Audio Stutter and Input Lag

[Cycloniac]

I downloaded and installed FHM7 yesterday, and for some reason I'm experiencing heavy lag. Audio stutters really badly, and it takes a long time for the game to respond to input. I have adjusted the resolution, to make sure my display and the in-game settings are both at 1920x1080, but no luck.

I have attached a trace file.

I haven't had this issue with OOTP, so I'm not sure what could be causing the extreme lag and stuttering

System Specs:
Windows 10 Home
Processor: Intel Core i7-7500U CPU @ 2.7GHz
RAM: 16 GB

[JeffR]

Nothing from the trace file really jumping out at me as a problem, the audio shouldn't be affected by any video settings, and with that amount of RAM it shouldn't be something like an issue with reading the audio files from the hard drive. What happens if you mute the sound from the start screen (in Settings)? Does that improve performance at all?

[Cycloniac]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Nothing from the trace file really jumping out at me as a problem, the audio shouldn't be affected by any video settings, and with that amount of RAM it shouldn't be something like an issue with reading the audio files from the hard drive. What happens if you mute the sound from the start screen (in Settings)? Does that improve performance at all?

Hi Jeff,

I did give this a try, but there's still a lot of input lag. I'm puzzled because I booted up FHM6, and it was smooth. I noticed that my display settings for 6 were full screen-maximized, so I tried that in 7, but still no change.

[JeffR]

Give reinstalling a try, I'm wondering if something went wrong with one or more files there.

[Cycloniac]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Give reinstalling a try, I'm wondering if something went wrong with one or more files there.

Just uninstalled and reinstalled, but no luck.

For more context, I tried to play an exibition game (this was also the first thing I tried during the first install), and the speed was still extremely slow, in addition to the choppy/stuttering audio. It seemed to me that the audio was only choppy because of the lag as opposed to an actual audio issue. It took about 15-20 seconds for the puck to drop, it was like molases.

[JeffR]

A couple of other people have mentioned strange behaviour with the 2D engine in exhibition games (although we haven't seen it here, it works normally when I try it.) Does it act any differently if you start a regular game and try to view a game?

[Cycloniac]

Originally Posted by JeffR

A couple of other people have mentioned strange behaviour with the 2D engine in exhibition games (although we haven't seen it here, it works normally when I try it.) Does it act any differently if you start a regular game and try to view a game?

Just tried a regular season game, but no, it isn't behaving any differently

[HaraldC]

If your drivers are up to date I'd suggest unplugging any unnecessary peripherals, whitelisting FHM7 in any security software running, and disabling any kind of enhancer utility that might be running in the background. In my experience issued like this are often caused by something interfering with the game.

[Cycloniac]

Originally Posted by HaraldC

If your drivers are up to date I'd suggest unplugging any unnecessary peripherals, whitelisting FHM7 in any security software running, and disabling any kind of enhancer utility that might be running in the background. In my experience issued like this are often caused by something interfering with the game.

I don't use any enhancer utilities

I made sure FHM7 is whitelisted, no change

I also have been getting this popup when starting the game. I got this message for 6 too, but after hitting ok, it was smooth and I didn't have any issues.

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by Cycloniac

I don't use any enhancer utilities

I made sure FHM7 is whitelisted, no change

I also have been getting this popup when starting the game. I got this message for 6 too, but after hitting ok, it was smooth and I didn't have any issues.

Do you have Windows display scaling turned on? Right-click on your desktop, click on display settings, then check the first thing under "Scale and layout." If it's something other than 100%, try changing it to 100 and see how the game works then.

[Cycloniac]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Do you have Windows display scaling turned on? Right-click on your desktop, click on display settings, then check the first thing under "Scale and layout." If it's something other than 100%, try changing it to 100 and see how the game works then.

So, I changed the scaling from the reccommended value of 125 to 100

The good news is that I didn't get the popup message. The bad news is that the performance didn't improve at all.

[JeffR]

I doubt it'll work, but try switching the resolution to a smaller one and see if that does anything.

