Stuttering and hitching after updates

[Unknown Zombie]

Now we just need to get Frontier to realize this.

I think they realize it. This bug report someone made got marked as Acknowledged (green check-mark), which means Frontier looked at it and recognize it as a bug.

If they hadn't Acknowledged it, that report wouldn't even have reached Confirmed status yet (only 2 responses).

Edit:

Wait, you're not talking about rubber banding, are you?

You mean the weird jerking motion unrelated to network lag.. I have always experienced a jerking motion in the screen when transitioning to different spheres of influence. I usually avoid rolling my ship when approaching planets, stations, etc, so that I can spare myself the glitchiness.

But, now that you mention it, it has been pretty pronounced when approaching (and even leaving) stations in normal space lately, and I don't remember ever getting this kind of visual glitch in normal space before -- until recently it was just in supercruise.

 

[ebbrell]

I've noticed rubber banding when near slot in stations, wasnt there before update.

In fact last night you could see a zig zag pattern where a wing member had flown.

It wasn't this bad before update, and there was only 3 of us there.. not many cmdrs

 

[BIMJOHN]

I've noticed this issue since I started flying again (on PC) - first time out since the update. It is there from the off for me, can't say that it deteriorates over time - but I don't play long sessions at the moment. I am also breaking in a new HOTAS (X56) and I've installed Voice Attack, so maybe some other factors at work? I'll also run the G-Force optimiser to see if that helps.

 

[Old Duck]

Wait, you're not talking about rubber banding, are you?

Correct. Rubber-banding is a different (though equally if not more annoying) problem. This whiplash effect happens in solo as well.

That said, I have noticed a weird "transition" effect, graphically, when a rubber-banding player ship comes within close range and then becomes smooth. Something really weird is going on here, and I don't think it is graphics-related (but it definitely effects the graphics).

 

[sollisb]

This is not restricted to Open mode, it happens in PG too.

 

[Old Duck]

I can verify this happens on PS4. I only noticed it once during the few minutes I was playing, when I was facing AWAY from the station towards empty space. I suspect this is because framerate is so totally rubbish on PS4 when actually facing the station, thus masking any "whiplash". Was it always this bad, and I'm only seeing now that I've been exposed to a solid 60 fps on PC, or has the update made ED on PS4 even worse than it was? I'm not saying it's unplayable, but yeah...

 

[photomankc]

It’s been noticeable for me in the SRV. Used to be perfectly smooth at 60FPS all the time, everywhere, doing everything. Now it drops into to 30s and 40s and ruins that feeling. Video card is a 2080 so it’s not running at its limits.

something changed for the worse.

 

[sollisb]

It’s been noticeable for me in the SRV. Used to be perfectly smooth at 60FPS all the time, everywhere, doing everything. Now it drops into to 30s and 40s and ruins that feeling. Video card is a 2080 so it’s not running at its limits.

something changed for the worse.

A 2080 is not be and end all of game performance. A 2080 while near top of the line, only shows it's worth when it's used. Elite does not use all the capability of a 2080.

I've run Elite on SLIs, Crossfire and single cards, and now in VR. Your chipset and matched memory are equally as important. And add to that the core throttling if other apps are in use.

EDIT: I'd be more inclined to think they are using more bandwidth with data transfers which is causing the stutters.

 

[T1-Jafo]

The most obvious effect of this update for me is rubber banding npcs at stations. The effect is so regular as to leave perfect zigzag trails in space, indicating its unlikely due to random factors such as my connection. As for frame rate, no problem there, I run the game at 1080p with 1.5x supersample abs get a solid 120-144fps, before and now. It's exactly like pvp lag, except it's the npcs that are doing it.

I started seeing this zig zag trail effect
after last update. It seems to occur sometimes when another Cmdr is in the instance. Usually if I log out and back in, it goes away.

 

[photomankc]

A 2080 is not be and end all of game performance. A 2080 while near top of the line, only shows it's worth when it's used. Elite does not use all the capability of a 2080.

I've run Elite on SLIs, Crossfire and single cards, and now in VR. Your chipset and matched memory are equally as important. And add to that the core throttling if other apps are in use.

EDIT: I'd be more inclined to think they are using more bandwidth with data transfers which is causing the stutters.

Sigh.

I’m not bragging up the card. I’m telling you the problem arrived with the updates. Previous to this the FPS NEVER dropped below 60 no matter what I was doing. Now they routinely drop to 30 or 40s when in the SRV on planets without any other commander around, open, PG, or solo.

So something changed and crapped on video performance with the updates.

 

[sollisb]

Sigh.

