Laer

I do. Thanks for the info, Bignewy! I'll look into that.

Hello again... Well, I bought an SSD, copied DCS2.5 onto it, and set up a 5 gig page file on it. All went well, but unfortunately it didn't seem to make a difference. Frame rates are still smooth, but I get 1/2 second pauses every once in a while. I thought about setting my terrain textures to low, but they already are, so there doesn't seem to be any more I can do to limit what it has to load. Tried setting the preload both high and low, but nothing really was a clear winner. DCS1.5 didn't have these problems, and I don't think 2.5 initially did either... Just something that came up afterwards, either via an update or some change in my PC, I guess. That's a drag. I was hoping this would be a quick fix until I buy a new system. I'm playing at 1080, and have relevant settings set to reasonable values. Again, frame rate is nice... just those annoying 1/2 - 1 second pauses. I have to try some of the other suggestions (clearing the metashaders folder, etc), although I suspect not much will change. @David: The install I was referring to was all the other (non-DCS) stuff... email, programs, etc. Ya, the copy over of DCS was easy.

Hi, guys. Thanks for the helpful responses! (...and for not just hitting me with the traditional 'Get A New Computer!!!!' response! Hehe...). I'll look into all of that. Ya, a shame Win7 can't KEEP the priority setting permanently, as I did try that trick before, but you have to do it every time, unless you have 3rd party software to remember it (as you point out). Might go get a SSD today (although it seems my local store has them as special order only). Thanks for the brand suggestions. I played around with the preload setting again, but can never figure out where the sweet spot is. A shame it doesn't autodetect it, based on your settings and system...or at least give you SOME sort of clue where to set it. Frame rates are surprisingly smooth... just those 1 second pauses every so often. I'll have to check if there's a page file on that secondary drive. I assumed there was, but I might be wrong. The system is old and limited... Gateway FX. CPU (i7 920) can only be upgraded to a VERY slightly faster CPU.... not worth the trouble. RAM can only go up to 16 (from my current 12)... Motherboard is restrictive in what can be used.... System is (even when new) notorious for getting warm... and, to top it off, the connector on my front hot-swappable drive bays shorted out, so those two drive bays are out of the picture (resulting in me having to cram my drives into the already cramped rats nest of a cable-fest interior. A new system is WELL overdue... but just not in the near future, as I have so many other things more important to have money spent on (... plus, I'm not looking forward to having to re-install/configure everything... plus, being forced to use Win10 on top of that...) But, the good news seems it IS probably the terrain loading... and that the CPU is actually performing oddly well. So, that SSD is probably going to help (as would a RAM increase, even if it's only going to go up to 16 from 12). It'll be glorious if/when I do get a new system. This old (easily well over 10-15 years) system DOES play all my flight/racing sims quite nicely, with generally high settings (at 1080p, which is all I ever wanted anyway).... Thanks again for the many great suggestions. I'll be checking those out.

(Later...) Ya, there must be something to this 'probably the terrain loading slowly from the hard drive' thing... I was just switching through the F11 (Airport) views, and with virtually every airport, it started with just some bunkers on the water, and then (after maybe a second or two!) the buildings and ground loaded in. Wow... That was really awful... I don't get it, though... It's a Western Digital Black.... and it's NEW (and has very few things on it). That doesn't make sense. It seems like my ancient (C drive) Hitachi (almost full) performed better. Well, I'm seriously considering getting an solid state drive tomorrow, just to put my flight sims on.... (or at least DCS and X-Plane11, as IL2 Great Battles seems to run fine, and I don't imagine that Falcon BMS, which I plan on installing for the first time, will put up much of a strain... but then again, I would have thought a new, almost empty WD Black drive wouldn't perform like it's heavily fragmented near-death!)

Hi, David. Thanks for the response. Yep, you found my specs. I haven't seen a DCS update in ages... I assumed it autoupdates, but I'll have to check that! Interesting note about the FXO/Metashaders2 folders... I'll look into that, too. Thanks. I THINK I may be able to upgrade to 16gb RAM (my motherboard is unfortunately limiting... It's a premade system, and things like the CPU can't really be upgraded. But, I think 16gb RAM is the ceiling on it, so that may be an option, as long as the MB doesn't have some stupid restriction). An SSD should be no problem, hopefully. Hopefully there's a port left on the MB. If I go that route, maybe I could/should move my X-Plane11 install to it as well, assuming that would benefit. One thing I should check... if I get the pauses while sitting on the ground. The only thing I can imagine it is, is bottlenecking of terrain data... although I was running the vanilla map no problem for years. Maybe it was affected by the preload setting, as I probably changed that when I got the Persian Gulf map (to fix the similar pauses I'd get with THAT map... which made a bit more sense). Too bad you can't set preload values for each map individually. But, ya, the main thing I was after was verification on what specifically may be causing that.. terrain preload, AI computations, flight model, etc. (I get the pauses without any AI, so I don't think it's AI... and I'm using a FC3 plane, so the flight model shouldn't be a strain). Weird, as the frame rate is lovely, otherwise... Just this relatively regular (10-20 seconds?) one second pause.

