Ever since I updated to Windows 10 1903 (with a clean install), I can’t play on DX10 anymore, because I get stutters/freezes every few seconds. It’s fine on DX9, even though I have less average fps, not counting the stuttering.
I have tried disabling Windows Game Mode, Borderless/Fullscreen, changing audio settings in patcher, uninstalling AoC Quick start. Nothing helps. Today I have updated to 1909 and it’s still the same. I had no problems playing on DX10 before Win version 1903. And I have no problems with any other game either.
In addition to this, alt+tab twice seems to help for me. No idea why. I guess it (re)prioritizes aoc. This was also mentioned in the thread that patoson shared.
I just got 3 freezes riding around OT today, so I guess I didn’t fix it. And, about the graphic driver, I’ve been through many different ones and it’s the same for DX10 in AoC for me.
I think these freezes always happen if something loads into your distance setting, right? At least that’s what I observed when I was still playing. Whenever I reached the trade post in OT (medium distance setting) I would get a freeze for roughly a second. Same happened in other places as well, like reaching Pin-Pin where lots of NPCs are.
Have you tried out setting these sliders to different values?
How about clearing the shader cache in AOC Directory. There is one for dx9 and Dx10. You can just delete the file and it gradually builds up over time. But you will notice first time lags when ever you encounter a new object or Region for the first time. So if it doesnt help just backup the old file. But it might be corrupted especially since you observe problems with one DX but not the other.
Yeah, I figured that it had to do with the cache. It had been so long since I played on DX10 that I forgot that the first few times in each area you get these stutters, and I suppose that the occasional one in crowded places will still happen, but other than that it’s quite smooth.
I guess I fixed it with the Low textures then, because I’ve done a Chaos run and a few minigames and it was fine. I’m glad because other than these annoying stutters, fps are better overall.
I experience a lot more freezes since I switched to Windows 10 as well. The client is unresponsive for multiple seconds but alt tabbing between programs still works smoothly. Fresh aoc install. I always used the DX10 client on Win7 and rarely had an issue.
Will give the low texture thing a try.