Counter-Strike 2 players claim they’re suffering from “unplayable” stuttering
Valve CorporationWhile the reception for Counter-Strike 2’s beta has been mostly positive, many players are claiming that severe stuttering makes the game “unplayable” for them despite, on paper, having high FPS.
Counter-Strike 2 is right around the corner, and players have begun jumping into matches on the game’s beta as it gets polished ahead of launch.
Despite it having much higher graphical fidelity than its predecessor, players on most PC configurations haven’t had any issues opening the game and getting it to run. However, some have noticed that they have some serious stuttering once they get into a CS2 match.
The Counter-Strike 2 reddit has been flooded with players asking for a solution to the problem, and, though some were able to fix it by enabling v-sync (which is more of a compromise than a fix), the issue seems to be plaguing much of the playerbase.
Counter-Strike 2 players demand fixes to stuttering issues
When it comes to having a smooth, high-FPS gaming experience, raw framerate isn’t everything. While having enough power to hit those highs is important, it’s just as crucial to have a consistent framerate and even frame pacing.
The 99th percentile measurement when it comes to framerate is essential when it comes to seeing how consistent your framerate is.
If you’re playing a game and it reads 250 FPS but your 99% FPS average is closer to, say, 100, the game feels like you’re playing at 100. But, when it comes to situations where the average is that far off from the peak, it’s likely a result of stuttering and, in the above example, an experience that feels much worse than a steady 100 FPS.
This brings us to CS2, where a user posted a video of their 99% average going from 60 to 110 to 70, all while their overall FPS displayed as 170. This is the kind of thing that causes severe jittering.
They weren’t the only one to complain, either. The Counter-Strike 2 reddit and Steam community page for the game have players claiming that they’re suffering from similar issues.
One user claimed that, despite having over 700 in-game FPS on a 240Hz monitor, they couldn’t get rid of the stuttering unless they turned on v-sync. For those who know how v-sync works, this doesn’t exactly solve the problem.
While locking the framerate to your monitor’s refresh rate can help create a smoother experience overall, it also creates input lag. In a competitive shooter like CS2 where every 1/16th of a second counts, input delay is never ideal.
It’s worth mentioning that stuttering could be a result of CS2 servers being a bit more loaded than they were before due to all the new beta participants, but, with the amount of players affected, there’s a good chance this isn’t the case.
It remains to be seen if Valve addresses the stuttering problem in a patch ahead of Counter-Strike 2’s launch.