There is now a $10 reward for the one giving me the fixing tip!

I'm having a problem with the new LFS Z28 under Win7 x64.

The game has overall become very laggy. When I'm just out of the pits, and look around, it's immediately stuttering. Once I take a good look around, it's okay and the next time I look around its all fine without stuttering.

The real problem is, however, that whenever I hit something like a stack of tires head on, the whole game freezes up for about 0.5 seconds, then it resumes again. Everytime another car comes in visual range, I'm again experiencing micro freezes of about 0.2 seconds. It is very annoying.

Is it a setting I've missed? Is anybody else having this problem?

The specs surely arent the problem:

- AMD Phenom II 940
- 4GB DDR2-800
- HD5970
- DFI AM2+ motherboard
- G25 racing wheel.

Please help me.

Have you tried lowering the settings or resolution? What are your CCC 3D settings?

Honestly, lowering the settings when I have the best GFX card available to date? No sorry, my HD3870 pulled it off at the same settings.

The framerate is fine, normally above 160fps, but only when I actually HIT something (wall, tires, whatever), the whole thing locks up for a short moment, and then continues.

I tried disabling the ATi AI, as that is known to cause compatibility problems, but to no avail. The 3D settings are on "let the application decide".

It is crazy... I know, and which freq. is the CPU working on?

3600MHz, 24/7 prime95 stable. I've never had issues before, neither any instability, so I doubt that it's my overclock.

HD5970 runs at stock speeds.

Probably your sound drivers or in rare cases your video driver or some other setting.

Or... Some other useless program like a virus scanner.

Nothing to do with 7 x64 or z28, I'm using that too.

On a laptop.

This problem is kind of known, but nobody has really figured out any 100% working solution. You might want to check this thread (http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=59818).
From what I understand, this problem can be sound-related. You can try disabling sound in LFS whatsoever and see if it makes any difference (SHIFT+N kills sound in LFS IIRC).

I do have a somewhat less-known sound card, Asus Xonar Essence STX. Just updated the drivers for that, but that didn't help at all really.

Will read the topic you posted, thanks.

OK, it is not a sound problem. I disabled all my sound devices altogether, and the problem still persists.
Still weird though, when I hit Shift-A to see the sound setup, and start driving, it says "CLIPPING" in red in the right top corner whenever I hit a wall and the game locks up.
EDIT// Doesn't show "CLIPPING" when sound card is disabled, so still not a sound problem.

Maybe you're missing some sounds and the game tries to find them?

Check directx version and such stuff, do a diagnosis @ Run>Type"dxdiag".

Also, check for allkinds of .NET framework versions, for some reasons this kind of problem leads me to such thing. What if u try to run LFS X?

Quote from hazaky :

Check directx version and such stuff, do a diagnosis @ Run>Type"dxdiag".

Also, check for allkinds of .NET framework versions, for some reasons this kind of problem leads me to such thing. What if u try to run LFS X?

I updated DirectX and did DxDiag, nothing came up and it didn't help. Will check the .NET framework, haven't done that yet.

I also did a full reinstall of LFS, that didn't help. I dont think there are any missing files.

I updated soundcard drivers, didn't help. I shut down all non-necessary programs, like antivirus and MSN, didn't help either.

Oh and could you tell me what you mean by "Try to run LFS X"?

LFS patch X is an older version of LFS. It might be worth a try, but instead of LFS X I'd go for LFS P. IIRC it was LFS patch Q which introduced some fixes for Vista and since these weird lags affect Vista and W7 systems only it seems quite logical to me that these fixes could be the cause.
You can get the LFS P version here

Well I'll try that, but wouldn't that mean that I can't drive on online servers?

Yes, but it would also help pinpointing the problem so that devs could fix it...

Ok, will do so, but honestly, wouldn't that mean that my problem will be fixed only after several months from now?

Essentially, yes... that's assuming it will get fixed at all

OK, I tried Alpha P, and the exact same thing happens. Whenever i hit anything, shit happens. So apparently it's a new and unique problem. I'll now try to downgrade my drivers, and if that doesn't work I need some new suggestions.

Edit: 10.1 drivers didn't work, I even flashed a new bios in my HD5970, but to no avail. I'm out of ideas, i think the game is just not future proof yet.

wait, what moniter do you have..my lfs does similar to the same thing, it is related to the refresh rate in my moniter being off what the game wants it to be

i have decided to live with it rather then annoying people with my annoyance in not knowing these things.

so check the refresh rates, enable v-sync, or whatever the smart people say based on my post..sorry it really inst that helpful

i have a tv and it is not meant for gaming, soo....ya

I've got a Samsung 2443BW. I'll try the refresh rates, but honestly, the sound glitches too when I it something, so i doubt that it's the monitor.

I think it's just the game. I paid for it, but the game didn't pay off in the end. It is unplayable this way.

I'm quite sure that refresh rates and Vsync won't cause anything like this. Vsync can actually cause some performance problems.

Any chance you can install WinXP on that machine (perhaps borrow a HDD) and try it from there? I'm still quite convinced this problem has something to do with changes in Vista/7.

I've actually got a windows XP version still installed on another partition, but it's quite crippled. I'll see if i can fix it, will report back later.

Quote from Boxman90 :

I think it's just the game. I paid for it, but the game didn't pay off in the end. It is unplayable this way.

Thats why there is a demo version.

I paid for it when it worked, then upgraded my PC, then the game wasn't playable anymore. As i said, in the end it didn't pay off. The game - when playable - is great.

But let's not get offtopic. I want this problem resolved, badly.

Get your WinXP working and then we'll see...