This game doesn´t want to run smoothly

[Shepard]

Hi, i finally wanted to give this game a try. Starts well, settings at ultra with dlss quality at 1440p with 144fps (capped). Nice... the problem is... while the fps are great even in combat, the game just freezes and stutters quite frequently. Which makes it hardly enjoyable.
Audio bugs out, sometimes music is just playing while the sound is gone or in case of voices been heavily delayed.
This is rather irritating and difficult to enjoy. Which seems a bit of a shame as i like the visuals, and i like to experience the story.

My specs:
Ryzen 9 7945hx3d
Rtx 4080 mobile
32gigs of ddr5 5200
Game installed on an ssd.
Drivers are up to date as is windows 11.
Having the game with all dlcs... even so i don´t even remember how many there are, just bought the stuff.

Sure there are better systems out there... but it´s hard to believe that my specs are the culprit of this stuttering, freeze, audio cutting out issue.

So how can i fix the problem? Is it a settings issue? Do i have to perform an ancient forbidden ritual, like greasing myself with 10 pounds of butter while doing a peacock mating dance until i unlock the ability to lay anti freeze/stutter eggs?
I am all ears, if anyone could help me or point me in the right direction great. I was sort of expecting the game to run without problems on my specs, but apparently i was wrong.

[Vlad 254]

Always best to post your PC specs as Steam see's them so we get everything.
Easiest and best way is to use what Steam gives us.

The steps are as follows (very simple):

Go up top here in Steam and find "Help"
Next choose "System information"
Give it a second or 2 to populate
Then simply copy & paste the info here in this thread, all of it.

[The Bird]

Maybe a overheat problem, check your temperatures.

[Cephei]

Or type "Dxdiag" in windows search for all information.

[Mooman]

You won't get help here. All you'll get here is people asking for your specs so they can 'spec shame' you and throw blame back on you instead of the game.

Oh, look one of them is already trying to set that up...

"Game runs great. You may need to upgrade your hardware." or "Players just don't understand the game" are the catch cries of their 'heroes' that made this garbage...

[RasaNova]

Originally posted by Mooman:

You won't get help here. All you'll get here is people asking for your specs so they can 'spec shame' you and throw blame back on you instead of the game.

Oh, look one of them is already trying to set that up...

"Game runs great. You may need to upgrade your hardware." or "Players just don't understand the game" are the catch cries of their 'heroes' that made this garbage...

As opposed to what? "there's nothing you can do, don't even bother?" You could be part of the solution here. Do you have any actual suggestions, other than dumping on the people who might want to help?

Anyway, OP - Your specs seem more than fine, you're system is better than mine. Double check that your installation is actually on your SSD. There have been cases where Steam installed the game on an hdd because the sdd was full and the person didn't realize it. That could explain the symptoms you're having.

[tkwoods]

I remember something posted about Adrenalin needing tweaked for the Ryzen cpus.
I didn't bother looking at it since I have Intel. But some have fixed some issues like you speak of, Do a search...

[oak]

Originally posted by Shepard:

Audio bugs out, sometimes music is just playing while the sound is gone or in case of voices been heavily delayed.

Notwithstanding exceptional corner cases, this behaviour you describe has always proven to be a result of Starfield being installed on a hard drive rather than SSD.

You said you have it installed to an SSD, is it an internal SSD or is it an external USB drive?

[Langkard]

I don't know much about the 7945hx3D CPU. I think those are laptop only. I use the Ryzen 7 7800x3D and the game runs flawlessly. The 7945 has twice the cores and twice the threads, so it should run better. It does have a newer version of the built-in AMD 3D vertical cache, like the other Ryzen 9's. That could be a problem and it just hasn't been addressed in an AMD driver update yet.

Maybe there is some compatibility problem between your Nvidia graphics card and the newer AMD?

It's the only thing I can question in your system specs. The whole purpose of AMD's 3D v-cache is to reduce lag times. Maybe the SSD? Is it your only drive on the system? I've seen some people report problems if the game is on an SSD but Windows in on a separate HDD. That's a long shot, though.

[Sirius Black]

You have better specs than mine, but I didn't have these issues, except the audio bug (rarely). Maybe this is rather a driver compatibility issue? Like some driver on your system causes all of this in game.

Also check your temperatures if you play on a laptop

[Sistermatic™]

Originally posted by Mooman:

You won't get help here. All you'll get here is people asking for your specs so they can 'spec shame' you and throw blame back on you instead of the game.

Oh, look one of them is already trying to set that up...

"Game runs great. You may need to upgrade your hardware." or "Players just don't understand the game" are the catch cries of their 'heroes' that made this garbage...

