[H] Sc2 lag spikes, frame drop, out of frequency..

#1 Starcraft 2 - I have a performance issue when I play the game. (Ticket US41547828)
Status: Open
mike mac
Playing 1 game is fine. After this game it has this horrible stuttering lag every 1.5seconds that only I perceive. If I run the unit preloader map after every game there is no lag.. I have tried all the modifications and reductions to improve performance and increase FPS in this thread: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/10195020800
It is ridiculous that I have to run a map every other game just to be able to play even though I exceed system requirements.

MSINFO2.txt
DxDiag.txt
Lyveth Customer Service Representative

#2
Hi there

Thanks for contacting Blizzard's Account and Technical Services.

After reading your issue it's possible that there is an overheating issue happening, To see if this may be the case, I have a few steps I would like you to try,

Overheating may be caused by a buildup of dust and dirt inside the computer case or the malfunctioning or failure of a cooling fan inside the computer. Use a can of compressed air to clean the dust from your computer fans and vents.

Make sure you are playing in a cool environment. Playing in a room or area that is 80°F (27°C) or greater can contribute to overheating and degrade your performance.

The link below goes over other steps you can try.

http://us.battle.net/support/article/8900092

I was able to look at the DXDiag that you sent and everything looks up to date, however I am not able to open the link you sent me for the MSInfo, The information needs to be attached to the ticket so I can view it, for security reasons. If you are unable to get the file lower than 14MB, please split the File into 3 files and attach it all to the issue so I can view it. Once I have this information from you I can look into other Trouble shooting steps.

Sheri Y.
Account and Technical Services
Blizzard Entertainment
http://battle.net/support

#3 mike mac
No, this is obviously not an overheating problem. Also, I already cleaned dust out last week as I regularly do every couple of months and this problem has been around since hots came out. I also have HardwareMonitor and never does anything spike into unacceptable levels.

Looking through the MSINFO I noticed that most of the data in there refers to blizzard and sc2, i checked the properties of the (super hidden) cache folder and it has well over 30,000 files and 4.17 gigs. Is this the possible problem? * I just deleted it based on a support article I found.

Sorry I can't split the MSINFO file into 3 parts unless there is some easy way to do it, because it will literally take like 20 minutes to do that manually.

#4 mike mac
Ok so now that I deleted the cache the file is 90% smaller. Uploading for you.

Aside from that, I ran a little test tonight: I played a few ladder games (without messing with preloader at all except the first time before anything) It was just random. I played 4 games and 2 reps, Nolag, Lag, Nolag, Nolag, Lag, Lag. After that I played 10 unranked 1v1s in a row. And just marked the L or N if it had the stutter. LNNLN LLNNL. So it seems to be pretty well randomized to around 50% of the time it will have the stutter. I also asked the opposite player if he felt any lag and 8/10 said no lag at all (and the other 2 said like barely or not as severe as my lag).

MSINFO.txt Fyrior Customer Service Representative

#5 Hey there!

Game Master Fyrior, at your service! I'm the best in the west and am here to answer your questions!

Thank you for the follow up! I checked out your MSINFO and saw that you're drivers for your Nvidia GTX 260 are out of date from 11/29/2006.

Here's the link to the latest ones:
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/70185/en-us

Once you get it downloaded and go to install it, choose the advanced/custom install option and check the box for Perform Clean Installation.

If you don't have a 3D monitor or use 3D features, you can uncheck those, you can also uncheck the NVIDIA Experience as well.

After it does the clean installation, try Starcraft 2 again and see if it's still lagging/stuttering. I also noticed you have 2GB ram which some of it is going to be used by Windows XP just to have things running so that would drop your overall amount of Available Physical Memory 1.47 GB putting it below the 1.5 GM RAM minimum requirements.

That could cause you to have stuttering lag some games, but not others. Also make sure when SC 2 is running that you don't have any other programs running in the background that could be using up your available resources.

As an added bonus, here's a gm joke:

A gnome walks into a bar...
Man... that's a low bar *ba dum tsch*

Have a great one! mike mac

#6 That can't be, I literally just updated my drivers a day before I opened this ticket (presuming that may help, it did not).

