Spinoff : Stutter when someone leaves the pits

[danowat]

Ok, had an extended play with the new patch last night, lovin the new mirrors, seeing them now makes me wonder why we had to wait so long to get them like that, but I digress.

Right, this leaving pit stutter is killing me now, it is much worse for me now than it ever was :(

[Blackout]

Right, this leaving pit stutter is killing me now, it is much worse for me now than it ever was :(

Really? For me it was worse in patch V than ever before (don't know if there was any of it before U/V) but now it's gone.

[danowat]

Yup, RLY, I was on the STCC servers last night, and the stutter when someone left the pits was very bad, much more apparent than in previous versions.

[Scawen]

Yup, RLY, I was on the STCC servers last night, and the stutter when someone left the pits was very bad, much more apparent than in previous versions.Were you actually driving at the time? Remember the real big part of the pit lag reduction system (the delayed texture loading - which has not changed at all in V2) is only active for people who are driving at speed. Sometimes people complain about pit-out lag that is suddenly worse in a new patch, because they see it when they are spectating. Unfortunately they don't notice that that never happens when they are driving.

Textures are loaded instantly, without delay when :

- You are spectating
- Your car is moving extremely slowly
- The race is restarting

There is no change in that. The V2 pit-out glitch reduction is one very tiny change that is probably less than a millisecond for most people. Not even worth discussing really but pit-out glitch reduction is all about saving fractions of milliseconds, hundreds of times.

[danowat]

Yes, I was driving the LX4 on Blackwood Reverse, coming up to the last corner before the start/finish straight, someone left the pits and I have a big stutter that made it difficult to negotiate the corner.

[Scawen]

Yes, I was driving the LX4 on Blackwood Reverse, coming up to the last corner before the start/finish straight, someone left the pits and I have a big stutter that made it difficult to negotiate the corner.And? :D

You can't really draw any conclusions from a single incident.

[danowat]

And? :D

You can't really draw any conclusions from a single incident.

It didn't just happen once, it happened everytime someone left the pits :shrug:

[Bean0]

It didn't just happen once, it happened everytime someone left the pits :shrug:

I also get this. Its like a stutter every time someone leaves the pits, can't remember if blocking the messages with shift+minus key stops it or not.

[danowat]

We were on the same server last night, wonder if that has anything to do with it?

[AndroidXP]

Maybe it's the STCC license plugin that causes the server to hiccup?

[Hyperactive]

Maybe it's the STCC license plugin that causes the server to hiccup?

On your end? Seems very unlikely, imho. I must admit though that sometimes I get this pit-leave-lag as well but not always. It is a small stutter, lasts a seconds tops, but can easily cost a corner or race...

I'll do some checking later and update this post :)

[Markz]

I don't get much, if any stutter when leaving the pits, even on a fully-loaded server. But almost 100% of the time, when I join a server it stutters so bad that 9 times out of 10 I get kicked out and have to keep on trying to rejoin over and over again.

[g.man]

I noticed the same Problem. I have not remembered all the time if someone leaves the pits when there is stutter, but i noticed more stutter during my driving session. In V(1) i cant remember that there was any stutter during my rounds, but when I tested V2 I noticed it and I want to report it here

[aimbottle]

It's the same for me. Before V2 I didn't ever notice the stutter when someone left the pits but since then I'm expieriencing a considerable lag (stutter) nearly every time someone leaves the pits.

[NotAnIllusion]

Were you actually driving at the time? Remember the real big part of the pit lag reduction system (the delayed texture loading - which has not changed at all in V2) is only active for people who are driving at speed. Sometimes people complain about pit-out lag that is suddenly worse in a new patch, because they see it when they are spectating. Unfortunately they don't notice that that never happens when they are driving.

Textures are loaded instantly, without delay when :

- You are spectating
- Your car is moving extremely slowly
- The race is restarting

There is no change in that. The V2 pit-out glitch reduction is one very tiny change that is probably less than a millisecond for most people. Not even worth discussing really but pit-out glitch reduction is all about saving fractions of milliseconds, hundreds of times.
Does the emboldened bit happen during a race? If it does, I'd like to add an observation: It is somewhat frustrating when it happens during pit stops, and it (stutter) has caused me to miss stopping in a pit box quite a few times. Other than that, it's great :shy:

[paublo999]

I am also experiencing the lag/stutter, notice it particularly when slowing for the chicane on AS3.... so still in excess of 85mph when it occurs. It really messes up my braking..

