JJXB wrote:

i'll redownload splinter cell and give it a try for myself (since i'm on a gtx980M laptop too) and will see about doing some records to confirm if there's any noticeable stutter for me at 1920x1080 or maybe even 1440x1080 for 4:3.

The stutter also existed on my previous laptop which had a 765M. I'm thinking it's just an issue with my settings somehow. If you manage to get it without any stuttering, tell me the settings you use.

Main thing to look for are when you first begin a level and when you first activate thermal, as the framerate stutters for a bit before going back to normal (and subsequent activating of thermal works fine, so I assume it's just some initial loading stuff).

well for some reason my splinter cell is acting really weird (upon loading a level from the levels menu, it goes ingame then the camera just flies up into the sky and the game crashes. lets me load an existing start of the level save for some reason though). but from what i have been able to test, i do get the stutter from the levels menu but not the existing level start save. oh and do you get a lot of window weirdness upon starting and loading into a level too? i reckon the stutter you might be seeing could be related to that if so.
edit: video of said behaviour (camera glitch is independent of dgVoodoo)
Video

JJXB, on a mobile NVidia GPU you too? Maybe it's Optimus.

Optimus? which one is that? the one that requires a restart between selecting GPU's or the one that doesn't? because i have a hardware button that selects between my dGPU and iGPU that requires a restart (i almost never use iGPU so i'm sure i'm on my 980M and have confirmed so in HWInfo which i use for the overlay combined with MSI afterburner). but if you look at the video i edited in, i get no framerate stutter on loading the ingame save that's at the start (you should see the stutter even with the camera glitch that's happening on the level menu load)

Optimus hotswitches the GPUs, no need to restart.

so i don't have optimus. (For reference, here's my laptop GT72 2QE)

And maybe an HW switch is the best choice to avoid Optimus issues.
But it's strange this is in mutual exclusion with Optimus, the 2 solutions can cohabit.

Still, good laptop 😁

http://www.alphr.com/gt-72-2qe-dominator-pro/ … ator-pro-review

In one slightly curious turn, MSI has taken the decision not to employ Nvidia’s Optimus graphics-switching technology – on the rare occasion you do want to use the CPU’s integrated graphics (frankly, we can’t think of many reasons why anyone would want to on such a heavy, high-performance laptop), it’s necessary to reboot the laptop.

JJXB wrote:

well for some reason my splinter cell is acting really weird (upon loading a level from the levels menu, it goes ingame then the camera just flies up into the sky and the game crashes. lets me load an existing start of the level save for some reason though). but from what i have been able to test, i do get the stutter from the levels menu but not the existing level start save. oh and do you get a lot of window weirdness upon starting and loading into a level too? i reckon the stutter you might be seeing could be related to that if so.
edit: video of said behaviour (camera glitch is independent of dgVoodoo)
Video

Hm, I don't get any of those camera shenanigans and the like. The game itself more or less works perfectly, it's just the stutter. I do know I get a windowed look of the game unless I force resolution to 1920x1080, at which point both the cutscenes and game play at that resolution and scaled. Could it be the resolution forcing that's causing the game to stutter?

It's not like it's a constant stutter. Basically, there's a brief stutter when the level starts, a brief stutter during certain transitions, and a brief stutter when first switching to thermal. And afterwards, it plays smooth, even with subsequent switches to thermal.

eh. as i said, i can see the hitch happen when i load from the level menu (even with the camera glitch) just no hitch when i load from an ingame save.

I've noticed the light beams in Splinter Cell 1 look like the ones used in projector mode even though the shadows in shadow buffer mode works. Here are some images of what I mean. The thicker beams are being done using dgVoodoo and the regular ones are done natively in shadow buffer mode.

JJXB wrote:

eh. as i said, i can see the hitch happen when i load from the level menu (even with the camera glitch) just no hitch when i load from an ingame save.

So hitching is normal? Hm. I hope Dege can resolve this issue soon then. The new Buffer shadows look beautiful (even if I have to get new strategies now because the shadows are different 🤣) and I want to play them smoothly.

ed_barber, good catch!

Also see the (NO) shadows on the floor comparing to projector shadows!

dgVoodoo2 + Projector mode:

dgVoodoo2 + Shadow Buffer:

Shadow Buffer (no fix):

lowenz wrote:

ed_barber, good catch! […]
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ed_barber, good catch!

Also see the (NO) shadows on the floor comparing to projector shadows!

dgVoodoo2 + Projector mode:

dgVoodoo2 + Shadow Buffer:

Shadow Buffer (no fix):

Some shadows are normally different between buffer and projector. Had to get some new strategies to clear certain rooms because places that used to be dark were lit.

Yes I know, but I remember Dege did tell something about the Training intro sequence scene.
Clearly in THAT scene the shadows are *wrongly missing* in Shadow Buffer mode, but maybe Dege already talked about.

Sunshaft thickness is really no problem (for me), and maybe is intended by Dege.

lowenz wrote:

ed_barber, good catch! […]
Show full quote

ed_barber, good catch!

Also see the (NO) shadows on the floor comparing to projector shadows!

dgVoodoo2 + Projector mode:

dgVoodoo2 + Shadow Buffer:

Shadow Buffer (no fix):

I just checked this on GF4 Ti on my old PC. It's normal, the shadows you want are not there. Projector and buffer cast out different shadows.

BUT, about the light, you are RIGHT. I can see smaller beams on my GF4 Ti.
So we have the shiny texture bug and now this.

EDIT: I could test this also on my original xbox but i had a look on youtube.
https://youtu.be/AivID1nVcCs?list=PLzdIPTXk89 … y92FGsql-ssJgZC

The sequence is the same, no shadows there, but smaller beams.

For a bonus watch at 5.28 to 5.32 time and compare it with the PC.. There's a small difference. But that's a problem with the PC port from day one. 😉

EDIT2:
Whatch the light on Lambert when he talks with Sam. When they are both very close. You can observe that there is a color to the light that falls on lambert(bald guy). I thought , at first that is my monitor set up wrong , but if you watch closely on the video is the same.

Play from 2.39 mark. You can tell there is a BLUE tint on Lambert. DgVoodoo wrapper does not render this.

So the scene shadows are clearly wrong since 2002 in shadowbuffer mode 😁
Projector mode shadows must be there in shadowbuffer too, with different positions of course, but must be there (they're the shadows of the window and plants beyond it).

lowenz wrote:

So the scene shadows are clearly wrong from 2002 in shadowbuffer mode 😁
Projector mode shadows must be there in shadowbuffer too, with different positions of course, but must be there (they're the shadows of the window and plants beyond it).

There are lot of differences between the 2 systems. The original(consoles) was buffer. The projector is fallback.

For ages people have been playing with this one(projector) and think this is normal.

Projector mode has been wrong since 2002. 😉

daniel_u wrote:

There are lot of differences between the 2 systems. The original(consoles) was buffer. The projector is fallback. […]
Show full quote

lowenz wrote:

So the scene shadows are clearly wrong from 2002 in shadowbuffer mode 😁
Projector mode shadows must be there in shadowbuffer too, with different positions of course, but must be there (they're the shadows of the window and plants beyond it).

There are lot of differences between the 2 systems. The original(consoles) was buffer. The projector is fallback.

For ages people have been playing with this one(projector) and think this is normal.

Projector mode has been wrong since 2002. 😉

I spent most of my time playing projector that I found some of my tactics I used to ghost past areas didn't work anymore and had to come up with new ones. Still a beautiful looking game.

I just wish dgVoodoo 2 didn't stutter like it did. It's not unplayable but it's still annoying nonetheless.

Your hw specs?