Having choppy gameplay issues

[Gifton Sundar]

I'm gaming on a PC which has Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC and Ryzen 5 3600 processor; and the monitor is a Samsung Curved 144Hz FreeSync 1080p Gaming Monitor.

I have attached a video clip of GTA5 gameplay taken from my phone(recording using geforce in-game overlay doesn't show the problem) and sent to whatsapp to reduce it's size, so it will be of bad quality, but it states the problem for which I don't know what it's name is... Screen stuttering...? Screen Tearing...? The problem doesn't happen always and I don't know why it's happening when it does. When the problem is not there I'm able to play 'Control' game in DirectX 12 with Ray Tracing but when it's there, I can only play in DX11 without RT to play comfortably.

I have attached two log from HWiNFO64 playing GTA5 with the issue and without. I'm not able understand anything from the logs, but you people may figure it out.

Please help me solve this issue. Thanks in advance

GTA5 HWiNFO Log Bad.CSV GTA5 HWiNFO Log Good.CSV

[Paul Rudd]

21 hours ago, Gifton Sundar said:

The problem doesn't happen always and I don't know why it's happening when it does.

It's GTA V. Some areas of the game just do this. Especially inside the city. Completely common.

[Gifton Sundar]

1 hour ago, Intransigent said:

It's GTA V. Some areas of the game just do this. Especially inside the city. Completely common.

No, as I mentioned it happens in "Control" game also. And every other game I play (Watch Dogs, Watch Dogs 2, Forza Horizon 4, Shadow of the Tomb Rider, etc). If I enable VSync in settings with "Half framerate" the problem is mostly gone(even in GTA 5) but it makes my monitor and the hardware worthless as I can't get the 144Hz refresh rate that I paid for. I have enabled GSync in Nvidia Control Panel and I don't get why I need VSync...

[Paul Rudd]

29 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

No, as I mentioned it happens in "Control" game also. And every other game I play (Watch Dogs, Watch Dogs 2, Forza Horizon 4, Shadow of the Tomb Rider, etc). If I enable VSync in settings with "Half framerate" the problem is mostly gone(even in GTA 5) but it makes my monitor and the hardware worthless as I can't get the 144Hz refresh rate that I paid for. I have enabled GSync in Nvidia Control Panel and I don't get why I need VSync...

Oh, I see. Don't use VSync period. GSync is fine and already doing its thing. Let your fps fly. No limit on it unless your CPU is holding 100% very often.

 

Your fps doesn't exactly seem like it's choppy, it's suppose to fluctuate like that in open world games. If I were in your shoes, I'd show more than just fps while gaming to get an idea on what your hardware is actually doing. Frametime would be an excellent thing to show as well. It will present to you any choppiness that is going on.

 

And if you're playing on full-on Ultra(I sure hope that you're not), come on, this is exactly what you're going to be experiencing.

 

Take a screenshot of ALL your GTA 5 graphic settings. If this issue is "graphic setting" related, I can fix that right up in a jiffy.

 

P.S. Anything to do with Ray Tracing and what it does to performance I am not familiar with. I would guess it hits performance but I really have no clue other than what RTX does to Quake II. In which it KILLS fps. Not only does it KILL fps, it DESTROYS fps in that game. And that's a 22 year old game.

[Gifton Sundar]

2 hours ago, Intransigent said:

Oh, I see. Don't use VSync period. GSync is fine and already doing its thing. Let your fps fly. No limit on it unless your CPU is holding 100% very often.

 

Your fps doesn't exactly seem like it's choppy, it's suppose to fluctuate like that in open world games. If I were in your shoes, I'd show more than just fps while gaming to get an idea on what your hardware is actually doing. Frametime would be an excellent thing to show as well. It will present to you any choppiness that is going on.

 

And if you're playing on full-on Ultra(I sure hope that you're not), come on, this is exactly what you're going to be experiencing.

 

Take a screenshot of ALL your GTA 5 graphic settings. If this issue is "graphic setting" related, I can fix that right up in a jiffy.

 

P.S. Anything to do with Ray Tracing and what it does to performance I am not familiar with. I would guess it hits performance but I really have no clue other than what RTX does to Quake II. In which it KILLS fps. Not only does it KILL fps, it DESTROYS fps in that game. And that's a 22 year old game.

