Tarmac stuttering & surging but fps high while taxiing with 2.7

[erick]

Hi there

I have tried everything but I can't seem to fix this.

 

Since 2.7, my fps is fine (even great) 60-90 on average, but my gpu usage drops every 2-3 seconds from 99% to like 40% while taxiing at for example an empty Nellis ramp and subsequently the terrain/tarmac around the plane is stuttering/surging/lagging from cockpit view, f2 view and f3 view. From wheels off to flying everywhere, things are fine, even low level and fast. My specs are in my sig. 

 

Here is a list of what I have tried, to no positive effect.

- Switched between off and on all in game settings including all possible AA variations, fullscreen, vsync, etc.

- Turned off gsync in nvidia cp

- Capped fps at 60,62,64 with nvidia cp

- verified all stupid windows 10 game mode type settings are off

- Switched between various aircraft, locations, missions, weather, etc.

- Driver rollback

- Windows update removal

- Created a pagefile

- Disabled fullscreen optimizations

- Uninstalled mods like the VPC groundcrew and all aircraft mods

- Made sure tacview is off

- Completely uninstalled and reinstalled DCS and all 11 modules

- *no overclocks are applied

 

....any ideas???

This was not the case prior to 2.7, it was smooth as silk and for what its worth the new clouds do look amazing! haha

Thanks for any insights even if it is to tell me I need a new pc!

Cheers

Eric

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by erick

[speed-of-heat]

Any mods?
 

tried dcs repair?
 

tried renaming the saved games file and reapplying your current settings?

[erick]

Hi there

 

I removed all mods and did a full reinstall. No improvement.

I had not run a repair, but I just did that. No improvement.

Renamed saved game (and complete reinstall as well). No improvement.

I also just did the "disable hot plugs", which is the one thing I had not tried. No improvement. 

 

It is so strange. I have never had this before. At least not with super high fps. Using the empty Nellis apron and the F-18 as a repeatable test. I just increase the throttle and move across the apron. My fps is always over 70 even with the mirrors on. But the tarmac itself is stuttering. Even from exterior views. Its So strange! Also if I hit alt/enter it makes the entire tarmac scene around the plane shift and completely change its position for a split second whilst I'm holding the keys down. As soon as I release, the stuttering continues. 

 

Honestly I really can't figure this one out. My next step will be to dust out my system. And if that doesn't work, maybe its time for a whole new system... I'm just not sure. Its been running great for the past few years now with the exact same settings?!?

 

Thanks

[speed-of-heat]

can you make a track ? 

[erick]

24 minutes ago, speed-of-heat said:

can you make a track ? 

I will do that as soon as I can. Thanks again.

[erick]

Hi again speed-of-heat

 

I have attached a track file. It is super basic. Just like the screenshot. Its just an F18 moving at taxi speed across the apron at an empty Nellis afb. The pavement is stuttering, hitching and surging around the aircraft. I thought my evga osd would be visible in the screenshot, but its not. You will have to trust me that it is a steady 72 to 75 fps with the mirrors flipped on. I am running at 2560x1440 on a gsync monitor with gsync currently active but I tested every conceivable variation and AA arrangement as mentioned in my 1st post. Lowest or highest in game settings makes no difference. Any variation of Nvidia CP settings makes no difference. And again, all of the above mentioned fixes have been applied to no effect.

 

Thanks again

Eric

 

 

 

terrain stuttering test nellis.trk

[Lange_666]

Track plays smooth here on my system. No tarmac stuttering.

[erick]

Thanks for the reply. Ya I don't know what's going on? I really can't seem to figure this one out..

 

Guess I'll just keep digging! Thx

[Lange_666]

How does it go with TrackIR off (or set to pause)?

Another thing to try is setting your monitor to 120Hz refresh (i guess you have that option, mine is a 144Hz and i'm running it at 120Hz) and then cap the FPS to 60 (since you can't keep 120 steady with your system).

We have +/- similar systems, my i7 4770K runs @ 4,5Ghz currently, i also have 1080ti but i have double the RAM amount then you.

Do you happen to have the stable version installed side by side? If yes, how does that run at the moment?

Edited April 29, 2021 by Lange_666

[Lange_666]

Extra thing:

 

What version of GPU drivers do you have installed?

Latest seem to have some issues causing frame drops.

441.87 was a good one for me but is out of the question if you run MSFS (not possible to use the control panel for MSFS).

451.48 and 457.30 also run good on my system.

I didn't go the 46x.xx road, when it runs OK and it adds nothing, i don't update drivers (went from 451.48 to 457.30 because of MSFS, not DCS).

[erick]

4 hours ago, Lange_666 said:

How does it go with TrackIR off (or set to pause)?

Another thing to try is setting your monitor to 120Hz refresh (i guess you have that option, mine is a 144Hz and i'm running it at 120Hz) and then cap the FPS to 60 (since you can't keep 120 steady with your system).

We have +/- similar systems, my i7 4770K runs @ 4,5Ghz currently, i also have 1080ti but i have double the RAM amount then you.

