32 réponses à ce sujet

[Dr. Messor]

Alright, I had posted this on the ME wiki forums looking for help (I did not initially post here because the last time I used the forums here with this same issue I recieved very little in the way of help), but since that hasn't panned out I'm posting here.


I am coming here for help for this problem as I am at my wit's end; after about a year and a new computer, this issue still exists, and is driving me absolutely mad. Anyway, the issue in question is that the game has become choppy (hiccuping) and prone to jerky movements, primarily during dialogue and when running. When this issue first emerged on my old computer, it was already quite disconcerting, given ME 2 had run perfectly smooth up until that point. Indeed, no matter how much I changed the settings or reinstalled the game did any change occur. Already, this brought back dark memories of an ME 1 bug in which the characters heads would jerk around during dialogue (despite changing computers and whatnot), something that has remained to this very day. After trying updating driver software, defragging, running malware checks, modifying the various files, and ensuring there were no hardware issues, I simply gave up due to a lack of results in regards to the issue; this was made all the more frustrating by the complete lack of useful technical support from Bioware or the Social Network forums ( social.bioware.com/%22%22%22http:/social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/106/index/5083018/1, note that this post uses my old system specs)

Now, after having gotten a new computer a couple of months back which greatly exceeds my old system's capabilities (which was already a damn good system), I thought I would try to boot up Mass Effect 2 again and try it out... Only to be greeted by the exact same issue. I have gone through the whole gamut of technical checks and have once again found there is no bloody apparent reason for this to be happening; I have ensured all drivers are up to date, the game is fully patched, no programs are interfering in the background, all temperatures are well below the threshold of even the slightest concern, and have tried disabling the various cores, all to no avail. Indeed, the only lead I have to go on at this point is that this whole mess began (or at least seems to have) after installing the Kasumi DLC and downloading the 1.02 patch. Now, I have indeed found mention of others who say dialogue and certain animations became buggy/choppy/jerky after downloading various DLCs, yet very few of said people have apparently managed to resolve said issues, and those that have did so using solutions which are ineffective or inapplicable for my current situation. Once again, this reminded me of Mass Effect, which began to have the jerky-dialogue-head-movement issue after installing Bring Down the Sky (on a side note, I also tried running Mass Effect to see how it ran, and it now basically has all the same issues as its sequel, albeit much worse). I have also tried installing the 280.19 Beta drivers, as I have hears some people had some success with these, but no dice. 


System Specs

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Processor: AMD Athlon II X4 640, ~3.0GHz

Memory: 8192MB RAM

DX Version: 11

GPU: NVidia GeForce GTX 460


Mass Effect 2 EXE is 1.02, launcher is 1.01, and config is 1.03; the game is the Steam digital download version, and I have all DLC for said game. No 3rd-party applications or tweaks are being used at this time.

If anyone could assist me in this matter I would be most grateful, as I am becoming quite frustrated by this issue. 

[SSV Enterprise]

First, do you have DirectX 9 installed?  You need DirectX 9 separately installed on Windows 7 for Mass Effect 2 to work properly.  You can download it here.

Secondly, have you tried driver version 258.96? That's the last one that was supposed to work well with ME2.

Modifié par SSV Enterprise, 04 août 2011 - 03:50 .

[Dr. Messor]

Yes, I have DX9 installed as well as having had tried the 258.96 drivers; neither had any noticeable effects.

[Bogsnot1]

Dr. Messor wrote...
I simply gave up due to a lack of results in regards to the issue; this was made all the more frustrating by the complete lack of useful technical support from Bioware or the Social Network forums

You do realise these are unofficial tech support forums, and EA handles the official tech support?

Anyways, onto the problem. When you are changing the GPU drivers, are you uninstalling the old ones first?
When running the game, do you run as admin, and in XP compatibility mode?
Do you have any of the following programs installed, as they have been known to cause problems with ME/ME2;
Kapersky Antivirus
Comcast Constant Guard
ASUS SmartDoctor or GamerOSD

What is your sound device? If Realtek HD audio, download and install the latest driver from Realteks website, as the one that comes with Win7 is known to be as buggy as hell.
Have you disabled the Steam overlay?
Which video settings do you have enabled in game? You will have to browse for the masseffect2config.exe file and run that. I couldnt tell you where Steam hides it.

[Dr. Messor]

In order:
1) I do clean uninstalls and installs whenever updating my GPU drivers
2) Already tried running it under every Windows version I could and with and without admin controls.
3) Nope, none of those programs, and I also have tried it without Anti-Virus even running in the first place/ completely uninstalled.
4) Tried running the game with various sound drivers, none of them helped (currently latest version)
5) Steam overlay is already disabled.
6) As I mentioned before, it doesn't matter what my settings are, it runs exactly the same.

Modifié par Dr. Messor, 04 août 2011 - 07:15 .

[mcsupersport]

Is this a totally brand new computer or a computer that you rebuilt reusing some of the old components such as the video card or hard-drive?

[Dr. Messor]

Video card is still the same, other then that it's all new components; before you ask, yes, I did check whether the GPU was at fault by swapping out my 460 with another one, but the results were the same. As such, I'm certain it's a software issue, not a hardware one.

[SSV Enterprise]

It can't be solely a software issue, because few people get these problems. There's something about your hardware or how you are installing your drivers that is causing this. Try using DriverSweeper to remove old drivers and install new ones.

Modifié par SSV Enterprise, 04 août 2011 - 10:58 .

[Dr. Messor]

I have already done that; I have also had my computer taken apart and examined more times then I care to count. The hardware is fine; it works perfectly for pretty much every other game I own, it's just the Mass Effect series where it has problems.

