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[Vergil1992]

The truth is that even in games that do not use Unreal Engine 4 I am experiencing stuttering very frequently, and I am sure that it is not the fault of my hardware. I'm trying Alan Wake Remastered and surprise, the PC version has stuttering, more or less like in this video:





I've been playing several games on my PC for a while (Ryzen 5700x, AMD 7900XTX, 32GB/3200mhz...) and absolutely all of these games have stuttering: Alan Wake Remastered, RedFall, Hellblade, Starfield (in this case it seems like transversal stutter), Far Cry 6 (same as Starfield), Crysis 2 Remastered (transversal stuttering too), I've also had Robocop, The Last of Us Remake...


I have tried with my other PC (3600/6700XT) and the result is the same. I have also tested some with a 3600 and a GTX 1660S (to rule out that it is the fault of AMD hardware). The only thing I haven't tested with is a current Intel CPU, but I doubt the problem is with Ryzen. On the second run none of these games have stuttering.

As a note, in Hellblade with DX11 the stuttering decreases a lot in my case. It's much rarer, with DX12 I can't take two steps forward without stuttering. It's simply atrocious.

And the truth is that I see the problem more and more frequently. It is not something to go crazy about, for example, in Alan Wake Remastered it is barely noticeable and as you play it disappears. But it is quite annoying to have a good PC, have a much better frame rate and better graphic quality than a console but have games plagued by stuttering.


Don't get me wrong, there is some stuttering in some console games too. For example, I have seen it in Alan Wake 2 (PS5) and Cyberpunk (XSX), but it is not nearly as noticeable.


The only games where I haven't had this problem in games I've played recently (by "recently" I mean within this year), have been Hi-Fi Rush, Assassin Creed Odyssey, The Witcher 3 "next-gen" ( after several updates), Lies of P, and I see it fair to put Resident Evil 4 Remake here, because although there is some transversal stuttering here and there, it is not very intrusive and it is strange.


Overall, taking this year and last into account, I sum it up like this:

Stuttering in:

Alan Wake Remastered
redfall
Far Cry 6
starfield
hellblade
Stray
GhostWire Tokyo (in this game it's horrible!)
Callisto Protocol
Crysis 2 Remastered
Bramble The Mountain King
Robocop
The Last of Us Remake

Games where I haven't had stuttering, or it's been occasional enough that it doesn't bother me:

HiFi Rush
RE4R
Resident Evil Village
Wolfenstein 2
The Witcher 3
Marvel's Avengers
High on Life
Lies of P
Devil May Cry 5
Control
Metro Exodus (RT)
The Division 2
Gotham Knight (I played it a lot after release)
Nier Replicant
Jusant


Whether it's traversal stuttering or shader compilation, I've had problems in many of these games. Some it's not excessively annoying, but when you compare it to its console version, it's definitely usually worse. For example, I am playing RedFall on PC and then I have recovered my game on Xbox Series X, it doesn't have that much stuttering, in GhostWire Tokyo on PC the experience is simply atrocious, it is almost impossible to take some steps without stuttering. I haven't added RE4R to games with stuttering because the overall experience is very solid, but I've been able to play the PS5 version in performance mode and it's stutter-free.



The truth is that it is VERY annoying to have a computer that is much more powerful than a console, to have a better experience (framerate and visual quality) but spoiled in many cases by stuttering. Sometimes the difference is anecdotal (RE4R), but others (GhostWire Tokyo, Callisto Protocol) are simply better to play on console because there are stutters everywhere.


It is a problem that seems to me to be the number 1 priority on PC right now. It's annoying, especially when you have a very stable framerate but seeing those "jumps", which if you're monitoring have an impact on frame times.


I'm sorry if some phrases sound strange, English is not my language. I try to write using the translator sparingly, but sometimes I have to use it and my sentences can be strange.

 

[BennyBlanco]

maybe it’s the games i play but i never have this problem on my 4090 or my old 3080. On your list the only game I played was Starfield and never noticed it. Are you using a VRR display?

 

[Trilobit]

W-w-w-what s-s-seems to be your pr-p-pr-problem with s-s-s-s-stuttering, OP?

