The game freezes every so often

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

Basically, I'll be playing the game at a buttery smooth frame rate but about every 4 seconds there is about a 0.5 second period of lag, where the game freezes. The freezes appear to be at a consistent interval as well, so it's not at random. Even if my toon is standing still, if I look at say, a spinning fan in the background the fan animation will freeze for about 0.5 seconds and then the animations will run fine for about 4 seconds, then freeze, then fine, and so on. It's REALLY annoying while trying to play the game. I have tried a third party software to limit the CPU usage of the game, but that did not fix the issue, so I'm wondering if there is some kind of setting I'm missing or something.

Edited October 5, 2024 by Z0mBieP00Nani

[Djlegends]

Engine fixes did added an update on Engine Level Optimizations

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

10 hours ago, Djlegends said:

Engine fixes did added an update on Engine Level Optimizations

I noticed with the task manger open that the pauses happen every time my GPU hits between 75 and 77% or above. I use Engine Fixes, are you saying that mod may be causing the problem? The game used to get laggy in certain areas before, on planets and stuff, but this happens practically everywhere.

 

EDIT: I see.. it just updated. I thought I had the latest version installed. I'm still not sure if that will fix the issue, but I'll have to wait and see.

Edited October 6, 2024 by Z0mBieP00Nani

[zaira]

I had the same issue and replaced my SSD to fix it...

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

1 hour ago, zaira said:

I had the same issue and replaced my SSD to fix it...

Mine is overloaded (close to max capacity, which I've heard is not very good for it), and it's about two and a half years old by now, so maybe I should do the same. Supposedly it has a life expectancy of about 5 years, so... The issue persists even after updating Engine Fixes, so maybe that is the problem. Fuck.

 

That means I basically have to transfer everything, including the operating system, over to a new one and swap it out, but I don't know how to do that (the transferring part, apparently you can't just copy and paste). Apparently Windows is annoying when it comes to that sort of thing. I'll probably just turn the old drive into a backup after that and delete everything on it, since it still has some life left in it and I have the extra slot in my motherboard.

Edited October 6, 2024 by Z0mBieP00Nani

[zaira]

Try a separate SSD with moving the game only...
You can use https://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html to create a junction on your old drive to the new location to avoid reinstalling everything...

[nIn nIn nIn]

When I built my new PC last year, I put 2 ssd's in it. A fast 1TB for the OS and a fast 2TB for my games. The OS hammers the ssd harder than your games would. I checked and my 1TB has had more than double the amount of data written to it than my 2TB ssd. 

 

This means the ssd with windows on it won't last as long as the ssd with my games. Which means it's probably best to not install your games on the same ssd as windows. My recommendation (for the long term) is to plan to replace your OS ssd with a smaller one. 512 GB is still viable, but a 1TB is more cost effective these days, and a large 2TB to 4TB ssd just for your games. Maybe (if your MB supports it) a third ssd for file storage. A ssd that gets mostly reads will last a very long time.

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

7 hours ago, nIn nIn nIn said:

When I built my new PC last year, I put 2 ssd's in it. A fast 1TB for the OS and a fast 2TB for my games. The OS hammers the ssd harder than your games would. I checked and my 1TB has had more than double the amount of data written to it than my 2TB ssd. 

 

This means the ssd with windows on it won't last as long as the ssd with my games. Which means it's probably best to not install your games on the same ssd as windows. My recommendation (for the long term) is to plan to replace your OS ssd with a smaller one. 512 GB is still viable, but a 1TB is more cost effective these days, and a large 2TB to 4TB ssd just for your games. Maybe (if your MB supports it) a third ssd for file storage. A ssd that gets mostly reads will last a very long time.

I didn't know that about SSDs and operating systems. If I had, I probably would have planned things differently when building the PC, thanks for the information though. I was thinking about getting something larger than a 2TB for the new drive, but maybe as you said, I should move everything else onto the new drive and get a separate one for the OS. There are places to screw drives into the bottom of my PC case, but I would have to look at the book that came with my motherboard to figure out where to plug them in, otherwise I have two slots for SSD "sticks" (I'm not sure what those drives are called) on the motherboard.

