Can anyone help, I stutter

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My game has a bad habit of stuttering. and Yes I do mean stuttering. It lags every 3 sec for a half sec and its annoying me out. is ther any patch that solves this problem. Its not hardware problem. I got Geforce 6200 and pentium 4, 1.7 mghz.

 

Are you using EAX? If so, disable it...
Do you have mods installed? (If you do, toss up your WeiDU.LOG file here so folks can help).

 

It sounds like the EAX problem, but is anybody able to use EAX without problems?

 

Stuttering is a classic problem when your game is running too many scripts, usually because of the characters in your party and/or the area in which you are located. Mods are the most likely cause, if it is a scripting issue. The more checks the scripts run each round, the longer the stutter will be.

But even a stock game will sometimes stutter on its scripts if your processor gets bogged down with another program/service/utility running in the background. You're on a fairly low-end processor, so you might try disabling your virus software and start-up programs.

It could also be a lack of RAM, VRAM or page memory. You might try lessening the load on the system by lowering your computer's rating in the BG2 configuration utility. Turning off hardware acceleration might help, too.

 

I don't really know what is EAX. I never turn on any additional program when I play this game. Is it really hardware problem? because my system is already 2 times what this game requires. This is my Weidu log in case its the problem

// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // Component Name
~SETUP-BP_S_AND_H_PATCH.TP2~ #0 #0 // Install BP s_&_h Patch version 7
~SETUP-BP_S_AND_H_PATCH.TP2~ #0 #1 // BP Nerfs: Based upon Hlidskialf's Nerf scripts, this component reduces the difficulty of some of the more troublesome creatures.
~SETUP-BP_S_AND_H_PATCH.TP2~ #0 #2 // NEJ-specific fixes
~SETUP-BP_S_AND_H_PATCH.TP2~ #0 #3 // Sureblade Nerf: Downgrades Rolf's sword to something more manageable
~SETUP-FR_ROV.TP2~ #0 #0 // Freedom's Reign (SoA or ToB)
~SETUP-FR_ROV.TP2~ #0 #1 // Reign of Virtue (ToB)
~SETUP-REDEMPTION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Redemption 1.2.0 requires BG2:ToB:Ascension v1.4.xx
~SETUP-REDEMPTION.TP2~ #0 #1 // New Portrait for Irenicus - for the Ascension/Redemption part only (from the 'Jon with blue flame' poster by Bio)
~IMOEN.TP2~ #0 #0 // 'Imoen Romance Add-on Mod BG2:SoA(ToB required!)v1.201'
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Infinite Weapon, Potion and Ring/Amulet Stacking
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #6 // Wear Magical Armor AND Magic Rings (etc.)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #11 // Allow Multi-Player Created NPCs to "Wait Here" When Kicked Out
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #12 // Turn Off The Hideous Cloak-of-Mirroring and Spell-Trap Animation
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #13 // Unlimited Bag of Holding (Blucher)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #18 // Imoen ToB Dialogue Fix
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #20 // Female Edwina

 

EAX is the environmental Audio setting that has older SoundBlaster16 and 32 (and some other models) soundcards render effects (echoes for caverns, etc.). By default, the configuration puts this on. If you go to Options from within the game (I think) you will see a checkbox for it.

Like many older games, having the best equipment for today's games causes some difficulties with older games. The 3D Acceleration is fine on some systems, and bad on others, probably because of the way newer drivers support (or don't support) OpenGL; the EAX sound options work fine on some systems and stink on others for the same reason - the audio drivers may or may not excatly mesh with the older requirements. This is a widespread problem (ask all the folks on the Rome:Total War forums about various Windows media players upgrades breaking things and strange audio behaviors... bleh... )

The good news is that EAX (and 3D Accel) really don't change the playing experience of the BG games. FPS games, it matters - in BG2, it really is hard to tell the difference. Standard advice is to

1. Disable EAX via the checkbox,

2. Run 3D Accel (OpenGL) only if it appears to speed up your game (and mostly it won't, because very little except possibly spell animations benefit from their use),

3. open the Task manger and strip out anything you can (most especially virus protection - no matter how fast the system, there are all sorts of strange things that can happen when virus protection is trunning in the backgroud),

4. avoid huge installs (unless you specifically want the Mega-Install experience) by loading only those mods and mod components you want to use in this articular runthrough (you can always take them out again using WeiDU and setup a new set of mods for your next game),

5. defragment your drive before installing and on a periodic basis

6. Check the forums for the mods that you want to use. Some mods have huge AI overhead/script checks (like installing Saerileth on the same install as the Boltomless Bag of Holding tweak, since her scripting runs a check for any evil items carried in the party so she can comment on them, which means that regularly she cycles through a zillion items in your bottomless bag, slowing thinsg down - this is *not* a bug, it is exactly intended behavior, just the unforseen consequence of installing that mod combination).

Some mods are worth the lag on systems that can handle it. SwordCoastStrategems and the upcoming SCS II for BG2, for example.

And so that you know you are not alone, I have an ancient Alienware P1.7, 2 GB memory, a GT5500, and I get lag on vanilla (unmodded) BG2 - SoA unless I turn off EAX, *enable* 3D Accel, reduce either the Ambient Sounds slider or the Music slider to 0, and avoid the really big mod loadouts.