Weird stutter issue ONLY in Steam online mode

[KenpoJuJitsu3]

I'm having a weird issue with Steam games, and I've run out of ideas to try. I'm having an issue where several Steam games are having a microstutter in a regular cadence every ~5 seconds ONLY when Steam is in online mode. If I set Steam to offline mode the issue doesn't present, but then I can't play co-op with anyone. I've tried games from different release years, DX11, DX12, Vulkan, games on different drives, games with & without denuvo, etc., and the only common thing is that all these games only start this stutter as soon as they connect to whatever online system they use. The games start fine on splash screens, but as soon as they connect to something like online servers or accounts, the stutter begins. Games I have hundreds of hours in that weren't doing this before like MHW and NMS are doing it now.

Examples of games doing this: Monster Hunter World & Rise, No Man's Sky, Borderlands 3 Example games not doing this: Hot Wheels Unleashed, Outriders, World War Z, God of War (used as a game with no online/co-op functionality for control purposes)

Non-Steam games like The Division 2 do not do this, even when launched from Steam.

I've messed with Steam's network settings, cleared the browser and download caches, run the regular and beta clients, repaired the Steam client and Steam service, disabled and enabled Steam cloud and Steam overlay, disabled and enabled Windows Game Mode and Game Bar. The only thing that changes anything is launching Steam in offline.

Anyone have any other ideas? Basic specs are i7 8700K, 32GB RAM, RTX 3090.

[Iceira]

Did you not narrow it down to online and that game server in that direction, traceRT to whatever server, so it look like congested area or ISP or maybe in specific game server.

[KenpoJuJitsu3]

Weird stutters at exact 6 second intervals, only in Steam games when online

Anyone else seen anything like this?

In both the Beta and Normal clients I am noticing a stutter (both very visible to the naked eye and on frame time graphs) in multiple Steam games at exact 6 second intervals regardless of frame rate (tested at 30, 60, 90, 144 and 240).

-Only Steam games are affected and only when connected to the internet and in Steam Online Mode. Activating Steam Offline Mode, disabling the ethernet port or outright unplugging the cable resolves the stuttering immediately. Re-enabling the internet resumes the stuttering.

-Only certain games are affected, but each is reproducible in the exact same way. Of the ones I can confirm Aliens Fireteam Elite, No Man's Sky, Monster Hunter World, Monster Hunter Rise, Borderlands 3.

-Steam games Not affected. God of War, Marvel's Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Back 4 Blood, Left 4 Dead, Doom Eternal, Outriders.

-Stutter is persistent even when tools such as Afterburner are disabled.

-Disabling features such as Friend's list, Steam Cloud, and Steam Overlay have no effect. Only the presence or absence of an internet connection, or the use of Steam offline vs online mode changes the behavior.

[Jake The Radio]

I'm experiencing this issue currently in CS:GO and Yakuza 5. Sent in a support ticket a couple minutes ago on CS:GO.

[Iceira]

That dont ruleout network issue , such as long distance to wifi to isp into steam ( congested area ) through in VPN in top of this ( more latency ) this is seen before know as hamonica effect if we even can call it that, same as AOE spell happend or mass spell and it try sync between players.

Just because i say this , dont ruleout game use virtual ram on harddisk even that can build such come and go effect just like the hamonica effect.

Change DL zone maybe but that is only DL i think unless it use that region game server.
example a aus player contect to US server, as i said all the worst possibilites and it dont make it better then fibernet today is so good, problem is you have no clue what the other players come from to bad wifi also , so you now have all the worst possible setup.

And why hardcore gamers dont play on wifi at all. ( wifi player sis casual gamers and will never be anything else, they forgot they can effect other player network for being to slow and cause this out of sync untill it catch up, if your games doing that maybe taht the cause. and gl with that.

There is no way to prevent ppl use wifi. or bad network in top of this user own problem afaik.
still fall under games devs problem and not have network connection derection with jump and time on them players, ( yeap i said it game devs problem to kick slsow ppl off so other can play games that dont have connection and worse ping )

i have no clue if you are this, this was seen from a network point of view, has nothing to do with you. that was seen as game server point of view even.

example
has nothing to do with your games
diablo3 nothing prevent me from play at us server from europe
i hope you get it same as vpn and why VPN is seen as the worst and wifi in top of this.
and as user its out of your hands.

[KenpoJuJitsu3]

Thank you. I'm not using wifi or a VPN. I'm using a gigabit fiber optic connection.

It is definitely Steam. I have Borderlands 3, for one example, on both Steam and Epic Store. The Steam version presents this 6 second stutter issue. The Epic version does not. The same is true for some other games I have two copies of from different services, some of which I bought a second copy recently solely to troubleshoot this issue since it seems to be so unique.

