Possible fix for Warband stuttering

[Advize]

Hopefully I've posted this is the right section, feel free to move it if I haven't.

I hadn't played this game in a longgg time. Judging by my game version, I hadn't played since 1.134. I remember that before I stopped playing, recent patches had introduced severe stuttering on the world map, within taverns, and intermittently during battles.

I recently took to playing the game again and still had the stuttering problem. After reading just about every post I could find on the internet without having any success from known solutions, I seem to have stumbled on my own fix. I manually set the max frame rate within the video tab of the launcher to 60 (down from 120) and all stuttering is GONE. I never would have thought this would help as I already forced vsync and my refresh rate is 60Hz. I now play the game at an unwavering 60 fps with all settings maxed, 8xAA at a resolution of 1400x1050.

I just thought I'd post this here as a possible solution for anyone else in the same shoes as me.


My specs (relevant ones only)
OS: Windows 7 x64
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition - 3.2GHz
GPU: PNY GeForce GTS 250 1GB
RAM: 4 GB - 800 MHz DDR2 memory running in single channel (2x1GB OCZ Gold + 1x2GB OCZ Platinum). Terrible, I know.


Edit: Added system specifications.

 

[TuranianGhazi]

Agreed. And thank you. If I'd found your post earlier, dammit! 

I too haven't thought that it would make such a drastic change. I don't notice it much in battles, but the map travelling and overall smoothness increased. My fps is nearly constant at 60fps or 40-60fps even in busy towns. I still get the fps drop when my army clashes in the first moments against the other army. Battle size 150. Before, it used to dip into single digits fps zone.

Here's a couple more tweaks that helped. EDIT: Guess they really didn't. So far, your original tweak (Setting Maximum Frame Rate to 60 down from 120) seems to be the most influential.

1. Turn off Blood Effects. This ensured that now when the army clashed against the other, it was in the double digits 15+fps
EDIT #1: Tried with blood back on. No difference. I guess the battle size is the difference. 150 is too high mebbe for my rig, going back to 100 or below 100 perhaps. I wonder how people run with higher battle sizes. I heard of 200 vs 200 battles. Their fps must dip at the initial first clash. Then, are they ok with the slow down at the start of battle, at the clash?

2. Turn on (check) "Forced Single Threading" ... I have a dual core machine but it SEEMS to be helping, but I'm not sure. Raised that initial army clash from 15+fps to 24+fps when looking into the thickest intersectino of battle with all my and enemy dudes wading through each other.
EDIT #2: So far, I'm testing it, that option is doing absolutely nothing positive or negative. With that option ticked/checked on, I tested by Ctrl+Alt+Del out to Task Manager, Processes, to M&BW executable, seeing is affinity ... it still was using all 4 cpus, meaning all four threads, not single threading. Therefore, this option seems to not perform as advertised.

If you or anybody else got any more tweaks, I'm all ears  Could also improve performance, since mods like 1257 AD are bound to tax my lappy even more.

Still, I have everything maxed, at native resolution (1366x76, 4x AA, high shadows, HDR and all that jazz, battle size 150, and my estimated performance is at 102%. The only complaint really are the battles that can get bogged down.

For reference, here's my rig. Dell Studio 1558 laptop.
OS: Windows 7 64-Bit
CPU: Inter Core i5 CPU M 520 @2.40 GHz 2.40GHz (Dual Core processor with 4 threads)
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 1GB VRAM
(Latest 12.3 driver as of 4/1/2012) Core clock: 750MHz, Memory Clock: 800 MHz
RAM: 4.00 GB (3.86 GB useable)
OC with MSI Afterburner: Just setting fan at 100% from the get go. Keeping stock clocks. Found that raising clocks raises temperature through the roof. This way 3D games stay around 80-84 degrees Celsius, instead of 90+fps when OCed.

Best!