worse. It can be cured by leaving and re-entering (of course) or by flying away from the action (but still just in sight) for a while and returning. I always assumed it was a sound effects issue, i.e. too many at once or something similar.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Things I've personally observed (or Wingman) :

Longer duration in any Asteroid RES :
- Wingman (playing on Notebook) reports Audio breaking up and stuttering within ~20 minutes
-> Wingman's Client becomes Crashprone (Server kick or CTD) after some 30-40 minutes

- me (PC Desktop) seeing signs of Audio breaking after some 35-40 minutes
-> after approx. 45-50 minutes, Audio breakups become more distinct and begin affecting framerate
-> after approx. 60 minutes, Audio breakups accompanied by screen freezes (upto several seconds)
-> beyond 60 minutes, Client becomes unstable and I might run into Black Screen of Death, Client Crash or Server kick

Given the anomalies around the Audio Engine, it would seem it could be mainly Audio related. Something is filling up there and causing a blockade in the Client.
Same can be observed when there's plenty of Audio Sources i.e. in a Conflict Zone, which will exhibit very similar issues like RES Combat after a prolonged time.
(someone in the Forum posted some workaround by fiddling with Audio Buffers in the .xml Files about a week ago)

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Just wondering do you generally do res sites with a crew member ?

I have found that when I do res sites with a crew member i get the lag you described.
When I do a res without crew I do not get that lag.

same happens with wings if they use crew there is a good chance that sound stutter freeze lag will appear.

These maybe false results but so far so good for me without crew or SLFs.

I spent about 40 minutes in a High Res in my Anaconda with an SLF crewed by the AI, with no stuttering or lag what so ever.
For reference, my pc is old and slow. So any FPS drop is noticeable for me. But as of late, everything but landable planets and docks runs super smooth at 45+fps. (Which is excellent for my PC).

I will add, I do suffer from the occasional disconnect, which requires a game restart, due to my internet being pants. But the last particular time I was in a RES I'd had none for a few hours.

Edit:

I will also add, I DO get the audio stuttering in CZs after some time. But not a RES (maybe the action isn't intense enough?)
I use realtek onboard audio on my Gigabyte GA 970 UD3P for headphones, and HDMI audio for TV sound. Both stutter in CZs.

 

[Susanna]

Curious stuff!

I play on a well spec'ed machine and without any issues even when in a Haz Res for extended periods (the last couple of runs have been several hours, accumulating 8.2Mil in bounties and 7.8Mil respectively). This was a the current combat CG (planet 11).

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/340265-Halsey-Requests-Relief-Bounty-Hunting

This is both on my own and with a friend that I wing with... I live in the UK and so does my friend that I play with in a private group.

Not sure if this helps you or not... :S


EDIT: on a side issue - winged bounty payments DO NOT appear to be paying out! Neither are Wing Dividends when doing the Trade CG. :O

 

[BL1P]

I spent about 40 minutes in a High Res in my Anaconda with an SLF crewed by the AI, with no stuttering or lag what so ever.
For reference, my pc is old and slow. So any FPS drop is noticeable for me. But as of late, everything but landable planets and docks runs super smooth at 45+fps. (Which is excellent for my PC).

I will add, I do suffer from the occasional disconnect, which requires a game restart, due to my internet being pants. But the last particular time I was in a RES I'd had none for a few hours.

Edit:

I will also add, I DO get the audio stuttering in CZs after some time. But not a RES (maybe the action isn't intense enough?)
I use realtek onboard audio on my Gigabyte GA 970 UD3P for headphones, and HDMI audio for TV sound. Both stutter in CZs.

Yes it may well just be a false positive from me.
I haven't done CZs in a long time as my faction keeps getting Elections not Wars.
I do remember the last time I had it (it being the sound freeze) though, I was doing "Military strikes" (Basically a Combat Zone) in a wing of three all using crew and SLFs.
Oh and a wing of 4 in a res did it recently too.

Go figure

 

[Imo]

I experienced something like this when I adjusting my Windows power options from active to passive cooling so the CPU clocks down in the first place instead of spinning the fan faster to get better cooling.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Haven't run into this, but I have run in to a couple other things:

- In CZ's, when in a Wing, I've had bouts of the screen turning black, while the audio continues to play, but the game client is completely non-responsive (Open and Private Group).
- At the alien ruins sites (Open only), with more than 3 or 4 other commanders, the game client will simply crash.
- Being Interdicted while Interdicting another ship causes some really strange stutters and skips (Open, Private Group and Solo).

