-=Warning Riva Tuner is a very powerfull application, please be cautious when using it=-

I first had this annoying problem when I switched from a CRT to an LCD last August. I'm not sure if the monitor type had anything to do with it or not but that's when it first seemed to appear.

So far I'm only aware of this working on Nvidia Based Cards.

My best description of the issue is that altho framrates are constant and smooth, (meaning the fps indicator would read xxx FPS yet the image on screen stuttered like crazy), I got a horrible stutter driving different mods on different tracks. When a highly detailed car was on the turntable on the ingame menu I got it too.The issue wasn't across the board and didn't seem to be resolved by any changes in my GFX detail settings, either ingame or in the driver control panel. For me it was worst and most noticiable on the F1 2005 Mod, and recently ther have been 5-7 cases of it on the Caterham Mod.

This is the first tutorial I've ever written so please pardon any poor grammar or confusing steps .

1. Download and install Riva Tuner HERE

2. Start Riva Tuner, if need be, click on the "Main" tab at the top.

3. Find where it says "Driver Settings" in about the middle of the menu and click on the "customize" button, just to the right of where it says "ForceWare Detected" in the screenshot.



4. Click the 2nd icon in, ("Green X") that says "DirecDraw and Direct 3D Settings".



5. Click on the "Vsync" Tab.



6. Change the number where it reads "Prerender Limit" to 0. (mine and other's said 3, one guys said 80)

7. Click "Apply" and "OK"



8. Click "OK" one last time to close Riva Tuner.

9. Start rFactor and put a car on the turntable if there isn't one there already. Preferably one that used to stutter and see if it's now smooth.

10. Enjoy Stutter Free Driving !

The PreRender screens is for mainly DVD playback.

After you make the change *some* people may find their DVD playback gets all stuttery.

not a problem for me i never play DVD's on the PC

PC for games and graphics
TV for DVD's LOL

No idea david I've only ever done it with nvidia cards, it deffinately couldn't hurt tho and is both easy to do and un do.

 I will say this, what FPS are u getting on that new mon? This fix works, and or is needed when the stutter is non fps related. When I used it my FPS was 80-100 on above average detail settings, which led me to believe it wasnt a card related issue but rather something happening after the video left the pc.

The stutter was happening because of a mis match in synch rate with the LCD. I never needed it when I used a CRT.

Another tell tale sign is the car stuttering on the turntable. You getting that?

one fix to the turn table stutter is to remove the .bik files in C:\Program Files\rFactor\rFm folder.
(of course backup allthough i had no trouble in removing them)

a few things-- first is.. yes render ahead to zero can help.. But i have read stuff saying it can mess up current nv cards and cause them to crash... So if you have older cards then by all means-- go for it.. If you have newer cards (8800 series and newer)... Be aware if you start to see problems then go back to redender ahead of 1-3.

David.. here is a link to a thread here i posted in.. Do the stuff i mentioned and you should see alot less stutters.... Give me a pm if you want my nv control panel settings.. right now im running a old 7600gt on a triplehead2go with 3 montiors and i have zero stutters..

http://www.simjunkies.org/Forum/index.php?topic=7929.msg101746#msg101746

Did you try the link i just posted above?  :nose:

doesnt have to do with oc'ing.. the 2nd part about turning off the performance counters and all the stuff on jethros list from rsc is about getting top performance from your system.. Before i do that-- tons of micro stutters.. After i do everything on that list-- zero.. and im able to run on 3 screens with a junk card(cant wait for the new cards)

Also-- what driver are you using- -i think they just came out with a new updated one.. But do that list and see what you get.. Should help you-- but even if it doesnt.. Your sytem will be working better..


here ill c&p the relevent stuff from that other thread..

Make sure you have enough cooling going on ..I use a zalman 9500 but they have the 9700 out -- both are the same and work great.. also the thermaltake something something(i forget the name) is very good.. Just look @ some of the oc sites and you'll see them talking about it... Those quads get hot so you really need to have good cooling and good thermal paiste... You could even lap them(the quads are notorious for uneven tops on them)....There is a kit on ebay you can get for like 8bucks that has everything you need to lap your cpu.. pretty good deal..

also make sure you get your computer set up well.. When ever i do a fresh install --- first thing i do is go to this page... and do EVERYTHING he has on there.. they all help... I do everything on this guys list any time i do a full fresh os install... http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=268628

here is another link for the performance counter program mentioned in the above thread.. http://download.microsoft.com/download/win2000platform/exctrlst/1.00.0.1/nt5/en-us/exctrlst_setup.exe

I get alot less micro stutters when i do all of that... also try adding +fullproc @ the end of your target in your shortcut to rfactor... so your target reads "C:\Program Files\rFactor\rFactor.exe" +fullproc .. I know it will divide the load over 2 cores(not sure if it Will go all 4)..But even if it doesn't-- fullproc wont hurt at all..

YOu cant also try fsautostart-- it will shut down all the programs and processes you dont need to run your computer with rf.. If something is messing with your cpu while your gaming-- well that you can get stutters.. that will help.. Though to be honest after i did all the stuff on jethros list above-- i dont even use fsautostart now..

Did you also do the performance logging-- that is the 2nd link in there.. That actually makes a difference..  Tracking down stutters is tough..

This is a new update November 3rd, 2008:

That said, I did notice some strangeness in the logs. I would be more comfortable if more people could confirm Marcel's (marrs) workaround but if not no big deal. For those that are experiencing stuttering, if its possible can you give me more detail. For example it would be good to know if the problem occurs thought out a real time session and does if it stuttering event occurs at a certain frequency (like every 1/2 second).

Something else to try is to turn off auto join lobby chat.

Change this line in multiplayer.ini

Code:
Auto Join Chat Server="1" // Whether to auto join to lobby chat during start upTo this

Code:
Auto Join Chat Server="0" // Whether to auto join to lobby chat during start upThe only thing that is possible for the matchmaker to effect in rfactor would be an open TCP connection. The only persistent TCP connection to the matchmaker from rfactor is the LobbyChat. So shutting it down might work around the problem for know. Once you make the change to multiplayer.ini, restart rFactor and do not manually connect to lobby chat. For those that don't know Lobby chat is the global chat room not the chat service you get that only includes drivers on a particular server.