Is there going to be a fix for stuttering and the horrable lag?

[Tracemyroots]

My rig has more than enough horsepower to run this game and I am on a Gig backbone. Are the devs going to address the horrible stuttering (to the point you cant move) and the horrible lag in the game? Thanks.

[Lhosson]

Probably not. It seems to be horribly unoptimized. It's unlikely to be network bandwidth, and is more likely the usual graphical hitching.

I'm using an i7-8700K, 32GB DDR4, RTX 3080Ti and running the game from a 970 Evo M.2 NVMe drive.

My performance monitoring says I'm only using 50% CPU, and my GPU seems to be struggling to get above 40-60FPS. The hitching (lag) is horrendous when exploring. It also seems to happen randomly when walking around my base too.

I don't know what the issue is with the game engine, but this has been ongoing since launch and there doesn't seem to be any developer discussion around it.

Switch to DX11 mode and reduce everything to High or below. It improves hitching, but degrades the visual experience.

[jix]

no there not that is something the players have to put up with

[КрендельФигов]

On my ‘prehistoric typewriter’ WIN 7, I2600K (4.7GHz), 32GB DDR3 Ram, 6750XT there are no ‘terrible lags or stutters’ on FullHD, High Setting. In missions, as a rule, 60+ FPS is stable (on Olympus 80-90FPS either at the start of a mission or at the launch of a new Openworld).
However, here the FPS drops:
The more buildings you build in the open world (due to increased CPU load),
during a forest fire, if there are a lot of animals nearby, if there are a lot of bodies of killed animals.

PS This game runs locally, so network speed does not matter.

PSS There are eternal problems on DX12 due to significantly higher Ram consumption, so you need to play on DX11 and it is advisable to have at least 32GB Ram.

[Tachyon]

Runs fine on my AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-core processor 3.6Ghz, 16GB RAM, Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Ti. I think some people just have unlucky combinations of hardware, illogical though that sounds. It makes me reluctant to get a new PC in case my upgrade performs worse.

[Rekal]

Those experiencing the hitching, is it happening to you on developed open world maps? My speculation is that the new open world mode is the issue. The idea is too many changes to the map -- buildings, cut/burnt down forests, partially mined out voxel rocks, etc -- need to be recorded and referenced all the time. The longer you play the more changes. That data is stored in a highly compressed save file so compression/uncompression is part of the processing load. The steady hitch I think is related to the 60 second heartbeat auto-save.

The other modes don't typically see this issue. Outpost mode doesn't save any voxel or flora changes as the map resets every restart - except your buildings of course. Plus the maps are just smaller so less overhead to begin with. Missions drop you on a fresh map every time and with the timers you don't typically spend much time on the map to develop it.

My take on what I think they're going for, or at least what the current situation is:

Outpost mode is supposed to be the creative map mode where you build a big fancy base with unlimited resources. Tamed animals will be able to be stabled here and pulled from here in an upcoming update to be used on missions. Basically your permanent base of operations for all the maps.

Mission mode is where you explore the map, complete objectives, and collect exotics.

Open World mode is sort of an extended time mission map on Olympus and Styx. Again, my opinion. Great for starting out when you don't have a huge amount of workshop gear but ultimately meant to be abandoned. The operations can only be done once and then you need to move on and start another open world if you want to repeat them. The exotics take three hours to respawn so if you want to farm exotics it's just faster to run a mission -- you don't have to complete it -- and use the workshop gear once you have it to do the extraction. Any massive building complex you create could have also been done easier in one of the outpost maps.

Open World on Prometheus is a bit of a different story with the red exotics. I haven't experienced any hitching yet but my prospect there is relatively new and being built underground. Turns out you can grow plants without sunlight - its only a 50% growth speed penalty.

[Lhosson]

Originally posted by Rekal:

Those experiencing the hitching, is it happening to you on developed open world maps? My speculation is that the new open world mode is the issue. The idea is too many changes to the map -- buildings, cut/burnt down forests, partially mined out voxel rocks, etc -- need to be recorded and referenced all the time. The longer you play the more changes. That data is stored in a highly compressed save file so compression/uncompression is part of the processing load. The steady hitch I think is related to the 60 second heartbeat auto-save.

The other modes don't typically see this issue. Outpost mode doesn't save any voxel or flora changes as the map resets every restart - except your buildings of course. Plus the maps are just smaller so less overhead to begin with. Missions drop you on a fresh map every time and with the timers you don't typically spend much time on the map to develop it.

