Freezing, Stuttering, Driver Problems Since Apex Predators

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

2023_02_15_13_40_02__24036.clog

War Thunder runs fine until it freezes for a few seconds at a time. My drivers are completely up to date, I've individually stress-tested GPU's (I have an RTX 2060 w/ Max Q and an Intel UHD Integrated GPU, both of which are not defective), and can run the game smoothly at max movie settings with the FPS limited to 60 FPS. The GPU Benchmark Test within War Thunder itself, as well as GeForce Experience recommends the highest possible settings. Possible overuse of the Intel UHD GPU (despite having the 2060 selected in the NVIDIA Control Panel as the main GPU)? No idea. I presume the freezing is not connection-related (it happens in test drives as well). It occurs regardless of the performance settings used. I'm sure others are having the same issue. Please help, thank you. 

 

Happy Flying!

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

So, my GPU gets to 84 Celsius and before it can get any higher, it throttles back down in an attempt to save itself, which in turn causes the stuttering... Guess some optimization needs to be done? Or maybe my 2 year-old GPU needs to be swapped out?

Edited February 17 by CoolGuyHMR

[Raldi92 2,909]

2 hours ago, CoolGuyHMR said:

So, my GPU gets to 84 Celsius and before it can get any higher, it throttles back down in an attempt to save itself, which in turn causes the stuttering... Guess some optimization needs to be done? Or maybe my 2 year-old GPU needs to be swapped out?

 

What 2060 do you have ( custom , FE ) and what settings are you running ( OC , fan curve  , Power Limit , temp limit etc )  ?  Also what is your CPU ( CPU can also cause stuttering ) ?

 

Could be due to dust accumulation , could be due to inadequate settings , could be due to paste dry out etc , hard to tell without knowing some details but generaly speaking if your GPU runs the game at the desirable settings there is no point replacing it unless you want to hit higher resolution or/and framerate. 

 

In the meantime i would suggest you to disable integrated graphics in the bios ( Intel UHD ) since it can cause compatibility issues , there is no point having it enabled .

 

Edited February 17 by Raldi92

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

1 hour ago, Raldi92 said:

 

What 2060 do you have ( custom , FE ) and what settings are you running ( OC , fan curve  , Power Limit , temp limit etc )  ?  Also what is your CPU ( CPU can also cause stuttering ) ?

 

Could be due to dust accumulation , could be due to inadequate settings , could be due to paste dry out etc , hard to tell without knowing some details but generaly speaking if your GPU runs the game at the desirable settings there is no point replacing it unless you want to hit higher resolution or/and framerate. 

 

In the meantime i would suggest you to disable integrated graphics in the bios ( Intel UHD ) since it can cause compatibility issues , there is no point having it enabled .

 

Is turning off the Intel UHD safe? I'm afraid of doing it. I have no idea how to adjust my fan curve. My CPU is an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10875H CPU @ 2.30GHz. 

Edited February 17 by CoolGuyHMR

[Raldi92 2,909]

4 hours ago, CoolGuyHMR said:

Is turning off the Intel UHD safe ?I'm afraid of doing it.

 

Totaly safe , there is no reason to be afraid . There should be an option in your BIOS but  you can watch videos on YouTube about how to disable integrated graphics , it's trivial and you can enable it back  anytime from the BIOS .

 

4 hours ago, CoolGuyHMR said:

  I have no idea how to adjust my fan curve.

 

You can use third party software such MSI Afterburner ( make sure to download from official website )  or this little gem here  https://github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases

 

4 hours ago, CoolGuyHMR said:

My CPU is an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10875H CPU @ 2.30GHz. 

 

Got you so that's a laptop . Don't know if this is first hand or what but your laptop must be about 2-3years old and i am assuming that you have never serviced it yourself .

 

So make sure heatsink/fan is not gunked up with dust etc , and you should also preferably clean old thermal paste and apply new one on your CPU and GPU because the fact is your GPU is thermal throttling which indicates that it doesn't get adequate colling ( be it gunked up heatsink/fan or dried out thermal paste ) . Unfortunately this implies tearing down the laptop in order to get access to the motherboard .

