8800 Series Stuttering / Crashing problem. Information Sharing thread.

[Dagator]

Khatmandoo@Unrest wrote:

I don't have the money to buy another video card, it took my a while to save up for the 8800GT.  I would they would respond on this issue.

Read the thread, they did post, and fairly recently too. 

[Kiester]

I saw the response from 3/28.  My frustration is that this isn't new and the issue has been ongoing for a long time.I don't want to start over on another MMO game because of the time I have invested in the game, my friends in my guild and just that I'm very familiar with the ins/outs of the game but if a fix doesn't come up soon I guess I'll start looking elsewhere. As a paying customer (just spent $40 for Rok when I came back), am I expecting too much?  If this was an isolated issue then I would expect them to be dragging their feet but apparently it is affecting a lot of users.Again, going back through the forums, this is not new.  Before this, I had an ATI card so I never had any issues like this.

[Koltur]

Note, i forgot to mention that "fix" , that i referred to gave me an additional 20-30fps while in single-gpu mode, rather then forced alternating 1 , i also had a lot of those graphic enhancer settings that guy mentioned a few pages back turned off.I'll also note that i was running eq2 in like super-high graphics minus particles & shadows, at 60-70fps in jarsath, however it did not alleviate the stuttering problem at all. In lower graphic settings this fix that i mentioned (i use FetishNightfall UI, modified slightly by myself) but the "raid setting" whatever the UI author had as the settings, and my FPS were 100-125 (still have the stuttering thing.) So, i'm guessing the ones using only a single-gpu are gonna notice more of an effect from that Options -> User Interface -> Game Windows -> Smooth Fonts (unchecked) thing more then someone running in that forced alternate 1, mode.Also, when i had all those things setup like the dude a few pages back mentioned, i was getting a steady 20-25fps with moderate CA lag (no particles/shadows) during raid in VP, but instantly skyrocketed when i disabled all that jazz. Sure obviously the graphic quality went down, but the CA lag, etc. disappared when i disabled all th at crap.

[VW_Factor]

After some time, got a new machine built.  Of course using 8800 again.  Anyway, I noticed the hitching and skipping was still there.  In the newer nVidia drivers we have a new option for max rendering ahead of frames.  Default I think was 3, and knocking it down to 2 or 1 seems to have helped up A LOT for myself.  Figured I would pass that along, maybe someone else can report results. 

[Openedge]

VW_Factor wrote:

After some time, got a new machine built.  Of course using 8800 again.  Anyway, I noticed the hitching and skipping was still there.  In the newer nVidia drivers we have a new option for max rendering ahead of frames.  Default I think was 3, and knocking it down to 2 or 1 seems to have helped up A LOT for myself.  Figured I would pass that along, maybe someone else can report results. 

As soon as I found out about the beta of that driver, with the Render Ahead feature, I instantly downloaded it..(3 months ago I think)It did not help then (set to 2 or 1)I have tried it recently, and it still did not help...I went back to 169.21 as they seem to work the best

[VW_Factor]

Im using the 174.70s atm.  0 frames ahead, and its fabulous. 

[Openedge]

VW_Factor wrote:

Im using the 174.70s atm.  0 frames ahead, and its fabulous.  " />

Zero frames would crash the game for me. Are you playing windowed?Thanks

[Spaceweed]

VW_Factor wrote:

Im using the 174.70s atm.  0 frames ahead, and its fabulous.  " />

Those drivers are listed for the '9000' series?

[Spaceweed]

Ranadin@Antonia Bayle wrote:

I also only recovered a slight increase in performance with smooth fonts unchecked. But again not something I believe I should have to part with in order to increase performance with a computer such as mine running a game from 2004.

QFE.'Runs best with NVidia', anyone?Lol..

