Seemingly Random FPS Dips

[bben46]

Don't overlook any background processes that can steal clock cycles. A VOIP, or a PM program checking for messages, an antivirus that decides to scan something at that time, the windows indexing program, a defrag program that triggers on a certain level of fragmentation, a program that periodically checks for updates or many other background processes that suddenly decide they must do something right now.

 

Here are my Slow Game suggestions

http://tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=255

[obobski]

I'd look at background load - just because you have buckets of memory doesn't mean you have the compute power to deal with everything that said memory can hold

 

also, what is "NoLoad.esp"? reminds me of the no-load commands for Source which can create some unsightly performance issues

 

I can tell you that the random FPS dips you're encountering aren't "normal" in my experience, its either consistently bad performance or consistently good performance, any "hangs" mean something isn't likely doing what it should be (i.e: background processes eating up resources (like your half dozen security programs all running to make sure everything is safe), the engine being forced to load a substantial amount of data very quickly (like cosmetic or texture mods, is your draw/shadow/effects distance set very high? (that'd be the first setting I'd play with after disabling mod esps))

 

and finally, from the New Vegas troubleshooting handbook:

kill your ini and let the game rebuild it - this has saved me an untold number of times (generally audio issues in my case)

 

alternately, you might just have your graphics settings set slightly too high for your computer, so it runs "ok" most of the time, but drops out under heavier loads (and you're seeing this as "random" because those loads may not correspond to what's on-screen at a given moment) - but that strikes me as unlikely (because, again, in my experience you'd just have a slideshow constantly, not periodically)

[gstark1]

Fan on the video card is running fine and is clean. Played a bit last night with AVG disabled and not connected to my network, overall was a pretty smooth experience. Reactivated AVG, got back online, and downloaded a house mod (Shadowvine?) Loaded back up, went to the house, and started getting slowdowns again...but that didn't surprise me considering being anywhere near or inside the house cut my FPS down by half or more. Actually got a slowdown twice in the same spot just walking through the house, so I'm pretty sure there's something with that mod...plus I didn't like the house, so that mod is gone.

 

Ben and Obobski, thanks for the tips. I'll try running a clean boot tonight and see what happens. I don't use VOIP or IM / PM programs all that often, so they are all turned off unless I'm actively using them.

[obobski]

I wouldn't worry so much about Shadowvine - the performance in that house is pretty bad in my experience (it's just got a lot going on - looks great though)

[gstark1]

I wouldn't worry so much about Shadowvine - the performance in that house is pretty bad in my experience (it's just got a lot going on - looks great though)

 

Yeah, same thing I said...looks great, but the performance is a deal breaker (along with me liking open living spaces, too much cramped stuff going on there.)

[gstark1]

I think I might have found my problem.

 

I need to do more testing to be sure, but I'm starting to see some correlation between these FPS drops and having Firefox open. I usually let Firefox stay open just in case I need to tab out and look something up, whether it be or work or looking for another cave to plunder :) Last night I had it open as I was trying out different house mods, and I was randomly dropping FPS (to 5 LOL) in every house I tried. So I killed the game and closed Firefox a walked away for a bit. Later I went to play again, and no FPS issues at all.

[gstark1]

Or not. Started new character for giggles, and getting FPS drops like crazy. Around 2-3 every 5-10 minutes. Very annoying. Even disabled all of my startup processes except the Microsoft ones and security ones, and startup programs except security, and still having issues. Very tempted to pull my Oblivion data directory, save games, and personal files and install this Windows 7 update i have.

[jvarnes]

Or not. Started new character for giggles, and getting FPS drops like crazy. Around 2-3 every 5-10 minutes. Very annoying. Even disabled all of my startup processes except the Microsoft ones and security ones, and startup programs except security, and still having issues. Very tempted to pull my Oblivion data directory, save games, and personal files and install this Windows 7 update i have.

 

Hi gstark1,

 

Just wondering if you had tried that win 7 update or anything else and seen an improvement. I too am experiencing simular hiccups and have some of the same gear as you (win 7, same amount of RAM, same video card, etc.) so I am following this thread with interest.

 

I've not yet had a freeze up during a conversation, but frequently get them looking at random objects (certain ships, buildings, small groups of people etc.) but this doesn't always happen. When it does though I can generally replicate it so it may not be exactly the same problem you are facing.

 

Can anyone recommend a free windows7 compatible defrag program that can defrag a specific directory (I want to schedule a defrag of my oblivion folder each day since my wife and I play it nearly daily lately).

 

Thanks and good luck!

 

Keep us updated on your progress.

[Hickory]

The former Sysinternals' Contig is the best, and fastest, and here's a GUI for it: scroll down to PowerDefragmenter.

[MorpheusDruidic]

I think I might have found my problem.

 

I need to do more testing to be sure, but I'm starting to see some correlation between these FPS drops and having Firefox open. I usually let Firefox stay open just in case I need to tab out and look something up, whether it be or work or looking for another cave to plunder :) Last night I had it open as I was trying out different house mods, and I was randomly dropping FPS (to 5 LOL) in every house I tried. So I killed the game and closed Firefox a walked away for a bit. Later I went to play again, and no FPS issues at all.

 

Firefox actually does eat up a lot of processor time if i leave it open myself it will be eating about 10-20% of all 4 of my processor cores (especially with multiple tabs open) and i would assume that would double on a dual core. This is actually why i prefer to use Chrome as it doesn't eat nearly as much as firefox if i leave it open.

 

On another note have u customized your .ini file for multi-core optimization? bUseThreadedTempEffects=1 for example is default set at 0 and there are many such settings in the .ini