[Problem X] Giving up on AMFP. [Fixed]

[Vikernes]

This is really frustrating. I have been trying to get rid of stuttering without any success. My system is:

Phenom II x4 @ 3.67Ghz
12GB Corsair ram @ 1670Mhz
R9 380

Which is more than enough to max this game out graphically, and maintain a decent framerate. SOMA runs beautifully (it has it's share of stuttering too, but this one I managed to fix!) and The Dark Descent runs even better, never even stuttered.

I tried the sound streaming fix (which improved the performance but still stutters), I tried RadeonPro to force vsync and triple buffering which had always fixed stuttering issues in various games, I even tried playing AMFP with 1280x720 res and everything low. It stutters exactly the same way. I tried running the game in windowed mode or borderless windowed mode, which usually fixes any stuttering/vsync issues (everygame nowadays has vsync issues, it's ridiculous, games are not tested properly). Nothing, the stuttering gets even worse in windowed mode. Is it that hard to prioritize triple buffering in games? The framerates don't have to be cut from 60 to 30 when it oscillates between 60 and 59.

This game is not demanding and the trouble I'm having in trying to fix it isn't worthy of the money I spent on it. So I don't get it and I'm giving up on it. I regret having spent money on this. I wish I could refund it.

[7heDubz]

So, V-Sync is kind of a frame lock per say.

Did you try ever, you know. Leaving V-sync off? Triple buffering kind of locks it at 30 fps the way double locks it at 60 so, yes as far as the game engine knows, dropping to 59 means it needs to drop to 30, because your unable to hold a steady 60 (so to speak).

Have you tried everything here?

Please provide us your HPL.log

[Vikernes]

So, V-Sync is kind of a frame lock per say.

I know that. Besides the fact that the game is unplayable without vsync because of screen tearing, yes, I tried it without vsync. It still hampers the framerate on the same spots. It still stutters, the performance is all over the place. And saying that "well, that proves your system can't run the game at 60 fps" is a logical fallacy.

If it isn't, then I'm really honestly curious about what the hell is so demanding about this game, that makes it run like this with everything on low, graphical features all turned off (no SSAO, no nothing), and a resolution of 1280x720, every background program turned off including steam overlay, radeon settings, sound options, everything turned off.

The log file you asked for is attached here. It is in rar because forum can't handle attachments larger than 100kb.

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Also,





CPU isn't being pushed past 35% usage and GPU usage oscillates between 0 and 30'ish %.

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Lol, even with the GPU clocks forced to their maximum default values the game refuses to use the resources it has at its disposal.




Well?

[7heDubz]

I didn't say that you system couldn't run it at 60, nor that it proves anything about your system. All systems will have dips when the game loads some things, that's just it, it could dip a frame for just a second because of this on even the most powerful system.

Anyways moving on, I'm finding a LOT of errors in your log, could you verify the integrity of your steam cache for me and let me know if that fixes it.

If you have retail reinstall the game. It shouldn't affect any saves.

[Vikernes]

Sorry if I jumped to conclusions, I just read somewhere on the forum someone saying that if it didn't reach stable 60fps without v-sync, it was the machine that was insufficient. I also noticed those errors on the log, but I didn't give them much thought, since I installed the game recently. I have the Steam version. Those errors are maybe related to that "sound fix" in which every *.snt file is altered ftom Stream=false to true.

I'm going to check file integrity and/or reinstall. No problem about saves, since I never even started playing for real because of this, I'd love to enjoy this game the way it was meant to be enjoyed.

Thanks for putting up with this.

EDIT: Tried checking integrity, steam found a bunch of bad files, it replaced them, tried game again, performance is the same, checked the log, the same errors all over. Going to reinstall from scratch.

[7heDubz]

Interesting,

okay. I want you to try something.

After it finishes reinstalling play the game. If it has the same issues, do an integrity check.

Then do another check immediately after the first one. If it doesn't find anything wrong the second time, play the game.

If it once again has the same issues do another integrity check, then let me know if it says there are bad files again after this.

[Vikernes]

Interesting, okay. I want you to try something.
*snip*

Ok, so I reinstalled the game, tried playing and performance was worse, same slowdowns as before and one huge and regular lag spike ir stutter, as soon as I left the first room.

Then checked integrity again and there were no bad files found. Checked the log and the errors were present. Then tried playing again, same results. I repeated this process like you said, to no avail, same results: no bad files found, errors on the log, same bad performance. I'm attaching the log again.

Also, settings are still the same: 1280*720, everything low, no SSAO, every graphical feature off. V-sync also off.

[Mudbill]

For the record I believe the log containing errors is normal (I'd blame The Chinese Room for that). There are a lot of harmless errors in there but nothing that should really be an issue for the game, but you never know.

Have you tried running the settings launcher and just selecting the "medium" preset of settings? I know that some games for some reason run worse on the lowest settings, perhaps because they aren't tested enough on different systems. Not sure.

Another thing which might or might not help is to try editing the config file manually. Head on over to Documents\Amnesia\Pig and check the main_settings.cfg file with a text editor. There's a field called LimitFPS="true" and a field called Vsync="false" (in mine). I presume your Vsync will be on, but perhaps setting LimitFPS to false will help. This setting is not present in the in-game settings hence why you need to edit the config.

[Vikernes]

God damn!

I fixed my stuttering. So, having tried everything mentioned in this thread without any luck, I had given up trying to fix the issue, but tonight I had the Amnesia itch again, and went back to the bittersweet Machine For Pigs. But it's running smooth as butter right now! The intermittent stutter I had been complaining about is gone.

I just unplugged my xbox usb controller. Must be one of those usb driver loop thingies that affect other games as well.

In celebration I'm gonna start from the beginning.

[7heDubz]

Glad to hear it! Sorry we couldn't be of more help.

It's interesting that that would happen though. supposed to be compatible with controllers.