Aluminum Donkey

Greetings everyone, A look at my dcs.log shows lots & lots of ERROR messages, many of them related to "model" files not found. For example: 2018-08-31 07:52:48.789 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/su-25.lods.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:49.087 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/kraz-6322_p1.edm.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:49.134 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/kraz-6322.edm.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:49.231 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/hemtt.lods.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:49.330 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/m-818.lods.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:49.451 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/hmmwv_m1025.lods.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:49.530 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/soldier_m4.lods.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:52.149 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/9s18m1.lods.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:52.349 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/9s470m1.lods.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:52.480 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/9a310m1.lods.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:52.619 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/sborka.lods.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:52.759 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/aim-9x.edm.json. 2018-08-31 07:52:52.790 ERROR EDCORE: Cant open file: /models/lau-115c+2_lau127.edm.json. I'm also getting this one a lot: 2018-08-31 07:52:44.675 ERROR_ONCE DX11BACKEND: render target 'fftw_foam' not found And this: 2018-08-31 07:42:27.364 ERROR EDCORE: Can't mount bazar/effects/particlesystem2/overwingvapor/. Drivers errors: 2018-08-31 07:42:27.364 ERROR EDCORE: FSDriver: there is no directory bazar/effects/particlesystem2/overwingvapor/ 2018-08-31 07:42:27.364 ERROR EDCORE: ZipDriver: Can't open zip archive bazar/effects/particlesystem2/overwingvapor/.zip. My problem in the sim is that I always get stuttering when something happens, usually combat-related such as A2A kills, someone ejecting, or parts of aircraft breaking off as an opponent (or ally!) goes down in flames. The sim seems to be having problems finding what it needs as things happen in missions--various assets that are needed for animations and effects. The sim still works, but stutters since it has to search for assets instead of knowing where to find them right away. That's why I'm considering wiping out my entire DCS install and reinstalling everything from scratch, but that's a major nuisance since all I want to do is repair it. I have a suspicion that there may be Windows registry entries that are missing, which DCS uses to "point" to specific files in compressed archives, but since I've re-installed my OS, those registry entries are no longer there--so DCS has to search large compressed archives looking for data, which causes stutters. Anyone have any insight here (especially anyone at ED with some spare time)? I'd really rather not do an entire reinstall of DCS, but if that's what it takes, so be it. My log files are included. AD DCS.log.zip

The general consensus is that as long as you're firing them within the recommended range limits, especially Rne, the most authentic missile behavior is the one that gets you the most kills :) Realistically, no-one here really has a clue how the real missiles behave, and I seriously doubt even the folks at ED really know as much about them as there is to know. As far as firing actual missiles at live-human-piloted adversaries goes, I doubt there are many real-life fighter pilots that have much experience with that! Yes, it happens, and no, it doesn't happen all the time every day--and even if it was, the details would be unavailable to anyone but other fighter pilots, and missile manufacturers. That leaves official manufacturer's documentation to give ED most of the general parameters they need to model the missiles as realistically as possible. Oh yeah, little problem here--it's all classified. So, it's down to educated guesses based on general info like missile size, shape and weight, rocket engine burn time and thrust profile, guidance system expectations, and guesses about seeker behavior--all based on general knowledge about how it "could" be done, and of course a lot of anecdotes. Guided missiles of any variety are complex, very expensive devices and the gory details of how the radar, seeker, flight control system and guidance algorithms all work and behave in actual use are classified. That means, the kind folks who've given the world these technological marvels might be willing to tell you a few things about how they actually behave in real life--but first, they'd ask you for permission to kill you after telling you. :D What we get is a rather insightful, artist's representation of how these missiles perform. It might be insightful, but it's still based on educated guesses--some more educated than others, and all guesses nonetheless. If you want a really good, realistic representation of how air-to-air weapons really behave in a consumer sim designed primarily for entertainment, you'll just have to go Gunzo, and that's all there is to it :) Peace and happy warfare AD

I'm not sure it's memory manager related... I could swear I've had it happening just about forever, and *really* wish it didn't. The new content is cool and all, but for something as complex as DCS, I wish they'd iron out the various sim engine shortcomings... My system is modest compared to some, but I still get excellent framerates. It's just this annoying stutter. It would be less of a problem if it was truly random, maybe a huge memory swap as you fly around the map, instead of knowing it WILL happen every time I engage a target! AD

Greetings everyone, As the title says? I've been getting good, stutter-free performance with the newest DCS Open Beta when just flying around, even with lots of planes in the air and high settings, but as always, whenever there's an engagement and weapon hits, the framerate tanks for a split second and I get the dreaded immersion-killing stutters. It always happens a lot and kills the fun of the sim. I have a pretty capable PC and DCS is installed on one of those uber-fast NVMe M.2 drives (Samsung 960 Evo.) Still, it takes along time to load maps in the mission editor (newly selected maps slowly load one "block" at a time), and also takes quite a while to load missions, despite my NVMe drive benchmarking very well (over 3200 MB/sec reads.) Is it worthwhile just wiping out the entire SSD and re-installing only the Release version of DCS World? Or, is this problem persistent across all versions? Is DCS searching for a file it needs and has a hard time finding? Or is there a .lua file I can edit to pre-load the needed effects into video memory? (I have an 8GB graphics card.) I've always been inclined to think it's an asset-loading problem, and maybe there's something wrong with my install despite the usual cleanup and repair routine. But, 120GB of stuff is a *lot* to download!! Thanks, AD