Cheers
Paul

[tinvek]

strange i diidnt notice anyproblems when i ran the patch night before last but this morning theres a huge frame rate drop at every corner on as club ( 90fps down to 15fps for about a second) usually as i turn in.


forgot to say there were only 2 other cars running on track at same time

[brads82]

Was competing on our AAL servers last night with about 14 drivers.
I was getting the stutter when people were leaving the pits. Not when they actually leave the pit box but when they enter back into their car after being in the setup screen but only when I was in spectator mode.

Did not seem to notice any stutter tho when I was racing

[paublo999]

one of the guys at conedodgers has just suggested an alternative reason for the stutter.

To stop people jumping the chicane on AS3, additional tyres have been added to block the direct route... Might this be adding to the stutter? adding to the number of calculations for the physics engine?

I have a decent spec pc P4 -3.2 dual core, with Radeon 850xt, so shouldnt really be taxing the pc too much..

Any thoughts?

[XCNuse]

my computer stutters too, even when its running around 80 fps, it drops down to .. who knows how low for a good full second or so and it become a problem sometimes

it seems to be worse when the track is Aston for some reason (maybe not though)

[tinvek]

my computer stutters too, even when its running around 80 fps, it drops down to .. who knows how low for a good full second or so and it become a problem sometimes

it seems to be worse when the track is Aston for some reason (maybe not though)


sounds like my problem, i installed a second copy of lfs with same mods for signs etc so install is identical except for the patch.

i can run fine on redlines asclub track with the unpatched version but the patched version gets the severe stutter with a drop to 15 fps usually at t1, chicane and the last turn. seems a bit strange as with a normal fps in the 90's with detail turned up i wouldnt imagine there being any reason for such a heavy drop in frame rate due to the patch

[cmckowen]

my computer stutters too, even when its running around 80 fps, it drops down to .. who knows how low for a good full second or so and it become a problem sometimes

it seems to be worse when the track is Aston for some reason (maybe not though)

Yeah this sounds exactly the same. Last night had a full grid of XFR's on AstonClub and while i was racing or practicing everytime someone left from being in the setup screen i get about half a second of stuttering. Was really bad at the end of quallifying when people were jumping in and out of pits like mad.


Some people say it is the same as it always has been but if i had gotten used to it why would it bother me so much only know.

Other than that, was one hell of a race :nod:

[noemfie]

I'm not noticing the stutter so much but to get a sound crackle every time someone leaves the pits

[ebola]

I have played with the new patch today for about an hour and noticed zero stuttering.

[Davo]

This is so random for me. I'll go for a few days without noticing then I'll notice it and it'll be really bad but then go away again. Probably why it's so hard to diagnose the problem. Perhaps I've just gotten used to it and learnt to put up with it.

[jayhawk]

I have found a correlation; when somebody joins from the pits, you get the pit stutter if that person who joined is lagging. Like if you do the de-bug, you see their lag time is .025 or more. Or is it .25?

[shim]

had this for the first time earlier today, was on Ky GP with only 4 other people in the server.. and i very highly doubt it was system lag

[Burnzoire]

for a few months now (test patches) I've been getting stutter in ever online race, but it has nothing to do with drivers exiting the pits. It even happens when there are just 2 of us on the server racing around. Now I get around between 50-170 fps and the stuttering does not lower this. It happens randomly, but quite more common as I approach the pit box area ont he start/finish straight. It makes me crash all the damn time. What's more annoying is that it never used to be like this... the massive framerate was silky smooth as it should be.

I used to think it was my new sata2 hard drive running in sata1 mode, but then I found a background process was causing stutters and killing it would solve the problem. Now it's back again... LFS just seems to be very sensitive to hard disc activity - or maybe it's my hdd after all :(

I will have to get another disk installed to test, but I have none lying around a t the moment.

