Stuttering caused by Nvidia PhysX

16GB RAM
256GB SSD OCZ VERTEX4 (System Drive)
3TB HDD WD WD30EZRX (Steam Drive)
i5-4690 CPU
GeForce GTX-1070

I have set the PhysX to CPU as this is traditionally where it would be and it eliminates another thing I need to consider from a display perspective. If I have a stuttering issue and I'm not seeing high overhead on my CPU with PhysX set to CPU then I am simplifying the fault finding of the GPU.

 

Oh well i have no idea ?
I have AMS running @4k with max ingame and 2x or 4x sparse grid (can't remember) and 8x supersampling and v-sync on in control panel and it is smooth as but with v-sync off its stutter fest but that's the same in all my racing titles (the stutter).
Thats with a 1070/6600k setup. but Physx is set to auto which defaults to GPU , never tried CPU and won't because "if it aint broke ,dont fix it".

 

yeah. it's driving me crazy. I'm a systems engineer by trade so fault finding is part of my job but with so many variations it's very difficult to work out where to start. if going back to the basic setup fixed the issue then i could continue from there but i can't even do that.

 

Try to install Automobilista on SSD disk. HDD can cause stuttering.

 

And turn replays off?

 

I will try this during the week...but honestly, the original game engine is 12 years old. The performance of the game is exceptional as you would expect on a modern PC. I setup everything maxed and couldn't get the frame rate to drop below 120fps. The issue is not performance related. I suspect that it is driver or a bug or most likely both.

 

Well after reading some other posts I tried a couple more things tonight.
Firstly, I updated my BIOS. (I don't think that this affected anything but thought I'd mention it.)
My drivers are already up to date.
I disconnected all USB devices (I have SteelSeries Headset, TrackIR, Webcam disconnected now. I also have a SimXperience Accuforce which was turned off but I disconnected it anyway. I have a Thrustmaster TX458 and fanatec clubsport v2 pedals currently connected via USB for my testing)
Athough I have been testing the game in single screen mode, I have 3 screens so I disconnected the other two screens from the video card
I removed Steam folder from %localappdata%\steam (I am not sure what this cache is, i suspect it is just cache for the html content in the steam app but I figured I'd delete it anyway).
I disabled all of my sata drives including DVD-ROM except for the SSD system drive
I installed Steam to default area ("c:\program files (x86)\Steam")
I restored my game from backup and then verified game cache
I ran DXSetup from "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Automobilista\Support\DirectX\Install"
I changed the PhysX to AutoSelect in NVIDA Control Panel so it is back to defaults (Pre-Rendered Frames is still set to 1 as recommended in the manual)
I configured Automobilista configuration tool to use defaults (VSYNC off, SweetFX Default)
I used the default display settings in Automobilista except I added virtual mirrors and enabled them in car
For controller settings I used Thrustmaster TX profile and remapped buttons/pedals to suit
I setup test day to use as many cars as possible for each car I tested and left all other settings as default (so time scale is still enabled)
I played 125cc Direct Shift kart on Speedland 3, Boxer on Kansai and Retro on Montreal
I played each of them for approx 15mins each and made sure that I did close racing with AI cars including letting them pass me and I also spun the car a few times including a couple of big accidents (hitting walls etc).
I won't say it's resolved yet but it is running perfect so far....Both, Kart and Retro were running at 120FPS constantly (which is the default FPS cap setting) and Boxer dipped down to 105-110 on the front straight and going into turn 1 but it didn't stutter.
I am stoked that I now look like I have a baseline.....
I will run like this for a couple more days and then gradually start reconnecting devices till I find out what the issue was...hopefully it was DirectX!
Thanks everyone for your help so far, I will continue to update this thread with my results.

 

Hi Guys,
I also played V10's and V8 Supercars at Montreal, Ultima GTR at Brands Hatch and Stadium Truck at Kansai last night without glitches. In total about 2 hours worth of racing last night in test day and time trial combined without a glitch!!!! (All car and track combos play at minimum of 110-115 FPS on 120FPS cap)
I will now start re-enabling devices (screens, Hard Drives, DVD-ROM, USB devices) and test for approx 1hour each device to find out if they are an issue or if it was the BIOS update, DirectX or running from C drive (SSD). I'm hoping that DirectX was the fix but I'll keep you updated.
Thanks again for your help so far.

 

Hi Guys, Well it's been about a week and I have been doing a variety of tests. I have now got all of my USB and HDD devices running and I am using default settings in Automobilista for graphics and force feedback. A couple of times this week during my ongoing testing the issue re-occurred and I did 3 things, verified game cache, ran dxsetup.exe from the support folder and moved the game back to the system drive which is SSD. The last time this occurred, I did these steps one at a time in the order mentioned and after moving the game to SSD it resolved the issue. As a Systems Integrator I like to know "exactly" what is going on and why but unless I can successfully replicate the issue every time then it is difficult to say what has resolved the issue. Given that the issue happens during certain instances (when a car passing me closely etc) and is not time based (ie: every x amount of seconds), I can fairly safely rule out time scaling or polling from other apps (ie: monitoring apps) but the rest is up for grabs....A modern PC with SATA and 7200RPM drive (or even 5400RPM for that matter) should not cause a performance issue for a 12year old game engine even if it has been updated and optimised etc....NOTE: I am not running other disk intensive apps whilst playing games etc....
I'm sorry that I can't give any more information to assist other people but I hope that the methodology that I have used to form my conclusions, however broad they may be, assists other users....
Thanks again for all your assistance and happy racing!

 

Darryn
As mentioned above did you go to replay setting in game and set to off?

 

No but I don't believe that this has been the cause of any issues regardless.....I will update this if required.

 

Hello Darryn
I totally agree that with the sooped up systems we run these programs should not be giving issues. I had found going to Windows 10 brought up new issues that were not there with Windows 7. It goes to show sometimes it is settings within our Windows operating system effects the operation of programs. Example my system needs Superfetch (HDD drive)disabled to run Iracing without a stutter, also Automobilista needs for me the replays off. Windows is not perfect therefore sometimes hard to find that one bug. best of luck
Garry

 

thanks mate. i was thinking more about it tonight as i was driving to bathurst for the 12hr this weekend. replays could cause an issue if the replay takes more disk space during certain parts of a race ie: close racing. i don't beleive it does but worth considering

 

Don't underestimate little "helper" apps running in the background. I too had issues with AMS (the worst) and Dirt Rally and discovered a very small feature of my Carbonite auto backup service was doing it. AMS was particularly susceptible to stuttering with the "folder icons" on, but I've notice all my games run better now.

Also, Sleeping Dogs has a peculiar bug where the game would crash after 20 mins if the Windows "Touch and Tablet Service" was running. These things are tough to track down, but at least now we have the internet. And I still think its better than trying to free 640k of ram to run the program (circa 1994!!).