temeteus82

You can't downgrade to DX9 in Vista since the DX10 is built in. But do remember that Vista can have DX9 installed.

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Judas

DX10 is backward capable with dx9 and previous versions of directx.... it's basically 2 seperate API's alltogether....


Your stutter is still confusing me... makes me think maybe it's AMD related? But that doesn't make sense as Vista 32/64bit have always proved to be stutter free with old.. OLD games...

The orginal Unreal Engine (UT) was one of the worst for the symptoms....

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TheAscension

Well, I think it's time to close the 'dual-core/multi-core' stutter saga. I have exhausted all resources and possibilities.

The final round of testing:

1. Installed XP on a new partition I made on a data disk in my system (not on the same drive as Vista).
2. I made it a point to make the install as fundemental as possible for testing (OS, latest hardware drivers, games). No third-party software (antivirus/spyware or system monitoring software). Just the basics.
3. Installed and played everything under IDE emulation for the SATA connections.

So I launched BF1942 and played the map that always gives me problems to no avail. The stutter continued even under 32-bit XP. I then installed and played UT2004. I got the same amount of stuttering as with Vista.

I then decided to take the opportunity, while I was in XP, to install an old SoundBlaster Live 5.1 PCI sound card that I had (no Vista drivers). I unistalled the Realtek sound drivers and disabled onboard sound. I booted back into XP with the PCI soundcard and played the games again. No dice. Same amount of stuttering with PCI soundcard.

My only thought at this point is that these old games don't like 64-bit architecture processors. Some newer games I've played don't stutter at all that I can tell. Audiosurf and Bioshock demo are two newer games that I've played on this system with no problems at all.

Thanks for everyones help and feedback with this issue. It's much appreciated. I'm sure it will help others in the future (that is if anyone playes these old games anymore).

Judas

sorry to hear that your issues have not be resolved in any manner.....

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aNy_oNE

I fixed stuttering on Unreal Tournament (the original one) by putting it into compatibility mode for Windows 98. This was on XP though.

Dyre Straits

I was just going to suggest running in Compatibility Mode myself. Very good suggestion.

For a little while, I had to run The Witcher in Compatibility mode under Vista 32-bit. It seemed to stop the consistent crashes. A few game patches later, I tried again without Compatibility Mode and it ran just dandy for several weeks.

Also, you might try setting affinity in the game. With the game running, CTRL-ALT-DEL to the Task Manager. Select the Processes tab, Right click the game .exe and select to Set Affinity. Either core will do. Save it and try again.

Good luck!

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TheAscension

Both very good suggestions. However, I tried both of those earlier in my troubleshooting saga to no avail. I could try it again, but I doubt it will matter.

I think it really comes down to the game engine. For example, I played another old school (2004) game over the weekend, The Suffering, and I didn't get any stuttering issues. I know it uses a different engine than the other games too. It played totally smooth and it's free:

The Suffering Client - FileFront.com

BTW, that game is scary. It's like F.E.A.R, but worse IMO.

Dyre Straits

Another thought that I haven't seen mentioned, or simply overlooked it, is to put your pagefile on the non-system HDD. Set it up to let Windows handle it and then remove any pagefile from the system drive.

During this stuttering, do you see a lot of HDD activity? If so, does the light on the DVD/CD drive also blink?

And, since you have 64-bit Windows, have you tried using a Flashdrive in a USB slot for ReadyBoost? (Or have you completely reverted to XP? I did notice you were using Vista 64-bit earlier.)

And, one other thing: If your system RAM is set in BIOS to AUTO, try setting it manually to the RAM specs. Try setting it to a 1:1 ratio to the CPU OR Unlinked and then set the CAS Latency to a lower setting that works.

This just sounds to me like something isn't 'timed' or 'synced' correctly somewhere.

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