Game slows down intermittently (PC)

Platform:
Windows 10

Description:

Steps To Reproduce:
Just playing the game, most likely a system specific problem

Images / Videos:

This is an unlisted youtube video that shows my “normal gameplay”. Please go to 00:57 to see first occurrence of my issue (only normal gameplay until that time). Also, please note in-game graphics specs at end of video.

Also, here is a screenshot of my Nvidia settings:
bild
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Host or Client:
Client. Problem also happens when hosting either alone or with others.

Players in your game:
3 total during recording. But as stated it happens regardless of how many are in the game or if it is invite only/anybody can join.

Specifications:
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 17134) (17134.rs4_release.180410-1804)
Language: Swedish (Regional Setting: Swedish)
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: Alienware 17 R4
BIOS: 1.6.0 (type: UEFI)
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-6820HK CPU @ 2.70GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 32768MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 32646MB RAM
Page File: 11196MB used, 22248MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 144 DPI (150 percent)
System DPI Setting: 144 DPI (150 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: UnKnown
Miracast: Available, with HDCP
Microsoft Graphics Hybrid: Not Supported
DxDiag Version: 10.00.17134.0001 64bit Unicode

By the way, my operating system is running from an SSD but the game runs via Steam from an HDD.

Maybe it is somehow connected to this: Weird Interstellar gameplay

Next time You play launch Task Manager before starting the game (sort apps by CPU usage), and when the problem occurs ALT TAB and see if some app drains Your CPU resources.

1 Like

Hey there @0L0, I did exactly what you said and the results are really surprising!
You can check the video of it here: https://youtu.be/n_b1JLvvUiw

It seems my CPU usage drops to about 27% of its capacity, and runs much slower… this happens ONLY with this game however. I’m playing way more demanding online games such as SW Battlefront 2 and No Man’s Sky without any issues whatsoever.

How can this be fixed?

Hi, I am by no means an expert, but I’d hazard a guess: if the cpu is not fully loaded and slows down, maybe it is because some awaited data do not arrive from a lagging network connection and the cpu has not much to do? Or it might be overheated and it shutdowns?

This is really strange.

Go to power options in control panel and set it to high performance - maybe it will help.

Also You can try some overclocking software dedicated for Your motherboard (for example I use MSI Command Center with OC Genie and it locks my i5 clocks at 4GHz… but even without it I have smooth gameplay).

2 Likes

I have used a diagnosing software (HWINFO64) to check if its a temperature problem, but it is not! See below screenshot, where all my cores have drastically nerfed clock speeds but still run at a decent temperature.

@Avalanche_Graham could you please forward this to someone that might help with this issue?

This is a screenshot taken during gameplay of GenZero:

@0L0 I did try overclocking through BIOS and while the clockspeed is increased, it STILL drops down to 0.78GHz every now and then just like in my original problem.

So there is something choking my system down to that speed while the game is running.

Maybe it’s aliens after all? :smiley:

Or an embedded tick XD

After some more research, I notice that my GPU heats up to 90 degrees, at which point the system nerfs itself in order to preserve the components. This is my best guess so far.

Edit: 90 degrees, is that a lot for a GPU? Certainly seems like so…

I’ve found this for you Link

I always set GPU fan at 100% (when playing games) and my GTX 1070 stays below 60°C (standard MSI Twin Frozr VI)

My overclocked CPU (i5 4670K) with fan set to 100% stays below 55°C (Corsair Hydro Series H90)

Is your computer case well ventilated? Maybe You should change case fans speeds (through BIOS or some Windows software) so they run at max RPM at lower temperatures.

And same as with GPU and CPU - I set my case fans at manual 100% for gaming.

Thanks for the info and the link guys, I really appreciate it! I ran some stress tests of my GPU and I decided it’s better to have a technician look at it. So my computer is at the doctor’s right now, I’ll report back within a couple of days to see whether cleaning and new thermal pastes did the trick or not. Thanks again!

Yes plse, I would like to know how it finishes.

This also happens on PS4. Mainly, I think, when the game is loading some new assets, which is a shame because you know sh*t is about to go down when it happens. Ruins the surprise in some cases.

I had it happen to me while I was trying to fight about a million machines - they were at normal speed, while I was in Slo-Mo. When I got a break from contact, I exited, shut down, waited a minute, rebooted and it was back to normal.

Ok guys here’s the update: the problem is fixed! The solution was to apply new thermal paste on the GPU and to clean it all out first. I had a technician do it since I have no idea about these things.

In esssence it was a hardware problem, due to having a 2.5 year old laptop that wasn’t cleaned before.

Intel seems to have a safety mechanism in which it nerfs the clock speed to prevent overheating, and this affected gameplay as the clock speed went down to 780 MHz.

I am now back to normal play! See you guys out there! :smiley:

3 Likes

Glad to hear it worked out! Hopefully others can benefit from this info as well :slight_smile:

Not just Intel, this is standard behavior on pretty much all consumer hardware, because not doing so runs the risk of literally destroying hardware (or, you know, starting a fire).

GZ does seem to me at least to push the hardware a bit further than other ‘modern’ games I’ve played though with equivalent levels of detail and complexity. I suspect most of the reports of intermittent slowdowns of the whole game (and possibly some of the similar weirdness in co-op session) are probably related to hardware hitting thermal throttling limits.

I am glad you’ve found the solution. Now you are ready to experience the August update of the game we are waiting for :grinning: