11 replies to this topic

[Raymund]

Hello, I recently came back to MWO after a few months hiatus. I could not for the life of me figure out why the game was performing so poorly on my rig all of the sudden (all hardware the exact same as previously).

The game would run at about 60 FPS solid in a test game, but in an actual match the game would stutter and jerk a lot, going from 60 fps to 50, to 60, to 40, to 60 very quickly. It just felt like utter muddy jerky garbage (hard to aim). The stuttering and sudden, seemingly random lag drove me nuts. Mostly I noticed it when rapidly changing my view angle.

Well, tonight I figured out the problem after trying many different things. The problem? REALTEK HD AUDIO 5.1 on my motherboard (Asus P8p67 Deluxe). I switched to my Asus Xonar PCI-E dedicated sound card, and I no longer have this god awful stuttering, and the game runs mostly normally (however I still feel it should run better than it does for the fidelity it has, but that's just me I guess).

The new problem? I can no longer play with 5.1 surround in MWO (at least not without trying to tolerate this decrease in playability).

So my questions to everyone are...

1. Do you have and are you using a Realtek audio device running in 5.1 surround mode with MWO?

2. Do you notice better FPS or smoother gameplay without it (disable it in windows or use another device)?

I observe much higher cpu usage in MWO with my realtek HD audio 5.1 running vs War Thunder in 5.1 mode.

I've been telling my friends for years onboard audio can make a difference... do I finally have proof? lol



System:
Win 7 64
2600k i7 @ 4.8ghz 1.4vcore
16GB 2133 G.Skill ram
Asus P8P67 Deluxe
Samsung SSDs 470 and 830 series
MSI GTX 560 Ti HaWk (SLI but not for MWO :sadface:)

Edited by Raymund, 20 June 2014 - 03:14 AM.

[Catamount]

I'm confused, is it the Realtek HD that seems to be the problem, or the 5.1?

Can you not play with 5.1 on the Xonar? If not, can you play with, say, 2.0 or 2.1 on the Realtek HD?

[Peter2k]

Catamount, on 20 June 2014 - 05:25 AM, said:

I'm confused, is it the Realtek HD that seems to be the problem, or the 5.1?

Can you not play with 5.1 on the Xonar? If not, can you play with, say, 2.0 or 2.1 on the Realtek HD?

Its the onboard audio that's causing the stuttering
an add in card doesn't seem to suffer



back on topic:
well I did use my onboard RealTek, but dropped it for a USB soundcard because of background noise on the headset

U could try messing around with a few settings in the bios I guess
however it might be better to look at some newer drivers first

so why cant u run in 5.1 with the Xonar? no connectors?

[CeeKay Boques]

I use a Xonar card and can switch between 5.1 and 7.1 and all those virtual things...


Is hooked up right? The Xonar dashboard can be tricky.

Whoops, missed your point.

I don't have any stuttering related to sound.

It looks as theough you have sound issue. have you completely disabled the Realtek? Maybe an uninstall just to be sure?

[Catamount]

Peter2k, on 20 June 2014 - 05:51 AM, said:

Its the onboard audio that's causing the stuttering
an add in card doesn't seem to suffer

I question that inference.

The OP said

Quote

The new problem? I can no longer play with 5.1 surround in MWO (at least not without trying to tolerate this decrease in playability).

Why can't 5.1 be used with the Xonar if only the integrated sound suffers? All Xonar PCIE sound cards have hookups for discrete 5.1 setups, and all except the DSX have access to Dolby Headphone, and why would the OP identify the stuttering choice as being part of the "new problem", as in the new situation encountered with the discrete sound card?

Also, integrated sound usually doesn't support surround visualization. I only ever had one that did, and it was an expensive board with a discrete soundcard included (Asus RoG board, had an XFi-based sound card that came with it so that I could use CMSS3D), so it's almost certainly a discrete 5.1 setup being discussed.

Edited by Catamount, 20 June 2014 - 07:11 AM.

[Raymund]

Technoviking, on 20 June 2014 - 06:11 AM, said:

I use a Xonar card and can switch between 5.1 and 7.1 and all those virtual things...


Is hooked up right? The Xonar dashboard can be tricky.

Whoops, missed your point.

I don't have any stuttering related to sound.

