Stuttering ruining immersion

[PACMAN79]

I'm getting stuttering before events happen and at alot of random times also. When its running smooth it's awesome but then I get the stutters and it totally ruins the experience. I have tried checking the integrity on Steam numerous times and it always comes back successful. I have tried reinstalling the game alot of times now and here is the weird thing

PLEASE NOTE - After the game is first installed it runs really smooth on the first playthrough. I then exit and save. Go to play it later and it stutters? Even if I start from the beginning again it stutters? Only when I reinstall does it appear smooth on that first initial playthrough.

Just thought I would see if anyone could help me here and perhaps get to the root cause of the issue.

Information -

FX 4100@4.5GHz
ASUS M5A99X Evo Rv 1 Motherboard
2x2GB Corsair DDR3
GTX 660 Twin Frozr III OC
WD 640GB Caviar Black 64MB Cache HDD
Corsair TX850M PSU
Realtek Sound Drivers - 2.70
1080P Monitor@60Hz

Nvidia Driver - 310.90
Windows 8 Pro

Many thanks in advance

[plutomaniac]

check the sticky guides and provide us with the required info/files as mentioned in Problem X

[maarten12100]

It is not your problem but you cpu is a gpu bottleneck.

[PACMAN79]

Ok I have uploaded the hpl log in my first post.

It seems to be just before sound events that the stutters occur.

@maarten12100 - I have no problems with other games, my cpu may not "scale" as well as an intel i5/i7 but it's perfectly adequate. BF3 Ultra, The Witcher 2, StarCraft 2, GTA IV maxed, Guild Wars 2, Wow, all run smooth.

[plutomaniac]

Uninstall the game via steam (right click it > remove local content) and let it redownload. After the game is installed, before you run it, it might also help to let the game recreate the settings and profiles. That can be done by renaming the folder Amnesia at Documents to Amnesia_OLD(don't delete it because your saves are in there! If the game is fixed we will move them afterwards. Unless you don't have any saves, in that case delete it).

[PACMAN79]

Ok did that, the size of the files and folders it downloaded were exactly the same. I renamed my old Amnesia folder and it recreated settings and a profile. This time I even put up the SSAO to x16. As always, smooth as silk, I played up until the entrance hall, saved and exited. I then start up the game again and it exhibits the stuttering before any ghostly sounds/speech and sometimes when I'm running.
What now? From what I can see the game is being downloaded in its entirety everytime and it is not a steam issue.
Open AL issue? Or perhaps an Nvidia driver issue maybe?

[plutomaniac]

Do a file integrity check, play the game when it stutters and reupload a new hpl.log to see if something has changed. Other people seem to be having the same issues lately when using the steam version.

[PACMAN79]

File integrity came back successfully validated, 3 times in a row. Played for a bit with stuttering. I have attached the HPL log.

[plutomaniac]

I don't know, this happens only with the steam version of the game especially lately a lot. Have you tried disabling background programs? Some of them might interfere, there is a small list of known programs that can cause problems at the troubleshooting guide. Make sure you check them.

[PACMAN79]

Thanks for the help so far, I had a run through the list and tried the suggestions but to no avail. It's a real shame as it looks like such a unique game, had my headphones on earlier and it was enough to make this 33 yr old guy a little bit freaked out lol.
I'll make sure to check with newer driver revisions whether it resolves the issues and will update the thread (always annoys me when people never state if the issue was resolved and how they resolved it)
Meanwhile, if anyone else reads this and has had similar issues, please state what specs you are playing with and on which os/driver combination. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of it