Horrific stuttering (i7 6700k, Vega 56)

Conan Exiles PC Discussion
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Game mode: All
Type of issue: Performance
Server type: All
Region: EU

Edit: Previous video was pish. Made it at 3am, so I recorded a much better video the now: https://youtu.be/AW4wgC1f-10

Timestamps:

Hitching when running: https://youtu.be/AW4wgC1f-10?t=34 & https://youtu.be/AW4wgC1f-10?t=48 & https://youtu.be/AW4wgC1f-10?t=51

Hitching when panning the camera: https://youtu.be/AW4wgC1f-10?t=83

Severe Stuttering: https://youtu.be/AW4wgC1f-10?t=73 & https://youtu.be/AW4wgC1f-10?t=112 & https://youtu.be/AW4wgC1f-10?t=117

Edit2: Recorded two more videos, elaborating on the stutter.

First half of this video is recorded with the fps limited in-game to 30, which shows the abrupt hitches and stutters. Second half is at 60fps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpIqfKxKqsI

This video shows the stutter happening when moving back and forth across an NPC camp. When reaching specific parts of the scene, the stuttering occurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIdXjLvfqLU

Specs:

OS: Windows 10 1809 x64 LTSC 2019
CPU: i7 6700k (HT disabled, also tested with HT enabled)
GPU: AMD RX Vega 56
GPU drivers tested: AMD Pro 20.q1.2-apr21 , 20.2.2-mar5 , and 20.4.2-apr23
RAM: 2x16GB DDR4 3000Mhz
Mobo: ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming
OS Drive (SATA SSD): Crucial MX500
Game drive (NVME): Adata XPG SX8200
Sound card: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro

AMD Driver Settings: https://i.imgur.com/5pC9tNh.png

The first minute is footage of me panning the camera back and forth, which increases the likelihood of a stutter occurring. The next minute is where I just run and sprint normally.

As you can see, it’s horrid. The game will stutter every few seconds when in movement. But when not moving nor panning the camera? The game is smooth as silk The weirdest part, is that this behaviour is 100% the same on a fresh install of Windows 10 LTSC 2019, which I just installed in a vain hope a fresh OS install would clear this up. Unfortunately not.

This issue did not occur when I previously played, with the exact same hardware and OS install, back around November with a couple of friends. They have NVidia GPUs, and after asking them to join my server and see if there was any stutter for them, they didn’t suffer this frequent stuttering.

The GPU driver plays no role in the stuttering. When using a newer vs older driver, there’s no difference. Changing every setting to off, on, or default, also makes no difference. Using a clean install of Windows 10 LTSC 2019 also makes no difference.

I’ve tested modded multiplayer with my server, vanilla multiplayer, modded single player, and vanilla single player. The issue persists with the exact same severity.

Same thing with Battleeye vs no Battleeye. The issue is unaffected by the anti-cheat. So no luck there either.

Please provide a step-by-step process of how the bug can be reproduced. The more details you provide us with the easier it will be for us to find and fix the bug:

  1. Use an AMD Vega 56 GPU
  2. Get in-game, doesn’t matter if single player or multiplayer.
  3. Sprint across the game map, optionally panning the camera to look around
  4. The game will hitch for an instant every couple seconds if panning the camera, or after about 6-8 seconds when just sprinting without changing the camera
2 Likes
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Updated with a new video. Previous one was horribly done.

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Chances are this is a driver issue with AMD they have recently admitted to the newer adrenaline drivers having an issue. Could also help to post this on AMD forums.

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See, I figured that could be the issue. So I even reverted to the same drivers I used back then: 19.10.1. But that also exhibits the exact same behaviour.

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Added two other videos showing the stutter re-occurring at specific parts of the scene. After several hours of testing, troubleshooting, faffing around with drivers, a fresh install of Windows 10, none of it made a lick of difference.

The stutters happen at specific points in the game’s scenes, rather than it being tied to any background processing, network activity, GPU usage, CPU usage, etc. Whilst testing with a friend, we found that it’s the same for any player at these specific problem points. The caveat being that they also had an AMD GPU, the RX 580, running on Windows 10 Pro with a Ryzen 2200G.

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Your videos show exactly the same kind of stuttering that I am experiencing as well. Did lots of testing yesterday north of Sepermeru and can confirm as well that it occurs at specific points.

I am running it on Win 10pro, SSD, Nvidia GPU GTX 1080, i7 and 32 GB RAM - all drivers up to date. So I don’t think it’s an AMD issue.

Edit: will try this evening with removing Realtek drivers with DDU and setting to laptop mode in main menu, then switching back to normal settings in game. Did read this in other posts and will give it a try.

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I tried exactly that with my Creative Soundblaster drivers. It made no difference.

Since you experience the same behaviour, that quickly shows it’s not an issue of drivers nor specs; both have SSDs, both have i7s, both have lots of RAM, both have beefy GPUs, and happens on both 1809 based Windows 10 and 1903/1909.

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Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. At least we now know it’s not just an errant user set up.

I’m currently downloading the October 9 2019 build of Conan Exiles, and will edit the OP to report back on how that goes.

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Just so you know, this is not an AMD related issue. The game performs poorly on my Intel/Nvidia system which exceeds system requirements. The game runs smooth for a couple of my friends who have AMD gear. I usually get worse stuttering that what I’m seeing in your videos.
I’m glad you posted this…maybe they’ll take you seriously. I’ve been playing the “diagnostic” game for two years and am done. I’ll be keeping my eye on this post.

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Aye, now that others have come forward, we know it’s not a driver thing. Especially since I did all that ungodly testing. If you get your friends to go to the same spots in the videos, with the console command stat unitgraph active, do they get the same hitches and stutters?

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We didn’t go to the spot you’re specifically in on the videos. But they have joined me at places where it happens on my rig. They say theirs run smooth as butter in spots where I’m stuttering like crazy. For me it happens all over the map, not just in one area.
One of my cohorts told me he occasionally gets a hiccup…that’s about it.

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Try asking them to switch on that graph, then get them to stand in the same spot that causes you to stutter. When they pan their camera about, it should be clear if they don’t experience it, or are just ignoring it.

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Did a bit more testing. One thing I recognized. From one of my first installs, I still had the Steam Launch Options for Conan Exiles set with this

-USEALLAVAILABLECORES -NOSPLASH -PREFERREDPROCESSOR 8 -NOTEXTURESTREAMING

I now removed it. The stutters still persist at the same points, but the frame drops aren’t as bad as they were before, so its less noticeable. In the past when the stutter ocured, I lost 13-15 fps, now its 5-10. I’m not a techie, but maybe this information will help someone to identify the issue.

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Oh, I see…good idea. I’ll see if I can arrange that. I haven’t played in months.

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Update: I tested a build of Conan Exiles from October 9th, Revision #147178/22189. It showed similar behaviour, though the stutter was much less frequent, with some spots no longer causing any stutter when moving around and/or panning the camera at that position.

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