New micro-stutter issue since last update

[advocation]

Hello all,

Prior to the last update, I've been using in-home streaming without an issue. However, it appears since the last update, something has changed and I am now getting a micro-stutter in any game I try. Using the performance monitor, I still stay at a near rock solid 60 fps in all my games, and if you watch the game from the host pc, the stutter is not present. But, watching on the pc I'm streaming on, the stutter is constant and very apparent. Any idea what could be the problem? I've tried enabling/disabling all options there basically are. Both PC's are hardwired 1gig over a switch.

Host Machine: i7 4770k
290x
16 gigs ram

Current Settings on host:
"Enable hardware decoding."

Client Machine:
AMD X4 965
AMD HD 5950
4 Gigs RAM

Current settings on client:
"Beautiful (have tried all 3)"
Limit Bandwidth: Automatic (have tried other settings including unlimited)
Limit Display Resoultion: 1080p
Hardware decoding: Unchecked


Both machines have latest drivers (including GPU).

EDIT - Looking at the logs and addtional details, I'm seeing high frame loss (20%) with these errors: [2016-03-09 19:19:03] CLIENT: Marking frame 1315 complete with status k_EStreamFrameResultDroppedLate

[davew_uk]

Are you using Big Picture Mode? I get the same issue but only if I use BPM. If I use the normal Steam desktop client my performance is more or less back to normal.

[Orbald]

I've got the very same problem since last update ! I've only been testing with BPM. I'm out to try in normal mode.

[Dekkart]

Same here, I played Dark Souls II via In-home streaming for some time now and it worked like a charm (had to deactivate hardware encoding though). Now, it is unplayable. Would not call that micro stuttering anymore, its a huge permanent lag. Please valve, fix that soon... (meanwhile I will try without PBM)

[Orbald]

Works fine without PBM !

[RdyHalt]

Have the same issue. thought it was my new internet router with 1Gb LAN that was having issues or perhaps the lastest firmware update on my 2 Steam Cortrollers.
But as described, I have det same micro lag/shutter in every game via In-home streaming.
Playing LEGO Batman etc. is just crap.

Exiting Big Picture Mode, is that on the client or host ?

[Dekkart]

I can confirm that streaming works fine without using BPM clientside. Framerate is at a stable 59/60hz, while streaming to the same machine in BPM, i get weird framerate readings jumping around everything from 6hz to 99999hz. This problem in BPM persists with all video settings between low and high, so it is definitely not a performance problem.

[davew_uk]

So not just me then :-)

One further question - does anyone else have a client machine (the one being streamed to, not the host) with a weak GPU that can't run BPM without reducing resolution? both of my clients with the problem have weak laptop GPUs for example.

I think the problem is that BPM is stealing resources on the client machine when it is already starved and so it struggles to decode the stream.

I might just test on a more powerful client to see if it makes a difference...

[AndyCalling]

It won't help. Well, increased power won't help but a different chipset might (even a different Intel one as not all are affected). This issue affects a number of Intel chipsets. My stick PC streamed fine via BPM until a Feb beta caused this lag issue. Going back to the stable edition fixed the issue at that time, but since then the big has been migrated to the latest stable release as well. If my stick PC gpu is strong enough for BPM then all modern PCs can do it. Try turning on the error display for streaming. You will see the 'slow display' error during BPM streaming. This is due to a problem with Steam BPM talking to the vid card, caused in this case by Steam. Please report the fault because it has yet to be acknowledged by Valve and I was hoping for a fix before Easter.

[advocation]

I don't think it's an issue on the client end for processing/gpu power, as my machine is much more than something like the steam link: (AMD X4 965, AMD HD 5950, 4 Gigs RAM). Granted, I know this isn't a lot, but it's just the client.

My issue doeesn't appear to be an Intel issue either (at least on the client side), as I don't have any intel chipsets on that machine. I do on my host machine of course, but I also tried to do AMD decoding (versus intel) and didn't get any better performance.

I will test again later today (w/ and w/o big picture) and see if anything changes.

[AndyCalling]

Well, looks like the BPM bug is affecting AMD cards as well. Not all of them perhaps (same for Intel), but some AMD chipsets. Do report this BPM lag issue to Valve. The more who do, the more chance it'll get addressed.

Currently this means the only chipset maker that hasn't got problems with Steam streaming is Nvidia, which has its own streaming system so doesn't need Steam streaming so much. Wonderful...

[davew_uk]

I'm almost entirely Nvidia over here. Got a GTX 970 in the host, and either a 9600M or a 320M on the clients. I've posted this as a bug already but no response yet.

[RdyHalt]

Can confirm that existing BPM on the client, removes any Micro shutter for me.
Exit BPM on the client, and start in-house streaming.

[Chris]

Exiting BPM worked for me. Wish I'd seen this thread before. I've been changing network cables, updating drivers and other stuff, Hopefully this will get fixed soon. I have a GTX 970 on my host as well.

[Anvie]

I had the same issue. Streaming the game through the desktop client and not through bpm fixed it. Thanks.

One difference I noticed was that using BPM resulted in around 20% frameloss in the packet loss section whereas launching from the desktop resulted in very little to no frame loss.

[Never Ready Eddie]

I can confirm I am having the exact same problem. I started up my game on my i3-2120 HTPC client (fully wired connections on both) today from big picture and it was a slide show with the error "slow display" flashing up when I showed the stats. Nothing had changed as far as I know since I last played several days ago so I rebooted both machines several times and tried everything with the IHS settings. Then I found your post and tried reverting both back to desktop UI modes and launched the game stream from there.....voila...1080p 60hz just like I had been getting every time in BP before the latest update.

Funny thing is before finding your post I tried using my wife's laptop (Dell XPS 13 Broadwell) in BP mode as the client and it worked flawlessly (on wifi I might add too!). So the issue is with my i3-2120 HTPC when streaming from within BP.

I am happy to try some other configs for you to confirm so let me know.