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[Shaneus]

now this shouldn't be happening, your 680 with (at least) 2 GB of VRAM should be plenty to handle almost the entire area of a chapter with only a couple of loading spots, I have a modest 660 Ti 3 GB and it uses 2200-2400 MB VRAM in Infinite, only stutters a bit while loading for a split second in a couple of pre-defined places throughout the chapters, rest being silky smooth... so that about stuttering happening every 50 meters is definitely something wrong in your end not the game itself, delete XEngine.ini and let the game create a default one, tweak again the poolsize value for your VRAM.

Nah, it shouldn't. I even lowered my resolution, which reduced the VRAM usage greatly. Then increased that poolsize value so it was using almost all my VRAM (with a little bit of headroom left over). Still got stuttering in the same point as in that video @ 0:48s.

I only have 1GB available (5850+5970) but making all that extra VRAM available, it should be loading textures ahead as much as possible, but no matter what that poolsize value was, it always stuttered. Pretty obvious that the only read-ahead that's being used is triggered at certain points and isn't dictated by how much video RAM one has available.

 

[Eyothrie]

now this shouldn't be happening, your 680 with (at least) 2 GB of VRAM should be plenty to handle almost the entire area of a chapter with only a couple of loading spots, I have a modest 660 Ti 3 GB and it uses 2200-2400 MB VRAM in Infinite, only stutters a bit while loading for a split second in a couple of pre-defined places throughout the chapters, rest being silky smooth... so that about stuttering happening every 50 meters is definitely something wrong in your end not the game itself, delete XEngine.ini and let the game create a default one, tweak again the poolsize value for your VRAM.

Nope. Nothing at all wrong on my end. The area loading hitching has been confirmed by several people here. Watch Maldo's video. I quoted the link. Watch the on screen FPS meter dive a handful of times in a 2 minute span.

 

[Dipswitch]

Friggin game crashed again tonight. Seems to be linked to the Steam overlay and happens when I've been playing for a while and a Steam achievement pops up.

Very annoying, especially with lack of manual saves.

 

[JaseC]

I'm not understanding the pool size stuff. Help please!


There is Texture pool (400 default) and 2 other Memory pool lines (512 default).


Do I change all 3?

I have a GTX 295... What should my pool size be?

The GTX 295 is only, in effect, an 896MB card (2x 896MB GPUs), so I'd leave the PoolSize cvar at 400. Bump up the two memory pool cvars to 1024.

 

[neoism]

wow really surprised.. that bInitializeShadersOnDemand worked for me better than the poolsize thing... it still does it on the loading parts of the game but waay quicker hell the loading screen is like 10 seconds faster...
still this game can get meh card HOT... 76C.. :/ kind of miss the really cold nights... my window is like 3 foot from my computer and with it open can make my bedroom like 15 degrees colder lol really helps with my card temp...usually was getting 64C or less...on cold nights. My computer has 4 fans too..

 

[RedSwirl]

How will it run?

CPU: 2.4GHz Quad Core Q6600
GPU: HD6850 1GB
RAM: 3GB GDDR2 (I think)
In 1440 x 900 resolution.

 

[jns]

Hey guys. Not sure if I'm reading this poolsize thing right. I have a titan so would I put the poolsize as 6*600=3600?

Cheers

 

[JaseC]

Hey guys. Not sure if I'm reading this poolsize thing right. I have a titan so would I put the poolsize as 6*600=3600?

Cheers

That's a bingo.

 

[Betta Lines]

Hey guys. Not sure if I'm reading this poolsize thing right. I have a titan so would I put the poolsize as 6*600=3600?

Cheers

Ooo. I'd like to see if you can turn this corner at 0:48 without any stutter/hitching with a Titan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY7wA5q1qeg

 

[Shaneus]

Hey guys. Not sure if I'm reading this poolsize thing right. I have a titan so would I put the poolsize as 6*600=3600?

Cheers

What card do you have? If you're thinking that because you have 2x3GB cards, you only do 3x600. SLI/CFX keeps the same info in each memory bank per GPU, it's not cumulative storage.

