FFXI: Hiccups/Laggy gameplay since last night...

[Kaddisfly]

Ever since I originally did the modified inf + nVidia graphics update mentioned back in February I have had zero problems running FFXI on max settings.

Last night I installed Windower since I was really missing some of the plugins. Soon as it was installed and ready to go I noticed that FFXI was hiccuping every couple seconds, barely noticable, but noticable enough to be annoying.

I figured it was windower so I closed her down and opened up FFXI in official windower. Same problem. Closed that down and opened up FFXI in full screen mode, same problem.

Okay... I figured that somehow when I installed Trend-Micro PC-cillin that it must have done something to my modified INF... what else could have it been? So I downloaded the latest 174.74 drivers and installed them. Still suffering from the hiccups in game. FPS is runnin pretty solid at 27-30 while in campaign battles, just those damn hiccups every 3 seconds for a fraction of a second.

Specs:

Dell XPS m1530
Intel Core 2 Duo 2ghz
3gb RAM 8600M GT 256mb
220gb HD Vista 32x

If any other information is needed to help figure out a fix for this please let me know. If it helps, I ran a virus and malware/spyware check and came up with nothing but a couple cookies which I simply cleaned up. I uninstalled Windower but I highly doubt that had any issue though the issues occured as soon as I had installed it, but the problem persists even after removing it. I also ran a POL/FFXI file check and had no broken files.

/sigh

Edit: Just to cover my bases, I'm aware of the issues FFXI has with the 8 series cards. When I first got this laptop FFXI ran like shit until I updated the drivers with the modified INF + drivers from laptopvideo2go.com. Just out of the blue hiccups began happening last night.

[Norellicus]

Check your scheduled maintenance in pc-cillin, maybe it's running a scan same time you're trying to play? Seems like the only other thing that has changed in your before/after descriptions.

[Kaddisfly]

Check your scheduled maintenance in pc-cillin, maybe it's running a scan same time you're trying to play? Seems like the only other thing that has changed in your before/after descriptions.

I appreciate the response, but I thought the same thing at first as well so I closed down PC-Cillin and attempted FFXI again, no dice. Just spoke to my IT guy about it and he has no clue what it could be let alone when I explained my graphics card and how modified drivers worked for it he just looked at me like I spoke japanese. Useless techs..

[Kaisha]

Download ProcessExplorer and keep it open while you play.

Monitor the processes and see if any of them are hogging CPU each time the game chugs. It's somewhere to start at any rate.

[Tormentormike]

I had this same problem. Open Device Manager, expand Human Interface Devices, and you could have a number of them, but I disabled "HID-compliant consumer control device", and two "HID-compliant device". The "hiccups" stopped, but I can no longer use my keyboard for things like turning up the volume etc.

Trade off was OK for me!

[shiarua]

You may have to remove Trend Micro altogether. Im guessing that this happened right after you installed it?

I've found that disabling it doesnt do the trick unfortunately.

[Day]

Try this, go to your network connection's properties and configure tcpip properties and disable QoS packet scheduler. This sounds like an issue I had that took me forever to find a resolution for.

[The_OG_Nelta]

i have the same problem as well, and these are the specs i am running at for my laptop

* Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
* Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.10GHz)
* 14.1" diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
* 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
* HP Imprint (Artist Edition) + Webcam + Microphone
* Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network w/Bluetooth
* FREE Upgrade to 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive from 120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive!!
* FREE Upgrade to LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
* No TV Tuner w/remote control
* 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
* Norton Internet Security(TM) 2008 - 2 Year Subscription
* Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
* Artist Edition Messenger Bag
* HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

[Day]

Did you try my post right above yours OG?

[The_OG_Nelta]

not yet about to do so, but quick question, with my laptop i should be able to run ffxi somewhat smoothly am i correct?

[The_OG_Nelta]

hey day, where is the network connection's property?

[The_OG_Nelta]

nope it did not work, no clue why lol >_<

[shiarua]

I had the stuttering problem on a clean install of Vista Home Premium 32-bit. I narrowed the stuttering down to my security suite I had installed (ESET Smart Security). Once I uninstalled that, not disabled, the stuttering went away. Kaspersky Internet Security seems to work fine with FFXI.

QoS didnt do anything for me either.

