Visit the Ironworks Gaming Website Email the Webmaster Graphics Library Rules and Regulations Help Support Ironworks Forum with a Donation to Keep us Online - We rely totally on Donations from members Donation goal Meter

Ironworks Gaming Radio

Ironworks Gaming Forum

Go Back   Ironworks Gaming Forum > Ironworks Gaming Forums > Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 Also SoU & HotU Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 10-18-2002, 11:10 AM   #1
Ronn_Bman
Zartan
 

Join Date: March 11, 2001
Location: North Carolina USA
Age: 57
Posts: 5,177
I don't think many here have experienced the dreaded "stutter", but according to the posts on the Bioware boards, it's fairly widespread. I posted this there, but that didn't get it completely "out of my system", so I thought I'd vent here, too.....

Anyone notice an increased stutter after defragmenting? Actually, I use Norton's Speed Disc, and afterwards, the stutter becomes exaggerated. Over time, the stutter smooths out, but immediately after a defrag it's really bad. My friend also noticed this after I mentioned it.

Now for my main point. I upgraded my audio driver yesterday, and the game started stuttering worse than ever. I went back to the old driver, but this didn't solve it. I wasn't completely surprised though because I've seen this before when I bought my new graphics card and went through several drivers.

Changes to drivers always seem to cause problems like this, even when I reverted to the original driver. I can usually fix this by uninstalling the game, defragmenting, and then reinstalling, but not this time.

The game was running pretty smooth for the last week or so, since I'd done a fresh install and stopped defragging, but now it's worst than ever, and I'm completely back to my original configuration.

What could possible cause a fresh install, on a newly defragmented hard drive, with the same drivers to run worse than before?

This stutter problem is driving me crazy. So far, I've put over $300 into my $1600 machine to play a game that costs $60. Worse still, now I'm afraid to try and update anything or even defragment because it might take my "acceptable" stutter and make it unacceptable.

I love this game, but last night I just couldn't bring myself to play. The skipping made me too angry... [img]graemlins/madhell.gif[/img]
__________________
[img]\"http://home.carolina.rr.com/orthanc/pics/Spinning%20Hammer%20Sig%20Pic.gif\" alt=\" - \" />
Ronn_Bman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2002, 11:37 AM   #2
realbinky
Elminster
 

Join Date: March 14, 2001
Location: Milford, MA 01757
Age: 52
Posts: 442
Ronn_B, remind us of your system specs. Mention the size and speed/type of your HDD, the free space, the size of swap, and you're using Norton SpeedDisk, right
__________________
<br />Move all ZIG for great PROGRESS!<br />Project M.U.L.E.<br />At least my kids think I\'m smart...
realbinky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2002, 11:54 AM   #3
Ronn_Bman
Zartan
 

Join Date: March 11, 2001
Location: North Carolina USA
Age: 57
Posts: 5,177
Quote:
Originally posted by realbinky:
Ronn_B, remind us of your system specs. Mention the size and speed/type of your HDD, the free space, the size of swap, and you're using Norton SpeedDisk, right
Dell Dimension 8200 w/XP home/Service Pack 1
Intel P4 2GIG
Leadtek GeForce ti4400 w/128MG
SB Live! Value
40 Gig HD(how do I check speed?) /25gig free
512Mg RDRAM w/1024MG virtual memory
Norton's 2002
__________________
[img]\"http://home.carolina.rr.com/orthanc/pics/Spinning%20Hammer%20Sig%20Pic.gif\" alt=\" - \" />
Ronn_Bman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2002, 12:23 PM   #4
realbinky
Elminster
 

Join Date: March 14, 2001
Location: Milford, MA 01757
Age: 52
Posts: 442
Don't use Norton on XP, you CAN, but use XP's defragger, it works even better. Are you using FAT32 or NTFS? Also, if you have Norton, run the WinDoctor. It fixes lots of registry mix-ups. I don't know much about XP home, I use XP Pro, but you seem to have it right. I bet its a standard ATA-66 or 100 drive, at 5400, that's how they keep the price down. Newest nVidia Detonator drivers?
__________________
<br />Move all ZIG for great PROGRESS!<br />Project M.U.L.E.<br />At least my kids think I\'m smart...
realbinky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2002, 12:31 PM   #5
Larry_OHF
Ironworks Moderator
 

Join Date: March 1, 2001
Location: Midlands, South Carolina
Age: 48
Posts: 14,759
Some hard drives have it printed on the label on the part...some do not. I do not know if going to the BIOS would do it for you, but most likely looking up the PC on Dell's home site and look for specs from there to see what came with your machine is as close as I can guess.
Larry_OHF is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2002, 12:55 PM   #6
Ronn_Bman
Zartan
 

Join Date: March 11, 2001
Location: North Carolina USA
Age: 57
Posts: 5,177
NTFS, and I am up to date on the driver. I've run Windocter, and I'm ok there, too. I'll try XP's defragger next time.

