DCS World Stutter during gameplay

[Tumbler]

I'm having a problem which has been with me and the DCS series going back to when I first got my current computer.

 

I5 4670k CPU

32GB Ram

Windows 10 64bit

MB Asus Maximus VI Hero

240GB SSD (game is on this)

2 x 1GB HHDD (Raid)

Asus Strix 970GTX (4GB)

 

OS is running on the 240GB SSD. I initially installed DCS World a few years ago on the 2GB drive and the game paused constantly or stuttered. I was running 8GB of ram back then so I didn't try and troubleshoot it very much. My other games ran fine and the research at the time indicated this was a loading issue, the disk wasn't able to keep up with the game.

 

So I eventually upgrade my SSD, my Ram, and my video card. I'm currently running the newest drivers for everything as far as I'm aware. I moved the game over to the SSD a few days ago and starting playing it again on the "high" graphics defaults. The stutter was noticeably less than it's been in the past, now it's maybe a fraction of a second but it's there and occurs regularly. I haven't noticed anything that makes it more common or less common but it's "ticking" or pausing at least once ever 5-10 seconds if not more. I don't think it's following any sort of interval, just pops when it wants to.

 

It wasn't really affecting my gameplay until I starting trying to dogfight the 190 with the p51 module, the hickup / stutter because extremely troublesome when you need to line up shots or at that last moment when landing.

 

I set the graphics settings down to loan just in case that was the issue and tried playing, the hickup/stutter is still there, no difference.

 

Assuming this is still a loading issue...what else can I try? Should I get an SSD that is seperate from the one running the OS? Is there a hardware conflict with anything I'm using? I know the video card I have has a weird issue with all 4gb not being usable but this doesn't cause problems in other games...

 

I should also mention that I've adjust the page file size for windows way down to 1gb. With 32gb of ram windows recommends between 16mb and 4983mb so I was hoping that keeping it small would limit how much windows trys to use the drive?

 

Any suggestions?

[willur]

Hi Tumbler, Check you core affinity or watch this youtube video.

[BitMaster]

My PF usage in 2.5 is roughly 31GB out of 32GB SWAP ( 2 x HDD 16GB ).

 

You may increase it to a greater size and try again

[Tumbler]

Hi Tumbler, Check you core affinity or watch this youtube video.

 

So DCS doesn't automatically use all cores available...we have to tell it that EVERYTIME we launch it!?

 

I'll give this a shot, seems likely this is the issue.

[msalama]

V2.5b seems to run on all four cores on my machine by default.

[METEOP]

hey Tumbler I'm checking your system specs and my first intuition is that it is nit a problem with the performance of each individual components as dcs 1.5 and 2.2 would run butter smooth on a machine way less performant than you have.

 

2.5 is another matter, as I am investigating in this thread:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=201162

 

A few questions come to mind:

 

- do you overclock?, does throttling back the overclock change the stuttering?

- you seem to have this problem from'day zero', or did it work correclty at the begining and got worse?

- maybe it's something mundane like a bombed windows, do you have a spare hdd to try a mint new windows install?

[Tumbler]

Did a fresh install of windows 10 and installed the graphics drivers and reinstalled dcs world 2.5.

 

Stutter was still there, checked the CPU core usage and it was using all four. The stutter was there on the default settings when I started the game and after setting it to high.

 

I went through all the drivers from asus for my motherboard and installed what they had for Windows 10 64bit. No performance change for dcs, stutter is still present.

 

I've run a benchmarking program which shows everything is working properly.

 

The mb is just running the optimized defaults (bios) for my hardware, nothing over clocked. I think this has been a problem from day zero. I don't remember dcs ever running without the stutter.

 

One thing I noticed was that the CPUs we're at 100% on all cores when I was flying. So was the GPU.

 

I meant to try setting the priority highest in the task manager, will do that later.