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

As a note, in Hellblade 2

I haven't had any stuttering in FC6 or Starfield, and I played both of them with a 6700XT as well, however my cpu is an intel i9, and starfield is installed on an nvme.
Aside from that, there's definitely a difference between DX11 and 12, because DX11 fixes a lot bad practices, but for DX12 the devs have to do all the proper optimisation themselves.

 

[Skifi28]

This has been my experience on PC quite frequently regardless of shaders, there just seems to be some inherent stuttering in modern engines that wasn't there in older titles. On consoles you get framerate drops but rarely do you get stuttering like that. Even with a good rig in titles where you get great performance, it's not rare to experience stuttering for no reason.

 

[Vergil1992]

I haven't had any stuttering in FC6 or Starfield, and I played both of them with a 6700XT as well, however my cpu is an intel i9, and starfield is installed on an nvme.
Aside from that, there's definitely a difference between DX11 and 12, because DX11 fixes a lot bad practices, but for DX12 the devs have to do all the proper optimisation themselves.

Are you completely sure that playing, for example, Starfield, in New Atlantis, traveling around the map, you don't have any stutters?

Or for example in Akila.

I don't want to offend you, but I'm seriously wondering if you just don't notice. I've watched tons of videos with MSI Afterburner metrics and they all have stuttering running through the map.

In Far Cry 6 it is more random, but driving for example there is stuttering, and it's not just me saying it, DF for example also commented on it.
I don't doubt that your experience has been good, but honestly, I think that if you put in the MSI Afterburner metrics, go to Akila and just walk around the map, the frametime is going to have some significant spikes.

It is also possible that an update is the culprit, doing a quick search, there are people who have more stutter after X patch. If you still have the game, could you check it out? I don't want to say that you're lying, it's just that if it doesn't happen to you, it might cause a problem with my computer or the drivers, but I've tried several and the result is exactly the same. I've seen videos and the same thing, the same spikes in frame time in the same places.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Weird.

Redfall is silky smooth for me, and I haven’t had issues with Far Cry 6 or Ghostwire Tokyo. Last of Us was also fantastic after ND kept fixing it.

The only game on your list that I’ve played and experienced poor performance was Starfield - but I blame myself as I installed it on an HDD.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Are you completely sure that playing, for example, Starfield, in New Atlantis, traveling around the map, you don't have any stutters?

Or for example in Akila.

Yes, I'm pretty sensitive to any change in fps, the fps would go lower sometimes, but it was never a stutter; on my 7800XT it runs smooth as silk.

Didn't have any noticeable stutter in FC6 either, again the framerate might drop here and there, but there's never a hitch that indicates actual stutter, and I would let the game auto drive me to locations while I listened to the main character sing along to the radio.
Now I played FC6 a lot, so maybe there was some stutter at the start and I forgot about it, but there wouldn't be a need to compile shaders that have already been compiled.

Edit:
Your post still say hellblade 2.

 

[Raonak]

Yeah, it's strange that it's become such a big issue.

I guess fixed hardware that is designed with the software in mind does provide a lot of benefits.

 

[Vergil1992]

Weird.

Redfall is silky smooth for me, and I haven’t had issues with Far Cry 6 or Ghostwire Tokyo. Last of Us was also fantastic after ND kept fixing it.

The only game on your list that I’ve played and experienced poor performance was Starfield - but I blame myself as I installed it on an HDD.

Yes, I'm pretty sensitive to any change in fps, the fps would go lower sometimes, but it was never a stutter; on my 7800XT it runs smooth as silk.

Didn't have any noticeable stutter in FC6 either, again the framerate might drop here and there, but there's never a hitch that indicates actual stutter, and I would let the game auto drive me to locations while I listened to the main character sing along to the radio.
Now I played FC6 a lot, so maybe there was some stutter at the start and I forgot about it, but there wouldn't be a need to compile shaders that have already been compiled.

Edit:
Your post still say hellblade 2.

Thanks, it's already fixed.

In Far Cry 6 it is true that I may have exaggerated; It is an occasional stuttering that appears sporadically, or sometimes just wandering around the map.


But honestly, I don't want to disrespect anyone or doubt anyone's word, but I find it practically impossible to think that GhostWire Tokyo has worked for anyone without stuttering problems. I have yet to see a video, setup, or rig where the game doesn't have stuttering. It is recognized by DF and other benchmarks for its stuttering problem, any video you watch on YouTube with any configuration will have stuttering.


