Framerate DCS: World; Bottleneck

Morning,

after a long time being grounded :smilewink: I bought a new GPU and started an new Hog Career. So i did a lot of reading, tweaking and finally got SoftTh running (thx PeterP)

My setup:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K, 4x 3.30GHz, running stable @ 4,6 GHz

GPU: ASUS GTX670-DC2-2GD5 (915Mhz + 6000Mhz), running stable @ 1.000 Mhz + 6.200 MHz

Memory: 12 GB DD3 @ 1866 Mhz

Samsung SSD 830 256 GB

2 x 19" TFT (1280x1024), 1 x 23" TFT (1920 x 1080) = 4480 x 1080

Ingame is everything on High Settings

So, this is my problem:

No matter what component i overclock my framerate wont change.

When i run my CPU @ Normal speed (3,30 GHz) = about 30fps, @ 4,6 GHz = about 32 fps

same when i overclock the GPU

I have the feeling that there is more under the hood in DCS: World but maybe there is a framerate limiter or something like this?

Maybe this is a little bit confusing :huh: but english is not my mother language

Thanks for your help, ideas or any inputs :helpsmilie: !!!

- Hammer Out -

Stop chasing ghosts and switch of the FPS indicator...

Getting around 30fps with all on high @ 4480 x 1080 with 2GB V-ram sound very normal and good to me.

 

I have the feeling that there is more under the hood in DCS: World but maybe there is a framerate limiter or something like this?

 

You are correct: There is a framerate limiter, or more to the point, a potential limiter. On a default install your FPS are limited to 120 In-SIM. As Peter suggests, 30FPS on that monser-resolution you are running at seems pretty good :)

In any event, if you wish to verify/check In-SIM that your FPS have been limited for some strange reason, navigate to your DCS World/Config folder and open. Find the graphics.CFG file and open with Notepad++. Navigate to line 329 and you will see the following:

MaxFPS = 120;

That is what it should say - if yours says 30 then you can change it back to 120. If it already says 120 then enjoy your 30FPS. You could also turn Civilian Traffic off/Water to Low as that murders FPS.

Things you should also have a look at:

vsync = vertical synchronisation

prevents tearing on monitors by limiting the refreshing of the output.

tssaa = Transparency Super-Sampling Anti-Aliasing

Has most effect on partial transparent textures like grass/bushes/trees/fences.

use this when you have a powerful GPU with at least 2GB V-ram

preload radius = can prevent stutters while the simulation is running

Area/objects/textures that will be loaded in the system ram .

You want to use a high setting when you have more than 6GB Ram and a 64Bit OS.

msaa = Multisample anti-aliasing

Edges becomes smoother - use high settings only on a powerful GPU.

You will be happy with x4 in most cases on a Full HD display.

MSAA and TSSAA are the biggest GPU vampires when you already low at V-ram.

If you have this also on "High" - switch TSSAA off and reduce MSAA to x4.

also check if you have "smoothing" on in softth - this will also somewhat lower your average frame-rate to prevent high jumps of them.

I have switched smoothing off - but I limited my fps to 30 in the config that Viper is mentioning. (It's always better to use the game engine first -as long it allows such adjustments - instead a second layered tool for it)

MaxFPS = 29 -- = 30 FPS , DCS starts counting at 0

A steady 30 FPS can be more pleasant for your Eyes/Brain as indicated 100FPS .

Here is a not uncommon example how 100FPS are calculated sometimes :

80Frames in the first half of a sec and 20Frames in the second half.

It's 100FPS ,but this will feel much worse than steady 30FPS.

(BTW: going higher than 60FPS on a Screen at 60Hz refresh makes no sense at all ... )

Read more about it here: FPS - explained

I am pretty certain you get min diference when you o/c because you have set MSAA too high, like PeterP said don't use more than 4x, especially don't use the 8xQ or more as that will kill your framerate if you run graphics in max... it's just the way it is.

Also note that because the GPU is bottleneck in this situation (high MSAA settings) pretty much all of the time (unless you fly really high) overclocking the GPU doesn't yield much more FPS because overclocking the GPU is very small percentage increase compared to CPU overclock ;)

Thanks for your help!

So I´m gonna turn off TSSAA und reduce MSAA to 4x

@PeterP: just one Question regarding SoftTH. How can I turn off smothing, I guess in the config file?

Man, why have I found this **** FPS Indicator ..... ;)

right now, I´m at work, can´t wait to get home and try the new settings.

