[BUG] Heavy SLOWDOWNS / STUTTERING

[HyperPac]

STATUS: NOT SOLVED
WORKAROUNDS: SEVERAL, BUT NONE SOLVES THE ISSUE
LAST UPDATED: 23.01.2016
BUG KNOWN TO CODEMASTERS: YES
ARE THEY WORKING ON IT: NOT SURE :-(

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Hi all,

generally the game runs fine in 1080p with high graphic details when driving within a stage.

BUT then there are heavy slowdowns / stuttering for about 5 - 10 seconds where the frame rate drops below 10 frames and the game is pretty unplayable then.

BUT this isn´t a normal bug. This seems to be a problem with the EGO engine, as it happened in exactly the same way in GRID AUTOSPORT and DIRT 3.

AND this is a CODEMASTERS SPECIFIC problem as it DOESN´T happen in ANY other game.

I have reported this on GRID AUTOSPORT too but there was no solution. I really hope that the early access phase of DIRT RALLY will solve this problem once and for all. And I´m not the only one that has this problem, as you can see if you scroll down the forums.

Here is my configuration and I´m willing to provide any information needed to solve this. Hell I would even mail my machine to Codemasters.

Thx !!!


Bug Report Form
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System Spec
AMD FX8320, Asrock 990FX Extreme 3, 16GB DDR3, Samsung SSD 840 256GB system drive, Samsung HD103SJ 1TB game install drive, Radeon HD7890 2 GB with Samsung 52" LCD via HDMI, Windows 7 x64,

Steps to reproduce
Start game => start ANY event => drive => slowdown happens for about 5-10 seconds

Your recent history of races
Happened from the very first start

Which stage were you within the championship\custom event?
Daily online challenge with Mini

What were you doing specifically when the crashed occurred?
Driving

How long was your current session?
About one hour, but happens in every session

Which graphics preset were you using?
1080p, no vsync, high detail (preset)

Additional information
http://juxtapose.de/dump/dirtrally/cpu_vs_gpu.jpg - CPU vs. GPU LOAD
http://juxtapose.de/dump/dirtrally/core_analysis.jpg - Core Analysis



EDIT: Topics with the same problem
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http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/1/613957600547856247/ (german, I did a translation below)

http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/1/613957600537963236/

http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/1/617335934125826630/

http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/1/613957600534068759/

http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/1/613958868352348173/

http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/1/617335934144577218/

http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/1/613958868350745613/

http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/1/613956964591883772/


EDIT: Workarounds for testing (not official, make backups, be careful)
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UPDATE: Please try workaround A at first. It might solve your problem.

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There are actually 4 known workarounds for this problem. You can also try to combine all workarounds. But you should start one by one and then test after each workaround.

Please TEST them and post your RESULTS here. Thx !

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A) /// thx to Guillaume, edited by me ///

Go to Program Files/ Steam/ SteamApps/ common/ Dirt Rally/ System/

Find the file named hardware_settings_config.xml

Open it with a Text editor

Find the line <threadStrategy workerMapFile="system/workerMap.xml" forceFeedbackProcessor="0" dvdStorageProcessor="0" dataSetMonitorProcessor="0" renderProcessor="0" updateProcessor="0" fileStreamProcessor="0"/>

then change it to <threadStrategy workerMapFile="system/workerMap4Core.xml"/>

Save (Make a backup of it before, we never know)

Important: By changing this line you´ll force the game to use a certain cpu-core profile. In my case I have an 8 core cpu, but it only works if I use the 4 core profile (which is workerMap4Core.xml). There are profiles for the following number of cores: 2,3,4,6,8 (and the corresponding xml files workerMap2Core.xml, workerMap3Core.xml and so on). I recommend to start with workerMap4Core.xml - but if this doesn´t work, then try out the other profiles and please report your results here.

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B) /// thx to scotchtape20 /// - only works if you have a 2 drive (SSD, HDD) configuration

http://steamcommunity.com/app/44350/discussions/0/864969320343558640/

1- You need to rename the "replay" folder to something like "replay_old". The folder path is C:\ProgramData\Codemasters\DIRT Rally\DataCache\[yourname]. You need to rename the FOLDER "replay", not the 2GB file inside (it's a temporary file, it may not be there when you check). It's important at this point that there's no folder called "replay", just one called "replay_old", otherwise the fix won't work.

