Low FPS looking at towns

[Bluelight]

What gpus are people with this issue using?

 

EVERY GPU.. pretty much doesn't matter when the game won't utilize more than about 40% of any GPU.

[Jacks]

For me the issue started when I upgrade my gpu to a second hand 980 (from a 770) and when I updated I also change my high.lua from the performance friendly 1.5.2 values to the 1.5.3+ version. I also increased settings very slight but have since started using the no tree shadow mod. I have raised a ticket with ED.

[Azazel]

I also get a major performance hit when looking at towns (drop down into the low 20s) by Batumi (using a quickstart takeoff mission as a benchmark test). Turning shadows off does help but this was not an issue at all for me in 1.5.3.

[Jacks]

Having not touched DCS for two weeks due to this problem I wandering if there was any improvement as a result of the recent update.

[Enduro14]

No no improvement on my end

[Jacks]

Damn, well no DCS for me for a while then.

[cro_mig_21]

Thought this might help someone as it did for me..

So, after the second update to 1.5.4 I also experienced stutters in exactly the same conditions as described in this topic (although it was pronounced much more with the MiG-21 module than any other) and I never before experienced such stutters/FPS loss. I ran on the stable version. I tried deleting the options.lua and it did not work. So I just haven`t flown it until the most recent third update where I decided that I should download the OpenBeta and update the stable version also. I deleted the options.lua from the OpenBeta version, copied all my saved control profiles and set up all the oprions just as they are in the stable version...here is where it gets interesting...I did not copy any missions from the stable version, I just made new ones in ME and it was butter smooth, no stutters or FPS loss whatsoever, just like it always was. So, when I observed what was going on I decide to update the stable version to the latest third update and try the saved missions..deleted the options.lua but flown already saved missions and to my amazement the stutters were still there and still severe as well as the FPS loss. What I did is copied my missions to a backup folder, deleted all the missions from the "missions" folder and copied them back from the backup folder in the "missions" folder. Took a spin and voalá! Buttery smooth with stable FPS. So, one of the things is to try that and see if it works for you+deleting the oprions.lua. Either create new missions from scratch or backup, delete and copy back. Hope that helps some of you as it did me and now flying is pure joy again.

Cheers

[amazingme]

Doesn't make any sense what you described.. but hey, if it worked then it's not stupid.. :)

[Jacks]

So a quick update.

 

I haven't touched DCS for about for four weeks and yesterday I decided to give it another chance. I updated OpenBeta and deleted the options.lua as well all old missions as recommended in another thread. Well surprise surprise no change. I have attached my options page so people can compare their results. I started a fresh mission with just an Mi-8 at Senaki-Kolki (no other aircraft or vehicles) and looking towards the town my FPS drops from a solid 60 (VSync On) to low 50s and the view panning is noticeably jerky and the terrain passes by the window with a series of micro-stutters. this was in 1080p with Starways Caucasus Textures and Mustangs No Tree Shadow mod - Brilliant! I also tested using Blue Flag and jumped into a Gazelle at Tblisi and on the pan without the engine running nor any of the systems turned on, I was getting around 45 FPS when looking along the apron towards Tblisi town and again it was a stutter-fest. I have attached screenshots of these two tests. Given my pc specs and conservative settings, I find this performance unacceptable.

 

My request for help through the ticket system yielded no results as two weeks ago I received the following message:

 

the information will be passed on to the devs, who are looking into the issues some users are having.

 

You have a very similar build to mine, and although I have seen a slight drop in 1.5 I do not see anything like what others are seeing with the drop, and having looked deeply at the issue myself remains a mystery, hopefully the devs will have a much better insight.

 

With DCS 2.5 on the horizon hopefully it will make things better as a lot of work is going into optimisation.

 

The ED team monitor the forums so please continue the input and discussion.

 

Closing ticket

 

I have not heard anything since. This is not an optimisation issue but rather there is an issue in the game engine. I will give it another month and then try again but if there is no improvement then I guess I will be looking for a refund on my purchased modules as the game has become unplayable even with relatively low settings.

[Art-J]

How does it work without Starway's mod? I'm asking, because 2.x versions of his mod, with those massive 8k textures, generally are resource hogs and will put strain on Your PC no matter what setting You use. That's why I decided to stick with 1.1 version + reduced noise parameter, as it keeps me at 60 fps most of the time.

 

You might want to experiment with preload radius too, at max it murders my frames too, so I keep it much lower, that allows me to crank almost everything else to high, though I have to live with forests layer pop-in closer than I 'd like.

 

That being said, there are places with towns at the old map that just always cause serious fps drop no matter what hardware people throw at it, infamous "Batumi-ramp-look-right" being most obvious example. Senaki might be one of these places, though I haven't flown there for a while. I don't own Gazelle, but I do have a Mi-8, and play at 1200p. Will test and report back how it works on my HW with my settings.

[Jacks]

I have tried it with no mods and the same problem exists. With 16GB ram surely I should be able to run at max preload radius? Also since it seems to be nearby towns that effect FPS I don't think the preload will help burnt am willing to give it a try (again!).

 

I have also noted that when I get these drops in FPS, the neither the gpu nor any of the cores are running above 70%. Surely with my rig and the settings in the picture above I should be running the game at a constant 60 FPS?

[Art-J]

I've got 16 too, but preload affects CPU and VRAM more I guess. Anyway, here are my settings, I always start with "high" preset (to set all the parameters, which are not adjustable via the options screen), and then dial down the rest somewhat. Notice that trees and preload even for "high" preset are at 9k/60k level by default. At these settings (and Starway's mod 1.1, as mentioned above), flying the Hip above the same Senaki ramp as You yields stable 58-60 (using adaptive V-sync set in drivers only). With Your gfx card, 60 should be no problem then.

 

However, when I tried clutter, trees and preload similar to Yours (leaving all the rest as I did previously), the fps in the same spot dropped right down to 48-51.

 

I still believe trees and preload (combined with related "visibility distance") are the biggest fps killers, followed by shadows and civ traffic. The rest can be cranked up safely.

[Jacks]

With your card, I would still expect much better performance with those settings given many people report better performance with similar cards. Did you have tree shadow on/off. Also for you setup reducing water to medium will give you extra FPS as the water in rendered under the land across the whole map.

[Art-J]

Mustang's tree shadows mod here as well. I may play with lower water setting, though I don't want and need to, as it's really not as fps hungry as it was in 1.2.x era. That's still quite a good performance for a 3 year old card with only 3 gigs of VRAM (the biggest bottleneck on Nevada, or modded Caucasus). People report better? Yeah, rrrrrright... they do only when not using V-sync, or flying over areas without forests and cities :D. In these situations sure, my card goes 140+ fps, but that's irrelevant for actual combat missions.

 

The bottom line is, Your config, much more powerful than mine, should, and I bet will, perform better If only You're not overoptimistic with trees and preload.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Art-J