Failing that, I think we'll need a little more data: if you right-click the Windows start menu, select run, type dxdiag and hit OK, that'll open up the DirectX diagnostic tool. Just click on "Save All Information..." there and it'll save a text file with your system's DirectX components and rivers. Email that file to me at jeff@ootpdevelopments.com or attach it in a PM here (don't put it in a forum post.) That me tell us if there's something odd in your setup that's conflicting with the game.

[Cycloniac]

Originally Posted by JeffR

I doubt it'll work, but try switching the resolution to a smaller one and see if that does anything.

Failing that, I think we'll need a little more data: if you right-click the Windows start menu, select run, type dxdiag and hit OK, that'll open up the DirectX diagnostic tool. Just click on "Save All Information..." there and it'll save a text file with your system's DirectX components and rivers. Email that file to me at jeff@ootpdevelopments.com or attach it in a PM here (don't put it in a forum post.) That me tell us if there's something odd in your setup that's conflicting with the game.

Thanks Jeff, just emailed it to you

[JeffR]

Got it, thanks. One thing that's jumping out of me right away: your graphics driver is a couple of years out of date, it's probably be a good idea to grab the newest one from Intel: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...10-DCH-Drivers

But I doubt an old video driver is the cause.

Something that might help, though: Your default sound device is DFX Speakers (DFX Audio Enhancer). Try switching that to "Speakers (Conexant ISST Audio)", your laptop's onboard audio (right-click on Start, select System, then Sound; it'll be the first option.) Give the game a try like that and see if it changes anything; if not, you can just switch it back.

If that doesn't work, try turning the game's sound off entirely (start screen-settings-sound volume to mute.) If it improves after that, we'll at least know the issue is definitely sound-related.

[Cycloniac]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Got it, thanks. One thing that's jumping out of me right away: your graphics driver is a couple of years out of date, it's probably be a good idea to grab the newest one from Intel: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...10-DCH-Drivers

But I doubt an old video driver is the cause.

Something that might help, though: Your default sound device is DFX Speakers (DFX Audio Enhancer). Try switching that to "Speakers (Conexant ISST Audio)", your laptop's onboard audio (right-click on Start, select System, then Sound; it'll be the first option.) Give the game a try like that and see if it changes anything; if not, you can just switch it back.

If that doesn't work, try turning the game's sound off entirely (start screen-settings-sound volume to mute.) If it improves after that, we'll at least know the issue is definitely sound-related.

Ok, the first thing I did was go to that website and make sure all of my Intel drivers are up to date. The two that were out of date were a WiFi driver and a storage driver.

I updated both, and scanned for an updated display driver, but it said I have the most up to date version.

Restarted to finish the updates. I then made sure the audio wasn't using DFX, just the default. Booted up the game, no change.

I then switch the audio to mute via the in-game settings.

I restarted FHM7, but still very laggy.

[JeffR]

Not the audio, then. I'm running out of ideas. Do you want to try the standalone version instead of the Steam one? Let me know and I'll send you a code for that. It's happened a few times before that people who had trouble with one version were OK on the other one.

[Cycloniac]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Not the audio, then. I'm running out of ideas. Do you want to try the standalone version instead of the Steam one? Let me know and I'll send you a code for that. It's happened a few times before that people who had trouble with one version were OK on the other one.

That sounds like a good idea to me

[Steven547]

Standalone version suffers the same fate. However, I changed the resolution settings in game to the 1368(?) one and it worked much better. I think it's a resolution issue in game.

[Cycloniac]

Originally Posted by Steven547

Standalone version suffers the same fate. However, I changed the resolution settings in game to the 1368(?) one and it worked much better. I think it's a resolution issue in game.

The odd thing is I tried to change the resolution, and selected windowed mode, but I'm not seeing a change, it's like my settings are being overridden somehow

(Screen is after I restarted the game)

[JeffR]

Actually, we've got a change coming in the update that I think may deal with the resolution/scaling problem. Let's see if that changes anything for you, then if not, we can try the other version.