Significant performance drop after last update

Before the last update I had stepped away from my PC for about 2 weeks. Turned int on last night and was met with 2 massive updates, Windows 10 feature update 1809 and a massive DCS World update (didn't pay attention what the exact version was).

After both updates DCS World still flies smooth over underpopulated areas at 60fps with the same settings as before the update but when I'm over Nevada or some huge city in the Persian Gulf, I am either at 60fps when I'm looking at my pit, or at a flat 30fps when I'm looking down at the buildings and clutter. Nothing in between. Maybe sometimes I will dither in the 40-50fps range for a brief moment but other than that it seems pretty binary. Its either 60fps or 30fps. It used to be very smooth, maybe drop to about 55fps over populated areas but the sudden drop to 30fps makes the experience very unpleasant.

All other games still run just as nice and smooth. I went ahead and updated my nvidia GPU drivers as they were significantly behind but it made no difference in the new DCS version I was just updated to. I did try toggling LAlt+Enter but that made no difference whatsoever. Interestingly enough it used to make a difference before the update, now it simply does not.

From what I'm seeing around the forums and recent posts, I'm not the only one. Any workaround on this presently?

Before the last update I had stepped away from my PC for about 2 weeks. Turned int on last night and was met with 2 massive updates, Windows 10 feature update 1809 and a massive DCS World update (didn't pay attention what the exact version was).

 

After both updates DCS World still flies smooth over underpopulated areas at 60fps with the same settings as before the update but when I'm over Nevada or some huge city in the Persian Gulf, I am either at 60fps when I'm looking at my pit, or at a flat 30fps when I'm looking down at the buildings and clutter. Nothing in between. Maybe sometimes I will dither in the 40-50fps range for a brief moment but other than that it seems pretty binary. Its either 60fps or 30fps. It used to be very smooth, maybe drop to about 55fps over populated areas but the sudden drop to 30fps makes the experience very unpleasant.

 

All other games still run just as nice and smooth. I went ahead and updated my nvidia GPU drivers as they were significantly behind but it made no difference in the new DCS version I was just updated to. I did try toggling LAlt+Enter but that made no difference whatsoever. Interestingly enough it used to make a difference before the update, now it simply does not.

 

From what I'm seeing around the forums and recent posts, I'm not the only one. Any workaround on this presently?

Have you deleted your FXO & Metashaders folders prior to running DCS after the updates?

Have you deleted your FXO & Metashaders folders prior to running DCS after the updates?

Negative, what does doing what you described do and how would one go about doing such a thing?

Ok so I’ve not really got much of an idea of what it does, I just know that it works and it’s what you’re meant to do after each beta update. (Maybe someone could explain the details as to what it does?)

So the way I do it is this...

I go into the C:\ directory, click on users, then I click on the folder with my name on it and click on ‘saved games’, then go into the folder DCS Open Beta and they’re in there. Delete both FXO and Metashaders2 folders and the next time you load up DCS it’ll create new ones.

Give it a try, any probs give me a shout...

Ok so I’ve not really got much of an idea of what it does, I just know that it works and it’s what you’re meant to do after each beta update. (Maybe someone could explain the details as to what it does?)

So the way I do it is this...

I go into the C:\ directory, click on users, then I click on the folder with my name on it and click on ‘saved games’, then go into the folder DCS Open Beta and they’re in there. Delete both FXO and Metashaders2 folders and the next time you load up DCS it’ll create new ones.

Give it a try, any probs give me a shout...

I'm not on the Open Beta however. I am using the stable build. I'm assuming your fix still applies?

Double check that in NV control panel you have a dcs profile, and the only setting you're looking to change there is "Power Management" - "Prefer maximum performance".

Use the dcs repair shortcut in the start menu or find your dcs install directory /bin/dcs_updater.exe repair in command prompt as admin.

Then maybe try what was suggested above if that doesn't sort you out.

I'm not on the Open Beta however. I am using the stable build. I'm assuming your fix still applies?

I’m not 100% sure it’s the same on the stable version but I imagine it is.

I feel like periodically clearing out the FXO and Metashaders folder should be programmed into DCS itself, if possible. It's an easy task, but something I forget about personally sometimes.

Yeah I agree. Sometimes I forget too. I hope it sorts his issues out, I’m confident it will...

I tried deleting the Mastershaders2 and FXO folders. Should I also delete the Mastershaders folder as well?

Did not see any improvement from the above.

What I did do however is I went into my graphics settings and set my shadows to FLAT. This had a tremendous improvement. Still see some drops to 30fps however. Setting Shadow quality to Medium from High in addition to flat shadows further improved my experience.

That being said it seems that the new updates did something with the way shadows are rendered. I am still not on the level of performance that I was when I had full shadows with High quality setting.

Will try the nv control panel trick next and repairing the DCS installation next.

Not sure re the other shaders folder as I only have the 1 and that’s Metashaders2. Maybe someone will advise on that in a bit...