 

Laptops are a bit more tricky to service compared to desktops ( nothing crazy but still ) so depending your confidence level you can do it by yourself or bring it to some competent store nearby your location .

 

Are your chipset drivers up to date ? You can verify with this Intel software  https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18002/intel-driver-support-assistant.html.

 

Edited February 18 by Raldi92

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

1 hour ago, Raldi92 said:

 

Totaly safe , there is no reason to be afraid . There should be an option in your BIOS but  you can watch videos on YouTube about how to disable integrated graphics , it's trivial and you can enable it back  anytime from the BIOS .

 

 

You can use third party software such MSI Afterburner ( make sure to download from official website )  or this little gem here  https://github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases

 

 

Got you so that's a laptop . Don't know if this is first hand or what but your laptop must be about 2-3years old and i am assuming that you have never serviced it yourself .

 

So make sure heatsink is not gunked up with dust etc , and you should also preferably clean old thermal paste and apply new one on your CPU and GPU . Unfortunately this implies tearing down the laptop in order to get access to the motherboard .

 

Laptops are a bit more tricky to service compared to desktops ( nothing crazy but still ) so depending your confidence level you can do it by yourself or bring it to some competent store nearby your location .

 

Are your chipset drivers up to date ? You can verify with this Intel software  https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18002/intel-driver-support-assistant.html.

 

I turned off my Intel UHD and I could no longer control my screen brightness. All of my drivers are up to date. I'll see if MSI Afterburner helps. Thank you so much.

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

I've never payed attention to my GPU temps in the past, so it may have been running hot like this from day one, it's just that the stuttering and GPU throttling began happening after the release of Apex Predators, so maybe it's something about NVIDIA's most recent driver updates? I'm having the same problem in other games now as well...

[P_R_0_X_Y 994]

32 minutes ago, CoolGuyHMR said:

I've never payed attention to my GPU temps in the past, so it may have been running hot like this from day one, it's just that the stuttering and GPU throttling began happening after the release of Apex Predators, so maybe it's something about NVIDIA's most recent driver updates? I'm having the same problem in other games now as well...

 

Do you have Razer Synapse running? It gave me similar problems with freezes in the past.

Edited February 19 by P_R_0_X_Y

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

51 minutes ago, P_R_0_X_Y said:

 

Do you have Razer Synapse running? It gave me similar problems with freezes in the past.

No, I think my GPU might just be fried, everything else but my 2060 seems to be working just fine. My GPU is the only limiting factor... I'm keeping the 2060 turned off until I have time to get it serviced in a few months and will probably take a long break from gaming and anything graphics-intensive in the meantime. I suspect the thermal paste in the GPU has finally degraded after a year and a half of max performance and no breaks...

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

So interesting development, my GPU's physical health might be totally fine, NVIDIA GeForce can no longer optimize ANY games, so I must have corrupted drivers. I reinstalled them last night but am still not able to optimize anything. Looks like it's NVIDIA's fault... 

[Raldi92 2,909]

2 hours ago, CoolGuyHMR said:

So interesting development, my GPU's physical health might be totally fine, NVIDIA GeForce can no longer optimize ANY games, so I must have corrupted drivers. I reinstalled them last night but am still not able to optimize anything. Looks like it's NVIDIA's fault... 

 

You don't really need GeForce Experience to optimise your games , i would rather get rid of it unless you need it for recording etc .  Can be due to corrupted system files etc , it's quite hard to pin down the real reason . You can check your system integrity with DISM  command ( https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image ) and repair it if need be. 

 

18 hours ago, CoolGuyHMR said:

I've never payed attention to my GPU temps in the past, so it may have been running hot like this from day one, it's just that the stuttering and GPU throttling began happening after the release of Apex Predators, so maybe it's something about NVIDIA's most recent driver updates? I'm having the same problem in other games now as well...

