Problem with stuttering lag when not using real fullscreen

[Outcast]

I would normally use the "real" fullscreen option that display the game in its choose resolution, but I have recently been developing games in much smaller resolution (480*320). I have noticed if I use the "Change Resolution Mode" as I use to with this small resolution I don't get the game resized or stretched out to my full screen width and length but I get a small window with a lot of black around. I understand this is because my monitors smallest allowed resolution to display in is 800*600.

To come around this I now use the "Maximised on Bootup" and "Rezise display to fill window size". This works great in stretching out the screen to look like fullscreen no matter what resolution I am really using. However I have noticed that my games have got some occasional stuttering and lag if not using the change resolution mode. It happens at very random times and does not seem to have anything to do with what is actually happening in the game. Some times it can go a while before I see it and other times it happens a lot. The frame rate counter stays stable though, but you can see the game is stuttering or some frames are skipped. It looks choppy and then the speed returns to normal after a second or two again.

This is only happening if not using the change resolution mode. If I use the real "Change Resolution Mode" the game runs butter smooth. Any ideas what to do or what is causing this?

[Outcast]

Have no one else experienced this? It is really getting on my nerves.. The game just keeps slowing down and stuttering at very random points that have nothing to do with what is actually happening in the game. And again, problem dissapears if running in "real" fullscreen.

[DaveC]

I'd recommend just using the ultimate full screen object.. it could be a runtime setting though, have you tried changing the display modes? I remember back in the day using resize to fill display absolutely crippled my games speed.. but I think that changed along with HWA or something.

[Outcast]

I have tried the ultimate fullscreen object, but it is the same. I have tried both direct 9 and direct 8 display mode. The thing it is not a regular performance issue, I see this with all my games no matter how simple and the stuttering is very random, also the actual frame rate stay at 60, it is just that the game stutters and looks like it is skipping frames sometimes, then it returns to normal. In real resolution changing fullscreen it runs butter smooth.. Is there any way to stretch the screen in real fullscreen if you have a small app like this? (480*320)? That would solve it, but as it is now if I go real fullscreen I just get a small window with a lot of black around because I use such a small resolution..

[SolarB]

You have probably tried this but could it be a vsync issue? I have a few projects with even smaller resolutions (160x90) and they seem to work fine with both ultimate fullscreen and regular resize in D3D9. I guess it could be a monitor issue, have you tried it on another PC?

I reported a stuttering issue with high framerate a while back but for me this problem occurs only with the non-HWA runtime.

[Outcast]

SolarB: Yes I have tried with and without Vsync. It is very random, and I have tried different computers to. It is really bad since it looks awful when the frames start to drop and stutter (There seem to be no indication of framedrop in the fps though)
I have no idea what to do really, again it does not do this if running in change resolution fullscreen.

[J3sseM]

Sorry to bump, I accidentally found this topic when looking for something else.

I had similar problem and it was driving me nuts, I found out that Windows AERO based theme was giving me some weird stuttering very randomly! Try to switch to Windows Basic and see if it still happens.

You have probably fixed the problem by now, but in case someone is wondering!

[Outcast]

J3sseM: I tried this now and it actually seems to work! I don't know if this "solves" the problem though since I assume most users have Windows AERO theme on? Is it default in Windows? I have not noticed this in other games so could it be some problem with the Fusion engine and this for some reason?

[J3sseM]

Yeah same here, it is weird to say the least. I don't think I have this problem with my older PC. (AMD gpu)
Currently I've NVIDIA gpu and still face these problems. I also noticed that at times I get sound related lag. Not sure we can do anything about this though. Real fullscreen seems to fix this, so if possible try to include that as a option.

[Outcast]

Yes I have noticed that Real fullscreen also seems to work, but for some reason mouse based games feel very strange when in real fullscreen, I guess it has something to do with the resolution change and the mouse needing to travel much less in a smaller resolution compared to the native one so it feels really wierd. Is there any way around that though?