My take on what I think they're going for, or at least what the current situation is:

Outpost mode is supposed to be the creative map mode where you build a big fancy base with unlimited resources. Tamed animals will be able to be stabled here and pulled from here in an upcoming update to be used on missions. Basically your permanent base of operations for all the maps.

Mission mode is where you explore the map, complete objectives, and collect exotics.

Open World mode is sort of an extended time mission map on Olympus and Styx. Again, my opinion. Great for starting out when you don't have a huge amount of workshop gear but ultimately meant to be abandoned. The operations can only be done once and then you need to move on and start another open world if you want to repeat them. The exotics take three hours to respawn so if you want to farm exotics it's just faster to run a mission -- you don't have to complete it -- and use the workshop gear once you have it to do the extraction. Any massive building complex you create could have also been done easier in one of the outpost maps.

Open World on Prometheus is a bit of a different story with the red exotics. I haven't experienced any hitching yet but my prospect there is relatively new and being built underground. Turns out you can grow plants without sunlight - its only a 50% growth speed penalty.

Thanks for the info.

It does seem that things are getting worse the longer I play on the map. I guess I should consider an Outpost instead. I'll see how my current one goes and abandon it if it becomes unplayable.

[Tracemyroots]

I see the devs wont touch this post with a 10 foot pole. No we don't have to put up with this Crap. I vote with my wallet. If enough people complain then they will see the negative comments. Oh wait that is already starting to happen. Maybe there is hope. Thanks,

[ChaosSound]

Originally posted by TRACEMYROOTS:

My rig has more than enough horsepower to run this game and I am on a Gig backbone. Are the devs going to address the horrible stuttering (to the point you cant move) and the horrible lag in the game? Thanks.

and what do you consider "enough horsepower" because that doesn't sound like actual stats. The game runs perfectly fine on my rig with no hitching or stuttering, and I run on ultra with RTX on, running 140+ FPS. I get a bit of popin lag when i first load into my OW map that's about it.

[Prodaddy]

its been like this since release runs like garbage even with high end systems. I refuse to buy anything else from these clowns unless its properly fixed

[Lhosson]

Originally posted by ChaosSound:

Originally posted by TRACEMYROOTS:

My rig has more than enough horsepower to run this game and I am on a Gig backbone. Are the devs going to address the horrible stuttering (to the point you cant move) and the horrible lag in the game? Thanks.

and what do you consider "enough horsepower" because that doesn't sound like actual stats. The game runs perfectly fine on my rig with no hitching or stuttering, and I run on ultra with RTX on, running 140+ FPS. I get a bit of popin lag when i first load into my OW map that's about it.

Ironically, you have followed the same path - stating your rig works perfectly, without giving us any indication of what hardware you are using.

I'd love some advice on getting results like that, if you have any?

I'm using a 3080Ti, 8700K and 32GB DDR4, all running on an m.2 NVMe drive, with resizable bar enabled.

Is this considered decent enough hardware, or will I need the latest, high-end, hardware to push past this hitching and frame-rate degradation? (serious question, no sarcasm)

[КрендельФигов]

Well, if the resizable bar is enabled, you may have additional problems.

[Lhosson]

Originally posted by КрендельФигов:

Well, if the resizable bar is enabled, you may have additional problems.

I disabled Resizable Bar, but no change. In fact, I think it was slightly worse without it on. More stuttering.

I really think this is a DX12 thing, along with poorly optimized coding. DX11 is better (way better) but still stutters. And, although I realize this statement is too commonly used, I don't have these sorts of stuttering issues with other games (especially using UE4&5). Normally my rig is pretty beefy with GFX and can manage all but the latest, insanely detailed, games.

I guess it's likely at this stage in the game's life-span, that we'll not see an improvement.

[КрендельФигов]

DX11, Fullscreen + large swapfile.
It is necessary to close all unnecessary programs to free up memory as much as possible. I go all the time and recommend it to everyone. Freeing up memory is necessary for maximum 'free' operation of the 'memory manager' built into Unreal 4-5, it's all about this.
This tip works in Icarus or any other Unreal 4-5 project.

