A problem I don't quite understand

[username_2089538]

A problem I don't quite understand

Hello there! :wave: (my first post but i'm loving this game so no doubt will be back)Just bought the Enhanced Edition; it's splen-difer-ific (but seems to be a lame not very violent not very swarey version... what happened there.... not much blood or anything)ANYWAY!Running it on a laptop; now it runs very well; sort of. The only thing that seems odd is every other step or so that the "Witcher" takes the game kinda jolts; as if stuttering. Now nothing else seems to stutter on the screen; no matter what graphics i set it at it seems to do that same; i mean i can set the graphics to medium and all runs smoothly until i move him around then every other step it stutters. Same on set very low; once set to very high it just stutters a slight bit more; but not by much.It's not a monster lappy but i'm sure it should be able to run it pretty easily.It's like a 3gb ram running vista; has like a 9000(and something or other)m Nvidia thingy graphics card; some monster core duo centrino 2 something or other; basically i don't know much about computers anymore i generaly play on consoles sorry. Anyway im sure even in the lowest of graphics it should be pretty smooth. Also all graphics cards, all windows vista stufff, and everything else are fully updatedIt's just like.... come off it; as i stated and will state again. Everything runs smoothly i can stand aorund look at people walking around monsters moving and so on with no slow down; as soon as i try and move stutter stutter, jerky jerky.Any help would be brilliant I dunno what to do really spose i better update it later.... might do something but i doubt it Any other ideas?CHEERS!(you're going to have to get used ot my waffeling talk; i go on alot and you'll see more of me no doubt) (oh also i tried looking aorund the forumn for info on this; but didn't get too far)Peanuts

 

[username_2089507]

Hello there!

 

[username_2089538]

Ah yeah probs; tis a shame tis a shame; if only. Ah oh god no its not a dell................. but it is a HP............ which i've never been a fan of but the price was right ya know and i needed a laptop quickly so yeah.... >.

 

[darkena]

Hi, I have the same problem actually. I'm using a desktop PC that can run the game fine on medium settings but the "jolt" stepping you describe is very familiar to me since it happens no matter how low I put the settings. I have the game updated to 1.5 etc.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

Hi, I have the same problem actually. I'm using a desktop PC that can run the game fine on medium settings but the "jolt" stepping you describe is very familiar to me since it happens no matter how low I put the settings. I have the game updated to 1.5 etc.

read: Getting tech help on the forum and attach that PCWizard report as instructed

Ah yeah probs; tis a shame tis a shame; if only. Ah oh god no its not a dell................. but it is a HP............ which i've never been a fan of but the price was right ya know and i needed a laptop quickly so yeah.... >.

 

[dogstarism]

I have a similar issue - running an i860 @ 3.8 GHZ, Windows XP 32, ATI Radeon 5890, latest 9.12 drivers + hotfix and game patched to 1.5 - and I think I've figured out what it relates to.Even on lowest settings (both video card and game, no V-Sync) the game seems to jolt or stutter every now and then - almost like frames are being dropped every five seconds or so. I mainly use OTS but the problem happens in the other views as well - it is more noticeable in OTS though. It seems to happen more often in populated areas (e.g. outskirts of Vizima during the day) but it can happen anywhere else or at night, just less frequently.Anyway, I installed FRAPS to see what was going on and was confused to find that I was consistently getting 80-120 fps even during stutters. I noticed that the problem seemed to happen more when moving Geralt over certain spots on the game map than others, and walking back and forth across a particular 'spot' would almost guarantee the problem, even at night with nothing else around. It's easier to see what's happening walking over an area backwards slowly, so I captured this, played the video back frame by frame, and noticed something interesting. The jerks or stutters consistently coincide with a sudden change in framerate - e.g. the framerate suddenly drops from around 110 fps to around 90 fps (or viceversa) in the space of a few frames, and this sudden change seems to cause a noticeable stutter or jerk on screen. I don't know what would be causing this except for the game engine itself. Oblivion certainly seems to handle changes in fps on the same system, and it's a much more intensive engine than the Aurora engine.I tried using the FPS Limiter tool to limit the framerate to around 40 fps, but it didn't seem to actually do anything in the Witcher - was still just getting 80-120 fps and the same problem even when I ran this.Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[Licaon_Kter]

I have a similar issue - running an i860 @ 3.8 GHZ, Windows XP 32, ATI Radeon 5890, latest 9.12 drivers + hotfix and game patched to 1.5 - and I think I've figured out what it relates to.

you have a DirectX11 top of the line capable card and you still use Windows XP from 2002? and on 32bit too ?get Windows 7 on 64bit and please retest

 

[dogstarism]

I have a similar issue - running an i860 @ 3.8 GHZ, Windows XP 32, ATI Radeon 5890, latest 9.12 drivers + hotfix and game patched to 1.5 - and I think I've figured out what it relates to.

