Intermittent momentary freeze in lan game

jwambach

In a nutshell, I am having an issue with momentary screen freezing during a LAN game on one of my clients.

My setup:

Client 1 (with the freeze issue): Windows 7 64 bit, 8GB ram, Intel Core i5
Client 2 (running rfactor and dedicated server): Windows 7 64 bit 8GB ram, Intel quad core.

Both machines are running a single ATI 5770 card with identical specs (1GB 128bit). Both have the latest ATI drivers. Neither machine is running any kind of firewall or antivirus software. Both machines are on the same network segment, connected via network switch (100MB). Both machines are running the DVD version of rfactor (v 1.255 F)

Essentially, what happens is the screen will completely freeze for 1-2 seconds mid race, I can still hear the engine sounds, although they do not advance if I am still on the accelerator. If my opponent is behind me, they can see my car physically stop on the track, then "teleport" to the position it should be in after the pause subsides.

The effect seems to be completely random in nature, I can race for over an hour sometimes and not see the problem and then in the next race it may happen a couple of times in a single lap.

Track and graphics settings seem to have no effect on the frequency or duration of the problem, I have tried low to full graphics settings, no or full shadows, etc. I have tried Direct X 8 and 9, tried limiting the framerate on the client via "Max Framerate = 60" in the config, and also via VSync.

This seems to happen on every track and/or car I have tried, although its difficult to say whether or not one happens more or less than the rest since the effect is seemingly so random.

I am running both clients using the +fullproc and +highprio settings, I am also running the server with these settings, although I'm not sure they are utilized. I have attempted to modify the server settings for bandwidth, from the standard LAN (5MBs) down to Custom 1Mbs. I am limiting the number of players to 2.

The effect does not seem to occur when the affected client runs in single player (non-LAN) mode.

Any suggestions as to how to proceed?
 
Have you overclocked your PC? If yes, try to revert everything back to default.
 
This usually happens when someone joins the server and the temp car is to big (in poly count/texturesize) (some mods have big temp cars) but if it happens with more than one mod it could be something else. But just to be sure, test it with a default ISI mod.

What comes to mind is power saving mode. Your pc could be switching from low power to high power. Turn off all powersaving features and try it. It defeats the purpose of power saving though, but if it stops the freezing then you know where the problem lies.
Apart from that, it could be your wheel, is it plugged into a usb2 or 3 port? Make sure it's not plugged into usb1.
It's just a case of using the process of elimination. Antivirus, firewalls etc etc, windows update, instant messengers, email, anything can cause this.
 
No overclocking, but I have not tried disabling speedstep on either machine. Will give that a shot, as well as verify the wheel is in the first available usb slot.
 
With usb, (I'm not too sure if you understood, if you did then I appolagise but if you didn't) What I mean is the protocol, not the port number. There is usb 1.0, usb 1.1, usb 2.0 and usb 3.0, each getting faster in transfer speed as the number goes up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb
You can refer to your motherboard manual to find what is what. It doesn't necessarily need to be in the first slot. :)
 
Ahh, yes, that makes sense. As far as I know, all of the usb ports are 2.0 or 3.0 (I know there is a mix). But I will verify that I'm not plugged into the hub, which is older.
 
Instead of running the dedicated server and client software on the same machine, try running just the rfactor client on that machine then using it to host the race instead of the dedicated server. This may give you an idea of whether having both the ded server and client running on that system is causing some issue. Typically it doesn't, but there may be an underlying issue on that system that is exposed under these specific circumstances.
 
I finally tracked down the problem.

For anyone else who happens to see the same behavior, it was caused by the plugin rfDynHud. Once I removed that plugin from the problem client, everything ran as expected.

The odd part about it is in a single player game, this never manifests itself, which is why I never really suspected the client (or plugins) being the problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top