 

[Self_Destructive]

What card do you have? If you're thinking that because you have 2x3GB cards, you only do 3x600. SLI/CFX keeps the same info in each memory bank per GPU, it's not cumulative storage.

He just said he has a Titan, so he has 6gb of vram.

 

[Shaneus]

Oh, I didn't see the name of the card. Damn, so jelly.

 

[jns]

Don't be too Jelly guys. Still getting frame drops. Worst part is that it occurs in odd areas. I can be in a huge area with shit flying left and right and its smooth as butter, then I turn a corner or get into a lift and it drops right down. I'm still enjoying the game a lot and it looks so beautiful, but he inconsistency is a real drag..

Only just got the card so I will work on it some more.

 

[Betta Lines]

Have you tried running it on lowest settings for laughs? I bet it still stutters.

 

[pa22word]

Can anyone report as to if the crosshair's scale with the UI when adjusting the FoV? That was a big problem with Bio2, and it made certain guns essentially worthless =\

 

[beastmode]

You haven't done that memory ini modification for a 2GB card, have you? The 5970 may have 2GB, but it's 2GB *total*, because it has 1GB per GPU (and only 1GB is theoretically useable). I know, because I have that plus a 5850 so even though Afterburner shows 3GB VRAM, everything uses 3x as much because it has to have the same thing across all GPUs (of which you have two, I have three).

That might be the cause of some of your issues, I'm not sure.

Haven't touched any .inis.

 

[Pagusas]

Haven't touched any .inis.

I suggest you do the pool size fix if you had the same issue as me, fixed all my gripes and the game is smooth as butter.

 

[Reclaimer]

The GTX 295 is only, in effect, an 896MB card (2x 896MB GPUs), so I'd leave the PoolSize cvar at 400. Bump up the two memory pool cvars to 1024.

Thanks!

It's tough trying to hold out a bit longer for a new PC (and next gen consoles).

 

[JaseC]

Thanks!

It's tough trying to hold out a bit longer for a new PC (and next gen consoles).

Actually, you can give adjusting the PoolSize value a shot -- change it to 538 (0.896 x 600, rounded up). I'd thought that the minimum VRAM spec for the game was 1GB, hence the advice that the value only be changed if your card has more than that, but I checked the system requirements again and it's actually 512MB, which should mean that the rule of thumb can be applied to all cards with more than half a gig of memory.

 

[Felix Lighter]

So I'm right, there is a memory leak in some situations (only some users) but this can be fixed. The real problem is the loading stutter (disruptive pauses) that can't be fixed editing files and affects everyone.

A game like Bioshock Infinite deserves be played optimally. Without pauses.

Currently my list of pending games before bioshock is huge, but if Irrational not fix this problem, I will never play bioshock infinite.

I didn't want to suggest that it's not something that should be addressed by Irrational and it is obvious that some are more sensitive to the area transition drops than others. I guess I didn't experience the issue quite like your video demonstrated because I was wondering around each area looking around more, so the loads were spread over a longer time but when moving directly through the areas like that, which I'm sure is more how the game is played as you move past the initial introduction, I can see that it's a significant issue. It's not something that would prevent me from playing, but I get why it's a major problem for others.

 

[MaLDo]

I didn't want to suggest that it's not something that should be addressed by Irrational and it is obvious that some are more sensitive to the area transition drops than others. I guess I didn't experience the issue quite like your video demonstrated because I was wondering around each area looking around more, so the loads were spread over a longer time but when moving directly through the areas like that, which I'm sure is more how the game is played as you move past the initial introduction, I can see that it's a significant issue. It's not something that would prevent me from playing, but I get why it's a major problem for others.

The hitch and framerate drop is totally independent of the time you spend between loading triggers.

 

[Felix Lighter]

The hitch and framerate drop is totally independent of the time you spend between loading triggers.

Hmmm... I'll have to replay the start sometime and see if I'm seeing the same thing. I had my FPS counter displayed the whole time and noticed the occasional drops but it didn't feel as frequent. I wish the damn game had manual saves.