[Sladen2019]

There are upscaling settings you can change in game to help performance. If you are using an Nvidia GPU use DLSS. If you have an AMD GPU use FSR. If you have in Intel GPU use Xess.  In the RenderResolution setting, reduce the percentage by 5% and try to see if that helps, and if not, try reducing it another 5%, and so on.

[nIn nIn nIn]

The ssd drives that fit in those slots on the motherboard are called m.2 nvme drives. They're not hard to install, as long as you know your way around assembling a PC. Cheap (low spec) boards have at least one, usually between the CPU socket and the first 16 pin socket for the GPU.

 

If you tell me the make and model of your motherboard, I can pull up the appropriate manual and be able to give more exact advice.

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

On 10/8/2024 at 7:30 AM, nIn nIn nIn said:

The ssd drives that fit in those slots on the motherboard are called m.2 nvme drives. They're not hard to install, as long as you know your way around assembling a PC. Cheap (low spec) boards have at least one, usually between the CPU socket and the first 16 pin socket for the GPU.

 

If you tell me the make and model of your motherboard, I can pull up the appropriate manual and be able to give more exact advice.

I built my PC about two and a half years ago, so I know my way around PC assembly well enough, I suppose, though I had to study the book that came with the motherboard very closely so I didn't mess things up during assembly. I still have the book, and the box that came with my motherboard, so it would just be a matter of looking it up in the book. I actually forgot that my graphics card actually hides the two SSD slots... that means I would have to move that too.. something I'm not really looking forward to, but oh well. I would have to hunt down the box to tell you which board I have, specifically, I guess, I know it was designed for gaming and part of the name was B55, but that's probably not very helpful. My CPU is an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core Processor, and I'm wondering if I should think about upgrading that or if it's good enough, I'm also running 32 gigs of RAM (because why not), and my graphics card is a 4080, not Ti (ny improvement.. it's a joke), or anything like that, just a 4080 I got from Best Buy, either last year or the year before.

 

I just feel like Starfield shouldn't be bogging down my system the way that it does. Maybe it's not even the SSD, maybe it's the CPU, but I'm not really sure.

[nIn nIn nIn]

Your CPU is probably your bottleneck/issue. AMD changed the architecture of the Ryzen 7000 series cpus, and the game is optimised for that series. 

 

Back when Starfield first released, one of my favourite tech channels did a GPU comparison, and a CPU comparison (2 separate videos) on Starfield and their charts were a revelation.

 

 

 

My sons Ryzen 5950X performed worse than my retired Intel I7-8700k (a 5 generation old cpu) While the Ryzen 7800 etc did almost as well as the top 3 Intel 13th gen cpu's.

 

 

I would suggest that perhaps it's time to begin planning for that upgrade. The Ryzen 7800X3D or the upcoming 9800X3D are my picks. Intel's over volting issues are killing 13th and 14th gen cpu's early. 

 

That means a new motherboard with ddr5 support and new ram as well. Nothing fancy, just make sure it's optimised for amd. Keep your 4080. It's still a very solid option for Starfield (I still use a basic 3080 with my I5-13600k and get a reliable 60 fps at 4k using ultra settings (high shadows)).

I assume you are already using the latest supported FSR version. If not, play with those options first.

Edited October 10, 2024 by nIn nIn nIn

[nIn nIn nIn]

I think I mentioned before, there is a odd micro stutter issue. And it is apparently caused by a couple of ship mods. And more strangely it only affects some POI interiors.

 

The one mod I used that caused this is - Starfield Fleet Expansion at Starfield Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com) - but only the v1.1 update. They were trying to find the cause, but so far unable and rolled back to v1.0 again.

 

I was able to roll back to 1.0 without breaking my game. Probably because I had not visited any of the ship dealers yet after updating to v1.1 

 

There's some interesting comments regarding this in the mods comments section. Worth investigating too before you spend money.