you have a DirectX11 top of the line capable card and you still use Windows XP from 2002? and on 32bit too ?get Windows 7 on 64bit and please retest

Yes I am - Windows 7 is quite new and isn't yet supported by all the applications I use. I'll move to it as soon as it is. The Witcher was written for the 32-bit Windows XP platform though - is there any rationale for upgrading to an operating system that didn't exist when the game was written in order for it to work properly?Update: I did get the FPS limiter to work, and this didn't seem to make any difference. I tried settings of 30/40/50 and while this reduces the range of change in fps, the problem is still there. There seem to be quite a few people with the same problem. I'll do some more testing and look at postng something more formally next weekend. Cheers./LE:

The prolbem i face is, no matter what setting, or resolution i use, i still get the same stutter, usually while running in open areas(i.e. the swamps) or in the city areas. Never in cinematic movies though. Its a very subtle stutter, where like every few seconds it just glitches. I have tried multiple configurations, all my drivers are up to date, and i have defragged my hard drive. The stuttering is consistent no matter what i do. I would think it would change or get a little better if i put everything on low and used the lowest res. But this is not the case.

Hi - did you ever start that separate thread for this problem? I'm having exactly the same problem with an i860 @ 3.8GHz, 4GB RAM and ATI HD5870 1.5 game patch and 9.12 video drivers. Even on absolute lowest settings for game and video card I get this annoying stutter periodically - almost like when a video drops frames for a split second and then catches up with itself.According to FRAPS, the lowest fps I get is around 80 even during a stutter, so I don't believe this is an issue with system or video card performance. I originally noted the stutters coincided with a change in fps, but after installing and running the fps limiter I'm not so sure this is relevant. I'm really keen to get to the bottom of this so I'm having my entire system changed over and next week to rule the hardware out and will do some more testing.I was thinking that it would be a good idea to create a separate thread to collect PC Wizard system specs from all those having the same problem to see if there is a common pattern?[mod]let's keep your issue in one thread[/mod]

 

[Licaon_Kter]

Yes I am - Windows 7 is quite new and isn't yet supported by all the applications I use. I'll move to it as soon as it is. The Witcher was written for the 32-bit Windows XP platform though - is there any rationale for upgrading to an operating system that didn't exist when the game was written in order for it to work properly?

no, it was more like "let's use a currently still maintained OS with the current generation of hardware"anyway, any running applications in the background ? did you disable and quit them all to test the game ?

 

[dogstarism]

Yes I am - Windows 7 is quite new and isn't yet supported by all the applications I use. I'll move to it as soon as it is. The Witcher was written for the 32-bit Windows XP platform though - is there any rationale for upgrading to an operating system that didn't exist when the game was written in order for it to work properly?

no, it was more like "let's use a currently still maintained OS with the current generation of hardware"anyway, any running applications in the background ? did you disable and quit them all to test the game ?

I've disabled all non-essential services / startup items and set the CPU affinity to run other background services on different cores. FRAPS is running of course but this makes no difference. I also reinstalled the system from scratch to XP SP3 with just the game and no other apps installed and defragged the HDD. DLC isn't reporting any unusual system interrupts and the CPU usage isn't getting over 50% while the game is running.I'll make a more formal post next weekend with the PC Wizard report and list all the things I've tried - I know it's hard for you guys to make any suggestions without this information, and I've just been told off for discussing the same issue in two threads.Thanks for your help anyway - and I did see that some issues disappear with W7 64-bit.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

DLC isn't reporting any unusual system interrupts and the CPU usage isn't getting over 50% while the game is running.

the Aurora engine ( used back in 2002 for Neverwinter Nights 1 ) is not multicpu aware so it will always use just one core anyway, not to mention that is uses the GPU just at about 50% too ( at least on my GTS250 and on some GTX260/HD4870 that users reported )

 

[dogstarism]

DLC isn't reporting any unusual system interrupts and the CPU usage isn't getting over 50% while the game is running.

the Aurora engine ( used back in 2002 for Neverwinter Nights 1 ) is not multicpu aware so it will always use just one core anyway, not to mention that is uses the GPU just at about 50% too ( at least on my GTS250 and on some GTX260/HD4870 that users reported )

Yes, sorry I should clarify - the single CPU core that the witcher is assigned to does not exceed 50% while the game is running. Total CPU usage would be around 15% of all 4 cores. Even at 50% GPU usage, the 5890 is still producing an average framerate of 120 fps so I don't think this is an issue.Update: I've made some progress. I ran another latency checker and this is showing DPC latency spikes between 1000 and 4000 ms that coincide precisely with stutters in the game. Latency spikes over 500 microseconds are considered to cause problems with streaming audio or video on a system, so this is a no-brainer. The DPC checker suggests that a badly-written kernel-mode driver is responsible - more information here: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml#background. This information seems to say that it would be impossible for the game itself to cause the issue unless it contained code that ran in kernel mode.Unfortunately the DPC checker programme doesn't identify which driver is causing the spike, but I've found another programme that monitors DPC calls in more detail. I'll continue testing and see if I can narrow it down.Cheers.

