Lag after teleporting / System also slows down when doing so

[LouiseDeBlois]

Hey all, I need a hand for those with more tech knowledge than myself. Recently I have been getting some lag when entering new sims, even with my graphic settings on the lowest of low. In which, when doing so, other programs seem to be affected with weird halting and lag issues. Chrome would take forever to load a webpage while secondlife is running, windows dictionaries would also take time to load the folders inside along with files.

I will include my PC specs on the bottom of this post.

 

Things I have attempted to fix this issue:

- Trying low and high settings along with messing with the advanced section.

- Using different viewers, all seem to have the same issue

- Clean installing viewers

- cache clearing, the works.

- Windows updates are currently up to date

- All Graphic card drivers and other drivers are up to date

- (Currently) Defragging my Hard-drive which was at a 7% Fragmentation rate (Using Smart defrag, 1/4 into the scan, 24GB of fragmented files, est: 100GB est)

 

SPECS:

Processor - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz

GPU - NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1070 ti

DAC - Intergrated RAMDAC

RAM - 16GB DDR3

OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit (planning on getting 10 in time, budgeting right now)

HARD-DRIVE - 2TB Seagate (2 years old)

I have included this link, a UserBenchmark of my system: http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/8530914

 

Thanks for any help

((PS: Was reading up about getting a small SSD for the OS and main dictionaries, yet, im lacking knowledge on this matter))

Edited April 30, 2018 by LouiseDeBlois

[Lillith Hapmouche]

Yay! Someone who provides proper info right from the start! 

 

What you describe sounds less like classic lag, but much more like pretty hefty freezes and/or an overstressed network. That might be two issues showing up here, a network related one and one with your system's components.

How high is your bandwidth setting in the viewer? What's your overall internet connection? Connected via LAN, I suppose?

Are you running SL in fullscreen mode or windowed?

Have you controlled the temperatures of your machine? CPUID HWMonitor is a fine tool for that task, for example... in a case which isn't well ventilated, your components may run too hot and thus get limited in performance to help keeping them cool. That might be happening here, looking at the odd remark about your CPU performance...

Just to rule out any poor chances: your monitor is definitely connected to the 1070ti, right? Not to any ports on the mainboard? That mentioning of the RAMDAC left me puzzled, it's rather untypical to see such a thing on a hardware list.

 

Don't expect any wonder after clearing 7% fragmentation. Perhaps just slightly faster reading times for some files, but probably on a scale that only benchmark tools may pick up.

I definitely recommend getting a SSD as soon as possible. Too small ones (120 GB or less) have no good price/size value. 250ish GB are a good average, one with 512 GB or more can almost easily replace an old HDD (just keep the HDD for storing videos, photos and such data).  
Your UserBenchmark site hints that you are in the UK, so I picked two examples from the Crucial MX500 series: the 500 GB one is listed for £105 at Amazon, the 250 GB one for £63. That's ok. Samsung's 860 EVO is roughly £20 more expensive ... if you go with one of those mentioned ones, you're quite likely on the safe side.
250 GB is sufficient for Windows, your main programs and your SL cache. 

Your motivation to get one might increase if you look up the routine on how to upgrade your Win7 key to Win10 for free. Some OEM keys might cause trouble, but retail ones (those sold with a proper install medium) usually work flawlessly.
Basically, you need a Microsoft account, where you store a digital fingerprint of your Win7 license (aka: your machine and its key will be listed in your account overview). Then you download an official ISO of Win10 via the Windows Media Creation tool, setup either a disc or an USB stick and proceed to install Win10 as a fresh copy ... preferably straight onto your SSD (so you'll have a copy of your old system on the HDD, which you will keep disconnected during the installation for that reason). Enter your Win7 serial code when prompted and connected to your MS account... your Win10 copy should be properly recognized and authorised. 
It isn't advertised by MS, of course, but it is perfectly fine. However, please google that to verify the steps for your own country. That upgrade method does still work over here in Germany. 

 

And last but not least:
Please stay away from unneeded cache clearings. Those will only put more loading stress on both your machine and your network, thus slow you down even more.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Lillith Hapmouche

[LouiseDeBlois]

Thank you for getting to me. Sorry in advance currently replying from a mobile device as I'm away from the computer. 

 

I forgot to mention I did some stress tests while I used a program to watch the hardware and it's usage and temps. Everything temperature was was perfect without anything being stressed or over heated from the abuse ( I ran SL on max and low, along with multiple benchmarking tools, I know SL is not like any other game, but, wanted to see if there were any issues) I had no issues at all with the results it provided. 