[XCNuse]

On which track Burn? Because I've noticed that that one specific section of Aston, the turn after all the blue and white covered stands (turn with the big concrete runoff area) I will always get a stutter which cuts off my FPS by half. I still don't understand why this is occuring, but I believe it has something to do with LOD or something in the graphics causing it

[Tweaker]

The new W17 is worth a try for anyone that has a stutter from a car pitting out.

Scawen removed the sounds played for players spectating or pitting, and I do believe the sound being seeked for play was one major cause of this. You may think this sounds strange, but I am pretty positive that it was the problem. People with slower harddrives and seek methods have had problems like this in lots of games, and not just LFS. Laptops and older PCs are especially affected in games like Counter-Strike, where the FIRST gunshot fired from your side would cause a pause in the game, so you'd see people firing off one bullet and then reloading at the start of a round. I know a lot of players that had to deal with this.

Removing the sound file in LFS didn't help, because it was still requesting to play the sound. So W17 should help I think, and going to test more right now. EDIT: But I am pretty sure that LFS loading the car model is the main reason. Feels like there needs to be some kind of pre-loading of these cars, I dunno.

[Burnzoire]

On which track Burn? Because I've noticed that that one specific section of Aston, the turn after all the blue and white covered stands (turn with the big concrete runoff area) I will always get a stutter which cuts off my FPS by half. I still don't understand why this is occuring, but I believe it has something to do with LOD or something in the graphics causing it

it happens everywhere, but yeah Aston is the main culprit... the first/last corner of AS2, the one with sand on the inside. Perhaps it's related to sound, since scawen has been playing around with sound in the test patches... how do I turn sound off completely in LFS so I can test this?

[Tweaker]

Shift - N turns off the sound, but I don't think it will make a difference. :shrug:

EDIT: XCNuse you aren't the "The village(moderator) idiot", Rich^uk is :) !!!

[Blas89]

Sound off makes a diference, I do it everytime on starts because it gives a few more FPS... maybe 5 but when you get normally 5 at starts, 10 FPS is a lot, so for me Sound off helps.

[Burnzoire]

FPS is not my concern, i get over 100 easily. It's the odd stutters that occur regardless of framerate that are plaguing me.

[DownShift]

i've ben geting video lag any time text pops up sense patch W... i also lag wen some one joins the server, leaves the server, leaves the pits, or if i leave the pits. and untill just yesterday i couldnt race with anyone on my screen, though boosting my z-buffer to 32bit seem to fix that one :P

[flinty72]

Scawen I know this has been said before but I have noticed again that the join & pit entry/exit lag is still occurring with test patch W17. Although it may seem minor it did have a big impact on the server that had 30 cars on it tonight. I can't remember if you said you can actually do much about it but just thought I would re-mention it in case you can.

[wien]

Just a possibly unrelated note. I had big problems with stuttering similar to the pit out lag before, and I traced it back to MS SQL Server 2005. It was hogging the CPU every minute or so, causing LFS to lock up and the sound to click. So if you have SQL Server installed (or similar services running) and get this problem it's worth checking out! It's probably not the problem if it only happens when people pit out though.

Oh, and Tweaker. The problem with sound loading in CS:S is because of the way the Source engine works. It loads (some?) sounds and textures when it needs them instead of at level load (Like the Doom3 engine for instance), and it seems to spinlock the game thread while waiting for resources if they are needed right away (like sounds). All Source engine games crap out badly on my computer because of that "feature". I don't think that's the problem with LFS.

[spankmeyer]

Could some of you Victims of Stutter make a video of the actual event? Don't post a replay but record a video and Youtube it.

I've experienced the clitch too, but nowhere near as bad as you guys seem to tell. On my computer and ADSL connection, the stutter is more like the game skips a frame or two and that's it, so it's barely noticeable.

[fast_anton]

So I make the List a bit longer ;-)

Same Problem here - on a normal conditions (no corner) no problem - but when cornering or much worser overtaking..... the second kills me.

My pings to the servers ar quiet good (ping 21 - 45 = DSL fastpath) and my system isnt the limit ether..... (AMD X2 + 7800er nvidia + 1Gig ram...)

