Random "slowmotion" situations happening while playing

[Xinashe.4751]

Hey everyone! For the last couple of weeks I started to have issues while playing GW2. I play on an gaming Dell notebook, pretty new. Before I had no issues with the game even on higher graphic settings. Now game runs normally but after a while I get these random moments when everything slows and then starts to run at normal speed. Like imagine my character running at normal speed and then out of nowhere it seems like it's running in slow motion and in like one to two seconds it's back to normal. Like random slowmotions happening constantly. I tried to change graphic settings as well (from recommended to the lowest graphic options to get best performance, no change). Any idea what might be the cause of this? Before the game was running perfectly smoothly. My FPS and ping seems to also be ok (FPS around 60, ping around 40). Could connected to some sort of internet issue? OR maybe antivirus / firewall? Or maybe there is issue with graphic card? (I have integrated Intel one and then NVIDIA one). My drivers are updated to the newest versions. I'm such a noob when it comes to such things tho 😞 So any help would be super appreciated. I recorded a vid to show you what I mean (first happens around 0.07, then 0:18 and last at 0:25): https://drive.google.com/file/d/149jO3lDaoqGKTk2wEV6yMG5tE66_PniS/view?usp=sharing

Edited December 13, 2021 by Xinashe.4751

[zoejo.2317]

Hey. Sorry to resurrect this thread but did you ever find a solution or a cause for this? I'm having the same issue.

[Healix.5819]

Running out of dedicated GPU memory can cause this, as well as stuttering and/or low FPS (a fraction of what you'd normally see). This will become more noticeable now, as DX11 uses more GPU and requires more GPU memory, even more so in EoD (>2GB for high settings/textures). You can check your GPU usage/memory by pressing ctrl+shift+esc to open the task manager, selecting the performance tab and selecting your GPU from the list.

I've also (rarely) seen this happen by simply having another window open on a secondary screen, which would cause the GPU usage to spike. Closing the window or overlapping GW2 by 1 pixel would stop it.

[zoejo.2317]

2 hours ago, Healix.5819 said:

Running out of dedicated GPU memory can cause this, as well as stuttering and/or low FPS (a fraction of what you'd normally see). This will become more noticeable now, as DX11 uses more GPU and requires more GPU memory, even more so in EoD (>2GB for high settings/textures). You can check your GPU usage/memory by pressing ctrl+shift+esc to open the task manager, selecting the performance tab and selecting your GPU from the list.

I've also (rarely) seen this happen by simply having another window open on a secondary screen, which would cause the GPU usage to spike. Closing the window or overlapping GW2 by 1 pixel would stop it.

Thank you for your answer. I went ahead and confirmed that the GPU usage is mostly at 90-100% all the time. Sometimes the stutter/slowing happens, sometimes it doesn't. I also confirm that I have been using a second screen with other windows open. I am now playing without the second screen at all, but, in my ignorance, I don't know if this would take some load off the GPU - If you have any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear it, as well as any other tips for someone playing on a mediocre laptop.

 

I find it strange that this hasn't happened for years (I've been playing since pre-launch betas, with worse laptops, and on this one for 3 years) and now happens all the time even in core maps.

 

Anyway, thank you again.

[Healix.5819]

4 hours ago, zoejo.2317 said:

I am now playing without the second screen at all, but, in my ignorance, I don't know if this would take some load off the GPU - If you have any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear it, as well as any other tips for someone playing on a mediocre laptop.

A second screen will impact your GPU - everything displayed will impact your GPU. To minimize GPU memory usage, close everything else (or reboot) prior to playing, especially any web browsers, as they can use a lot of memory. For GW2, you'll want to lower your settings, but I'm guessing you're already on best performance. Enabling DX11 will be worse (it's now the default), but eventually it should be better. Update your GPU drivers. Since this is a laptop, ensure it's set to high performance (usually the default when plugged in) rather than a power saving mode.

[Ashantara.8731]

Are your GPU and other hardware temperatures within acceptable parameters?

[zoejo.2317]

@Healix.5819 Unfortunately, the problem remains albeit having a) switched off the second screen; b) closed everything; c) rebooted; d) closed every single non essential process; e) playing at the minimum possible settings (keeping native resolution, windowed full-screen mode); f) disabling all overlays (everything BlisHUD and arcdps); g) disabling DX11; h) confirming the drivers were updated; i) the laptop is set to high performance, plugged in, and the game is using the correct GPU.

HOWEVER, it happens significantly less, and I consider it playable. I don't find this satisfactory only because I used to play just fine without all these extra steps for 3 years now. It might be that my hardware is just degrading - is that a thing? I have also not wiped this PC or reinstalled the OS since I got it (those same 3 years) since it hasn't slowed down aside from this situation. Maybe I should do that.

 

@Ashantara.8731 Yes, as hot as usual. Even the fan sound isn't always at its maximum, and the laptop is moderately hot in one specific area where it always heats up a bit when I do any heavy processing.

 

An added detail: in my attempts to figure out where the issue came from, I took the laptop to work and ran GW2 in my lunch time (with ALL the precautions listed above) and it was significantly worse. Unplayable. One of the differences was that I was connected to an eduroam wi-fi network (I work at a university). Maybe it's connection-related?

[Ashantara.8731]

18 hours ago, zoejo.2317 said:

@Ashantara.8731 Yes, as hot as usual. Even the fan sound isn't always at its maximum, and the laptop is moderately hot in one specific area where it always heats up a bit when I do any heavy processing.

Can you provide any numbers per chance?

Edit @ troll: Seriously, how bored does one have to be to give a to posts that contain an opinion that one might disagree with? I'm feeling bad for you.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Ashantara.8731

[zoejo.2317]

@Ashantara.8731 After 30 minutes of play time (usually enough to trigger the slow-mos, although it's now behaving fairly well), it's always between 72-73 degrees.

Edited May 24, 2022 by zoejo.2317

[Healix.5819]

On 5/23/2022 at 9:54 AM, zoejo.2317 said:

It might be that my hardware is just degrading - is that a thing?

The most common problem would be throttling from high temperatures due to a build up of dust, degraded fans/cooling, old thermal paste, etc. Software bloat will also slow down your system, which can also happen to GW2 itself (Local.dat can bloat and impact performance; it's usually around 30 MB).

Hardware can degrade due to damage, which is commonly seen with extreme overclocking or running at unsafe temperatures, but that's likely to cause instabilities, crashing, blue screens, etc.

Worst case, there is no solution, as the (entire) game simply has higher requirements now.

On 5/23/2022 at 9:54 AM, zoejo.2317 said:

One of the differences was that I was connected to an eduroam wi-fi network (I work at a university). Maybe it's connection-related?

Your connection shouldn't have any impact on the actual performance of the game (no effect on FPS), except for loading screens. An unstable connection however could cause a similar effect where everyone pauses on screen (you can still move around normally), then suddenly everything happens all at once within a second, creating a fast forward effect.

If it actually impacted the performance of the game, I'd guess you were on battery, the temperature was hotter (resulting in throttling), or if you don't use wi-fi at home, it would have to be related to that.

 

[fatihso.7258]

I have already answered that on your reddit post. You were getting in range of people doing meta down the lake. That's why your computer was slowing down due to sudden shift in resource taxing.