Horrible stuttering in multiplayer on new patch

[otavio]

Multiplayer is just unplayable right now, DCS is maxing my system ram for some reason. What should i do?

 

Specs - Core i5 4570, GTX 760 and 8gb Ram

[droopy114]

DCS is know for eating alot of RAM, especially in MP. With 8GB, you can play SP fine, as me before, but for MP, you will need to put more RAM. With 16GB now, it's perfect for me, no stuttering, no crashes. Don't know your in-game settings, but both shadows settings to flat, visibility range to medium, trees at 10000, no clutters/bushes, HDR off can help you. We are all experiencing the same problem, BTW, 16GB RAM is the recommended system requirements:

 

Recommended system requirements: OS 64-bit Windows 7/8/10; DirectX11; CPU: Core i5+; RAM: 16GB; Hard disk space: 30 GB; Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX780 / ATI R9 290 DirectX11 or better; Joystick; requires internet activation.

[codefox]

It's been getting worse with the latest update, keeping fingers crossed it's going to get better again on the next one... On the Virtual Aerobatics we're repeatedly seeing players getting dumped from the server, major lags and overall bad performance while it has been running well before the 1.5.3.53279.80 update. Also having RAM usage issues on my PC when playing in MP (although I pretty much exclusively play MP).

[codefox]

Upgrade your RAM or decrease textures quality (I know, that will make you cringe at the cockpit textures, I asked for different textures settings in the options and I ask it again here...)

Textures to LOW or MEDIUM should be enough. It also depends heavily on the mission/server.

That's not the issue. I'm running a GTX 970, 16GB of RAM and an i7 2600k - that should be more than sufficient to run DCS at high settings.

My frame rate is not giving me any trouble, it's the lag and MP stutters that is. Server is also choking every now and then and this all just started happening with the last update.

 

Additionally, see here for another performance-related issue: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=2801771#post2801771

[codefox]

Hey... I've been trying to tell everyone there is clearly a problem in the way RAM is used, but apparently that's how EDGE is using it... Try playing with your textures settings, there's a huge gap in RAM usage in the three different profiles. We are talking about the same thing :smilewink:

The above issue happened with 3D rendering turned off and all the settings turned to minimum. (it's running on a dedicated server)

 

I've already invested quite some time into investigating the issue and, even tho I'm a software developer with a fair amount of knowledge about DCS' internals, all I could do was trace it down to a memory leak that has just started to occur.

This issue has just surfaced and I didn't change any DCS settings since a while. I'm not the only one reporting this issue so I'm certain this is not just a "turn your settings down" kind of issue.

 

As our server is one of the most populated we're getting a good amount of feedback by our players, which we regularly check. Reports about instability and lag have increased much recently.

[Kelevra9987]

Well. System RAM and overall performance is no issue on my side BUT!

After playing a full session (3h) on the OpenConflict Server will make my Titan's VRAM scream for mercy. All 12GB are full and as soon as that happens I get stuttering and lags.

[droopy114]

Sure there is a problem with RAM usage, the more units, the worst it is. Even just a few players without nothing else or just a fews objects/ can lead to a crazy 12/13 GB RAM usage. One thing that was really annoying for me was the freeze when you zoom in, or look around in a new area....that was (partially) solved by the new Starway's texture mod, he tweaked some lua's files and it help.

[Jacks]

For MP is playable for about 15-mins then my frames half to 30 and it becomes unplayable. The whole nothing )CPU, GPU etc is at 100% load)

[SkateZilla]

Sounds Like Something else is happening while you play (perhaps Page File Adjustment).

 

no way DCS.exe takes up an entire i5-3570 CPU as it's only a 2 Threaded Application, and the 2nd Thread is xAudio.

[Jacks]

If page file is the culprit I don't understand how 16gb is not enough ram!

 

For me though Openalpha seems to work flawlessly

Edited June 11, 2016 by Jacks

[NeilWillis]

As this issue appears to be limited to a small number of users, maybe it isn't DCS World that is to blame?

 

Something as fundamental as memory usage would surely affect everyone if it was DCS World causing problems, so my instinct tells me that it could be down to corruptions or issues with your set-up.

 

Have you tried running a repair? Have you looked into the possibility that your operating system may be encountering errors?

 

Clearly it is a big problem for some, but for the majority of people, it just doesn't happen.

[Focha]

As this issue appears to be limited to a small number of users, maybe it isn't DCS World that is to blame?

 

Something as fundamental as memory usage would surely affect everyone if it was DCS World causing problems, so my instinct tells me that it could be down to corruptions or issues with your set-up.

 

Have you tried running a repair? Have you looked into the possibility that your operating system may be encountering errors?

 

Clearly it is a big problem for some, but for the majority of people, it just doesn't happen.

 

Have in mind that not everyone flies online and not everyone report it.

 

I also have this issues. But I can't talk, since I am at the minimum of the minimum requirements.

[Shaman]

I have experienced memory leaks even on server side, after mission was running for few hours with multiple clients.