So its a problem that lasts for longer (maybe 4 Month) Everyone in my team has the problem! So - TURN IT OFF :-)

So that helps not much - but i hope to get helped out - cause its not only some drivers - there are a lot with the problem.

It has nothing to do with the pingtimes or so (left bottom corner fickering)

Sorry for my worse english.... well german is much easyer ;-)

Andy aka KR|anton

[Cue-Ball]

I didn't see this mentioned in the thread, but is this caused by loading the actual car model? For instance, if everyone on the server is driving the XRT, and someone joins, is there stutter (since the XRT model should already be in memory)? If you're driving the XRT but someone joins in a different car, is that what causes the stutter?

I'm also curious if anyone has tried turning off skin downloading to see if it fixes the problem. I don't think this is skin related, but that would at least rule out one more thing.

[W1ldPort75]

I got some stuttering going also , it got worst then it ever was . :shrug:

[S0ul]

I got stutters every time someone leaves the pits.It freezes completely for about 1/2 seconds....and thats horrible when driving on tracks where the T1 is about 15 seconds after the start, especially with early starters...
This really kills the fun

[Kalev EST]

I got stutters every time someone leaves the pits.It freezes completely for about 1/2 seconds...
This happens to me, too.

[Hyperactive]

Here is one replay of stutter :)

Start LFS from fresh. Load that replay and watch it until 45 seconds when Rabbit joins the race in RB4. It stutters at that point. That is the kind of stutter I'm getting more and more lately. But the stutter has never been there when watching the replay, just when driving. I don't remember if that stutter that occured at that replay was there when I was driving but the stutter is always exactly like that. Small freeze of some sort.

The strange thing is that when you watch the replay again for the 2nd time there is no stutter at 45 seconds. So it is not an error in the replay, probably :).

Was nice race too :shy:

I'm using addon cockpit texture for the RB4, which may have an effect.

EDIT: W17 replay.

[wien]

Here is one replay of stutter :)Not sure if it helps, but I can confirm that the replay stutters on Rabbit's pit out here also (both in cockpit and "tv" view). A short quarter of a second lockup. Not as bad as for some people here I think, but still very much noticeable. If I play the replay back again without shutting down LFS, the stutter is gone, presumably because the RB4 model is already in memory.

I'm getting a steady 60 FPS (vsync) at the point it stutters, so it shouldn't really be a problem with the CPU being too busy at the time.

[Cue-Ball]

If I play the replay back again without shutting down LFS, the stutter is gone, presumably because the RB4 model is already in memory. This adds ammo to the theory that loading a model that is not already in use causes the stutter. We really need to do some tests to confirm that this is actually the problem.

Perhaps a few of you who are seeing this a lot could try a test to confirm that this really is the problem. Join or host a server where only one car is in use, but multiple cars are available for use. Drive a few laps, then have a friend join the same server, but using a different car. If the theory is correct, you should get a stutter. If the person in the new car pits and rejoins again, there should be no stutter. Rinse and repeat for several cars and this should be easy to pin down.

Once we know for certain that the loading of the car models is causing the problem, then we can either try to narrow down why some people have a problem and others don't (or maybe we just don't notice it), or we can see if Scawen can fix the problem.

Edit: I just viewed the replay and also can see the stutter. I don't think I've ever seen this before, but I usually join TBO servers that are fairly full (and all three available cars are already in use), or single-car servers (ie: FOX on South City).

[wien]

This adds ammo to the theory that loading a model that is not already in use causes the stutter.Hmm. Actually sat down and watched the rest of the replay (over and over and over... :tired:), and when Pingo around the 2:30 mark joins in the FXO (which is already loaded at that point) it also stutters.

Tried to remove the skins from the equation by deleting skins_x and it still stutters, but not as badly when Pingo joins as the sound doesn't click like it usually does, I just get a tiny lock-up in the graphics. Rabbit joining looks about the same as with skins. Doesn't look like it's just the skins or just the cars that are the problem. More like a combination of all the stuff that needs to be loaded.

