Stutter and Mouse-lag - even on lowest settings!

[luc0s]

Stutter and Mouse-lag - even on lowest settings!

I already posted this in a topic from someone else, but I figured that people might overlook my question there and I really would like an answer to this problem, so:


I run The Witcher 2 on an iMac 27inch from 2010. I run Windows 7 (64bit) through Apple's Bootcamp and most games run smoothly on my iMac. However, The Witcher 2 runs terrible even with the settings on Low and the resolution turned down.

The problem is that the game is "stuttering" and the FPS keeps changing between 30FPS and 10FPS at a frequent pattern (every 2 seconds or so I have a huge framedrop resulting in the game sort-of freezing for a brief moment. My mouse also lags terrible and the mouse is terribly slow even if I turn up my sensitivity.

I have tried turning-off the vsync, but no luck there. I have tried turning off all effects, including SSAO, Bloom, Motion Blur and Blur Effects and Uber-Sampling. Still, no luck.


My specs:


model: iMac 27' (2010 build)
CPU: Intel Core i7 "Lynnfield" (2,93Ghz)
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5750 (1GB)
RAM: 1333Mhz DDR3 (8GB)


The Witcher 2 launcher specs my iMac at "Medium Spec", yet even at "Low Spec" the game still runs awful, with lots of stutter and an awful response time.

Why does my machine not run The Witcher 2 properly? I did (clean) install all the latest drivers for my GPU and I also (clean) installed the latest DX10 and DX11 drivers!

 

[Flash]

Resolution is one of the major factors in game's performance. Your native 1920x1080 resolution is too much for your graphic card to handle in The Witcher 2.

 

[luc0s]

Resolution is one of the major factors in game's performance. Your native 1920x1080 resolution is too much for your graphic card to handle in The Witcher 2.

Really? Because I thought that the ATI Radeon HD 5750 was quite a good GPU. Sure, not the best, but by far not the worst. My brother has an ATI Radeon HD 5770 card, which is only slightly newer than the 5750 (correct me if I'm wrong), yet his computer has no trouble running The Witcher 2 at "high settings" in a 1920x1080 resolution.


But even on a resolution of 1280x720 the game still has the stutter-lag. The mouse-lag is much less on 1280x720 but the frame-drop stuttering is still there.

 

[Flash]

Sure, it's not a bad card. I'm running TW2 on Radeon Mobility 5730 on my home laptop, but that's on 1366x768 resolution.
Does the framedrops also occur when you are standing idle in the game, or rather when you keep running around the locations? Mouse-lag is performance related, but stutter is usually caused by HDD activity - loading data on streaming. Such problems occur mostly on laptops due to the way how hard drive works there. Hard drive platters stop when disc is in idle. These are power management settings.

 

[luc0s]

Sure, it's not a bad card. I'm running TW2 on Radeon Mobility 5730 on my home laptop, but that's on 1366x768 resolution.
Does the framedrops also occur when you are standing idle in the game, or rather when you keep running around the locations? Mouse-lag is performance related, but stutter is usually caused by HDD activity - loading data on streaming. Such problems occur mostly on laptops due to the way how hard drive works there. Hard drive platters stop when disc is in idle. These are power management settings.

The stutter only appears when I walk or when I move the camera around.

I'm not playing this on a laptop but on an iMac, however I might wanna check out if the problem indeed is HDD related. Where exactly can I find these power management settings on Windows 7? (sorry, I'm kinda new to Windows 7)

 

[Flash]

If it happens when you move then it's definitely caused by loading data. Power conserving options are available in Windows Control Panel in Sound and Hardware. But it's not a laptop so I think we can rule out battery settings unless it works differently for Macs. Sorry, I'm new to iMacs

You can also try defragmenting your HDD to increase disc peformance.
There are antivirus programs that scan currently accessed files in real time. This can also slow down any game.

 

[Anarki_Hunter]

The stutter only appears when I walk or when I move the camera around.

I'm not playing this on a laptop but on an iMac, however I might wanna check out if the problem indeed is HDD related. Where exactly can I find these power management settings on Windows 7? (sorry, I'm kinda new to Windows 7)

Does the game speed shutter even when you enter areas you just visited or backtracked!; like you load a level turn around 360 degree's in the 3D space, move a bit (it shutters), come back to the same area and move again...does it shutter this time too?.

 

[Danny_ns]

The stutter/frame skipping is common and happens for others aswell (as does the mouselag). The stuttering is massive in flotsam forrest and makes running look really annoying.

You can search these forums to see threads about this, no solution so far.

Happens no matter the settings btw, its probably due to CPU rendering too many frames ahead of the GPU.

 

[Garrison72]

I get slight stuttering or slowdown in Flotsam if I don't put the res low enough. I always get the pointer drag in menus no matter what I do.

 

[luc0s]

Does the game speed shutter even when you enter areas you just visited or backtracked!; like you load a level turn around 360 degree's in the 3D space, move a bit (it shutters), come back to the same area and move again...does it shutter this time too?.

