Is the stuttering issue with Outcast 2 - A New Beginning fixed yet? I had wanted to play this game at launch but experiences with the demo were not good. There was a constant microstutter. With the finishing product people also reported that problem. What is the deal now in September of 2024?

Update:

While testing in another post further below, I disabled DLSS and the CPU usage was low. Maybe they improved CPU in later updates for the game, idk. It changes some of the below as a result. DLSS doesn't look like its really necessary anymore. But, I'm not going to do any further testing at this point. Not really sure what happened.

This test showed a little more stuttering than I had seen in the below edit. No idea why. Low quality settings appeared to be smoother at 60 fps this time around with less stuttering. Maybe as I was pushing the hardware with unlocked fps, so it could be have been throttling at bit when I did these tests? Ultimately unknown and not looking into it any further.

Edit:

I upgraded the motherboard, CPU, and PSU, split 32GB RAM to 16GB for two system, and moved NVMe drive without clean install. Also, ReBAR isn't in use for both setups.

With this, 30 fps it looks to stutter a bit, but unlocked up to 60 fps, it doesn't stutter or I can't see it at Ultra with DLSS DLAA (after a few minutes, as the first few minutes it does). Tested twice to same result. Its possible with the previous older combo of parts that this may be the same as higher fps wasn't tested there. But, went all over the map and after the first few minutes, couldn't see any stutters at higher fps. With a clean install, they do a full shader compilation so it should be the same that way.

There are people that understand performance incorrectly with this game such as seen on Steam. If you have an AMD or Intel GPU, you will have worse performance as CPU usage will be far higher without DLSS. They don't have the others implemented. Maybe they will do another patch with one or both of the other two in time but that is unknown. It could be that a higher core and thread CPU may offest lack of DLSS but this wasn't tested. Fantastic CPU cooling or alternative to stop throttling may as well but also not tested.

RAM speed has no influence*. Tested with higher values and lower values at 30 fps to no difference.

Using NVMe at plenty of speed so storage speed also has no influence*.

PSU has no influence*.

Motherboard has no influence*.

OS version has no influence* as I've previously tested the demo on Linux although the demo is not reflective of the release since many performance changes in the game were made since then.

CPU. High end, high cores and threads might offset needing DLSS. But, I'm not testing that. If you have a lower core and thread CPU, and AMD or Intel GPU, you have a double negative disadvantage here. However, a CPU that doesn't throttle either high or low end will do better at higher usage anyway and will have an advantage there.

GPU. From what I understand from other posts, GPU high end vs low end ultimately isn't of any real influence with stutters. Just produces higher or lower fps. All my tests and reflections here here are run on the same GPU. Not testing another at this time.

Mostly it looks like DLSS and how fps is used are necessary for less stutters. Certain monitors may possibly also introduce a problem. System problems like cooling not working properly, dust, bad OCing, issues with the hardware itself such as Intel 13900k and 14900k CPUs, or other issues could also be a problem for stutters. In-game quality settings may be useful in helping depending on the system.

*Obviously, problems where these things are not working correctly with the above no influences could influence. No influence is to be understood within reason.

As there's a lot of stuff in computing today, I may have missed something.

Original:

The simple answer is: Yes it still stutters. More or less depending on the computer. Stuttering is not really a simple answer though.

They tried their best, working on it for 4 whole months after release. Considering this is Appeal, I expect no further patches (but never know as that was a lot more work on patches than Second Contact).

I restricted to 30 fps though and that can act weird in some game over eg 60 fps. This was not tested here by me.

The consoles, when I tried the demo there, did a ton better. So, if it bothers you, that would probably be the better way to go if you can go that way.

I did not test it on Linux and the experience could be different (therefore better is a possibility) as they worked on Steam Deck support after release.

Used the default dx12. When I did test dx11 previously, whenever that last time was, it wasn't any better for me.

Higher quality settings can cause stuttering etc from modern day hardware throttling. Etc. So, its not always the game at fault. Throttling can be a manufactuer or user created situation.

If you want low CPU usage, have to use DLSS. That's about all it does here is highly lower CPU for whatever reason. High CPU use has more potentional to cause stutters from CPU throttling.

Thanks for replying to my post. DLSS is not afforded to my RX 5700 XT and so it sounds like I shouldn't get this. Unfortunate as I really wanted to play it.

You could try it. Looks like GOG's refund policy is agreeable to that, but don't think I've ever used it. But, definitely will have far higher CPU usage. That may or may not be a problem depending on each computer.

I'd play it anyway but I very much like this game. It is a polarizing game, so you will either like it enough to play it anyway, or will be unhappy.

Update: Add FSR and XESS, Frame gen, to the game :)

OptiScaler is compatible with Intel, AMD, and Nvidia GPUs.

