Micro-stuttering is making me want to scream

[Silverfish42]

I’m running the most up-to-date steam version of the game with all DLC. It’s a recent re-install, completely vanilla with no mods of any sort running right now. Brand new game, so no save issues. I’ve previously run the game on this same system at medium to high settings with no issues, with a fair number of mods installed.

The problem is that randomly but reliably (anywhere from ten or fifteen minutes playing to right after loading the game) I start having what seems to fit the description of micro-stuttering. The measured FPS doesn't seem to change (using FRAPS), but there’s noticeable slowdown for just a brief moment about every second or so. It’s most obvious with things moving on screen, because it gives the appearance of things slowing down and speeding up, but it doesn’t actually stutter and stop entirely. I also play mostly in third person, so doesn't seem to be the 1st person stutter I've read so much about trying to fix this issue. I’ve tried everything I can think of at this point to stop it, increasing allocated memory, turned vsync on and off, framerate limiting from 45 to 60, messed with all of the normal settings from low to high, running windowed, full-screen borderless window, nothing reliably gets rid of it. The only thing I've come across that seems to have impacted it at all (still doesn't entirely get rid of it, but it seemed notably lessened) is setting processor affinity to a single core, the idea of which I got from here -

http://benchmark3d.com/microstutter-case-study-skyrim-wtf-edition

- but that seems to affect my overall game performance negatively, and I can't find another workaround. Nevermind you have to do it manually every time you run the damn game.

The micro-stutter seems to worsen if there are light sources in the frame. My system isn't running with ambient occlusion, so I know that's not it. I'm seriously at the end of my freaking rope, I hope someone has some idea, this is super frustrating. I really appreciate any help guys.

My system is an ASUS G60vx laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium x64 with SP 1.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz

RAM: 4 GM

GPU: nVidia GTX 260m with 1GB memory and the most recent drivers (GeForce 310.90)

I’m about ready to stab something, any help is greatly appreciated.

[Belial666]

S GTX260 on laptop isn't much to work with,also,there's newer 314 drivers that might help.The 310 ones had a few issues with them.Also,in your videocard driver settings turn off threaded optimization,there's a bug in them,and it don't work right,makes things slower.Also,defragging drive,disabling live antivirus/spyware scanning during gaming,and close background apps.Don't use ENB,or injectors,and try not to use many hires packs.If you use any LOD or distance tweaks like ugrids,change em back.

[Silverfish42]

Thanks, but that wasn't very helpful. I did try the new nVidia drivers and no luck there. I've tried everything else I can think of including general system maintenance. As I said in the original post, I'm having this issue with a COMPLETELY VANILLA install on low settings, when previously I was able to run somewhere between medium and high with no issues, and a crapload of mods installed. I think I officially give up. The universe and or Bethesda hates me. It has to be an issue with game updates in the last six months. **ck.

[Belial666]

Ususally if it's an issue on low vanilla,then there's other system issues,could be bad hardware,some hidden things running,autobackups,disk optimizer,antivirus,etc.I can't rememebr if it's asus or acer that has a hidden encrypter that runs in backgorund.A friend had an issue with toher games a few years ago,and finally found out it was the app hidden causing all the stuttering and crashing.It's also posisble you pushed system a bit too hard too long,and it degraded over time.Are there other games you tried that played good?Do you got the skyrim DVD,and can install fromt heat,and not update it on steam to see if non-updated skyrim works fine?Also,try playing with steam in offline mode.

[bben46]

My guess is you have something running in the background that is stealing CPU cycles.

Check for things like a instant messaging or VOIP program that checks for messages, Or anything that accesses the internet periodically - Just unplugging the cable or disabling the wifi will not stop them from trying. :whistling:

 

Some antivirus programs will check for a virus on every disk read and every disk write so a lot of read writes in a short time can cause dips. - Most allow you to set a program such as a game as an exception.

 

There are some autodefrag programs that will start any time your HD gets just a bit fragmented. They can be disabled for some programs also.

 

I once had a printer program check for updates every 10 minutes - that one took me nearly a month to find.