Do you happen to have the stable version installed side by side? If yes, how does that run at the moment?

 

 

49 minutes ago, Lange_666 said:

Extra thing:

 

What version of GPU drivers do you have installed?

Latest seem to have some issues causing frame drops.

441.87 was a good one for me but is out of the question if you run MSFS (not possible to use the control panel for MSFS).

451.48 and 457.30 also run good on my system.

I didn't go the 46x.xx road, when it runs OK and it adds nothing, i don't update drivers (went from 451.48 to 457.30 because of MSFS, not DCS).

 

Hi Lange_666

Thanks for helping.

 

TrackIR on or off makes no difference

Refresh rate and fps cap makes no difference. I tried many different refresh rates, and fps caps as well as turning off gsync & using vsync on or off, etc. Nothing made a difference

I have not installed the stable version to try that out but that may be my next step.

I have 466.11 current drivers installed, but I rolled back to the previous driver as well, but no improvement. As you suggest, I could try going further back but honestly, DCS worked great on my last drivers .....and now its not for some reason?!? I don't think its related to drivers.

 

Then only changes I've made in the past week or so since the release of 2.7 that seemed to trigger this issue was I happened to watch a Spudknocker video on youtube and thought I would try out his suggested settings to make sure I was getting the best experience I could with 2.7. I had always ran, 2xmsaa in game and in the nvidia cp I would run fxaa on and ssaa x2 with enhance application x2. No in game vsync, just my gsync and fullscreen, no fps cap. This is what has been the best for me for almost 2 years now. I saw that he runs in game ssaa at 1.5 and msaa x2. In the nvidia cp he doesn't use anything and he doesnt run fullscreen. So I tried his settings. They looked a bit better but I lost over 25fps. I then went back to my original settings. I also noticed I was getting a crash or 2 with 2.7, so I decided to add a pagefile. Not sure if that helped but no more crashes so maybe. After doing that I also realized I had a lot of mods and figured I should just completely reinstall DCS clean. Just for a good 2.7 experience. After all that messing around is when my issue started the other day. Now I can't seem to get back to my happy place. I definitely upset something... or its just a huge coincidence that my hardware is failing now!?!

 

Additionally, I changed my windows power setting from balanced to performance, no change. I also wiped my saved game file and created a new one, no change. I did notice one thing strange though. In the aspect ratio box in the settings menu, it had always defaulted to 1.7888 or something like that with my 2560x1440 resolution. After starting fresh with a new saved game file, I noticed that the aspect ration box defaults to 1.3333 instead, still with 2560x1440. Not sure what that was about. In the past, you could choose 16x9 but it would still default to 1.78888 something. Now if I choose 16x9 after initial startup and then restart, it shows as 1.3333. Strange and most likely unrelated, but who knows?

 

Anyways, it doesn't seem that anything I do is having a positive effect. This one is driving me crazy!

Thanks again

 

[Aluminum Donkey]

Erick,

 

This sounds like it could be a monitor sync problem.

 

-Enable G-Sync in NVCP, make sure it works right with G-Sync Demo (swinging pendulum.)

-Turn ON VSync in NVCP (but leave it off in the sim itself.)

-Turn OFF the Nvidia Ultra-Low Latency mode, to allow the sim to queue frames. This helps a lot for me, and works together with VSync On (in NVCP) to 'pace' frames smoothly. Don't use Low-Latency mode for flight sims because fluid motion is important.

-Finally, make sure that the G-Sync minimum refresh rate is below the minimum FPS you'll encounter in the sim. Otherwise, G-Sync can turn itself on and off as the framerate changes, causing massive stuttering. Use Custom Resolution Utility (CRU) for this.

 

Fire it up and see what happens. I've had this happen too and it's solvable.

 

Oh yeah--make sure you go into Device Manager, select View (at the top) and select Show Hidden Devices.  Then, click Monitors and delete any profiles for monitors you aren't using (they'll be light-colored, the active one will be full colored.)

THEN, check the minimum G-Sync framerate in CRU. If it's 30Hz or thereabouts, you're good to go--unless the sim sometimes drops below 30 FPS, in which case you'll have to lower it to prevent monitor de-sync.

 

AD

Edited April 29, 2021 by Aluminum Donkey

[erick]

1 hour ago, Aluminum Donkey said:

Erick,

 

This sounds like it could be a monitor sync problem.

 

-Enable G-Sync in NVCP, make sure it works right with G-Sync Demo (swinging pendulum.)

-Turn ON VSync in NVCP (but leave it off in the sim itself.)

-Turn OFF the Nvidia Ultra-Low Latency mode, to allow the sim to queue frames. This helps a lot for me, and works together with VSync On (in NVCP) to 'pace' frames smoothly. Don't use Low-Latency mode for flight sims because fluid motion is important.

-Finally, make sure that the G-Sync minimum refresh rate is below the minimum FPS you'll encounter in the sim. Otherwise, G-Sync can turn itself on and off as the framerate changes, causing massive stuttering. Use Custom Resolution Utility (CRU) for this.

