Performance Issues - Freezing and Sound Bugs

[Schmoogle]

Hey folks,

I just picked up this game on sale and was super stoked to play it, but I'm finding that it has massive performance issues that make it just about unplayable. When I first load into the game it runs fine, but after about 10-15mins the sound cuts out, then the game freezes. After about 30 seconds it unfreezes and the sound tries to catch up. Once this begins happening it continues to occur every 2-3mins or so.

I tried cranking every setting to its lowest possible and went down to DX11, and that seemed to help prevent the freezing issue but the sound issue remains. What the hell is going on? For a game that has been out for almost 2 years now I'm shocked that this level of problems still exist.

System:

Win10 (build 19042.685)
ASUS ROG Strix B550-F
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X (stock clocks)
EVGA GTX 980ti (driver 460.89)
32GB Corsair 3200Mhz DDR4
ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q 1440p monitor (running G-sync)
Game in installed through Steam on a SATA3 SSD

[cuss]

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=metro+exodus+sound+cause+freeze&t=newext&atb=v236-1&ia=web
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Metro_Exodus
.. and just in case, disable game cloud sync here:
Right click the game in the steam client, select Properties, select General tab, disable sync.
Because it's bugged

[Schmoogle]

Hey Cuss, thanks for the info. I have tried disabling the cloud saves, tried the known Nvidia control panel fixes, completely disabled all Geforce Experience overlay items (Ansel, etc.), tried the config file changes, enabled Dolby Atmos (because supposedly that helps the sound issue??), and I have tried a handful of other graphics tweaks but with limited success. I was able to play for about 30mins with no issues and it was awesome... Then it started doing the freezing and no sound issue again. I'm at a loss, I have no idea what is causing this.

I do have OpenHardwareMonitor open on another monitor and I can see that windows is not frozen when this happens because the values continue to update, but I can see that CPUI usage drops to effectively 0% on all 8 cores until it recovers.

[Mr. No_Effs_Given]

Although not near as bad as yours, im having micro freezes (2-3 secs), extremely annoying. GTX1070, Ryzen 1600X, newest drivers. I will try the fixes on the site that @cuss posted. If doens't work, refund it is, sadly. Also wth i can't select DX12, using win10 fully updated.Edit: Well, i tried a lot of fixes i found, still stuttering and freezing. I asked for a refund. Nevermind, the VSYNC was the culprit, bad implemented on this one, activated via Nvidia Control Panel, and now things are much better.

[cuss]

OK.. It's hard to know if your problem is effecting your sound or if your sound issue is causing your problem, if you get my meaning. So let's do step by step. You've read and tried all the threads, links etc? That strix board, I'm guessing it's less than a year old? I checked a few reviews and they're all from around 06/2020 so I'll assume so. Have you checked that your mobo drivers are up-to-date? Including bios?
Also, Dolby ATmos, if you don't have the tech I suggest you disable it.
The game has a variety of issues, we all know that, but the fact that your freezing with a sound crash makes me think 'sound'.
Also (again) Win 10 has a variety of sound controls including 'Spatial', I have that turned off because 1. I don't trust Windows & 2. I don't trust Windows...... kidding (but not)
Just turn that crap off and check your drivers and see if you can get a stable run.

[Schmoogle]

Yep I already did a decent bit of Google-fu about this particular issue and did not find a good answer, hence I am posting here and on Reddit. Yes this mobo is very new, and yes I have ensured I am up to date on the latest driver versions for my chipset, BIOS, and sound drivers etc.

Atmos was disabled by default, but when I enabled it that seemed to help a bit. I do not have Atmos hardware so that doesn't make a lot of sense, but maybe that was just luck. I use a Mayflower ODAC (DAC + amp combined), which runs through USB, which powers a set of Beyerdynamic headphones (DT-880 Premium 250 Ohm, to be precise).

I am not familiar with the Windows "Spatial" settings you speak of. When I look in the Windows sound settings I do not see that, am I missing something?

[cuss]

Sounds like you've already done most of the work.
Don't forget that drivers can become damaged and need re-installing sometimes. just saying
That ODAC, what happens when you play the game with it disconnected from usb?
btw, Spatial setting is right click speaker icon in Notification Area

[Schmoogle]

Just verified that Spatial sound is off, and I tried playing with my ODAC disconnected but that didn't help at all, still getting sound dropping out and freezing randomly. It was pretty cheap on sale, but even still I feel like I got ripped off.

[Mr. No_Effs_Given]

I thought i fixed mine, but nope, game still freezing from time to time. It happens less frequently after some fixes, but when it does it freezes for like 2-5 seconds, extremely annoying. I got even worried my gpu is dying, but im happy that is not the case, played quite a bunch of other games for hours and no issues, happens only in this one. Even so, im liking the game a lot (on the Caspian level now), just wished it was more stable. It runs very well, aside from these annoying random freezes.

[cuss]

Did you try without ODAC 'and' without those headphones? Just a thought.
it might be as simple as your video driver bundle. I have the 1660ti (no rtx) and am using 445.87 without issue. A rollback might be an idea.

[Mr. No_Effs_Given]

Originally posted by cuss:

I have the 1660ti (no rtx) and am using 445.87 without issue. A rollback might be an idea.

Hey, im using the newest driver and starting to think that may be the issue with freezing. Unfortunately if i rollback it will break CP2077. Guess i will have to bite the bullet and finish the way it is, sadly.

[cuss]

Originally posted by Zak-Del:

Hey, im using the newest driver and starting to think that may be the issue with freezing. Unfortunately if i rollback it will break CP2077. Guess i will have to bite the bullet and finish the way it is, sadly.

Yeah.. or rollback and finish Metro and then update and play CP2077. I'm guessing Cyberpunk still needs a bugfix or three anyway.

[DrChocolate]

Adding r_audio_buffer_size 1024 into the config file seems to have fixed this for me.