[mcsupersport]

I would look into a program called afterburner by MSI, or something like it. The program is designed for overclocking, BUT it also allows you to monitor core speeds, temps, and voltage on your Gpu. I had an issue with some drivers from nvidea that wouldn't allow the card to run at normal full capacity and afterburner showed it feel well. So it would be worth your time I think to find out how your card is actually performing, and may help define the issue between graphics and the rest of the box.

[Dr. Messor]

Well, I already run a few monitoring programs which keep track of voltages and temps, but I'll try this program and see if it shows any discrepancies; I'll post an update when I get some time tomorrow.

[Dr. Messor]

Well, took a look with said program and, along with all my other monitoring programs, there were no discrepancies; everything is performing ideally, with all fan and core speeds, temps, and voltages well within acceptable bounds.

[mcsupersport]

Afterburner has the ability to graph performance while the system is running and if you don't minimize the program you can tab out and look at a history snapshot. Are you seeing fps drops during the hiccups or do they stay steady but the game skips ahead? I am just wondering if there is an issue causing for some reason to have a bottleneck at the gpu or getting to the gpu. I don't know why it would be over two computers though, with the only real common denominator is the make/model of the card ie 460. Do you have any kind of drive monitor program or anything that would be taking up drive(harddrive) ability running in the background? Does changing the screen resolution or effects make any change in how the game runs? I saw on another thread/board about a system that a guy claimed the graphics card was too fast for the computer and it would cause frame skipping unless all graphics options were engaged to basically slow down the card and allow the cpu to keep up.(personally I don't see how this makes any sense, but weirder things have happened) Also have you looked at your Bios settings and made sure there isn't a stupid setting that might interfere or change the efficiency of your system?

[Dr. Messor]

I'll try the performance indicator with Afterburner when I get some time today; I've already checked out the BIOS, though there's still some things I'm checking out (such as Advanced Clock Calibration's impact on games, albeit, I have thus far found having it on or off to have nugatory effects). I've already tried disabling as many background processes as possible and changing resolutions (along with the other settings) but those have had similarily little effect. That GPU bit doesn't really seem to make sense, but I'll also see what I can find out about that.

[Dr. Messor]

Sorry for the delay, haven't had alot of free time recently; I'll try to get around to doing said test today or tomorrow.

[Dr. Messor]

Alright, just ran the performance test; there is no drop of FPS when the hiccups and whatnot occur.

[mcsupersport]

1) What is the listed FPS during the game?
2) What resolution are you playing at?
3) What is the refresh rate on your system?
4) What is the refresh rate of your monitor, and is it a monitor or TV?
5) How is the monitor hooked to the card, ie digital, hdmi, other?
6) Have you played with the resolutions and refresh rates to see if they make a difference?
7) Do you have an alternate monitor to check and make sure the issue is present in both?

[Dr. Messor]

1) ~60 FPS in ME2; also tried out the stability module for Afterburner, which ran at about ~200 FPS

2) I've tried numerous resolutions (windowed and unwindowed), my preferred is 1280x800 windowed (my monitor's native resolution is 1680x1050)

3&4) Both monitor and system refresh rates are at 60Hz

5) Digital hook-up

6) Already tried different resolutions, unfortunately my monitor doesn't allow anything else other than 60Hz (I know, I know, it may seem crappy, but I like how robust the monitor is and it is ridiculously energy efficient)

7) I don't have any other monitors currently, albeit this is the same monitor I used with my old computer as well, and the fact it has no issues with other games (including those which I ran on my old computer with no problem) leads me to believe it is not at fault

Modifié par Dr. Messor, 08 août 2011 - 10:25 .

[mcsupersport]

You know it is going to be something stupid and simple,but I am out of ideas. I hope Bogs will look in and have a good idea to try for you. Too me it sounds like the issue it getting the data to the video card for rendering more than an issue with the card actually rendering.

Good luck to you and if you do find the issue---POST IT!!!

[Whoo71]

Here's three questions that might have something to do with the problem:

1) What PSU do you have?
2) Do you have the AMD dual core optimizer installed by any chance?
3) And are you running any virtual disks? (Daemon Tools, PowerISO, etc)

Modifié par Whoo71, 09 août 2011 - 04:29 .

[Dr. Messor]

1) Can't remember off the top of my head, but I monitor power supply at all times for any discrepancies and, thus far, everything has worked perfectly in that regard.

2) Nope, don't have that installed.

3) I don't run any of those or even have them installed on my main computer.

[Whoo71]

Dr. Messor wrote...

1) Can't remember off the top of my head, but I monitor power supply at all times for any discrepancies and, thus far, everything has worked perfectly in that regard.

But it's still possible that either the wattage and/or the amps on the 12V rail are too low for your system. You didn't write in your post if this only happens in ME2 though, so this is kind of a longshot. I only get the problem you're describing if I'm playing a game that uses the Source engine.

You could also maybe try closing steam.exe after you launch ME2. I used to do that with ME when it'd randomly slow down.

Modifié par Whoo71, 09 août 2011 - 04:40 .

[Dr. Messor]

Well, tried that bit with Steam before, but I'll try it again, see what happens.

[Dr. Messor]

Nope, didn't work; blast it all, I have a sinking feeling it is something simple, like MCSuperSport said, but I cannot think of what it could be for the life of me.

[Bogsnot1]

AMD multicore CPU's are notorious for having slightly different clock speeds on each core. Once the game is fired up, alt-tab out, open up task manager, and set CPU affinity for snigle core for the game, and see how that goes.
You could also try the AMD core optimiser as suggested by Whoo71, or download a program called MassAffinity, which is deisgned to do such a task specifically for ME2. It also speeds up loadnig times.