Is Game Pausing Every Thirty Seconds When It Starts?
Is Game Pausing Every Thirty Seconds When It Starts?
Since last week, I've noticed an unusual stuttering problem only in the game Paladins. Every half-second, my FPS drops significantly regardless of the settings I use—whether fullscreen or windowed, with other programs running on my PC, etc. My ping stays consistent, so it doesn’t seem to be a server-related issue. I've tested all possible combinations of V-Sync, FreeSync, AMD Chill and AMD FRTC in hopes of finding a stable frame rate. Even when capped at 30fps, the stutter continues, which is confusing because I was able to play the game smoothly without limiting the frame rate before.
I've reinstalled the game, moved it to my hard drive instead of an SSD, reinstalled Steam, performed a malware scan with Malwarebytes, cleaned up dust from my PC, checked temperatures (they’re normal), updated Windows and drivers, turned off all background apps in Windows 10, disabled everything that could start automatically, removed unused devices from the device manager, and reached out to the game’s community to see if others are experiencing the same issue. I’m really stuck and don’t know what to do next. My initial thought was that something was refreshing itself every 30 seconds and causing high CPU usage, but Task Manager and Resource Monitor show no unusual activity, and my CPU stays around 40% while the game runs.
If this helps, here are my system details (though I previously managed to play the game without issues):
- AMD Radeon R9 380 w/4GB VRAM
- AMD FX-8350
- Gigabyte 970A-DS3P
- 16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 RAM @1866mhz
- 1TB HDD
- 200GB SSD
Page file disabled in Windows?
Seems like the game is performing garbage collection. I faced a similar issue in KSP, so I had to install a mod to boost memory allocation. It kept stuttering every ten minutes, but it became much smoother afterward.
I haven't adjusted the page file, isn't that better for stability? It might be due to a garbage collection, which is unusual since it took a long time to begin. In the best case, it could be an internal problem they're addressing, though I don't expect much improvement.
I've kept my page file disabled for the past decade, yet my system has often used a lot of memory. With 16GB it should work well unless you're running demanding tasks such as chia plotting, complex simulations, or FEA analyses.
Have you ever discovered a fix for this? I’m facing the same issue (though in another game) and it’s really causing trouble.
I attempted to disable the page file as recommended, but that didn’t solve the problem. Interestingly, the issue disappeared when I removed the Ethernet cable, suggesting something was connected online.
Sadly I haven't managed to disable the page file, which didn't resolve the issue. I went through the process of wiping my PC and reinstalling Windows, but even with just Steam and the game installed, the problem remained. Now I'm giving up and hoping a patch will fix it, though I'm not optimistic. It's odd that going offline worked for me, but since the game is online-only, I can't test that myself. This suggests the game might be trying to refresh or clearing data, which I'm unsure how to handle without help. I hope you find a solution and don't hesitate to ask if you need anything.
It might still be too early to celebrate, but I only had a short time to test before work—though I could have achieved a breakthrough! Did you have your antivirus AVG installed? My setup had AVG active, and when I ran Multimon, I noticed avgToolsSvc.exe was running every 30 seconds, matching the stutter times I observed. For reference, I also saw similar activity with dasHost.exe (Windows), OVRServer_x64 (Oculus), and spoolsv.exe (Windows). I removed AVG, tried an alternative, restarted everything, and it worked—no stuttering detected. I’m planning more testing this weekend, especially gaming. Fortunately, if AVG was the issue, my subscription had only a few weeks left.
I rely on Malwarebytes for my antivirus protection, but the issue continues regardless of whether it's active or not. Even after reinstalling Windows and testing without Malwarebytes, the problem remains unsolved. I'm glad you discovered a possible workaround! Have fun with your game, and I hope this helps other AVG users too!
There might be a problem with the power supply not providing enough energy for the computer, or perhaps your PC is becoming outdated.
In short, try turning off network discovery. This problem was really affecting me until recently, and it gradually became more severe. It started to worsen after I began using a NAS with TrueNAS Core and accessing shares via SMB. It wasn’t always this intense, but there were occasional interruptions before, suggesting something might be wrong with my PC. The workaround seems to have provided some relief.
To recap the symptoms: Input devices and monitors would stutter heavily, with inputs disappearing until the stutter ends. These stutters typically last between 300 to 700 milliseconds, and the monitor also stutters, showing only a few frames during each episode. They occur almost every 30 seconds. Restarting the PC helped before, but eventually stopped working.
In the process hacker 2 network graph, minor glitches appear every 30 seconds, coinciding with the stutter events. These are usually linked to dasHost.exe. Disabling Network Discovery leads to a single longer stutter event followed by no further occurrences.