 

I doubt drivers are to be blamed , im on the latest drivers ( 528.49 ) too and haven't noticed any issue .  If you started noticing stuttering only after Apex Predator then it could be that the game has been more heavy on CPU / GPU ( although you should be able to run WT at 1080p with a 2060 just fine ). 

 

Best advice i can give you is to work your way methodically and eliminate variables one by one . Check for system integrity if ok then check for hardware stability preferably individually ( stress test CPU , GPU , RAM one by one ) and monitor clocks and temps  ( mostly for CPU and GPU ) .

 

 

 

 

Edited February 19 by Raldi92

[Raldi92 2,909]

18 hours ago, P_R_0_X_Y said:

Do you have Razer Synapse running? It gave me similar problems with freezes in the past.

 

That could be another reason ,  laptops nowadays are gunked up with pre-installed junkware  on top of whatever 3rd party software people install to contol peripherals , rgb and what not .  All this accumulation of sofware running in the background  can be quite taxing on laptop CPUs or even desktop ones .

 

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

DISM came back green, enabled the UHD again after my entire pc began to choke. I reset all of my NVIDIA settings in the NVIDIA control panel, but still nothing. I've tested every single piece of firmware using BIOS and nothing comes up.

 

[The_Vector30 0]

I have exactly the same problem, since i updated the game, constatly shuttering and lag, some cases crash, i tried to reinstall, update drivers, uninstall drivers by apps and DDU, and changing to DirectX12, etc. I dont know what to do now, im just waiting Sky Guardians update, hopefully this will solve the problem.

 

Edited March 4 by The_Vector30

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

20 hours ago, The_Vector30 said:

I have exactly the same problem, since i updated the game, constatly shuttering and lag, some cases crash, i tried to reinstall, update drivers, uninstall drivers by apps and DDU, and changing to DirectX12, etc. I dont know what to do now, im just waiting Sky Guardians update, hopefully this will solve the problem.

 

Glad I'm not the only one... Gives me a glimmer of hope. Let's hope it gets fixed!

[The_Vector30 0]

After the update, the problem persist for me @CoolGuyHMR Did your game fixed? I tried everything by this time and nothing works for me. Gaijin doesnt respond my reports either, this is frustrating.

 

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

On 17/03/2023 at 00:41, The_Vector30 said:

After the update, the problem persist for me @CoolGuyHMR Did your game fixed? I tried everything by this time and nothing works for me. Gaijin doesnt respond my reports either, this is frustrating.

 

So, there was a hotfix that was posted on the Driver Problems section on the forums a little over a week ago (the category this entire discussion is under) that I downloaded. Since I use an NVIDIA graphics card, I thought that I should give it a try. Well sure enough, it literally completely fixed everything. It turns out it may have been because of NVIDIA's drivers after all. The driver is outdated technically but I'm using the one listed for now until they release a newer driver that stops the GPU from using literally DOUBLE the power consumption to render the same amount of graphical load. My power consumption literally dropped from 64 Watts to ~30 Watts with ZERO performance loss - my GPU has never ran cooler. Please let me know if this fixes it for you, if not we'll figure something out eventually, hang in there. Here's the link to the download:

 

 

[The_Vector30 0]

@CoolGuyHMR Well, i updated my Nvidia drivers, and installed the Hotfix, i must say this, solved some of the shutters and FPS drop, but i still having these shutter, but, i play in laptop, and for a long time i didnt clean it (fans and thermal paste). So i will do maintenance for my laptop, and see if that its the problem of some shutters. Anyway, if you can help me with more information about this problem and how to solve it, ill be very grateful with you man, thanks.

[CoolGuyHMR 28]

On 03/04/2023 at 17:17, The_Vector30 said:

@CoolGuyHMR Well, i updated my Nvidia drivers, and installed the Hotfix, i must say this, solved some of the shutters and FPS drop, but i still having these shutter, but, i play in laptop, and for a long time i didnt clean it (fans and thermal paste). So i will do maintenance for my laptop, and see if that its the problem of some shutters. Anyway, if you can help me with more information about this problem and how to solve it, ill be very grateful with you man, thanks.

So sorry for not responding until now. How does it perform now?