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

13 hours ago, nIn nIn nIn said:

I think I mentioned before, there is a odd micro stutter issue. And it is apparently caused by a couple of ship mods. And more strangely it only affects some POI interiors.

 

The one mod I used that caused this is - Starfield Fleet Expansion at Starfield Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com) - but only the v1.1 update. They were trying to find the cause, but so far unable and rolled back to v1.0 again.

 

I was able to roll back to 1.0 without breaking my game. Probably because I had not visited any of the ship dealers yet after updating to v1.1 

 

There's some interesting comments regarding this in the mods comments section. Worth investigating too before you spend money.

I use that same mod. I had no idea there was an issue like that going on with it, and I think I did update it recently. I'll have to look into that when I get home from work then. The info regarding CPUs is helpful as well, yeah I think I will look into that as well. It's funny, that is what was bogging down the very first computer I built, the CPU was not powerful enough to keep up with the graphics card.

[brown66]

20 hours ago, Z0mBieP00Nani said:

(...) My CPU is an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core Processor, and I'm wondering if I should think about upgrading that or if it's good enough, I'm also running 32 gigs of RAM (because why not), and my graphics card is a 4080, not Ti (ny improvement.. it's a joke), or anything like that, just a 4080 I got from Best Buy, either last year or the year before.

 

I just feel like Starfield shouldn't be bogging down my system the way that it does. Maybe it's not even the SSD, maybe it's the CPU, but I'm not really sure.

 

Here is your computer's main problem with Starfield! When I upgraded my Ryzen 5 1600X to an i7-10700K (now I use an i7-12700K) the difference was so big that it seemed like I had upgraded the graphics card and not the processor. I will talk more about this below.

 

First, some notes about the possible cause of the game freezing/crashing.

 

1 - First of all, you have to make space on the SSD that has the operating system and where the temporary files are stored! And even if the game is on another SSD, I advise you not to exceed 80% of space on the latter. Please note that using the SSD in the background when playing these game, especially when the SSD is overloaded, can be one of the causes of stutters in the game, but I suspect that your main problem in this chapter is the processor!

 

2 - As the Starfield is very heavy on the processor (I'll talk more about this below), make sure that the thermal paste between the processor and the cooler has not already start given its soul to the Creator. After a few years it is necessary to change it. I know, this is a boring task...

 

3 - Also try lowering the operating frequency of your RAM memories. AMD processors also suffer physical degradation over the years, especially with the memory operating frequency controller, and when this happens, the only solution is to reduce the memory frequency.

 

4 - VERY IMPORTANT, make sure the RTX 4080 driver is really up to date!

 

5 - Also, avoid having too many programs open besides Starfield. I also have 32 GB of RAM and I found that the game becomes unstable if you have other programs using the 32 GB.

 

5 - If you are using Mod Organzier, don't forget to click on the Plugins tab in the right window and then click on the Loot button in the upper left corner of this window to check the order of your mods. The BlueprintShips - Starfield.ESM game file should be the file at the bottom of this list!

 

6 - There is also the possibility of some mod instability. Try playing the game without mods and check if it is stable. If so, you have the magnificent task of finding out which mod is to blame!

 

Now talking about your processor, AMD processors, even the most recent 9000 series!, have poor performance with games with a lot of draw calls, as happens with Bethesda RPGs. It is in this chapter that Intel processors outperform AMD processors. I don't know if you remember, but when Skyrim was released, in the following two years, this game was used to show how Intel processors, even the weakest i3, beat AMD processors.

 

And why does this happen?

 

Apparently, when Intel created the duo core, it took the opportunity to double the processing capacity of draw calls per processing core. AMD didn't do this and at the expense of this childish mistake (but not only that), their processors have generally always been weaker in games for many years. Things have improved, but when it comes to games with a lot of draw calls, AMD processors continue to perform worse.

 

In fact, it is largely (but not only!) because of the high number of draw calls that Starfield is so heavy on current CPUs, leading many of the players who had a processor that could play Skyrim and even Fallout without major problems, to come to having a bitter taste in their mouths when they discovered that this same processor was insufficient to play Starfield as fluidly as happens with Skyrim and Fallout 4.

