Thread: Frame skipage

I've been playing around with my graphics setting for a while but can't figure out a fix to this. While playing the game skips frames. Sort of little jump jumps while playing. My frame rate is fine at an average 42fps, this isn't low frame rate, it's like the game skips several frames of animation.
Is there any fix to this or is it a know game issue?

Originally Posted by manstan

My frame rate is fine at an average 42fps, this isn't low frame rate, it's like the game skips several frames of animation.
Is there any fix to this or is it a know game issue?

this isnt a known issue its more of a common issue which is most likley caused by your hardware, although since updates 6(?) it has become more common (iirc) in some regions more than others

if your fps is arround 42fps then id realy suspect your hardware, you should makesure features such as shaddows and antialiasing are disabled if youve not already done so

run a regular defrag the hard disk where lotro is installed. if youve had lotro installed for more than a few patches\updates it may be worth reinstalling lotro using the latest full installer. this will ensure the internal file structure will be more optimised.. the more times lotro is patched the worse these types of stuttering can become

disable anything and everything you have running in the background on your pc except your antivirus and firewall, preferably add the lotro install folder to your antivirus exclusions\exceptions (do not scan) list. you may also find a tool called iobit game booster of help as well, as this will close other things not required when gaming

another "tweek" you can try which helps FPS especialy on lower spec machines. open (my)docuemnts, the lord of the rings online and find userpreferences.ini, take a backup and open the orringal in notepad
find the 2 lines allowfakefullscreen and forcefakefullscreen, edit both so they =false
allowfakefullscreen=false
forcefakefullscreen=false

if your using vista\w7 and have a very fast USB memory stick, not cheep-o bargain basment or magazine cover freebee's which = usualy have pretty poor performance , try using lotroflash boost, this may help a lot especialy if your using a laptop which usualy have slower harddisks

as above this could be an issue caused by your harware, if you provide your dxdiag or full system spec we could advise what you should upgrade.. assuming your not using a laptop
this thread explains how to post your dxdiag.. you may need to post the diag seperately.
How to get help on the Tech Forums and how to contact Turbine

Your client has stopped rendering - Your Frames Per Second (FPS) gone to zero for 100 milliseconds or so.

Trying to solve this issue is very difficult. You are always going to get some of this situation. You have to determine which and there may be more than one applicable to you. You have to figure (if possible) a solution. Here are a few causes:

1) Your client can't render the next frame because all the textures are not in core memory. Your client is busy loading the required textures from disk to texture cache in core memory. Worst case, you are in a situation where your texture cache is barely able to hold all required textures. In which case you end up operating like a strobe light. Your PC is thrashing spending most of its time loading textures.

2) Your PC is CPU or memory bound at the moment. Some background task has demanded control of the PC for a critical task. Your client is not running at the moment.

3) Your client is waiting for a message from the server in order to render the next frame.

4) Other issues. Three is enough to start with.

For problem 1. You can reduce your visual beauty. You can adjust the engine speed setting to optimize speed. You could add a Solid State Disk (SSD) to speed up texture loading.

For problem 2. Check to make sure you don't have things like Trojans. Windows Update on auto. Virus protection updates and scans. Or anything else that would cause a performance hit. In some cases, it is really difficult to deal with these issues. I have Steam installed because I have Skyrim. Steam will get busy looking for something. My PC reacts like it been pushed for a moment.

For problem 3. One cause is the Turbine server trouble. The subserver handling your character goes into overload. Your frame goes to zero. You can't do anything. No fix possible. Turbine has to fix it.

There is a coding error in the Lotro software which results in occasional malfunctions - Most noticeable is stable horse failure - All you can do is dismount or if you have the time - kill the client with Alt -F4 and restart the client in the hopes the horse continues. Again no fix possible. Turbine has to fix it.

There is a problem in the connection between the server and client. If the problem is on your end, you can fix it. Or perhaps get your ISP to fix your cable to the house. If the problem is in the generalized internet. Again No fix possible.

Every since Update went 6 live, I've had 0 FPS problems.

IMHO - It is Turbine issue. Maybe there will be a fix in Update 7. It has affected my gaming. I am rather busy and stressed this year. I don't have as much time for gaming. My tolerance for this kind of annoyance is very low due to my "The Bunny is all puffed up and ready to blow" state.

"1) Your client can't render the next frame because all the textures are not in core memory." Yula_the_Mighty

This reminded me of some thing I saw in the advanced settings "texture cache". I maxed this out and it helped a lot. I only get it now in the center of bree when there are a lot of other players running around.

Thanks for the help.

Originally Posted by manstan

I've been playing around with my graphics setting for a while but can't figure out a fix to this. While playing the game skips frames. Sort of little jump jumps while playing. My frame rate is fine at an average 42fps, this isn't low frame rate, it's like the game skips several frames of animation.
Is there any fix to this or is it a know game issue?

There is an old problem in the game engine that cause the game to stutter when it loads a distant texture. You can test for this while walking around and looking off into the distance at a mountain or hill that has a low quality texture on it.

When the engine loads the high-res texture for the mountain (or whatever distant object) the game does a quick, but entirely noticible pause for for .5-1 seconds or so.

Here is an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMW1GG5EElo

What is hard to notice in the video due to the low res quality is that the hitching always coincides with the loading of a texture.

This has been around since the beginning of time and is inherant in the engine. No fix seems possible, although when I switched to my ssd it made a slight improvement.

edit: oh and btw there is a setting in advanced graphics that will allow you to increase the amount of memory cache for textures. By increasing this you are telling the game to keep more textures in memory before making room for new ones. This will not help if you are loading new textures or rezoning alot, but once you have run around a bit in the area and most textures have loaded there will be less of a chance of the hitching occuring. Remember this requires more graphics and/or system memory. I have mine cranked to max but I have 8 GB RAM and 2GB video Ram. YMMV.

2.8 quad with 6 gig and a 1 gig card. I got the graphics cranked way up there; game default very high. directX10. I kept playing with the graphics till I took a FPS hit, I like to keep game above 40 fps. Even in bree in the center of town during the height of the anniversary, it only dropped to 30.
I was beta testing a racing game before getting in to this; loved it till the open beta was released the the game economy was introed O.O put a meaning on "free to play". More like hook to get you in the door. No structure, no goals and they wonder why I lost interest lol . But I try to keep a clean machine for beta testing; I have done a quite few. So I have my comp running the best I can. I mean I'm no geek, just a farm boy