I just scan the games in Geforce Experience and click on the optimize button. As I'm typing this, I'm playing GTA 5 with the optimized setting without the choppiness problem. The hardware is capable to run games at even 1440p high and even 4k medium, but I'm just playing in 1080p a five year old game(GTA5)! Since you asked, I have attached screenshots of the graphics settings. I tried reducing all graphics settings to medium when I'm facing this issue, it didn't help at all. The only setting that works is the 'VSync' set to 'half' but reduces my framerate to 75 and below which maybe ok for the latest and greatest game at high settings, but for these old games it's unacceptable...

[Paul Rudd]

2 hours ago, Gifton Sundar said:

The hardware is capable to run games at even 1440p high and even 4k medium

This varies dramatically from game to game. As you can see, your hardware isn't exactly going to dominate GTA 5 on Ultra...

2 hours ago, Gifton Sundar said:

I have attached screenshots of the graphics settings. I tried reducing all graphics settings to medium when I'm facing this issue, it didn't help at all.

Right off the bat, you're at near full-on Ultra(as I suspected). Your screenshot doesn't show Population Variety, Population Density and Distance Scaling. But that's okay because I'd guess you have them all set to 100%.

 

Using presets such as Medium isn't going to do anything for you either. You need to customize your settings completely. Fortunately for you, I've mastered them to look as close to Ultra as humanly possible while maximizing fps.

 

Set them to the following, reset the game and watch your fps skyrocket. Each and every setting must be exactly as shown.

 

As a side experiment for you to see how different parts of the world affect fps, simply do the following. Drive to bottom left of the map to where the dock and Ferris Wheel are. Start from there and drive up the left side of the map on the road.

 

Once you reach around that intersection that leads to the right, keep driving right past that. Then when you reach the first overpass sign, take a look at your fps in that highway area. It's one of the highest fps you'll see while playing the game. Then just drive back into the city and you'll notice something.

 

P.S. Avoid using all-Ultra settings, presets and any type of "optimize buttons". PC Gaming lets us tweak each and every individual graphic setting for a reason.

[Gifton Sundar]

Thanks @Intransigent for all the time and efforts you took for me. But my issue is still there... I completely accept all the things you have said. I even changed all my settings as per your screenshots and attached a clip of the gameplay. As you can see, it didn't work.

Today morning I played GTA5 with the unmodified "Optimized" setting of the Geforce Experience(Ultra setting) and it was not at all stuttering. The video link you shared also shows the graphics settings my hardware is capable of. And now I'm playing the same game with the same settings, it is completely un-playable. Turned down settings as per your screenshots also didn't work.

As I have already stated, this problem is not only for GTA 5. I have played 'Control' with RayTracing ON and there was no issue. And now I played, it was all choppy. But for Control, if I turned OFF RayTracing, the issue is no longer there. But what's the use of a RTX card without RayTracing! For all other games, turning ON VSync to half fixes the issue, but reduces framerates to half.

My problem is why at some point of time my games work perfectly with the 'Optimized' settings and at some other time or day it's all choppy with the same un-modified settings? Reducing the graphics settings also doesn't work.

[Gifton Sundar]

I switch-off my PC and after a while I turned-on and started playing, now the game works fine. I have attached a clip showing the gameplay without the issue running in optimized settings(Ultra). I think it's something to do with system tuning down performance to lower power consmption when the system is idle for some time, but not sure...

[Paul Rudd]

3 hours ago, Gifton Sundar said:

As you can see, it didn't work.

Looks like it worked to me, your fps is hitting 180. I do see that it's dropping to 122 to 131 and that may be because you keep spinning the camera around.

3 hours ago, Gifton Sundar said:

if I turned OFF RayTracing, the issue is no longer there.

Then I'd guess Raytracing may have something to do with this issue.

3 hours ago, Gifton Sundar said:

what's the use of a RTX card without RayTracing!

I don't know, I've never invested in an RTX GPU.

3 hours ago, Gifton Sundar said:

why at some point of time my games work perfectly with the 'Optimized' settings and at some other time or day it's all choppy with the same un-modified settings?

I have yet to see an issue with your fps. In your first video, it's showing your fps as 80-102. Completely common fps for your hardware on Ultra, if not better than other people with the same hardware. Then this new video shows your fps up to as much as 180 fps with drops to around 122 to 131 with the settings I provided to you.