 

[tenlethar]

Hello.I purchased a brand new rig a while ago. I consider it a more than decent machine which should be able to deal with the majority of games - correct me if i am wrong.However, The Witcher (i own the Enhanced Edition, 1.5) runs only with very heavy input lag. Basically its not a 1:1 mouse movement transition as known from shooters. A little smoothing is okay, but this is way too heavy. Dependant on the area of the game i am in, the lag can come with times up to 1/3 of a second. I move the mouse to turn Geralt around, but the response of the game will be delayed.I noticed that it gets better when i lower graphics. But it never really goes away. In the swamps it is more apparent at night, probably because for some reason at night the view in the swamp seems clearer than during daytime.First i used an LG 2452 at 1920x1200 @ 60 Hz but then i bought a Samsung 2233RZ with 120 Hz support, entirely to address this issue (not only for the Witcher but for future titles as well, of course). Unforunately at 120 Hz with the Samsung i notice no difference compared to the LG so it doesnt seem to have to do with response times of the displays (the Samsung is pretty fast, as far as i know?)I also bought a G5 mouse to address those issues, but it didnt help. I tried setting the USB polling rate from 125 up to 500 and even 1000 - with no noticable difference. I also changed DPI values and adjusted the OTS camera sensitivity - without proper results. Now i am running out of knowledge and options. I have VSync turned off. I do get some tearing and i wish i could force VSync on, but then i get even more input lag. So i live with the tearing - if anyone knows how i can run this game with VSync - without getting the problems - please let me know. Also, i get the blurred, pixelated conversations but this is something i can deal with, if the rest worked fine. What i also noticed is that the animations of the NPCs are jerky. Specifically when i run up to a person and it backs away and moves to the side, this animation of the character moving away will consist of about 4 frames and be everything else than fluid. I noticed that also opponents or characters that are further away get those jerky animations - and i also got stuttering animations during a combo while fighting ghouls - it only happens with the ghouls. Weird enough.Sure i could turn down the details and live with the reduced lag, but hey - what did i buy my high end rig for? I hope you understand my point. If the game would run okay when setting view distance to average, i'd do so and be fine with it - but it also doesnt help.If anyone could help, it would be very cool - i really love The Witcher, its one of my favourite titles and i really want to play it - fluently, fluidly.Thanks!Ps.: I am using 4xAF and 4xAA through CCC but tried it with the ingame settings. AA quality is set to lowest in CCC (not adaptive).Edit: I have found out that i was never actually getting any AA when forcing it. I didnt realize it at first, so i tested turning the ingame AA on instead and checking again - now it was active, but the input lag was even heavier. I dont get it. Is my rig so bad that i can't even play a game maxed out, that is a few years old?---Power Supply: Enermax MODU 82+ @ 625 WattsMonitor: Samsung 2233RZ @ 120 HzTower: COOLER MASTER Xcalade 690CPU: Intel Quad Core i7-920 4x2,67 GhzCooling: Thermalright AXP-140 + Enermax Twister Cluster 120x120x25Mainboard: ASUS PT6 Deluxe V2RAM: 6 GB DDR3 Kit PC3-1600 Mhz, CL8Graphics: PCI-E 2.0 SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5870, Full Retail, 1024MBHarddrive: 35,2035,201SATA II SAMSUNG SpinPoint F3, 500GB, 16MB CacheCD-Rom: DVD-+R/-+RW SATA LG GH-22NS40, Bulk, BlackOS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64BitMouse: Logitech G5

 

[kyojin]

Well well, i have the same problem and my rig is ub3r...I don't understand how this game can lag, i have played maxed out detail games like cod mod 2, left 4 dead 2, mas effect 2 and the list really goes on and there all new to newish games.now to be specific it doesn't completely lag it just has its moments.. usually when looking out into the distance, my rig is more the capable so it leads me to believe there's a problem here that needs to be fixed. as i am sure sure TENLETHAR and myself would love to know.. wtf?

