Weird Stutter/Framerate Issue.

[ultraknight52]

I just installed SADX (clean, with no mods) on a new Aleinware M17 laptop with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU. However, the game has a subtle stuttering yet distracting issue where it hangs for a split second every other frame. I've tried turning V-Sync both on and off but the issue still won't resolve. Anyone else experiencing this issue or have any possible solutions? Would the mod loader help? (Should I just go with emulation)? Thanks!

[YorgiShmorgi]

SADX on steam is infamous for being a crappy port. (It's actually impossible to complete without modding due to Tail's final boss being broken.) The BetterSADX mod fixes all of the problems (including stuttering) the vanilla port has, as well as adds HD GUI and brings back the Dreamcast models and textures. So that is the best way to go. If you don't want to install a mod I suggest playing the re-releases on an Xbox or PS3 if you have them, which is the best alternative.

[AmethystViper]

Originally posted by imthecomgeek:

SADX on steam is infamous for being a crappy port. (It's actually impossible to complete without modding due to Tail's final boss being broken.) The BetterSADX mod fixes all of the problems (including stuttering) the vanilla port has, as well as adds HD GUI and brings back the Dreamcast models and textures. So that is the best way to go. If you don't want to install a mod I suggest playing the re-releases on an Xbox or PS3 if you have them, which is the best alternative.

BetterSADX comes with a version of crosire's d3d8to9 that sadly has some frame-pacing issues and I'm not sure if it that was addressed. Replace it by using the v1.9.2 release of crosire's d3d8to9 since that doesn't have this frame-pacing problem.

[BONKERS]

I would turn off Vsync in the option panel, make sure your GPU is not downclocking.(This is an old game) Force Vsync in Nvidia Profile Inspector instead and make sure the game is not using the IGP.
I don't have any visible frame pacing issues or stuttering with the vanilla steam port when forcing Vsync from the drivers instead.

Also: If using the SADX Mod Manager and it's mods to improve the game (While using the DX8 to 9 wrapper), turn off the "Smooth Camera" and "Frame Limit" mods. They cause the frame pacing to go haywire and constantly drops a frame every second or so. (At least on my 3600XT RTX 2080 PC) Limit frame rate externally instead after disabling those two mods. (Fixed both issues for me).

[NixEmotions]

Originally posted by imthecomgeek:

SADX on steam is infamous for being a crappy port. (It's actually impossible to complete without modding due to Tail's final boss being broken.) The BetterSADX mod fixes all of the problems (including stuttering) the vanilla port has, as well as adds HD GUI and brings back the Dreamcast models and textures. So that is the best way to go. If you don't want to install a mod I suggest playing the re-releases on an Xbox or PS3 if you have them, which is the best alternative.

It's... impossible? I just beat the Tails story last week and have never installed anything beyond the vanilla Steam game. The game is janky as hell, but I don't know about IMPOSSIBLE. I died on the Tails final boss maybe twice before beating it. I died on the final boss of Sonic's story a lot more...