Hello, me again (several weeks later)... Curious (and frustrating) thing... I'm playing DCS2.5 on the Caucasus map, using the F-15 from FC3... and suddenly now I'm getting regular 1 second pauses ever 10-20(?) seconds or so. The frame rate, otherwise, is nice and smooth... but I get these (new) regular 1 second pauses now for some reason (when it previously didn't, even with more complex planes like the A-10 (not the FC3 one). Any theories on why this might suddenly be happening? Is it probably a map loading thing, or what? The flight model can't be too strenuous (especially since I've flown the A-10 for a long time with no pauses), and it's not a demanding map (like the Persian Gulf one, where I HAVE had micro pauses). Any settings or config hacks I can try?

So I guess I was right, it's not available in the Quick Mission generator. I was hoping I could use it to create a quick, random mission (like you do with the Quick Mission system), but with a carrier takeoff/landing. If I make my own mission in the Mission Editor, I'll know what enemies to expect, and where (...aside from utilizing some sort of random spawn radius for each of the enemy units).

Thanks, pimp!

Bonus question: Is the Nevada map similarly demanding? I thought I read that the Gulf map ran better between those two. UPDATE: Wow, I just set the pre-load radius to around 50%, and did a quick flight.... and it was smooth! I mean, it always was smooth, but had that regular 1/4 second pause. This time, it didn't. If there was microstutters, they were pretty much unnoticable. At one point (several minutes into the flight) there was a 1/2-1 second pause, but that was it. So, I guess that is a factor. I just wish there was more precise way to determine the ideal pre-load slider position. Maybe I could do 75%... or maybe it's 60%. I just tried 50% randomly, and it worked well.

Thanks, guys. I wonder how you'd have the carrier in the Caucasus map in a Quick Mission. Does the carrier appear as an airport starting position option on the startup map? So far, there doesn't seem to be an option, so I'm not sure if you need to specify it some other way? I know you'd be able to make regular (hand created) missions with it, just as any other item in the map editor library... but how do you specify it when using the Quick Mission generator?

Hi. I just wanted to verify something... If I buy the Hornet module, it comes with an aircraft carrier, and that will be usable in the Caucasus map? I have the Persian Gulf map, too, but I get microstutters on it, so I'd ideally be using the Caucus map... if that's possible with the carrier. Is the carrier present in Quick Missions, or just full/proper missions?

Hey, Rudel_chw... Hrmm... Okay, I don't recall if 2.5 asked me for activation. I know I had to install the modules. No hardware changes, other than an additional secondary drive (which 2.5 was installed on). Okay, as long as deleting 1.5 on the primary doesn't mess up the 2.5 modules. Sounds like it shouldn't. I wasn't sure if it was a 'deactivate before uninstalling' type of deal... Cool. Thanks!

Hi. I was running DCS1.5 on my C drive, with three paid modules installed/activated. Last year, I got a new secondary drive, and was then able to install DCS2.5 on it (leaving the original DCS1.5 on the primary drive... just in case my old system was unable to properly run 2.5, so I could then just delete 2.5 and go back to my already installed 1.5....). So, DCS 2.5 is running fine, so I can now uninstall 1.5 on the primary drive... but, before I do, I am wondering if I need to deactivate the three paid modules (A10C, HUEY and FC3) first, freeing them up so I don't 'lose' an activation... if that's a thing, even. Just wanted to make sure first... If so, would doing so affect the same modules registered in the 2.5 install on my other drive? (....I wouldnn't think so.... but I figured I should ask!)

