Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

by RippinReaper
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Original Post

BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

[ Edited ]
★★★ Novice

I think this issue is rather prevalent among players of the retail game, not just the beta where it was widely reported. If you're having this experience too please post here so we can get information to EA on the problem, make them aware it's an issue and get them to isloate the cause so it can be fixed by the responsible party! This issue is defined as a brief pausing, freezing or stuttering of video that occurs repeatedly at random, intermittent intervals during play. It lasts for about half a second or so.

 

Please include the following info at the top of your post:

  • CPU, GPU(s), RAM amount (note any overclocking on these items too)
  • Video driver version
  • OS type and version
  • Any fixes you've tried already

 

System:

  • i7 920, 2xHD 5770, 6GB RAM
  • Catalyst 13.11 beta 7
  • Windows 7 SP1 (Build 7601), 64-bit
  • Changed graphics settings from low to ultra, manual update of Punkbuster via pbsetup (some improvement there)

Symptoms: An intermittent, brief freeze of video while performing any action within BF4, more frequently seen (by myself) when making quick turns or other fast activities. Seen mainly while playing around in the "test range" area. Tried video settings of low through ultra without making a difference. I know this isn't my hardware configuration as my FPS, when not stuttering, is stable between 40-70 FPS at medium graphics settings. If my hardware were not up to spec then my framerate would never reach or maintain acceptable levels when not stuttering. With medium/high settings while using benchmarking utilities during play I note that my GPUs flux between 40-85% utilization while CPU never goes above 65%. During play Task Manager does not indicate processes on my computer suddenly spiking in terms of CPU or memory use.

 

 

Message 1 of 177 (25,441 Views)

Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

★★ Novice

I7 3770K

16GB RAM

HD 7950 3GB 1000ghz edition, overclocked to 1100

Catalyst 13.11

Windows 7 64bit

 

Without V Sync on framerate is jumping around from 80 to 30.  With V sync on it jumps between 60fps and 45. It seems to be a stutter that happens every few seconds regardless of whats happening on screen, not natural FPS fluctuations due to load. Turning down settings does nothing except increase the high end of the frame rate, it will still stutter.

Message 2 of 177 (25,202 Views)

Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

★★ Novice

Same issue for me, my post below

 

http://answers.ea.com/t5/Battlefield-4/Shutter-Low-FPS-Hitching/m-p/1738439/highlight/false#M22356

 

 

i7 950 with a G.5 Assassin (Stock clock)

24gigs @ 1600 (Stock timing)

Two 570GTX SuperClocked EGVA in SLI (Confirmed to be in SLI)

Game is loaded on an c300 SSD that has 25% free space

Message 3 of 177 (25,193 Views)

Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

★★ Novice

i did find for me that setting the bf4 process to high via the task manager smoothed it out some, however i still notice drops and its only using about 50% of the power in my machine, about 50% on the CPU and the SLI is around 50-70 depending on settings.

Message 4 of 177 (25,190 Views)

Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

[ Edited ]
★ Apprentice

Brilliant post, clearly stated well thought out! I'm also having this issue and only managed to alleviate the problem with work-arounds I'd like to see DICE confront the issue directly though.

 

Fix attempts:

 

1: Change process priority of bf4.exe to low in taskmanager

2: Editing settings in user.fg:

3: Turn off hyperthreading in BIOS

 

4: Update punkbuster manually

 

5: Turned off v-sync which managed to remove the sudden drops with gradual drops that are less distracting and some (minimal) screen-tearing

 

(This goes without saying but I've turned all the graphics settings to low with no avail)

 

Specs:

 

i7 2600

Radeon HD 6800

8GB RAM

Windows 7 64 Bit

Catalyst version 13.11 (Oct 28th Driver)

 

 

 EDIT: thought it was worth noting this issue occurs for me in singleplayer as well.

 

Message 5 of 177 (25,187 Views)

Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

[ Edited ]
★ Novice

Specs:

i5 3470
GTX 650 1GB
4GB RAM
Windows 7 ultimate 64 Bit
Nvidia Driver 331.65

 

Fix attempts:
1- Change process priority of bf4.exe to low in taskmanager
2- Play at the lowest settings at 1024x768

3- Update punkbuster manually
4- Turned off v-sync which managed to remove the sudden drops with gradual drops that are less distracting and some (minimal) screen-tearing
5- Fresh installation of the lastest drivers(uninstall and re-install)

6- Installl DirectX mmanually.

7- Play in windowed mode.

8- Disable origin in game and notifications.

Message 6 of 177 (24,965 Views)

Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

★ Novice

I have the micro stutters.  BF3 plays smooth as butter but BF4 is stuttering every few seconds.

 

MY SPECS...

 

AMD 6300 @ 4Ghz

6 gigs of ram

superclocked GTX 660

 

I have played with the 3 logical cores unparked and all active.

Message 7 of 177 (24,913 Views)

Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

[ Edited ]
★★★★ Novice

I've got this too, posted in some other threads also. I have a clean play up to 10-15minutes , using low settings atm and everything disabled my game runs at around 60fps average and upto 90fps. I start getting fps drops even down to 3-30 and my screen constantly freezing not just for split second but some times for 5+ seconds. specs:

 

GTX 560

i5-3570k

4gigs of ram

Windows 8.1

 

I remember battlefield 3 having the exact same issue, not sure how an upgraded engine can bring back old bugs. I can have a 60fps clean play on high too but it doesnt last long. The loadings also take very long time. BF3 runs smooth on ultra at around 50fps, drops down to 42 minimum though. I tried to:

1. repair the install

2. switch around between the bits in game properties

3. various in-game video settings adjustments

4. audio adjustments down to 44100 and in-game from hi-fi to headphones

5. windowed/borderless mode didn't do any help

6. downgraded and upgraded my drivers

7. messing around with directx

8. notification disabling in origin

9. reinstalling punkbuster manually 

 

The bug was in BF4 beta too but upgrading my windows from 7 to 8 was a solution to me but doesnt look like it is in full version

Message 8 of 177 (24,903 Views)

Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

★★★ Newbie

Having the same issues as well. The game stutters every few seconds, sometimes even more. It's just small stutters, but they seem to have an extreme effect on gameplay. Especially during suppressive fire! My crosshair is jumping from side to side, blinking to a new position. We're not talking weapon sway here, it's more like a freaking teleport. It's impossible to hit anything when the crosshair keeps flickering around my aim. I'm suspecting it's due to the stutter, so I really hope it's fixable. It's only happening in BF4! I'm rocking 50-90fps, depending on on-screen action, and it seems to run very smoothly except for the stutters. Changing the video settings has no effect whatsoever.

 

My specs:

 

i7 2600k

8GB RAM

780 GTX SuperClocked

Nvidia driver 331.65

Message 9 of 177 (24,886 Views)

Re: BF4 PC - Stuttering/Brief Freeze - Request for Information

★★★ Novice

Thanks everyone who's posted thus far. Keep it coming, please!

Message 10 of 177 (24,819 Views)