Do you guys think a new GPU with 4GB VRAM would improve something because I wanna upgrade to 3 x TFT with 1920x1080 ?

@Kuky: how you goin' mate :) I read your from Sydney. What a wonderful City!! I´ve been there in March visiting a friend. Really missing the country and time down under :cry:

please use this settings in your config.softthconfig and read the soft read-me again.

keepComposition=1

smoothing=0

debugD3D=0

zClear=0

vsync=0

tripleBuffer=0

screenshotFormat=jpg

dllPathD3D9=auto

dllPathDXGI=auto

dllPathD3D11=auto

[overrides]

forceResolution=0

antialiasing=0

processAffinity=1

FOVForceHorizontal=0

FOVForceVertical=0

[debug]

compatibleIB=0

compatibleTex=0

compatibleVB=0

enableVBQuirk=1

About V-ram and getting a new card:

Pleas first try the new settings before thinking about spending a lot of money to gain some fps.

If you afterwards still think about a change - run a similar test like this:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1381103#post1381103

Before any one answers your question (lots of info is missing to decide...) - there is a very simple test to see if your CPU is the bottleneck , - and so you can decide if you will benefit from a new GPU.

 

Run a track that is recorded in a campaign mission with a lots of battle going on.

 

Do this first on your normal setting with your system is in the exact same configuration (monitors/exports...)

- and than do it with all graphic settings are turned to low.

 

- If you have a better overall average FPS at the seconded run,...you can benefit from a GPU upgrade.

 

If the average (not the max!) is staying the similar/same - you should think about a CPU upgrade first - because a better GPU will only help you to turn on more GFX options on like HDR/AA... but it will not higher your FPS while the CPU is struggling with the calculations for the ongoing battle.

(that's why I call DCS a "framed" simulation)

 

If you running Multi monitors in a windowed configuration and want to have a boost for "free" :SoftTH NEWS

This will make it possible to run DCS in full-screen and even have Helios visible at your secondary screens.

 

more than 1GB V-ram helps if you run on very high resolutions/have more than one View-ports and/or more than one monitors. - if you only want to run 1 monitor in 1650x1080 - 1GB is sufficient.

One minor addition: if your datamining tool allows it, getting both median and average could be useful to inform you.

 

Tried everything but no luck in improving the framerate.

So I changed the SoftTH config file and limited the FPS in the DCS config.cfg to 30 fps and most important stayed away from the FPS indicator :D

I have now the feeling DCS runs smoother than before

Thanks for your help !!!

please use this settings in your config.softthconfig and read the soft read-me again.

 

[debug]

compatibleIB=0

compatibleTex=0

compatibleVB=1

Hmm, your SoftTH guide here advises

compatibleVB=0

enableVBQuirk=1

so I'm confused now :huh:

Thanks for looking closer!

it's a typo - I copied softth config from another website and made the edits while not realising the the last line was missing.

It has to be like this:

[debug]

compatibleIB=0

compatibleTex=0

compatibleVB=0

enableVBQuirk=1

Thanks for looking closer!

it's a typo - I copied softth config from another website and made the edits while not realising the the last line was missing.

Cool, thanks. I had some other things wrong anyway (smoothing, v-sync, tripleBuffer, processAffinity), so it was good you posted those settings :thumbup:

Funny thing, yesterday I ran DCS for a quick test (think I´m more testing than flying ;) ) with 4 TFT (4480x1080 for the game and 1920x1080 for Helios) all together 6400x1080 in windowed mode and guess what... still 30fps (edited in the graphics.cfg) :thumbup:

I know this is a necro post but I'm seeing the exact same issue.

I've been doing a bunch of work to resolve stutter and latency and am pretty happy with the results. However, I too see what appears to be framerate bottlenecking.

My setup - i7-3770K. 2xGTX780, 16GB

With a single monitor 1920x1080@144Hz My frame rate moves between 80-100fps (settings on high with HDR off, MSAA on 4x, TSAA off) depending on where I'm looking (slower looking at the horizon, faster looking straight down or at the sky, as you'd expect). MFD extraction (onto the screen) costs me 2-3fps. Changing tree draw distances, water, etc. affects frame rate as you'd expect. CPU core usage sits around 10/10/30/30% with core peaks at 16/19/68/71%. RAM usage is below 50%, VRAM usage is bang on 50%, GPU utilization is around 50% (on each) peaking at around 80%.

