Game running issues

Ben Tusting · Oct 19, 2011

Hello,,

I'm getting random game slow downs(the game runs really slow for a couple of secs, a lot lower fps)

It's not happening all the time and it doesn't happen at the same corner.

Is any1 else having problems like this? or has any1 else had problems like this and solved it?

I turned my replay settings to off, but that didn't solve the issue.

my graphics settings are on low to Medium and my AA is on level 2.

CPU = Q6600
GPU = ATI 6870

Thx for the replies, if i recieve any

Kennett Ylitalo · Dec 2, 2011

Yeah, i think that this is actually affecting all of us, it's just that my system seems to be the one of hanging up at that moment. The bug is very elusive and with faster systems i bet you can't really even notice it, it may be the culprit of those very odd 0.1s hangs that most people suffer from.

I installed a flash ramdrive to take one more variable out of the picture, background processes may involve virtual memory paging that resides on C on default. I configged it to flash drive, steam uses c (and my docs on the same HD, different partition). The suspision for this is the nearly identical wait time, 1½ seconds, normally only hardware has that consistent timing... Normally these hangs have different lengths but this one has it so constant. I just want to get rid of this before RDGTC starts..

Lol, testing the new settings, i've used now 3gigs out of the 1,5gigs of RAM i actually have so have definitely a lot of background processes sitting in virtual mem... Surpisingly fast program switching, doesn't really do much but at least BTB and Race functions really well together..With normal HD i could bet that it is much slower, can't really confirm, never tried to fill the memory on purpose before.

And yes, i know, i need a new PC..

Marco Bijl · Dec 2, 2011

What happens if you turn all the steam extra's off?
Start Steam, put it in offline, and keep it offline. Then start a race. What happens then?

There is no need for Steam to be online while racing online. Since I got sick off all my PC's asking for credentials everytime they boot (i have multiple computers on at the same time, and use Race on all of them

), I just turned steam in offline mode on all of them. That works very well for me, and it stops the community issues as well.

Kennett Ylitalo · Dec 2, 2011

I had everything turned off, updates, community etc. everything before. So i turned Steam offline already, i think it does the trick...I actually came here to report that i had to use the last resort. I'll loose my friends on Steam but i have alternative methods of communication for nearly all of them anyway.. and i can switch steam online if needed but from now on, steam won't be starting with windows and stays offline.. I'm punishing it now, "bad dog" and making it go to calm submissive state (too much dog whisperer...).

That was the solution in the early days for getting the dedicated server to work, switching steam to offline.. That and blob removal, the most effective steam remedies since 2005..

I'll report the results and then most likely this can be then declared as: [SOLVED]

Hiroshi Awazu · Dec 4, 2011

Jim Cole said:
It sounds like your system might be accessing the system cache for some reason at that point. For those that have Vista or 7, have you tried setting up a USB drive as a readydrive? With the readydrive option, the system will cache to the USB drive instead of the hard drive making things a bit faster.

Readyboost helped me out.

Also i make sure Steam is offline as well, My backup craptop notices the difference.

Kennett Ylitalo · Dec 9, 2011

Switching Steam offline was the cure, haven't had this bug since..

Marco Bijl · Dec 10, 2011

Now thats what I like to read Kennett! Good to here it's resolved!

Kennett Ylitalo · Dec 11, 2011

Yeah, i got scared today, was having a great fight with Martin L. in publics when my game crashed... Turned out that there was unknow process in the processlist, unknown to me and it seems to the rest of internet too....scary, SRWUpdate.exe that i couldn't close, it popped back immediately. Found the origin, it wasn't of course deletable (is that a word?).. Got rid of it soon, deleted at boot,courtesy of Unlocker.. Has saved me many occasions.. Sadly didn't have time to study it more, didn't know anything but a name, never seen it and interweb turned out zero hits... kick&ban processs.. But no sudden stutters anymore, Friday Mini wen't 70 minutes non-stop so i'm happy..

