[SOLVED] Annoying graphics lagspikes

[Marko]

Hi guys, I installed windows 10 a couple of days ago, then there were some problems (as I was in the first wave of updates and got a shitty version obviously, I don't know, I read somewhere first wave had some problems nvm).

Anyway, since I reinstalled, when I play worms, everything seems fine for a couple of minutes, then I encounter one second (or shorter) lagspike that for some reason kicks my nerve so hard (usually in a middle of a trick or when darting or in a brr), I'd just take the fkin laptop and send it away through the window.
It can't be a virus since the windows is new, plus Defender is doing it's job (I hope), I've installed latest graphics drivers, did disk cleanup, didn't defragment since it was formatted before.
I've checked for bad sectors on HDD and there were none, thankfully since the laptop is relatively new.
This has gotten me so furious, that I completely lost my will to play, as much as I love the game, I can't do shit about it and I'm sick of looking like a retard with "omg, can you believe I lagspiked for the fifth time?" every couple of times I fail.
I spent hours on internet trying to find a solution, but most of the threads were left with no replies.
I just tried wknolag (or whatever it's name is) with no luck.
I didn't set the process to high priority since wormkit above does that I guess.

I used Direct3D Shader, and CPU and Direct Draw, DirectDraw looks like crap, and CPU and Shader both work fine untill what I mentioned above starts happening.
Also, I always suspected it was maybe about vertical sync, but when I disable any of the offered vsync options, situation gets worse, but not in a way it usually is, but terrain starts looking retarded when I do a fly (when a worm is moving fast anyway).

I'm just checking windows for damaged/missing/corrupt files, if that doesn't yield any results, I'm out of ideas and I'm done with trying, so please, if anyone has any logical solution other than all of the above, please help..?

Specs:
CPU: Intel i7 4510U @ 2,6GHz
Graphics: Nvidia Geforce 840M 2GB
RAM: 8GB
HDD: 1 TB + 8GB SSD (no SSD available to use, it's for something...baaah I forgot)

Anyway, whoever helps me solve this, I will be thankful forever. Because I'm out of patience and ideas...

[StepS]

First of all, instead of trying to blindly look for the cause, do some logging. Open the task manager, switch it to the Performance tab and minimize it. Play the game, and as soon as lags happen, check what graph might have spikes (CPU, RAM, HDD, etc.), and go further from that. Seriously, dude.

Defender is doing it's job

Defender doing its job (wasting HDD cycles, slowing down some applications or causing stutter) was a common issue in Windows 8 and it seems to have been fixed or improved in Windows 8.1. But like already said, you need to check real-time graphs in order to be sure.

[Marko]

When I said it, I really meant it. Defender's impact on startup isn't even noticeable, as opposed to Avira I previously used for example.
I'll check it, actually I already did it, but at the time I forgot I left sfc/scannow running, so when the lag happened, for a couple of seconds processor jumped to ~60% and got back to around 5% I think.

I'll check for some software which can actually store the logs somewhere as task manager covers only a minute and I probably still won't get many answers. Thanks!

EDIT: It seems perfmon should do the job, I'll be back with results soon!

[Marko]

Hey.
Well, I first started logging from resource monitor, logged all 4 CPU cores and hard disk utilization, read/write etc.

No spikes anywhere, but processor utilization was constant, I guess I marked something wrong so I simply opened task manager as you said and when spike happened, I went there and checked.
Nothing at all, processor ~3-4% all the time, hard disk would maybe spike up to 10%, while memory was around 27% all the time.

I guess it's worms then, I'll try reinstalling or something.

[Marko]

Scanner found no corrupt Windows files or any files missing.
Reinstalling still didn't help.

Now as I'm playing, every time the lag happens, I check performance at task manager and there's almost no spikes at all.

By the way, games such as Hearthstone and Heroes of the storm aren't lagging like that. I don't know what to do anymore, I'll try hard disk for bad sectors...

[j0e]

Same thing happened on my old laptop. Every 5 minutes or so the whole thing would freeze for half a second. Even if I was just browsing the web. There was a sound associated with it which may have been a fan. You could try a cooling pad. I tried punching a hole in the screen but it didn't help.

[Sensei]

I tried punching a hole in the screen but it didn't help.

well.. you killed me, don't know for the others!

[Marko]

I don't know what to do anymore to be honest. It's not overheating, even though I ordered some kind of hoovering fan from ebay, but with worms, temperatures don't rise at all and when I play Heroes of storm, after fifth game, graphics temperature now at summer hits 75C degrees and still no problem, but I still let it cool a bit to prevent damage.
I've tried using Intel HD graphics and Nvidia geforece 840M so I'm not even sure if it's graphics problem.

Imagine this, I'm so pissed.
Yesterday I had to wait half an hour to chat with someone from Nvidia, after I wrote him a bible, we talked a little bit and he suggested a couple of option changes.
I test, everything works flawlessly for around 5 minutes, I thank him, close the chat, get back to play some more....the same f@#!ing second the lag had started again....

I'm really out of ideas this time. Ran chkdsk and hard drive sentinel to check for errors on hard disk as I've had a similar problem in windows 8.1 generally, it would start freezing because disk usage was at 100%, but here it seems it's not the case.

What else to do....I don't fkin know....and I do not intend to find out, nobody spends three whole days trying to figure 1999 game out and then fails, this is an embarassment.

[Xrayez]

I have this similar issue (or the same) but only when my torrent client is running.

[Marko]

Doesn't seem to be the issue for me :/
I have shitty internet, 5MBps/0,4Mbps, so having torrent turned on affects my connection greatly, that's why I always keep it turned off unless I'm downloading something, and if I am I don't play because I lose my mind

[Marko]

Bump... problem not nearly solved.
Tested my roping skills a couple of times, seems like my brain is starting to shrink in rope related tasks..:/
Haven't had a good game in a month or so.

[Marko]

Well.....http://prntscr.com/877itp
/fingerscrossed

[Marko]

UPDATE:
The problem has been reduced severely by disabling XBox's game bar in options of the XBox app. Still, sometimes, rarely, but it still happens and it's still annoying me.

In fact, I can't find any more pleasure in playing worms since I always feel like the game is about to start stuttering or something, but I'll try to work on eliminating the rest of the lag and inform people on the solution in case anyone else starts having any more problems.

Steps and the rest of tech support team, in case you guys want to help, you're welcome

[Marko]

I think I have finally solved my problems with lag, thank god.

OK, so in order for people to identify their problem more easily, I'll recap a bit.

Description:
Occasional lag which also freezes sound in a buzzing pattern. It's not network related as the lag happens even when I play.

How I solved the problem and possible causes I eliminated:
First, like always, after a fresh windows reset, I put my laptop to High Performance mode in battery settings.

After playing around a bit, I think my integrated graphics for some reason shows better performance at worms than my NVidia.
I have a hybrid drive (1TB+8GB SSD), so as most SSD users recommend turning superfetch off, I tried it even if it's not really an SSD, but only has one part of it.
Still, this seemed to improve overall performance of my laptop greatly.
I also turned on XBox app and disabled the game bar (second tab in settings)
Also, one last thing, but in my opinion the main suspect here was disabling NVidia's sound drivers as shown in figure below:


I can't say for definite the problem is solved as I'm always somehow expecting lag and I simply can't believe I finally solved it.

Also, I fixed my lag, this means Sensei is going shopping for a keyboard!
Hoooraaay!

[Sensei]

Should rename "Marko" to "Problem solver" haha. Gj there. And HCP soon will officialy start to play some clanners. So if any1 is interested in getting easy pts, speak to me or my teammate!