[SOLVED] Constant micro-freezes when playing DSR on Steam Deck. What gives?

[zero hope >:(]

Got an annoying issue when playing Dark Souls Remastered on Steam Deck. The game runs smoothly displaying solid 60 fps in general, but every 12 seconds it does a hiccup and freezes for a moment. Whether I walk around or stand still - it occurs every 12 seconds no matter what. Doesn't happen in other games I played, like in Dark Souls III or Blacktail or whatever else i tried so far - it seems to be a DSR only issue.

Kinda bugs me out. What do I do to get rid of this? Does anyone else experience this? People mostly say it runs with no issues, (save for volume button screw up)

The thing I tried so far already, with some combinations of these (none did work, you guessed right):

- Set the FPS limit to 59 (30,45 - nice slo mode but doesn't do the requested job. it does make a difference in the interval between the hiccups however: 12 secs @ 60 fps, 18 secs at 30 fps, 32 secs @ 15 fps);
- Disable the Updated Fan Control Curve;
- Fiddle with TDP (set 9w or going a full-blast 15w);
- Toggle Vsync
- Toggle between Anti-aliasing modes;
- Disable Motion Blur;
- Disable the scaling filter;
- Try different resolutions (1280x800 should do fine, right? I tried the lower ones nonetheless);
- Try different display modes (fullscreen, windowed, borderless);
- Going online-offline (disabling WiFi or going full Avia-mode);
- Update SteamOS (never opted into beta or something apart from Stable Branch. It is v3.5.19 now);
- Launch Dark Souls via built-in Arch-Linux, not with SteamOS;
- Force apply the latest Proton 9.0 - 2;
- Reboot;

Nothing helps.

Never tried to do a factory reset though, should I? Seems to me like an overkill measure which will not help anyway. It came fresh new and I haven't tinkered with the system since the purchase, save from installing a few steam games and the proposed OS updates as well, so I doubt there is anything that could be fixed this way.

Any ideas? And hows the game runs for you recently, my fellow undead SD users?
___________

[SOLVED] Long story short, the large steam block-list may cause stutters in Dark Souls. Mine was 1k+ users blocked. I cleaned up about 90% and now no more stutters.

[SillyWalk]

Oh, I'm also interested in this. I bought the Deck when it came out and try DSR on it from time to time and I don't remember the microstutters being there, but I might be remembering wrong. I tried it again this week and I also have them now.

Besides what you already said, I haven't had any luck either with:
- Installing DSR on the SSD
- Setting the GPU clock manually
- Using different version of Proton, neither experimental, hotfix, old versions nor 9.0-2, which Valve says it's the one they chose for their tests.
- Being in Steam Beta or Preview

[zero hope >:(]

thank you for confirming the issue. i thought that my SD was somewhat malfunct because of this.

i was about to check the every available version of Proton as well. so thanks once more for saving me a time, seems like it won't help either.

my wild guess it is a somewhat an anti-cheat issue. iirc we got them microfreezes on pc in the past already when bandai implemented anti-cheat measures, and elden ring players report anti-cheat behaving weird for steam deck players

[zero hope >:(]

Originally posted by SillyWalk:

Oh, I'm also interested in this.

So, seems like a large steam blocklist causing stutters. My own list was like about 1k+ cheaters blocked. I reduced it to 114 and now no more stutters on my steamdeck, its all smooth, yay.

thanks to username @leo for the solution

[z0rrer0]

Originally posted by zero hope >:(:

Originally posted by SillyWalk:

Oh, I'm also interested in this.

So, seems like a large steam blocklist causing stutters. My own list was like about 1k+ cheaters blocked. I reduced it to 114 and now no more stutters on my steamdeck, its all smooth, yay.

thanks to username @leo for the solution

Lo mate! I have the very same problem. Just with DS:R on Steam Deck.

I checked my blocked users list and they are: 1969

Could this be the problem? I'd like to let them blocked xD


Thanks!

[TheAlmightySunBro, Silkaire]

Changing the FPS to 59 fixed the problem for me. Nothing else was need for myself.

[Sticky White Stuff]

Blocked players can still invade you, so it doesn't matter if you blocked them or not.

[z0rrer0]

Originally posted by G L U E:

Blocked players can still invade you, so it doesn't matter if you blocked them or not.

I blocked them on other games, not on DS:R xD

[z0rrer0]

Originally posted by SKONGaire:

Changing the FPS to 59 fixed the problem for me. Nothing else was need for myself.

Thanks mate. I think I tried that out some time ago and did not work. But I'll do it again just in case

[TheAlmightySunBro, Silkaire]

Originally posted by z0rrer0:

Originally posted by SKONGaire:

Changing the FPS to 59 fixed the problem for me. Nothing else was need for myself.

Thanks mate. I think I tried that out some time ago and did not work. But I'll do it again just in case

:candycane:

👍🏻

[zero hope >:(]

Originally posted by z0rrer0:

Originally posted by zero hope >:(:

So, seems like a large steam blocklist causing stutters. My own list was like about 1k+ cheaters blocked. I reduced it to 114 and now no more stutters on my steamdeck, its all smooth, yay.

thanks to username @leo for the solution

Lo mate! I have the very same problem. Just with DS:R on Steam Deck.

I checked my blocked users list and they are: 1969

Could this be the problem? I'd like to let them blocked xD


Thanks!

:candycane:

I think yes. Even one thousand blocked users seem to cause constant stutters, so...

[z0rrer0]

Originally posted by zero hope >:(:

Originally posted by z0rrer0:

Lo mate! I have the very same problem. Just with DS:R on Steam Deck.

I checked my blocked users list and they are: 1969

Could this be the problem? I'd like to let them blocked xD


Thanks!

I think yes. Even one thousand blocked users seem to cause constant stutters, so...

Thanks a lot mate. It fixed the stutters for me as well ^_^