 

[Brerlappin]

Runs great for me aside fromt he loading hitches, but they seem fairly infrequent and only last maybe 2 seconds. Ive finished the game too and i didnt come across very many.

Can get 60fps and higher downsampling from 1920x1200, and 40-50fps @ 2560x1600.

Q6600
560ti 2GB
8GB ram
Win 7 Ultimate 64bit

 

[Ce-Lin]

usually when a game triggers texture loading you can't go back to the previous area without another forced loading, since most times the process involves clearing the VRAM buffer from previous textures. In Bioshock Infinite the engine loads textures for the incoming area at pre-defined points but you can still roam around back and forth with no further loading/stuttering until the next "triggering" point...

at least with my 3 GB GPU and the adjusted poolsize value that's what I'm experiencing, forced loading for a split second in a few triggering points but I can go back where I was or proceed further with no hiccups at all, basically the forced loading just adds more data to the VRAM buffer, why not fully filling it during the chapter loading ? this would keep stuttering at bay if you have 2+ GB of VRAM, I think what we're seeing in Bioshock Infinite is the result of an engine designed to run reasonably well both in low and high-end specs (including PS3-360), VRAM is not filled at the start of each chapter since old systems would choke and they cannot write separate engines for different specs.

Runs great for me aside fromt he loading hitches, but they seem fairly infrequent and only last maybe 2 seconds. Ive finished the game too and i didnt come across very many.

Can get 60fps and higher downsampling from 1920x1200, and 40-50fps @ 2560x1600.

Q6600
560ti 2GB
8GB ram
Win 7 Ultimate 64bit

bolded the deciding factors in Bioshock Infinite performance, I get a similar experience, butter smooth except for a couple split-second loading hitches in every chapter, with a 3 GB 660 Ti and 8 GB DDR3 RAM. Enough RAM/VRAM combined to hold full texture sets for a whole chapter but the game is not designed to take advantage of high RAM specs, loading points are set in stone.

 

[Reclaimer]

Actually, you can give adjusting the PoolSize value a shot -- change it to 538 (0.896 x 600, rounded up). I'd thought that the minimum VRAM spec for the game was 1GB, hence the advice that the value only be changed if your card has more than that, but I checked the system requirements again and it's actually 512MB, which should mean that the rule of thumb can be applied to all cards with more than half a gig of memory.

The final key! Thanks!

Running at 1080p 60fps (forced vsync through Inspector) and some drops when in combat, but not too bad.

I could drop down to 1600x900 and get a bit better combat fps, but dat 1080p everywhere else is gorgeous. This is one of those games where resolution REALLY helps bring out the fantastic art design.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

My game has been running flawlessy at 60, downsampled, SMAA, since PoolSize adjustment and Post-processing shift to normal. Damn this game looks fantastic!

 

[panda21]

i'm having a hard time getting this to run nicely, is there any specific setting that has a huge framerate impact?

I have a 560 GTX 1GB

 

[Ce-Lin]

i'm having a hard time getting this to run nicely, is there any specific setting that has a huge framerate impact?

I have a 560 GTX 1GB

the alternate post-processing setting, which uses DirectX 11, has been tested as the most GPU intensive feature for old/mid-range cards. I'd let that on "normal" and I believe it even looks better that way. Also, for a 1 GB VRAM GPU I'm not sure if Ultra textures is the way to go, My GTX 660 Ti 3 GB is always using around 1,8 - 2,4 GB of VRAM with Ultra textures enabled... but I'm using the tweaked poolsize value so I guess I'm forcing the game to use that much VRAM, anyway the game is constant v-sync 60 fps here except for split-second defined loading points at 1080p everything on Ultra but post-processing which is set to default, no stuttering whatsoever.

 

[panda21]

the alternate post-processing setting, which uses DirectX 11, has been tested as the most GPU intensive feature for old/mid-range cards. I'd let that on "normal" and I believe it even looks better that way. Also, for a 1 GB VRAM GPU I'm not sure if Ultra textures is the way to go, My GTX 660 Ti 3 GB is always using around 1,8 - 2,4 GB of VRAM with Ultra textures enabled... but I'm using the tweaked poolsize value so I guess I'm forcing the game to use that much VRAM, anyway the game is constant v-sync 60 fps here except for defined loading points at 1080p everything on Ultra except post-processing which is set to default, no stuttering whatsoever.

