Stutter every 60 seconds - identified, possible solution.

[Cuda]

Game is still playable but before I keep trying to fix it I was wondering if its a known problem or not. No mods running 130. GPU looks fine, CPU fine. It just stutters slightly every 60 seconds as if it drops to zero frames for an instant.

Any ideas?

[wirrora]

Hmm, first of all I would like to test that too. However, if I edit the xlsx with Libre Office, the table seems to be damaged when I save it and UBOAT no longer starts. Before I try all of the free spreadsheet programs, which one works? Maybe I just did something wrong again ... silly me ...

Originally posted by Thorn:

I noticed the first ever-so-slight micro stutter/hiccup while out to sea and staring at how the bow breaks through the waves. (That's where it's most noticeable to me)

For me it is enough to stare at the flag in the harbor. Can not be overlooked.

Originally posted by Cuda:

Again, thanks to everyone. I was honestly giving up on ever knowing the answer, thought it was just me.

Ditto!

[link]

so the stutter is definitely GC

two things you can do to reduce this / mitigate :
1. Turn down your cache size
2. Modify the General.xlsx / Background Tasks - GarbageCleanup to a higher or lower value ( I suggest doing 1. first)

[Ruby]

Hi Cuda,

the devs will check why there is a stutter with some players.

Cheers Ruby

[Thorn]

Originally posted by wirrora:

Hmm, first of all I would like to test that too. However, if I edit the xlsx with Libre Office, the table seems to be damaged when I save it and UBOAT no longer starts. Before I try all of the free spreadsheet programs, which one works? Maybe I just did something wrong again ... silly me ...

Originally posted by Thorn:

I noticed the first ever-so-slight micro stutter/hiccup while out to sea and staring at how the bow breaks through the waves. (That's where it's most noticeable to me)

For me it is enough to stare at the flag in the harbor. Can not be overlooked.

Originally posted by Cuda:

Again, thanks to everyone. I was honestly giving up on ever knowing the answer, thought it was just me.

Ditto!

I think it's noticeable with anything that is animated (flags, waves breaking, etc). And that's while you're just watching for the micro stutter and not moving the mouse to pan your view.

Whenever I'm in FPP and walking around inside the Uboat, or topside, and the GC timer hits, I can FEEL the micro stutter and it can throw my view off a bit, especially if I was panning my view to the left or right at the moment GC timer activates.

[Cuda]

Its most notable on time compression when the GC hits as something happens and the game is trying to take you out of time compression, its delayed sometimes leaving you in the middle of a convoy already alerted to your presence. This one is not too bad a save game fixes everything.

The other is movement as you mention, deck guns and AA on rough seas its really bad, causing you to miss shots wildly sometimes. Seems the stutter is a good half a second at least so you pull the trigger at the waterline but the shot goes completely over the ship.

The rest of the time its an annoyance only.

[Thorn]

Originally posted by Cuda:

I just want to thank everyone here. I figured it was the game. I just wanted to know, I am like a dog with a bone, I cant stop trying to fix something if I think its within my power. I just wanted to know it was not my system.

So...was I right in noticing this stutter on streamers? Everyone has it? If not it would be interesting to know what others did to get rid of it.

I posted this everywhere and no one, until I posted it here, said they had the same problem.

You would think this would be fixable as other games, even Unity games, dont seem to have the problem.

While I would love to see this fixed I am just happy to know I can stop trying to solve the problem.

Its only really annoying when using the deckgun.

Again, thanks to everyone. I was honestly giving up on ever knowing the answer, thought it was just me.

I think many players have noticed it but disregarded it in the past because it's such a tiny micro stutter that lasts less than half a second most of the time (0.1 - 0.5 seconds for me for instance) and only happens every 60 seconds, based on the default garbage collection cycle.

Plus, most of the time you are viewing your Uboat from the side or on the map screen and not really paying attention for things like a tiny micro stutter.

Also, the micro stutter will be different for everyone based on their hardware configuration. Faster and more powerful machines may be able to handle it with no stutter at all, or have a hardly noticeable 0.1 tiny micro stutter at most. Older and slower machines are going to have a more pronounced micro stutter that may be as long as a full second or more.