Yes it stutters at all times, even during cutscenes, though in the prison cutscene with the conversation right before the actual prologue starts the game runs just fine. Even on "high settings" the game runs fine at this point. But as soon as the scene with Geralt and Triss in the tent start, the game starts with the stuttering.

 

[tommy5761]

Almost all antivirus programs have exception rules for which you can add programs to exclude from scanning when accessing them in real time which is what i do for Witcher 2 . Automatic updater programs can also play havoc with your hard drive while gaming and has even caused a crash or two for me while playing Witcher 2 .

There are a couple of ways around this of course . One would be to open msconfig and click the services tab and disable anything not necessary and reboot . I personally don`t like this method as it requires a lot of rebooting both before and after gaming .

Another option is to get a program like Gamebooster which shuts down unnecessary programs with 1 click and reenables them afterwards with 1 click with no reboot. Will it disable ALL unnecessary programs...no but it does help and every little bit helps .

 

[drunknmunkey666]

I cleaned up my PC some time ago: I opened up msconfig, and used a certain website for checking each and every startup-service (programs that runs upon system startup, and remains running) - just google each entry and you will soon find a website that explains what the programs does... You won't believe how many of them can be disabled without any fuss (depending on how many programs you installed over time) - and you get a much more stable and smooth-running system in the long run!
Just disable them permanently, the majority of them are updater tools for things like NVidia, Adobe products and so on... Remove that crap, and check up on updates manually every once in a while on the products' websites.

 

[Garrison72]

I cleaned up my PC some time ago: I opened up msconfig, and used a certain website for checking each and every startup-service (programs that runs upon system startup, and remains running) - just google each entry and you will soon find a website that explains what the programs does... You won't believe how many of them can be disabled without any fuss (depending on how many programs you installed over time) - and you get a much more stable and smooth-running system in the long run!
Just disable them permanently, the majority of them are updater tools for things like NVidia, Adobe products and so on... Remove that crap, and check up on updates manually every once in a while on the products' websites.

Which website did you use?

 

[drunknmunkey666]

Which website did you use?

Just found it, after some searching:
http://www.file.net

Hope it helps!

 

[Garrison72]

Just found it, after some searching:
http://www.file.net

Hope it helps!

Thanks.

 

[dmcaldw]

http://vista-services-optimizer.googlecode.com/files/vso_13200.exe
Try this as well if you have Vista or win7 works quite well . Choose programs you want to shut down for gaming mode ready to go . Windows 7 though gaming wise shut down Areo effect especially or I think vista transparency . looks cool but eats memory .

 

[drunknmunkey666]

It would be best to give a link to the site, not the program - so he and others can read about it before just installing it
Also, why use a tool for something you can do on your own? If it shuts down internal Windows services, I think it's best to keep those running.. If they are causing lag, you need a better PC IMO - if the OS services themselves are too heavy for normal usage.
Better to just optimize the startup services chain and remove those that does nothing but look for updates and whatever else they are doing .. Get a clean Windows going so to speak ..

But that's all just my opinion

BTW: As far as I know, you can right-click .exe files and choose an option somewhere to shut down Aero etc. upon launch - wouldn't that be the correct way to do things?

 

[dmcaldw]

http://www.smartpcutilities.com/products.html

Sorry took a little time here is link to site . I only had download link to begin with .

I think it's best to keep those running.. If they are causing lag, you need a better PC IMO - if the OS services themselves are too heavy for normal usage.

If that was the case I would need a new computer now . I am not completely disagreeing with you though some cases yes my puter is top heavy with Window 7 and Hp stuff that run in background , I have done the manual shutting down of services it sucks when one click will shut them off then one click restores them . I could remove HP stuff but there is an unknown there to . I did that on another puter removal took some dll files that windows uses to work correctly had to reinstall . Why would you want stuff running in background that doesn't need to be running adding extra stress to machine ? I think this program is better than game boost anyway .

 

[drunknmunkey666]

HP is notorious for spamming pcs with unnecessary stuff - I removed all of it on both my computers, no problem. I just looked every program up on file.net and read about what it does and wether it could be safely turned off/removed. I don't really get why you would want to turn off unneeded services at every boot-up, why not just turn it off once and for all in the startup-sequence (msconfig)?! .. That way you won't need 3rd party tools messing with your computer, and it's turned off for good.
Adobe and Google also likes to stuff pcs with lame software - throw it out
But pure OS services - keep those running. AFAIK Win7 is way more light on a system than XP/Vista etc ...

It's like those people who runs registry cleaners to "boost performance" - damn .. The registry database will NOT slow down a computer, even if it's filled with unused data. Unused data is just that: unused. It's like filling a harddrive with unused .txt files and come to the conclusion that they slow down the pc.
And why do people think it's safe to download a 3rd party tool and let it decide which things should be deleted from the reg-db? - Automated cleanups are not safe IMHO. The reg-db is very sensitive, better to let unused stuff remain than letting a tool deleting one key too many

 

[dmcaldw]

Point taken