prccowboy

hmm.. my first post didn't show up, so I hope this isn't a duplicate. I used to love the fast movers. I played every fighter sim I could get my hands on (all Falcon variants, all the Janes' sims, EF2000, Back to Baghdad, etc.) I even had a copy of Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering by Robert Shaw under my pillow. Then one day I tried the Warthog and now I spend 95% of my "cockpit" time in it. Lt. Jake Grafton: "Fighter pukes make movies. Bomber pilots make... HISTORY!"

um, about 60°F difference with summer temperatures over 110 °F (43 °C) :music_whistling: but, yeah I confirm the NTTR winter textures are missing runway/taxi lines in 2.5OB

Does anyone have benchmark performance numbers (FPS) with processlasso vs Windows "High Performance" power plan?

OK, it sounds like you are jumping back and forth between Full Screen Exclusive and borderless window (using Alt-Enter) in borderless window, Windows’ applies it's native V-Sync implementation, which is also triple-buffered (and acts similar to "Fast Sync" <=meaning framerates are not "locked") with Full Screen Exclusive, the Nvidia control panel vsync settings are applied. So, if Vsync is ON then your framerates are "locked" to 60,30,20, etc. (unless you use "Fast Sync", etc.) edit: Personally, I like NVCP's Fast Sync/Smooth/Adaptive but theoretically it can induce microstutters or "judder" because you will usually have an odd frame that doesn't match the monitor refresh rate, so either a frame gets dropped or one gets repeated

have you tried it without any other apps running (ex: FRAPS)?

What results are you looking for? It sounds like it is acting as expected. If you have Vsync ON then for a 60 hz vsync interval, the possible frame rates are 60, 30, 20, 15.

Any chance you have set "frame rate limiter" in your Nvidia profile? Do you have any other apps running? (ex: MSI Afterburner or something else with a frame limiter) Didn't you imply that you had over 120fps at times in the TrackIR thread? Did you change anything?

I thought about this for awhile because it is inconsistent with what *should* happen. Some of the Nvidia Profile settings don't get fully applied unless you are in Full Screen Exclusive (ex: vsync settings), so maybe you have something in your nvidia profile which is causing the low fps and flickering when they get applied (by L-Alt+Enter) Try checking your choice of SLI compatibility bits and your AA settings This link suggests that MFAA is NOT compatible with SLI (and may cause flickering): https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/NVIDIA_Profile_Inspector

I remember carrier landings at night with bad weather and pitching decks in Janes F18... that was "fun" of course, any night carrier landing with DS in 2.5OB would be challenging too :music_whistling:

SLI Setup Since I started this thread, I felt compelled to write this post as a guide to others trying to get SLI to work in DCS2.5 Note: these settings work with the 2.5 Release build (2.5.0.15365.345); however, the 2.5.1 Open beta build may have reintroduced a cloud flicker problem ==> Update: flicker fixed in 2.5.3.21235 Configuring SLI: DCS doesn’t have a working SLI profile from Nvidia. You will need to change the default profile to get SLI working properly. First, make certain that you have SLI enabled in the Nvidia Control Panel. (3D Settings=>Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX=>Click “Maximize 3d performance” under SLI configuration) Next, make sure that Nvidia Control Panel (NVCP) recognizes DCS (3D Settings=>Manage 3D settings=>Program Settings Tab=>Select a program to customize=>Digital Combat Simulator: Black Shark) Don’t worry about the “Black Shark” part, all versions of DCS use this profile. If NVCP doesn’t have this program listed, you will need to add it manually (“Add” then “Browse” to find the DCS program. Example: “F:>Program Files>Eagle Dynamics>DCS World>bin” and “DCS.exe”) This will load the default Nvidia profile which does NOT work. You will need to change the profile. To modify the profile, you need “NVIDIA Profile Inspector” by Orbmu2k (NVI) Once you have started NVI, Select the “Digital Combat Simulator: Black Shark” profile. Next change the “SLI compatibility bits (DX10 + DX11) setting to “0x080600F5 (S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat)”. You may also have good results using other settings like “0x081000F5 (Dirt 3, Dirt Rally)” but some (myself included) have reported cloud flickering problems with those bits The other SLI setting that you might need to change is the “Nvidia predefined SLI mode on DirectX 10”. I have best results (fps) with “AUTOSELECT” but others use “FORCE_AFR” or “FORCE_AFR2” (I also used AFR2 before 2.5) Don't forget to click "Apply Settings" Now SLI works in DCS, Enjoy the extra GPU power ! Note: In game, you might need to use L-Alt+Enter to switch to full screen exclusive while playing to see the full benefits. Optimizing performance Just because you now have SLI working and (theoretically) double the GPU power, it doesn’t mean that you will see FPS boost everywhere. CPU and GPU performance is related. To those thinking “my cpu utilization is less than 25% and/or I have affinity set to all cores, so I’m not cpu bottlenecked.” Well, you are probably wrong. It has been stated many times in other threads that DCS really only utilizes 2 cpu cores (with some additional threads being spread to other cores by Windows). If you have periods where your gpu utilization drops, then most likely one of your cpu cores just got maxed out (but the other cores are underutilized so overall it looks like your cpu is not the bottleneck). In post #40, (here), I show how your framerates can be bottlenecked by either CPU or GPU: There are some good guides to optimization: here, here, and here However, I want to suggest that if your gpu’s show low utilization but you still want more FPS, try reducing “Visible Range.” This is one of the easiest ways to reduce CPU load and let it catch up to your GPU’s. In the end, I dropped my visible range and overclocked my CPU (but I know that’s not for everyone)

I saw from the other thread that you have switched over to the 0x080600F5 SLI compatibility bits like me but it looks like you might still be forcing AFR. I get better framerates with "AUTOSELECT" on all the SLI rendering mode settings (don't force AFR) with these bits - you may want to try that too.

