Stuttering and slowdowns while playing

[MonkeySeeker]

Firstly my specs:

 

Windows 7 x64

Intel Core2Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz overclocked to 3Ghz

4GB PC2-8500 OCZ SLI Ready RAM (1066Mhz but running at 800Mhz due to weird motherboard issue where if I use all 4 RAM slots and run the RAM at 1066Mhz the system keeps crashing)

512MB Zotac GeForce 9600GT Synergy Edition

Latest DirectX (Jun 2010)

VIA VT1708S Onboard sound (7.1 but set to 5.1)

Desktop resolution: 1920x1080

 

My problem:

 

I am getting stuttering and slowdowns when playing Vice City on my PC. It runs fine if walking or just driving straight, but if anything else happens it starts to stutter and slowdown as if my PC is struggling to run it. I ran Fraps to see the framerate and it drops from a constant 30fps to 20fps or less.

 

By anything else I mean if I crash the car, something explodes, I hit a pedestrian or anything other than just drive or walk. I'm sure I can post a video from Fraps if it helps to see it.

 

Frame limiter is on, I have tried ALL resolutions and lowering the draw distance completely but it still plays the same. I have also tried all compatibility modes, disabling themes and disabling desktop composition. I also tried setting the affinity to single core.

 

I had this issue with the retail version patched to 1.1 (which I now see was obsolete anyway) but I now have the Steam version and have the same issue.

It ran perfectly on my old rig from 18 months ago which was a 3.2Ghz Pentium D, 2GB DDR 400Mhz RAM and a 256MB Sparkle GeForce 8600GT.

 

I just can't figure out why it's running so poorly, this PC should easily run the game.

 

It runs every other game I have fine including GTA IV and EFLC.

 

I think I've covered everything on the sticky, if I missed something sorry.

[MonkeySeeker]

Actually never mind after 18 months it's finally solved

 

Somone told me to delete the gta_vc.set file which was one thing I never thought of and it actually solved the problem.

[Spuds725]

that pesky .set file... did you move that along with your saves from the old PC or something??

 

Glad you got it working...

[MonkeySeeker]

that pesky .set file... did you move that along with your saves from the old PC or something??

 

Glad you got it working...

Ha, yes that's exactly what I did I usually just back up the whole My Documents folder so it is likely that file was from the old PC

[darkpower]

I'm having the same issue, and I think I got the problem nailed as to what is making it stutter, but I'm not sure what to do ABOUT it.

 

Thing is, I did all the deleting the .sat file (I just did a major upgrade to my comp and had to reinstall everything, and I copy and pasted my old save file into my new User File directory. I don't want to have to delete it if I can help it because I got kind of far into it after buying it during the Steam sale a few weeks back) and that, and I went through all of the steps, and I found out that the resolution was not what was causing it, as I did everything that it lagged on without a hitch.

 

Then I changed my sound options (which was on "dsound3d software emulation") to something called "RAD Game Tools rsx 3d audio". As SOON as I did that, it began lagging again, and when I changed it back to the dsound3d, the stuttering stopped. Problem is, the RAD option is the only option I got that will do the sounds properly. For some reason, the dsound3d option will only let me hear certain things, like the radio and SOME sound effects (a VERY select amount). The dsound is the default option, and I don't know what either of these actually ARE. There's also two Creative Labs options which are lost on me as to what they even are (I have a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy that's been updated constantly (it's at the latest drivers) and has given me a ton of years without nearly ANY issues yet...it's a beast of a cheap card).

 

So if anyone is getting the lag, see if it happens when you turn RAD on, and if it goes away when you turn it off.

 

And if someone can tell me what to do about this and direct me (and anyone else that's had this problem when turning on this option) to where we can fix the RAD lagging issue and/or make the dsound3d work correctly, that'll be very helpful.

 

EDIT: Okay, I think I fixed the dsound3d thing. I guess I didn't download the driver for the Audigy (it's the SE one, forgot to say that. It's a good card for how cheap you can prolly get it for). I just did and now the dsound3d is working (for now, at least). I can hear everything the way it was intended.

 

But yeah, the issue with RAD is probably one of the causes of the stuttering. Can anyone else confirm that it could be the game not liking that setting?

Edited November 25, 2010 by darkpower

[Pooka Mustard]

Just after some play time I noticed that when I drive, and turn heavily, the game would slowdown and stutter. After getting rid of the gta-vc.set (found in "GTA Vice City User Files" in your "My Documents" folder), I some of the stuff back to where it was, and now turning heavily rarely makes the game stutter. That file was behind all that?

[darkpower]

Just after some play time I noticed that when I drive, and turn heavily, the game would slowdown and stutter. After getting rid of the gta-vc.set (found in "GTA Vice City User Files" in your "My Documents" folder), I some of the stuff back to where it was, and now turning heavily rarely makes the game stutter. That file was behind all that?

Well, I suspect it's not JUST the .set file, as that alone might not be causing it. Because I deleted it, then redid everything to where it was before, and it STILL stuttered. So it was not the .set file at all (or at least not entirely). It's rather a setting WITHIN it that's causing the issue, which for me was the RAD 3D Game audio setting. When I searched in Google about this, I found that I was not the only one that had this issue when I had this option selected. The game's audio runs smoothly, but everything else becomes a mess.

 

You should be able to choose "DSound3D" and have the audio play perfectly without any issues provided you've updated the drivers (which you should be doing anyway). Just make sure you HAVE done so (I could've sworn I did...until I downloaded them just to be sure). Make sure that when you install them, you restart your computer. Otherwise, the drivers are useless (too much hand holding here, but I'm sure someone will be saying that the drivers they just installed doesn't change anything when they skipped that one step that you cannot ignore).

 

Anyway, I'm pretty sure after some research that the RAD Game 3D causes stuttering problems, and I'm pretty sure, unless someone can bring up and prove a situation where they had their game stutter as bad and DIDN'T have RAD selected, that this could be counted as an official bug in the game.