May 2018
I've seen a lot of people suffering from this issue, so I decided to share how I dealt with it.
The stutter is caused by the shader compilation & shadercache generation which happens the first time you launch the game (and necessary to do it again after game/driver updates or shadercache reset) and every map.
The DX12 mode now creates it's own cache so that might be a good option for some people, but despite this advantage the DX12 mode is still less smooth and less stable, so overall provides worse experience.
When the cache is being generated the graphics driver will use all available CPU resources to do it as fast as possible, this is what's causing the stutter, because (on most PC-s) the game doesn't have enough CPU resources left to provide smooth gameplay AND also generate the cache files.
On some PC-s (usually with HDD and/or with slower CPUs) this can cause extreme stutters, and the game could even freeze for 1-2 seconds.
Here is a step-by-step tutorial and also a full video illustration
Test system: Windows 10 1803, i7-4790k, R9 Fury + AMD RS 18.4.1, 16 GB RAM
Necessary tool: Something to monitor the CPU usage, I'll use my usual combo (MSI Afterburner+HWINFO+RTSS) for the best demonstration. The windows task manager will also do fine, just less convenient.
1. Launch Radeon Settings
2. Open the Shadercache folder
and press enter%localappdata%\AMD\DxCache
3. Launch the game
(I'm doing it with the Modmanager because I use some mods, but you can launch it the usual way with Origin.)
1st phase - generating the main cache
IMPORTANT: DO NOT DO ANYTHING after the game booted, stay in the main menu.
2nd phase - caching additional assets for each map
The initial cache doesn't contain every necessary assets, you still have to do a similar process for each map the first time you launch them. (I used an arcade battle scenario on the video.)
If you check the shadercache folder, the file size might increase again. Once all maps are generated it will be around 160 MB or more depending on your VGA and how many maps have you played.
NVIDIA:
I also tested the same process with an nVidia hardware as well, the cache needs to be manually removed:
%temp%\NVIDIA Corporation\NV_Cache\
It was on a System with i5 4460+GTX970 and while it improved the performance, wasn't as good as with the AMD hardware, might be because of the slower CPU or the nVidia cache is less effective with this game.
NOTES:
I really hope a future game/driver update will fix this issue. Would make sense to generate the full cache like how it is done in DX12 to avoid in-game stutters.
Solved! Go to Solution.
May 2018
Hey @Szaby59
Thank you so much for sharing this workaround with us!
It's a very informative and well-put post! I hope our players with AMD cards and the stuttering issues will find it useful.
/Ataashi
May 2018
@Szaby59 wrote:
Test system: Windows 10 1803, i7-4790k, R9 Fury + AMD RS 18.4.1, 16 GB RAM
Necessary tool: Something to monitor the CPU usage, I'll use my usual combo (MSI Afterburner+HWINFO+RTSS) for the best demonstration. The windows task manager will also do fine, just less convenient.
1. Launch Radeon Settings
- Navigate to Gaming -> Global settings tab
- Click on Reset -> Shadercache: YES
Optional: if you'll have issues (see the notes) you can also add starwarsbattlefront2.exe to the game profile list and enable the shadercache there.
You sir, are truly a hero.
Resetting this shadercache is the only possible solution I've seen on here that has actually helped this issue. Great work.