I'll take Larry's advise and check the Dell site for my configuration tonight when I get home.

Again, this isn't really specific to me. The Bioware boards are full of people with the stutter problem. It was very minor for me, until this last attempt at a sound driver upgrade.
__________________
[img]\"http://home.carolina.rr.com/orthanc/pics/Spinning%20Hammer%20Sig%20Pic.gif\" alt=\" - \" />
Ronn_Bman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2002, 01:06 PM   #7
realbinky
Elminster
 

Join Date: March 14, 2001
Location: Milford, MA 01757
Age: 52
Posts: 442
Try another sound config (direct sound h/w, or s/w EAX on or off, etc). HD speed is NOT important, but I was curious. If you ever get the chance (like at a re-build) use FAT32, its faster than NTFS and readable in case of an O/S crash, NTFS is not (well, its much harder)
__________________
<br />Move all ZIG for great PROGRESS!<br />Project M.U.L.E.<br />At least my kids think I\'m smart...
realbinky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2002, 02:36 PM   #8
Ronn_Bman
Zartan
 

Join Date: March 11, 2001
Location: North Carolina USA
Age: 57
Posts: 5,177
Unfortunately, I've tried every possible configuration NWN offers with no success.

My plan for tonight is to uninstall NWN(again), uninstall/reinstall the latest sound/video drivers, defragment using the built in XP tool, reinstall the game, upgrade it and pray.

If I can get back to the slight stutter I had before last night, I'll count this a success. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-18-2002, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]
__________________
[img]\"http://home.carolina.rr.com/orthanc/pics/Spinning%20Hammer%20Sig%20Pic.gif\" alt=\" - \" />
Ronn_Bman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-22-2002, 04:28 AM   #9
banzai
Manshoon
 

Join Date: December 3, 2001
Location: Germany
Age: 59
Posts: 199
Just another suggestion - I´ve read it somewhere on a board. Not here and I really can´t remember where.
Some guy posted his solution for his stutter problem. He wrote in his case it wasn´t a driver or even system issue. A simple matter of disconnecting peripherals - he tried one after the other and when he disconnected his printer (yes - it was power-off when playing) the stutter was gone nad never returned.
As far as I can remember he even wrote this procedure (testing the peripherals) solved the stutter problem for one of his friends.

Hope that helps at least a little ...
__________________
Die groessten Elche sind selber welche ...
banzai is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-22-2002, 06:41 AM   #10
Link
Jack Burton
 

Join Date: May 15, 2001
Location: The Netherlands
Age: 39
Posts: 5,888
Well... I'm not having the problems that you say you have, but I do have the following problem. I already addressed it, but I need to be sure if it really is that specific problem;
Every time I close NWN (or another game, but it's NWN what I play most) the computer shuts down completely, restarting, and saying: "The system just restored a huge error". I really don't understand what's happening, so I asked what was wrong, and I got the answer (here @ EG) that my drivers for my video card were probably wrong. Is this true, or is it something else. I can tell you that NWN is the original, and not some fake ass copy.
Thanks in advance!
__________________
Rowing is not a sport, it's a way of life


Goal: Beijing 2008
Link is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
I solved my herky, jerky game stutter problem....Yeah! Ronn_Bman Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 Also SoU & HotU Forum 9 10-21-2002 01:15 PM
Jerky play made worse by Defragmenting? Ronn_Bman Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 Also SoU & HotU Forum 9 10-06-2002 04:07 PM
Drivers: Does your car have a name ?? Pangur Ban General Conversation Archives (11/2000 - 01/2005) 15 08-23-2002 12:48 AM
Drivers Gargoyle General Conversation Archives (11/2000 - 01/2005) 21 05-11-2001 05:22 PM
Jaheria & Viconia stutter bug? Death Baldurs Gate II Archives 1 12-08-2000 05:04 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 11:38 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
©2024 Ironworks Gaming & ©2024 The Great Escape Studios TM - All Rights Reserved