Strange stutter and/or jitter even though high FPS

[The-Devils-Son™]

Hello there i recently got Cloudpunk and tbh I like it so far however I can't play for long periods without getting a headache. I currently get about 100-120 fps in the game but there is this constant jitter and its really distracting me from the game.

System specs
I5 8600K @4.5Ghz
32 GB ddr4 ram
EVGA GTX 1070TI FTW 2
Game installed on a 550mb/s read/write SSD

If any of you know whats going on please say I really don't want to refund game but i may have to if this Jitter don't go away.

[Milamber]

Opprinnelig skrevet av WestJake:

Yeah, every game works good, but problem is with our setup or drivers.

Did you try the new Nvidia drivers released yesterday? Also use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU)) when removing them via safemode.It's a safe app, Nvidia even have it stickied on their driver forum page

[Ion]

Did you try the suggestions here?
https://steamcommunity.com/app/746850/discussions/0/2298472007794583938/

[grap3_day]

The same thing happens with me, disappears if you restart the game.
r7 - 3700x; 2070s; 16gb 3600@16; 970evoplus
islc is on

[Slochy]

Opprinnelig skrevet av The-Devils-Son™:

Hello there i recently got Cloudpunk and tbh I like it so far however I can't play for long periods without getting a headache. I currently get about 100-120 fps in the game but there is this constant jitter and its really distracting me from the game.

System specs
I5 8600K @4.5Ghz
32 GB ddr4 ram
EVGA GTX 1070TI FTW 2
Game installed on a 550mb/s read/write SSD

If any of you know whats going on please say I really don't want to refund game but i may have to if this Jitter don't go away.

Probably down to the game not having a proper exclusive fullscreen mode. Many Unity games suffer from that which leads to constant jittering on my end as well. You're able to kinda fix that by editing a registry setting (like you can in "The Long Dark", for example) but, unfortunately, Cloudpunk resets that setting on every start no matter what.

It's the "Screenmanager Fullscreen mode_h3630240806" setting under "Computer\HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-3262103730-2893719123-1706428113-1001\Software\ION LANDS\Cloudpunk" which needs to be set to 0 instead of 1.

[BlurBusters]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Ion:

Did you try the suggestions here?
https://steamcommunity.com/app/746850/discussions/0/2298472007794583938/

I know the game engine is demanding, but it appears that there is a lot of gametime:presenttime divergences (Even milliseconds of relative divergences can create visible stutter). There is a solution to reduce stutters of demanding engines: Support FreeSync and G-SYNC please! It's really easy to support.

I am cross-posting for the software developers:
___________________________________________________

Founder of Blur Busters / TestUFO here.
If you've seen our UFO, you know us -- www.testufo.com

I agree -- it's actually fairly simple to support FreeSync/G-SYNC

For software developers, it's just simply supporting VSYNC OFF mode. When the drivers use VRR, it just automagically works.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS:

Just make sure Direct3D Present() timestamps is time-relative to game times.

For FreeSync & G-SYNC, the monitor refreshes the instant the frame is presented by the game engine, so the frame should be time-accurate to the frame presentation time -- while not worrying about exact intervals between frame presentation times.

This erases framedrop stutters, creating seamless stutterless frame rate changes, as seen at https://www.testufo.com/vrr (software-based simulation of G-SYNC and FreeSync).

Some more detailed know-hows:
https://blurbusters.com/gsync/how-does-gsync-fix-stutters/
https://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6273
https://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4710

But in reality, it's really easy. Just make sure frame presentation timing is in parallel with game time, preferably to within less than a millisecond (best-effort). Most game engines that support a reliable "VSYNC OFF" operation (in the proper way), already work correctly when drivers enables VRR,

With VRR, the frame rate is the refresh rate, and the refresh rate is the frame rate -- as long as the frame intervals is within the refresh rate range of a variable refresh rate monitor. The hardware monitor is syncing to the software, instead of a fixed refresh clock.

Basically, allow the gametime to float (without fixed intervals between gametimes), and present the frames immediately on the spot. So if 12ms elapses between gametimes, 12ms should elapse between Present() or glxxSwapBuffers() timings (Direct3D or OpenGL). And if next frame interval is now 17ms, then Present() is 17ms later. Your Present() is controlling the timing of the monitor's refresh cycles in realtime, as long as the interval is within the monitor's VRR range. (But don't worry about that detail, the drivers will handle it automatically).

This is already a developer's "VSYNC OFF best practice" anyway, and if you've followed that already, then G-SYNC and FreeSync modes will automatically work very well.

If you're using an off-the-shelf engine, most of them now already support VSYNC OFF which is necessary for proper G-SYNC / FreeSync operation. Unity, Unreal, etc.

When the monitor/drivers have that enabled, the tearing disappears, and transfers over to a "perma-perfect-smooth" look despite fluctuating frame rate, just like how https://www.testufo.com/vrr can modulate framerates randomly without stutters -- that's the magic of variable refresh rate. 47fps VRR looks like perfect 47fps 47Hz VSYNC ON. And when the frame rate changes, like 53fps, then it looks identical to 53fps 53Hz VSYNC ON. And the "stutter-seams" between framerate-changes are erased by VRR.