Do you have fog turned on in Weather settings for your mission? I've noticed it causes weird things to happen at ground level, especially near the horizon. If so, turn the fog off and see if it improves. AD

Awesome, thanks so much!! AD

Anyone gotten a handle on this yet? The F/A-18C module is shaping up to be a real buttkicker, what with the A2A radar now working properly, and AIM-9X and AMRAAMs :) I'm still getting the thick blurry text thing... The HUD is pretty nice, but the displays (DDIs) have "clunky" text on them. Zooming in fixes it, but I'm running a 32" 1440p display and would like everything nice and sharp at normal zoom where I see the whole cockpit--HUD and 2 DDIs :) Any ideas? AD

You lucky sod :) Anyway, I find clouds flicker a lot for some reason... the usual Alt-Enter doesn't change that. So, either it's a sim engine bug or a graphics driver bug. Mirrors for me cause about a 5-10% framerate drop, but no stutteing. I don't get shadow popup. Missile smoke (especially when firing a whole pile of unguided rockets) is an obvious FPS killer, I think it's been that way for a while. But, for me, stuttering is random, it happens once in a while when flying around--not too big of a deal--except for air-to-air kills. When the first A2A kills occur in any mission, it's stutter time. WishI knew why, because it really miffs me!! AD

My settings aren't too high, I never have problems with framerates. I seldom if ever use all my video memory and never use all my system memory either. When I watch a vid from one of the 8700k-32GB-1080 Ti crowd, I still notice stuttering. It's them that aren't noticing it :) Perhaps a total wipe of my NVMe SSD (only for DCS) is in order, but 120GB of stuff is a LOT to download! It wouldn't bother me if I could just DL it overnight as one big 'normal' torrent with a regular torrent client, keep it all on a regular mechanical hard drive, and install only what I want, but that just isn't feasible (and no such torrent exists). AD

In purely technical terms, I haven't the foggiest idea. But, it gives you faster boot times, and apps load and run faster--including DCS, which now runs at higher framerates for a given set of graphics settings. The stuttering problem, especially on A2A kills, is still there, unfortunately. One of your wingmen busts a cap in an enemy, and the sim hiccups. Same thing happens at random times when flying a mission. My system specs are below, but even in Normandy I only see maybe 6-7 of my 8GB of video RAM being used, and maybe 10 of my 16GB system RAM used. I still get stuttering whenever anything "happens". UEFI mode seems to do a lot of good overall--but there's still a fundamental problem in how my system (and everyone else's!!!) is working, or a fundamental glitch in DCS World's coding, that causes stuttering. I'm not a coder, so I couldn't tell you. It's a right bloody shame though--real immersion breaker, and you're always aware of it, it's taking up space in your brain when you're just trying to get into the sim. Those 8700k-1080 Ti-32GB guys get it too. AD

With a computer like yours, graphics glitches, stutters, framerate tanks, missing textures, crashes etc. etc. etc. are normal features of the fundamental simulation engine. So, yes, it's normal :) I just got back from a month-long DCS Forum ban for griping loudly (and somewhat nastily, so I probably shouldn't swear anymore) about stuttering, and here I am, and everyone else is still complaining about this stuff. I'm probably gonna get banned again for this post, but yes, stuff still acts up when you're trying to just fly around by yourself with nothing else going on, even though you have hardly any load on your CPU or video card, and have most of your system memory free. The sim engine still has numerous glitches. If you get graphics flickering/popping in and out, count yourself lucky. I, and numerous other DCS affictionados, get STUTTERING--including the "chosen ones" with the kind of disposable money for a PC like you have, and have DCS World installed on an uber-fast NVMe SSD like myself in a futile attempt to eliminate stuttering due to asset loading in-mission. Give it all up--it'll never work. I just wiped out my entire SATA SSD and re-installed Windows in UEFI mode with all the latest device drivers, and DCS World now runs better than ever--better framerates at the same graphics settings, no crashes-to-desktop anymore, even slightly better mission loading times. But, it still likes to STUTTER whenever something happens, like an air-to-air kill or wingman reporting anything on the radio. So, fly, enjoy, tolerate the flickering and STUTTERING, and try not to get banned :) I have a nagging suspicion that ED will never address the issue of stuttering on explosion effects, usually from A2A kills... or anything else. You get what you get, and if cloud and/or ground texture flickering is your only problem, count yourself blessed. ;) Peace AD