It looks as theough you have sound issue. have you completely disabled the Realtek? Maybe an uninstall just to be sure?

http://www.asus.com/...ar_Essence_STX/

This is what I have and it is not 5.1 capable with games unless the game uses Dolby Digital or DTS. I don't know of any PC games that use Dolby Digital/DTS. The realtek onboard audio allowed me to have 5.1 in MWO because it has separate jack for the rear speakers, and the game is designed to use it.

But anyway.

The lag/stuttering is gone, I didnt have to disable the onboard Realtek audio, I just had to tell MWO to stop using it and use my Xonar.

I was just wondering if anyone else experienced the same issue.

[Raymund]

Catamount, on 20 June 2014 - 07:08 AM, said:

I question that inference.

The OP said



Why can't 5.1 be used with the Xonar if only the integrated sound suffers? All Xonar PCIE sound cards have hookups for discrete 5.1 setups, and all except the DSX have access to Dolby Headphone, and why would the OP identify the stuttering choice as being part of the "new problem", as in the new situation encountered with the discrete sound card?

Also, integrated sound usually doesn't support surround visualization. I only ever had one that did, and it was an expensive board with a discrete soundcard included (Asus RoG board, had an XFi-based sound card that came with it so that I could use CMSS3D), so it's almost certainly a discrete 5.1 setup being discussed.

I'm confused, see my previous post. My integrated/onboard audio can use positional audio. It's the realtek HD chip on the p8p67 deluxe motherboard. I emphasize 5.1 because that is what I use. I can switch between 2.1 channels and 5.1 channels...or 7.1 channels but I don't have a 7.1 speaker system. I didn't test the Realtek set as 2.1 channels.

http://www.asus.com/...s/P8P67_DELUXE/

Edited by Raymund, 20 June 2014 - 07:43 AM.

[Catamount]

I was questioning why 5.1 wasn't available on the Xonar. You did clarify there. I didn't realize the STX was set up that way.

That soundcard seems designed mostly for headphone use, with a very secondary focus on home theater setups (in that it has the same SPDIF output as everything else under the sun). I'm confused about how you're even driving your speakers.

I suppose, assuming you don't want to get headphones, you could always pick up something like a Xonar DGX or DSX.


To answer your question though, no I have never encountered this issue and I've used surround in MWO on a LOT of realtek integrated soundcards. It sounds like excessive CPU utilization when you change direction (which would necessarily require moving around sound sources relative to you in the game environment), but I've seen that fail to be an issue on substantially slow CPUs than yours.

[Goose]

Soooo you have a sound card installed, but you didn't turn off the RealTek in BIOS?

Your sound card doesn't support more then stereo, and you wounder why you don't get 5.1 out of it?

[Catamount]

I'm just wondering about the purchase in the first place. I mean, this is no cheap soundcard we're talking about; that is a LOT of money to spend on a soundcard that doesn't interface with one's other sound hardware.

Oh well

[Raymund]

Catamount, on 20 June 2014 - 02:41 PM, said:

I was questioning why 5.1 wasn't available on the Xonar. You did clarify there. I didn't realize the STX was set up that way.

That soundcard seems designed mostly for headphone use, with a very secondary focus on home theater setups (in that it has the same SPDIF output as everything else under the sun). I'm confused about how you're even driving your speakers.

I suppose, assuming you don't want to get headphones, you could always pick up something like a Xonar DGX or DSX.


To answer your question though, no I have never encountered this issue and I've used surround in MWO on a LOT of realtek integrated soundcards. It sounds like excessive CPU utilization when you change direction (which would necessarily require moving around sound sources relative to you in the game environment), but I've seen that fail to be an issue on substantially slow CPUs than yours.

Yes, overutilization of the CPU, cpu usage spiked greatly when stuttering occurred. No longer happens when using the Xonar.

I have a logitech surround system that I bought many years ago. It connects via spdif to my Xonar, which is limited to stereo unless using Dolby Digital or DTS. Also I connect two KRK Rokit speakers to the xonar via the RCA jacks. Sadly one is not functioning 100% and I can't be arsed to go have it repaired (and KRK's support is bloody awful). AND I also use a set of AKG headphones with the Xonar when I feel like it. And if anyone is wondering, it sounds amazing. Even through my logitech surround sound system I notice a boost of clarity and crispness going from onboard integrated audio to the Xonar. Overall great purchase for me as I use the Xonar for many different things. Sadly though my RealtekHD card was the only way for me to get 5.1 sound out of MWO.

Edited by Raymund, 25 June 2014 - 01:55 PM.

[Catamount]

Do the AKG headphones take well to Dolby Headphone?