I'm still getting best results with the 0x080600F5 (S.T.A.L.K.E.R) bits. I see performance drop or flicker with the others. I'll keep playing with this profile and report back if I have any updates update: this seems to have permanently fixed the problem for me. I have NOT seen any flicker or other graphic anomalies with this setting. I consider this issue "closed" for me.

loan me your rig, I'll be happy to do some testing for you. I promise you will get it back... at some point ;)

thanks Paradox, I will update my first post to show the latest info

hmmm.. are you using any other setting (like Forcing AFR2?) That setting drops my fps to single gpu performance levels. Anyway, I also replied to you on the other thread about a different setting to try (I wish I could reliably reproduce the flicker problem to make it easier to test for fixes)

Paradox, If you can reproduce the problem all the time, then maybe your system is a better test bed (I can't reliably reproduce the issue). The SLI bits you used kills performance; however, please try this bit setting: 0x080600F5 (S.T.A.L.K.E.R) This one gives me good performance and I haven't seen the flicker yet

hmmm... that compatibility bit effectively turns off SLI on my rig. IF SLI is the reason for the flicker then that would fix it, but losing half my framerates doesn't work for me. I only see the cloud flicker occasionally anyway (I can't reliably replicate the problem). However, you have given me an idea and I will play with some other compatibility bits

I don't think it has anything to do with those settings (gamma, density, etc.)... I just experienced a temporary "fix" when I changed something but the problem returns later - probably coincidence. by the way, are you running SLI?

Here's another thread on the cloud flickering: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=3409280 I'm uncertain if it is SLI related or not. With earlier versions of DCSW, I would see flicker with the "old" clouds but I could fix it with vsync. Now, I only get flicker occasionally and only with the bottom of the clouds but vsync has no effect. But because it is intermittent, I'm having trouble finding a solution.

I'm attaching a screenshot to better compare notes because I'm not sure we are having the same problem. Note: I added fire/smoke to my test because you mentioned it in your post - but I don't have any flicker problem there You obviously can't see flicker in a static photo, but I've highlighted the areas that I see flicker.

heck, I'd be happy to get better mCPU utilization. When I get bottlenecked by max'ing only 2 cores of a 6C/12T cpu, I feel like I am wasting silicon (and $) Maybe future changes will start pushing my multi-core cpu. Previously I wasn't able to use SLI in DCS (an extra gpu wasted). Now I get to push both my gpu's to the limit. So I can only hope that one day I will get to push all my cpu cores. Until then I will just have to overclock to get better single core performance.

since you are using SLI, you might want to try "Smooth AFR" in vsync. It might help with some of the perceived stutter and combined with Fast Sync it doesn't really cap your max framerates Here are my relevant NVI settings:

I still think that in the areas where you are dropping to 50% gpu utilization that you can increase your framerates and gpu usage by reducing your visible range

It seems the key is to change the SLI compatibility bits DX10+DX11. Different bits work to get SLI going but I still have best results using BabyPapa1's suggestion (above) which means that I also leave the "Nvidia predefined SLI mode on DirectX 10" on "AutoSelect" instead of forcing AFR2 like Drag80 does (with earlier versions of DCS I did use AFR2) - This seems to give me slightly better performance than forcing it. (Note: the other setting "Nvidia predefined SLI mode" is using "Force AFR2" but not the DX10 one) With w10 (and game mode on), I don't need to force FSE. The performance gains work in windowed mode (which is what I used for my screenshots above). I only need Full Screen Exclusive (L-Alt Enter), to force different vsync settings (other than Fast Sync). I have a photo of my NVI compatibility bits above but maybe I will post a photo of all my settings later

TexasBread, I've tried to reliably and logically replicate the problem but it remains elusive. I'm not sure what triggers it (or if we even have the same problem - I initially thought my problem was SLI related). Once the clouds start flickering for me then I can enter any mission with clouds and see the flicker immediately. However, once it stops then I can't find a way to force the problem again, it just "randomly" reappears later. The changing gamma thing does seem to temporarily stop it for me but I can't see a logical connection there - unless it has something to do with updating the options.lua file. edit: ok, so it's not "gamma" per se. It happened to me again and I tried the following: exited the mission and restarted 3 times - cloud flicker was always showing immediately. exited the mission and changed something randomly in settings (smoke density) restarted and flicker gone. Anyway, I will keep playing with it and if you have any luck let me know