If you downloaded Elite from Steam, it may be worthwhile to run the File Integrity check - this seems to resolve a lot of really strange issues.
You may also want to check what background processes you're running and close any that aren't needed, or park any antivirus you may be running.

Also, check your motherboard BIOS for any updates, and if you are using Realtek audio - I'm sorry? Depending on the version and your OS, the Realtek audio drivers can be a real pain, but there may be driver updates available which may or may not help. A dedicated sound card is still one of the better options - Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS is tough to beat.

 

[MassiveD]

My computer is an AMD machine with RX 480 Red Devil card.

My friend's computer is an Intel machine with GTX 1070 card.

I live in Ireland, she lives in UK.

Even tho our machiens couldn't be more different, we were experiencing the exact same symptoms, at exactly the same time.

Logically this could only mean a problem in either - connection, server, game engine or demonic possession...


Since I do content creation for Elite Dangerous, this has really been cripling me lately, I've been trying to eliminate these issues, yet I can't seem to find any way to do it, I've tried everything including core parking, installing different versions of Windows, messing with bios, messing with power settings, overclocking, underclocking, even changing reasonably expensive hardware, yet Elite Dangerous still has the exact same sypmtoms as before, while other games are performing silky smooth no matter what :/

I'm lost

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Do you both run windows 10?

 

[MassiveD]

Do you both run windows 10?

I do, but I also tried to install Windows 7 few weeks ago just to see if there would be a difference, but the exact same symptoms were present, doesn't look like OS is the issue

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I do, but I also tried to install Windows 7 few weeks ago just to see if there would be a difference, but the exact same symptoms were present, doesn't look like OS is the issue

Fair enough. I was going to suggest stopping windows 10 running Windows Superfetch. It was causing weird issues on my PC a while back, pinning my HDD activity at 100% for no reason. Did it on both my PC and laptop(with SSD). As soon as I killed that task, my HDD activity dropped to a few % again.
That said, I think a recent update​ fixed it.

 

[MassiveD]

Fair enough. I was going to suggest stopping windows 10 running Windows Superfetch. It was causing weird issues on my PC a while back, pinning my HDD activity at 100% for no reason. Did it on both my PC and laptop(with SSD). As soon as I killed that task, my HDD activity dropped to a few % again.
That said, I think a recent update​ fixed it.

Im gonna try that now

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Run>Services.msc

Find and stop/disable that one if it's listed. It's been known to cause a number of problems, including massive HDD usage.

 

[MassiveD]

Fair enough. I was going to suggest stopping windows 10 running Windows Superfetch. It was causing weird issues on my PC a while back, pinning my HDD activity at 100% for no reason. Did it on both my PC and laptop(with SSD). As soon as I killed that task, my HDD activity dropped to a few % again.
That said, I think a recent update​ fixed it.

Did not work, at first i thought it worked but now fps just dropped by 10, than by 20, exact same symtoms

 

[Kyennamo]

Welcome to Elite Dangerous.

Where the devs have an amazing vision for the future of the game.
And absolutely ZERO ability to see it through.

A google search will reveal a lot of these bugs (stuttering sound and framerate in a CZ is one example) have been around far too long to excuse.

How can we expect the game to evolve and improve when FD cant even fix or finish the "content" we already have.

 

[AceFlares]

OP, All the symptoms you mention have been reported as bugs by various people. Check out the PC bug reporting forum. The stuttering exiting SC affected me, however since downgrading from a 4GB RX 480 to a 2GB GTX 960, the stuttering has gone totally. Dxdiag did report a memory leak in ED64. Maybe it only has an effect on cards with more ram, I dunno...

 

[IndigoWyrd]

That is just so... Classic Windows.

Now, is there a process that I can disable which would make the instancing stutter go away? Lile when I first arrive in a res site, or at a station, or after frame shift jump, my game always stutters for about 10 seconds

Hard to say without seeing a "live" performance monitor on your machine. This could be due to a number of things. Also, if you have a fixed-size page file rather than a system-managed page file, this can also be a contributor.