Without your post, I had just gotten used to it I guess but was sure I noticed some sort of stutter in the game myself. Now I can't unsee it. You basically ruined my game bro. LOL

For real, thanks for pointing it out. Hopefully it can be resolved in a future update.

[Cuda]

Originally posted by Thorn:

Originally posted by Cuda:

I just want to thank everyone here. I figured it was the game. I just wanted to know, I am like a dog with a bone, I cant stop trying to fix something if I think its within my power. I just wanted to know it was not my system.

So...was I right in noticing this stutter on streamers? Everyone has it? If not it would be interesting to know what others did to get rid of it.

I posted this everywhere and no one, until I posted it here, said they had the same problem.

You would think this would be fixable as other games, even Unity games, dont seem to have the problem.

While I would love to see this fixed I am just happy to know I can stop trying to solve the problem.

Its only really annoying when using the deckgun.

Again, thanks to everyone. I was honestly giving up on ever knowing the answer, thought it was just me.

I think many players have noticed it but disregarded it in the past because it's such a tiny micro stutter that lasts less than half a second most of the time (0.1 - 0.5 seconds for me for instance) and only happens every 60 seconds, based on the default garbage collection cycle.

Plus, most of the time you are viewing your Uboat from the side or on the map screen and not really paying attention for things like a tiny micro stutter.

Also, the micro stutter will be different for everyone based on their hardware configuration. Faster and more powerful machines may be able to handle it with no stutter at all, or have a hardly noticeable 0.1 tiny micro stutter at most. Older and slower machines are going to have a more pronounced micro stutter that may be as long as a full second or more.

Without your post, I had just gotten used to it I guess but was sure I noticed some sort of stutter in the game myself. Now I can't unsee it. You basically ruined my game bro. LOL

For real, thanks for pointing it out. Hopefully it can be resolved in a future update.

I just wanted to know if it was the game or my computer. From reading the GC does not have to been in the main loop and can be scheduled better. If its about memory management maybe they could add something for how much RAM you have? I have 32GB so the game can easily use another 12-16GB of RAM on my machine, would that not mean the GC would not have to run that often? It could be ran right before an autosave or something. Of course I have no idea what I am talking about.

I am hoping for a solution like that, or I guess "workaround" is the correct term.

The reason I kept pushing this was all the people saying they dont have this issue, then it seemed like I was the only one. So I spent dozens of hours on it only to come to the conclusion it was the game. I love the game, I am not looking for problems, I deal with the bugs which I don't think are that numerous however if this is a known issue and I cant see how its not then the devs should acknowledge its a known issue. It worries me they haven't because its unsolvable rather then they are unaware of it.

I feel better now because its solved as much as I can solve it. I can enjoy the game now knowing I cant do anything about it.

[Thorn]

Originally posted by Cuda:

Originally posted by Thorn:

I think many players have noticed it but disregarded it in the past because it's such a tiny micro stutter that lasts less than half a second most of the time (0.1 - 0.5 seconds for me for instance) and only happens every 60 seconds, based on the default garbage collection cycle.

Plus, most of the time you are viewing your Uboat from the side or on the map screen and not really paying attention for things like a tiny micro stutter.

Also, the micro stutter will be different for everyone based on their hardware configuration. Faster and more powerful machines may be able to handle it with no stutter at all, or have a hardly noticeable 0.1 tiny micro stutter at most. Older and slower machines are going to have a more pronounced micro stutter that may be as long as a full second or more.

Without your post, I had just gotten used to it I guess but was sure I noticed some sort of stutter in the game myself. Now I can't unsee it. You basically ruined my game bro. LOL

For real, thanks for pointing it out. Hopefully it can be resolved in a future update.

I just wanted to know if it was the game or my computer. From reading the GC does not have to been in the main loop and can be scheduled better. If its about memory management maybe they could add something for how much RAM you have? I have 32GB so the game can easily use another 12-16GB of RAM on my machine, would that not mean the GC would not have to run that often? It could be ran right before an autosave or something. Of course I have no idea what I am talking about.

I am hoping for a solution like that, or I guess "workaround" is the correct term.