I have everything set to either normal or low and it still gets constant framerate hitches that make the combat really annoying, running in 1680x1050. using the latest nvidia driver.. not sure what else i can change.

 

[Pagusas]

I have everything set to either normal or low and it still gets constant framerate hitches that make the combat really annoying, running in 1680x1050. using the latest nvidia driver.. not sure what else i can change.

Did you do the pool size fix we've all talked about and is in the OP? My 570 had the huge stuttering/hitching problem and it fixed it, I imagine it will do the same for your 560.

 

[panda21]

yeah i did the poolsize fix in the memory section as well as the vram one :S

going to try the benchmark on low and see if even that can run without hitching

edit:
on low (setting in the benchmark tool) min fps is 29, on medium its 19.. it doesn't sound quite right although it actually looks ok-ish

 

[M_A_C]

Did you do the pool size fix we've all talked about and is in the OP? My 570 had the huge stuttering/hitching problem and it fixed it, I imagine it will do the same for your 560.

What did you set it to for the 570?

 

[Eyothrie]

If you're talking about the 1-2 second hitching that happens when you hit new areas, there isn't a fix for that. The poolsize stuff is to fix the constant stuttering some ppl were having when panning the camera around

 

[panda21]

If you're talking about the 1-2 second hitching that happens when you hit new areas, there isn't a fix for that. The poolsize stuff is to fix the constant stuttering some ppl were having when panning the camera around

it seems to hitch constantly, not just moving into new areas. like in the benchmark if i run it on high, then it is hitching and tearing a lot during the scene with the dude on the stage and the crowd.

 

[Pagusas]

What did you set it to for the 570?

750

yeah i did the poolsize fix in the memory section as well as the vram one :S

Did you also put in the launcher option? Its required to make the pool size values be used by the game. -ReadTexturePoolFromIni

 

[alysonwheel]

i'm having a hard time getting this to run nicely, is there any specific setting that has a huge framerate impact?

I have a 560 GTX 1GB

I have that exact card and I got 40-60fps throughout. I posted my settings here and I changed the poolsize to 400, launching with the command line option.

The other half has a GTX460 clocked roughly the same, the same settings, and has very similar performance to me; I have a Core 2 Duo, they have a Phenom 2 X4.

 

[Alo81]

750

Shouldn't you set it to 768? I'm assuming your 570 is 1280mb as well.

 

[Pagusas]

Shouldn't you set it to 768? I'm assuming your 570 is 1280mb as well.

I just went off what another poster recommended!

 

[MaLDo]

Texture streaming has no effect over loading pauses.

I did 2 videos at 60 fps comparing hitching with bUseBackgroundStreaming False and True. Both configs have problems with assets dissapearing. When background streaming is disabled, the assets that appear not cause pauses. When background streaming is enabled, there is a pause everytime the character walks trough a loading trigger. The problem is that disabling backgroundstreaming we lose a lot of things, in this video, the couple of people at the end.

Config: Ultra + Alternative PP at 1920x1200.
Both videos are recorded at 60 fps. For better results, don't use internet browser, use Download button (located up/right) and then VLC free player.


LevelStreaming = False
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1o2gzuobmtdmzyw/BackgroundLevelStreaming_False.mp4

LevelStreaming = True
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o19usvrn3hk7rj4/BackgroundLevelStreaming_True.mp4

 

[Eyothrie]

Texture streaming has no effect over loading pauses.

I did 2 videos at 60 fps comparing hitching with bUseBackgroundStreaming False and True. Both configs have problems with assets dissapearing. When background streaming is disabled, the assets that appear not cause pauses. When background streaming is enabled, there is a pause everytime the character walks trough a loading trigger. The problem is that disabling backgroundstreaming we lose a lot of things, in this video, the couple of people at the end.