Yeah definitely set the prefer max performance in Inspector, although I don’t think that’ll be causing significant performance drops.

Just an observation....you appear to have a very similar system to mine but I noticed that it says stock next to your processor clock...you running standard clock on an 8700k?

Not sure re the other shaders folder as I only have the 1 and that’s Metashaders2. Maybe someone will advise on that in a bit...

Yeah definitely set the prefer max performance in Inspector, although I don’t think that’ll be causing significant performance drops.

Just an observation....you appear to have a very similar system to mine but I noticed that it says stock next to your processor clock...you running standard clock on an 8700k?

Yeah, I built this system about 3 months ago or so and have not overclocked the CPU yet. I see my CPU hit 4.3GHz on load with stock speeds. It has been running everything maxed out at 3240x1920 without skipping a beat at 60fps until now with DCS. I want to overclock, just don't have the courage to do so yet. I have the Kraken water cooler so I'm all set for overclocking. Just have not grown a pair yet :cry:

Yeah, I built this system about 3 months ago or so and have not overclocked the CPU yet. I see my CPU hit 4.3GHz on load with stock speeds. It has been running everything maxed out at 3240x1920 without skipping a beat at 60fps until now with DCS. I want to overclock, just don't have the courage to do so yet. I have the Kraken water cooler so I'm all set for overclocking. Just have not grown a pair yet :cry:

Ah fair one mate...my PC is only 6 months old and it was at 4.5ghz and I’ve just upped it to 4.8 but from what I’ve been told I can run it at 5 or more without a problem. Think I’ll leave it as it is as it’s running DCS perfectly at high settings.

Ok let’s try this....

I’m running a Acer XB240H monitor, fairly old gaming monitor but still quite good. I have it set at 120hz and in Inspector I lock the frames at 60FPS, select 1/2 refresh rate and Vsync limiter is set to ‘V2 Allow All’. V Sync off in DCS. This gives me complete 60FPS with the Hornet in every scenario I can throw at it, and that’s even with SSAA on 2x and MSAA on 2x also. Admittedly shadows are off.

You should be able to achieve the same results with your PC specs.

Ah fair one mate...my PC is only 6 months old and it was at 4.5ghz and I’ve just upped it to 4.8 but from what I’ve been told I can run it at 5 or more without a problem. Think I’ll leave it as it is as it’s running DCS perfectly at high settings.

 

Ok let’s try this....

 

I’m running a Acer XB240H monitor, fairly old gaming monitor but still quite good. I have it set at 120hz and in Inspector I lock the frames at 60FPS, select 1/2 refresh rate and Vsync limiter is set to ‘V2 Allow All’. V Sync off in DCS. This gives me complete 60FPS with the Hornet in every scenario I can throw at it, and that’s even with SSAA on 2x and MSAA on 2x also. Admittedly shadows are off.

You should be able to achieve the same results with your PC specs.

Thank you mate! Will give it as shot! :thumbup:

Thank you mate! Will give it as shot! :thumbup:

No probs at all...keep us posted on how it’s going, we’ll get it running well again.

No probs at all...keep us posted on how it’s going, we’ll get it running well again.

Much appreciated! :pilotfly:

would also suggest installing new nvidia drivers, but run DDU uninstaller to fresh install of gfx drivers..

would also suggest installing new nvidia drivers, but run DDU uninstaller to fresh install of gfx drivers..

Yes I used DDU before I installed 417.35 :smilewink:

would also suggest installing new nvidia drivers, but run DDU uninstaller to fresh install of gfx drivers..

Doesn’t clicking ‘clean install’ do just that anyway? Not heard of DDU if I’m honest...is this the better option?

Doesn’t clicking ‘clean install’ do just that anyway? Not heard of DDU if I’m honest...is this the better option?

Most of the time an express installation will work fine. But there are times when even selecting "clean install" nvidia leaves some files or registry keys behind that cause issues.

DDU's goal is to remove anything and everything nvidia from your harddrives and registry, should you experience a conflict from a corrupted installation which may have been caused by nvidia's driver package or even windows.

Doesn’t clicking ‘clean install’ do just that anyway? Not heard of DDU if I’m honest...is this the better option?

as Headwarp said above, sometimes "CLEAN" is not enough. Like twice a year or so I end up using DDU to fix BSOD's and such.

If you do DDU, do it in safe mode as suggested by the tool.

Yeah, I built this system about 3 months ago or so and have not overclocked the CPU yet. I see my CPU hit 4.3GHz on load with stock speeds. It has been running everything maxed out at 3240x1920 without skipping a beat at 60fps until now with DCS. I want to overclock, just don't have the courage to do so yet. I have the Kraken water cooler so I'm all set for overclocking. Just have not grown a pair yet :cry:

Load ASUS AI Suite and it will do it for you as well as program your fans/coolers to your liking.

I increased my OC by 21 percent.

Press and click. No probs and AI SUITE is designed for ASUS gear.