Dead space - stuttering badly.

speeduk · 24 Oct 2008 at 13:07

Just installed Dead space.

Main menu and game run awful. Non stop stuttering and looping of audio. Few other people seem to have the problem but the EA support site is not open for the game yet (LOL).

Wasted £26. :mad:

Everything is up to date and system is clean. Farcry 2 runs perfect.

FrenchTart · 24 Oct 2008 at 13:15

Seems like other people aren't having problems so it's most likely something with your rig - can you post hardware specs, driver versions, etc?

speeduk · 24 Oct 2008 at 13:20

Aekeron said:
Seems like other people aren't having problems so it's most likely something with your rig - can you post hardware specs, driver versions, etc?

I'm thinking maybe codec issue but who knows.

Opteron 144 @ 2.6ghz
2gig ram 232mhz
8800GTS 178.24 drivers
AC97 (latest drivers)
Win xp service pack 3

System is clean and defragged. Farcry 2 runs sweet as does everything else (except CS which seems to be broken).

EDIT: Been monitoring task manager - services.exe is using up 25% of cpu. Theres something dodgy going on maybe with codecs.

smithy83 · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:01

speeduk said:
I'm thinking maybe codec issue but who knows.

Opteron 144 @ 2.6ghz
2gig ram 232mhz
8800GTS 178.24 drivers
AC97 (latest drivers)
Win xp service pack 3

System is clean and defragged. Farcry 2 runs sweet as does everything else (except CS which seems to be broken).

EDIT: Been monitoring task manager - services.exe is using up 25% of cpu. Theres something dodgy going on maybe with codecs.

Publishers Minimum System

Processor: Pentium 4 2.8Ghz or Equivalent /
Display Card!: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 256MB /
ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 256MB
Memory: 1024MB
Free Disk Space: 7GB
Operating System: Windows XP / Vista

think thats your problem your system doesnt meet the min specs

FrenchTart · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:02

smithy83 said:
Publishers Minimum System

Processor: Pentium 4 2.8Ghz or Equivalent /
Display Card!: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 256MB /
ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 256MB
Memory: 1024MB
Free Disk Space: 7GB
Operating System: Windows XP / Vista

think thats your problem your system doesnt meet the min specs

I'm pretty sure his 2.6ghz Opteron walks all over a 2.8ghz P4.

smithy83 · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:05

Aekeron said:
I'm pretty sure his 2.6ghz Opteron walks all over a 2.8ghz P4.

still only a single core cpu tho if you want games to run decent your going to need a duel core

tryied to run assassins creed on a 3700+ never again

FrenchTart · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:06

smithy83 said:
still only a single core cpu tho if you want games to run decent your going to need a duel core

tryied to run assassins creed on a 3700+ never again

Yet the minimum specs don't ask for dual-core, so your point is still pretty invalid...and ignores the fact that FarCry 2 and other games run fine.

smithy83 · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:12

Aekeron said:
Yet the minimum specs don't ask for dual-core, so your point is till pretty invalid...and ignores the fact that FarCry 2 and other games run fine.

dead space aint far cry 2 tho

plus you shouldnt expect that much from min spec always go by the recomened specs on the box

speeduk · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:12

smithy83 said:
Publishers Minimum System

Processor: Pentium 4 2.8Ghz or Equivalent /
Display Card!: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 256MB /
ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 256MB
Memory: 1024MB
Free Disk Space: 7GB
Operating System: Windows XP / Vista

think thats your problem your system doesnt meet the min specs

Er its equiv to a P4 at 5ghz.

speeduk · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:14

smithy83 said:
dead space aint far cry 2 tho

plus you shouldnt expect that much from min spec always go by the recomened specs on the box

So you NEED a dual core cpu to run the game? Bearing in mind crysis warhead also runs fine on MAX settings on this rig.

If that is true then thats awful coding.

FrenchTart · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:14

smithy83 said:
dead space aint far cry 2 tho

plus you shouldnt expect that much from min spec always go by the recomened specs on the box

Then why did you bother quoting the minimum specs?

Indeed, Dead Space isn't any game aside from....Dead Space, but if all other games perform fine it's patently obvious that it's an issue with that particular game. I really can't imagine that the OP's spec can't cope with the game, even if they have to run it in low settings.

smithy83 · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:16

speeduk said:
So you NEED a dual core cpu to run the game? Bearing in mind crysis warhead also runs fine on MAX settings on this rig.

If that is true then thats awful coding.

or a bad port :rolleyes:

FrenchTart · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:19

smithy83 said:
or a bad port

That I can't argue with. Does sound rather poorly ported from what I've heard.

I'd still expect the OP to be able to run it.

Strife212 · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:29

I'm suprised a 2.8ghz single core still plays modern games to be honest

FrenchTart · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:31

Strife212 said:
I'm suprised a 2.8ghz single core still plays modern games to be honest

Most games don't get a huge benefit from dual/quad core, no matter what the marketeers or e-peeners would like you to think.

At the mid range, single core is still quite viable, though I'd never buy a new system with single core myself (and I'm quite happy with my 3.2gig c2d).

keogh · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:32

Outta curiosity, what screen res do you run the game at?

speeduk · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:36

Strife212 said:
I'm suprised a 2.8ghz single core still plays modern games to be honest

Me 2.

1360x765 4xAA 8xAF as I play on 32" HDTV which looks AMAZING. The GTS is oced to 600/850 (from 530/770)

Crysis warhead set to max = 30-70fps (mostly about 45) very playable.

Farcry 2 set to max (except shadows high) 35-90fps (mostly about 45).

Racedriver Grid max = 35-70fps

COD4 max = 40-110fps (60 avg).

Playing at a low res on HD TV not only looks amazing, but means I dont have to upgrade hardware for a while too.

keogh said:
Outta curiosity, what screen res do you run the game at?

Trying at 1360x765 native res.

JediFragger · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:43

I think we can pretty much rule out the cpu being the problem

Sounds awfully like a driver/irq conflict though if it's really bad...

speeduk · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:48

JediFragger said:
I think we can pretty much rule out the cpu being the problem

Sounds awfully like a driver/irq conflict though if it's really bad...

The main point is services.exe using 25% cpu only when this game is running. Like its constantly stopping and starting a bunch of stuff when it shouldn't.

Been reading on their forums and apparently if you turn hardware audio acceleration down to basic it fixes it. Tried it and now it just runs for a half a second, pauses for half a second then runs again.

I'm thinking a patch is due.

Edit: Had a responce from their forum and they said;

"Try turning off v-sync

This is a common issue with the game. "

I will try that in 15 mins when this virus scan is complete (broken games are making me paranoid).

AWPC · 24 Oct 2008 at 14:52

Try disabling vsync as on some systems this is a problem with stuttering. Personally I have found Dead Space to be rock solid stable and very smooth for me and think it is one of the best console ports I have ever played.

Disable AA as the game does not support it anyway and that can cause conflicts as it has a lot of post process FX like smoke & debris this will even bring a GTX280 to its knees with AA.