stuttering

[walter1948]

My machine:
1.67 gigahertz AMD mobile Athlon XP-M
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
80.02 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
23.91 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
WDC WD800BB-00JHC0 [Hard drive] (80.03 GB)
Board: ECS M863 1.0
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
1024 Megabytes Installed Memory
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 [Display adapter]
(Info from Belarc Advisor report)
As far as I understand these specs are fairly enough for a game like MSTS.
I have Register Mechanics installed and in use.

Problem: stuttering starts about 20 min to half an hour after reboot and only stops with new reboot. Fps seems to be fair from 15 to 30 untill stuttering starts, and don't seem to drop radically with it.

Questions:
- What could be that?

- Is it there anything to be done at the level of the nvidia driver panel ( the latest downloaded 2 weeks ago)?

Thanks
Walter

[Huecuvoe]

Walter,

I wish someone would answer your question because I have experienced similar problems.

I have seen two types of stuttering. The first is when MSTS freezes while trying to load a lot of new shapes (such as when approaching a town). The second is kind of a "chug-chug-chug" where the scenery or trains jump as though every 10th frame is missing. Which kind are you having?

FYI - my setup is very similar to yours except that I have an ATI Radeon 9000 Series graphics card and drivers. That would seem to exclude the graphics card/drivers as being the primary culprit.

[walter1948]

Glad you answered. I was already " no mato sem cachorro" or "in the woods whithout a dog". This is a Brazilian saying.
My stuttering is of the two kinds. The first one, whenever I leave a tunnel or the scene changes abruptly, it stutters. That's understandable and the solluction is clear. Go downtown, enter a computer store and buy a new machine. Well... not yet.
The second class, annoys me much more, because starts ( or used to start) about 20 min to half an hour after a reboot. And in this case the hassle only stoped with another reboot, what used to make me reboot 10 times a day, what people say isn't healthy at all for the machine (do anyone confirm???).
Then fallowing good sense, forum information and some divine inspiration I did the fallowing:
- Only activate 1 or 2 routes in Route Riter (Herr Ritter)
- turn off all except MSTS. Web, antivirus, all!
- of course, scan and defrag
- downloaded and installed Register Mechanic. Very good effect!
- and finally (the divine inspitration) I increased drasticlly videocard ventilation, by means of a 5 dollar fan just on top of it.
Now I've just finished to run for hour and 20 min the fantastic Ferrovia di Tenda. Stuttering showed up but only after 40 minutes and is far less dratic than before.
Anyway, I'm also waiting for a real help, because so far it's nothing more than try and error stuff.

Yours
Walter Meimes

[jtsdadinaz]

Sounds like a heat related problem. Check the CPU fan, the hard drive may also be getting hot. CPU's don't like to run very long if they get overheated, if your system has a tool for it in the OS, use that to see what it is running at as far as temperature. You might also go into the BIOS and see if there is a setting for the temperature range for the CPU and try a little higher setting, but not too high.

Oh, and you can get hard drive cooling fans too, that mount on top of it.WDC drives can get pretty hot, some times hot enough to not be able to touch them.

[walter1948]

Joe

As I say in my previous message I'm working on the heath issue. I put a small fan directly behind the computer case, leaving some of the bays open. Seems to work , since I doubled my time whithout stuttering from 20 to around 40 min and when it starts is quite softer then before.
Anyway, there is something that puzzels me and indicates that may be there a software problem. In Task Manager, I see a process called VM_STI.EXE. When I reboot, it's use of CPU is around zero. After an hour raised to 10% and after 12 hours goes around 50 to 60 %, occupaying a great extent of CPU capacity. Is this normal, or denotes a conflict? Nobody could so far answer me that.

Walter

[jtsdadinaz]

When is the last time you checked for a virus, spyware, or adware?
I have never heard of that file either.

[baldwin]

vm_sti.exe is a valid program that is bundled with many digital cameras that use a USB connection. Disabling or enabling it is down to user preference.
This is an item that is set to run at startup.

I see from your computer specs that you have an FX5200. This card is designed to use the computer main memory, so a cpmbination of this and vm_sti.exe increasing it's usage over time may well be a contibutor to the stuttering as MSTS starts to run out of memory to run in.

Beer is not a matter of life and death. It is much more serious than that.
mervyn.

[tomkat41]

Go here and checkout the vm_sti.exe file

http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/vm_sti.exe.html

[walter1948]

BINGO!!!

VM_STI.EXE... this is the name of the bandit! I saw in the thread tomkat indicated. People just confirmed it literally "eats" all CPU capacity, so MSTS starts stuttering.
I just deleted it, (I have no camera either) and MSTS turned into a movie. Of course, my machine is limited so some routes like DVZO or Ferrovia del Tenda run in 12-15 fps, but that's understandable.
Thank you all people, I was starting to lose the hope in mankind and... my patience!

Cheers

Walter :-)