I'm not sure if this is even a valid way of testing this, since the stutter may be recorded into the MPR somehow, but it might provide some insight into the problem.

[Cue-Ball]

I'm not sure if this is even a valid way of testing this, since the stutter may be recorded into the MPR somehow, but it might provide some insight into the problem.I agree, which is why it would be nice to have people who see this often try to reproduce it on a live server under controlled conditions.

[Hoschi]

Textures are loaded instantly, without delay when :

- You are spectating
- Your car is moving extremely slowly
- The race is restarting



Well, you guys call it stutter or delay, we call it join-lag. It's the really worst thing coming with LfS and I don't see why it happens that severely.

My old PC was quiet weak and I thought that would explain my lags/delays. Now I have a really strong PC with tons of RAM, strong graphics card and 2 cores and still I get those lags. There was no change to notice with V2 for me or any of my team mates, at least nothing positive.

You name a texture load as the reason for this. I doubt that, simply because the symptoms are different. When I drive (fast, s.a.) and someone joins the race on a quiet loaded server (starting from about 10 people) I get those join-lags, no matter what version I tried. If I spec its the same, no difference. Everyone I know is totally pissed by those lags! They exist from the beginning of this game and there was no improvement whatsoever by now, although you state something was improved...

If my join-lag/delay happens because I load a texture, WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAPPEN, EVEN WHEN I ALREADY LOADED THAT TEXTURE 1 MINUTE AGO ?!? Doesn't really sound like a texture-load-delay. It must have to do with network traffic or the mass of players, I never have lags with only 3-4 people.

Can you plz explain how that texture-load can cause that delay (over and over again, more delay with more players) or is it simply that you don't have a clue why your game is delaying ? =)


P.S.: I know people that quit LfS because of that stupid 'effect'.
P.P.S.: When I first wrote something concerning this issue, people (also devs here) told me to get a better PC and they said, that there is nothing like a 'join-lag/delay'(also devs). At least nowadays you admit that there is one. ;)

[Kalev EST]

This adds ammo to the theory that loading a model that is not already in use causes the stutter.
I´ve had stutters on servers that use only one car and the model has been loaded.:shrug:

I don´t get stutters when there is only about 10 to 15 people. I get it when there´s 20 or more cars. I always assumed this was because of my low end computer but seeing as people with powerful computers have the same problem then maybe it´s not.

[Burnzoire]

Can I just say a big THANK YOU to scawen for rescuing my LFS :) Ever since the new skin system, my LFS is as smooth as silk. Finally the high FPS actually counts for something :)

no more stutters! hazaaaa!

[Venus]

I too get this, and its bloody annoying. It never used to be like this, and I'm NOT using a patch. I'm on standard 0.5W. It annoys the hell out of me. I get it most on AS2, in the fox. Suddenly it temporarily freezes for a second or 2, and the sound stutters badly, n gradually improves. If it happens on a bend, it always makes me crash cause by the time it comes back, the cars in the wall.

I thought it was the page file causing it, but it isn't. It never occurrec on my old hard disk. Scawen, can you please look into this, its getting to be I can finish only a few of my races because of it. It happens anywhere on Aston Club. Not noticed it else where, and doesn't matter how many are there. I even get it alone. I'm sorry, but this is rapidly becoming unacceptable, and unusable for MP. All it does is makes me angry. :(

Venus

[Cue-Ball]

I too get this, and its bloody annoying.......Scawen, can you please look into this, its getting to be I can finish only a few of my races because of it.Scawen has already looked into it. This is one of the things that is supposed to be fixed in patch X (and the current test patches). Try out the latest test patch and see if it fixes the problem for you. The stutter is caused by skin loading, and now skins pre-load when each person joins the server.

[Venus]

Scawen has already looked into it. This is one of the things that is supposed to be fixed in patch X (and the current test patches). Try out the latest test patch and see if it fixes the problem for you. The stutter is caused by skin loading, and now skins pre-load when each person joins the server.