 

Also, I used crystalDiskInfo, and it states the hard drive has 24 unidentified errors which can't be fixed, so, I'll try a chkdsk, worst case, I'll do as you said and move to an SSD. I presume I can get myself another hard drive for my steam games and save data, and use the SSD for my OS, SL and cache etc?

 

Also, I'm directly plugged into the main router. Drawing download speeds of 100MBPs. On the viewer I have set the internet speed to 1000-1500 (as I know exceeding 1500 can cause issues, I think)

Also, my monitors are both connected into the GPU slots. One HDMI adapted to a display port. And the one I use for SL is a direct HDMI connection on a 2560 x 1080 monitor. I play second life windowed as I tab out a lot when using second life. 

But, yes, I plan on upgrading to Windows 10, my friend works In IT and has said they can get me a copy of the Windows 10 key for free as they have copies to spare and if I can use steam strictly on my hard drive and everything else on SSD I will get one of the cards you mentioned. 

 

Once more, thanks again, and sorry if I missed anything and my terrible formatting due to being on my phone. 

 

((adding this as an edit: Replacing the Hard-drive with another, and getting that SSD: https://gyazo.com/1652dc359bbba52473b0ad1023202a34 Is this a good combo? I've checked and i know my system will be able to use both at once))

Edited April 30, 2018 by LouiseDeBlois

[animats]

This is puzzling. You have a high-end graphics card. More than enough bandwidth. More than enough memory.  SL uses only about 3-10Mb/s.  At 100Mb/s.

The symptoms sound like thrashing, where the system is out of RAM and is paging out to disk. But with 16GB, that should not be happening. Unless you have something running which is hogging memory.

Check Task Manager and see what's running. You may have some memory or CPU hog running in the background using resources. You have more than enough resources to run SL. If SL is running badly, something is using those resources.

[LouiseDeBlois]

@animats

Thanks for the reply, I have checked this and the only thing hogging memory is chrome, running 5-6 processes with 230k 217k 205k 196k 126k and the rare 6th running 70k of my memory. I have check chrome for updates, no dice.

[animats]

Check Performance in Windows Task Manager. Is something using a lot of CPU time, disk time, or network time?

What about right after rebooting the system?

Somewhere, something is dragging down your system.

[LouiseDeBlois]

Ok, i have checked the performance monitor, using 1% of my CPU usage

When i go into Resource monitor, my overview is as such:

1% CPU usage average without SL running - 101% Maximum Frequency

Memory is using 29% used Physical Memory.

 

The stay the same even after a fresh reboot.

 

I have checked all the processes inside the manager, and nothing is taking up a huge average. So i am wondering if it is the hard-drive in general. I have included a hard-drive scan also:

https://gyazo.com/89e69b12e798b14a6827a9ed65713864

The program also states:

Current pending sector count: 24

Un-correctable sector count: 24

 

((EDIT: When using a SL viewer, the CPU goes up to 3))

Edited April 30, 2018 by LouiseDeBlois

[animats]

21 minutes ago, LouiseDeBlois said:

((EDIT: When using a SL viewer, the CPU goes up to 3))

3 what? 3%? 3 CPUs?

[LouiseDeBlois]

Just now, animats said:

3 what? 3%? 3 CPUs?

Sorry, was just saying what the Resource monitor stated. It simply says 3CPU, but the CPU usage goes from 5% - 20-25% usage with 1,250,000 k Memory usage

[animats]

OK, you're not running out of CPU time.

Worth checking to make sure you really have the Nvidia card running properly.

Here's a simple WebGL graphics card demo. These run in a browser.

• http://webglsamples.org/aquarium/aquarium.html
• http://webglsamples.org/dynamic-cubemap/dynamic-cubemap.html

Both shold run smoothly on your system. If they aren't getting 60 FPS with the graphics card you have, OpenGL isn't running on the graphics card.

With the high-end NVidia cards on Windows 7, they start out in dumb VGA mode, and you have to install the NVidia driver. If the NVidia driver is not running, graphics still works, but it's really slow. (Note that you don't have to sign up for NVidia's store, telemetry, account, or other crap, and shouldn't.)

Edited April 30, 2018 by animats

[LouiseDeBlois]

Thanks for the quick reply. 

 

Just ran the webpages, both supporting a stable 60FPS without any drops. The fish one I can get up to 10000 Fish and keep the stable 60FPS in all views.

[animats]

OK, then your graphics system is working great.

