Audio lag, all sounds suddenly catch up post combat, video example!

[Deleted19680724User]

Basically after playing for a while, audio will begin to lag, particularly in combat, but also footsteps, sounds of jumping etc. Gunshots and XP sounds will not happen when their visuals happen and then all of sudden the sounds will happen all at the same time, like they are only now catching up.

• My game is 4gb patched, I'm using the NVSE memory tweak and I'm playing with completely vanilla textures, so I can't imagine its some kind a memory issue.
• I'm also using the performance tweaks in the TTW performance guide, like the ini tweaks, and have tried with and without the Ogg Audio libraries, no difference.
• I'm also playing with a very minimalist mod list, and so I don't think its script lag or anything.
• I've checked all my drivers with DXDIAG and it reports no errors and that they are all up to date.

I've also tried creating fresh ini files and reinstalling the game fresh without success.

Here's my plugin list https://pastebin.com/v7nt8zwU

and a video better detailing the type of lag (best example is at around 50 seconds, but it happens throughout)

Any help would be great.

Edited June 11, 2018 by Guest

[dubiousintent]

"Sounds" tend to be "trigger and forget". Once triggered, they go into an audio queue and run until complete (usually just seconds long, if not "songs" or "dialog".) Higher priority "tasks" can steal their CPU cycles, causing the delay and "bunching" you have observed; sort of an "audio stutter".

 

Something that can indirectly cause stuttering of any kind is a process that steals away CPU cycles from the game pipeline. The graphics, mouse, and audio systems tend to interact and can perform such "Cycle stealing". You may need to use a tool such as Process Explorer to track down which app or service is grabbing cycles.

 

Writing to disk is one of those cycle stealers. Do you have NVSE Error logging enabled?

 

I don't recognize "Music Extraction", so try disabling that. Also, how often does "SafeAutoSaves" run?

 

-Dubious-

[Deleted19680724User]

Ok, I will activate error logging and report back what it says.

 

Music extraction just disables combat music and adds tracks from Fallout 1/2 to certain areas of the map, but I will try disabling it anyway.

 

SafeAutoSaves I have set to save every 150 seconds, and there is a small, "normal" stutter or slowdown when it saves. But the audio lag feels distinctly different.

 

[dubiousintent]

AutoSave every 1.5 minutes? That is overkill. You barely have time to write everything out before you are doing it again. And it could be taking longer and causing that audio lag. Recommend you set it to no more often than every 10 minutes. Personally I "autosave" (using CASM with MCM) a "full" version every half hour and manually save if I think it warrants it sooner. But there is no hard and fast rule.

 

Otherwise I have no idea as to what is causing the problem other than something is stealing cycles as mentioned earlier. Once you have an error log, turn "logging" off.

 

-Dubious-

[Deleted19680724User]

Ok here's an error log - I played up until I experienced the lag, then quit. https://pastebin.com/NsWeqYWy

 

I will also try lowering the save frequency. I had it saving frequently to try and avoid using quick saves, both for game play reasons and stability as I've heard overusing them can cause issues.

 

You don't think Ragdolls has anything to do with it do you? The lag only really occurs during and after combat when Ragolls is most likely happening.

 

Also anyway to get power armour steps? I noticed the errors in the log but FNVedit shows that all the power armours have the power armour sound set, but it doesn't work in game.

Edited June 13, 2018 by Guest

[Deleted19680724User]

No change on lowering the save frequency. I'm going to try without Quick Grenade Hotkey, as a myriad of other bugs make me wonder if its stable, its also one of the few new additions to my modlist from previous, non laggy play throughs.

 

Still open to suggestions.

[dubiousintent]

I doubt it's "Ragdolls", but test it anyway.

 

Here is standard suggestion I failed to mention:

 

If you are suddenly having a "slowdown" or lag; or a lack of sound; or problems getting NVSE to load, or really anything new unexpectedly, please see the 'Issue: NVSE - fails to load after update KB4058043 to Win10 FCU (v1709)' entry in the wiki "Fallout NV Mod Conflict Troubleshooting" guide. This may be due to a Windows Update for the "Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities".

 

"Quicksaves" are snapshots that do not save everything. Reloading any save of any nature should be done only after exiting completely from the game to the desktop. This is because some things that are established when the game loads only exist in memory and are not saved. For example, if you explode a mine, it no longer exists, but is not in the save game file either. It gets included when the cell is loaded the first time. Reload with out exiting and you will find that mine you had previously "exploded" is no longer there where you encountered it before.

 

-Dubious-

[Deleted19680724User]

Should have mentioned I'm on Windows 7.

[dubiousintent]

That's good. Fewer problems with 7 than 10. But the "Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities" exist on Win7 as well, so the same equivalent patch has been applied. Take a look at that Issue. You won't have the "WDEG" tool mentioned, but the predecessor "EMET" is still available for 7.

 

Something else to look into is "memory leaks". Getting 2-3 hours before a CTD is pretty good. You might want to try using the tool "Memclean", which periodically (you can set the interval; default is every 15 minutes) tells the OS to perform it's built-in "clean up" of memory. It has a "mini-monitor" that displays memory usage. Doesn't seem to hurt and might help diagnose when the problems occur.

 

The NVSE error log suggests you are running in "hardcore mode" (All the "using a food?" entries), as well as wearing "powerarmor". You seem to be missing the PA "walkrun" sound file.("Audio: Could not open file data\sound\fx\fol\powerarmor_walkrun\"). That is causing a lot of "FalloutAudioSynch" errors. Try to track down which mod is using that file (under folder "fol") and fix it.

 

-Dubious-