It might be that all GPUs are compatible with frame gen here. I tested on an Intel Iris xe iGPU at 10 fps regular and 20 fps with OptiScaler FSR 3.1 + frame gen. Looks like it adds some usage to the CPU to do it and that doesn't appear to be an issue here on this hardware as the iGPU is the bottleneck anyway being below minimum (the CPU usage was low to begin with).

It takes the game's DLSS and hooks XESS, FSR to it. I tested frame gen as working using Nvidia 2060 with FSR 3.1 and OptiScaler's inbox optifg. Even for Nvidia, this is actually better than the game's default DLSS. Goes from about 90s fps to about 130 fps (quick test standing still in one spot, fps not exact, how well it holds up is not yet tested). Did a minute test while moving and still good, but that's it so far.

Any effects on stuttering? I don't really it it helping with it at Ultra settings. Unlocked fps 100+ or locked 30-60 fps. Low settings without OptiScaler and at 60 fps might be the smoothest to me during this test. I only tested OptiScaler at Ultra. It appears to work fine with good CPU and GPU usage and higher fps. Didn't notice any notable (to me) differences beyond this and DLSS. Some setting choices will make things worse. XESS, also appeared similar at 30 and 60 fps. Without frame gen also appeared similar at 30 and 60 fps. I'm not testing any further at this point.

1) Download OptiScaler (currently nightly builds are used for releases) https://github.com/cdozdil/OptiScaler/releases

2) Extract

3) Place extraced files at "...\Outcast - A New Beginning\O2\Binaries\Win64\"

4) Double click the installer bat (deal with Windows security and run it). Can do a manual based install but there's no need to unless Windows security isn't understood or set to "deny everything" mode. The instructions for manual are on the main github page of the mod. Using the installer bat is faster and easier.

5) Choose default dxgi.dll naming.

6) Choose Nvidia, AMD/Intel as appropriate

7) To save time, open OptiScaler.ini in notepad

8). Change all three upscalers to fsr31_12 for the 1st one and fsr31 for the other two (just change all to avoid confusion as how you start the game changes dx version, etc. However, could just change the necessary one.)

9) Under FrameGen, change this to optifg from auto (not necessary but it makes it a known constant which avoids confusion and avoiding confusing is a good idea)

10) Under OptiFG, set enabled = true

11) Save config file and start the game (recommended to start from normal shortcut for dx12. Exe's may start using dx11. You will know as dx11 doesn't do PSO cache build/checks on start. Dx12 is recommended use over dx11. Unless of course GPU doesn't support dx12.

12) I believe DLSS is enabled in the game by default. It needs to hook into it (OptiScaler makes it compat with non-DLSS GPUs so it may be confusing to understand), but am not fully sure as I always have it enabled. If its disabled, then just enable that in the game's settings to enable OptiScaler. Can also disable DLSS in the game's settings to disable OptiScaler and compare. The sub DLSS setting doesn't matter on non-DLSS GPUs here.

13) If the in-game hud is blinking during movement, can press INSERT, enable the hud fix. Default value should work. Close OptiScaler menu. Its noted that this OptiScaler setting may cause crashing. Perhaps that will be improved in time. Not tested here long enough to know if it will cause crashing with this game (the game may rarely crash anyway so crashing may or may not be an indication).

Further info:

A. Once the game starts, you can press keyboard key INSERT to bring up the OptiScaler menu. If it does not come up with INSERT, something changed, or you did not install it correctly.

B. Its possible there are bugs in OptiScaler, GPU compat issues, or maybe config changes needed for other GPUs that I don't know about. But, if all is good, you will have frame gen with much higher fps.

C. Can uninstall OptiScaler by double clicking the uninstall bat file. It currently doesn't work right, so if it still doesn't, it may leave some files. Just manually delete the leftover OptiScaler included files there to finish what it missed.

D. If you have the game setting's fps limit enabled, vsync, or other fps limiting software enabled. May need to disable them to fully understand fps changes here.

E. XESS, other FSR versions, etc not tested here by me. This is not an exhaustive test of OptiScaler with this game. I did not test for instance, if on Nvidia GPUs, DLSS + frame gen works, or anything else.

F. Change the above OptiScaler settings in the config or INSERT menu to whatever for other variations as needed. This is just an example of a working use for FSR 3.1 + frame gen.

G. The OptiScaler menu fps can be incorrect. I just use Windows gamebar WIN key + G, pin performance box, exit overlay and it will show correct fps. But, there's other fps overlay software available, so use whatever you want.

For a different fps issue:

Also supposedly, there's a fps unlock mod for cutscenes. I didn't look into this as I don't care enough. But, cutscenes will most likely stutter, and I didn't test cutscenes with all of the above tests in this post and thread. Ultimately, the entire game needs to be tested with it. One cutscene or some won't be enough.

This is my last post here. I will not make any further edits to any post here. Done looking into this stuff and moving on.