Assassin's Creed slowdown - NOT A SPECS ISSUE

I've been playing AC on my m1530 for the last day, and just a few hours ago the game inexplicably "slowed" down. This is not an fps issue: the framerate is constant. Instead, the game just seems to go in "slow mo" around every second, resulting in "choppy" gameplay. It's like the game is stuttering. Just a few hours ago, the game was running perfectly. I can't describe exactly where I'm at in the game as this is my first run through (It's the part where you've just gotten your first horse, and need to dismount it for the first time to climb a building and survey your surroundings). This is not a particular graphics-intensive area.

This is not the first time I've had this issue either. I posted a while back with the same problem for Prince of Persia:The sands of time, but I got no replies that helped.

I'm running XP on my dell m1530, if that's of any concern. Specs are (though I don't think this will matter, the game ran well enough before):

8600M GT DDR3 256 mb
4 gigs ram
160 HD @7200 rpm
2.4 ghz processor

Please help

 

I`ll have to recite the poem :
-get a better video driver, the one you use is failing you
-make sure you`re not doing some intensive background activities
-defragg your hdd at least once a month
-if the settings are too high,after a while, the system might overheat and that will definitely lead to stuttering.Check your temps with HWMonitor,or Riva Tuner.
POP SOT should not stutter at all, it ran perfectly on my ancient desktop FX5200.

 

I think it's temp unless it happens at same place at a map.

 

Have you tried restarting your computer? Does the same slowness happen when you start a new game or load from an earlier save?

 

I wonder if it's the infamous 8600GT stuttering bug going full throttle on the OP.

 

Actually that's the single most graphic intensive spot in the whole game (Along with a few other spots in Kingdom), with the only exception being your next to last boss fight and poor Jerusalem. I think it's an issue with Ubisoft not including a very good Level of Detail setting.

 

yeah, when going into the kingdom, I can feel the choppiness. But the games runs smoothly in all the cities (even in the harbor in Acre).

I have these settings:
shadows 2/3
all the graphics settings 2/3
no multisampling (1/3)
1280x800 resolution.

system spec in the sig.

and my 7900GTX is more powerful than your 8600mGT.
i think its just in the Kingdom, the expanse is way to big, and there is too much stuff to render.

Like when i fight templars in the kingdom, I have to lower some settings so i don't get killed

can't wait to get my dual 3870 on my desktop!

 

Try the new patch, http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/12186/Assassin\'s+Creed+Patch+1.02

 

It seems the that the problem is specific to the new area I just entered. I'll try installing that patch tomorrow, thanks for your help.