DCS Performance

[Spicysauced]

Hi guys, first time posting here.

I dont know what the reason is, but I cant get (really) good performance in DCS, it depends a little bit from module to module but its more or less the same all over DCS World.

I have a pretty good system, as follows:

- 1600X Ryzen @ 3.7 GHz

- Vega 56 @1500

- 16 GB Hyper X Fury DDR4

- DCS installed on 1 TB Crucial MX500 SSD

 

What I would like to achieve is, what I can achieve in any other game: Stable 60+ FPS. However, unlike any other game, I have to tune down settings quite a bit.

Shadows are making the biggest impact on the performance, if I enable the cockpit shadows I get (depending on the module/airport) 30-50 FPS while my GPU is maybe at 50-60% usage and CPU something like 30-40% max.

Also I have to add, that these problems only apply to multiplayer, once I start a training mission etc., I get way higher FPS even with shadows and bells and whistles on.

So my guess is, that theres some kind of bottleneck, which cannot be my system, after much fiddling around I think its the game engine(?). I had a look in the task manager aswell while being on the 104th, DCS seems to use 3 Threads only, a fourth one is doing very light work, every other core is sitting idle being bored.

 

These performance problems started with 2.X, never had these before.

So are there any (hidden, lua, whatever) settings that Ive missed or is DCS just extremely bad optimized?

The settings in the picture Ill include are the ones that I have to use to get my stable 60 FPS.

-> https://imgur.com/a/oAuFn36

 

So ideally, I would like to have full or almost full usage of my GPU and CPU while getting 60+ FPS stable everywhere while having shadows etc on.

 

Any help? Do you guys have similar problems? If yes did you solve them? How?

Lets discuss.

[dawgie79]

"Let's discuss." You must be new here. ;)

 

It's been discussed many times already.

Later this year there'll be an update on the terrain engine which will increase FPS for VR users by 40-50%. Maybe it'll have an impact on 2d as well, just wait and see.

 

For multiplayer 32GB memory is recommmended.

 

DCS will only use a single core from your CPU if I'm not mistaken.

[Spicysauced]

Hm, yes I am new here.

Vulkan? Well, that would be nice indeed, but a) ED being ED this will not be implemented this year and b) there ARE people like Ralfi, Hellreign etc who can obviously run DCS at max settings.

 

Ive read about the 32 GB Ram recommendation aswell, but this isnt the root of the problem described. Also 32 GB just and only for one game is ridiculous. I dont see the point in paying even more money for my hardware just because a dev cant optimize his game. ANYTHING else runs more than fine, its just DCS.

 

"DCS will only use a single core from your CPU if I'm not mistaken."

This was the old engine. Since EDGE/2.X DCS arrived in the year 2010 and supports now 4 cores.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Spicysauced

[dawgie79]

No, not Vulkan. Actually almost everyone was complaining about the performance (especially in VR), ED recently announced they found the problem in the terrain engine, when fixed will increase FPS by 50%.

 

Also, FPS is highly dependent on hardware combination, software optimisation, and OS tuning. Higher resolution is more demanding on your hardware as you probably know. Also, the more apps and services you run in the background can also negatively impact performance. So, more RAM is always useful, in particular when you want to render at high distance views for example, or higher textures etc. Just a consideration. :)

 

Besides that, I don't know what to tell you. DCS is very demanding.

All you can do is:

- Optimize your system on the software/apps/OS part (services, background apps, page file, power settings, OS/App update settings, etc etc).

- Buy newer, faster hardware

- Lower settings like shadows, visible range, cockpit shadows, terrain shadows, MSAA

[30mikemike]

It’s your hardware pal, namely the processor and GPU...

[giei]

Hi guys, first time posting here.

I dont know what the reason is, but I cant get (really) good performance in DCS, it depends a little bit from module to module but its more or less the same all over DCS World.

I have a pretty good system, as follows:

- 1600X Ryzen @ 3.7 GHz

- Vega 56 @1500

- 16 GB Hyper X Fury DDR4

- DCS installed on 1 TB Crucial MX500 SSD

 

It's not pretty good AND it's an AMD configuration, not so good for gaming and horrible choice for DCS.

[delevero]

my new gpu 2080rtx stopped working so i was forced to play on an old 1060oc gtx and i was extremly positive supprised how well it run on the monitor.

( but i think i turned off shadows. )

 

Long story short the game ran with +60fps ( non vr ) on 2560x1440 and 144mhz monitor.

And i even tried pimax 5k+ VR and i could run it on low resolution with a little bit of motion lag but it was playable.

 

computer

ryzen 2700X ( I really like that cpu ) 8 cores 16 threats 3700mhz but it auto boost to 4500 most of the time.

16gb ddr4

2xm2 drives

1060gtx removed and new 2080rtx installed.

 

I think your vega card should be good enough to run the game on a monitor with more than 60fps... since its like 50-70% faster than the 1060gtx card from nvidia.

 

And actual i think your cpu also should be good enough for dcs.

 

To me it sound a bit strange you have problems reaching 60fps in dcs, maybe try to reduce view distance to high, shadows to flat.

Other than that your problem could be a heating problem with overheating cpu since then the speed of the cpu will be reduced to not overheat.

OR it could be the driver for your graphics card maybe is not that well optimized for dcs.. ( but i dont know ).

Maybe also check if your power settings on your computer are set to full power ( especially on a laptop )

And also be aware that some cpus now a days have build in Graphics card and its kind of a basic one.... try to check if you actual play dcs with your vega card and that it is not using an onboard graphics chip or something.

 

Finaly it could be that you have setup your cpu wrong in BIOS and that it do not automatic BOOST so you hit the 4200mhz that your cpu is capable off.

 

And in general a good cpu cooler/fan is a must.. the ones with a huge metallic radiator is the best and super quiet cost about 70-100usd.

[Harlikwin]

It's not pretty good AND it's an AMD configuration, not so good for gaming and horrible choice for DCS.

 

I gotta agree. Its not "terrible" but its pretty mid rate for DCS. That being said I ran DCS "ok" on a much lower specced system, especially in pancake mode. You are ish running a 6th gen intel proc and a nvidia 1070. 16gb ram for online as people have pointed out might be low. You might also try to reduce your GFX settings, textures etc, otherwise have modest expectations.

 

You can bitch all you want about DCS being poorly optimized, and you'd be right. It mostly needs a really fast single core proc (intel is king here vs amd right now), and a high end gfx card. Hopefully the terrain engine fixes make VR better, and maybe pancake mode too. But until Vulkan comes you need big iron to play with all the nice graphics on.

 

 

For your settings:

 

Drop textures to next lowest level (saves lots of Vram)

Drop cockpit displays to 512

You might be able to turn on anisotropic filetering some (its cheap).

Turn off/down chimney smoke, this can be a real killer.

 

There are numerous threads on GFX optimization on the forums.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Harlikwin