Also, could someone fill me in on how you make graphics.lau edits via an autoexec.cfg file? By that, I just mean what code would I put into that file? If I just do the structures = {20, 10000}; code, it won't know what line that is replacing... and I suspect there's more code than that I'd have to put in. Or is that it? They say not to edit the graphics.lau file directly, as it will just be written over on the next update. Further into that thread, some more suggestions are made (view distance, etc).... which are also done via an autoconfig. Yup, I turned off civilian traffic, and reduced a few things... but, again, it really doesn't seem like my CPU is getting stressed (oddly enough). Either a VRAM or hard drive thing. I just read that it might be best to do a HIGH pre-load, as (apparently) it just means longer mission loads (...although I'd fear that it would overload my RAM). Turns out (according to the post) that the pre-load may actually be the amount of world loaded into SYSTEM RAM (not VRAM), so it loads from that, rather than from the drive. I'll have to try that again...

I just found a reference to the structures attribute in the config. It's the graphics.lau file, but unfortunately there's about 8 references to the structure attribute (for 4 different quality levels, and another 4 for the mirror). So, I'm not sure which one to edit. https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=107551 (2nd post) Any ideas?

Hi, glycbz. You snuck in as I was responding, I think! Really odd, as you would normally think a map made mostly of barren sand would perform way better than the Caucasus map (filled with trees and stuff)! That map not only gives me 100fps, but virtually no stutters. Still a few here and there, but not 'regular' like the PG map seems to (usually). Runs quite smooth (PG)... you just get these micro 'pulls'. I have to check again, but the CPU and GPU seem to be breathing pretty easy. I ALMOST went out and bought more RAM (I can go up to 24, if I completely ditch the current 12 I have... or go to 16 if I just buy 2 new sticks to fill the empty slots).... but was convinced it wouldn't really help for any of my sims. Meh... If there's no tweek I can do (be it in the settings or config), then I'll just live with it for now, and focus more on the Caucasus map (...which I actually much prefer, actually). Once I get my new rig, I'll be able to crank a few things (....although, really, there's not much to crank, at my current settings). I don't do 4k. Certainly totally playable, 'smooth' and responsive. Seems to sometimes do a random hold once in a while (usually at the start, as I move my head in TrackIR, but then I guess it 'loads everything in' and it's happy again. I'm going to see if I can find that 'structures' parameter in the config, and dial that down. That may help (less to load). But, ya, if that guy with the great rig is also having some stutters, then I guess I can't complain! (...and may not even get it fully solved with the new rig, either) Ya, I was considering getting a SSD specifically for DCS and XPlane. Those should fit on one okay. But, ya, it's hardly a problem... Just seeing if it was a quick fix, as otherwise, it's golden.

Hi, Harlikwin. Ya, I think I did try a quite high pre-load, and that seemed worse. I think the general rule is smaller = more frequent but quicker pauses... and larger = less frequent but longer pauses.... which makes sense. As lame as my CPU is, it's actually doing fine here (and with my other flight/racing sims). From what I can see, it seems it's the world loading that is the issue. An SSD might help, although the drive I have DCS on now is new, and virtually empty. DCS was the first or second thing I installed on it (and that was just this year)... so it wasn't installed on a fragemented drive or anything. If anything, I'd think maybe the VRAM needs to be higher... but that card was bought last year, so I'm not going to go and get another one. I'll be getting a whole new (and much better) system eventually, but I'm just trying to see what I can do with this one. The new card and new, clean drive were pretty much all I could do... along with re-visiting the settings. The frame rate on the PG map is usually 30-60. It's just those stutters. Setting the pre-load to minimum (100) is probably the best I've found. it's just a 1/4 second pause... if that. Doesn't jar me, but.... well.. it's there. I'm wondering about that TrackIR issue that some have talked about. I have to look that up, and see if there's some workaround. I'm running the latest drivers. I also gave DCS high priority when it runs, too. Maybe adjusting the visibility range or something... I don't know. That's why I'm writing here, to see if it's a known thing, or if there's something obvious that it sounds like might be happening. I read somewhere that there is a 'structures' item in the config(?), which can be reduced. I certainly wouldn't mind reducing the buildings, as they are kind of repetitive anyway, and (being in the desert) it won't look so much like big holes in the city, like it might in XPlane.

