-Stutter in Intro/Opening movie

[@Lantis]

Hi all!

The release of Empire sure has kicked up a lot of dust in the shape of install issues.

My only issue with installing was my disappointment with being unable to choose the install directory, so I just moved my entire Steam Folder to my new harddrive (bought just 1 day before Empire )

This was rather simple for me, because I haven't used Steam or anything before, and rather hadn't, but using Steam is a small discomfort to be able to play Empire.

However, one thing which has me scratching my head is a very sluggish/stuttering intro sequence, with both the 'Runs great on...' movie and the intro movie with the Naval engagement in the Fog running well the one second, then running without sound or with repeating bits of sound during 'sound heavy' scenes.

I haven't found any reference to this problem from anyone else on these forums, is this related to my using onboard audio on my motherboard? It's a somewhat old AC'97 audio chip, but ingame there are no problems with sound.

Or could this be caused by a codec problem (as I understand, the intro movie uses BINK Video??)


Thanks for any pointers, even though it's only a small annoyance, I would like to know what causes this issue.


Greetz,
@lantis

[bigwolt]

Hi all!

The release of Empire sure has kicked up a lot of dust in the shape of install issues.

My only issue with installing was my disappointment with being unable to choose the install directory, so I just moved my entire Steam Folder to my new harddrive (bought just 1 day before Empire )

This was rather simple for me, because I haven't used Steam or anything before, and rather hadn't, but using Steam is a small discomfort to be able to play Empire.

However, one thing which has me scratching my head is a very sluggish/stuttering intro sequence, with both the 'Runs great on...' movie and the intro movie with the Naval engagement in the Fog running well the one second, then running without sound or with repeating bits of sound during 'sound heavy' scenes.

I haven't found any reference to this problem from anyone else on these forums, is this related to my using onboard audio on my motherboard? It's a somewhat old AC'97 audio chip, but ingame there are no problems with sound.

Or could this be caused by a codec problem (as I understand, the intro movie uses BINK Video??)


Thanks for any pointers, even though it's only a small annoyance, I would like to know what causes this issue.


Greetz,
@lantis

I have the same problem. I have no problem with sound in game. Just the opening sequence, and the cinematic sequences in the Road to Independence.

[@Lantis]

Phew, I thought I was alone on this one

I tried setting 'Hardware Acceleration' to normal instead of maximum in the DXDIAG options for Sound acceleration , but this did exactly.....nothing....


Greetz,

@lantis

[bigwolt]

Phew, I thought I was alone on this one

I tried setting 'Hardware Acceleration' to normal instead of maximum in the DXDIAG options for Sound acceleration , but this did exactly.....nothing....


Greetz,

@lantis

Yeah I noticed other threads where people are having the same problem.

[Spaxspore]

you guys running any 3rd party codec packs? Sometimes they conflict and cause issues like the ones you stated.

[TheDude]

Im having the same problem in my intro and RTI video's. Sound cuts in then stutters and stops only to restart a few seconds later. I have an old (2005) X-Fi sound card and a pretty old system(Athlon 4000+, 7800 gt SLI, 2GB RAM)
Any ideas how to fix?

[@Lantis]

Nope, no idea yet. I'm only using the latest DivX install version, no other codec packs or something. And now I found out that the stutter also occurs with the 'Duelling' videos.

All this is only a small nuisance compared to crashes etc. (I haven't had any crash!! fingers crossed ) but I would still like to see it solved.

[Samer312]

same problem, when i first started the game the first few of time it worked great, but now if god awful slow it think it at like 12fps

[thyme71]

Suffering from the same problem as well.. Watching intently for a fix suggestion..

J

[StrikerForce]

Do you need RADtools for Bink to work?

[Tassen]

Do you need RADtools for Bink to work?

No, they should work on vanilla Windows, no extras, as far as I know. i am sure this problem will be looked into as many people have this stuttering. Some with video, some with sound (me), some with both. I had it in the demo too.

[bigcheese]

Pretty sure this is a reported bug, lots of people are getting it.

[srakken]

Hello I can confirm that I am also getting this issue.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Operating System: Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
Board: 939Dual-SATA2
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.0GHz
Memory: 2800MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
vid Card: Radeon X1950 Pro
vid card Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6912 (English)
sound card: Realtek AC97 Audio
sound card Driver Version: 5.10.0000.6300 (English)

--------------
I have tried updating all drivers to latest version. I uninstalled all codecs, screwed around with codecs etc.. nothing seems to help.

I tried scaling back the sound card HW acceleration to basic and still did not help.

Another thing I noticed is a strange thin pixelated multi colored line that goes along the top of the screen, very thin but noticeable.

Is anyone even looking at the sound issues with this game?

[srakken]

Ok, the sounds in game seem to be messing up as well. Lowering the hw acceleration seems to allow me to hear the drums and stuff but it still cuts in and out. my sound just seems to go bananas sometimes in game, the game play is fine while this is happening

[Hermes33]

I discovered a (somewhat temporary work-around) fix that worked for me (providing you have a Nvidia card that is, but ATI's should work). While in your Nvidia (or ATI?) control panel, select Vertical Sync to Forced ON. Click Apply. That's it! Now try the game again and report back if the movies/cutscenes are smooth for you too. Enjoy

PS: At the time of writing, I'm using The Nvidia Geforce 185.20 Beta driver with good results (Google Guru3D.com + Nvidia + 185.20 + download). Recommended.

[ilikeicehockey]

I discovered a (somewhat temporary work-around) fix that worked for me (providing you have a Nvidia card that is, but ATI's should work). While in your Nvidia (or ATI?) control panel, select Vertical Sync to Forced ON. Click Apply. That's it! Now try the game again and report back if the movies/cutscenes are smooth for you too. Enjoy

PS: At the time of writing, I'm using The Nvidia Geforce 185.20 Beta driver with good results (Google Guru3D.com + Nvidia + 185.20 + download). Recommended.

Thanks! worked wonders for me. Now I can rewatch the victory video and some of those gentlemen duels.

[srakken]

Does this fix get rid of the intermittent sounds in-game? e.g. drummer sounds coming and going, intermittent musket fire etc?

I can't try this fix atm.

[Willowmound]

I discovered a (somewhat temporary work-around) fix that worked for me (providing you have a Nvidia card that is, but ATI's should work). While in your Nvidia (or ATI?) control panel, select Vertical Sync to Forced ON. Click Apply. That's it! Now try the game again and report back if the movies/cutscenes are smooth for you too. Enjoy

Anyone know how to do this for ATI?

I've looked around everywhere in the Control Centre. I even tried the help, which I thought was particularly amusing (see spoiler).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Adjusting Horizontal and Vertical Synchronization

1. From the Graphics Settings tree, expand Monitor Properties.

Funny, there is no "Graphics Settings" tree. There is a tab, though. But there is nothing there called "Monitor Properties".

2. Click Adjustments.

I would if I could. No such tab, tree, button, menu or box.

3. Under Synchronization, click the Horizontal or Vertical plus (+) and minus (-) buttons to the desired settings.

And having looked in, under, around and behind every tab, tree, button, menu and box in your so-called "control centre", I have reached the conclusion that there is no tab, tree, button, menu or box called "Synchronization" anywhere. So, real great help there.

[srakken]

I can't find this setting in ATI either. Anyone have any luck?

[Mediteran]

i have this too in the demo.. used to have it in another game before, but when i looked the same videos in rad video tools they worked fine, in game they stuttered. i am guessing this would be the same problem

EDIT: i tried your solution, and it was better i think, i still got some stuttering but not as much as before. im not using 185.2 drivers though