Stuttering, Small freezes and framerate Issues

[jens]

New test and final test for these issues. There is not more to be done with the game that we can find and if problems remain then regular troubleshooting should be done by turning off other programs, updating drivers, lowering settings and so on to try and improve performance on low end hardware.

If you get an issue where the framerate drops, but then can go back up again after 10-20 seconds even if you stay in the same area, this is due to the computer getting hot and clocking down. We added the option to be able to tweak the maximum FPS in the main_settings.cfg file, the default value is MaxFramesPerSec="60", you can lower this to say 30. The result instead of perhaps running at 40-50 FPS and then dipping down to 20 fps as the computer throttles down, you would get a more even constant 30 FPS instead as the computer avoids running as hot. Best is of course to also be in a cool room, have a clean computer and those basics for avoiding overheating.

If you have OK performance and sometimes it dips down, then this is due to the game most of the time running at optimal performance. But if it takes more than 16.7ms to calculate, things will slow down as it has to do more work. This is how the game works and the "fix" is to run the game on hardware that is closer to the recommended, as that gives room for variations of how demanding different areas and events are.

Remember, if you used an earlier test then you have to revert the changes done by it before testing this version. Just to make sure there is not a new issue due to files from different tests.

New test:
http://thedarkswarm.com/downloads/public...utter7.zip

How to use this:
- Download file and unzip it. Then copy/move the contents of the folder into the game directory. If you do this correct Windows will prompt you to overwrite and merge files and folders. Do this (but warning that you will destroy your regular install and will have to redownload if you want it back later.). You can find the location of the game folder in Steam by right-clicking on the game, properties, last tab and click browse local game files.

- You now have to delete the file My Documents/Amnesia/Pig/main_settings.cfg. The game will create a new one with the new settings.

- Launch the game using the launcher, use the settings as detected and do not tweak them. That is use low, medium or high as suitable for your setup.

- Start a new game and go into options and turn off vsync and adaptive sync (also make sure you are not forcing it in the graphic control panel). This to make sure your test is not due to the computer not capable or running at 60FPS.

-Finally start a new game.