 

[dogstarism]

FIXED - I think.I installed and ran a programme to log DPC activity for registered kernel-mode drivers, and this reported comparable DPCs to what I was experiencing in the game against the USBPORT.SYS driver. VIDEOPORT.SYS reported no DPCs, and some DPCs were logged under the HDD driver although these related to the loading that happens just before and after cutscenes, not during normal gameplay.This is odd as the only thing attached to the USBPORT is a mouse and keyboard. So I replaced the USB mouse and keyboard with PS/2, and had the same problem, except this time the DPCs were logged under the driver for the PS/2 port. This is interesting as so many people also seem to have issues with lagging mouse movement.Having already updated all the system drivers, the only other thing I could think of was to install Windows 7, which uses different 64-bit system drivers. I also updated the 64-bit driver for the ATI 5870 (v10.x) which Windows 7 doesn't come with. It's a little early to be absolutely sure, but this appears to have fixed the problem.However, I noticed something very interesting - during installation of the game, Windows 7 reported that something (presumably the game) was trying to install a driver that was incompatible with Windows 7 and the driver was blocked. Which leaves three possible scenarios:1. One of the 32-Bit system drivers for Windows XP was badly designed, and the 64-bit version for Windows 7 may have been better-written and this fixed the issue.2. The increased bandwidth between 64-bit system drivers and 64-bit hardware reduced the number of DPCs, fixing the problem.3. The game installs and uses a propietary kernel-mode driver which, if present, hijacks calls to an existing system driver for using certain hardware while the game is being played (maybe the keyboard and mouse...?). Since Windows 7 blocked this driver when the game installed (yes, I had UAC turned on when I installed the game), the problem has gone. Any comment from the Red Team?

 

[dogstarism]

I've noticed that the character animation in the Aurora engine is a bit naff - for example when you hit someone that is midway through a swing there is no animation 'in-between' the animation for their attack and the animation for when they are hit, so the character seems to 'jerk' back to the 'hit' position when you hit or bump them. This was an issue with other games based on this engine (like NWN). Also, animation for characters will downgrade when they are a certain distance from you - I assume this is to optimise performance for the more immediate characters.However I have had similar issues with performance on a high-end system - not with mouse lagging, but with regular moments of stuttering during gameplay, even though FRAPS was reporting average of 120 fps. I installed a DPC checker and ran this in the background with the game in windowed mode, and it showed high DPCs during moments when the stutters occurred. I then installed the RATTv3 (MS performance logging tool) which logged the DPCs under the USBPORT.SYS system driver which also relates to the mouse and keyboard.Check out this post: http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=27197.0

 

[errorg]

I have the exact same issue and I really hope there is a better solution than simply moving to a 64-bit operating system because I don't have that available to me right now. I have a computer more than capable of handling this game but no matter how I set it -- the absolute highest settings or the absolute lowest, it acts the exact same, stutters all the time (especially in Vizima in the day). I am on Windows XP becuase until now I have had absolutely no reason not to be, it's still better than Vista and I don't have the money for Windows 7 right now. It's ridiculous that this is even an issue.

 

[videogames10]

Even on lowest settings (both video card and game, no V-Sync) the game seems to jolt or stutter every now and then - almost like frames are being dropped every five seconds or so.

Just purchased the Enhanced Edition, patched it to v1.5 in addition to the DC patch and I'm having the same problem here. Even with all of the graphics options set to their lowest settings and screen resolution set at 1024x768. I'm using Vista (32-bit) with all available updates and my hardware far exceeds the game's required specs. The latest graphics driver is installed. 2.2 Gigs of RAM are free and available for the game to use at startup. If The Witcher were not such a darn good game in every other respect, I'd stop playing it due to this incredibly annoying stutter problem. Seriously. It's painful to play the game in this condition. It's not a continuous framerate issue. The game just hesitates every couple of seconds. It's almost like the game is streaming data from the HDD, and thus, hesitating in order to catch up. I've got more than enough RAM, so this game should not be streaming at all on my PC, assuming that's what's going on. My PC can run all of the latest 3D games as smooth as silk. The Witcher is the only game giving me this particular problem.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

However, I noticed something very interesting - during installation of the game, Windows 7 reported that something (presumably the game) was trying to install a driver that was incompatible with Windows 7 and the driver was blocked. Which leaves three possible scenarios:1. One of the 32-Bit system drivers for Windows XP was badly designed, and the 64-bit version for Windows 7 may have been better-written and this fixed the issue.2. The increased bandwidth between 64-bit system drivers and 64-bit hardware reduced the number of DPCs, fixing the problem.3. The game installs and uses a propietary kernel-mode driver which, if present, hijacks calls to an existing system driver for using certain hardware while the game is being played (maybe the keyboard and mouse...?). Since Windows 7 blocked this driver when the game installed (yes, I had UAC turned on when I installed the game), the problem has gone.

this is the TAGES driver ( copy protection/DRM thingamabob ), you can cancel it safely it's not needed anymore when using patch 1.5, read the FAQ: http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=17503.0 on TAGES removalabout the USB thing, i hope you guys put the system on Performance: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-power-management-on-windows-vista/@ videogames10, @errorg, @anyone else please: read: Getting tech help on the forum and attach that PCWizard report as instructed and do attach the file ERRLOG.TXT from The Witcher/System folder ( if the game crashed ) everytime you report something cause saying "my specs are uber" doesn't help anyone and my crystal ball is offline for a while