[Spaceweed]

Koltur wrote:

Okay, here's a shocker.Options -> User Interface -> Game Windows -> Smooth Fonts  ... Uncheck this box . on my pc (q6600 2.4ghz, 4gb corsair ram, 2*Evga Geforce 8800GTX, SBX-Fi gamer, Windows XP Pro SP2 and using OmegaDrivers ver2.169.21 etc.) , increased performance incredibly.Running across Jarsath wastes in pretty much max graphics (minus shadows, and low particles), was catching in the nature of 60-70fps, however nearby Danak Shipyards was getting that stuttering/choppy thing going on like usual, and FPS dipped down to probably around 40-50ish when not stuttering or chopping.

Gave me a 15% increase in performance - quite surprised.  Stutter not tested over a decent period yet.

[SureShot]

Spaceweed wrote:

VW_Factor wrote:

Im using the 174.70s atm.  0 frames ahead, and its fabulous.  " />

Those drivers are listed for the '9000' series?

174.74 has 8xxx support

[IronHydra]

This is whats happening to me with the 8800gts 512. With 174.7x drivers... it just freezes randomly and gets distorted like that and i have to restart

[Jal]

Sakbut@Crushbone wrote:

Spaceweed wrote:

VW_Factor wrote:

Im using the 174.70s atm.  0 frames ahead, and its fabulous.  " />

Those drivers are listed for the '9000' series?

174.74 has 8xxx support

The beta's did the WHQL are 9000 only.  174.74 is a decent driver though, very nice IQ and performance.

[Kiester]

I finally got around to try the steps that Trilarian-2 posted and I've noticed a big difference in performance.  I guess this will keep me going until they actually fix it.

[Smirk]

VW_Factor wrote:

After some time, got a new machine built.  Of course using 8800 again.  Anyway, I noticed the hitching and skipping was still there.  In the newer nVidia drivers we have a new option for max rendering ahead of frames.  Default I think was 3, and knocking it down to 2 or 1 seems to have helped up A LOT for myself.  Figured I would pass that along, maybe someone else can report results. 

i set mine to 0 now and it helped a lot, still stutters a bit but not at all as bad atm, gonna play around with it some more i guess

[VW_Factor]

For those who cant find the beta driver, there is a modded .ini file that allows installation of the 9x00 series drivers on the 8x00 series cards.  Basically unpack the driver, and substitute the .ini file for the modified version.  It just adds the product information for the 8x00 and 7x00 series.  Not sure if a link to that would be allowed here, but a quick Google search should find what you seek for those interested in trying it. 

[Openedge]

Smirkna@Runnyeye wrote:

VW_Factor wrote:

After some time, got a new machine built.  Of course using 8800 again.  Anyway, I noticed the hitching and skipping was still there.  In the newer nVidia drivers we have a new option for max rendering ahead of frames.  Default I think was 3, and knocking it down to 2 or 1 seems to have helped up A LOT for myself.  Figured I would pass that along, maybe someone else can report results. 

i set mine to 0 now and it helped a lot, still stutters a bit but not at all as bad atm, gonna play around with it some more i guess " />

May I ask...do you play windowed? As I switch to full screen with ZERO render ahead, the game locks up...My preference is to play full screen myself...as the framerates are more in line of what I want to see, and the "windows" around the game looks shoddy..So, what could be the difference that you guys can use ZERO, and I cannotthanks

[ClawHammr]

lol I wonder how many different Drivers have been installed to try and fix EQ2 since Launch

Someday that Magic Driver will be released I just know it !

[Smirk]

nope i play fullscreen, dont like windowed and it slows the game down too muchsystem specs:e6600@3ghz4gb ramgigabyte p35 ds4leadtek 8800gtetc

[Xeaon]

Any news on a fix for this yet?

[Openedge]

Xeaon wrote:

Any news on a fix for this yet?