I’m not bragging up the card. I’m telling you the problem arrived with the updates. Previous to this the FPS NEVER dropped below 60 no matter what I was doing. Now they routinely drop to 30 or 40s when in the SRV on planets without any other commander around, open, PG, or solo.

So something changed and crapped on video performance with the updates.

Never claimed you were bragging mate

I'm not sure it's graphics tho myself. I think it;s data throughput on the wires. How much they're sending/receiving and how often. I'll give you an example;

Every time you move, a file is updated on your pc. To that file they write a certain amount of data. Let's just call it latitude/longitude. In addition to that they write a whole bunch of other stuff. Now lets factor in disk access speeds. All this writing is all done in the same process on the same cpu core. So what is your graphics car doing while the disk is writing? It's waiting on the next instructions. No matter which way you play it, a game running like Elite on a single core is making huge demands on your CPU. And like I've said all this data is being sent to from their servers and it is being written to disk.

Another example; Right now, when you dock at a station, that file we mentioned earlier is constantly being updated with latitude/longitude data even if you are docked. See...? Wasted disk access. So if it doing all that while you are docked.. What's it writing when you are moving?

Load up Elite and on another screen watch your threats and core, CPU, Disk access... No mention there of graphics.. To put this in perspective, I can run Elite on my Big Rig or an my Laptop with full settings, and prior to last release, only got minor stuttering in both VR and non-vr. Now it's a mess. To my knowledge, the graphics have not changed have they?

 

[Old Duck]

It’s been noticeable for me in the SRV. Used to be perfectly smooth at 60FPS all the time, everywhere, doing everything. Now it drops into to 30s and 40s and ruins that feeling. Video card is a 2080 so it’s not running at its limits.

something changed for the worse.

Hey, I noticed this too! I get locked 60 fps when driving around a barren moon, but when I last visited a INRA base (post-update), FPS dropped below 60. I never had this problem before the update, and that includes INRA bases, huge ground ports, etc.

Yep, something has definitely changed for the worst, and it has everything to do with the update, not our very capable video cards.

 

[BIMJOHN]

It's not just graphics that stutter. If a drop from SC, it now takes an age. Likewise, if I press the key to bring up the game menu, there is a huge lag before the menu pops up.

 

[Old Duck]

I've experienced this "Max Headroom" effect enough to come up with a better way to describe it. It's as if my FOV shifts wide and then back again very quickly, creating a weird graphical "popping" effect. So this definitely isn't a simple stutter or duplicate frame, it's literally a shift in FOV that affects everything on screen, including the cockpit.

 

[photomankc]

Hey, I noticed this too! I get locked 60 fps when driving around a barren moon, but when I last visited a INRA base (post-update), FPS dropped below 60. I never had this problem before the update, and that includes INRA bases, huge ground ports, etc.

Yep, something has definitely changed for the worst, and it has everything to do with the update, not our very capable video cards.

Might try a driver update on the video card. I'm cautiously optimistic this has solved that problem, I did some SRV-ing since updating the NVidia drivers and it's been MUCH better since then. Crossing my fingers. I still see those glitches every once in a while that others are mentioning, but I have not yet seen the zig-zagging. I do see rubber-banding of CMDRs in station slots but that was something I always saw.

 

[Old Duck]

Might try a driver update on the video card. I'm cautiously optimistic this has solved that problem, I did some SRV-ing since updating the NVidia drivers and it's been MUCH better since then. Crossing my fingers. I still see those glitches every once in a while that others are mentioning, but I have not yet seen the zig-zagging. I do see rubber-banding of CMDRs in station slots but that was something I always saw.

I'm very hesitant to update drivers manually unless there is a body of evidence supporting that makes a difference. One of the reasons I left PC gaming long ago for consoles is because of how many driver updates broke things instead of making them better.

Don't get me wrong, I'm open to the idea, but maybe someone bolder than I who suffers this FOV-POP problem can "go first".

 

[skuzzbag]

I did a driver update which seems to have partly fixed the issue. Jitters when dropping out of hyperspace have got better but not gone. All the other issues have remained.

 

[Old Duck]

Well I just checked, my Nvidia driver is version 25.21.14.1788 (date shows February), so I suppose it could be updated. Oi, I'm scared! Too many bad experiences in the past.

You guys who updated your drivers, are you running Nvidia graphics? If so, what's the date of the latest version? Do any of you use this GeForce Experience app to handle the updates?

 

[Codger]

I have 436.48 release 10/01/2019, it says it's the latest one.

I do use GEForce Experience to update the drivers. It's worked well for me.

 

[photomankc]

I use GeForce experience to update too. Not for anything else but beats having to hunt for the right driver. Never had much trouble updating my GFx cards. Windows update is a complete different story. You got to get over the dread. Especially on the video card.