Witcher 3 stuttering

[ChrisD.]

The game runs along at 60 fps using V Sync absolutely fine, however now and then, especially with slower movements, or movements which are sudden eg turning whilst sprinting on a horse I get a fair amount of stutter. The PC is more than powerful enough for it so I feel as if it's a V Sync setting perhaps that's causing it?

Would getting a G Sync monitor help at all?

 

[shankly1985]

System spec? Have you tried using vsync off?

 

[ChrisD.]

In my sig:

ntel i7 5960X|Samsung 960 Evo 1TB SSD|1080 Ti
MSI X99A XPower|16GB DDR4|LG 34UC97-P|Dell U2713H

I have but it tears quite a lot and to be honest I don't remember if stuttering solved it.

 

[shankly1985]

In my sig:

ntel i7 5960X|Samsung 960 Evo 1TB SSD|1080 Ti
MSI X99A XPower|16GB DDR4|LG 34UC97-P|Dell U2713H

I have but it tears quite a lot and to be honest I don't remember if stuttering solved it.

Rig is is 100% not the issue here. Try again without vsync ignore screen teary for now. See if the stuttering is removed.

Something else you could try is nvidia FastSync I think it's call. Create a witcher 3 profile and set the FPS above monitor refresh rate in your case max 75fps FastSync will remove all screen tear of the frame rate is above the refresh rate.

1080ti should have no issue holding 75fps depending on resolution you using.

 

[ChrisD.]

Rig is is 100% not the issue here. Try again without vsync ignore screen teary for now. See if the stuttering is removed.

Something else you could try is nvidia FastSync I think it's call. Create a witcher 3 profile and set the FPS above monitor refresh rate in your case max 75fps FastSync will remove all screen tear of the frame rate is above the refresh rate.

1080ti should have no issue holding 75fps depending on resolution you using.

Monitor is only 60hz, I take it holding higher than that won't be an issue? I'll give it a go this evening if I have enough time. I have read a few posts that suggest locking fps to 59 via Nvidia control panel and turning off V Sync but I haven't tried that yet.

Resolution is 3440x1440 (Ultra Wide) and all settings max.

 

[ltron]

The game runs along at 60 fps using V Sync absolutely fine, however now and then, especially with slower movements, or movements which are sudden eg turning whilst sprinting on a horse I get a fair amount of stutter. The PC is more than powerful enough for it so I feel as if it's a V Sync setting perhaps that's causing it?

Would getting a G Sync monitor help at all?

I have lots of stuttering in this game on a GTX 1080 and Gsync Dell S2716DG 1440P 144Hz monitor. I also have a [email protected] and 32GB Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 2133MHz. The game is running on a Samsung NVME SM961 512GB SSD.

I don't know whether it is an Nvidia driver/Palit BIOS problem, X99 issue or RAM frequency issue. What frequency is your RAM running at and what power plan are using in Windows?

 

[ChrisD.]

I have lots of stuttering in this game on a GTX 1080 and Gsync Dell S2716DG 1440P 144Hz monitor. I also have a [email protected] and 32GB Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 2133MHz. The game is running on a Samsung NVME SM961 512GB SSD.

I don't know whether it is an Nvidia driver/Palit BIOS problem, X99 issue or RAM frequency issue. What frequency is your RAM running at and what power plan are using in Windows?

No idea what the RAM is set to, it's all at default settings. I lost my overclock once as the BIOS reset and I noticed no difference so just left it all alone.

 

[Smoogels]

Is the stuttering only present in Witcher or also in other games?

I often got stutters in Witcher seemingly when loading assets, which was worst when on the horse or NPCs spawning.

Everytime I stuttered I had a hard fault by a Windows Defender process. Disabling the realtime protection helped reduce the frequency of them for me. The stuttering also got worse when standby memory gets large (which in turn results in more hard faults). Clearing the standby memory with a tool like RAMMap before loading the game helped improve the stutters. I know hard faults are normal to an extent, but for some reason the stutters seemed to frequently match when a hard fault occurred by the defender process.

Windows version 1607 is stutter free, but anything newer and I get stutters in most games on my 1080.

I would also use MSI afterburner to monitor the game to check if any other symptoms occur when stuttering like dropped clock speed, temps, frametime spikes etc

 

[ChrisD.]