Nope...well...not totally that isWith a few adjustments, the game becomes playable at least, and seems to be running better ..but it is not fixed. I read a post on Joshua Treethat states they are working with Nvidia as they believe it is some calls between the client and the drivers, and maybe how the driver does this, or how the client does it...just don't know.I wish it worked better...and I just cannot put the 2900pro back in, as I will not be able to play Age of Conan well with the ATI card...At least I am satisfied some adjustments have been made...but don't give up yet Devs...Cheers

[Falc410]

just wanted to hop on the train with the 8800 users.I have a 8800 GTS 640 MB and using an Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.2 Ghz and the game runs like [Removed for Content].I've been playing since, and with new hardware the game runs worse. Have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coC-0k-y64MI played the games smooth with a P4 2.0 Ghz and a Radeon 9800 128MB, with shadows on and recording with Fraps at the same time! It ran perfectly on High Settings.But I'm not so much complaining about the frame rate, usually it's playable, but like most of you guys I have these extreme freezes, where my framerate drops to 0 for 2-3 seconds and everything hangs (every 2 minutes). Raiding is impossible that way! And what's more, even when I play on Very High Performance I have the same freezes! And it's zone related, yesterday in Shard of Hate (new zone) the game was unplayable! I'm trying some stuff with the forced AA now and see if it helps anything

[Openedge]

I do want to note...I had to make some major adjustments...but, nothing we all do not know already to get a smooth experience.I have in Nvidia control panel 16x AF0x AAHigh QualityForced Trilinear texturesIn game...shadows are off...but I can have Flora on. Textures are at maximum except LOD, and most everthing else is cranked. One adjustment that helps if the game starts to bog is to turn Render distance down to 500 and Shader texture down to match it..You still do not lose visual appeal, and the game runs much better.If you still have issues, pull the distance down to 300, and shader to match...But, overall...the performance is 100 times better, and I do not sit and wish it were better like I use to.But, like I said before...don't give up Dev's...still a lot to do.Thanks

[ClawHammr]

What really slows things down for me is if I turn on Flora Displacement

So I keep that off , and also keeping the Water/Ocean settings lower or Off seems to help too

Overall the Update did improve things  - So far so good !

[Rayx]

I wanted to wait a few days to play around with my system, but I can now honestly say

/add me to the list

BFG OC 8800 GTS 512 (G92) 174.74 nVidia beta drivers (tried the pre-rendered frames setting at 0, 1, 3, 6, 8 with no noteable difference)

@1680x1050 native resolution 22" LG LCD

AMD 64 X2 4600+ @2.4ghz

3GIG DDR 800 w/  /3GB /UserVa=2900  (also tried 3030)

Windows Prof sp2

WD Sata 3 16mb Cache 160GB x2 RAID/0

Audigy 2 Zs

basically the game runs like pooh no matter how I tweak my nVidia control panel or game settings.  Ive come to the conclusion that even when I can manage to squeeze something by tweaking my drivers or game its far from acceptable.  I can run the game on balanced and get the same performance as I will on Extreme

12-20 FPS in city zones with drops in the single digits when characters walk by or just hitching for no reason. 

30-50 FPS inside cooridoors and buildings with drops in the single digits during small to medium battles

12-20 FPS inside buildings/shops when other characters are in the vacinity.

TBH none of the tweaks that Ive tried are worth using.  I may squeeze an additional 5 fps by turning off shadows but when performance drops to the single digits the point is moot.

again the above posted FPS is what I get whether the game is on balanced or on extreme settings.

[skidmark]

Trilarian-2 wrote:

OK, I finished digging through the links I posted above and came up with these following settings.  I do, however, strongly suggest you read through the guide instead of just imitating my settings.!! Generic Windows Settings !!• Make your pagefile unfragmented by:   - Set it to 0MB (Off)   - Reboot   - Set max and min to same size (atleast 2560MB to 1.5x RAM)   - Reboot• Turn off FS Indexing(improve drive performance) - Right click drive => Properties => Uncheck Allow Indexing Service => Apply to folder, files, subfolders.• Uninstall unused or duplicate devices by typing the following in a prompt.set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 devmgmt.msc• Download and run CCleaner to remove unused files.• Install drivers for you monitor instead of using "Default Display".(The following are registry tweaks - MAKE A BACKUP FIRST!)Menu Responsiveness:[HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop]    HungAppTimeout=4000    WaitToKillAppTimeout=4000    MenuShowDelay=20    AutoEndTask=1 NTFS Speedup [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlFi leSystem]    NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate=1    NTFSDisable8Dot3NameCreation=1 Disable MSN Messenger [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftMesseng erClient]    PreventRun=1    PreventAutoRun=1 Foreground Priority [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPr iorityControl]    Win32PriorityControl=38!! For Multi-Core CPU's !!Since EQ2 is not threaded for multi-core cpu's, you can force only one core to ensure you don't have any stalls from another core trying to execute part of the EQ2 code.To set CPU affinity for a program, first backup the main EXE(I made a copy of the exe as *-backup).  Then download and use imagecfg from a command line(change the path to match your path).imagecfg -a 0x1 "C:Program FilesEverquest2Everquest2.exe"!! ForceWare Settings !!I wanted to make a quick note about these settings and what I said earlier.  Apparently the first site I read from had some wrong information.  "Single GPU Mode" does not add the resources together.  What it does is run 1 card as normal and the second card it keeps ready as a backup for high load.  While in theory it sounds great, it can cause a slight bit of lag when initiating the second card.  NVIDIA, however, does suggest this mode for EQ2 - so you may want to play around with that setting in particular.  Also, I want to test the thread optimization setting as I'm forcing one core earlier in this post(so off may be the better setting).For in game testing, I have the following profiles:• Max - As it suggest, every single setting available is turned to max including lighting, bloom, and flora.• Ideal - Default Extreme settings, with character detail/texture turned to max and clipping plane maxed.• Extreme - Default Extreme settings.• VH - Default Very High settings.• Balanced - Default Balanced settings.I'll update this list as time goes on, but basically for me to include it I have had to spend atleast an hour playing at the specified graphics level without problems or persistant stutters.CL - MaxNek - MaxTS - MaxRoV - IdealGF - VHSteamfont - IdealNeriak - BalancedFreeport - VHZek - Extreme

I have setup the above on my Single 8800 GTX machine after encountering the problems listed below. The above has helped my FPS when the game works, but I still have problems.Since the last patch (GU44) I have been encountering more problems than I did before the patch. 

• Silver armor shows up yellow.
• If you are underwater, the entire screen (not the UI however) goes yellow.
• In cities (Neriak near the bridge, and Qeynos near the Clock tower in QH) my graphics driver just stops working. I can still hear the game, but the entire display driver is "shut down" so to speak. I cannot do anything so I have to do a soft reset.
• In Nektulos I was fighting and suddenly I was kicked to the desktop, no error message, no lock up, the whole application just crashed. It was the fastest I have ever seen EQ2 shut down.
• I set the /3GB flag in my boot.ini, yet I still get the out of memory error in Neriak on the bridge from time to time.

I had jumped on the test server when they were testing this patch and things worked so much better. I didn't get the out of memory error no matter how many times I ran back and forth across the bridge in Neriak. Then the patch comes to the live servers and things are much worse than they have ever been.

[Raidyen]

I was just about to replace my CPU's, and was going to be putting in the BFG 8800 GT with it.  I am one of those people that 3 and 1/2 years ago i got the 6800 GT to run with EQ2, and it had the exact same stuttering issues, as to my knowledge, it took almost a year to clear up those problems.  Now im a bit depressed about my systems upgrade.  I want the 8800 GT because its the best card out there right now for the money, and i have heard it smokes CoD4.  However EQ2 is a big part of what i play, and i do not want to drop 200 bucks on a card that is going to run this game poorly.

How bad is the performance?  Is it annoying enough for me to go to an ATI card?

I am currently running on a subpar single core system with a 7600 GS, I was hoping with this new quadcore and 8800GT i would be able to run this game with some very high graphic quality and still maintain a 30+ frame rate.

[skidmark]

I used to use my MacBook Pro which had an ATI Radeon Mobility (256MB) in it. I could only run balanced, but it ran flawlessly. I am regretting getting the 8800 GTX. I wish I had read this thread before purchasing it.