Yeah, that was certainly 'helpful'

[Ruin]

Everything you describe is synonymous with running the game on a mechanical HDD, so maybe just double check that you do have it installed on your SSD, and that you didn't accidentally select the mechanical drive (if you have one)...

Try dialing back your video settings a little... Mobile GPU's do not perform at the same level as their desktop counterparts, so, despite it being called a 4080, it absolutely does not perform as a 4080, and is several models down from that in reality (possibly even pushing into 30 series level of performance)...

And the third option, which I think is the most likely, are you using a cooling pad? Starfield does make your hardware work pretty hard, so it's very likely that it's causing your laptop to heat up, and begin to throttle, which would absolutely cause all of the issues you've described here...

Even a cheap cooling pad like this one would go a long way to alleviate any heating issues, and ensure all the air intakes are clear :

https://thermaltake.com.au/products/thermaltake-massive-s14-nb-cooler-cl-n015-pl14bl-a

[Gameking82]

The mobile part is part of it. That is a good laptop way better than mine. It barely gives me 30fps even on lowest settings. I need a new one. My pc runs it f a urly well but I rin it maxed. I am topped at 60fps and 4k and drop to 39s but minimal stutter. I have avryzen 9 3209x a ssd, samsung I think 32 gb ddr4 I think and 4070ti. You might just need to lower a few settings or try dlss or another frame gen.

[Cephei]

Originally posted by Mooman:

You won't get help here. All you'll get here is people asking for your specs so they can 'spec shame' you and throw blame back on you instead of the game.

Oh, look one of them is already trying to set that up...

"Game runs great. You may need to upgrade your hardware." or "Players just don't understand the game" are the catch cries of their 'heroes' that made this garbage...

Gotta agree with you there. Every so often posts like OP’s pop up and they always get the same useless answers from fans who think they’re being helpful but really aren’t. It’s never the game’s fault just yours for not having the "perfect" setup.

Top useless answers:

- Do you play on an SSD?

- What are your specs? – Translation: “Let me find a way to blame your setup instead of admitting the game is poorly optimized.”

- Did you update your drivers?

- Is your PC overheating?

Runs like butter on my machine. – That’s fantastic, Meanwhile, half the player base is stuck in a slideshow simulator.

[gingerbreadman]

Originally posted by Cephei:

Originally posted by Mooman:

You won't get help here. All you'll get here is people asking for your specs so they can 'spec shame' you and throw blame back on you instead of the game.

Oh, look one of them is already trying to set that up...

"Game runs great. You may need to upgrade your hardware." or "Players just don't understand the game" are the catch cries of their 'heroes' that made this garbage...

Gotta agree with you there. Every so often posts like OP’s pop up and they always get the same useless answers from fans who think they’re being helpful but really aren’t. It’s never the game’s fault just yours for not having the "perfect" setup.

Top useless answers:

- Do you play on an SSD?

- What are your specs? – Translation: “Let me find a way to blame your setup instead of admitting the game is poorly optimized.”

- Did you update your drivers?

- Is your PC overheating?

Runs like butter on my machine. – That’s fantastic, Meanwhile, half the player base is stuck in a slideshow simulator.

Right… because this is helpful? Instead of helping op just trashing people who are trying to help?

It is more helpful to look for a potential fault with the system than just saying “game bad lol”. Nobody is “blaming” OP, its just that a faulty rig can, and generally does, cause these sort of issues. Not to mention, if the issue is with the rig, OP can actually fix it. So yes, looking into why the rig does not handle the game is more helpful than what you are doing right now.

Please, take a long hard look in the mirror.

[RasaNova]

Originally posted by Cephei:

Originally posted by Mooman:

You won't get help here. All you'll get here is people asking for your specs so they can 'spec shame' you and throw blame back on you instead of the game.

Oh, look one of them is already trying to set that up...

"Game runs great. You may need to upgrade your hardware." or "Players just don't understand the game" are the catch cries of their 'heroes' that made this garbage...

Gotta agree with you there. Every so often posts like OP’s pop up and they always get the same useless answers from fans who think they’re being helpful but really aren’t. It’s never the game’s fault just yours for not having the "perfect" setup.

Top useless answers:

- Do you play on an SSD?

- What are your specs? – Translation: “Let me find a way to blame your setup instead of admitting the game is poorly optimized.”

- Did you update your drivers?

- Is your PC overheating?

Runs like butter on my machine. – That’s fantastic, Meanwhile, half the player base is stuck in a slideshow simulator.

Ok so since the OP's specs are fine, and others are able to run the game without those issues, and the OP wants to be able to play the game, what helpful suggestions would you offer? Maybe you have better ideas, that don't involve mentioning common issues. (And no, saying "uninstall" is not helpful.) Like I said earlier, you could be part of the solution, instead of dumping on people who are trying to help with ideas that have worked in the past.