GF4 Ti-4200 stutters

[teropa 4]

Hi!I just upgraded to a Gainward GF4 Ti-4200 64(and AXP 2000+ along with a SiS745 chipset mobo).Framerates are "out the roof" even though I haven't tweaked anything yet. :) There's a problem though: stutters. In dense areas, where FPS still stays high (25-30), I get these annoying stutters, like every 2 seconds the display pauses for a tiny moment and "jumps".What could be causing this ? Any help greatly appreciated...Specs: Gainward GF4 Ti-4200 64, ECS K7S6A mobo (SiS745), AXP 2000+ processor, 256MB Spectec PC2100 (266) DDR. Using the v28.32 Detonators.I'm running Win XP Pro, so could it be that the 256MB isn't enough, even though I have nothing running in the background?Thanks!Tero

[Guest]

I get the same problem with a 64 meg GF4 Ti 4200 card by LeadTek...I dont think RAM is the problem considering I have 512, though I would recommend that if you can get good prices on RAM to go ahead and move up to 512. The more RAM, the better...Hope someone has some suggestions on the stutters.

[Guest flightpro08]

Ummm, interesting. The thing about stutters is that it could be a million different things ranging from bad RAM to overheating. My first suggestion would be to try the new det 30.30 drivers availible from as they seem to work very well with XP and my GF4 Ti4600. Then, I would run a different 'game' besides FS2k2 and see of the stuttering continues. Also, try deleting your FS2002.cfg file. FS2k2 will build a new one on its next boot. All you have to do is change all your settings back. If you still have problems, try coming back here, maybe someone else will have better ideas.Ryan-Flightpro08 :-cool[link:www.taxiwaysigns.com]Taxiwaysigns.com

[Guest gasebah]

Well I guess the problem is RAM. Not the amount of ram but the speed of it. I have the same prob with my GF4600Ti. Framerates are no prob even with AA 4s + AF2. But I get these stutters and did not find any workaround so far. I also use Lennart's texture which seem to take a little more time to load. My best way to "fix" these is to disable gradual transition in the view options. If u do this the stutters are hardly noticable, as the picture will not jump anymore.By the way, the 30.30s will not solve the prob.Alex

[teropa 4]

Alex,You mean the GF4 RAMs or the 266DDRs are too slow?Seriously?Tero

[Guest gasebah]

I guess it is a system ram problem not a graphics card problem. Iam running a lot of add-ons in the background usually like FSMeteo, FDC, FSNav. I also have a two monitor setup with FSNav and usually the FMC or GPS or whatever the particular plane has is running on the 2nd monitor. Let's face it our machines are sipmly still too slow to get all the stuff together. By the time FS2004 is here we will have the computers to run FS2002 properly.Alex

[Guest]

Same problem here. TI-4600 512Ram MSI with XP1800 (1024x768/32 and 2xAA). However, I did find out that when reducing the cockpit visuals quality of the virtual cockpit (don't remember the correct name - I'm at work right now ;-) the stutters are gone. Of course the visual quality of the gauges in VC are then greatly reduced. But you can overcome this problem when you rise the pixel_size in the panel.cfg of the aircraft to 1024,1024 of each panel. I guess my stutters/jerkyness come from a combination of VC-quality and AA-settings. I don't know. Right now I re-size each pixel_size in each panel to 1024 and leave the VC-quality slider in the low position. Works for me.Daniel

[Guest gasebah]

That is an interesting suggestion. do you have the same VC panel quality after this? I am asking because I control 95% of the cockpit with the GoFlight Controls and hardly ever fly in the 2D cockpit.I can only change settings later today as I am at work now too :-).Alex

[Guest]

Hi AlexHere's what I found out: Some panel.cfg under section (Vcockpit01/02/03 etc.) define the pixel_size at 256 or even less, resulting in a very poor visual quality, even with the general cockpit quality slider at high. Changing the pixel_size to 1024,1024 results in a very crisp visual quality of the gauges in VC, but the sim itself starts stuttering. When selecting low quality (slider left) of the cockpit quality the stutters stop and the quality of the gauges is still 'usable'. In some cases better than with the original panel.cfg AND high cockpit quality settings. I need to do some further research with pixel_size 512 and high quality settings. I only found this out last sunday and been simming ever since with a silky smooth sim. Before that I was constantly tweaking the bios settings, nvidia drivers etc. to no avail, nearly going nuts. (I even went as far as to reinstall WIN98 and all necessary updates after format:c). Of course I forgot to backup some passwords - even some payware addons got lost - stupid me).Try out the VC quality settings. Of course I don't need to remind you to backup the original panel.cfg first, don't I?Daniel

[Guest gasebah]

Thx fr all that thorough explanation. I will try this evening with the Archer II.Thx,Alex

[Guest PaulL01]

>Hi! >>I just upgraded to a Gainward GF4 Ti-4200 64(and AXP 2000+ >along with a SiS745 chipset mobo). >>Framerates are "out the roof" even though I haven't tweaked >anything yet. :) There's a problem though: stutters. In >dense areas, where FPS still stays high (25-30), I get these >annoying stutters, like every 2 seconds the display pauses >for a tiny moment and "jumps". >>What could be causing this ? Any help greatly appreciated... >>Specs: Gainward GF4 Ti-4200 64, ECS K7S6A mobo (SiS745), AXP >2000+ processor, 256MB Spectec PC2100 (266) DDR. Using the >v28.32 Detonators. >>I'm running Win XP Pro, so could it be that the 256MB isn't >enough, even though I have nothing running in the >background? >>Thanks! >>TeroI will reply to you here as well Tero, SiS has a new AGP driver out for the 745 have you applied that yet? Did you completely remove the old drvers from your system before installing the new ones? Are you sure you don't ave any other programs like Anti-virus running in the backround?Are any other devices sharring an IRQ with it? there should be just one IRQ for the video card and it usualy is 11. Nvidia recommends as one of the last resorts (Gforce faq under "stutters")that you can shrink the AGP aperture size (should be at 128mb right now), you can try this if all else fails, but try it one step at a time, 64 then 32 but no smaller as then it will be disabled.For an XP system it is true that 256mb is on the low side for running FS2k2 but I dont think that is the cause of your constant stutters.

[Guest gasebah]

Hi Paul,I also found out that the IRQ sharing in WinXP seems to be the problem. However a computer installed as ACPI will not allow for external(BIOS)IRQ setting. Moreover I have graeter problem. I reinstalled the computer as a standard computer and am now able to assign my own IRQs. But now here it comes:IRQ11 is shared with the onboard NEC-USB Controller and that is no PCI card. No way to change this, right?I would really appreciate any help on this.Rgds,Alex

[Guest]

I think if you disable AGP fastwrites using a tweak utility, your stutters will go away. I had the same problem and that is how I got rid of it. You can still use AGP 4X, just stop the fastwrites and sidebanding.Robb

[teropa 4]

Guys,I think I located the origin for my stutters: the RAM.The 256 chip I have simply is not enough. I found out that I have 4% physical memory left, when I use FS2002 with all maxed out at 1280*960*32. I have nothing else running in the background...Now I also noticed HDD led flashing quickly everytime there was a stutter (~ 2 sec in dense areas), so it was trying to use HDD swap file as memory.I'm getting another PC2100 256 DDR today after work, and will report later about the outcome with the extra mem.Cheers,Tero

[Guest gasebah]

Well Tero,I have 512MB, and still the same prob as yourself.Alex