Stuttering especially while in town.

[LanikMueller]

I have had this from day one. I built this PC just to run this game and started out with using some new and old parts just to get up and running. At first I figured it was stuff like to little ram, under powered video card or that I was using a parallel ata hard drive. I kept upgrading hardware and honestly I have seen a minimal performance increase. I of course played around with the settings and tried settings I have seen recommended on random topics over the months. Tho I rarely see anyone else with a setup similar to mine. I have some settings that seem to be the least troublesome set atm. Every time I upgraded something I would think "this should fix it" I were wrong.

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Service Pack 1
Motherboard: ASUS M4A89TD Pro/USB 3
Processor: AMD Phenom II 1090T X6 CPUs 3.2GHz
Memory: 12288MB RAM @ 1600 Mhz 7-8-7-24
Video Card: Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 (pre-overclocked)
DirectX Version: 11
Hard Disk: 2 Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA-3 6.0Gb/s in RAID 0, so basically a 2 TB 14,400 rpm 128MB Cache 12Gb/s HDD
A $80 Zalman CPU cooler & each HDD has its own 120mm cooling fan
PC case itself has 4 high CFM 120mm fans 2 push 2 pull
And a 1000 Watt PSU to run it all

Game settings Full Screen (runs better then in windowed)
Window size: 1600 x 900
Multisample: 2x
General drawing quality: 8
Background drawing quality: 3
Shadow detail: standard
Ambient Occ: off
Depth of field: on
Texture quality: high
Texture filtering: standard

[Coldfire]

Before enabling AHCI you have to change a windows registry setting. Think this was the right link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976 If not, google is your friend :P
About the stuttering in town from loading character models from HDD: You won't be able to completely get rid of that. It's currently impossible unless you install the game on a server-type PCIe SSD :P
SE will have to implement preloading for that or the game will never run on PS3...

[Loth]

Oh wow thanks a lot for that guide, it seems to be really helpful. See I didn't knew you had to install extra drivers for it.
I'll play around a bit.

Doing a clean install of Windows after you have changed the BIOS setting will solve that issue, as it will load and install the required drivers.

[Bethor]

Hey guys,

I've installed a fresh windows and FFXIV on the SSD and I've to say, that's a huge change in perfomance. The stuttering is nearly gone, not really noteable anymore.

Plus I've got rid from that DirectX issue, where the game crashes and it tells you there was no dx device found. I did a fresh installation of the graphic drivers and ignored the 3D Vision drivers. Either it was the 3D Vision drivers who fixed that or it was the completly fresh installation of windows and FFXIV.

Now the new updates can come and booo if we have to DL every single patch + 1.18 next time X-x

[origamikitsune]

When I recently did a reformat/install of windows & FFXI (no SSD), I ended up with little to no stuttering as well. This is gradually getting worse. Either it is directly related to disk fragmentation or FFXIV's poor caching system, or both? I'm going to wait until it goes bad and then test some Fixes that people have suggested to see if they actually work. I'm very, very curious about the 3D Vision Driver thing. I do not get these Direct X errors people report, and have 3D Vision installed, however, I have it entirely disabled. Still, I do get random graphics glitches from time to time, so it might be worth looking in to.

[Coldfire]

What do you expect from a buggy game with 999999 phantastillion small files? xD
I bet it eats at your SSD/HDD like mouse and cheese...

[DAOWAce]

As I've been saying since the game was in beta: They have no idea how to develop PC games.

There are currently over 150,000 files in the game directory. A standard hard drive, no matter how defragmented, CANNOT LOAD THAT EFFICIENTLY, EVER.

If they went the route of any reliable developer (giant pack files) then the stuttering issue (including load times) would be greatly lessened without the need to buy a SSD.

Non-edit: Apparently I was going to post this 3 days ago but never did.

[Swev]

this happens for me when its loading new data to the hard drive / ram. I notice the hard drive working alot causing slow downs (choppy movement) while walking through areas with alot of people.

[Khalus]

Recently bought an EVGA GTX 580, and I was quite excited to see how much better FFXIV ran now, opposed to my GTX 275 I had previously. I too have an extremely beefy custom built PC, cost me around $3500 thus far. With the settings at near max, I'm capped at 60 FPS now, {my 40" HDTV is sadly only 60hrz} in the field and in towns. It very rarely drops below a solid 60fps.

Anyway, I too am having a horrible stuttering/hitching/whatever its called while walking in all 3 cities, and my fps remains capped at 60 throughout. Its very annoying, but I suppose once the Guildleves become available at the Aetheryte camps in 1.18, I'll be able to avoid the cities more frequently, though it may get kinda lonely not being around as many players as often... /cry

[Jovy]

One of the things i noticed that may cause some stuttering is overclocking. Some MBs let you overclock the pciex lane. I had mine at 103 and brought it down to 100 and the game was much smoother. I would check your settings and see if your pciex bus is overclocked. Atleast for me now no more hitching or stuttering.