Is the stuttering only present in Witcher or also in other games?

I don't play many games, but it isn't present in Farcry 5, Titanfall 2 and AC: Origins.

I use MSI on my Logitech keyboard and everything looks fine. As far as it is concerned, I'm still getting 60 fps.

 

[ltron]

No idea what the RAM is set to, it's all at default settings. I lost my overclock once as the BIOS reset and I noticed no difference so just left it all alone.

Does your RAM have an XMP profile? I know from Digital Foundry videos that the Witcher 3 is highly RAM speed dependent. When I had my AMD 390X setting shadows to medium would get rid of all stutter in this game and I'd have a locked 60FPS. However, I was very disappointed when I got my 1080 as I got more stutter even though frame rate was much higher and the medium shadows trick didn't work.

The Witcher 3 is the game that I have most issues with in terms of stutter. Many other games run fine or just have the occasional hitch.

 

[ChrisD.]

Does your RAM have an XMP profile? I know from Digital Foundry videos that the Witcher 3 is highly RAM speed dependent. When I had my AMD 390X setting shadows to medium would get rid of all stutter in this game and I'd have a locked 60FPS. However, I was very disappointed when I got my 1080 as I got more stutter even though frame rate was much higher and the medium shadows trick didn't work.

I'm pretty sure it does, is that worth giving a go then?

 

[ltron]

I'm pretty sure it does, is that worth giving a go then?

I think so. Also, tell me what speed the RAM is set to by XMP when you find out. I can't go above 2133 without manually overclocking so it would be interesting to find out whether it makes any difference.

 

[Kelt]

The game runs along at 60 fps using V Sync absolutely fine, however now and then, especially with slower movements, or movements which are sudden eg turning whilst sprinting on a horse I get a fair amount of stutter. The PC is more than powerful enough for it so I feel as if it's a V Sync setting perhaps that's causing it?

Would getting a G Sync monitor help at all?

Make sure Vsync is on within NVCP and off within game and set the frame limit to 60 (in game option).

I run at 1080P, maxed out (except I use FXAA) including hairworks (again no AA) and I get zero stutter (so far)...and my ancient ram only runs at 1600Mhz.

 

[ChrisD.]

Make sure Vsync is on within NVCP and off within game and set the frame limit to 60 (in game option).

I run at 1080P, maxed out (except I use FXAA) including hairworks (again no AA) and I get zero stutter (so far)...and my ancient ram only runs at 1600Mhz.

Ah, I will give that a go. Thanks.

 

[Kelt]

Ah, I will give that a go. Thanks.

Gotta be worth a shot...
To amend my earlier post...I run Hairworks at 2xAA.

 

[tyler_jrb]

Drop AA down or off. I’ve had stutter in the past with TW3 and turning AA off has stopped it. Worth a try.

I would also ensure your running optimal mode in nvidia 3d panel, have had issues with it running adaptive mode.

 

[ChrisD.]

Drop AA down or off. I’ve had stutter in the past with TW3 and turning AA off has stopped it. Worth a try.

I would also ensure your running optimal mode in nvidia 3d panel, have had issues with it running adaptive mode.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but why would the FPS counter show a constant 60 fps? In normal scenes, frames never drop and all is smooth.

I've never looked at anything in the Nvidia CP, I'll see if I get a game pass shortly from the mrs and give it a go.

 

[Kelt]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but why would the FPS counter show a constant 60 fps? In normal scenes, frames never drop and all is smooth.

I've never looked at anything in the Nvidia CP, I'll see if I get a game pass shortly from the mrs and give it a go.

By default NVCP sets power at optimal.

Personally I've found this causes stuttering in a number of games as demand goes up and down and the driver cuts power correspondingly.

I always change it (game by game, not universally) to maximum performance.

 

[HRL]

I get a tiny bit of stutter when I first load up a save point but I give it 10 seconds or so before playing and it’s then stutter free.

That’s everything maxed but no Hairworks @ 1080P, with my lowly RX480 and an i7-4771.

 

[ChrisD.]

I think so. Also, tell me what speed the RAM is set to by XMP when you find out. I can't go above 2133 without manually overclocking so it would be interesting to find out whether it makes any difference.

There’s two profiles, one is 2666Mhz and the other is 3000.