[Iceira]

dont forget that hardware accelration issue in steam setting. ( you can reduce steam resources settings )

even QoS has been seen cause issue depend work and its traffic, are you sure you have 2 of same game installed , most cant have that because same game and config but be poijt at one game only, its so few that actual have own location.

Levoon is just latest issue, butproblem is ip-trafic need it or sounds get chop up on iphone and ip radio, so many forget that part.

try safe boot mode maybe that can give you new idea in what cause this.

[KenpoJuJitsu3]

Yes, I am sure I have two copies of the same games installed. Most games purchased on separate clients allow this as you can install them to different folders, or different drives entirely. I do this fairly frequently between Steam and Epic, Steam and Gog, Steam and UPlay, Steam and Windows Store. The saves for some of them will be shared, but that's beneficial because you know the saves/configs aren't the issue if there's a difference in performance.

I have, literally, hundreds of games that I have two copies of on different clients/launchers that I use for troubleshooting, comparing performance, etc.

This is the first issue in a long time that has stumped me for literal days. Though I think I'm getting closer to finding out what the issue is. Need to rule a few things out to confirm.

[Iceira]

windows regi normaly have a clue what client they belong to if they use Doconment save/config not sure such game like other client, but aient it also depend how games devs did it, im just point it out, nothing else, same as old cd/dvd games vs a steam or other client, we have seen such issue before. but let say its user own problem. it was more a heads up and besure thats not the issue.

i have even seen sever games not have same patch even, disk version or EU version not same as US version, alot of this is old news but as you said it user most know better.

[KenpoJuJitsu3]

I have more information after spending ... a while investigating this. It is tied to something Steam is accessing when connected to the internet, and appears tied to the number of games installed. I'm an outlier in that I have a large Steam library (over 5,000) and almost all of the games are installed across 4 separate drives. Here is what I've discovered about this 6 second stutter.

I have 4 drives that have a steamapps folder on them with games:

G - 46 items (my control drive)
E - 2,577 items
F - 1,310 items
H - 1,489 items

I ran Steam with every combination of the drives active and noticed the following results:

G alone - No stutter
G and any single drive (E, F, or H) - No stutter
G and any *two* drives (EF, EH, or FH) - Small stutter every 6 seconds
G and all three other drives (EFH) - Larger stutter every 6 seconds.

This only presents when Steam is connected to the internet. Running Steam in Offline mode, or disabling the internet (via disabling the ethernet adapter or just old school unplugging) resolves the issue in all affected games.

Still unclear on what exactly Steam is accessing when all drives/games are installed and Steam is connected to the internet.

Also worth noting this install habit of mine is not new, but this issue is.

[Jake The Radio]

Originally posted by KenpoJuJitsu3:

This is the first issue in a long time that has stumped me for literal days. Though I think I'm getting closer to finding out what the issue is. Need to rule a few things out to confirm.

Please let me know if you find anything. I have an open support ticket with steam for CS:GO, as I said earlier.

Also to add - for me, the issue persists through full Windows re-installs.

[Jake The Radio]

Originally posted by KenpoJuJitsu3:

I ran Steam with every combination of the drives active and noticed the following results:

G alone - No stutter
G and any single drive (E, F, or H) - No stutter
G and any *two* drives (EF, EH, or FH) - Small stutter every 6 seconds
G and all three other drives (EFH) - Larger stutter every 6 seconds.

Removing the different drives from the Steam Library Manager also seems to solve the issue for me.

[KenpoJuJitsu3]

Originally posted by Jake The Snake:

Originally posted by KenpoJuJitsu3:

I ran Steam with every combination of the drives active and noticed the following results:

G alone - No stutter
G and any single drive (E, F, or H) - No stutter
G and any *two* drives (EF, EH, or FH) - Small stutter every 6 seconds
G and all three other drives (EFH) - Larger stutter every 6 seconds.

Removing the different drives from the Steam Library Manager also seems to solve the issue for me.

How many drives are you using?

[Ettanin]

I think it's the number of games installed that causes the issue. It seems that Steam is calling the server every 6 seconds to check for updates, for every game installed.

[Jake The Radio]

Originally posted by KenpoJuJitsu3:

Originally posted by Jake The Snake:

How many drives are you using?

I have 3 libraries setup. One of the libraries are on my storage HDDs which are in Raid 0 so technically 3 libraries across 4 drives, two of them being hdds and the other two, ofc being HDDS. I'm in a similar situation where I have almost my entire library installed (though nowhere near as many as you lol, only around 100)

[Jake The Radio]

Originally posted by Ettanin:

I think it's the number of games installed that causes the issue. It seems that Steam is calling the server every 6 seconds to check for updates, for every game installed.

I don't believe that is the issue simply due to the difference between OP's installed games and my installed games, when we have the same issue and the connecting trait is the number of steam libraries.