Glide

@gorzasty 30% is normal on my rig, but I don't have VR. I have noticed a sharp improvement with shader cache disabled in the NCP. The load times increase considerably, but smoothness is worth it. YMMV. Also, turn OFF all vsync and let that card go as fast as it can.

@lt_d4n Yes, even with shader cache disabled, I find there is a constant heartbeat microstutter. I suspect it's DCS chatting with the SSD to dump track data, etc. as you fly along. That would make sense if the shader cache is borked and causing disk thrashing. It would be nice to turn off all that stuff for test purposes. Update: you can turn off Track file recording by having an autoexec.cfg file with disable_write_track = true With shader cache off, I disabled Displayport Compression 1.2 in my monitor, and dropped my resolution down to 2190x1080 (half my "native" resolution). This gave me a big boost with FAST vsync, but then I tried it with vsync OFF. If I was after 90 fps (especially VR users), I am thinking I would leave it off. Yes, FAST vsync was smooth, but vsync OFF had higher FPS and was equally smooth if not better. I would try these settings with both. YMMV because my monitor can do 144hz. I also made a nice discovery about Multi-frame AA (MFAA). This is an advanced feature that works with DCS. It gives you the equivalent of MSAA x8 at the cost of MSAA x4. I believe these are the highest quality AND the highest FPS and least stuttering that I can get with my 1080Ti. I hope one more round will get you there.

I think you are upset and not thinking clearly. It's rough when you can't get your expensive hardware to perform. Have you tried disabling Shader Cache? Does it work for you?

Try turning OFF Shader Cache in the NCP. Also, at high resolutions, I don't think Anisotropic filtering is noticeable at all. I leave it off.

It turns out that microstutters are related to shader cache. Turn off shader cache in the NCP. Load times increase a bit, but huge smoothness improvement.

Nice work on the F-16C performance. Dogfighting is so much better now.

Yes, so after going up and down the resolution scale at 2x and 4x speeds, I do believe microstutters are shader cache related. I disabled shader cache in NCP, and put my settings back up to 4k. So far so good. I also put Anisotropic filtering back to 16x. This wraps the textures around the models and gives things depth. I also flipped back to MSAA 4x because without all those stutters I can afford more quality.

So, after much investigation, it seems that FAST sync is not related to microstutters, it just makes them easier to see. Adaptive Sync just hides the affect more. It turns out that speeding up the time (Ctrl+z) shows the micro and macro stutters really well. The only way I could get them to disappear was to drop my resolution down to 1440x900. On the plus side, I can bump up the quality at that resolution.

I went in search of "microstutters". At first I wasn't seeing them, but if you fix your eyes on a light on the ground and watch as it passes by something on the cockpit, you can detect them. They are the worst on Syria, but they are there to a lesser extent on PG. It's very hard to detect them on Caucasus because it's a very efficient map. Microstutters are related to FAST vsync. I can see a large and very fast rise and fall in FPS (30=40pfs) with FAST vsync. I believe I have seen mention of this in the forums elsewhere. I tried Adaptive (half refresh rate), and they microstutters disappeared for me. This is probably going to be monitor specific. I also tried Vsync ON and Adaptive. I got the best results with Adaptive (half refresh rate). Update on this: it turns out that FAST makes the stutters easier to see, and Adaptive just hides the affect a bit more. Just wanted to clarify.

This map impresses me more each day. Beirut and Rene Mouawad are my two favorite airfields. I spent weeks dogfighting above Damascus. Now I'm besieging Al-Assad. This map is my goto for testing performance settings.

Getting started with the TF-51D, you only need a couple of things set up. I use a slider for the Prop RPM, and of course the throttle for engine. Set up Trimmer Reset on the HOTAS. Best practice mission is Hot Start from Batumi. Set 5 degrees right rudder. Set prop RPM to max. Pull back on the stick to engage steering. Taxi out. Easy on the throttle, and as you gain speed, let the stick come back to center. At just past the middle of the green on Engine RPM you should feel the tail come up and lift off without much stick input. Gear up and reset trim once you are in controlled flight. Set Engine and Prop RPM's until the needles are right in the middle of the green. The Mustang will be in perfect trim at this point. You should not need to touch the throttle until final approach. Have fun! Check out the river at Poti!

I have been adding a little wind to my takeoffs. It really adds a nice touch of realism. The default runway at Beirut is 35, so I thought I would add some wind and get runway 17. However, it put me on runway 16 instead. This is a really nice runway to operate from if you are flying Syria map.

This is parked at Rene Mouawad.

BTW, I have my TrackIR Smoothness set to 15. I believe the default is 10. I found this setting much better.

You can leave Tacview installed (after you get things sorted) and just disable the module in DCS settings (not Module Manager). This way it won't record til you need it. I would try your original monitor at lower resolutions. My 4k monitor actually works best (no flickering lights in PG map) at 1920x1080 because I believe this is the "native" 60hz resolution, and 4k is my "compressed" resolution.

With these settings I believe I have things going as fast AND as smooth as possible with my hardware. I needed to add a little AA so I went with MSAA X2. I'm leaving Anisotropic Filtering off because I can't see how it helps. YMMV. BTW, the rationale for that Preload Radius is that my Visibility Range (HIGH) is the 3rd of 5 levels, so I made the radius AT LEAST 3/5 of the range.

Well, I can't really see much difference with Preload Radius. However, I tried my 4k resolution with AA and Anisotropic Filtering OFF entirely. I cannot see any difference without Anisotropic filtering at 4k. This makes geometry like trees cheaper to display.

@RamsayI'll experiment with Preload to see if I can spot any impact. There is likely an optimal number based on resolution, and anything higher just uses up RAM.

I believe this is incorrect. You want to preload as much as possible. You want to reduce Visibility Range to High. Try these Settings. I have a 1080Ti, and I get smooth rates with these. Note the SSLR which is a big FPS hit. Try it with SSLR on and OFF. It's a preference. I also noticed that when using SuperSampling, Anisotropic X8 instead of X16 gives back some frames. I note that you are running 2560x1440 @144 which is a mighty high resolution. Try 1920x1080 which is still 16:9 and will give you massive FPS boost with these settings. Then try 1280x720 which is half your native resolution. As you go down in resolution, you should see a rise in FPS and you can adjust the quality settings as you like.

Easy way to achieve this is to have each mission in it's own stage. You need some kind of victory Mission goal. An easy one to use is Unit Alive. You can literally launch into the mission, press ESC, and win.

Big thanks for this content! My Blue forces are converging on Al-Assad for a lengthy siege. This mission location is very accessible from Rene Mouawad and Beirut.