In the first video (literally the first) that I have seen, using GhostWire and an RTX 4090, the game is plagued by stuttering, despite having an i9 13900K:




In any camera turn in a new area, some new enemy, some on-screen effect... spikes in frame times are observed.

The video with the 4090/13900K has reduced stuttering compared to my experience, but it is a much superior PC. Still, he clearly has an intrusive and annoying stutter. It is in the prologue and can already be seen very frequently. At minute 23.35 you can also see some peaks in frames and a significant stutter can be seen when the camera rotates. And I'm not taking into account micro stuttering, which seems subtle in the video, but when you're playing at a locked 60fps, for example, even if the spike in frame times isn't huge, you definitely notice it, especially if it happens very often.

 

[Skifi28]

Ghostwire tokyo was nearly unplayable for me. Setting didn't matter, unlocked framerate at 100+ or locked to 60 didn't matter, just crazy micro-stuttering at all times. I actually went back to the console version that had an unstable framerate but still felt much smoother.

 

[violence]

This has been a problem for several years now. Jedi Survivor may never have it fixed according to Digital Foundry.

 

[Vergil1992]

Ghostwire tokyo was nearly unplayable for me. Setting didn't matter, unlocked framerate at 100+ or locked to 60 didn't matter, just crazy micro-stuttering at all times. I actually went back to the console version that had an unstable framerate but still felt much smoother.

Yes, my feelings were the same. In XSX the framerate clearly dropped more, but the stuttering on my PC was more annoying than the Xbox's framerate deficit. Incredible.

It also happens with RedFall, but to a lesser extent: the stuttering is more occasional and the game usually feels fluid. On XSX I don't have stuttering, but the difference isn't big enough to "sacrifice" the greater stability and visual quality I have on my PC, but I'm pretty sure the game has less stuttering on console. On PC it is also easy to see what causes it, most of the time I see that something is generated on the map, more detailed models are loaded, etc.

In GhostWire it was excessively annoying, because not only was there severe stuttering at times, it also had a fairly constant microstutter. I tried everything: vsync on and off, with framerate unlocked, playing at 60fps locked... and there was no solution.

 

[Spukc]

TLDR CONSOLE GAMER

 

[Gaiff]

Starfield, Hellblade, Callisto Protocol, Redfall...

It's not stuttering OP, it's just your eyes and body recoiling from having to endure those shit games.

 

[phaedrus]

W-w-w-what s-s-seems to be your pr-p-pr-problem with s-s-s-s-stuttering, OP?

Spoiler: Console version

 

[rofif]

maybe it’s the games i play but i never have this problem on my 4090 or my old 3080. On your list the only game I played was Starfield and never noticed it. Are you using a VRR display?

Doesn’t matter 4090 or weak card. It’s just game. Clear cache and you will notice stutter again.
Elden ring is very noticeable on camera cuts in cutscenes. I noticed when watching on yt

 

[fran.fernandez]

I did some talks about this (GPU performance and pre compile) in Tokyo and other events (ceded, gdc, etc)

 

[Vergil1992]

maybe it’s the games i play but i never have this problem on my 4090 or my old 3080. On your list the only game I played was Starfield and never noticed it. Are you using a VRR display?

Sorry, I hadn't read you.

Yes, both my monitor and my TV have VRR.

 

[RoboFu]

Even with games that precompile it’s like a 3-4 min wait before you can play and some games have to redo it on game or gpu driver updates. MK 1 seems to do it on any slight change.

 

[poppabk]

In the first video (literally the first) that I have seen, using GhostWire and an RTX 4090, the game is plagued by stuttering, despite having an i9 13900K:

I feel sorry for some of you if that is what you consider 'plagued' by stutter.
Edit: I also watched the Alan Wake video in the OP. Is that what people are really complaining about, a single frame taking 20ms instead of 5ms once every couple of minutes? When I think of shader stutter, I think of a sequence of frames being 200ms or so, so that the game actually feels like it hitches not some slight impediment to IQ.

 

[Buggy Loop]

This has been a problem for several years now. Jedi Survivor may never have it fixed according to Digital Foundry.

