FPS Woes with the Mi-8!

Ok this might be a bit of a rant, and I do realise that ED might be more to blame than Belsimtek but Im having serious issues with the frame rates after 1.2.6. and more to the point, since Ive been spending so much time with the Mi-8 this is where Ive noticed them.

While I respect the fidelity of the FM and everything else that is included, the visuals of DCS are really sub par to what is available in FSX and other flight sims for example and yet the game performs HORRIBLY. Even worse the performance seems to take a hit with every subsequent patch.

Ok my problem is this, while flying in random free flight missions, Im getting seemingly random (seemingy random, but Im thinking that its connected to particle and light effetcs) FPS drops that last up to 30 seconds. The frame rate drops below 15 or even 10 FPS and the aircraft becomes uncontrollable. This is while there is NO OTHER TRAFFIC in view, and with my aircraft being the only one in the mission.

My specs: Win7 64 bit, i5 3570K @ 4Ghz, 16 GB DDR3 low lat. mem, SaitekX52, ATI Radeon 6870. (Single monitor setup @1080p, no Track IR)

I understand that this is a beta and a WIP but I recently gave up on flying the Mustang P51 (which is no longer in beta) for a similar performance reasons. The plane simply becomes unresponsive when firing its cannons.

Now I dont have the most powerful rig out there, and my gfx card is somewhat out of date. I will be replacing my GFX card this week but is this really the solution to every problem with DCS? I dont think it should be, not for a game engine this old.

I really dont think Im being unreasonable, all Im asking is to be able to fly this helicopter in conditions which should not be too taxing on my system.

P.S.

Im not replacing my GFX card for this reason alone, its simply the bottleneck in my system and Ive been meaning to do so for some time. However I suspect this problem will continue even after I replace my gfx card.

Are you sure there's nothing else hogging up the CPU while DCS runs? Not saying that the sim wouldn't benefit from optimisation though, but still...

I have AVG antivirus installed, but its not causing problems anywhere else. I also disable Steam before starting up the DCS (just in case). There is nothing else running in the background.

Some antivirus suites cause freezes, stutters etc. in games, so how about disabling AVG first and then giving the sim a go? Again, not saying v1.2.6 itself can't be the culprit, but I'd try it anyway just to see what happens.

I noticed a 10+fps drop from sitting in the cockpit of the Huey to the cockpit of the Mi-8

I noticed a 10+fps drop from sitting in the cockpit of the Huey to the cockpit of the Mi-8

Im not talking about that. Im talking about FPS drops that happen during flight, when seemingly nothing is going on. Turning of my AV did nothing either. New GFX card is coming tomorrow, going to do a bit of testing then.

I too have noticed lower fps with the Mi-8

Hello guys,

I've well undestand your problems with a drop FPS but if you read the "information" on the "Home Page" of DCS you can read:

DCS: Mi-8MTV2 features an accurate and highly detailed 3D model of the helicopter using a 100,000+ triangle construction and a variety of historically accurate high resolution liveries. Multiple-texture maps, normal maps and specular maps are used to achieve a variety of special effects while skeletal animation is used to animate rotor blade flexing.

 

Flight Model:

The main rotor assembly is fully animated and correctly translates movement of the cyclic and collective controls to the rotor system, making it possible to visually see rotor disc tilting, conning, and blade pitching.

 

Audio:

The development team was able to record actual Mi-8 audio in the field both inside and outside the cockpit under a variety of conditions specifically for this project. Many custom audio samples of actual Mi-8 sounds were taken in an effort to faithfully represent and immerse the player in the audio environment of the helicopter. Inside and outside the cockpit, the sound environment is filled with handcrafted audio that includes the main rotor, tail rotor, engine components, various cockpit switches and controls, and weapons.

 

Cockpit

DCS: Mi-8MTV2 features an accurately reproduced, highly detailed and interactive 3D cockpit with six-degrees-of-freedom ("6DOF") technology that allows the player to move the viewpoint in any direction inside the cockpit space. This means you can not only look up, down, left and right, but also raise or lower your viewpoint, slide to either side, move closer or further from the instrument panel, and even tilt left or right.

The cockpit includes the three standard crew positions of Pilot-Commander in the left seat, Pilot-Navigator in the right seat, and Flight Engineer in the center and slightly back.

I think that it's normal that this drop of FPS because one helicopter is more complex than one airplane, there's many parts and elements moving in the Mi-8.

With the A-10C we have just one pilot but with the Mi-8 we have 3 pilots, if we compare the A-10C's cockpit with the cockpit of the Mi-8 is not the same thing because the pit of Mi-8 is more big and with a large view, it's normal that we drop a FPS...

So I think that everything is OK, one big 3D model drop more FPS than a small 3D model.

Exemple: Mi-8--> Big 3D Model.

Exemple: A-10C--> Medium 3D Model.

I hope that everything is more clear now ^^

Bye, Skull..

EDIT:

Just one exemple between the KA-50 and MI-8 Wheels, the Mi-8 have awesome and beautiful wheel (3D model more big) and it's normal the drop of FPS, no ?

Just one exemple between the KA-50 and MI-8 wheels, the Mi-8 have awesome and beautiful wheel (3D model more big) and it's normal the drop of FPS, no ?

Also, I think that it's normal because the KA-50 is old (2008) compared to Mi-8 (2013).

I would to say that I really love the KA-50 but the Mi-8 possess one more big 3D model and the FPS drop.

Just one idea, create one mission without the clouds and test your FPS. I think that it's better for the FPS because the clouds drop the FPS.

Vanja, short question, do you have mirrors on? They caused sporadic FPS drops on my System. Try to switch them off.

Vanja, short question, do you have mirrors on? They caused sporadic FPS drops on my System. Try to switch them off.

Yes you have right, I have switch OFF the mirrors because my FPS drops on my PC.

For all my modules (A-10C, KA-50, P-51D and now MI-8) I switch OFF this mirros.

Bye Skull.

I understand that the Mi-8 has a more complex 3d model and that it obviously causes a drop in performance when compared to other modules, but this is not what Im talking about. What Im talking about are strange and seemingly random drops (at least by 15-20 FPS) during normal smooth flight where there is very little action going on on screen and where I do not usually even touch my inputs.

Vanja, short question, do you have mirrors on? They caused sporadic FPS drops on my System. Try to switch them off.

Yes I have them enabled. Will try to disable them to see if they are causing the drops.

Yes, the mirrors on the Hip are nice and high resolution, but it eats up a lot of performance. The mirrors should react to Resolution of Cockpit Displays, because no matter what I set it the mirrors look the same.

Ok, major stutters seem to gone after disabling the mirrors, so it appears the culprit has been found! Thanks for all of your help and suggestions.

Also tested with my new nvidia card as well, and the stutters are back (although much less dramatic) when mirrors are enabled.

Gotta say the graphics card upgrade was well worth it.

Yes you have right, I have switch OFF the mirrors because my FPS drops on my PC.

For all my modules (A-10C, KA-50, P-51D and now MI-8) I switch OFF this mirros.

 

Bye Skull.

Can I ask where this is? I'm sure it used to be in the list of checkbox options, along with TSSAA..

Hello Thamuff,

For remove the mirros (it's good for all the DCS Modules):

Bye, Skull.

Hello Thamuff,

 

For remove the mirros (it's good for all the DCS Modules):

 

..

 

Bye, Skull.

Thanks!