As far as not running other programs, I followed the advice of the MVP thread and have nothing running at all. I even began using Razer Game Booster which essentially closes everything and makes windows unusable until I close sc2. mike mac

#7 PS- I have had the same amount of ram as I've always had since I started playing sc2 in beta 2010. Never had stuttering issue and I even used to stream or record video while playing and could set everything to ultra (as recommended by the factory settings). Issdemona Customer Service Representative

#8 Hello Mike! :D

My name is Issdemona, and I'll be the one helping you out with this today. I see that you're having some trouble with in game stuttering in SCII - You did the right thing by contacting us, I can definitely help out with this!

I'm not sure what method you used to update your drivers, but the Msinfo you provided is definitely showing that your video driver is from 2006. Please use the link the previous representative provided to obtain a new one!

Your network card drivers are also very out of date, and updating those couldn't hurt either.

This link might help you out with that:

http://us.battle.net/support/article/200576

Once you've done that, if you're still having trouble, please reply back to this ticket, and attach a fresh MSinfo so I can verify that the driver has been correctly updated - I'll be glad to keep troubleshooting with you from there!


If you need anything further, please feel free to reply to this ticket, or submit a follow up ticket at:

http://us.battle.net/support/en/

We'll be glad to do what we can to help.

Thank you again, may all your hits be crits and your rolls be hundreds!

#9 mike mac
I went to the same link provided, checked all the dropdowns to the correct card downloaded and installed the driver. I know it installed because I had to reset a bunch of stuff with my nvidia control panel, and I know I got the same driver because I still have it downloaded in the folder.

Also I don't even know how it's possible that I have drivers that old because I bought the card in 2010 (for this game) and have updated the drivers multiple times since then. Issdemona Customer Service Representative

#10 Sounds good!

Can you please try to attach a fresh Msinfo file for me then, so I can take a look?

I'll be glad to keep troubleshooting with you from there.

Thank you again, may all your hits be crits and your rolls be hundreds!

#11 mike mac
I actually just triple checked now and they are most certainly up to date. http://i.imgur.com/CuZBw3Z.jpg
I will humor you guys and uninstall reinstall though. And I will check into the network drivers (even though this is clearly not a network issue).

driver version...JPG

#12 Issdemona Customer Service Representative
Again Mike, all I'm asking for is a fresh Msinfo file. I can see from your attached picture that the drivers are now up to date, which is wonderful - since that would seem to indicate that the last Msinfo attached does not have correct information in it, if you could please attach a new one to your next reply, that would be super helpful for me.

Thank you again!

#13 1 day ago
mike mac
You seem to be misunderstanding. The latest drivers were installed 1-2 days ago. The MSINFO was after that. That additional screenshot was from the device manager looking directly at the drivers BEFORE I uninstalled and reinstalled the same driver. Anyway, I digress.

After uninstall and reinstall of the same driver version just now, I ran the same test again by loading 10 unranked games in a row. None of them lagged at all, which was suspicious. I went to workout for an hour and left the game on and came back to run the test again. This time 3 games lagged, 4 games very slightly stutter but playable lag, and the rest fine. Which is an improvement as a whole, but still an issue.

Attached is the updated MSinfo file:

MSINFO3.txt

#14 1 day ago
Mirdrellos Customer Service Representative
Hello there,

Thanks for the update. At this point, since it only suffers performance degrading after being left on for a while, it sounds like one of your parts might be overheating.

Run some heat tests to see whats up. You can find a few free ones with a quick online search =)

Let us know if nothing is overheating after a couple hours =) Good luck!

Game Master Mirdrellos
Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment
us.battle.net/support <http://www.worldofwarcraft.com>

#15 21 hours ago
mike mac
Once again, not overheating. Still have this problem. Today I just opened the game right away and had the stutter lag in 2 games right off the bat. So it seems the nonlag was just a random fluke.

#16
mike mac
Before you go back to something already known to not be the issue again, I went ahead an updated my network card drivers. So there is no overheating, no gpu issues, and no network card issues. What next? Attached is the updated msinfo32 file again.
MSINFO324.txt

#17
Igraheiw Customer Service Representative
Heya Mike,

Thank you for your message. I have looked into your MSinfo / DxD I am able to see that the computer is loading DirectX files which are not in fact support by your opperating system. Have you tried installing non-microsoft direct x packages?

