Pinball FX2 Win8 store stutter

[Ruined]

Hi,
Trying to run Pinball FX2 from the windows 8 store and there is severe stuttering during game play on surface pro 3. Can some others try to see if your surface pro 3 has same problem? I fear it is due to throttling. Thanks!

 

[Ruined]

No surface3 owners have pinball fx2?

 

[onlysublime]

try turning down the resolution. it'll help as the Intel graphics are as terrible as ever. I have an Acer S7 with Core i7 (8GB RAM/256 GB) with a screen resolution of 2560 x 1440 and even simple games like Pencil Blade will have stuttery graphics. Switched it to 1920x1080 and it's just as fast as my Surface Pro 2.

Lucky for me, but maybe not for you, the Surface Pro 2 has the same screen aspect ratio as the Acer Aspire S7 so going from 2560 x 1440 to 1920x1080 kept the same full-screen aspect ratio. You might have black bars because of the 3:2 screen. Or worse yet, stretched graphics.

And one more question... Are you playing in vertical mode? I love that for pinball and it's one of the best reasons to have portrait mode. Makes it feel like a totally different experience.

 

[xboxonthego3]

Hmm I think I remember trying this and remembering it stuttering about. I will have to try this again before and after the resolution change. It's funny how a game like pinball can be such a problem.

 

[onlysublime]

Intel graphics are just not meant for graphic-intensive tasks like gaming. All Intel graphics are really good for is basic tasks and video. With that kind of resolution, you really need a beefy AMD or Nvidia card, not mobile graphics.

 

[xboxonthego3]

I know that. I never expected it to play games well. But I can play Skyrim decently and Borderlands 2 on low settings. so I'm somewhat surprised with what it can do as well.

 

[jrohland]

I just played Mars on my i5/8/256 with high graphic quality. The image is fast and smooth. Flappers are quick as is the ball. Nudge worked well. I have no complaint except I don't play skillfully. I will ask for opinion from a hard core gamer.

 

[jrohland]

By the way, I am playing in portrait and I am NOT signed in to Live.

 

[jrohland]

OK the gamer I know says it's jittery in some activities but the game play seemed fine. He tried different quality settings but those changes didn't make much difference.

 

[mrZoSo]

I get no stuttering here. On certain tables, depending on how much is going on, I can tell when the GPU is getting pushed and the FPS drops but it's still pretty smooth at those times.
I'm running it on an 8GB SP3 and I have updated the video drivers to the latest version.(have to do this manually with the 'have disk' method)

 

[jrohland]

Yesterday I turned on Hyper-V and modified my custom power plan to turn the Intel graphic performance up to high. Then I asked the hard-core gamer to try it again. He pronounced it very fast and completely smooth.

Unfortunately, I started having the dead Wi-Fi when coming out of sleep. Since I am not using it for gaming, I reverted the SP3 back to the System Restore point I made before changing this stuff.

 

[onlysublime]

Pinball FX2 is supposed to run at 60 fps. You need that, especially for pinball, which requires precise timing (otherwise, you're just banging a ball around the field). If you notice any frame drops, you're mostly likely running closer to 30 fps.

 

[mrZoSo]

Usually below 25-30 fps is when you start noticing stuttering.If it where to get 30-40 fps consistently, it would be perfectly fine.

 

[onlysublime]

Even 30 fps sucks for pinball. Pinball is all about precision. At 60 fps, the ball movement actually looks pretty real and you can control how you move the ball around a lot easier.

You compare a 30 fps shooter game versus a 60 fps and it's night and day the difference.

 

[mrZoSo]

I have no problem controlling the ball on the SP3. Like I said, it's playing smooth for me and only notice the FPS drops in certain situations, and it's no biggie at that point.

As far as shooter games, difference between 30 and 60 is noticeable but I wouldn't go as far as night and day difference. I play a lot of FPS(First Person Shooter) on my main rig. I like the eye-candy and crank up the details and try and keep fps from dropping below 45-50 especially in multiplayer games. Back in the day we would cap the game at 30fps, but games and the way it used data for multiplayer was a lot different, but that's for another thread on another forum

 

[Ruined]

I have discovered this has to do with power saving on the device.

If Surface Pro 3 is plugged in, Pinball FX2 is perfectly smooth. (like 60fps)
If Surface Pro 3 is on battery, Pinball FX2 is very choppy (like 10-15fps).

Note that this game runs perfectly smooth on an Atom Bay Trail on battery.

I will send a message to the dev, see if they have any ideas.

 

[onlysublime]

can you get into the BIOS (if there is one on the SP3)? I remember I had that kind of issue with an older laptop. There was a setting in the BIOS to throttle the GPU if running on battery.

 

[Ruined]

I decided to return Surface Pro 3. Not just because Pinball FX2, but it seems many games and even some apps cause the machine to throttle. It is rather evident to me that this chassis design was probably for the Intel Broadwell series and due to its delay they decided to push it out with a handicapped Haswell. When it gets hot, I experience slowdown in games, occasional game crashes, and in one case even part of the touchscreen stopped responding. I don't think I have a defective Surface - look at all the throttling threads when this machine is put under load.

In summary, fantastic design but wrong CPU choice. They should have lowered the price and put an Intel Atom Bay Trail in this or only offer the i3 model, as the chassis/fan design cannot handle i5/i7 haswell under sustained load so why charge people for a premium i5/i7 CPU that will be severely throttled under load? Seems like you are just charging for specs!

 

[jc-Treo]

I decided to return Surface Pro 3. Not just because Pinball FX2, but it seems many games and even some apps cause the machine to throttle. It is rather evident to me that this chassis design was probably for the Intel Broadwell series and due to its delay they decided to push it out with a handicapped Haswell. When it gets hot, I experience slowdown in games, occasional game crashes, and in one case even part of the touchscreen stopped responding. I don't think I have a defective Surface - look at all the throttling threads when this machine is put under load.

In summary, fantastic design but wrong CPU choice. They should have lowered the price and put an Intel Atom Bay Trail in this or only offer the i3 model, as the chassis/fan design cannot handle i5/i7 haswell under sustained load so why charge people for a premium i5/i7 CPU that will be severely throttled under load? Seems like you are just charging for specs!

I can confirm that it runs great on my new i7 when plugged in, but terrible studder on battery.

But- If the problem with the machine is that it can't handle the haswell heat, the throttling should occur not only on battery, but also when plugged in, no?

 

[Peter England]

I would say the throttling is happening when not plugged in to save battery life. Do other Connected Standby devices do it? And what happens when you disable CS and put it in High Performance mode? Does throttling still occur?

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