Hi. I've got an old system that has an i7 920 (2.6gHz) CPU, 12 gigs of RAM, and a GTX1060 3G video card... Win7 Premium. Playing at 1920x1080 (non-VR), with reasonable settings (...I'm not complaining!) When running the Caucasus map, I'm usually getting 90-100fps... much to my surprise... but with the Persian Gulf map, I still get good frame rates (at least 30fps, which is all I ask for, really)... but I get quite regular micro-stutters (single 1/4 second pause every few seconds... sometimes one will be a longer pause). I hear this map does have different system requirements compared to the default map, but unfortunately I have to make do with the system I have now until I finally get my killer rig... someday. I've played around with the pre-load radius, but even at 100 (minimum), I still get stutters every few seconds. I've been trying to see if I'm better with larger or smaller pre-load settings. Otherwise, it's running nice... just those stutters, which I assume is the world loading in (off my 2TB WD Black SATA secondary drive). Doesn't appear to be much strain on the GPU or CPU, actually. I heard that there MAY also be some stutter/pause issue with TrackIR (...I have the TrackIR5). So, I'm wondering if someone could fill me in on what might be happening... what I could try... etc. I'm monitoring the strain using the CTRL+Pause DCS feature, plus also using Afterburner's GPU/CPU reading display overlay. Thanks...

New question: For a 12gig RAM system, is there a specific number setting for the Preload slider that I should have it set to? A sweet spot, at least? I obviously don't want to set it too high, but at the same time, I also don't want to set it to low (and reduce performance or something).

Oh, good. I was worried you'd be one of those guys who is stunned and whole-heartedly criticizes me for not wanting to go to Win10! :thumbup: So, I played the PG pa again last night, trying different pre-load settings. It seems if I have it full low, I get bad freezes/stutters. If I go full high, I get random CTD during flight (...no surprise). Anything in between, seems to work, but I usually CTD when EXITING the flight and going to the main menu. So, no perfect solution so far... aside from maybe buying more RAM. Really, the only thing stopping me there, is that I'd probably get 24 (with the old RAM that is compatible with this old machine).... which I then couldn't really use if I get a full, new system. So a bit of a double RAM purchase there. But, if I'm not getting the new system any time soon (if no big work project rolls in), then I guess the RAM is a relatively inexpensive fix, which may benefit some of the other games/apps. But, ya, oddly enough, all my sims are running very nicely (DCS... aside from the new PG CTDs, XPlane11, IL2 Great Battles, Project Cars1&2, etc). For a system with an i7 920, old RAM and motherboard, and only SATA drives, it's actually performing surprisingly well. I think XPlane was (originally) the only thing I had to turn down settings (which I wanted high) down a bit... but that changed now, with my new graphics card (which is surprising, since the desired graphics settings I was limiting were really CPU related things). That, and the fact that this PC is probably over 10 years old! That's pretty impressive! Okay, well I am seriously considering following through with the RAM, as I think that's the best (only?) solution for the PG map... and RAM prices are relatively low now. Thanks again for all your efforts and help, Rudel_chw. Very much appreciated, and it is really great talking with you. I wish this forum had one of those 'Like' or 'Kudo' features, so I could bump up your status, as you are really a very positive contributer to this community. Probably talk with you again, soon!

Ah, so it seems like it caps at 18gigs RAM, I guess. I'd be getting 16 or 24, I think... I was surprised to see that it was fairly common to overclock a i7 920. I would have thought I'd be in the 'can't be done' category. I wouldn't expect miracles... it would just be nice to get a bit of a boost. Even bring it up to 2.8gHz, which seems to be the minimum for several games. Apparently, some people went up to 4gHz, which I would have thought impossible. Ya, upgrading would be an all or nothing scenario. Upgrading one thing pretty much requires all the other things to be upgraded out of necessity. Heck, even my OS would have to be upgraded, as the newer motherboards apparently require Win10 (...ugh). I was considering getting a whole new system if I got this upcoming 3D modelling job, but the whole show fell through, so that ain't happening. I'm back to having to be somewhat cautious with my spending now.... :( Still may happen, though. I'm just being responsible! The performance seems good in DCS, though... Sure, some microstutters, but otherwise very good. I just don't know what's going on with the CTD that happens now when I QUIT the flight and go to the main menu. I got good FPS in XPlane11 (and even better now that I added a dynamic LOD adjuster, as well as a plugin that allows me to tweek specific graphic elements, like XPlane10 did). The IL2 Great Battles modules are running nicely, too. I'm actually surprised. Pretty much all my games are running well (with generally high graphics settings).