 

I'm getting another SSD which the benchmarking software said was a lot better than what I've got now but I don't see why that would be the issue. (New one is Samsung Evo 850 250gb)

Edited February 4, 2018 by Tumbler

[toutenglisse]

Gpu at 100% load if vsync is off (unlimited fps) is normal, but cpu all cores at 100% is unnatural : I think the issue seems to be there (cores can go high in exceptionnaly stressing situations but never 100% on all cores - DCS is pretty soft with cpu load)

[METEOP]

Gpu at 100% load if vsync is off (unlimited fps) is normal, but cpu all cores at 100% is unnatural : I think the issue seems to be there (cores can go high in exceptionnaly stressing situations but never 100% on all cores - DCS is pretty soft with cpu load)

 

Agreed, and if you turn vsync on you should be around 50-60% GPU usage...

[Repsol2k]

Which Driver Version u use ? For ne 388.71 runs better then the newest. Also please check your windows Performance option that its set to High Performance.

[Tumbler]

Which Driver Version u use ? For ne 388.71 runs better then the newest. Also please check your windows Performance option that its set to High Performance.

 

Where is this setting?

 

I've tryed a few other things that haven't helped.

 

I installed Xplane 11 and played that, no stuttering. Installed on the same drive as DCS.

I installed Arma 3, flew a helicopter around in that, no stuttering. This is on an alternate drive that loads slower. (hybrid Hard drive)

 

I've started DCS in all three graphical presets, High, Medium, Low. Stuttering occurs across all three almost equally. I don't see any difference. I'm curious if the CPU's and GPU are running at at the lower presets now. I'll go test that.

 

I'm using latest Nvidia driver, 390.77. I could try rolling back to 388.71?

 

I'll try making sure vsync is off during my tests as well.

[Tumbler]

Tested at low settings, no v sync, CPU's were all in use, none were at 100% (18% I think?)

GPU was at 70%

 

Tested at Med, no v sync, CPU was 40% I think, all 4 cores in use, none at 100%.

GPU was at 80-90%

 

Tested at high settings, no v sync, cpu was at 60%, all 4 cores in use, none at 100%.

GPU was at 90-100%.

 

Stuttering occurs across all with no noticeable difference.

[Repsol2k]

Here u see how to change Power Options

 

 

 

For me Driver 388.71 solved my problems. Try to use DDU Tool to deinstall your current driver correctely. But see this only as a tip from myself which i found out during my own experiences. Every system is different and can has another source of the stuttering.

[Tumbler]

Tried a few things

 

Got my new SSD, formatted it (long) and installed DCS to the drive. Still seeing the stutter. I'm running the game on medium presets for testing purposes, no vsync.

 

Will give the older drivers a shot just in case.

 

Also verified that my power settings were on high performance. (they were on balanced, but I set them to high performance.

 

Other games don't stutter, xplane 11, arma 3, elite dangerous, so far it's just this one.

 

Update: FIXED

 

Holy crap, the high performance setting fixed it. I hadn't rebooted when I change that power setting so I rebooted after last post and ran the game again just to make sure that didn't affect the test.

 

No stutter! That damn power setting was the issue! THANK YOU! Holy cow what a relief!

Edited February 7, 2018 by Tumbler
Update

[Riven]

I'm having stuttering no matter the settings.

High, med, or low. VR or without VR. msaa on or off. High or balanced power performance. It all stutters. This while getting 150 - 180 fps.

 

I'm testing it on only 1 monitor with a gtx 1080ti. Installed on SSD. Even tested it on my other computer with a gtx1070 still stutters. Tried nvidia drivers 388.71 as well as 390.77.

 

Did everything suggested on this forum. Deleted shader cache, turned off C1e halt state... I give up.

[METEOP]

I'm having stuttering no matter the settings.

High, med, or low. VR or without VR. msaa on or off. High or balanced power performance. It all stutters. This while getting 150 - 180 fps.

 

I'm testing it on only 1 monitor with a gtx 1080ti. Installed on SSD. Even tested it on my other computer with a gtx1070 still stutters. Tried nvidia drivers 388.71 as well as 390.77.

 

Did everything suggested on this forum. Deleted shader cache, turned off C1e halt state... I give up.

 

Don't give up!!!