Config: Ultra + Alternative PP at 1920x1200.
Both videos are recorded at 60 fps. For better results, don't use internet browser, use Download button (located up/right) and then VLC free player.


LevelStreaming = False
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1o2gzuobmtdmzyw/BackgroundLevelStreaming_False.mp4

LevelStreaming = True
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o19usvrn3hk7rj4/BackgroundLevelStreaming_True.mp4

Same issue here. Set it to 'False' and the loading hitches go away, but the 'False' setting breaks the ability to move the plot forward. Surely, SURELY this will get patched, right?

 

[Alo81]

Anyone got AA bits for Nvidia Inspector?

 

[MaLDo]

Same issue here. Set it to 'False' and the loading hitches go away, but the 'False' setting breaks the ability to move the plot forward. Surely, SURELY this will get patched, right?

But is a complete nosense because you can miss one or two assets or scripts in 10 minutes of gameplay with level streaming disabled but enabling it you have 30 loading pauses in the same period. So, WTF? 30 pauses to load that script? And are all the rest of the level, characters, textures loaded seamless?

 

[Ce-Lin]

But is a complete nosense because you can miss one or two assets or scripts in 10 minutes of gameplay with level streaming disabled but enabling it you have 30 loading pauses in the same period. So, WTF? 30 pauses to load that script? And are all the rest of the level, characters, textures loaded seamless?

The "rest" that you refer to might very well been pre-loaded during the chapter loading screen or are already loaded in system RAM.

Texture streaming has no effect over loading pauses.

thanks for your testing and great videos !

I see what you disabled/enabled was "background streaming" not the whole texture streaming engine, texture streaming be it running in the background or during a proper loading screen indeed causes a framerate penalty, it's a matter of optimization how well you hide it. Think about Tomb Raider / Uncharted when they walk slowly through thin openings in walls/ruins/debris to allow texture streaming to run more or less unnoticed...

Bioshock Infinite doesn't sport thin openings or long empty-looking hallways so running past a "texture loading" point is very noticeable in form of stuttering framerate. Can they fix this ? well certainly they're not altering the levels adding empty hallways to hide loading, realistically they could try to load every texture asset a chapter needs during that chapter loading screen, but then again PC's being not closed systems means they had to go for what they consider the most common specs or the safest ones.

You can tweak these values to improve performance, but I agree a 2013 game should be able to detect your system specs and adjust the .ini files accordingly.

Edit: what I consider a bug in the game that they need fixing is the issue where some users suffer from "30 pauses" where others just see "a couple" doesn't matter what chapter you play, even if the ones suffering constant loading pauses have better and faster hardware.

 

[Eyothrie]

But is a complete nosense because you can miss one or two assets or scripts in 10 minutes of gameplay with level streaming disabled but enabling it you have 30 loading pauses in the same period. So, WTF? 30 pauses to load that script? And are all the rest of the level, characters, textures loaded seamless?

Yep. Its unplayable to me either way.

 

[plumpblumpkin]

it seems to hitch constantly, not just moving into new areas. like in the benchmark if i run it on high, then it is hitching and tearing a lot during the scene with the dude on the stage and the crowd.

It's certainly not just when entering new areas because I tried going back and forth to where the loading stutter happened and it still does it.



I'm gonna be so pissed if they release the first patch and it doesn't fix the loading stutter... I want 60 fps CONSTANT. No interruptions! lol.

 

[Silly.Mikey]

Did you do the pool size fix we've all talked about and is in the OP? My 570 had the huge stuttering/hitching problem and it fixed it, I imagine it will do the same for your 560.

What is this? I have the same card but im kind of a pc noob when it comes to this.

 

[civilstrife]

My 7970 simply anhililates this game. Loving how it runs.

 

[Red]

Is a standard 650 a good bet for a cheap card to run this game on medium? Only at 1280x720.

 

[derExperte]

Is a standard 650 a good bet for a cheap card to run this game on medium? Only at 1280x720.

A 7770 costs the same or less but is around 25% faster than a 650 non-TI.

 

[Red]

A 7770 costs the same or less but is around 25% faster than a 650 non-TI.

Ah, thanks.