[Santana]

About every 2 seconds, FFXI skips very slightly at constant intervals. It's like it just freezes for a quarter of a second than continues, but the sound remains consistent without any skipping. I'm not really sure what the issue is. I installed the latest Nvidia drivers, everything is up to date, and any anti-virus software is disabled.

I'm running this on an Alienware laptop, m15x. Here's the specs:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU @ 2.1 GHz
Memory(RAM): 2.00 GB
System type: 32-bit Operating System
Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 8700M GT

I've run FFXI before on this laptop, and only recently got back into FFXI. Before this was never an issue, and it ran silky smooth. I don't think it has anything to do with the 8 series Nvidia graphics issues that have been floating about. Now, it does run it at a great framerate, it just has this annoying, periodic skip that happens way too frequently. I've been into regedit to edit my settings, but before I did this, the skipping issue existed on the default settings. I even tried windowed mode, but to no avail.

Also, I don't think this is a networking problem, as the skipping happens everywhere after moving from PlayOnline into actually playing FFXI... from the opening movie, to the starting menu, to ingame.

Can anyone offer any help? It would be much appreciated!

[Raydeus]

You need to check what processes are active and see if there isn't any app hogging resources while you are playing the game.

New programs, antivirus, some malware you cought, etc. could be causing it. Also make sure you perform the usual maintenence (defrag and stuff) if you haven't already.

[Ellipses]

Try disabling HID-compliant devices in Device Manager. Some of them are necessary, e.g. mouse and keyboard, but some are not.

[Santana]

I actually tried disabling HID devices, but it didn't help. I haven't defragged yet, I'll start that.

Another interesting observation: I opened notepad, and just held down "j" while FFXI was open, and it skipped at the same intervals as FFXI was skipping in the background. I minimized FFXI, and it still skipped exactly the same. I went "Back" in FFXI, to PlayOnline and continued pressing "j" and the skipping disappeared. What do you guys think?

[meSchnitzel]

try holding down "y" instead of "j"













Sounds to me like you are running out of resources so the PC is hopping around, but yeah try a defrag and run a good virus scanner to make sure there isn't something there that you arent aware of.

[Santana]

I ran the defragger and anti-virus and it still has this skipping issue. It is quite a minor skip, but it happens every second, which is quite annoying.

[meSchnitzel]

re-install? Its an option...

have you tried updating your graphics drivers?

Are you running the game windowed? Full Screen? Using Windower? Is your resolution accurate for your screen size and window?

Have you tried calling customer support?

What about other graphically intensive games? Have you tried running anything else to see if it is just FFXI?

[Santana]

Originally Posted by meSchnitzel

re-install? Its an option...

have you tried updating your graphics drivers?

Are you running the game windowed? Full Screen? Using Windower? Is your resolution accurate for your screen size and window?

Have you tried calling customer support?

What about other graphically intensive games? Have you tried running anything else to see if it is just FFXI?

Updated drivers, no help.

I tried full screen and windowed, both same issue.

I'm going to try running WAR and see what happens there, good idea.

And from what I've heard, customer support isn't very useful

[HairdewX]

Originally Posted by Santana

About every 2 seconds, FFXI skips very slightly at constant intervals. It's like it just freezes for a quarter of a second than continues, but the sound remains consistent without any skipping. I'm not really sure what the issue is. I installed the latest Nvidia drivers, everything is up to date, and any anti-virus software is disabled.

I'm running this on an Alienware laptop, m15x. Here's the specs:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU @ 2.1 GHz
Memory(RAM): 2.00 GB
System type: 32-bit Operating System
Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 8700M GT

I've run FFXI before on this laptop, and only recently got back into FFXI. Before this was never an issue, and it ran silky smooth. I don't think it has anything to do with the 8 series Nvidia graphics issues that have been floating about. Now, it does run it at a great framerate, it just has this annoying, periodic skip that happens way too frequently. I've been into regedit to edit my settings, but before I did this, the skipping issue existed on the default settings. I even tried windowed mode, but to no avail.

Also, I don't think this is a networking problem, as the skipping happens everywhere after moving from PlayOnline into actually playing FFXI... from the opening movie, to the starting menu, to ingame.

Can anyone offer any help? It would be much appreciated!

Shot in the dark, have you checked the power plan settings? I actually had an issue with the game skipping, but my laptop power plan was set to battery saving mode. Setting it back to high performance or whatever yours may be called fixed my issue...

[Santana]

^I had that when I first logged on, but immediately knew my power plan was doing something and changed it to high performance.

I've found other people with my same problem, but they weren't able to find a solution. I did some more research and on the FFXIclopedia forums, found someone with the exact problem:

"If people don't understand what I mean by skip basically every like 30 frames or so a frame or two doesn't get rendered so at like 1.2 second intervals the screen holds for a blip then jumps ahead to where it should be. Its most noticable when I'm changing camera view but any movement will show the skip."

I'm noticing a pattern; most reports of this issue come from Nvidia mobile cards for laptops, specifically the 8 series (which I have). Anyways, I need someone to translate his potential solution, since I have no idea what it means:

"I isolated the problem a little bit more. Basically the video card renders too many frames. FFXI has that hard cap of no more than 30 frames per second. The Video cards renders 30 frames before the second mark is up and has to wait to be allowed to render a frame again. It goes like clockwork every second. It probably holds for about .1 seconds each time.

Is there any setting in the game config that would allow me to let the video card render beyond the 30 frames cap? Is there any new drivers that have been released that fix this since I last posted? Anyone else have any ideas for work arounds?"

So what does he mean and can I find a setting to render beyond a 30 frame cap?

Really appreciate the responses so far, guys.

EDIT: Or maybe I don't have to do anything with the game and can make my video card render less frames, since currently it's rendering too many?

[Solymir]

You could try downloading a couple of the free adware/spyware removal programs and see if they find anything that needs to be removed.

If you do decide to reinstall FFXI I would recommend reinstalling your operating system first.

[HairdewX]

Originally Posted by Santana

EDIT: Or maybe I don't have to do anything with the game and can make my video card render less frames, since currently it's rendering too many?

What about trying the lower power schemes? That will definitely lower the amount of frames rendered

[Santana]

Originally Posted by HairdewX

What about trying the lower power schemes? That will definitely lower the amount of frames rendered

Heh, that's not a bad idea, I'll try it.

I came across another person that had the same problem, but he was using an ATI card. He said he had the problem with FFXI and Doom 3, both 30 fps capped games. He solved it by changing the refresh rate on his monitor. Now, I'm on a laptop, so I can't change my refresh rate, plus I can't connect to a monitor because I only have an HDMI port on this computer, and my monitors are all 15 pin. I might go buy an HDMI to 15 pin cable so I can try out the refresh settings on my monitor and see how it works with FFXI. If it's a failure, I'll just return the cable. What do you guys think?

It's the only known solution I've come across =/

[meSchnitzel]

if your going to buy an HDMI cable you might as well get one for cheap.
HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

they have very cheap cables, just make sure the one you get is gold plated and you are good to go. I bought one for my PS3, spent like 8 bucks and it works amazingly. ^.^

[Santana]

All my monitors are VGA, so unfortunately, a cable isn't the solution. I need a converter, which will run me 300 bucks. Or I could buy an HDMI monitor, but I'm not even sure if this will fix the problem yet, so until I can borrow a friend's, it's out of the question to buy one.

During combat, it is not very noticeable, with all the stuff going on... but everything else, it's pretty annoying. Any more ideas guys?