The reason I kept pushing this was all the people saying they dont have this issue, then it seemed like I was the only one. So I spent dozens of hours on it only to come to the conclusion it was the game. I love the game, I am not looking for problems, I deal with the bugs which I don't think are that numerous however if this is a known issue and I cant see how its not then the devs should acknowledge its a known issue. It worries me they haven't because its unsolvable rather then they are unaware of it.

I feel better now because its solved as much as I can solve it. I can enjoy the game now knowing I cant do anything about it.

Well, as 'link' stated, you can increase the GC timer to whatever you want, more or less than the default 60 seconds.

I tested it last night at 120 seconds, so the stutter happened every two minutes instead of every minute but it confirmed what the issue was.

But 'link' stated the longer you set it to (i.e. 300 seconds for 5 minutes or 600 seconds for 10 minutes) the more profound the stutter will be since the garbage collection will have more old junk to clear out. It could also cause a stability issue and crash your game if set too high. It could also lead to save game bloat as well I would think but don't quote me on that as I'm not sure. But it seems likely if you have a lot of "garbage" collected that hasn't been cleared out by the GC right when you save. (imagine a very weak and slow heartbeat with a massive blood clot trying to pass through it - not good)

And having a longer GC timer could also come right at the very worst moment ever with an enemy plane around and you're scrambling to crash dive and suddenly you get this long stutter that throws you way off and the next thing you know you're getting bombed by the plane. Or if you're underwater and close to the bottom you could run aground.

If you set the garbage collection to happen more often (less than 60 seconds), then I believe 'link' said that your RAM would be taxed a lot more and that could cause performance and stability issues as well since the game would constantly have to render the same game assets over and over again at a much faster rate. (imagine a heart beating very rapidly from an extreme workout - could be very bad for your system. I imagine increased heat, lower frame rates as it struggles to keep up with the demand, and potentially a crash)

So there doesn't seem to be a quick or easy fix to this issue either way. This is why I asked him if a more consistent and subtle way of removing garbage could be implemented that runs silently in the background. He stated that there were a few routes that could do such a task but it would be a lot of work to implement. I believe he said they have a lone coder right now so that lone coder would have to see what's possible to resolve this issue. Probably best to just leave it at the default 60 seconds for now. At least we all know now what the culprit is. Hopefully it can be resolved eventually.

[link]

so while I dont know all of the inner workings of uboat , I am familiar with GC processes in many other types of applications , which translates well here.

could you please let me know what your cache size is set to (in the game settings)?

I do believe reducing cache size, while it will tax other components more, will possibly reduce the stutter.

I believe the max is 400MB which means at any point in time GC could theoretically need to clear out 400MB (likely much less at once)

try setting this to 100MB and test the stutter.

then again test with 0 MB and test..

while I still think GC will have other things to clean up - such as memory block not in use - I doubt clearing memory in this way would cause the observed stutter. And I am confident this is closer related to deleting old cache files to make room for new ones.

if setting 0-100 MB reduces or removes the stutter take note of how long certain events take place, such as:
loading npc ships into the local scene.
changing views?
entering/exiting TC?
all of which may be impacted from reduced cache but possibly without a micro stutter.

[link]

also can we update the title of this post to reflect that this issue has been identified or partially solved.

[urseus]

Well done, you've saved Christmas.

[Cuda]

Originally posted by link:

so while I dont know all of the inner workings of uboat , I am familiar with GC processes in many other types of applications , which translates well here.

could you please let me know what your cache size is set to (in the game settings)?

I do believe reducing cache size, while it will tax other components more, will possibly reduce the stutter.

I believe the max is 400MB which means at any point in time GC could theoretically need to clear out 400MB (likely much less at once)

try setting this to 100MB and test the stutter.

then again test with 0 MB and test..

while I still think GC will have other things to clean up - such as memory block not in use - I doubt clearing memory in this way would cause the observed stutter. And I am confident this is closer related to deleting old cache files to make room for new ones.

if setting 0-100 MB reduces or removes the stutter take note of how long certain events take place, such as:
loading npc ships into the local scene.
changing views?
entering/exiting TC?
all of which may be impacted from reduced cache but possibly without a micro stutter.

Cache size was 100, I changed to 400 but no change. I just changed it to 50MB and the stutter is still there but want to check it on the deck gun as that is the only part the game this problem gets in the way.

Not sure I can set to zero unless there is a file to edit.

