[Bug]: Portal 2 stutters massively every few seconds

[unilock]

macOS Version

Sequoia (macOS 15)

Apple Silicon or Intel

Apple Silicon

Wrapper Version

Wineskin-3.0.8 (though the wrapper configuration reports itself as version 3.0.7?)

Engine

WS12WineCX23.7.1

Application/Game Name

Portal 2

Render Used

Not sure - probably whichever is default (WineD3D?)

Description of problem

While Portal 2 is running, every few seconds, it stutters massively - the game freezes and the audio loops over itself a few times before unfreezing.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install Steam via Kegworks
2. Install Portal 2 via Steam
3. Start Portal 2
4. Try clicking around menus for a minute or two
5. The game stutters quite a bit

Expected behavior

The game runs smoothly.

LastRunWineLog

(Where do I find LastRunWine.log? The /Contents/SharedSupport/Logs folder is empty.)

Code of Conduct

• [X] I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

Notes

• Deleting /Contents/Frameworks/renderer/d3dmetal/2.0, as discussed in #9, does not seem to help.
• Toggling "MoltenVK FastMath" in the Steam wrapper's configuration makes no difference.

[Gcenx]

Try installing d9vk winetricks verb.

Wineskin-3.0.8 (though the wrapper configuration reports itself as version 3.0.7?)

Yeah I noticed this after pushing the wrapper update that the app still reports the wrong version, I've re-uploaded the wrapper trying to fix this.

(Where do I find LastRunWine.log? The /Contents/SharedSupport/Logs folder is empty.)

There won'e be any for a normal launch unless you check

Usually you'd want to use "Test Run" from Wineskin.app (name will be changed later)

Notes Deleting /Contents/Frameworks/renderer/d3dmetal/2.0, as discussed in https://github.com/Kegworks-App/Kegworks/issues/9, does not seem to help.

That's aimed at 64-bit DirectX12 games not DirectX9 games.

Toggling "MoltenVK FastMath" in the Steam wrapper's configuration makes no difference.

Portal 2 would be using WineD3D (OpenGL backend), `MoltenVK FastMath" only affects Vulkan, DXVK & D9VK however it can cause flickering.

[unilock]

Try installing d9vk winetricks verb.

After installing d9vk via winetricks, the game is now much more broken than before. The screen remains entirely black - although, intermittently, parts of the background and the menu options will sometimes appear. Moving the mouse cursor over the menu options still makes sound and can still be clicked - unfortunately, this is how I know that the original stuttering issue is also still present...

The LastRunWine.log from a "Test Run": https://gist.github.com/unilock/b13ff4032a55c6dce1b93d101c56be43

Note that this is with the default wrapper settings (besides d9vk from winetricks) - "D3DMetal/GPTK" and "MoltenVK FastMath" are both disabled. However, the same (new) issues occur with those options enabled as well.

[KOT-OPET]

strange — I've got the exact same game with the exact same engine and it works flawlessly. Ok, sometimes there are momentary stutters when approaching portals, but I wouldn't call them significant by any means. I never used d9vk, so my wrapper uses the default WineD3D, I guess.

I have M3 mb air with 16gb memory. I use 1440x900 resolution, all graphics settings are at medium or high, and my mac is in low power mode, since I don't like it getting hot while I'm playing.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask me for specific logs or other data to pinpoint the issue.

[Gcenx]

I’ve not had time to look over this more but I seem to remember a note about the Steam overlay causing problems on some systems so that could be the reason.

[KOT-OPET]

Well, I have the overlay enabled, but it wouldn't hurt to disable it, yes.

I forgot to mention I selected "Windows 10" in wine config utility:

The default setting was "Windows 7", and steam was barely usable, with constant crashing of steamwebhelper etc. Switching to 10 solved the problem. Maybe make it default, or at least make the selection available from the main settings window?

[unilock]

@Gcenx

...I seem to remember a note about the Steam overlay causing problems on some systems...

Disabling the Steam Overlay appears to have fixed things! I'll close this issue, but if it needs further investigation to come up with a proper fix, feel free to re-open it. For reference, I'm using a Apple MacBook Air M2, 8-core CPU / 8-core GPU, 13-inch.

@KOT-OPET

The default setting was "Windows 7", and steam was barely usable, with constant crashing of steamwebhelper etc. Switching to 10 solved the problem. Maybe make it default, or at least make the selection available from the main settings window?

For what it's worth, the default setting was "Windows 10" for me.

[KOT-OPET]

the default setting was "Windows 10"

I might have messed with different wine-related pieces of software for too long. Maybe win 7 was the default setting in portingkit, not in Kegworks. The described case with steam definitely was real, but now I doubt if it was in Kegworks. Sorry :-)