Frustrated by the FPS stutterling problem? Here's a simple fix! (and possibly for many other Unreal Engine 3 games!)

[superivanho]

I bought the game a week ago, started playing it yesterday with my PC with decent spec. It seems like the game started to stutter when you passes through particular area. Data-reading LED light on your PC keep flashing all of a sudden and your game just freezes from time to time. I remembered I had the same bloody problem when I played AvP few years back.

So how do I fix it? Actually here's the story...I finished Bioshock Infinite few weeks back and it has the same stutterling problem. I googled the problem and some cool guys found this solution to fix the stutterling problem on bioshock infinite:

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/bioshock-infinite-6060/pc-stuttering-fix-1430346/

In short, go to (your steam main directory)\SteamApps\common\(your Unreal 3 engine game)\Engine\Config

use notepad to open BaseEngine.ini

find the string PoolSize, then change the default value "140" to approximately the ram size of your GPU, then remember to save the file.

For my PC I have 1GB graphics card so I set it to "750" which is more than enough to fix the problem.

Indeed after I made this change there is almost no stuttering problems at all for the rest of the levels.

Hope this helps, as I can understand how stuttering can destroy the fun of gaming.

[Maj.Sabastian78]

Not so simple, I couldn't find it.

But I did add my wifes AMD 6450 graphics card to the compat ini files and tell it that it was a 5 and it's a little smoother. Still have to have it on lower resolution 1600 or lower, but at least now I can turn the video textures and shadows up to 1/2 if I have it on 1400 resolution. Still feels like an old Doom game, but it's better. Change it in here.

C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\Documents\my games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\

[Redtachi]

Using Notepad or Notepad++(my ultimate fave) just use the find tool

Originally posted by Maj.Sabastian78:

Not so simple, I couldn't find it.

But I did add my wifes AMD 6450 graphics card to the compat ini files and tell it that it was a 5 and it's a little smoother. Still have to have it on lower resolution 1600 or lower, but at least now I can turn the video textures and shadows up to 1/2 if I have it on 1400 resolution. Still feels like an old Doom game, but it's better. Change it in here.

C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\Documents\my games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\

Using Notepad or Notepad++(my ultimate fave) just use the find tool in the application menu and find pool size = 140 or something rather

[Maj.Sabastian78]

Ok, went to programs, steam, properties, SteamApps, common, Aliens Colonial Marines, Engine, Config, BaseEngine.ini, Ctrl F 140. Changed that to 750. Her card has 1024 dedicated with a total of 2807. So I think that is good... ?? Put to read only. I'll have to remember this when they do another update. :D

I carried the x, rounded the y and timzed it by 3.14. (Just being funny)

Looks way better, still have stuttering in TDM, (I did have 245 for ping though) even when using 1400 for resolution. At least I get my computer back tommorrow. Thanks it has helped.

It worked! Thanks so much.

Played New DLC and had great graphics and no stuttering in offline mode.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198021350570/screenshot/901003194514519336
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198021350570/screenshot/901003194514726578

[Redtachi]

Think it was the ping did the same to mine(228) set my poolsize to 750 also. Will give detailed report later. Thank you superivanho for posting this.

[superivanho]

I'm not sure about multiplayer yet since I just started my single player campaign and it worked much better than it used to be. My PC is win7 x64 intel i5-750 CPU with Radeon HD7770 card.

[Missing Sequences]

this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up my games both borderlands 2 and aliens CM. I had to go back and completely edit my config files for all my changes and binds, graphics settings, and custom shader changes because once I set the pool size (to this apparently invalid value?) it re wrote my engineconfig.ini files and set them to default. It also woudlnt let me change anything afterwards until I went in and edited these files back manually.


anyone else bag their entire configs using this method?


I would suggest backing up, I should have known better. I feel dumb in retrospect, but I figured (stupidly) "how much damage could changing one value to another do, I can always set it back."

heyoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[Maj.Sabastian78]

Ugg.... sorry. You were able to delete these files and verifying integrety? Or did you do it a different way.

At least it worked for 2 people. I figured the same thing, that I could just go and turn off read only and switched it back. Still works well on my wifes computer.

[Missing Sequences]

no, it apparently re-wrote teh files on its own, and since I had a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of custom settings and binds, gfx enhancements etc, (none of which ate my configs) I had to go back and research everything I had done and make all my settings again....which sucked.......fortunately I had saved bookmarks.

I mean I can only blame myself for not backing them up first but i mean cmon.......changing 160 to 750......how much damage could it do, right?

facepalm

heyooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[Maj.Sabastian78]

How would you go about backing up your settings? Revo Uninstaller is usually my first choice since since my HDD is too big, (stick in a program/ remove the program set for backup) or would you simply copy your steam file and then if you have issues paste and replace with that file?

[Missing Sequences]

to back stuff up i just make copies of the files or directories before I make changes.

[Stormspark]

I tried setting this to 750 (I have a 3 gig HD7950, which btw can run Crysis 3 on High without any slowdown)...it didn't help, if anything it made it worse.

[superivanho]

well guys I want to make sure we're talking about the same thing. The stuttering I have is like one moment the hard drive reads a lot of crap (probably texture files) which causes the sudden FPS drop. You can tell from your LED data-loading light on your PC or your hard drive making a lot of noise all of a sudden.

For background reading, you can refer to this webpage regarding to how Unreal Engine 3 works, particularly on what "poolsize" (texture pool) does.

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MemoryProfilingHome.html

for your conveniece I extract the important bit:

The texture pool is a fixed size so we will not have any adverse affects on overall system memory for having a huge amount of textures. That said we want to make certain that we are effectively using that memory. That means we need to make certain that the amount of texture memory that we can see is within the pool size. We could have GIGs of textures across the entire map as long as the area around us does not exceed the texture pool.

[The Sid Man]

The problem started for me 1 update after the big patch update. It was working flawlessly before that. I even recently reformatted my comp, and re-installed the game. I still get the annoying fps stuttering constantly. I am all out of solutions. Might have to delete this game for good:( Which is sad cause even with the negative press, I thought it was an average game. Oh well

[Tomoko]

my PC is good enough to play this game without needing to change anything XP

[KRRU|Dominus]

thanks for posting