Given that hardware does not appear to be getting maxed out (and drilling into more detail - VRAM controllers, etc.) supports this) I appear to be hitting the scaling limits of the game engine but there does not appear to be any throttling happening as the fps responds to the on-screen view and to the detail settings as expected.

If I use two monitors then I get 48-50 fps regardless of where I look, regardless of MFD extraction, regardless of Helios running. CPU and GPU utilization drops slightly. Frame rate doesn't change if move trees from 1500 to 9000, if I put water on high, if I enable tree shadows.

If I use three monitors then I get 29-30fps regardless of where I look, regardless of MFD extraction, regardless Helios running, etc. Frame rate again doesn't change if I change detail setting.

The lack of effect of detail settings (same FPS with zero tree visible vs. hundreds (thousands?) of trees on screen!?!) looks very much like there is throttling or bottlenecking somewhere - either in DCS or in the Nvidia hardware/software.

I know this is a necro post but I'm seeing the exact same issue.

 

I've been doing a bunch of work to resolve stutter and latency and am pretty happy with the results. However, I too see what appears to be framerate bottlenecking.

 

My setup - i7-3770K. 2xGTX780, 16GB

With a single monitor 1920x1080@144Hz My frame rate moves between 80-100fps (settings on high with HDR off, MSAA on 4x, TSAA off) depending on where I'm looking (slower looking at the horizon, faster looking straight down or at the sky, as you'd expect). MFD extraction (onto the screen) costs me 2-3fps. Changing tree draw distances, water, etc. affects frame rate as you'd expect. CPU core usage sits around 10/10/30/30% with core peaks at 16/19/68/71%. RAM usage is below 50%, VRAM usage is bang on 50%, GPU utilization is around 50% (on each) peaking at around 80%.

Given that hardware does not appear to be getting maxed out (and drilling into more detail - VRAM controllers, etc.) supports this) I appear to be hitting the scaling limits of the game engine but there does not appear to be any throttling happening as the fps responds to the on-screen view and to the detail settings as expected.

 

If I use two monitors then I get 48-50 fps regardless of where I look, regardless of MFD extraction, regardless of Helios running. CPU and GPU utilization drops slightly. Frame rate doesn't change if move trees from 1500 to 9000, if I put water on high, if I enable tree shadows.

 

If I use three monitors then I get 29-30fps regardless of where I look, regardless of MFD extraction, regardless Helios running, etc. Frame rate again doesn't change if I change detail setting.

 

The lack of effect of detail settings (same FPS with zero tree visible vs. hundreds (thousands?) of trees on screen!?!) looks very much like there is throttling or bottlenecking somewhere - either in DCS or in the Nvidia hardware/software.

I and my friend have same results after many hundred hours over years in dcs.. It's just old engine , buggy and limited.

Detail settings have very littele help, test over tilibisi (or any big city) you easily can see how it just cant handle lots of objects same time. FPS goes up and down when you move camera even bit. :book:

I've just been testing flying in the middle of nowhere vs. flying in the Black Sea free flight (air start) - lots of buildings, LOTS of trees. Flying in the middle of nowhere with one monitor gets me 140+ vs. 80-90 with lots of objects. In either location 50fps with two monitors, 30 fps with three monitors.

Thanks for confirming that it's not just me!

I guess that TH2Go is the fix for this - then DCS thinks that it's only one monitor?

I've just been testing flying in the middle of nowhere vs. flying in the Black Sea free flight (air start) - lots of buildings, LOTS of trees. Flying in the middle of nowhere with one monitor gets me 140+ vs. 80-90 with lots of objects. In either location 50fps with two monitors, 30 fps with three monitors.

 

Thanks for confirming that it's not just me!

 

I guess that TH2Go is the fix for this - then DCS thinks that it's only one monitor?

Wont help, i have triple screen (NVIDIA surround) And broblem is that there is lots of buildings in view (very wide view , fov )

Dcs is not so good for multimonitor use,

Im happy to get avarage 30fps , And sometimes it drops below 20 And thats not fun. I use view distance mod, ultra is nice , extreme runs fine too but big cities are hard so ultra is good compromise.

Wont help, i have triple screen (NVIDIA surround) And broblem is that there is lots of buildings in view (very wide view , fov )

 

Dcs is not so good for multimonitor use,

The problem does not seem to be related to the number of objects in view.

If I create a mission out in the middle of nowhere (flat land, no trees, no bushes, no buildings, no vehicles) my single screen performance jumps up as you'd expect. In multimonitor mode it's still the exact same.