Can anyone help please.

[Zartan88]

I've been trying out settings with the game, and one of the options is to limit the frame rate - I'm using a 144hz monitor at 1920x1080, so I'm not sure if I should reduce the max frame rate to match?

V-Sync is on.

I'm trying to work out if having it unlimited or a different setting would cause any issues.

 

[xrogaan]

What is your problem that you are trying to solve?

 

[Zartan88]

Stuttering and rare sound glitches, the problem is that I've heard that the max frame rate should be the same as your monitor (in this case 144hz), but as the problems are minor - I can't tell if I should leave max frame rate at 260 (default) or reduce it - or if it makes no difference.

 

[xrogaan]

Limiting the framerate might help with performances. V-Sync actively cap the amount of frame the GPU generate, it synchronize the monitor poll and image generation in order to resolve screen tearing. Your monitor being 144Hz, it refresh its display 144 times per seconds. Generating more images, while sometimes warranted, would probably be a waste in this case as Surviving Mars isn't a competitive or high paced game.

Stutters and sound glitches may be related to the current build, and may be resolved with the upcoming patch. That being said.

Another reason for stutters is V-Sync itself. If your GPU isn't capable of supporting the native refresh rate of your computer, the V-Sync technology will then lower the refresh rate until it finds a compromise where GPU and monitor are in sync, inducing stutters.

In your case, since you have audio issues too, it may be that your system is temporarily overloaded. You might wanna lower the overall graphical quality, and experiment with the graphical settings.

 

[Zartan88]

Interesting - thank you, I think I'll try limiting the max framerate to 144 and see what happens. It'll be a long test unfortunately, hence why I asked in the first place.

My computer was good 'back in the day' but as a nearly 5 year old - its just starting to show the cracks, I might have to turn things down a bit after my playtest.

Thanks again for your time xrogaan - very helpful!

For those who might be interested - PC spec is:

Win 10 64bit
32 Gig Ram
Intel i7 6700k running at 4.20 GHz
Nvidia 1080ti GTX
5 Gig SSD

 

[xrogaan]

My computer was good 'back in the day' but as a nearly 5 year old

Parts in my computer are 10 years old, stuff I upgraded are ram and GPU. Your specs are more than enough to run this game. Something you might wanna care about is the VRAM of your graphic cards, and the texture quality you selected. HD texture tends to use more VRAM, and might slow the GPU down if it is too much.

 

[Zartan88]

I would say that the graphic card is probably the only component I'm confident is okay, reason being is that its a EVGA FTW3 1080ti with 11gb onboard. I am running the game with everything maxed out though. I'm unsure if the recent DLC and Patch have improved the graphics, therefore increasing the specs, as I've only returned to the game recently.

The sound glitches have only turned up recently though, and only on the new radio station - so it does make you wonder.

 

[xrogaan]

I am running the game with everything maxed out though. I'm unsure if the recent DLC and Patch have improved the graphics, therefore increasing the specs, as I've only returned to the game recently.

Whenever a software state changes, its behavior does too. The update may have made the performances worse through unforeseen bugs or whatever.

May not even be hardware related, could be that the software is resource starved because of a design flaw. Like not enough threads to process the sound or whatever. Taking a look at the bug sub-forum and looking at similar issues may give you an idea of the state the game is in right now.

 

[Mauer]

I would say that the graphic card is probably the only component I'm confident is okay, reason being is that its a EVGA FTW3 1080ti with 11gb onboard. I am running the game with everything maxed out though. I'm unsure if the recent DLC and Patch have improved the graphics, therefore increasing the specs, as I've only returned to the game recently.

The sound glitches have only turned up recently though, and only on the new radio station - so it does make you wonder.

My PC has much lower specs than yours and the game runs perfectly on the highest settings, at least for the first 200 Sols, it is not a demanding game, so your issue is likely not hardware-related. You should still check to make sure your drivers are up-to-date though.