Don't see why not. The wing loading is a good chunk higher with the wings folded, so your minimum speed will be higher too, and turning performance not as good. So, no reason why it shouldn't. AD

Wow, what are you doing to get it to tank to 25 FPS?! I have a 'lazy' system compared to yours, and even if I max everything out I'm not dropping to 25 FPS! Even mirrors on! 1440p also. AD

If you haven't already, go into your Nvidia Control Panel and select Manage 3D Settings. Scroll all the way down to Vertical Sync and set it to Off, both globally and under Program Settings for DCS World. If it's on in any mode, it may limit the framerate. Your problem isn't lack of processor speed, or vid card speed (obviously!) or anything to do with the screen resolution. You have a framerate limiter operating somewhere--it's a question of finding it. Always try pressing Alt-Enter after the mission starts in DCS, it must be in full screen mode, and selecting Full Screen in System Options won't do it. Finally, 60FPS is outstanding for flight simming and regardless of what anyone tells you, you're unlikely to notice *any* difference whatsoever between 60 FPS, 160 FPS, or 1600 FPS in a flight sim--except, of course, the number in the corner of the screen :) Still, it should be possible to sort this out and you should get 100 FPS or more (possibly much more in certain situations) because of your almighty graphics card. I have the same CPU as you but a much slower vid card (GTX 1070) and I can easily get 100+ FPS over water at altitude, and your CPU is certainly not a bottleneck, which should be obvious since it isn't running at anywhere near 100% load on any core. Personally, I clamp my framerate at 40 FPS using Rivatuner because I can't tell the difference between that and 60 or even 75 Hz when flight simming, but I prefer a constant framerate no matter where I am on the map or what's going on. AD

The i5 6600k is certainly no bottleneck. It could probably stand a bit of overclocking, but as of now he certainly has plenty of headroom available; his CPU load on any core is roughly 60%. He should be able to get 100 FPS easily with max settings. The i7 or i9 will *not* improve his performance. The CPU is not heavily loaded.

It's suspect the way the sim does it is by... pulling it out of its arse :) DCS has a generic control scheme that's intended to be used with any controllers, commercial or homemade. The only consistency I've ever noticed is that it seems to use the right 3 axes for pitch, roll and throttle. That's fine for getting going. How on Earth it figured out that my Ethernet adapter is a TrackIR is beyond me. So be it :) AD

That's really funny :) hehehe I just wonder where DCS World gets the 6 degrees of motion from the network adapter :) AD

Imma do that now! Thanks for the heads up, this simple little fact escaped me for a while. Actually I got my recent Realtek Ethernet driver from the official Realtek website and it says it's up-to-date in Device Manager, so now I'm off to look for the newest drivers for the Z170 chipset. I guess Z170 is archaic by today's standards, but the hardware it supports still performs very well. AD

You have a mighty hefty rig, that helps a bit :) Although, there are people on here with seriously meaty PCs that are having stutter/crashing problems, so better hardware isn't the universal cure-all. Mine is middle of the road these days. AD

Yep, to paraphrase the great Forrest Gump, every Nvidia driver is like a box of chocolates :) Imma stick with 388.71 for now. It seems to get the job done most of the time. I doubt I'll try any new ones for a while unless I'm feeling "adventurous" (i.e. had a few too many beers.) AD

That's what I guessed... But I haven't blitzed Opentrack yet. Not that it's a big deal to set it up, but I hardly ever use it because although it worked really well, I've been busy chasing down stutters. So, it's kinda been neglected. Still, I think having the Ethernet adapter show up as TrackIR in DCS World is a bit over the top. It's just crazy. Wish I knew exactly how to chase it down, I like to play with Opentrack once in a while and don't want to delete it just yet. I'm not seeing any device conflicts in Device Manager. AD

I'm scared to try it :) Man, the stutters are driving me mad. Whenever I get get them to go away, they invariably come back. AD

Cool, I'll keep it in mind. I'm still trying to iron out the stutters. Unfortunately I don't have a GSync monitor to go with my Nvidia card... My monitor (HP Omen 32") is a Freesync... Well, can't have it all I suppose. I wanted a 32-ish inch screen in 1440p, and the only ones I found were all VA panels with Freesync. I'da preferred a really fast TN panel, but they usually suck (backlight bleed) and GSync, but so be it :) So, with my VA screen I get motion blur (slow pixels, 5ms) and great contrast, deep blacks, no backlight bleed at all, with really nice colors and no Gsync. Good enough I guess. AD

I disable it either in Device Manager, or in the Network & Internet Settings page. It does the same thing--shows up as disabled in Device Manager. I haven't actually uninstalled the driver for it, although I recently updated it to the latest one from Realtek a couple days ago. AD

Just as the title says. If you're having stutters try 388.71, it seems to work better for me. :thumbup: Sim also seems to use less video card RAM than with newest drivers, average framerates are still good too. System spex below. AD