1) I recommend setting the OS swap file size to FIXED SIZE 32 GB (this means that when setting ‘Custom Size’ -> ‘Initial Size’ and ‘Maximum size’ must be same -> 32768). The paging file must be on the SSD (system partition C:). It is advisable to have at least 32 GB of physical RAM.
Here, the problems will not be in Icarus, but in Unreal 4, on which the game is built, the thing is that this game engine loves a lot of RAM and, oddly enough, large swap files.
If you are playing on DX12 and you are starting to crash or have another problem, then be sure to put a 32GB swap file. Or try switching to DX11 (considerably less memory consumption).
First link from Google (do not download any files, just a picture for visual aid)
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/increase-page-file-size-virtual-memory-windows

2) Disable memory compression windows 10-11 {will reduce the likelihood of potential lags}
The first link is from Google (under no circumstances should you download anything - there is a visual aid there)
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/enable-or-disable-memory-compression-in-windows-10-and-windows-11.3555/
Already in quite a large number of games, disabling this absolutely unnecessary function improved the situation with lags in games.

3) Resizable bar must be disabled in BIOS.

PS If I know of any other way to improve the game’s performance, I will write it, but alas, this is all that is approximately known in this regard for many years, including in other Unreal projects.

[Lhosson]

Originally posted by КрендельФигов:

DX11, Fullscreen + large swapfile.
It is necessary to close all unnecessary programs to free up memory as much as possible. I go all the time and recommend it to everyone. Freeing up memory is necessary for maximum 'free' operation of the 'memory manager' built into Unreal 4-5, it's all about this.
This tip works in Icarus or any other Unreal 4-5 project.

1) I recommend setting the OS swap file size to FIXED SIZE 32 GB (this means that when setting ‘Custom Size’ -> ‘Initial Size’ and ‘Maximum size’ must be same -> 32768). The paging file must be on the SSD (system partition C:). It is advisable to have at least 32 GB of physical RAM.
Here, the problems will not be in Icarus, but in Unreal 4, on which the game is built, the thing is that this game engine loves a lot of RAM and, oddly enough, large swap files.
If you are playing on DX12 and you are starting to crash or have another problem, then be sure to put a 32GB swap file. Or try switching to DX11 (considerably less memory consumption).
First link from Google (do not download any files, just a picture for visual aid)
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/increase-page-file-size-virtual-memory-windows

2) Disable memory compression windows 10-11 {will reduce the likelihood of potential lags}
The first link is from Google (under no circumstances should you download anything - there is a visual aid there)
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/enable-or-disable-memory-compression-in-windows-10-and-windows-11.3555/
Already in quite a large number of games, disabling this absolutely unnecessary function improved the situation with lags in games.

3) Resizable bar must be disabled in BIOS.

PS If I know of any other way to improve the game’s performance, I will write it, but alas, this is all that is approximately known in this regard for many years, including in other Unreal projects.

Thanks, КрендельФигов. I appreciate the time you put into that. I have gone through your instructions and will see if there's improvement. Cheers

[UPDATE] I've been running the game now for around 30 minutes, and, well... I'm stunned by the difference so far.

I wish more people were as helpful as you have been here. Your advice seems to have resolved most (if not all) of the hitching, and the overall framerate has stabilized to very playable.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3113102216
(I did use Nvidia Overlay when I took the screenie and it was a constant 60 FPS, but it didn't catch the overlay with Steam Screenshot)

This is my render at a locked 60 FPS, with Distance on Ultra, Vegetation on Ultra and everything else on High, and to top it off, it's even got RTX enabled. Mental.

Thanks again for a real working solution.

[Zero]

Wish the game was better optimized and didn't necessitate you to disable things on your computer BIOS that are usually very much useful... only to get one game to not run as if you had an actual potato as a gaming PC. Also needing to have 32 gb of RAM to not have terrible fps is crazy.... Yet I have 32 gb and it still lags like crazy sometimes.
The "solutions" are cool and all, but I wish for once companies and devs stopped forcing gamers to find work arounds to compensate for terrible or lazy optimization (just like some games being 200+ Gb, looking at you Ark Survival)

PS: Memory compression isn't normally a huge drain on modern machines btw, and turning it off might cause more trouble than you'd like just to play a single game that craps out sometimes.
Most people also recommend to just leave the page file alone, letting the os take care of it. I'm not saying those solutions won't work, just that they are usually not recommended to be done by many, not just for a single game to work as it should...

EDIT: I lowered my graphics settings again, restarted the game and still it stutters and drops FPS horribly for still pretty long periods of time, mostly (but not only) around a "well established" base (if my single, solitary base is considered "big", then man they better not see what I built in Conan Exiles and Valheim (they weren't even big compared to other people's builds). Might shatter what they see as big. It's just about 2 crop plots per crop available on olympus, one big-ish first floor to not feel too cramped with all the crafting stuff (plus small mount area with troughs), a small second floor for the kitchen/cooking-area (and mission + exotics boards on a tiny terrace) and a yet smaller third floor for bed (with very few decorations, barely any)).