Question Wondering what some log files are for / potential performance issue?

To preface, I have Raceroom installed on my SSD, however My Library folders are on a mechanical HDD array (Raid 0).
This means my profile, replays and log files etc, are all read / written to the mechanical drives.

I have been experiencing micro stutter, occasionally, but not with a frame drop, my fps is fairly consistent 80fps to 100fps (dependant on track / no. of vehicles), but I can still see the micro stuttering.

Looking through a few things, I noticed one called Performance.log which is 11mb and contains nothing but:
[Frame 7] Render time is 15.207 ms
[Frame 8] Render time is 15.678 ms
....
[Frame 54730] Render time is 13.632 ms
[Frame 54731] Render time is 21.066 ms

..Libraries\Documents\My Games\SimBin\RaceRoom Racing Experience\UserData\Log\Performance.log

Now, this seems to be session specific, similar perhaps to "Results/raceresults.txt" but does it really need to be writing stats out to a hard drive for every frame? Could this be the cause for the micro stutters, since the folder is compressed (I think) and compression also uses cpu cycles?

I have tried a few things I read on here, such as vsync settings, I use Gsync screens and my fps is always in range for that, but have tried with gsync off too. Just think this log file is a bit strange.

Is there any way to turn that log off?

Edit: Log file is constantly written to only when vsync is enabled in game.
Seems like a debug option left enabled by mistake, perhaps?

 

I doubt it, as all the ini files are hidden inside archives in this version of the ISI motor engine.

As for stutter it could be the timing for your screen is off. My log reads as:

• [Frame 22101] Delta time between frames is too small (rendered the same frame twice?). Delta time is 0.286 ms
• [Frame 22102] Delta time between frames is too small (rendered the same frame twice?). Delta time is 0.000 ms
• [Frame 22103] Delta time between frames is too small (rendered the same frame twice?). Delta time is 0.000 ms
• [Frame 22104] Delta time between frames is too small (rendered the same frame twice?). Delta time is 0.000 ms
• [Frame 22105] Delta time between frames is too small (rendered the same frame twice?). Delta time is 0.000 ms
• [Frame 22106] Delta time between frames is too small (rendered the same frame twice?). Delta time is 0.000 ms
• [Frame 35895] Delta time between frames is too small (rendered the same frame twice?). Delta time is 0.369 ms

The rest are all 0.000ms ( i didnt want to copy the while thing )

See if forcing render frames ahead set to 1 in the NV CP helps

 

I'm going to have a fiddle with things a little later, such as moving my libraries to ssd, trying different gpu driver version, turning off auto-replay saving etc, see if I can resolve it.

FWIW, its not terrible stutter, its also not constant, but it is noticeable.

 

My documents are moved also, i have them on a mechy HDD too. Have to these days as games stick way to much data in documents files and all this writing to an SDD is slowly killing it ( an SDD lifespan flaw) Its not worth having MyDocuments still on the OS drive anymore.

 

I also have my OS (win10) and Raceroom on my SSD and everything else on mechanicals. How do I move my docs file off the SSD so I don't get the issues above? When moved do applications just write to it as normal or do I have to redirect stuff?

 

Open File Explorer -> right klick on Documents on the left pane -> Properties -> Tab "Path"

 

Go to C:\Users\whatever your name is and right click the relevant folder, then select choose location, works a treat, its an invisible change everything carries on as normal, you can do virtually all the folders there, have your desktop, downloads, documents on a different hd to the os, if you ever need to reinstall or try another ver of windows you still have these locations that you can point to again..

 

But I do not understand the discussion about SSD lifetime, how many years do you use your PCs? My desktop PC Samsung 830 since November 2012 in use 12,5 TB written. We as normal user will not kill them on written Bytes and I saw also so many mechanical HD die.

 

See above image i posted. Windows relocates the folder to your desired location. Programs treat it the same way( as if it were still on C, as Windows hotlinks it

 

Ahhh, in the english version the tab is called "location". So many answers

 

SSD cannot be written to indefinitely that is just the way they work eventually they will not be able to write to blocks because they have been used. With a simple right click you can send much of the data that is written by games, to MY Documents, as shown above. SSDs do last a long time, you can make them last longer if you send My Documents, My Videos, My Pictures to larger Mech drives that can write to the same sectors over and over and over keeping your SSD free of the data and writing tasks as its already busy with OS work.

Its not necessary at all but IMO worth it

 

Yeah, its a good plan to have it on a secondary drive (as 3vil mentioned above).

FWIW, I'm not saying this log file is the cause of the problem, only just stumbled upon it.
But writing out what looks to be each frame (303,117 in total) to a text file just doesn't seem like a good plan. Especially on an SSD. Still seems like overkill and perhaps should only be doing so if a debug mode is enabled.

That's what... 303,117 / 80 (assuming 80fps) = 3,788 seconds = Just over an hours worth.
Which seems about right for the last session I played last night. Sometimes I can be playing for much longer.

I'm going to experiment with things anyway.

 

For what it's worth I think stuttering just is a thing with this game. I have a relatively low end system (gen3 i5, 1050ti, single screen) and get frame rates in the 80-90 region on mostly high settings but get stuttering, it's just enough to put me off and be really annoying. The only cure on my end is to turn on v-sync which people say can cause controller lag (I've never really noticed it tbh).

There may be some useful info here:

https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/stuttering.6496/

 

Odd, i looked earlier when you posted this and my log was empty from yesterdays session, i just had 20mins online on Nords and my perf log is empty again, maybe a windows or gpu driver setting.

 

I know but I think with actual SSD you will not exceed the TBW as an normal user. I. e. I cannot tell my business laptop (an now also the desktop) user to move data from SSD to HD because they do only have SSDs. I just build a PC for Rob and the 970 Evo there do have 300 TB TBW to be in the Samsung warranty, and it will not die just after this marker for sure. It's fine when you move it and feel better but I doubt it's necessary for a normal user in the usual lifetime of a PC. But for some people (I do not talk about us here) it do look like an obsession not to write to a SSD.

 

There isnt much point running at 80-90 on a 60HZ monitor (if thats what your are using) as the frame rate can and will stutter in this range. On ISI motor sims running at 60(16ms) , 120 (8 ms) or 150 is ideal (if you're on a 60hz monitor). If you cant run at 120 easily lower settings so you can, or use Nvidia Inspector and in the Raceroom Profile at an FPS limit to 60 so you get smooth frames and none of the input latency VSYNC "can" cause.

Note in NVidia INspector you need to add RRE exes and removes the "ms... somethig something.exe" that's there or it wont work.

 

Interesting... Do you run the 64 bit or 32 bit version? 64 for me.

 

Thanks, that makes sense. It is a 60hz monitor and I am happy at that frame rate, I will look at limiting the FPS and see if it has any positive effect. As I said I haven't noticed any lag (or I have just got used to it), I don't run an on-screen wheel so its not easy to tell.

 

Right, well, it seems that the log file in question is only constantly written to when Vsync is enabled, which may explain why (In other threads) vsync is a topic of discussion. Seems like the dev's left a debug option enabled.

Side note, I don't use vsync since I don't hit above 144 frames per second (144hz monitors) but I left it on and do use Gsync.
So I'll be leaving that off. I only have it on because its usually better if I do exceed the refresh rate (with gsync) due to frame timing (don't know the specifics, but I read about it).