 

Going from 80-102, to 122-180 is an obvious improvement. I'm trying my best to clearly see what's happening but try to stop moving the camera around(both the in-game camera and the camera you're holding). Try recording another clip but this time, setup the camera you're holding on something like a table so it doesn't move and then record a clip of you just standing in one spot in the game. Do not spin the camera around. I want to see what your hardware is doing while this is happening and see if I can spot anything. Make sure you're using the settings I provided to you.

 

Thanks for your cooperation, I understand frustration with this type of issue. We'll find out something.

[Gifton Sundar]

1 hour ago, Intransigent said:

Looks like it worked to me, your fps is hitting 180. I do see that it's dropping to 122 to 131 and that may be because you keep spinning the camera around.

FPS above 144 is anyhow waste as my monitor is capable of only 144Hz. The reason I spin the camera in game is to show the problem better. It didn't work, actually it became worse as I now have lesser quality gameplay with the stuttering issue. The video doesn't do a good job of capturing the issue, but I'm not able to show what my eyes see. The Nvidia Overlay game recorder thingy doesn't show the stuttering issue at all and so I'm forced to use a handheld phone camera...

1 hour ago, Intransigent said:

Try recording another clip but this time, setup the camera you're holding on something like a table so it doesn't move and then record a clip of you just standing in one spot in the game. Do not spin the camera around. I want to see what your hardware is doing while this is happening and see if I can spot anything. Make sure you're using the settings I provided to you.

Ya sure, but currently I don't have the issue and it's night time here, so have to see tomorrow morning. I'll try using some other recording software to record the gameplay instead of trying in my phone camera. But if I'm not able to get anything, I'll find the tripod which I kept in some random place and use it. Thank you again for all the efforts!

 

Have you seen the video without the stuttering issue which is above your recent reply?

[Paul Rudd]

55 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

FPS above 144 is anyhow waste as my monitor is capable of only 144Hz.

I understand this but it's not a waste to show what your hardware is capable of.

56 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

The reason I spin the camera in game is to show the problem better.

It only creates a problem for me to see anything.

57 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

The video doesn't do a good job of capturing the issue, but I'm not able to show what my eyes see. The Nvidia Overlay game recorder thingy doesn't show the stuttering issue at all and so I'm forced to use a handheld phone camera...

This I understand. Framerate and especially frametime will show stuttering of any kind though.

59 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

Ya sure, but currently I don't have the issue and it's night time here, so have to see tomorrow morning. I'll try using some other recording software to record the gameplay instead of trying in my phone camera. But if I'm not able to get anything, I'll find the tripod which I kept in some random place and use it. Thank you again for all the efforts!

 

Have you seen the video without the stuttering issue which is above your recent reply?

No problem and you're welcome. Will wait til tomorrow. And yes I watched all the videos on this page. You spin the camera around in all of them making it tough to see anything. The specs will show all so be sure to not spin the camera while standing in one place, while walking or while driving. Try to show those 3 things, especially standing in one place.

[Gifton Sundar]

@Intransigent No recording software worked... It shows the gameplay smooth even when it is not. I used your screenshot settings and recorded the game play with the same phone but this time with a tripod. I did the the 3 things you asked without spinning the camera for a few seconds(as I need to show everything in below 20MB), but driving straight or walking straight or standing in one place doesn't show the problem. It's only when the camera spins we can see it clearly. Notice the lags in the middle, it is actual gameplay lag!

I think it happens when I leave my PC idle for sometime, after which it goes to sleep state and after wake if I try to play any game, this issue happens. But I can't get it back to the normal state... I even tried Shutting down and left it for some time and then started, still doesn't work! I checked the Windows power settings, and set everything to 'High Performance', nothing changed... I have no clue how to fix it...

[Paul Rudd]

7 hours ago, Gifton Sundar said:

Notice the lags in the middle, it is actual gameplay lag!

Okay, I have spotted the issue(stuttering).

• Is RTX ON?
• Background processes, have you cleared them up? Starting with those in the Windows settings?
• When did this issue start happening?
• Have you recently did any driver updates?
• If you did a recent driver update, did you use DDU to completely remove all your existing drivers before installing the new ones?
• What driver version are you currently using?
• Have you recently did a Windows update?
• Have you checked to see if any Windows updates are pending?

On a side note, I just noticed you are using a Nvidia GPU on a FreeSync monitor and I want to say that FreeSync isn't compatible with your GPU. So you could try to cap your fps using MSI Afterburner. Cap it to 144 here...