[Rayx]

skidmark wrote:

Trilarian-2 wrote:

OK, I finished digging through the links I posted above and came up with these following settings.  I do, however, strongly suggest you read through the guide instead of just imitating my settings.!! Generic Windows Settings !!• Make your pagefile unfragmented by:   - Set it to 0MB (Off)   - Reboot   - Set max and min to same size (atleast 2560MB to 1.5x RAM)   - Reboot• Turn off FS Indexing(improve drive performance) - Right click drive => Properties => Uncheck Allow Indexing Service => Apply to folder, files, subfolders.• Uninstall unused or duplicate devices by typing the following in a prompt.set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 devmgmt.msc• Download and run CCleaner to remove unused files.• Install drivers for you monitor instead of using "Default Display".(The following are registry tweaks - MAKE A BACKUP FIRST!)Menu Responsiveness:[HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop]    HungAppTimeout=4000    WaitToKillAppTimeout=4000    MenuShowDelay=20    AutoEndTask=1 NTFS Speedup [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlFi leSystem]    NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate=1    NTFSDisable8Dot3NameCreation=1 Disable MSN Messenger [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftMesseng erClient]    PreventRun=1    PreventAutoRun=1 Foreground Priority [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPr iorityControl]    Win32PriorityControl=38!! For Multi-Core CPU's !!Since EQ2 is not threaded for multi-core cpu's, you can force only one core to ensure you don't have any stalls from another core trying to execute part of the EQ2 code.To set CPU affinity for a program, first backup the main EXE(I made a copy of the exe as *-backup).  Then download and use imagecfg from a command line(change the path to match your path).imagecfg -a 0x1 "C:Program FilesEverquest2Everquest2.exe"!! ForceWare Settings !!I wanted to make a quick note about these settings and what I said earlier.  Apparently the first site I read from had some wrong information.  "Single GPU Mode" does not add the resources together.  What it does is run 1 card as normal and the second card it keeps ready as a backup for high load.  While in theory it sounds great, it can cause a slight bit of lag when initiating the second card.  NVIDIA, however, does suggest this mode for EQ2 - so you may want to play around with that setting in particular.  Also, I want to test the thread optimization setting as I'm forcing one core earlier in this post(so off may be the better setting).For in game testing, I have the following profiles:• Max - As it suggest, every single setting available is turned to max including lighting, bloom, and flora.• Ideal - Default Extreme settings, with character detail/texture turned to max and clipping plane maxed.• Extreme - Default Extreme settings.• VH - Default Very High settings.• Balanced - Default Balanced settings.I'll update this list as time goes on, but basically for me to include it I have had to spend atleast an hour playing at the specified graphics level without problems or persistant stutters.CL - MaxNek - MaxTS - MaxRoV - IdealGF - VHSteamfont - IdealNeriak - BalancedFreeport - VHZek - Extreme

I have setup the above on my Single 8800 GTX machine after encountering the problems listed below. The above has helped my FPS when the game works, but I still have problems.Since the last patch (GU44) I have been encountering more problems than I did before the patch. 

• Silver armor shows up yellow.
• If you are underwater, the entire screen (not the UI however) goes yellow.
• In cities (Neriak near the bridge, and Qeynos near the Clock tower in QH) my graphics driver just stops working. I can still hear the game, but the entire display driver is "shut down" so to speak. I cannot do anything so I have to do a soft reset.
• In Nektulos I was fighting and suddenly I was kicked to the desktop, no error message, no lock up, the whole application just crashed. It was the fastest I have ever seen EQ2 shut down.
• I set the /3GB flag in my boot.ini, yet I still get the out of memory error in Neriak on the bridge from time to time.

I had jumped on the test server when they were testing this patch and things worked so much better. I didn't get the out of memory error no matter how many times I ran back and forth across the bridge in Neriak. Then the patch comes to the live servers and things are much worse than they have ever been.

FYI, you can change individual program settings seperate from the global settings.  So if you go to the "program settings" tab you can find "Everquest2.exe" and modify just its settings and leave global alone.

[skidmark]

I know, but this is the only game I use on the PC.