Hitching scrolling

[Mr_Blastman]

First, thank you for all your hard work on this project! It looks awesome!

With that said, I've observed a strange issue with trying to play it: the scrolling hitches! It isn't smooth like the SNES version of the game, it "jerks" and will be smooth for a couple paces, then hitch, then smooth, then hitch... it's driving me bonkers!

I have this issue with 1.3x and 2.0x. However, I don't have it at all with the unofficial 1.4x versions of the game.

Specs:

3770k @ 4.2Ghz
16 Gigs RAM
Windows 7 64-bit
Nvidia 670 GTX

Any ideas on how to fix this?

[The0x539]

Is there a difference with fullscreen (stretched) vs windowed (with the window just left to sit at 800x600)? Redigit's engine is bad at scaling.

[Mr_Blastman]

Nope, they're both the same.

[The0x539]

Can you share what this looks like?

[Mr_Blastman]

Sure, it looks identical to the hitching in this video:



Notice how the scrolling isn't smooth, it jerks.

[The0x539]

Sure, it looks identical to the hitching in this video:



Notice how the scrolling isn't smooth, it jerks.

I don't see anything out of the ordinary, I'm not seeing any stutter and it's staying completely in sync with the player.

[Mr_Blastman]

Oh it's definitely there. If you pay close attention you'll see it smooth, then skip, smooth, then skip. The background and foreground probably skip once a second or so, with smoothness between. That's the "hitching," it isn't fluid and smooth 100% of the time.

[TLtimelord]

I don't see anything out of the ordinary in that video.

[Hoeloe]

Oh it's definitely there. If you pay close attention you'll see it smooth, then skip, smooth, then skip. The background and foreground probably skip once a second or so, with smoothness between. That's the "hitching," it isn't fluid and smooth 100% of the time.

Nope. That's not happening. If you're seeing that it sounds like your computer is stuttering, which is nothing to do with SMBX and is likely either your processor or your monitor.

[Mr_Blastman]

It's there, I've had multiple people with different machines watch the video. They all see the jerks in the scrolling. Look at the tall rectangles in the background. Smooth-jerk-smooth-jerk-smooth-jerk...

I don't have this issue with the direct 3d version of the game.

Very strange.

[The0x539]

the direct 3d version of the game.

What?

[Mr_Blastman]

1.4x - the Russian version.

Look, you can see the hitching in this video:



Watch the foreground and background.

[The0x539]

Ah yes, the piece of software that, behind the scenes, has no code in common with Redigit's SMBX. What a surprise that they wouldn't share an issue.

Nope, still not seeing it.

[Hoeloe]

1.4x - the Russian version.

Look, you can see the hitching in this video:



Watch the foreground and background.

Honestly, there's nothing there. The only time the background scrolling slows is when the player does too, which is perfectly intentional.

I don't know what you're seeing, but it's not an issue with the game.

[Mr_Blastman]

Play it back at 0.25x speed on Youtube and watch the background closely. Watch how it starts to scroll and then periodically starts to warp to the left every several frames as it is scrolling. The pixels aren't moving at a consistent leftward speed--they move smoothly, warp, smoothly, warp.

I know it is doing it because I've had many people confirm they see it too now.

[The0x539]

Can you capture this on camera?

[Hoeloe]

I saw what I think you've been seeing, but I believe it to be some sort of optical illusion.

To test it, I tried an experiment:


The red line in this gif is moving at a perfectly constant speed, as is the player. If this "hitching" you're referring to were actually occurring, the background would gradually shift relative to the line. As you can see, however, it does not.

It's likely that the cause of this is SMBX's framerate.

SMBX runs at about 64 frames per second, but most monitors can only display at 60. Because of this disconnect, the monitor has to catch up every now and then, which could be causing this "hitching" you're talking about.

Basically, you can blame Redigit for this.

[Mr_Blastman]

Very interesting!

That picture isn't perfectly smooth on my monitor nor my LED television. So is there a way to have SMBX output at 59 or 60 FPS?