[2.0.33] Random stutters during normal gameplay

[Fig_]

Hello!

So I've been down a rabbit hole with this issue, and I can't seem to figure out if it's my computer, or if it's Factorio. I was thinking it was my computer, but I've seen some similar threads mentioning stutters, but those threads were on Linux.

It happens in game and during the menu animations.

All of my drivers are up to date, and my OS is pretty locked down in regards to Windows doing Windows things ( search indexing, background updates, telemetry ). Latest BIOS update.
Here are my computer specs:

Code: Select all

OS,Windows 11 (build 22631), Version 10.0.22631.4751
CPU,AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core Processor
Cores,16
RAM,64676
GPU,AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
VRAM,16311
WindowWidth,3840
WindowHeight,2160
MaxTextureSize,16384
PowerState,NoBattery

2 x 4K screens at 60Hz. The monitor I play on has Freesync enabled, between 50-60Hz. The other does not.

And the graphics options I have set, from capturing the performance stats in the debug menu:

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screenshots-threads-count,16
cache-sprite-atlas-count,1
cache-sprite-atlas,false
compress-sprite-atlas-cache,false
texture-streaming,true
streamed-atlas-physical-vram-size,0
sprite-vertex-buffer-size,1048576
max-texture-size,0
max-threads,8
graphics-quality,high
brightness,0
contrast,0
saturation,120
color-filter,protanopia
full-screen,true
minimize-on-focus-loss,false
enable-warning-icons-blinking,true
enable-arachnophobia-mode,false
show-fullscreen-flash,true
show-smoke,true
show-clouds,true
show-fog,false    <--- happens with it on or off.
show-space-dust,true
show-decoratives,true
show-particles,true
show-item-shadows,true
show-inserter-shadows,true
show-animated-water,true
show-animated-ghosts,true
show-tree-distortion,true
additional-terrain-effects,true
light-occlusion,true
force-opengl,false
v-sync,false
high-quality-animations,true
high-quality-shadows,true
high-quality-terrain,true
elevated-rail-shadows,true
show-game-simulations-in-background,true
turret-overdraw-minimum-count,4
turret-overdraw-estimated-pixel-overdraw-thresho
skip-vram-detection,false
halt-rendering-when-minimized,true
runtime-sprite-reload,false
render-in-native-resolution,true
use-flip-presentation-model,true
debug-api,false
discard-buffers-on-begin-frame,true
video-memory-usage,all
texture-compression-level,high-quality
compress-virtual-atlas,true
optimize-for-low-vram,false
clear-atlas-debugging-data,false
dxgi-presentation-model,flip-discard
dxgi-action-before-present,none
dxgi-allow-tearing,false
dxgi-flip-do-not-wait,false
dxgi-present-restart,false
dxgi-swap-chain-buffer-count,0
dxgi-max-frame-latency,0
dxgi-adapter-index,-1
max-sprite-loading-threads,32
gpu-accelerated-compression,true
gpu-accelerated-mipmap-compression,true
wait-until-mipmap-generation-finished,true
check-for-unused-pixels,false
ogl-depth-buffer-bit-depth,0
ogl-accelerated-renderer,auto
ogl-double-buffered,true
legacy-gpu-no-mipmaps,false
force-linear-magnification,false
custom-mipmap-workaround,false
buffer-rename-workaround,false
disallow-high-bit-depth-sprites,false
disabled-opengl-extensions,
linux-preferred-video-driver,x11

I'd consider my computer stable, as no other games have any weird stuttering, and I've done a bunch of benchmarks to make sure things are working fine. Nothing is running in the background, OS wise, and I don't have any overlays enabled. This has been present since, last I can remember, 2.0.32.

The stutter mainly affects my FPS- dropping it down to 40 briefly. UPS doesn't seem to take as big of a hit- only going to 55 or so.

Here's a screenshot during normal, non-stuttering gameplay:

Not suttering

Screenshot 2025-02-02 171620.png (16.74 MiB) Viewed 414 times

Here's another screenshot during the stutter ( yes, it says 60 fps but it just recovered. I was down to 30-40 fps. ):

Stutter

Screenshot 2025-02-02 173359.png (8.55 MiB) Viewed 414 times

AMD's driver app also detects it:

AMD's software seeing the stutter

Screenshot 2025-02-02 173548.png (82.33 KiB) Viewed 414 times

It... I really have no idea what triggers it. I don't have that productive of a base, but it is physically large. Sometimes it triggers when things are burning, like when the bugs attack and the flamethrowers start burning walls. I've seen it start when the lightning started on Fulgora ( sick planet, btw! ). Seems to also happen when platforms are in transit. Maybe dust / fog related?

It doesn't happen when the game ISN'T fullscreen, but the frametime is just less consistent. Holds 60, but stutters down to 59 kinda frequently. It DOES happen on other machines of mine. Maybe something with the save file? Save is attached, and so is the performance capture.

I'll post an update with more observations later, but yeah this one is a real head scratcher.

[Fig_]

Hello, me again.

Disabling every single graphics option ( or turning them to low ) helped, but it still stuttered ever so slightly. Nowhere near the amount it was before.

The one option that made the most difference was turning fog off. Though, still had the same issue of either Flip[ off ] taking too long, or sleeping well past 16ms.

I noticed on the other thread I was looking at ( 125273 ) that that person also had a Ryzen 7800X3D. I wonder if there's something going on with the huge amount of cache. Maybe AMD or Microsoft released a bugged update? But then it would be present in other games, no? I'm gonna go test earlier versions of the game to go see if I can find a starting point.

--- 30 minutes later ---

So, did some testing on 2.0.21, brand new save. No stutters until biters started attacking me, then oh BOY did it stutter.
Testing on 2.0.23: Heavy lag spike in the beginning, but I was also under siege by the biters.
Going AALL the way back to 2.0.7... and yeah there it is. Right as I start a new world with biters right next to me.
I remember this not being the case when I first played the expansion

Going even FURTHER back to 1.1.110 and there it is! HUH?

Y'know, I wonder if this is an AMD bug. It could be Windows, but the other thread I linked is from linux. I have the latest 24.12.1 GPU driver from AMD, and that's about when I noticed it start. Granted, the other poster had an RTX 3060, so maybe it is something to do with the X3D chips / chipset drivers.

[Fig_]

Hello! Me again.

Well, re-installing windows fixed the stutter. Definitely was a driver issue... not really sure what started it.

Anywho, have a good one, all! And many, many thanks to the devs for this game. It's genuinely my favorite.

[Fig_]

Juuuust kidding!

It's been resolved though. The tl;dr is I had vsync on and whether I was just tired or what, I didn't notice any hitches when I first tried it out. I decided to run a stress test on my computer and it was going fine until about 30 minutes in when I had a WHEA. CPU L0 Cache issue... or something like that.

Turns out the voltages going to my CPU / Memory / all those bits was just a little too low. Bumping everything by about 0.1 / 0.05 volts was enough to make my machine stable, and for the stutter to go away. I had previously not touched those values, assuming ASUS had fixed the horrendous 1.4v straight to the cpu issue, but the recent BIOS I was on didn't touch that for whatever reason. Maybe I've degraded a bit, but whatever. It works now, and everything else is running super nicely.

[Bukinnear]

For anyone who finds this in the future, this can also be caused by GSYNC/FreeSync. Disable them in your drivers for the application, and the hitching will stop.

Factorio is locked at 60 FPS, and if you try to drive it above that or mess with the framerate, it does not like it at all.