[Thorn]

I restored my original General datasheet back to the default one of 60 seconds garbage collection interval from last night's testing it at 120 seconds. And I just tested the cache settings in the game. It was at 100MB. The lowest it goes down to is 50MB and the highest is 400MB.

So I tested it at 50MB first and then raised it to the max of 400MB and the micro stutter was observable at both the lowest and highest cache settings.

I want to say that it seemed less pronounced at 50MB (the lowest) compared to 400MB (the highest) but on my system the micro stutter is always so fast that if you blink you'll miss it most of the time.

I wanted to "feel" it so I went into FPP and just walked back and forth on the Uboat while it was underway from bow to stern, stern to bow, over and over to "feel" the micro stutter every minute. Changing cache size didn't resolve it. It was still observable either way.

I want to say on my system a typical micro stutter lasts anywhere between 0.1 - 0.5 seconds on average. Rarely ever a full second, and it's probably like that for most folks and why this issue has probably never been really talked about or addressed before now. If a stutter lasted a full second or more for most folks, then that would be much more profound and noticeable.

[Cuda]

Originally posted by Thorn:

I restored my original General datasheet back to the default one of 60 seconds garbage collection interval from last night's testing it at 120 seconds. And I just tested the cache settings in the game. It was at 100MB. The lowest it goes down to is 50MB and the highest is 400MB.

So I tested it at 50MB first and then raised it to the max of 400MB and the micro stutter was observable at both the lowest and highest cache settings.

I want to say that it seemed less pronounced at 50MB (the lowest) compared to 400MB (the highest) but on my system the micro stutter is always so fast that if you blink you'll miss it most of the time.

I wanted to "feel" it so I went into FPP and just walked back and forth on the Uboat while it was underway from bow to stern, stern to bow, over and over to "feel" the micro stutter every minute. Changing cache size didn't resolve it. It was still observable either way.

I want to say on my system a typical micro stutter lasts anywhere between 0.1 - 0.5 seconds on average. Rarely ever a full second, and it's probably like that for most folks and why this issue has probably never been really talked about or addressed before now. If a stutter lasted a full second or more for most folks, then that would be much more profound and noticeable.

For those not using the deck gun much I can see it being a non issue. I did not notice a change when changing the cache, its on 50MB now.

[Thorn]

Originally posted by Cuda:

Originally posted by Thorn:

I restored my original General datasheet back to the default one of 60 seconds garbage collection interval from last night's testing it at 120 seconds. And I just tested the cache settings in the game. It was at 100MB. The lowest it goes down to is 50MB and the highest is 400MB.

So I tested it at 50MB first and then raised it to the max of 400MB and the micro stutter was observable at both the lowest and highest cache settings.

I want to say that it seemed less pronounced at 50MB (the lowest) compared to 400MB (the highest) but on my system the micro stutter is always so fast that if you blink you'll miss it most of the time.

I wanted to "feel" it so I went into FPP and just walked back and forth on the Uboat while it was underway from bow to stern, stern to bow, over and over to "feel" the micro stutter every minute. Changing cache size didn't resolve it. It was still observable either way.

I want to say on my system a typical micro stutter lasts anywhere between 0.1 - 0.5 seconds on average. Rarely ever a full second, and it's probably like that for most folks and why this issue has probably never been really talked about or addressed before now. If a stutter lasted a full second or more for most folks, then that would be much more profound and noticeable.

For those not using the deck gun much I can see it being a non issue. I did not notice a change when changing the cache, its on 50MB now.

I noticed it long ago but dismissed it thinking the game was just loading new assets and didn't pay much mind to it since some other games I've played have tiny hiccups here and there as well. But now it's hard to overlook it and kind of an annoyance really. I'm glad the issue has been identified at least so that maybe the developers can fix it somehow down the road with some sort of background process that removes the garbage collection in a more subtle way. The game is still playable and enjoyable for now though.

Now, I hope they will add a main menu graphic setting to enable/disable special features like the water droplets on the screen when using the camera to observe your Uboat from outside when you view below the water and then come up above the water and same with the bathtub/swimming pool splashing sound that goes along with it. I just want the water droplets to appear on the periscope and obi scope lens' when I raise them up out of the water.