 

Fire it up and see what happens. I've had this happen too and it's solvable.

 

Oh yeah--make sure you go into Device Manager, select View (at the top) and select Show Hidden Devices.  Then, click Monitors and delete any profiles for monitors you aren't using (they'll be light-colored, the active one will be full colored.)

THEN, check the minimum G-Sync framerate in CRU. If it's 30Hz or thereabouts, you're good to go--unless the sim sometimes drops below 30 FPS, in which case you'll have to lower it to prevent monitor de-sync.

 

AD

 

Hi AD

 

Thanks for your input.

 

I tried the G-Sync Demo and everything seems to be working well. Both of my monitors are gsync 165hz, but I only use 1 at a time for DCS. (both connected to pc but I switch between them using "show only 1" or "show only 2". My #2 monitor is attached to my sim rig right next to my desk. I do some testing whilst sitting in my office chair and for actually flying, I jump into my rig that sits right next to my desk. This issue shows on both monitors so I don't think its monitor specific.

 

I always have vsync on in NVCP and always off in the sim. Obviously I tried a ton of different variations of that during this troubleshooting but to no success. Anyway, that is my default set up and Nvidia Ultra Low Latency mode is always OFF.

 

I downloaded CRU as you suggested and checked my g-sync range on both monitors. 30-165 hz, so I believe I am all good there.

 

I also went into Device Mgr as suggested and deleted the few extra profiles (4 to be exact) that were in there.

 

Unfortunately none of the above seemed to have any effect on my stuttering terrain while taxiing. Frame rates were consistent around 70 and gpu usage was inconsistent from 95% with drops to around 50% that seemed to occur during the stutters, but not completely. I may be reading into that phenomenon a little too much.

 

Anyway, I really do appreciate your time and help ...but so far no luck.

Take care

Eric 

[Aluminum Donkey]

Damn, that's really weird! Sorry man, wish I could help you with this!

 

Have you tried physically disconnecting one of your monitors, unplugging the cable from the graphics card? Also, do you have another, different graphics card you could install and try? I wonder if your current one is on the fritz. Maybe it's overheating and downclocking itself? Maybe check peak-load GPU temps in MSI Afterburner or something?

 

If it only happens under very heavy load (on the ground, lots going on) then it might be thermal throttling.

 

AD

[erick]

1 minute ago, Aluminum Donkey said:

Damn, that's really weird! Sorry man, wish I could help you with this!

 

Have you tried physically disconnecting one of your monitors, unplugging the cable from the graphics card? Also, do you have another, different graphics card you could install and try? I wonder if your current one is on the fritz. Maybe it's overheating and downclocking itself? Maybe check peak-load GPU temps in MSI Afterburner or something?

 

If it only happens under very heavy load (on the ground, lots going on) then it might be thermal throttling.

 

AD

No worries. It was kind of you to help.

 

I was going to first try and install the DCS stable version to see if 2.7 beta is giving me the issue.

 

Then I think its time to start actually checking the physical stuff. I will start with a good dust out as it does need it. Then I'll try disconnecting and reconnecting some stuff. Unfortunately, I don't have another gpu at this time. I have been holding out to build a whole new system, but maybe that timeline needs to be sped up a bit! haha

 

In the meantime I will give my trusty ol' 1080ti a really good once over and see if I can't get to the bottom of this.

 

Thanks again!

[Aluminum Donkey]

I wouldn't build a new system right now until you have a handle on what's causing this.

 

I re-read one of your posts, did you make sure you re-set all of your NVCP settings to Application-Controlled? In other words did you turn off all of the Enhance Application Settings options? Also, turn off FXAA and all that, so DCS runs completely clean?

 

There's gotta be some way around this! I have an "old" system and DCS 2.7 runs great for me.

 

AD

Edited April 29, 2021 by Aluminum Donkey

[erick]

I hear ya about the new system. It is crazy right now and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Which is why I'm going to throw everything including the kitchen sink at solving this. 

 

As far as NVCP settings. I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm off work atm due to an injury, so I've dedicated more time than I'd like to admit to this little issue over the past week or so. I have set and reset every single possible setting that I have access to. I've even completely reinstalled DCS at one point the other day. You name it, I've tried everything, I swear. It just feels like I'm missing something simple, because up until the other day when I started mucking around with my graphic settings, everything was running great. I basically had 2 days or so with 2.7 that were phenomenal. Then....?!? who knows. I even uninstalled a recent window 10 update that was said to be causing issues. Again, no joy!

 

From the very beginning of DCS, I've never encountered an issue that I couldn't solve myself or with the help of you awesome fellas on this forum, but this one is proving to be a real bugger!

 

Thanks again

[Blueleader]

Hello,

If you have a graphics card utility (Aorus type or other) when you start Windows, deactivate it and restart the PC.  Check that it is missing and try DCS.  Also avoid overclocking the graphics card (if this is the case go back to base frequencies before anything else)