Cannot Play - Hitching, Jerking and Low FPS.

[Hapynding]

Ok, here is the problem:  No matter what server or toon I log into, I experience terrible hitching and what resembles “lag”.  About every 10-15 second’s my toon looks like she is lagging, jerking and moving incredibly slow and then rubber banding right before it stops… lasts for about 15 seconds (which can be forever when you are trying not to die) then it runs perfectly for about 10-15 seconds and then starts all over again.  Sadly it has made it impossible to play. When playing normally my latency is about 160 and my frame rate is about 47, I have high speed internet (cable).

 

Here is what I have done: Attempting to correct the problem I have updated all windows drivers, service packs and updates, updated all hardware drivers, and direct X.  I have adjusted all in game settings from Balanced to Best Performance Possible and nothing (using sliders till I'm brain numb).  I have downloaded the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer, it does nada.  I have set Affinity to single core (CPU0) and it ALWAYS reverts back to dual.  I have downloaded “Run First.exe” it does nada as well. I play without any firewalls and even shut off my antivirus just for good measure… Still Nothing =/  I even have the cable guy coming out on Wed., just to make sure my signal is strong.

 

There is really no reason for this game to run like this, I don’t have phenomenal gaming system, but lesser system run it with ease.   I really don’t want to give up the game, I have only been “trying to play” about a week, but I won’t pay for what I can’t play…  Any Ideas?   

 

Here are my system specs:

       Machine name: RAAIN-DT

   Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090206-1234)

           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

System Manufacturer: Me

       System Model: Raain_Special

               BIOS: BIOS Date: 03/26/08 10:37:53 Ver: 08.00.12

          Processor: AMD Athlon (tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.7GHz

             Memory: 2048MB RAM

          Page File: 476MB used, 3463MB available

        Windows Dir: C:WINDOWS

    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

DX Setup Parameters: Not found

     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

 

Display Devices

---------------

        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS

     Manufacturer: NVIDIA

        Chip type: GeForce 8400 GS

         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC

       Device Key: EnumPCIVEN_10DE&DEV_0422&SUBSYS_C7383842&REV_A1

   Display Memory: 512.0 MB

     Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

          Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor

 

I have a Linksys Router and a D-Link Hub.

[Aloen]

You seem fairly tech savy, so I'm going to assume that your system is running at 100% and there is nothing silly like spyware/a really pesky mail client in the background that likes using up all your bandwitch for 15 seconds at a time. Are you anywhere in specific in the game when this happens and have you tried lowering the graphic settings?  About the only real weak point in that system is the low-end graphics card. I know that my system (w/ slower processor, same ram and a much faster graphics card) runs the game just fine at 1920x1200, so I think it might be that.  Is your graphics card that silly passive cooling 8400 GS? That might account for the problem as well if the heat sink is dusty so it cools less efficently, causign the graphics card to go into panic mode every 15 seconds and drop the speed so that the chip doesn't melt.

One other things with the 8x00 series cards is that it is(was?) important to have "Reuse Vertex Buffers" selected in Display->Performance. For some reason there was a huge issue with stuttering on the 8x00 cards which went across games (everything from EQ2 to MxO).  I know that's a longshot, but that might be something to look at.

I'm sorry that I'm not much help, I'm just thinking of what steps I'd go through.

[TSR-DanielH]

Thanks for helping out Rileus.

Are you still experiencing this problem?  If so, let's make sure that a background program isn't interferring in some way.  You may have already done this, but if not, please give it a try.  To disable background programs:1. Select the START button.2. Select RUN, then type in "msconfig" (for Vista, type msconfig in the search bar at the bottom of the Start Menu)3. Press OK4. Select the STARTUP tab.5. In the list, uncheck all boxes EXCEPT for SCANREGISTRY and SYSTEM TRAY. If you use Windows XP, please note that SCANREGISTRY and SYSTEM TRAY will not be listed - just uncheck the entire list.6. Hit apply and then OK. Restart the computer and try the game again.If you are still experiencing the same issue, please reply back.