Explanation needed for microstutter

[justinone]

Hi guys, i just signed up as I've been reading a lot on blurbusters about microstutters/refresh rates ect ect, and i think you guys hopefully can explain or diagnose something for me.


So in some games (primarily Battlefield games(Frostbite)) I am getting this weird micro stutter effect. It only happens when i turn the mouse as a solider, but not in vehicles, on horse, on mg ect. Using a 360 controller makes it buttery smooth as expected. When i look at an object and then start strafing left to right while panning left to right it's really noticeable. I made a video so it's clear to see what is happening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXz3ABLgMzY

Note that i am using 120hz in game which never dips. Also what is strange is when i switch to 60hz, the problem vanishes. I use v-sync and a razer lachesis @1800dpi 1000hz polling rate. I noticed when i change the polling rate to 125hz the problem is less "constant" and slows down to a sort of "pulsing" every half a second or so.

I'm sure this is some kind of sync issue with the framerate and the mouse, but i have no idea of the cause. I have tried so many things in an attempt to fix it but i have to now believe it's a game problem.

What do you guys think this could possibly be?

I have an ASUS vg248qe 144hz monitor paired with a 1080ti and 8700k. 1080p

Thank you for your time.

[Chief Blur Buster]

Hi guys, i just signed up as I've been reading a lot on blurbusters about microstutters/refresh rates ect ect, and i think you guys hopefully can explain or diagnose something for me.

So in some games (primarily Battlefield games(Frostbite)) I am getting this weird micro stutter effect. It only happens when i turn the mouse as a solider, but not in vehicles, on horse, on mg ect. Using a 360 controller makes it buttery smooth as expected. When i look at an object and then start strafing left to right while panning left to right it's really noticeable. I made a video so it's clear to see what is happening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXz3ABLgMzY

Note that i am using 120hz in game which never dips. Also what is strange is when i switch to 60hz, the problem vanishes. I use v-sync and a razer lachesis @1800dpi 1000hz polling rate. I noticed when i change the polling rate to 125hz the problem is less "constant" and slows down to a sort of "pulsing" every half a second or so.

I'm sure this is some kind of sync issue with the framerate and the mouse, but i have no idea of the cause. I have tried so many things in an attempt to fix it but i have to now believe it's a game problem.

What do you guys think this could possibly be?

I have an ASUS vg248qe 144hz monitor paired with a 1080ti and 8700k. 1080p

Thank you for your time.

Even with an otherwise near perfect ultra-fast system (e.g. no disk access stutter), diagnosing the cause of persistent micrsotutter is sometimes hairpulling. It can be caused by simultaneous interactions between all of the folowing:
-- The game itself
-- The sync mode itself (VSYNC ON, OFF, Fast Sync, etc)
-- The refresh rate
-- The mouse poll rate
-- The frame rate

All of them, simultaneously interacting with each other in a complex effect full of beat-frequencies, harmonic frequencies, processing surges/imperfections, rounding-off effects, aliasing effects, and all kinds of imperfect motion problems. Some kinds of microstutters are easy to diagnose, and other microstutters are almost impossible to diagnose.

You've helpfully provided information:
-- Your problem disappears at 60Hz display refresh rate
-- Your problem is less visible at 125Hz mouse poll rate
-- You are buttery smooth with keyboard strafe left/right or XBox 360 controller

Suggestions Optimized for VSYNC ON gamers
My suggestions won't be a sure-fire fixall, but if you're a VSYNC ON gamer (motion quality priority preferred over input lag), then my suggestions include trying the following, one at a time:
-- Disable anything resembling "Fast Sync" or "Enhanced Sync" since while that helps framerates, it can introduce microstutter
-- Use NVInspector and adjust "Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames" between 1 and 2 -- see if things smooth out. If you see no confirmed difference, stick to the lowest number for less lag.
-- Increase Control Panel Mouse sensitivity & decrease in-game mouse sensitivity (and vice versa). Try both ways. You might be trading precision but you may be able to fix microstutters.
-- If you have a second monitor (especially different Hz), always turn it off. Discordant Hz multimonitor setups is very bad for microstutter in many games, so temporarily go single-monitor for perfect motion fluicity. If you find disabling the monitor a chore, get a utility such as DisplayFusion to give you an easy hotkey to enable/disable multimonitor. The exception is if you're running a true surround monitor setup, where all displays are in perfect Hz sync at the same resolution.

Please tell me if you see improvements/worsenings with each of the above suggested points.

Alternative: Consider a variable refresh rate monitor as your microstutter fix
Note: No guarantee. Sometimes microstutter is unfixable (game's fault) but a lot of types of microstutter is visually fixed with a variable refresh rate display which does an excellent job of hiding microstutter. It's a "permanent perfect VSYNC ON feel" during fluctuating framerates, where all those "single framedrop" events now become invisible thanks to lovely VRR magic. If you don't use LightBoost or ULMB, then for a demonstration of how GSYNC/FreeSync fixes microstutter, check out http://www.testufo.com/vrr for an animated demonstration (Try Slow Ramp, Fast Ramp, Struggle At Max, etc).... Those who love VSYNC ON perfect-motion-fluidity (and not into LightBoost) should not pass GO, should not collect, and beeline directly to a G-SYNC or FreeSync display for (usually) microstutter-free heaven.

[justinone]

Thanks for your reply, appreciate the help.

-- I use forced vsync ON in Nvidia control panel, OFF in-game. Never had a problem with other titles using this.

-- No difference between "Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames" between 1 and 2

-- I had tried changing sensitivity in-game and out before, the problem was still present.

-- I forgot to mention, i tried using my TV as a test however since it is only 60hz the problem was not there. I have always had it disconnected so far.

A couple of other things maybe worth mentioning:

As soon as a match begins, there is no microstutter what so ever. It will slowly, gradually start to creep in within 1 - 2 minutes, progressively getting worse.

Also, going into the game settings and changing the frame rate limit from say "120fps" to "monitors refresh rate" and vice versa, it appears to dim the microstutter effect somewhat, before eventually returning to what it was before the change.

It seems nothing i do can resolve it. Since it's only frostbite games, i can only put it down to an inherit problem with the games.
It's funny because i have an all new build, and on my previous build(3700k + 970) the same thing was happening!

1 more thing. the problem happens on both builds on my monitor and TV in Battlefield bad company 2.

Could this be a mouse issue or more a sync issue?

[Chief Blur Buster]

Since you say this problem happens progressively, it could be down to game behavior. Make sure you have more RAM than necessary, and make sure you're using an SSD.

Is your microstutter simple short frameskips (single framedrop league) or fully s

To hide the microstutter much more, while also reducing input lag, I highly recommend a variable refresh rate display (G-SYNC in your case, since you use NVIDIA). Since you're competitively playing with VSYNC ON (I presume you hate stutter/tearing) -- so you'll gain a further improved advantage with VRR, since you're getting the VSYNC ON quality without the lag of VSYNC ON.

Variable refresh rate (G-SYNC) gives you the more permanent "perfect VSYNC ON" look-and-feel until the microstutter becomes really bad (like literally 10x worse) before the microstutter becomes human visible.