[435] Character periodical run animation hitch (I'm not crazy right?)

[Sensuki]

Characters in this game have always had a periodic hitch in their run animation since the very first beta. I thought it might just be a simple performance stutter, but after some investigation I actually think it's a problem with the animation itself, and a particular 2-3 animation frames are causing the issue (I am not an animator, but that's just what it looks like to me).

 

It's hard to capture in a video, but I think it's fairly noticeable in the game. You won't notice it if you're panning the camera though as camera panning is tied to the frame rate, and the frame rate is not steady in this game (for most people) so the camera stuttering will obscure the animation hitch.

 

If you leave the camera still though and use your peripheral vision, you should be able to detect it.

 

I made two videos here, one of me running characters around in the game, and a second frame-by-frame investigation of the issue, where I *think* I found the cause/problem animation frame(s) during the run animation on the BB Priest, specifically.

 

 

I think the problem is (shown in the above video between 2:01 and 2:02 is that during the run animation, there is a large gap in the position of the character's front leg and when they hit the ground, their (in this case the BB Priest's) body is also at a different slant when they land, and possibly also on the frame after, so it looks like they jerk/glitch.

 

 

There's definitely a hitch there though, and I may just be conjecturing about it being the animation frames but I think it's noticeable enough to warrant reporting.

 

I would appreciate if some other backers could have a look at that too, with the BB Priest running slightly diagonally from top left to bottom right in a similar manner to see if they too can see the hitch, just to make sure I'm not crazy.

 

It's also still possible that it's caused by a microstutter, or maybe a glitch in the animation. It always happens to me but not always in the same place.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Sensuki

[BrainMuncher]

I downloaded the 720p youtube video and examined it. The were many hitches that appear to be duplicated frames.

 

It is difficult to draw solid conclusions due to the fact that:

a) it's a fraps video, and not necessarily indicative of the actual output

b) fraps is known to interfere with the workings of some games

c) who knows what youtube may have done to the video you uploaded

d) I don't know at what framerate you recorded the video (the youtube vid was 30fps)

 

 

However I think it's safe to say that it is not the run cycle itself. This is because:

a) The animator would have to be blind to not notice a hitch when authoring the animation loop

b) The animation of the river water also paused on the same frames that the running did

c) On some occasions the when the animation freezes for one frame, the fog of war does not also freeze

 

You can see examples of c) in frames 2679-2680, 2764-2765, and 3263-3264 of your 720p youtube video.

 

Here is an ultra-slowmo, showing the frame number of the youtube video on the left. You can see that on frame 3264 the fog of war continues to recede while the animation is paused.

 

(right click, save as)

[Sensuki]

Thanks for the analysis  It's not a FRAPS video though, it's Bandicam (although probably similar)

 

I recorded the video in 30 FPS H.264, and then compressed it with Handbrake before uploading it to youtube.

I might make some more 60 FPS videos to try and catch it a bit better.

 

 

 

c) On some occasions the when the animation freezes for one frame, the fog of war does not also freeze

 

This could be what the hitch/glitch I'm seeing is.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Sensuki

[Sensuki]

If you've got time @BrainMuncher, can you analyze this or tell me how to make that frame-by-frame counter vid?

 

 

The hitching was definitely occuring in the game for me when I recorded this but the video doesn't show it as obviously because it's smoother.

 

run it at 60FPS

Recorded in 60FPS @ 60Hz, 60 FPS video, H.264 compressed into Handbrake souce frame rate

Edited February 10, 2015 by Sensuki

[Sensuki]

 

Much more noticeable in this video. 0:51-0:52 in particular.

[BrainMuncher]

So I got the original of video #3 from sensuki, meaning no youtube butchery.
 
The video contains variable frame rate material. Most frames have a duration of 16.66 ms, consistent with 60fps, but there are many with a duration of 33.33ms, indicating one dropped frame, and 50ms, indicating two dropped frames in a row.
This is consistent with the video appearing to hitch for one or two frames, then skip one or two frames of animation to catch up.
 
I don't know how your recording software works. But the most obvious conclusion would be that either:
a) the recording software occasionally drops a frame, causing the visual hitch, or
b) the game/your PC is unable to consistently stay under 16.66ms for every frame, causing the visual hitch
 
Single-frame spikes are not uncommon in games. But some games do better than others.

 

[Sensuki]

The visual hitches appear when I'm not recording. They've been there ever since the first beta. There does not appear to be more or less of them when recording either, as I've made hundreds of PE videos.

 

Thanks for the analysis, once again.