Strange stuttering under unique circumstances

[freelunch]

I think thanks to @BorgDog ‘s Nobs table, I’ve been able to more-or-less isolate a strange source of stuttering that happens on very few tables. Normally my rig handles VP10.2.1 quite well, and I am not getting a bottleneck (unless I’m monitoring the processors wrong) when the stuttering happens. The stutter happens with lots of lights. All of the tiny little lights on the very neat Nobs table cause stuttering during the “attract mode” when the lights turn on in off in a figure-8 sequence. I get about two stutters during the loop. Other tables I’ve had problems with are @javier1515’s Minions and Mortal Kombat II. Running on low graphics settings has no effect (practically no difference from turning on the resource-hungry settings). I’ve gone through @Drybonz ‘s stutter troubleshooting on vpforums. @roar went through a lot of troubleshooting to find a hardware problem, so maybe there’s a way I can test for that? My temps aren’t getting over 70 c, and I’ve read I should be able to get at least 20 c hotter before overheating.

Specs: Windows 10, 5th generation intel i7-5700HQ, nvidia gtx 970m with 3gb vram, and 16 gb ram. Yes, those specs mean I’m using a gaming laptop, feel free to chuckle if this amuses you.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

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[RustyCardores]

If the table uses the “lamptimer” function, often you can increase it’s value to reduce stuttering when the lamps become active. Try doubling or tripling it’s value and see if it has any effect. (I have a number of tables running at 80 or 120)

Some tables can remain problematic and I have found that turning off playfield refections frees up system resources. Yes you lose the pretty reflections, but if it makes the unplayable playable, then it’s a small price to pay IMO.

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[Drybonz]

This should be mentioned in my tutorial so disregard if you already tried it, but bump the lamp and solenoid settings up a few notches in your backglass settings (right click on backglass).  Rusty has good advice above that might fix you.

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[freelunch]

Increasing light-related timers is one of the first things I tried with these tables. I’m a desktop user, so b2s is disabled and I removed the backglass files for good measure. I tried turning off playfield element reflections, ball reflections, all forms of anti-aliasing, ambient occlusion, elements detail level, and the stuttering is identical. Thanks for the suggestions, though.

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Thalamus

[Thalamus]

You haven’t by any chance changed the vpinballx.exe for robs’ version and forgotten about it ? I need to ask, because these are some of the symptoms I saw.

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[freelunch]

Thalamus wrote:

You haven’t by any chance changed the vpinballx.exe for robs’ version and forgotten about it ? I need to ask, because these are some of the symptoms I saw.

I’m using 10.2.1 release build http://vpinball.com/VPBdownloads/visual-pinball-x-standalone-exe-10-2-1/

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