Other than that, poor performance overall in FFXI on a Gateway P-6880FX

Intel [email protected], 2MB L2 Cache, 667FSB
4GB DDR2-667 Samsung Memory
nVidia GeForce 8800M GTS w/512MB vRam
320GB 5400RPM SATA HDD
17" WXGA 1440x900
Vista Home Premium 32-bit (comes with both 64 and 32, running 32 at the moment)

SE needs to come out with a dual core/multi core patch or something. They need to stop catering to the PS2 community and give additional support to PC users, and people who use PS3/Xbox360

Ive pretty much stopped blaming nVidia at this point and now Im pointing the finger at SE for continuing to use an outdated engine and refusing the update for the greater part of the community.

Hate to say this OG, but your problem is most likely NIS. I see that you have a 2 year subscription, which means you probably paid for it, but grab a trial of Kaspersky Internet Security and give that a shot, see if the stuttering problem goes away.

[The_OG_Nelta]

hmm i shall try that out later, i was going to uninstall and get AVG anyways

[Gergall]

I had this same problem. Open Device Manager, expand Human Interface Devices, and you could have a number of them, but I disabled "HID-compliant consumer control device", and two "HID-compliant device". The "hiccups" stopped, but I can no longer use my keyboard for things like turning up the volume etc.

Trade off was OK for me!

I've been having hiccups (5 seconds of smooth gameplay, then a very very short freezeframe) for months. I finally googled it and found this thread. The post quoted above worked perfectly! Thank you so much!

I had a lot more HID-compliant devices than the post quoted above, and I noticed a slight improvement after disabling some of them, and a great improvement after disabling all of them. I now have no hiccups. Thanks again!

[Day]

I've been having hiccups (5 seconds of smooth gameplay, then a very very short freezeframe) for months. I finally googled it and found this thread. The post quoted above worked perfectly! Thank you so much!

I had a lot more HID-compliant devices than the post quoted above, and I noticed a slight improvement after disabling some of them, and a great improvement after disabling all of them. I now have no hiccups. Thanks again!

You know the more I think about this, I resolved my issue by disabling QOS Packet Scheduler in my Network Properties. I could go home right now and enable it and reproduce the issue... however my Network card is a USB device... When I was having this problem I had to look every where as well, and somewhere down deep in a thread on the Nvidia forums someone had found the QOS thing. All resolutions to this issue seems to revolve around an USB device and Vista, except for the guy above who uninstalled an AV software... anyways I'm rambling but I've seen this same problem quite a few times over the last year from various peeps... I like to know final resolutions :X

[Callisto]

Sorry for the necro, but figured it beat making a new thread for this.

I'm having this same problem, every 10 seconds or so I get a big lag spike then things rush to catch up...I can see my PC usage spike on task manager, but I can't really tell what it is.

I've gone through to see what processes are running but I don't see anything out of the ordinary, I got rid of some useless manufacturer's crap, defragmented, tried a wired connection instead my wireless, and a myriad of other shit, and still nothing seems to fix it, so looking for some more ideas/input.

Not sure what all is pertinent but here's the stuff:

Toshiba Satellite A215-S5837 laptop
Vista Home Premium 32-bit
AMD Turion64 2.00 GHz
2.00 GB RAM
ATI Radeon X1200

It's a relatively recent problem, but I can't really recall exactly when it started so I can't tell if it's something I changed that's making it happen.

Any other help would be appreciated.

[Kimiko]

You know I was having similar problems last night as well, for about a 30 minute period was getting low (sub 100) R levels, then a massive spike in send upwards of 800. Maybe someone jizzin in the tubes again?

[FFS]

WARNING: Non-technical post ahead lol. I too had the hiccup issue but was able to fix it. Not sure what caused it but I bought a Xbox 360 controller for GTA IV and figured I'd enable it in FFXI to mess around. Long story short it sucked so I figured to hell with it and unplugged it and the next thing I know FFXI was "hiccuping" at a pace you could set a watch by.

I didn't originally put 2 and 2 together so I pissed about restarting FFXI, PC, changing from wireless to wired to Aircard, etc, nothing helped. Then a few days later while resting in campaign I panned my camera all the way down to look at my char. and watched my camera view pop up and down with the hiccup. I thought that son of a bitch controller had a button fucking with me but it was unplugged. Exited FFXI, went to the config, disabled the gamepad and tada no more hiccups! Hope your issue(s) are just something idiotic like I had.

[Callisto]

I use a 360 controller as well, tried that and didn't do the trick

Thanks for the suggestion, though.