 

I'm not exactly sure precisely what did it but it's solved now for me.

 

Is your stutter problem when you use electro optical sensors i.e. TAD or MAVERICKS?

[Damcopter]

@Riven: did you try to press Alt+Enter when in game (not in the menu but in mission/training/multi etc...).

DCS sometimes runs in windowed mode but you don't see it and even with 100+ fps the game stutters a lot.

 

Hope it will help

[Riven]

It's not from the sensors. I've turned them off but even if they're somehow still being used, I tried with the mustang, it also stutters.

 

I've just tested it with a slightly lower resolution and used Alt-Tab so that it would be obvious if was window mode or not. It still stutters.

[Riven]

Just for testing to see if there was any software/driver conflicts, I temporarily installed a clean Windows 10. +nvidia drivers + ms visual c++ to get the game to work.

 

Still stuttering. This time with fps drops to half the usual rate after 5 minutes or so of flying AND with micro-stutters along with the usual larger stuttering.

[METEOP]

Just for testing to see if there was any software/driver conflicts, I temporarily installed a clean Windows 10. +nvidia drivers + ms visual c++ to get the game to work.

 

Still stuttering. This time with fps drops to half the usual rate after 5 minutes or so of flying AND with micro-stutters along with the usual larger stuttering.

 

Although our stuttering issues seem ta have different causes, check my other thread at:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=201162

 

I have narrowed down my issue to TGP and NAV MFCD usage. There is a switch in graphics.lua which you might want to play with, it's the maxfps which by default is 180.

 

Maybe briging it closer to 60 fps would balance your stuttering issue?

[Goa]

I'm having stuttering no matter the settings.

High, med, or low. VR or without VR. msaa on or off. High or balanced power performance. It all stutters. This while getting 150 - 180 fps.

 

I'm testing it on only 1 monitor with a gtx 1080ti. Installed on SSD. Even tested it on my other computer with a gtx1070 still stutters. Tried nvidia drivers 388.71 as well as 390.77.

 

Did everything suggested on this forum. Deleted shader cache, turned off C1e halt state... I give up.

 

I am having the same issue, could you please test something for me?

Disable trackir while in game (press F9) and move around the cockpit with numpad, and let me know if it stutters.

 

To me it seems the stutters is only taking place whilst using trackir.

[Riven]

I don't have trackir.

F9 is defaulted to one of the external view or something.

[mariner3302]

I'm in VR and finally found the cause of the jerk/lag/stutter that happens so regularly I can predict it. So Task Manager showed me that my internet was causing the spike/lag. I turned the internet connection off and smooth as butter. Same flight, internet on - Spike, same flight - internet off - smooth and no lags jerks or any of it. The network on/off in game didn't matter with the stutter. My GPU was around 68-70 but when the internet spike hit it would go to 25.

 

So big step forward!! But now what in regards to multiplayer??

[DC2009EGUC]

I'm in VR and finally found the cause of the jerk/lag/stutter that happens so regularly I can predict it. So Task Manager showed me that my internet was causing the spike/lag. I turned the internet connection off and smooth as butter. Same flight, internet on - Spike, same flight - internet off - smooth and no lags jerks or any of it. The network on/off in game didn't matter with the stutter. My GPU was around 68-70 but when the internet spike hit it would go to 25.

 

So big step forward!! But now what in regards to multiplayer??

 

Thank you Sir!!! Your are the "Man"...give the man a free drink on me...lol I have tried all sorts of trick on my new PC and could not fix the stuttering issue...so I tried and tested your suggestion, boom...no more stutter.

 

I was going crazy trying all sorts of suggestions, I basically gave up until i saw this post...wow, of all the technical places to check, the last thing I would suspect is the network Internet connection...thank you Mariner3302, now I can play the solo missions with ease.

 

Now with regard to multiplayer, I agree, that would for another day to resolved...

[Goa]

I read somewhere it could be high-DPC latency related for ASUS Z170 intel lan chipset, downgrading lan drivers or updating it could solve the problem.

 

jUST google it