I'm sorry, but it hasn't been fixed. In 0.5W I get it even when I'm alone on a track as I said; so it can't be caused by skin downloading since no one is joining and I'm alone. It happens when there's alot of players, and when I'm alone. Alot of other people have the same problem. I've not noticed any link to the pits, or people joining, cause as I said, it even happens when I'm alone. Its caused by my hard disk doing stuff... I'm not convinced its an LFS problem though, but alot seem to think so. I get a similar problem in windows when the hdd becomes active. I thought it was the page file, but its not - I disabled it, doesn't change it.

Obviously you don't have this problem cue ball, so its understandable you'd think its fixed. Its annoying cause I didn't used to have it either. I just think, they need to take this seriously, and find out once and for all whether its being caused by LFS or not. Its alot worse when LFS is running.

Venus

I just downloaded patch W41, so I hope that might have a solution.

[88Nightrider]

Patch W43 is out now:razz: Why not download it instead:scratchch
Works great for me:thumb:

[wien]

Venus, check if you have any background processes taking up CPU, writing to disk or accessing the net. Web-browser, mail client, MSN/AIM, Media player, server processes running, that sort of thing. I had MS SQL Server 2005 (installed with Visual Studio, but unused) running in the background cause that sort of stutter on my computer.

[Cue-Ball]

Venus, check if you have any background processes taking up CPU, writing to disk or accessing the net. Web-browser, mail client, MSN/AIM, Media player, server processes running, that sort of thing. I had MS SQL Server 2005 (installed with Visual Studio, but unused) running in the background cause that sort of stutter on my computer.I would second this advice. The hard drive really shouldn't be doing anything if you're on the track alone. All of the graphics and car models would already be loaded. Other than a background process, the only other thing I can think of would be the non-generated sounds, like the noise when you hit a wall or start the car.

If I were you, Venus, I would make sure that everything that could possibly be running in the background is turned off (open Task Manager to verify). If that doesn't fix the problem, try disabling sound - not permanently, but to verify or rule out that cause.

[Venus]

I have... I went thru my system from top to bottom.... nothing is loaded... exited firewall, disabled anti virus, closed off most of items listed under me in task manager (those that could be safely turned off - basically leaving explorer and something called ccapp.exe. Jeez I even tried disabling the page file. Nothing works. It happens even in W41 patch. There is absolutely nothing but basic windows operating. So I'm damned if I know, there's nothing in windows that could be causing it. Everythings closed or disabled (anti virus) and no background process's.

Ven

[flyby3d]

I have... I went thru my system from top to bottom.... nothing is loaded... exited firewall, disabled anti virus, closed off most of items listed under me in task manager (those that could be safely turned off - basically leaving explorer and something called ccapp.exe.
Ven

ccapp.exe si actually a background process of norton antivirus. You might try disabling it...

[Venus]

Yeh I did that too... lol.. not much I've not tried... still it persists.

V

[Blackout]

I guess this question is better over here.


Yesterday I noticed (or confirmed what I think I've heard) that the skins are not loaded while racing as the leading guys who had just joined front of me were all white and when the race had finished their skins showed up. But my question is, why the skins seems to get loaded if you join mid-race? The skin loading causes small pauses at least for me, and could end up with even worse results if you had it at the wrong time. So could all skins be loaded after the race?

[russraine]

I'm getting this exact same thing Blackout, it's gets really bad during the race especially when the server is busy and people leaving and joing regularly.

[Cue-Ball]

I guess this question is better over here.


Yesterday I noticed (or confirmed what I think I've heard) that the skins are not loaded while racing as the leading guys who had just joined front of me were all white and when the race had finished their skins showed up. But my question is, why the skins seems to get loaded if you join mid-race? The skin loading causes small pauses at least for me, and could end up with even worse results if you had it at the wrong time. So could all skins be loaded after the race?Scawen has said that skins load when you spectate, or when you are stopped/barely moving. If you join, then sit in the pits for a few seconds, the skins should load. If you join, then immediately start driving, the skins won't load until you stop your car.

[russraine]

Any newa on this? Since test patch x30 i've started noticing this again whilst racing. As said, it's true about the skins not loading whilst at high speed, but there is a noticable stutter when someone leaves the pits, maybe it's more an initial syncing issue rather than skins.