Try this 144 fps cap first before doing any driver updates(if you haven't already). If this fixes your issue, we can also do some adjustments to your graphic settings since you stated this before... "actually it became worse as I now have lesser quality gameplay". I want to say that you're saying you lost visual quality, is that right?

[Gifton Sundar]

17 hours ago, Gifton Sundar said:

Notice the lags in the middle, it is actual gameplay lag!

12 hours ago, Intransigent said:

Okay, I have spotted the issue(stuttering).

The lag is not the actual issue I was talking about, I told you to notice it because this is the new problem when I switch to the screenshot settings. To see the actual issue, concentrate on the environment while the character is driving or walking. The trees, buildings, etc will have a trail (seem to look as if they are double or triple of the same object). This is more visible in the ultra settings where you can see three times more trail. In the screen shot settings there is tearing also which is not in ultra settings.

12 hours ago, Intransigent said:

Is RTX ON?

Short answer: No, GTA 5 doesn't support Ray Tracing.

Long answer: Ray tracing is not a feature which you turn ON and it works for all the games. The game developers should implement this in their code. Now there are only hand full of games which support Ray Tracing. One of them is 'Control' which in my opinion has the best implementation. Glossy objects will reflect light according to your character or camera position in real time which actually won't reflect anything if it's turn OFF. So 'Control' looks completely different if you turn RT OFF.

12 hours ago, Intransigent said:

Background processes, have you cleared them up? Starting with those in the Windows settings?

Ya, I checked background processes and stopped whatever is unnecessary. But I don't get what you mean by 'those in the Windows settings?'

12 hours ago, Intransigent said:

When did this issue start happening?

You can see from my specs that I built my system recently(August). I didn't have any issue in the first month or 2 after which I had this and I get frustrated and turn on VSync and start playing. But it was rare then, but now it's more frequent.

13 hours ago, Intransigent said:

 

• Have you recently did any driver updates?
• If you did a recent driver update, did you use DDU to completely remove all your existing drivers before installing the new ones?
• What driver version are you currently using?
• Have you recently did a Windows update?
• Have you checked to see if any Windows updates are pending?

 

I'll always update everything, so I don't remember after which update this happened...

No, I have never uninstalled any driver unless I face blue screen issues. And I just use the Windows Control Panel if I need to, haven't used that DDU.

I have installed all the driver updates and Windows which are available. I have a habit of updating everything to the latest version, so whatever version I have it's the latest one. The only latest update I didn't do is the motherboard BIOS as some are reporting that it's causing booting issues.

13 hours ago, Intransigent said:

On a side note, I just noticed you are using a Nvidia GPU on a FreeSync monitor and I want to say that FreeSync isn't compatible with your GPU

Nvidia changed that months ago, all FreeSync monitors are compatible with GSync. Nvidia has validated some FreeSync monitors and for the rest it will just say that it's not validated by Nvidia as GSync compatible. Ya I know that I won't get the

 

GSync Ultimate experience, but for me basic is fine. I didn't do any modification to make it work, GSync worked fine for me out-of-the-b ox.

13 hours ago, Intransigent said:

try to cap your fps using MSI Afterburner. Cap it to 144 here...

Can I use MSI Afterburner on an Asus Motherboard? I thought it won't work. I'll check and tell.

13 hours ago, Intransigent said:

"actually it became worse as I now have lesser quality gameplay". I want to say that you're saying you lost visual quality, is that right?

Ya, obviously as we reduced graphics settings and turned OFF some anti-aliasing options, so it resulted in some sharp objects where it should be smooth and overall texture and everything looks weird as I'm used with the Ultra settings

[Paul Rudd]

59 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

To see the actual issue, concentrate on the environment while the character is driving or walking. The trees, buildings, etc will have a trail (seem to look as if they are double or triple of the same object). This is more visible in the ultra settings where you can see three times more trail.

Unfortunately there's no way to see this trail you speak of unless you record the video from your PC. Try pressing Alt+F9 while gaming to start and stop recording. That's ShadowPlay. You can set the quality of it(resolution and fps) in Nvidia GeForce Experience so I can see these trails a little better.

59 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

In the screen shot settings there is tearing also which is not in ultra settings.

Tearing may be because your FreeSync isn't functioning correctly(or something related to it). I experience no tearing on my GSync monitor with GSync ON and VSync always OFF.

59 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

But I don't get what you mean by 'those in the Windows settings?'

Go into Windows Settings. Go into Privacy. Scroll down to Background Apps. Uncheck every single one to OFF and set the very top setting called "Let apps run in the background" to OFF. You may already have these set like this.