2- In your HDD, go anywhere to create a folder called whatever you want. For me, I created a folder called replay2 in E:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\DIRT Rally (there's already a folder named "replay", just name yours "replay2")

3- Now here's the tricky part: you need to do a symbolic link with Command Prompt. In the Start Menu, click Run and type "cmd" (or Search "cmd"). You need to type EXACTLY what follows, just change the folder names and the folder path to what you chose to. This the command I used:

mklink /j "C:\ProgramData\Codemasters\DIRT Rally\DataCache\[yourname]\replay" "E:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\DIRT Rally\replay2"

Hit Enter and there should be a text displayed that says a junction has been made. To verify, go back to "C:\ProgramData\Codemasters\DIRT Rally\DataCache\[yourname]" and you should see a "replay" folder with an arrow in the corner, like a shortcut. If the command doesn't work, you either mistyped it or you didn't delete/rename the original "replay" folder, as the first part of the command creates a folder called "replay".

C) /// thx to various sources ///

Go to C:/ProgramData/Codemasters/Dirt Rally/DataCache/<username>/replay

make 3 read-only files called replay.pbf, replay30.pbf, and replay60.pbf

D) /// thx to Sentra /// - if you´re using Razer hardware

http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/1/613958868350745613/

I started getting a pretty brutal stutter every five to ten seconds during a stage on any setting. This started about a week ago. I was running ultra before the stutter so i turned everything down to low. EVERYTHING. Nothing worked. I started looking on here and tried the read only files and a few other solutions including removing virus software. I started thinking about what changed in a week and realized my wife had bought me a new Razer mouse. I decided to hop on google today and see if the Razer synapse software had any issues and multiple posts popped up on many different games. I CTRL ALT DLT and brought up the task manager and shut everything razer related off ( four items in total) started up my game and the stutter disappeared entirely. Switched back to ultra and still no stutter. Hope this may help someone else. Razer literally only stutters my dirt rally. No other games had the problem. CSGO is fine DAYZ is fine. Raceroom was fine.

[Infinity Josh]

game freezes

game has fall of framerates and it seems to stop sometimes during sessions but when i start benchmark test whit same settings it says minimum fps is 80 and is ok whit not spurts so why i have sometimes under 30 and it goes in spurts during my own session ??
it freezes only when i am playing, when i start benchmark test it runs smooth and whitout freezing.
The game is very well done, menu is very cool, simple like i like and all menu are well done whit semplicity, hope to fix this trouble.

[mark.loffler]

Here i found the same problem... When i start the benchmark test works really fine, no "freezing", but when i'm playing it starts to "freeze" every 100m...

i tried different graphic settings, but this happens even in Low.

I have a GTX 770 2gb, and 32gb RAM.

This happens in GRID Autosport too, not only in DIRT Rally.

[Rygar]

***Game is FREEZING*** Totally unplayable! [*SOLVED!!*]

Really keen to get into this, it looks great and I've been waiting for a game like this for a long time.

The problem is I can't really play it! Experience is being destroyed by constant freezes
while I'm playing (about 2 seconds). Seems to be random intervals, some times I'll get through a stage and it will happen 10-15 times (which causes me to crash or go off usually) and is enough to ruin the whole experience. But I've had it happen every 5 seconds or so on some attempts!

I know what it's like to run a game on settings that are too high for your specs (constantly choppy) but this is different.

I have the following:

i5 2500K (3400Mhz)
AMD Radeon 7850 GPU (2Gb)
16 Gb DDR 3
Windows 7-64bit

Latest Drivers already installed for GPU

I've run the benchmark on 1900 x 1200 on the High setting preset.

Frame Results are:

Average: 87
Min: 67
Max: 106

Total Frames: 16,380

Have run this multiple times with the same result and the game never freezes during the benchmark. I'm still getting freezes on medium and low presets (even Ultra Low), so it's still not adding up especially considering the more than adequate hardware I'm using and the benchmark results.

I'm really confused here and very frustrated, at this point it's unplayable and definitley not worth getting the wheel out for until this can be fully resolved.

Does anyone know what is going on?