[Blackout]

Any newa on this? Since test patch x30 i've started noticing this again whilst racing. As said, it's true about the skins not loading whilst at high speed, but there is a noticable stutter when someone leaves the pits, maybe it's more an initial syncing issue rather than skins.
Maybe it's their skin download that causes a small lag spike. I've noticed it some times again, not that bad though.

[Toddshooter]

Maybe it's the STCC license plugin that causes the server to hiccup?
I was on Redline servers last night and the stutter there was related to skins downloading while racing.
Very hard to go through a corner with stutter. I didn't have this problem before I turned my skinz on.
And I also noticed the pit stutter as well, not all the time but sometimes it does happen.

[shiny_red_cobra]

I also had this stuttering once yesterday while a skin was downloading. Annoying as hell.

[Agarash]

It started to happend to me occasionally since X10. When someone leaves the pits and a new skin is downloaded a strong stutter appears for half a second. Enough to loose the control. Sometimes the skin is downloaded smoothly, sometimes I crash in full speed race.

[Moonclaw]

For me the pitstutter got worse in X30/31, no unnecessary background programs running, files are not fragmented. Usual stutter lenght for me is about half second whenever someone pits out, even with a skin already in memory.

[spankmeyer]

Am I the only who feels the amount of stutter is based on the amount of cosmic radiation? Sometimes there's a noticeable stutter but for the past months all I get is 'Someone left the pits'. :confused:

[Cue-Ball]

For me the pitstutter got worse in X30/31, no unnecessary background programs running, files are not fragmented. Usual stutter lenght for me is about half second whenever someone pits out, even with a skin already in memory.Does it happen in replays too? If so, please post one.

[SpaceMarineITA]

With test patches im having lot of join lag :/

With X10 i didn't had so much of it

Imho is caused by skin download

[Ped7g]

I get lot of this on demo servers with demo players, every "leaved pits" makes my screen freeze for 0.05-0.15s, and that's way too much.
At least there are some servers with no mid-race join, still if somebody does Shift+P and Enter, I get that short freeze anyway.
(and there's no need to load any textures if he was already in the race with me, right?)

Also I hate the sounds of messages (both connect/chat), I wonder why there's still no option to turn them off. Or maybe I'm just blind.

[Bluebird B B]

Stutter from people leaving pits is still there and affecting racing.
Yesterday i nearly crashed because someone left pits.

Hopefully this will be fixed.

maybe an good idea if lfs just caches the new skins in memory during race? Avoiding disk i/o during race/driving?

I do have rather fast system, that is 100% absolutly sure not an issue. Athough installing an hardware raid controller with battery backup cache memory(for write caching) will fix the problem :nod:

[DarkTimes]

Interestingly I had this problem for the first time yesterday, on South City Long in the FBM. I was going through the tight hair-pin where your speed drops very low, and I had an big stutter as someone joined, right as I was going over a bump. I ended up hitting the wall as I didn't have enough reaction time left to save the resulting slide.

[Bluebird B B]

Interestingly I had this problem for the first time yesterday, on South City Long in the FBM. I was going through the tight hair-pin where your speed drops very low, and I had an big stutter as someone joined, right as I was going over a bump. I ended up hitting the wall as I didn't have enough reaction time left to save the resulting slide.



I have the stutter back since patch.. don' t remember how long ago. Since patch Y it seems a bit worse.

[DarkTimes]

I have the stutter back since patch.. don' t remember how long ago. Since patch Y it seems a bit worse.
As I say, it was the first time I've had it in the long time, even since patch Y, but it seems to still be lurking about when the circumstances are correct.

[Misko]

LFS queues applying of skins to the newly joined cars for times when our car is almost stopped/session restarts/we spectate etc, and that helps, but still the process of checking with LFSWorld and our HD (comparing date and time?) and downloading (even without downloading) of new skins produces the stutter, smaller one, but still does. So, would the solution be to queue those operations as well? LFS should just "take notes of skins of the cars that joined" and check them and do everything later?

Conclusion was made because just turning off autodownloads of skins practicaly eliminates the problem. No consulting of LFSWorld - no problem. :) At least those are my experiences.