If so this could affect the games performance in more than just the way you have mentioned. If you have installed Non-Microsoft DirectX packages please uninstall these. I am able to see DirectX10 and 11 which is only supported by newer opperating systems.

If you have any questions please let us know.

Kind Regards.

Francis.B
Blizzard Entertainment

#18 11 hours ago
mike mac
Wait what? the Dxdiag says: "Windows Dir: C:\windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode" right at the top. Also, how could I have directx 10 and 11 installed at the same time?

#19 2 minutes ago
mike mac
see attached screenshot as well.

dxdiag.JPG

#20 Morcaengan Customer Service Representative
Hey Mike,

This is Justin from Blizzard Entertainment and I’m happy to look into your issue today! Thanks for reaching out regarding your video performance in Starcraft 2. I had a chance to go over your ticket here and I am confident that I can help!

In this case, I recommend following the step I have provided below in order to get this resolved.

Update your graphics drivers: Make sure to go directly to the manufacturer’s webiste for the most recent versions. http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx

If you find you need any further assistance, you can hit reply to this message or use our Support Site by logging into your Battle.net account and selecting the “Support” option at the top of the page. We investigate all reports received through this system, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Thank you for your time and patience here. Have an awesome day!

#21
mike mac
Are you fucking kidding me?

#22

Sulgyf Customer Service Representative
Hi Mike,

Sorry about the last reply you got - the reason all the previous reps keep telling you to update your drivers is because the MSINFO's you're sending show the following dates for your drivers:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 - 11/29/2006
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller - 8/11/2007
Realtek High Definition Audio - 8/11/2007

Additionally your startup application list is riddled with .dll's, .exe's, and various files so much I've actually never seen anything like this before in my years doing tech support for Blizz, here's a few examples I extracted from the "E" section:

els els.dll
encapi encapi.dll
encdec encdec.dll
EqnClass eqnclass.dll
ersvc ersvc.dll
es es.dll

Additionally you have errors for WGAsetup, which is the Windows Geniune Advantage tool, which is responsible for verifying your copy of windows.

To be completely honest with you Mike, I'm not sure if your copy of Windows is legit, or just plain corrupted, or if you have a virus on here, but because your driver updates aren't taking and windows itself cannot verify your version I'm afraid this is a problem that extends outside of what Blizzard can troubleshoot.

You're going to want to contact Microsoft first and ask them why your drivers aren't being recognized by the operating system and why you have 100's of things listed in your Startup applications.

Once your copy of Windows is fixed then SC2 should also start working normally as you're the only person we've had report this specific type of issue where the game stutters after the first match. However if you do fix Windows but StarCraft still isn't performing right, just reply back here with an updated MSINFO and we'll do our best to help.

#23 3 hours ago
mike mac
I've always kept my msconfig fairly clean (only 3 startup and no non microsoft related services loading). I have less than like 25 process running on startup total (if I open task manager). The WGA thing popped up after my latest update (like 2 days ago) asking me if I wanted to install it and I just told it no and it asks when I boot but I just close it, no issues with that.

The drivers are recognized, If I open device manager I can see they are up to date (as provided in screenshots sent throughout this ticket). Perhaps MSINFO32 isn't the best tool to troubleshoot this issue (maybe it's just exporting into text wrong)?

There are literally a dozen threads on the support forum active right now about this issue and tons of people with all sorts of varying systems reporting similar findings and having no luck trouble shooting the common stuff you guys are recommending. (people reinstalling the game, reinstalling windows, drivers, etc). There is clearly something wrong with game or the servers for certain users and it has been a result of hots/patch.

To reiterate the issue, the game runs fine 50% of the time, and stutters the other half.

#24 1 second ago
mike mac
Also, I have attached updated versions of MSINFO32 etc to later replies in this ticket thread, perhaps you guys are just looking at the old (bad) ones posted in the first post..

#25
Xambondar Customer Service Representative
Greedings Mike.

I checked all your files you attached and unforutnately there is no new msinfo.

You must create a new one before you contact us, if you want a further investigation.

Here what I recommend:

Please update all your drivers to the newest driver versions.

If you play over non wire connection (this can cause slower internet connections and lags), please use a wired connection. Deactiavate all background programms.