59 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

I'll always update everything, so I don't remember after which update this happened... No, I have never uninstalled any driver unless I face blue screen issues. And I just use the Windows Control Panel if I need to, haven't used that DDU. I have installed all the driver updates and Windows which are available. I have a habit of updating everything to the latest version, so whatever version I have it's the latest one.

I highly recommend using DDU to completely uninstall ALL your current drivers. Then just install ALL the latest drivers. Works like a charm.

59 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

Nvidia changed that months ago, all FreeSync monitors are compatible with GSync. Nvidia has validated some FreeSync monitors and for the rest it will just say that it's not validated by Nvidia as GSync compatible. Ya I know that I won't get the GSync Ultimate experience, but for me basic is fine. I didn't do any modification to make it work, GSync worked fine for me out-of-the-b ox.

If this is true, you shouldn't be seeing any tearing whatsoever. At least, I'm just talking about my experience with my GSync monitor and my hardware. Not sure how effective your monitor is with your hardware.

59 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

Can I use MSI Afterburner on an Asus Motherboard? I thought it won't work. I'll check and tell.

I don't see why not. I do know that I don't game without MSI Afterburner on my PC.

59 minutes ago, Gifton Sundar said:

Ya, obviously as we reduced graphics settings and turned OFF some anti-aliasing options, so it resulted in some sharp objects where it should be smooth and overall texture and everything looks weird as I'm used with the Ultra settings

This is most likely because I game in 1440p so my settings are pretty much centered around 1440p resolution. Since you are in 1080p, I say use the AA you wish to use. But keep in mind, ANY AA higher than FXAA+MSAA x2 is going to hit your fps.

 

Going from MSAA x2 to x4 is around 3-4 fps. Using TXAA x2 is around another 3-4 fps. Using TXAA x4 is around another 5-6 fps. And finally, using MSAA x8 is around another 9-11 fps from MSAA x2. I'd try to find the one that is a balance for 1080p. In 1440p, FXAA+MSAA x2 is the perfect balance imo. Some people need that extra x4 bump but I prefer the fps.

 

Let me know about other visuals and I'll tell ya' how to balance em' out for 1080p. No reason to kill your fps with near ultra everything because there are a lot of individual settings that KILL fps and the difference between them visually is as subtle as can be. A perfect example is Reflection MSAA. Turning it OFF is going to give you a good 5-7 fps and I'm telling you right now, setting it to anything above OFF makes absolutely no visual difference that matters...

 

Right click on all 4 of these links and open them in 4 different tabs. Then click from tab to tab over and over and tell me you spot a difference.

 

https://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/images/grand-theft-auto-v/grand-theft-auto-v-pc-reflection-msaa-001-off.png

https://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/images/grand-theft-auto-v/grand-theft-auto-v-pc-reflection-msaa-001-2x.png

https://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/images/grand-theft-auto-v/grand-theft-auto-v-pc-reflection-msaa-001-4x.png

https://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/images/grand-theft-auto-v/grand-theft-auto-v-pc-reflection-msaa-001-8x.png

 

Same with these...

 

https://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/images/grand-theft-auto-v/grand-theft-auto-v-pc-reflection-msaa-003-off.png

https://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/images/grand-theft-auto-v/grand-theft-auto-v-pc-reflection-msaa-003-2x.png

https://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/images/grand-theft-auto-v/grand-theft-auto-v-pc-reflection-msaa-003-4x.png

https://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/images/grand-theft-auto-v/grand-theft-auto-v-pc-reflection-msaa-003-8x.png

 

And this is just Reflection MSAA. There's plenty more settings just like this one that should have absolutely no reason to be enabled.

[Gifton Sundar]

On 11/18/2019 at 12:38 PM, Intransigent said:

Tearing may be because your FreeSync isn't functioning correctly(or something related to it). I experience no tearing on my GSync monitor

Found the problem! My monitor's FreeSync isn't functioning properly! I faced that trail issue again, while the game is ON I just turned OFF my monitor and turned it back ON, no more trails!

Thanks bro for all your help!

[Paul Rudd]

1 minute ago, Gifton Sundar said:

Found the problem! My monitor's FreeSync isn't functioning properly! I faced that trail issue again, while the game is ON I just turned OFF my monitor and turned it back ON, no more trails! Thanks bro for all your help!

I knew it! Glad you got it sorted out.