Very Weird Client Behavior

[VAF [136] Striker]

We've tested this twice now and same problem happens.

Log file and Tacview file are from the dedicated server.

Track file is from my simulator system.

The video is 13 minutes but the problem is mostly in first few minutes while on taxi.

Dedicated server is an Asus Sabertooth X79 with a 6 core 3.2 Ghz processor and 16 GB of memory.

Windows 7 64bit.

Clean system and mostly only used for hosting DCS World.

It's on a wired connection with 6gb of upload and 60gb of download.

This problem happened after the last couple patches in stable 1.5 version.

Tacview file shows everything clearly.

Client aircraft flying sideways, warping and vanishing and AI units warping all over the place.

 

Edited August 28, 2017 by 75th-VFS-Striker

[Devrim]

To me you have heavy internet connection problem. I've seen that in MP environment really really for long time.

[FlightControl]

We've tested this twice now and same problem happens.

Log file from server and my track file attached.

 

Can you maybe summarize the problem in words? A few sentences?

[lemoen]

@Flightcontrol, there is warping going on when looking at the other clients' planes, its in the very first part of the video. Most likely due to the server taking strain or connection issues or both.

 

OP, you should point to the position in the video you want people to look AND what to look for, posting a 13 minute video without any clue is not helping your cause.

 

Side note:You have mods installed (The RWR sounds different), you should maybe mention all that stuff so that the devs have all the info.

[Devrim]

It's like there is heavily "lag" there.

[FlightControl]

ok! Thanks gentlemen. There is another possibility.

 

High CPU usage of the server ...

If your mission uses a lot of AI, or as in the current DCS version, is bugged and is not performing due to a high amount of units, you'll have warping also.

 

Internet connections can be the cause, but most likely this will be due to an overloaded server in terms of CPU.

 

You can check the following:

 

Check the amount of (logical) cores your server has. DCS runs the main logic on ONE CORE. You can verify this by looking at the task manager, and check the processor part.

 

 

My machine has 4 cores, and 8 cores logical. The amount of logical processors is what matters.

 

When your PC would has 8 logical cores, the maximum CPU load that can be achieved by DCS is around 13-14% of the total machine capacity. If you have 4 (logical) cores, it would be around 25%.

 

Check your server, and validate the CPU load. If it is too high, you'll see the warping. There are a few tricks that you can do to optimize the CPU efficiency of your server.

 

1. Disable 3D rendering on your server. There are sufficient threads here that explain how to do this.

 

2. DON'T go into MAP mode. Go spectator, and then with 3D rendering deactivated, press F12, this will show a light blue screen, but your server won't generate any graphics and thus your CPU utilization is at max.

 

3. Press CTRL-PAUSE to check your FPS. If you have a blue screen and nothing is rendered, and your FPS is below 10 to 15 fps, then the server is causing the warping!!!

 

In case of point 3, the only thing you can do is to reduce the amount of units and planes. You've reached the maximum amount of CPU load that DCS can handle.

 

FC

[VAF [136] Striker]

Hey FlilghtControl, thanks for that info. I bet it's the 3D Rendering. It was originally off but I didn't turn it back off after the last patch. I thought that there was a way to set this into the "Saved Games" folder so that patching wouldn't overwrite it. If so, can you point me to the instructions to do that?

 

On the other points:

 

It's not a CPU load problem. I've been running a dedicated server for 2 years now on the same system. It's a 6 core 3.2Ghz with 16GB memory and I've had missions there were almost double the number of units and didn't have this problem. This was something that happened with the recent couple patches. When I checked the system load the CPU was at a steady 9% and the memory was at 5.24GB.

 

On the internet connection. It's not lag or internet problems. I have pretty good ISP and my upload is steady 6Gb and download 60Gb. I tested using speedtest.net just prior to testing again. One test was late evening and the other was afternoon, off peak time.

 

On the video. Sorry it was 13 minutes long but there are parts all over it where you can see the problem. I should have edited it down to just those points. I'm attaching the tacview file in the first message.

 

On the RWR mod. That's only on my system and not on the dedicated server. DCS World crashed after we exited yesterday and I wasn't able to get a clean track file from the server. I included the log from the server but the track was from my system. Thought I made that clear but I'll note it.

Edited August 28, 2017 by 75th-VFS-Striker

[Coug4r]

What they're not supposed to taxi sideways? :)

 

Seen this happen too. Although it can be considered 'normal' DCS behaviour every now and then, it did get worse with the last update. This may again also be related to other issues (# of units e.g).

 

For Windows7 you can also get this CPU Meter desktop gadget that shows you the CPU usage per core. That no longer works on Windows 10 though but SpeedFan does and also shows the CPU usage per core. I'm sure there are other monitor tools, google might help there. DCS uses the last/highest core as main core by default, if you got 4 cores you should check the 4th core. If you got 8, check the 8th core etc.

[Johnny_Rico]

It is the new patch doing this, my server has ran fine for nearly a year now

with up to 30 people on it

 

New patch and getting issues with warping etc is new

 

@ Striker

Render off is here

autoexec.cfg

in

C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\DCS\Config

options.graphics.render3D = false

^Line you need in this file

 

How many people are on your server ?

Edited August 28, 2017 by Johnny_Rico

[FlightControl]

Hey FlilghtControl, thanks for that info. I bet it's the 3D Rendering. It was originally off but I didn't turn it back off after the last patch. I thought that there was a way to set this into the "Saved Games" folder so that patching wouldn't overwrite it. If so, can you point me to the instructions to do that?

 

On the other points:

 

It's not a CPU load problem. I've been running a dedicated server for 2 years now on the same system. It's a 6 core 3.2Ghz with 16GB memory and I've had missions there were almost double the number of units and didn't have this problem. This was something that happened with the recent couple patches. When I checked the system load the CPU was at a steady 9% and the memory was at 5.24GB.

