Diablo II Frame Skipping Problems

I've been having a problem running DII (and by extension Median) on my computer. It boots fine and even runs fine for the most part. However, I experience frequent frame skips (I don't know how else to describe it). The game seems to desync and then catch up quickly. It's really disorienting, and it's frustrating enough that I can't quite enjoy the game the same.

I know that a more proper diagnosis would require more information than this, but I've tried running d2vidtest and switching to all three options available to me currently: DirectDraw, Direct3D, and Glide (Glide3-to-OpenGL Wrapper). I've also tried all three with -w (windowed mode), and in all cases I still experience these frame tears. I'm running on Windows 7 Home Premium with Intel Core i5 (2.5 GHz) processor, 8GB of RAM, and Intel HD Graphics 3000 video (laptop video card).

Is this a known problem with a documented fix, or should I provide video of what I'm talking about? It'd be a pain to provide, but I could record it on my phone and upload it if necessary.

Do you play SP or on TSW? It happens to me too when I play online, I guess because of connection problems, I don't think it ever happened on SP though. You can try setting compatibility mode to windows XP but I don't know how much that could help.

Food wrote:Do you play SP or on TSW? It happens to me too when I play online, I guess because of connection problems, I don't think it ever happened on SP though. You can try setting compatibility mode to windows XP but I don't know how much that could help.

It's on SP, although I'd imagine it'd happen on TSW as well. I'll change the compatibility as you recommended, but it seems like I've done that before with no change in performance. I don't remember if I've done that since I've got my current computer, though, so that very well may be the problem.

EDIT: Problem Solved! - I changed the compatibility for the Diablo II.exe, but it didn't do anything. However, I changed it for game.exe (and D2SE.exe, for what it's worth) and It's smooth now! Thanks, Food! If an admin wants, this topic can be closed.

Hi there i have a problem to the desync to and sometimes ping went from 70 to 1k :S is very painfull some time can any solves this? (bad english)

LordHaari wrote:
Food wrote:Do you play SP or on TSW? It happens to me too when I play online, I guess because of connection problems, I don't think it ever happened on SP though. You can try setting compatibility mode to windows XP but I don't know how much that could help.

It's on SP, although I'd imagine it'd happen on TSW as well. I'll change the compatibility as you recommended, but it seems like I've done that before with no change in performance. I don't remember if I've done that since I've got my current computer, though, so that very well may be the problem.

EDIT: Problem Solved! - I changed the compatibility for the Diablo II.exe, but it didn't do anything. However, I changed it for game.exe (and D2SE.exe, for what it's worth) and It's smooth now! Thanks, Food! If an admin wants, this topic can be closed.

I thought the problem had been fixed, and it's still running better than before, but I still have performance issues. Before, it would stutter even in town or lightly populated zones. Now, it still lags but mainly in more dense areas, but I haven't tested the severely more dense ubers and such. It was lagging for me in Tristram, I can't imagine how K3KBA, Vizjun, or really any of the other ubers would bog it down. What can I do to get consistent FPS?

Try running d2 with "-ns" property in the shortcut. If it doesn't help then can you post screenshots of your glide settings?

suchbalance wrote:Try running d2 with "-ns" property in the shortcut. If it doesn't help then can you post screenshots of your glide settings?

Thanks for the response, suchbalance. I tried running it with -ns, but it actually ran worse as a result. Here's four pictures of my Glide settings.

It could be because you are running it full screen with the "desktopresolution" mode on, which makes the resolution too high.

I would try to go for windowed mode with:
- Tick keep aspect ratio
- Disable vsync and set fps limit to 58.8
- In the static size dropdown select 1280x960 or 1024*768 resolution depending on how big you want the window

Now click on OpenGL infos -> Query OpenGL infos. Note the value it says under texture memory and make sure not to go over it in the "renderer" tab (dont go over 108mb). Reduce your texture size to 1024x1024. Enable 32bit rendering & shader gamma.

Finally in the extensions tab if you can see GL_EXT_vertex_array disable it.

Also bear in mind the hd3000 comes with old intel processors so I'm not sure how suitable it is for the job.

suchbalance wrote:It could be because you are running it full screen with the "desktopresolution" mode on, which makes the resolution too high.

I would try to go for windowed mode with:
- Tick keep aspect ratio
- Disable vsync and set fps limit to 58.8
- In the static size dropdown select 1280x960 or 1024*768 resolution depending on how big you want the window

Now click on OpenGL infos -> Query OpenGL infos. Note the value it says under texture memory and make sure not to go over it in the "renderer" tab (dont go over 108mb). Reduce your texture size to 1024x1024. Enable 32bit rendering & shader gamma.

Finally in the extensions tab if you can see GL_EXT_vertex_array disable it.

Also bear in mind the hd3000 comes with old intel processors so I'm not sure how suitable it is for the job.

I appreciate your help. I tried your recommendations, but it unfortunately did not manage to fix the problem perfectly. I guess as it is now, I'm just S.O.L. :c I can definitely still play, but it'll grind away my tolerance level before too long, I fear.