Good call, Rudel_chw! I found this online: The Gateway TBGM-01 uses the Intel LGA 1366/Socket B CPU socket. Any compatible Intel CPU will have the same socket entry. It uses the DDR3 memory type, with maximum speeds of up to 1333 MHz, and 6 DDR3 slots allowing for a maximum total of 24 GB RAM. So, that's good news. I'm still unclear on how DCS uses RAM... as it SEEMS to (near) max out, regardless of what I set the preload to. Not sure if (as I said) it 'uses everything that is free to use'... and if that's a good or bad thing (...Does it stop before maxing out?) DCS actually claims it only needs (minimally) 8gigs (16 for 'heavy missions', which I'm not doing... currently, at least). So, my 12 SHOULD be okay... theoretically. But, if getting more RAM helps somehow, I'm all for that, since the CPU is pretty much stuck... other than overclocking...which is something I have never tried, and it intimidates the heck out of me. Apparently, this CPU has been pushed to 4GHz. I'd be happy with 3! Even 2.8 would be an improvement, as some other games/sims seem to have that as a minimum.

@Rudel_chw: I believe this PC can only go up to 16gigs of RAM. I'll be buying new RAM, as it's currently at a reasonable price, apparently. I'll have a talk with the guys at the store, to have them verify what is actually usable on my system. Kind of a drag that I can only improve it by 4gigs, but I'm sure that will help in some way, with this and other sims. @DflippinK: Hi, thanks for the response. Wow, good community so far! I really appreciate the kind/useful responses. Ya, my CPU is definitely the weakest link... an older 920 i7 (2.67), but I'm stuck with it, as I think I could only upgrade to maybe a 2.8... which seems hardly worth it. I haven't monitored the CPU use while playing DCS, oddly enough... So, that's going to be my next test. I'm curious to see how they are coping. @Both of you guys: The preload slider was full right (...oops. Ya, I thought that might help the occassional stutter, but didn't factor in that it would require serious RAM!). I tried bringing it down to various levels, and then monitored the RAM use (via the Resource Monitor), and found that I was easily able to prevent the in-flight CTD, but oddly enough, rgardless of how low (down to virtually full left slider) I set the preload, DCS would seem to use almost all my RAM (leaving about 32megs). Does DCS just always use maximum RAM (...figuring, if it's there, why not use it)? Or, does setting the preload give it a hard ceiling for how much RAM to use? I suppose that if it's running fine, then I shouldn't chase the numbers so much (...it's just a bit distressing, for some reason, to see the memory usage graph virtually maxed out). NEW: Although the in-flight CTD seems to be solved (by me pulling back the preload slider to something that wasn't stupidly ambitous), I do find that DCS does seem to CTD now when I EXIT the flight (go to the menu). That's a new one. Not sure what that is about. I'll have to look into that further, but any advice/info on that is obviously appreciated!

It appears I have 6 sticks of 2GB 667MHz DDR3 SDRAM (DR3-1333). Not sure if I could completely remove that and put in new (and more) RAM with this motherboard. I'd gladly buy new (and more) RAM if that's possible. I'll have to ask the store. Ah! Well if the CTD thing is likely the preload radius, then that is very, very likely what the issue here, as the preload IS quite high (and that's one thing I know I did alter... which was a bad idea, in retrospect!). Okay, so I probably just have to lower that, and all will be good. That would explain why the default map worked fine for years, and the issue is suddenly happening now.... I changed that setting recently! Hopefully, that's all that is needed, as the map runs surprisingly well, otherwise. Thanks for your help, Rudel_chw. Cheers!

Hi, Rudel_chw. Thanks for the response. Ya, I think my RAM slots are filled, and even possibly maxed. I'll have to verify that for sure. It's a premade (Gateway FX) system, so it's virtually designed not to be expandable, unfortunately. I've wanted to update the CPU, but the best I can do it take it up to maybe a 2.80ish level... which is probably not worth the trouble. I'm not sure what options I do have for the RAM. The motherboard pretty much limits everything I can do, and replacing one thing sometimes would result in the need to upgrade another... and then you're back to just getting a whole new system. Is there something in the settings I can turn down/off to ease the RAM load? I think I have the pre-load up high (to avoid in-game load stuttering), so maybe I should lower that? The frame rate is quite nice (with some occasional microstutters). Weird that the default map has run flawlessly for years, yet the PG map introduced the crashes. They are clean crashes, with no pre-warning. Just dumps to the desktop. I'll definitely try lowering the preload, as that's one thing I did change most recently. If there's any other setting that might contribute, please let me know. I have heard there is a Structures attribute in the config file which can be lowered. I assume that's a CPU stress helping thing... or would that also help in a RAM issue?