Thus, each separate frame can have its own unique refresh rate -- which is equal to the time interval between the current Present() and the previous Present() -- and there can be hundreds of random intervals without stutter (Except during disk-freezes / system-freezes). Sometimes slight manual VRR optimization can be needced for extreme-large rendertime changes between adjacent frames, though some of that can be fixed by strategically delaying Present() to re-sync time-relativity to gametimes if the next rendertime went much faster than expected and the gametime assumed a longer rendertime -- but it looks like for this engine, it's simply just a minor "VSYNC OFF-support" modification without need for any other optimizations (initially) --

In Visual Studio, I have seen some engines suddenly go smooth with only about 15-20 lines of code change (excluding the game menu changes needed to add a "VSYNC ON/OFF" option)

Also: PLEASE UNCAP THE 120fps LIMIT

Also, please remove the 120fps cap. I'm seeing the game able to run >120fps on my high end system -- I'm able to run framerates exceeding 120fps often with high end NVIDIA cards. Doubling frame rates halve motion blur, and I'd like the frame rate to organically "float" from 50fps to 200fps with the 240Hz 1ms IPS monitor "floating its refresh rate" to sync to frame rate -- VRR range of 48Hz to 240Hz in realtime (with over 200 seamless refresh rate changes per second). It's much smoother than both ordinary VSYNC ON and ordinary VSYNC OFF

P.S. 240Hz and 360Hz monitors are not just used by esports, and you should futureproof the cap feature to support 1000fps 1000Hz, see https://www.blurbusters.com/1000hz-journey since ultra-high frame rates is one way an LCD can accurately emulate a CRT tube without needing impulsing/phosphor.

P.S. I'd be happy to test G-SYNC / FreeSync behaviour changes between successive versions of the game.

[Exile «Foxy» (Ryder17z)]

Opprinnelig skrevet av BlurBusters:

G-SYNC

Well. that is if you can actually use it. g-sync is broken on gtx 1000 series since 2 years back. for me it causes black frames to be inserted when a loading screen or a map is shown in a couple of titles.

[YobaKev]

I have the same problem.
Cpu: I7 6700K (usage 60%)
GPU: 2080ti most of the time over 100 fps
Installed on SSD

But there is always that stutter.
No idea, where it comes from.

When you add that to start options, it runs better for me:
-window-mode exclusive

But still not smooth.

[BlurBusters]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Hexile «Foxy» (Ryder17z):

Opprinnelig skrevet av BlurBusters:

G-SYNC

Well. that is if you can actually use it. g-sync is broken on gtx 1000 series since 2 years back. for me it causes black frames to be inserted when a loading screen or a map is shown in a couple of titles.

I have a GTX 1080 Ti Extreme and it doesn't happen on the majority of G-SYNC monitors I use --

Actually, those aren't black frames -- it's a bug on certain models of G-SYNC/FreeSync monitors where the monitor goes black when the frame rate goes outside the VRR range for an instantaneous moment.

Now, it's also potentially a new-driver interaction with a slightly buggy monitor. Meaning, I have absolutely no problems with most of my G-SYNC monitors, but may be problematic with specific models.

Most monitors don't do that, and some early versions of NVIDIA drivers didn't have good support for AMD FreeSync (in G-SYNC Compatible Mode). Basically, what you saw is simply a bug that normally doesn't happen with G-SYNC or FreeSync.

For some monitors; you can fix it by changing driver settings to use G-SYNC + Adaptive Sync; the buggy monitor stops blacking out.

Nontheless, it's a completely separate topic than enabling a game engine's compatibility with G-SYNC/FreeSync which only requires 3 lines of source code:

https://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&p=53715#p53715

Also, some stutter programming fixes will also smooth out VSYNC ON a bit, since there are some situations where additional stutter is added above-and-beyond what there should be -- and some simple settings changes in the Unity engine can fix some/most of it.

________________

UPDATE: NEW SMOOTHER VERSION OF GAME NOW OUT

[BlurBusters]

Good news!
Thanks to my instructions to the developer, Cloudpunk now supports VRR including G-SYNC and FreeSync!

That said, you don't need VRR to improve stutters; try this:

1. Download the new version of Cloudpunk 2020-06-27 or later
2. Configure Full Screen Exclusive command line option:
https://blurbusters.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cloudpunk-vrr-support.png
3. Configure VSYNC OFF in Cloudpunk Game Menu
4. Configure Framerate Limit to 1000 in Cloudpunk Game Menu

This may fix some of the stutters (not all), but will fix some of them. Make sure your GPU has good cooling, this will push your GPU really hard. But try it now!

[Milamber]

I have 1080 TI and G-SYNC, with latest nvidia drivers and no overlays in use, the game is butter smooth. This was after a reinstall of windows 10.

[YobaKev]

Still not smooth. Maybe my 6700k is too bad. But usage is 60%. I will not reinstall windows.

Runs better with oc to 4.5 ghz.

[Exile «Foxy» (Ryder17z)]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Babooshka:

Still not smooth. Maybe my 6700k is too bad. But usage is 60%. I will not reinstall windows.

i doubt the cpu is that bad.

[Exile «Foxy» (Ryder17z)]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Babooshka:

Still not smooth. Maybe my 6700k is too bad. But usage is 60%. I will not reinstall windows.

Runs better with oc to 4.5 ghz.

I just tested the game on my laptop and it's actually much less choppy there.
i7-5500u 2.4GHz
8gb ram
nvidia 940m
game set to medum quality 1600x900 with bloom off, v-sync off, otherwise default settings
game installed on external usb 3.0 ssd

it's only as bad as on my desktop when i view the map.

[Exile «Foxy» (Ryder17z)]

Opprinnelig skrevet av BlurBusters:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Hexile «Foxy» (Ryder17z):

g-sync causes black frames to be inserted when a loading screen or a map is shown in a couple of titles.

text

every other lead points to a severe driver problem from nvidia though so it shouldn't be dismissed completely.

[Milamber]

I would install DDU and that will do a through clean of your Nvidia drivers, then install the new ones. For me the reinstall of Windows fixed it, but I get that for some that isnt possible, This is why I think its related to people's systems and not the game code.