Basically, it would be auto-toggle of skin downloads option. Off when driving - on when not driving. That's what I'm doing manually now and it's better. :)

[xaotik]

So, would the solution be to queue those operations as well? LFS should just "take notes of skins of the cars that joined" and check them and do everything later?

If it's disk-access that's causing it it could just cache it in RAM until then. Has anyone tried running LFS off of a ramdrive (I guess a 256mb one can be allocated since most people have more than that amount of RAM anymore) to see if it's disk-access related?

[russraine]

xaotik - that is an interesting thought, good thinking!

[PLAYLIFE]

Also I hate the sounds of messages (both connect/chat), I wonder why there's still no option to turn them off. Or maybe I'm just blind.

There should definately be an option to turn off message sounds... :thumbsup:

[Toddshooter]

:DI get lot of this on demo servers with demo players, every "leaved pits" makes my screen freeze for 0.05-0.15s, and that's way too much.
At least there are some servers with no mid-race join, still if somebody does Shift+P and Enter, I get that short freeze anyway.
(and there's no need to load any textures if he was already in the race with me, right?)

Also I hate the sounds of messages (both connect/chat), I wonder why there's still no option to turn them off. Or maybe I'm just blind.

There isn't an option but I have mine turned off. I am trying to remeber where someone told me to look for the sound file.
It could possibly be in the sound folder then you just rename the mess. and chat files to" .old " or something like that. This way the game dosen't recognize them. It is so pieceful now:thumb:

[Zachary Zoomy]

its really bad on cruise servers. you often get stuck when someone is connecting a when a bunch of people leave the pits.

[The Moose]

I am now getting massive ,race ruining stutter when skin downloading. It often lasts for a couple of seconds and almost always end up with me off the road or crashing. It was never this bad before.

[Koa128]

Same here Moose, no matter which server Im running in, the little stutter make things a bit harder to maneuver, Im going to cancel skins autodownload and recheck if the issue is still there or gets any better :scratchch

[mcgas001]

Has either of you tried backing up and then deleting the Skins_X folder? It seems to happen to me but its always when i see the Downloading skin or something message :shrug:

[xaotik]

Can anyone of you who are getting the stutter predictably try either using filemon (from sysinternals.com) to see if it's something specific on the HD that is being accessed and causes the stutter or running LFS off a ramdrive (a free driver here (http://www.arsoft-online.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=36&func=select&id=2)). Atleast that way we'll know if it's HD-access related or not.

[St4Lk3R]

'Nother question that might be worth considering: do you guys use Vista?

Microsoft recently brought out a patch that was meant to enable the users to install SP1, but cancelled the distribution of it since they had to admit it caused a lot more problems than it solved.

So, even though its unlikely, if you all have Vista and all have the Update 937287 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937287/en-us) installed, try to remove it to see if that cures the problems.

[Hyperactive]

From what I have gathered it is always the loading of a new car model that causes the glitch. No idea if it is the skin, the textures or something else what is the main reason...

It even shows up in replays.

One way that LFS could handle this is to always load all the allowed cars into the memory so the data would already and always be there, or at least test and see if that could help...

[The Moose]

I'm not talking about the microstutter that happenes when someone leavs the pits for the first time, that is barely noticeable. It's definitely when downloading a new skin that it stutters really badly. surely it would be better if you didn't download the skin until you were back in the pits, rather than when they leave the pits, if that's possible.

And I'm using XP St4Lk3R.

[BenjiMC]

There should definately be an option to turn off message sounds... :thumbsup:

if you press SHIFT + - that eliminates all chat/connection/LFSW messages. Hence no sound.

[wien]

It's definitely when downloading a new skin that it stutters really badly.Would you mind trying to run LFS off a RAM-drive like xaotik mentioned? Just to rule out IO-blocking (when writing the downloaded skin to disk) from the list of culprits. If that doesn't help, the downloading itself is probably to blame.

[DieKolkrabe]

its really bad on cruise servers. you often get stuck when someone is connecting a when a bunch of people leave the pits.

Or when disconnecting? I've noticed that happen a LOT

Usually followed some bright spark saying 'lag?'

DK