Thanks for your help :)

[Infinity Josh]

yes it happens to me too whit GTX 760 i7 4771 8GB DDR3 WIN 8.1 PRO.
They should do somenthing about this bug, always freeze during a game, whit ultra low too, benchmark test it says minimum fps 80 on high settings, its a shame.
Hope they read us.

[Rygar]

ATTENTION ALL, I have found the fix to this problem!!

A user in another thread posted this fix (below) and it totally works! The root of the problem turns out that Codemasters use a crap and ridiculous system to create replays in their games that writes massive (Gigabytes) files to the hard drive while the game is playing. Don't ask me why!

But here is the simple fix:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Meszes:

This is a known trick from previous Codemasters titles that actually works.

Just create two READ ONLY 0 byte files of 'replay30.pbf' and 'replay60.pbf' in the following folder:
C:\ProgramData\Codemasters\DiRT Rally\DataCache\<username>\replay

In certain cases this cures the stuttering problem for people running the game from an SSD.

I just created two text files and named them exactly as above and right clicking on them and selecting properties, I made them read only files and Vuala! No more stuttering!

You will need to enable hidden files and folders in Windows first or you will not be able to locate the above path to create the files.

Hope you guys enjoy this fix and that it works for you.

The thread I mentioned above is here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/310560/discussions/0/613956964591180302/

The only problem is that you can't use replays anymore but IMHO that is a small price to pay and personally I'm not really interested in them anyway, although they should by rights still work and Codemasters should clean this problem up pronto.

There may be another way around this by getting the oversize replay files to write to another drive because it seems that the problem is that if your C: drive is an SSD than this is how the problem occurs because the replay system doesn't like some SSD's.

Here is the link to a page that provides a fix to another Codemasters title that reportedly could work for Dirt Rally (because many of their games use the same engine and design).

I haven't tried it yet as I am off to bed but please let us know if it works:

http://segmentnext.com/2010/09/23/f1-2010-errors-crashes-freezes-fixes/

I'm guessing there must be tons of people with this issue ATM because so many people would have an SSD for their C drive, which means lots of people may be affected by this issue.

Really hope my suffering with this problem and the fix posted here helps out a lot of people in this situation :)

[KevMscotland]

Yup, its an issue thats existed for awhile in the EGO engine games using this method.

I first experienced it with GRID Autosport. This does indeed resolve it.

[sragde21]

Game Freezing

Every time game freezes there is a new dirt crash file made in MDMP format.Located in game folder...is there a way it can be viewed or be useful for developers?

[Infinity Josh]

totally agreed this game is very good but still FREEZES every moments, no importance of settings or other things, here whit SSD but in my pc Steam is in the D and OS in C but not all players are engineers or somenthing and can sostitute files or similar things, my friendS producers please try to solve this trouble fast, we are early access players and we like the game but you must listen us

[BriTisH]

:( did not help me at all , game worked fine day one now its unplayable

[Rygar]

Początkowo opublikowane przez BriTisH:

:( did not help me at all , game worked fine day one now its unplayable

Did you find the path for the replay files?

[On1yFansCEO]

It does not entirely fix the problem for me. It continues to do a start stop start stop stuttering lag through out the stage.

Going from good frames all the way down to zero and then back

[Rygar]

Początkowo opublikowane przez BriTisH:

:( did not help me at all , game worked fine day one now its unplayable

Did you find the path for the replay files?

Początkowo opublikowane przez DewCrew88:

It does not entirely fix the problem for me. It continues to do a start stop start stop stuttering lag through out the stage.

Going from good frames all the way down to zero and then back

Is there any improvement from before though?

[Chili Duck]

I've been experiencing similar performance problems but not so severe as to be *unplayable* ... I've created the readonly files as suggested and the lags have gone away.

I still have poor performance video-wise but it was the lags that were really affecting gameplay.

Thanks Shades! And I hope CodeMasters makes an easy toggle option for replays, so we don't need a hack. Either that or they could fix their replay feature's performance issues.

[Lars Ouilleur]

Same for me, i used to have this problem in GRID 2 which i solved by indicating the number of CPU cores in the hardware_settings_config file... seems to doesn't work on DIRT Rally...

[Lars Ouilleur]

Same problem for me known in DIRT, DIRT 2, DIRT 3, DIRT Showdown, GRID, GRID 2... Yes, it's a Codie Game issue, hope to a fix for it!