 

On the internet connection. It's not lag or internet problems. I have pretty good ISP and my upload is steady 6Gb and download 60Gb. I tested using speedtest.net just prior to testing again. One test was late evening and the other was afternoon, off peak time.

 

On the video. Sorry it was 13 minutes long but there are parts all over it where you can see the problem. I should have edited it down to just those points. I'm attaching the tacview file in the first message.

 

On the RWR mod. That's only on my system and not on the dedicated server. DCS World crashed after we exited yesterday and I wasn't able to get a clean track file from the server. I included the log from the server but the track was from my system. Thought I made that clear but I'll note it.

 

If you are running DCS 1.5.7, then that is the root cause of your issue.

The change from 1.5.6 to 1.5.7 has turned DCS into a mess. Huge performance problems.

It is not your network.

 

Do me a favour, run your mission, and show me how much fps you get on your server with 3D rendering off, out of maps mode, just on a blank screen.

 

 

I also added the "manual" to disable 3D rendering, which you can find in your DCS world installation folder under \Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\Config.

graphics_readme.txt

Edited August 28, 2017 by FlightControl

[VAF [136] Striker]

Do me a favour, run your mission, and show me how much fps you get on your server with 3D rendering off, out of maps mode, just on a blank screen.

Do you mean on the client list screen? When I start a mission the only options I know are either to go to the map or show the client list.

[VAF [136] Striker]

Render off is here

autoexec.cfg

in

C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\DCS\Config

options.graphics.render3D = false

^Line you need in this file

 

How many people are on your server ?

OK, thanks. So I can just add that line to the autoexec.cfg and it will take care of it.

 

We've had up to 15 in the past with no problems at all but the test yesterday was with only 4 clients.

[FlightControl]

What they're not supposed to taxi sideways? :)

 

Seen this happen too. Although it can be considered 'normal' DCS behaviour every now and then, it did get worse with the last update. This may again also be related to other issues (# of units e.g).

 

For Windows7 you can also get this CPU Meter desktop gadget that shows you the CPU usage per core. That no longer works on Windows 10 though but SpeedFan does and also shows the CPU usage per core. I'm sure there are other monitor tools, google might help there. DCS uses the last/highest core as main core by default, if you got 4 cores you should check the 4th core. If you got 8, check the 8th core etc.

 

Try this tool here, a nice one :-)

 

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

[FlightControl]

Do you mean on the client list screen? When I start a mission the only options I know are either to go to the map or show the client list.

 

You can go to spectators and then press fly.

[VAF [136] Striker]

You can go to spectators and then press fly.

0 FPS

 

I'm assuming that you want to see that since the server isn't running any graphics at all.

 

Also, in the old version for the server it was suggested to turn the FPS down from 180 to 30. Does that still apply?

[FlightControl]

Nope. Run an empty mission and do the same. What fps?

[Coug4r]

0 FPS

 

I'm assuming that you want to see that since the server isn't running any graphics at all.

 

Also, in the old version for the server it was suggested to turn the FPS down from 180 to 30. Does that still apply?

 

Well, i still do this. It's basicly the tick rate of the server, set it to 2 and you see everything corrected at a very slow rate. 30 is a good setting for a server. Should also lower CPU usage on the server when using 30 instead of 180.

Edited August 28, 2017 by Coug4r

[VAF [136] Striker]

Nope. Run an empty mission and do the same. What fps?

I did. I ran an empty mission, clicked on spectators and then hit fly. It just gives you a light blue screen with no graphics and I can use right control and pause to get the FPS counter.

[FlightControl]

I did. I ran an empty mission, clicked on spectators and then hit fly. It just gives you a light blue screen with no graphics and I can use right control and pause to get the FPS counter.

 

Yep, and what does it say then? How much FPS?

[VAF [136] Striker]

Yep, and what does it say then? How much FPS?

0

[Coug4r]

0 fps would be really bad, have you tried with different missions? Does your mission run scripts?

[VAF [136] Striker]

OK, I get it now. What's happening is that when we run CTLD and MIST the frame rate drops to 0-1 FPS. When I run a clean mission the FPS runs at whatever I want to set it at up to 120 FPS. I set it at 30 in the config file and it runs at 30. Set it at 90 and it runs at 90. We tested it with a no script mission in NTTR this evening and it's smooth as silk.

 

Has anyone reported major FPS problems concerning CTLD and MIST?

[Johnny_Rico]

I run MIST and MOOSE on my server and I still get stuttering

It was fine in 1.5.6 but since 1.5.7 things have gotten much worse (warping , planes flying side ways etc)

[Coug4r]

OK, I get it now. What's happening is that when we run CTLD and MIST the frame rate drops to 0-1 FPS. When I run a clean mission the FPS runs at whatever I want to set it at up to 120 FPS. I set it at 30 in the config file and it runs at 30. Set it at 90 and it runs at 90. We tested it with a no script mission in NTTR this evening and it's smooth as silk.

 

Has anyone reported major FPS problems concerning CTLD and MIST?

 

Maybe you can try and pinpoint the problem some more, does the fps drop when you only run mist and not ctld in that same mission?

[VAF [136] Striker]

Maybe you can try and pinpoint the problem some more, does the fps drop when you only run mist and not ctld in that same mission?

I was thinking last night that I should have done that. That would be more helpful to narrow it down. I was tired and didn't have time. I'll do some more testing and see if I can do that today. The only problem is that I only use MIST for CTLD so I'm not calling any of the scripts from it in the mission. Not sure if just loading it in the beginning will do much but I'll try it anyhow.