They never really fixed Fallen Order so yeah, would not be surprising

 

[Vergil1992]

Honorable mention to Lies of P, I think it is the game with UE4 that I have had the fewest stuttering problems. It is practically non-existent. I think Lies of P, Dead Island 2 and Gears 5 are the only games with UE4 that I have seen truly stutter-free. If there is, it is extremely punctual, but it is a solid experience. I would also mention fighting games (FighterZ, Mortal Kombat...). And I think Days Gone too (I haven't played it).

In the rest, to a greater or lesser extent, I always have them. In some like RedFall, Hellblade, Psychonauts 2 it is tolerable. In games like Jedi Survivor, GhostWire Tokyo or Callisto Protocol it is absolutely atrocious (in my experience).

 

[Mithos]

Shader compilation should be done before you start playing the game...

Horizon Zero Dawn (PC) USED to have it on the mainmenu, but for some reason they removed it and made it ingame realtime shader compilation...

 

[Vergil1992]

I feel sorry for some of you if that is what you consider 'plagued' by stutter.
Edit: I also watched the Alan Wake video in the OP. Is that what people are really complaining about, a single frame taking 20ms instead of 5ms once every couple of minutes? When I think of shader stutter, I think of a sequence of frames being 200ms or so, so that the game actually feels like it hitches not some slight impediment to IQ.

In Alan Wake Remastered it can be said that it is punctual, but annoying; It is something that does not happen in the PS5/XSX version. Why does it have to happen on PC when the solution is simply to compile the shaders beforehand?

I'm sorry but I disagree. Not with GhostWire. At the beginning of the game you already see that it has frequent stuttering, but it is not as bad as when you can move faster throughout the map and the game becomes less "guided". Many people may find microstuttering acceptable and I respect that, but if you play the console version you will notice that despite running at a lower frame rate, it feels smoother and the experience is less choppy.


In some cases I may be exaggerating (Alan Wake Remastered, Far Cry 6), perhaps because I encounter the problem so frequently, but in GhostWire Tokyo or Callisto Protocol this is not the case. It is impossible to play the game without having stuttering every 10 steps in new areas. I'm not saying that they're unplayable, or even that subjectively speaking you'll have a good experience, but I'm sure that if someone plays the same game on console they'll realize that it wasn't going as well as they think.

 

[Guilty_AI]

How am i supposed to notice any stutter with unlocked framerate like this? At least find something locked to 60. Besides, looking around i found the ps5 has occasional micro framedrops which are part of the stutter package:




And whenever i point stuff like this out, the only answer i get is "its not noticeable". YES IT IS! I played a few ps4 game whose framepacing issues apparently "weren't noticeable" either and i would feel them every single time. Like Bloodborne or Nier Automata.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

That is the issue that bring me back to consoles.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

My OS and my extra storage use fast nvme drives.
I recommend this setup for modern gaming on PC.
Thankfully I haven't ran into this issue you are having.

 

[Vergil1992]

How am i supposed to notice any stutter with unlocked framerate like this? At least find something locked to 60. Besides, looking around i found the ps5 has occasional micro framedrops which are part of the stutter package:




And whenever i point stuff like this out, the only answer i get is "its not noticeable". YES IT IS! I played a few ps4 game whose framepacing issues apparently "weren't noticeable" either and i would feel them every single time. Like Bloodborne or Nier Automata.

It is very difficult to find videos locked at 60fps. Most PC gamers who upload videos as a benchmark do so with the framerate unlocked.

On the other hand, I played Alan Wake Remastered on PS5 and now I have tried the PC version. And we must differentiate two things. On PS5 you may occasionally experience microstuttering in high graphical load situations. You notice it especially by moving the camera gently. The game simply does not run at a stable 60fps.


The stuttering I see on PC is different. It's a spike in frame times with new actions, accessing new areas... if I load checkpoint everything disappears. For example, playing the prologue, I had more or less the same stuttering as in the video I posted (60fps locked). If I do it again now, the game will have no stuttering at all.

On PS5/XSX it is different because the cause is different. In my case, I'm not going to tell you that I didn't notice it on PS5, I definitely did. Especially in very dense areas with vegetation, fog and volumetric effects. Even so, I admit that I find the stuttering of the shader compilation more annoying than the GPU limitation.

My OS and my extra storage use fast nvme drives.
I recommend this setup for modern gaming on PC.
Thankfully I haven't ran into this issue you are having.

My SSD is a WD Black SN850x and my motherboard supports PCI 4.0...