[BlitzPuppet]

I have the same issues in multiplayer running an i5 4690K, 16GB or Ram, and a GTX 980. Definitely above the minimum required.

 

Smooth as butter with stutters every few minutes or so...sometimes I wonder if it's the server or other people lagging and causing sync issues since I never run into any performance issues in singleplayer.

[MegOhm_SD]

Sounds Like Something else is happening while you play (perhaps Page File Adjustment).

 

no way DCS.exe takes up an entire i5-3570 CPU as it's only a 2 Threaded Application, and the 2nd Thread is xAudio.

 

So Skatez...if you had my system (spoiler) how would you set up my page file?

 

I really don't have issues but I am curious because I have never done anything with page file and really do not have a clue where it should be set.

[AtaliaA1]

The page file tinkering was done in the Win98 days. Needless to say those days are gone, as Microsoft has added the increase page file speed and adjustments into the "Instruction Set" of

their chips (The ones attached to the motherboard).

 

With the technology advents this method is quite brute like now. Considering the fact that we are now able to run in 64Bit and utilize ram at 64 and 32 Gigs this is most unneeded.

[Pitot]

Am I wrong, or all of these people who have unexpected problems are using the GTX cards who happen to run on a more or less same drivers?

Other than that:

1. Check your HDD fragmentation

2. Try installing an older driver from your GPU manufacturer page

3. PCI Latency setting (if you have it in BIOS) can really make your life miserable in gaming if set too high. That effectively prevents your individual hardware elements from finishing an operation, because it interrupts them to give space to other elements.

 

Don't try all at once, try one by one. As for latency, it has steps defined in settings, 32 or 64 is what people mostly use with average rigs.

 

The page file tinkering was done in the Win98 days. Needless to say those days are gone, as Microsoft has added the increase page file speed and adjustments into the "Instruction Set" of

their chips (The ones attached to the motherboard).

 

With the technology advents this method is quite brute like now. Considering the fact that we are now able to run in 64Bit and utilize ram at 64 and 32 Gigs this is most unneeded.

 

Actually... In DCS it may make a difference, depending on your PC and DCS settings. "A pagefile can be read from the hard disk as one contiguous chunk of data and thus faster than re-reading data from many different original locations." Now, put that in the same basket with pre-load setting in DCS and you just might have a slight difference when it comes to low-end PC. His game runs fine for a while and then goes berserk. It sounds kind of fishy to me. Now, I saw his configuration and I agree that Page File can be a problem in his case only if set below minimum recommended, which is according to Microsoft 150% of your physical RAM. Why would it be? I saw people having page file disabled by malware, by the guys that sold them the PC etc. Doesn't hurt to check :)

Edited June 24, 2016 by Pitot

[AtaliaA1]

The Lower end PC you mention wouldn't run DCS.

 

Due to the software being from the old days (as it were) it would be possible to see an

increase "IF" the software were run on a PC from that era. In this case the added advances

will not allow the new ver. to run on that era Machine.

 

I do understand your point though.

[BlitzPuppet]

Keep in mind we're talking about multiplayer stuttering and not single player. If a large mission is able to be played in single player without any issue, then latency/bandwith/netcode may be the reason why it's happening in multiplayer.

 

I wish there was a way (maybe there is but I don't know of it) to display everyone's ping on a scoreboard to see if maybe there is one laggard that is slowing it down for everyone else at that very moment of a stutter.

[Shahdoh]

There is, use the ' key, but the problem is, the longer the person is on, the more DCS averages that ping. So you will not see spikes or irregular activity problems. Need to use an external program to track actual pings on the server.

[Pitot]

The Lower end PC you mention wouldn't run DCS.

 

Due to the software being from the old days (as it were) it would be possible to see an

increase "IF" the software were run on a PC from that era. In this case the added advances

will not allow the new ver. to run on that era Machine.

 

I do understand your point though.

 

I run on CPU: E8400, 8Gb RAM and Ati Sapphire 5700. That is, today, lower end PC that runs DCS. And Page File matters in such case. Also, notice that I've told him that if Page File is set to less than recommended it can cause various problems on almost any rig when it comes to certain software (meaning in plural). Also, do notice I've mentioned more than Page File, doesn't hurt to check various things. There is no need to clutter this thread with ramble about PF, you can PM me if you want to discuss, or open a new thread and I will gladly exchange experiences and acknowledge any point that you prove to be right (that's called learning I guess), but let's not do it here. It does not help OP in any way.

Edited June 24, 2016 by Pitot

[Sn8ke]

Running i7 4790 @ 4.9ghz, 16gb DDR3, (2) Titans (SLi). Sim WAS running smooth as silk until recent updates. 1.5.4 beta and 1.5.3 release version have steady subtle stuttering in single player and very well pronounced stuttering in multiplayer. It's not an SLi issue, I have ran this sim with SLi working for quite awhile without issue. The stuttering in multiplayer is almost unplayable.