Try running Firestorm and bring up the status bar. Advanced->Performance Tools->Statistics Bar. Take a screenshot of that and post it.

[LouiseDeBlois]

of course:

This is when i freshly log into SL, i have no issues at all: https://gyazo.com/57ff9f7cbb4ac3abf1da8fcc89ec0b0b

I tp'd to another skybox, which has a lower build which is "Better" on the viewer and get this (and this stays like this when i tp back to my own skybox, and the whole system slows down): https://gyazo.com/da9aebdddcecf3f6aee579ed5521b80c 

[Whirly Fizzle]

Which antivirus software are you using?
If you whitelist the cache folder in your antivirus software, does that fix it?
If not, if you purge cache & set the cache folder to read only so the viewer isn't using the cache at all, does that fix it?

Edit to add: The ping sim on that first screenshot is also horrendous

ETA2: If you're using Webroot, don't even bother to try what I said above, just get rid of Webroot & hopefully you'll be fixed.  You can't even whitelist a folder in Webroot - it's known to pin disk use at 100% when using an SL viewer & it will slow the whole system down, plus other problems.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Whirly Fizzle

[LouiseDeBlois]

@Whirly Fizzle

Thanks for the tip, sadly not, even with a system restart with the folder added to the whitelist, I still seem to be getting the same issue, along with the the other purge root i still get the issue. I am using AVAST as my anti-virus software.

 

[Lillith Hapmouche]

Peculiar.

After all those steps, I'm putting my hopes on a fresh install of Windows (10) on that SSD. 

That cable pack you selected is probably a bit overkill, as you merely need 2 SATA cables in total. Your current HDD is already using one, so if you don't have a spare one, any single cable of roughly 30cm length should do. If you powersupply should not offer another free SATA power plug, you might have a completely different problem.

But still, that home sim really seems to be horribly laggy. Are the simFPS always in the 20s? It's basically running at half capacity.

Oh, maybe one more thought: what is your draw distance usually set to?
And do you use those handy graphical settings presets to switch or do you manually switch your settings?
Quoting from the FS Wiki:

Quote

Presets: Three buttons which allow you to save, load or delete graphics settings presets.

• To create a preset, set your graphics settings as you like. Click “Save” and give the preset a name.
• To load a preset that you have created, click “Load” and choose the preset to load.
• To delete one, click “Delete” and choose the preset to delete.
• The presets can be accessed either from Preferences → Graphics → General or from the presets button in the upper right of the viewer, near the media and sound controls.

 

EDIT: Another hint... when you install your OS, make sure that only the SSD is connected to the mainboard. That's the safest way of preventing that a part of the boot sector gets written onto another drive. That way, you can always replace your other drives as you wish, without having to fiddle with pesky fixes to get the system to boot.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Lillith Hapmouche

[LouiseDeBlois]

@Lillith Hapmouche

Thanks for the info, I am hoping windows 10 sorts it out for me, i have ordered the kit none the less for the SSD, new Hard-drive for steam and the works, along with better cables as you suggested and a mounting rack (As i have no spare racks in my case)

My draw distance depending on the sim i normally adjusted myself. But, average its around 120 (now using the lowest draw settings now and again) and i do use the inbuilt presets and advanced settings to reduce the FPS loss. With some minor improvements here and there.

The home sim is also like this, pondering finding a new parcel in the hopes that lowers it down, even though I am normally only there for unpacking items and idle chatter.

After doing a defrag and sort files using iobit smart defrag, the issue has seemingly lowered slightly, but is still somewhat noticeable. Plus, the SMART check has gone from 24 bad sectors, to 30.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

I am also hoping that the hard drive is the major contributor to your problem. I think I read somewhere that more than 20 bad sectors are definitely... well... bad.
So if there's any sensible data you wish to keep, better make a new back-up now. No further defragging or such to avoid any risk of damaging more sectors.

Good luck with the SSD and Win10! And please report back. 

[LouiseDeBlois]

Will do! Thanks again for all the help, will give updates when I get it all set up and adjusted

[LouiseDeBlois]

@Lillith Hapmouche

Hey, just updating you, got windows 10 Enterprise, along with an SSD running SL, the OS, and other files I want to have on hand. With my HDD running steam and everything else.

Secondlife is all fixed, and FPS has seemed to have boosted big time. On a sim I used to get 40FPS on, I now hit a high 70.

Thanks for all the help!

[Kyrah Abattoir]

Bad sectors means you need to replace this disk as soon as possible.

They never go away and like a small tear, it only grows larger with time. It's a good thing you caught it before it corrupted something important.