cavador_8 on 16/12/2014 at 03:29
I was messing around with my NVidia settings to see if I could eliminate the occasional micro stutter in Thief 2. Like when turning around suddenly in a large outside area I would occasional notice a slight pause. I have a GTX 980 with plenty of RAM and a 4.0 GHz processor. I also installed Thief 2 using the most recent Tafferpatcher.
I tried altering all settings in the nvidia control panel but nothing helped until I changed the threaded optimization from auto to off. After I turned this off the stuttering disappeared. I guess because this is an older game? I thought maybe the new dark patches would make this setting not matter but it really made a difference with my video card. Does everyone here play with threaded optimization turned off?
bikerdude on 16/12/2014 at 12:40
Probably worth submiting a bug tracker to nvidia, so in the next driver release T1/2 have that setting set by default.
cavador_8 on 16/12/2014 at 13:38
Hey BD, how's it going? :D
So, Thief 2 should be running with threaded optimization off? I can't believe I never knew this until now. I just never thought about it until messing with my nvidia settings. It does run much smoother with it turned off. Does the Darkmod need threaded optimization off too?
bikerdude on 16/12/2014 at 23:50
Quote Posted by cavador_8
* So, Thief 2 should be running with threaded optimization off? I can't believe I never knew this until now.
* Does the Darkmod need threaded optimization off too?
* I didnt know either till you spotted it, but I am not suprised. With my 970 I found power management had to be set to max with TDM untill I logged a bug tracker with nvidia and they fixed it in the following driver release.
* No, only Darkradiant needs it. But its not an issue because when the driver detects Darkradiant it turns off TO etc.
cavador_8 on 17/12/2014 at 01:13
Another NVIDIA setting that seemed to help too was changing anisotropic filtering from my global 16x to app controlled. I guess these two settings (threaded optimization and anisotropic filtering) were never intended to be used with the dark engine anyway.
One last tweak that really seemed to make a difference was that I was, unknowingly, using Realtek audio drivers from my pc for sound (speakers). I have onboard sound (no sound card). By using Realtek HD audio, I was unable to select hardware acceleration under the sound options in Thief 2. It was greyed out. Now I switched my sound to the Nvidia HD audio drivers. Now, I can select hardware acceleration in the Thief 2 sound options. This really seemed to make a difference. I am flying through even the largest missions at a full 60 fps with no slow downs.