For Optimising Your Wireless or Low-Speed Internet Connection try this: https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/optimising-your-wireless-or-lowspeed-internet-connection

If you have tried all of the steps for your operating system and still require assistance, please visit our Technical Support Forum for Starcraft II http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/

For detailed information on resolving connection issues, select the appropriate link below:

World of Warcraft: https://battle.net/support/article/611
StarCraft II: https://battle.net/support/article/100547
Diablo III: https://battle.net/support/article/6000064

If the steps on the support site do not resolve the situation, please reply to this ticket with any troubleshooting steps you've tried, as well as any other information that may help us troubleshoot the problem. Include the information below:

- Are you using a wired or wireless connection?
- Are you using firewall software?
- Are you running any antivirus software?
- Are you using any internet Security software?
- Network card model:
- Router model:
- Modem model:
- ISP (Internet Service Provider):
- Location (City, State or Province):

Please run a trace route (https://battle.net/support/article/496) and attach the results to your reply, along with your DxDiag and MSInfo reports (https://battle.net/support/article/200581).

#26 6 h
mike mac
Reply #16 has the latest MSinfo32.
Here is the latest dxdiag

DxDiag2.txt

#27 1 day ago
ike mac
Everything is up to date..
I have tried all that and then some and hit up many threads in the support forum. Others have the same issue, no resolution. Pretty sure this is not a network issue but here is that info anyways.
Wired ethernet cat5 straight to the modem.
No firewall, I am using DMZ now actually.
Turned off and deleted all AV software in trying to figure this out.
No internet security either.
NIC should be in the msinfo/dxdiag right? Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (onboard with my gigabyte P35 ds3r mobo)
Surfboard sbg6580
TWC
Huntington Beach, CA

I assumed you guys would want to see the tracert and pathping info so I ran those tests yesterday.

tracert1.txt
pathping1.txt
pathping2.txt

#28
Voronestra Customer Service Representative
Hello,

This is Voronestra with Blizzard Entertainment; I’ve been looking into what occurred with your account.

Ok with the latest MSINFO that I have here. From 12-7-13. This is what im seeing
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, drivers are from 11/29/2006 < way out of date .
Your networking card Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller as well the drivers and firmware are from 8/11/2007. This too needs to be updated.
Now I know you have said that you updated to the latest ones but if this is indeed the latest software for this computer then the manufactures are not updating these anymore and are not supported by them . If they are not supporting their own hardware we are unable to try and support the game on this system. Please make sure that this is indeed not the case please.

Make sure your video card drivers are updated. If they're out of date, the area might be too much for the game to load and your video card could be causing the disconnect. To update them, please visit: <http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=21137> .

If you are not comfortable updating drivers on your system, you may wish to contact your video card/chipset manufacturer and ask what driver you should install.

If you are comfortable updating drivers on your system, you can find a link to your video card manufacturer's website here:
<http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=21128>


Go ahead and make sure Windows has all of its updates; if it fails and gives an error code, check with Microsoft on how to fix the error and finish the updates.

Click Start
Type the words Check for Updates in search area at the bottom
Click Check for Updates
On the right hand side, click Check for Updates again for it to search for updates
Download any you might have, even the optional ones
You might need to do this multiple times to catch all updates. Please repeat until it tells you that Windows is up to date.


Once all these are updated let’s get another MSINFO to see what has changed.


Thanks.

#29 8 hours ago
mike mac
I don't know why the MSINFO is reporting the wrong shit. I can look in the DXdiag or the device manager and see they are updated with the most current updates (which came out last month, and I uninstalled and updated twice in the last week). I have posted screenshots in this chat with the proper driver clearly installed, so this is NOT the issue. Would you guys please stop telling me to mess with my drivers, what is the next option?
#30 1 second ago
Mirdrellos Customer Service Representative
Hello there,

My name is Game Master Mirdrellos, and after doing some digging, it appears this issue has to do with Intel's speedstep power saving feature. You need to shut it off in the BIOS - to do this, you'll need to do some online searches, because Im not intel support so I can't walk you through how to shut down their stuff =\

There is also a 'cool'n'quiet' feature with amd that you should look into disabling. Again, a quick online search will tell you how =)

Let us know if it still happens after these are disabled =)

Game Master Mirdrellos
Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment
us.battle.net/support <http://www.worldofwarcraft.com>
4 hours ago