Graphics stuttering on EM 1.728 vs 1.708

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:07 am

This is not such a huge deal (especially if I can fix it by switching to another version), but I thought I'd mention it anyway; it's not so much that I'd like help on it, but more that I'd like to point out a _potential_ issue.

Problem description:
-------------------------

Been away for a while and couldn't play; used to play EM version 1.408 through 1.708, absolutely no problems (specs below) on any version. Last version, on which I played for quite a while, was 1.708. No issues whatsoever, always used maxed settings on all versions.

Today I installed EM 1.728, and played for a couple of hours, and I've noticed significant graphics stuttering; when in combat, all ships move "in sync": instead of having a fluid, continuous motion, it appears as if they make small "jumps"; it's not so bad that they stop between jumps, but it's very noticeable and, frankly, distracting.

This was just your regular battles, nothing special: 7-8 reds, a handful of greens, so not particularly huge battles or anything.
Single player, by the way.

Never noticed this issue on any previous version, have always played with maxed settings.

System specs:
-------------------

Intel i5 750 quadcore @2.67GHz
4GB RAM
Windows XP SP3
ATI Radeon HD 5770, 1GB, drivers Catalyst 11.6 (I can post more detailed driver info, if required)
AV stuff: comodo firewall, avast, spybot.

Please note that except for regular software updates, nothing has changed in my system since I used to play EM 1.708. It's the same hardware and software.
I have not upgraded or changed my graphics drivers.
It's true that I have updated AV stuff, as well as windows-related updates, as well as probably .net updates and so on.

Nothing cpu-consuming is running while playing the game (cpu usage w/out the game is 1%).

I'll revert back to 1.708 and see if the problem persists, and I'll also try to have a look at 1.788.
If the problem still persists, then obviously the problem is on my end; however, if 1.708 runs smoothly again, then it would be reasonable to assume that perhaps something has changed in between 1.708 and 1.728 that affects performance negatively.

Again, just to make it clear, Vice: I would not want you to spend time and effort on such minor issues. The point of this post is to make you aware that an issue _might_ exist; if you see similar things from more people, that would be further confirmation.

Thank you again for a great game and all your efforts!

edit: forgot to mention: this is non-Steam.

[Edited on 1-19-2012 by Flying Brick]

Post by **Vice** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:36 am

I'm actually working on timer precision, which may be related to this. One thing that may have changed between 1.728 and earlier builds is that the MDTS indicator twitches a little more now than it did before. This is because the new calculations are much more precise and any subtle variation between frame updates can create a wobble in the indicator, even though ship movement is pretty consistent. Please do let me know how 1.788 works for you (you can reply in the the other thread if you like).

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:53 am

Back with an update, as promised.
(Also, thank you for the super-quick reply!)

Tried 1.708 - worked as smoothly as I remembered. So no problems there.
(tilde key showed some 120 | x in non-combat, and 60 | y, where I forget what x and y were, sorry. But I can get more precise data, if you want me to.)

Tried 1.788 - absolutely unplayable; the tilde key showed 329999 | 0 (not sure how many 9's in the first figure, but I reckon it doesn't matter much). The screen would stutter horribly, basically freeze-jump after a half a second - freeze again - jump after a half a second. This was _in the hangar_, upon game start. I quit immediately, since there was no way to actually play it. I apologize if this is not a great/accurate description of what I was seeing. Let me try again: move cursor way to the left, so that the view should follow it; what happens: nothing, for half a second; then view moves left by some amount; since the view hasn't aligned with the cursor yet, the previous two steps keep repeating until view aligns with cursor. I hope that makes more sense.

1.728 was playable, albeit somewhat annoying, but I am afraid I cannot use 1.788.
I'm ok with 1.708, no biggie, but it's a good thing I checked, I reckon.

In reply to your comment, I did not have any issues with the MDTS indicator in 1.728. It was the ships that were not having a continuous, fluid motion. I didn't notice anything different about the MDTS (if there was, it was unnoticeable to me; I wasn't paying particular attention to it, though).

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:32 am

Updated the other thread, pasting here to make it easier for you (hopefully).

I've tried all 4 screen options (Locked (FS), Locked (FS) Max VSync, Optimized (WM), and Optimized (WM) Max VSync). This is all for 1.788.

The tilde key showed the same thing in all 4 cases:

3299999 | 0
K 816 | R 2795

I can give a slightly better description of the issue:

- the game state updates (visibly) every x seconds, where x is somewhere between 0.5 and 1. So, less than a second, but more than half a second; closer to a second.

- the state holds for about half a second, then I get the next update.

- every time a frame updates, the "3299999" changes to something, but then reverts back to the same value; the change occurs too fast for me to see what the other value was.

- maybe the best way to describe the issue accurately is this: I am docked in a carrier, so you know the two pulsing-light beacon lanes that highlight the path to the carrier's hangar/dock. Normally, you see a continuous moving pulse of those lights, with a fairly high frequency; too fast for the eye to catch any given beacon in a lit/unlit state. In my case, this is what I see between two updates: all the beacons are frozen, some in a lit state (usually 2 consecutive pairs), and the rest unlit; then, after 0.5-1seconds, the frame updates, and now the next two pairs of beacons are lit, and the rest unlit (there's a few more lit at a given time, not just those two pairs; but I'm focusing on a specific area of the beacon lanes). So, I get to see a perfect snapshot for a little longer than half a second. This proves that the game state is frozen during that interval, since those beacons don't change state. Then an update comes, and I have plenty of time until the next update, to be able to tell each individual beacon whether it's lit or not. It's literally snapshots.

Post by **Vice** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:20 am

Thanks for the information. I've sent you a test program which will give me some more information to work with.

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:06 am

Glad I could help a bit.
I'm not sure how you sent me the proggie: I don't see any U2U's, and I haven't got anything in my email (checked spam folder, as well - nothing there). I've added sw3dg to my contacts to make extra-sure it doesn't go into my spam folder (although their spam checker is so retarded that sometimes it considers my own emails as spam, even though they have a decent amount of text).

Here's a thought: yahoo (and iirc gmail too) used to be really stupid and sometimes drop emails containing executable attachments - and often some zip ones, as well. This was in the past, dunno if they're any better these days.
What I mean is that you don't even get a message or anything - they simply drop it, and the only way to figure out what happened is when the other party hasn't received anything.

The easiest workaround was to rename the attachment with some meaningless extension; same thing sent as .exe or .zip - would not make it; rename it to .abc, presto, no problem. :\\ Happened to me more times than I care to remember.

I've sent you my msinfo earlier - zipped, I'd like to know if you received it (for the reasons above).
If you've sent me anything (exe, zip), that may well be the reason why I didn't receive it. Please try renaming it with some other extension and send it to me again.

Both my and your emails may have been dropped for the reasons above (mine because of the .zip attachment, yours because of whatever it contained).

Thank you.

Post by **Vice** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:50 am

I did receive your msinfo report, so outbound must not have made it to you. File resent with an 'abc' extension.

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:48 am

Got your second attempt, ran the proggie, emailed back the results. Thank you again, Vice. If you want me to do more testing, on any of the three versions that I still have (1.708, 728 and 788), I'd be happy to.

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:08 am

Got second version of the program, ran it, emailed you back the results. Just a quick heads-up here, is all. Thank you for your help again!

Post by **Vice** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:12 am

Looking good, thanks for sending the results. Build 1.790 includes the same change, so hopefully it runs correctly now.

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:21 am

Downloading it now, will post the results in the 1.790 thread.