 

And that's how the group of Starfield haters who say that Skyrim and Fallout 4 are good games was formed, out of pure resentment that their computer was obsolete, which got much worse when Todd Howard, already fed up with the criticism that the game was poorly optimized, said, bluntly in that interview, "Upgrade your PCs!"..

 

Some of these haters are on this forum.

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

20 hours ago, nIn nIn nIn said:

I think I mentioned before, there is a odd micro stutter issue. And it is apparently caused by a couple of ship mods. And more strangely it only affects some POI interiors.

 

The one mod I used that caused this is - Starfield Fleet Expansion at Starfield Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com) - but only the v1.1 update. They were trying to find the cause, but so far unable and rolled back to v1.0 again.

 

I was able to roll back to 1.0 without breaking my game. Probably because I had not visited any of the ship dealers yet after updating to v1.1 

 

There's some interesting comments regarding this in the mods comments section. Worth investigating too before you spend money.

The mod authors of Fleet Expansion must've messed something up when they reverted their file. When I downloaded the file they had up and put it into my game, it caused the same crash that had caused me to start a new game in the first place, but when I reinstalled version 1.1 the crash went away.

 

Now I'm curious to try my old save game to see what happens...

[nIn nIn nIn]

4 hours ago, Z0mBieP00Nani said:

The mod authors of Fleet Expansion must've messed something up when they reverted their file. When I downloaded the file they had up and put it into my game, it caused the same crash that had caused me to start a new game in the first place, but when I reinstalled version 1.1 the crash went away.

 

Now I'm curious to try my old save game to see what happens...

 

Thing is, removing certain mods mid game WILL break the save file. I was lucky with the 1.1 to 1.0 revert because I had not visited any of the ship vendors. In general it's bad practice to remove mods that change records etc mid game.  Textures and body replacers are ok because they don't change game records. Rolling back to a save prior to updating that mod may be your only option to eliminate that stutter. All their revert is, is they moved the new file to archive and moved the old file from archive to the download tab. No changes made.

 

For the record, I still had the stutter (with v1.0) in the Nishina facility, but only the part below ground. Others have also reported that. Oh, and others have said the stutters stopped when the removed the ship flip mods. Seems to be caused by mods that alter certain aspects of vanilla ship parts (flips and snaps) ?? It's all rather perplexing.

Edited October 11, 2024 by nIn nIn nIn

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

13 hours ago, nIn nIn nIn said:

 

Thing is, removing certain mods mid game WILL break the save file. I was lucky with the 1.1 to 1.0 revert because I had not visited any of the ship vendors. In general it's bad practice to remove mods that change records etc mid game.  Textures and body replacers are ok because they don't change game records. Rolling back to a save prior to updating that mod may be your only option to eliminate that stutter. All their revert is, is they moved the new file to archive and moved the old file from archive to the download tab. No changes made.

 

For the record, I still had the stutter (with v1.0) in the Nishina facility, but only the part below ground. Others have also reported that. Oh, and others have said the stutters stopped when the removed the ship flip mods. Seems to be caused by mods that alter certain aspects of vanilla ship parts (flips and snaps) ?? It's all rather perplexing.

It sounds like consequences caused by another mostly stable game by Bethesda.

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

Fuck this game. It has been giving me this corrupted save CTD bullshit ever since the launch of Shattered Space. Now the new game I just started on the 2nd of October is crashing out of nowhere and is presumably corrupted. None of this crap was happening until after the launch of Shattered Space, so they must've changed something with the game as a part of that update, and it is fucking with shit.

[nIn nIn nIn]

It's likely to be a mod in your load order that needs updating.

 

Try a new game with zero mods. 

 

I understand giving up out of frustration. I have done that many times with both Skyrim and Fallout 4. But mostly Skyrim. Some very popular mods just fuck everything up from time to time. Deleting the game for a few months is cathartic.