Kennett Ylitalo · Jan 4, 2012

Ok, a small update on the matter. No lag spikes have come up when running Steam offline. Today i put Steam in Online for a long time and there came client update that mentioned the issue in changelog. "Steam updating while running a game" is supposed to be fixed now. I'm testing this and will report if the issue is still there or not.

Kennett Ylitalo · Jan 6, 2012

And a confirm. Steam is the one that causes these lags. Turned on for couple of days and over 10 lagspikes detected.

Lazlo Acera · Jan 6, 2012

SRWUpdate.exe

Did you install sim race way by any chance? This is the updater C:\PROGRAM FILES\SIMRACEWAY\SRWUPDATE.EXE

Kennett Ylitalo · Jan 7, 2012

Lazlo Acera said:
SRWUpdate.exe

Did you install sim race way by any chance? This is the updater C:\PROGRAM FILES\SIMRACEWAY\SRWUPDATE.EXE

Yep, that is it.. Really annoying pester, behaves like something serious.

Marian Zelenka · Jan 7, 2012

Interesting Kennett. I'll try putting steam in offline mode the next time and even switch antivir and sw firewall off. My router has hw firewall anyway. My game runs fine with full grid of AI 140-220fps. But when I raced for the first time here on RD, it was performing terrible. I couldn't drive properly.

Edit: Looks like my camera for freetrack also uses some % of CPU.

Rupe Wilson · Jan 7, 2012

Turn off all auto updates.... works for me
steam in offline mode when gaming
i use face track with no probs.??..
turned of vsync
i use game booster 3
even now and again i have a problem .... not worth any more ivestigation..
dont leave mods or tracks installed when not needed.. SRM takes care of this (game loads quicker or is it just me)
some mod tracks and mods seem to have a influense on my pc..

all these little things were told to me and helped alot
? i do take a frame hit with my facetrack and the game does run smoother when its not used

UMC 22 · Jan 7, 2012

Rupe Wilson said:
dont leave mods or tracks installed when not needed.. SRM takes care of this (game loads quicker or is it just me)

Yep, it loads faster. I removed all mods while battling my hosting issues, as testing was a nightmare when the game was taking minutes to start. It seems that the game does some sort of scan of content/local files every time it starts. Why, I do not know.

Kennett Ylitalo · Jan 7, 2012

The reason for the scan is to prepare menu items for fast switching and most importantly: rudimentary cheat protection... You can't modify certain game files after you've started the game, a pain in the behind when modding/trackbuilding... Only thing that's missing is the ingame catalog refresh while in-game, that would be awesome.. to be able to switch game content on-the-fly...

Rupe Wilson · Jan 7, 2012

ive recently purchased x-motor racing and the freedom you have in that sim is really good you can change the whole physics of a car whilst still on track.... scary stuff when you dont know what your doing... it should be a modders delight..everything you need in i one packege... only one problem ive found so far....its all way above my level..:oops: .

Marian Zelenka · Jan 7, 2012

So, I've just tried steam in offline mode and race 07 didn't work correctly. I forgot, it's steamworks. No online setups, but I didn't try multiplayer. But there wasn't any microstuttering every now and then, curious...

Kennett Ylitalo · Jan 7, 2012

Marian Zelenka said:
So, I've just tried steam in offline mode and race 07 didn't work correctly. I forgot, it's steamworks. No online setups, but I didn't try multiplayer. But there wasn't any microstuttering every now and then, curious...

I haven't got online setups working since the past patch, no matter wether steam is on- or offlline. Some needed to do clear install of the game to get it working again (i'm constantly picking up excuses not to do it...stupid me..). Steam is only needed for launching the game in client computer, it doesn't need to be online in order for the game to fully work (that's my experience, not any kind of fact)..

Good example is the Dedicated server, not long ago you could fire up steam, start dedi and shut steam completely off... That has changed (AFAIK), Steam is basically a complicated launcher. I don't know if it applies to other games, some may need steam online, haven't met such an application yet.