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Performance Bottleneck = RAM


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Virtual Size also includes memory mapped files. Essentially, they are game asset files mapped to 64 bit addresses. They aren't actually loaded into memory yet, but memory has been allocated for that task. Use SysInternal Process Monitor and select 'Show Lower Pane' to view them.

 

Thus, it may appear that the system is using 23GB RAM (may be more depending on # of DLC installed), but is actually only using 4-8GB, the rest stored on disk in memory mapped asset files, appearing as 'virtual size'.

 

Not all of the assets are loaded at the same time. However, I've found that the game is not clearing assets when switching missions, which increases memory usage over time, unless the game is restarted. Thus, if you play the game continuously, the ram requirement will continue to increase to 23GB+.

 

That does not mean all 23GB+ are currently in use, which is rather inefficient, but will remain in RAM decreasing asset preload stutter (not when the assets are first preloaded, but for any subsequent missions after that), so you don't need to restart the game as often to clear out remaining assets. IMO seems to be a design oversight regarding lower-performance systems.

 

The same applies to VRAM. Apparently, the game only uses about 4GB until more maps/aircraft/assets are loaded from other missions, at which point it appears to increase to 8GB, and 12GB+ in high resolution setups; although it should actually be 6GB. You can verify these using the in-game FPS counter (press the key twice for more detailed output). That's not all memory in use, just assets that are loaded/cached but have not been cleared.

 

I've also noticed some strange behaviour with DCS.exe writing to pagefile.sys at 1MB/s at a constant rate, not even sure what that's about... doesn't seem like legit memory management but some sort of constant rate/logging function (but will increase preload times due to disks queue length)... which can be verified using 'resmon'. It's a pretty precise 1,066KB/sec and really awkward considering I still have 2-4GB RAM remaining. If you have no swap file, I would assume it's filling your RAM up at a rate of ~1GB per 15 mins...


Edited by betatrash
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I haven't noticed any real difference in performance with or with out pagefile enabled, also no real or significant change in memory usage over time in either situation. I just let windows manage it's pagefile automatically.

 

My write to disk is in the order of maybe 10 to 100Kb/s periodically aka every few seconds or so, I don't see this issue of MB/s of data being written continuously.

 

IMO the O/P's biggest problem is poor CPU performance for the VR settings he has.

 

The only thing I have seen regarding memory usage was with VRAM, loading up a MP instance would load up about 10.4GB of VRAM compared to SP about 4 to 7GB of VRAM however if I went back to a SP after an MP session the VRAM would remain at the 10+GB level, now DCS seems to load more VRAM even in SP all with the same map, changing maps changed VRAM usage.

 

Past experience says windows tends to over rely on it's pagefile when it allocates upwards of 70+% of physical memory.

 

YMMV :thumbup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Performance Fixed!

 

solid advise here ^^^^... watch out for core saturation... if DCS is putting too much on the primary core by default,... it will be hell with stutters on heavy missions... While many will argue that you need a faster cpu (which is always a good thing), what you need to watch out for is how you are utilizing the cpu you have... on some systems, DCS will run on one primary core for simulation and one for audio... if that is the case on your system, that primary core is likely to get over saturated inducing stutter and hangs... to remedy this, you need to split the core affinity to spread the load... I dedicate 6 cores to DCS.. at only 3.7ghz (no OC)... and have it locked at 60fps.. with the primary core split, none of the cores ever even come close to full saturation...

[ATTACH]209048[/ATTACH]

DCS does of course respond differently with every hardware configuration..

 

You were right! I changed my C: drive to an NVME SSD, changed the DCS drive to SSD, and OCd my graphics card to the max, and still got stutters - even with graphics set to the lowest. Task manager showed my CPU usage at 33%

 

I then discovered that DCS.exe was only using one core! I set it to use two others, but the sound stuttered. I set DCS.exe to use ALL cores, and voila. I suddenly had no stutters, perfect sound, and a very flyable multiplayer experience. I had also set the priority for SteamVR and DCS.exe to the highest priority in task manager. My CPU usage is now shown as around 16%!

 

I would suggest that setting DCS.exe to use all cores should be a sticky note on the forum, as it has changed my multiplayer experience, and will probably help a lot of other people as well.

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You were right! I changed my C: drive to an NVME SSD, changed the DCS drive to SSD, and OCd my graphics card to the max, and still got stutters - even with graphics set to the lowest. Task manager showed my CPU usage at 33%

 

I then discovered that DCS.exe was only using one core! I set it to use two others, but the sound stuttered. I set DCS.exe to use ALL cores, and voila. I suddenly had no stutters, perfect sound, and a very flyable multiplayer experience. I had also set the priority for SteamVR and DCS.exe to the highest priority in task manager. My CPU usage is now shown as around 16%!

 

I would suggest that setting DCS.exe to use all cores should be a sticky note on the forum, as it has changed my multiplayer experience, and will probably help a lot of other people as well.

 

How did you set it to use all cores

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You were right! I changed my C: drive to an NVME SSD, changed the DCS drive to SSD, and OCd my graphics card to the max, and still got stutters - even with graphics set to the lowest. Task manager showed my CPU usage at 33%

 

I then discovered that DCS.exe was only using one core! I set it to use two others, but the sound stuttered. I set DCS.exe to use ALL cores, and voila. I suddenly had no stutters, perfect sound, and a very flyable multiplayer experience. I had also set the priority for SteamVR and DCS.exe to the highest priority in task manager. My CPU usage is now shown as around 16%!

 

I would suggest that setting DCS.exe to use all cores should be a sticky note on the forum, as it has changed my multiplayer experience, and will probably help a lot of other people as well.

 

 

Excellent!!... glad you're back up and runnin!!:thumbup:

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How do you do that?

 

This YouTube video pointed me in the right direction.

 

${1}

 

But I set all my cores to use DCS.exe, as just setting two caused sound problems.

 

I have my graphics settings on high for most things but have left shadows off . I’m still experimenting on how much load I can get away with.


Edited by JimmyWA

i9 12900KS, ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 APEX, 64 GB DDR5 4700 mhz, ASUS RTX4090, Water cooled, C - NVME SSD, 😧 DCS on SSD, TM HOTAS Warthog Stick & Throttle, Crosswind rudder Pedals, 2 x Thrustmaster MFDs on LCD Screens, Varjo Aero VR, Logitech game controller

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YouTube video can't be played

My Hardware: ROG Strix X570-F Gaming - AMD 5600X @ 4.7 ghz - G.SKILL TRIDENT 32GB DDR4 3200 (14-14-14-34 CL) - GigaByte 3080ti OC 12gb - Corsair MP600 Force 1TB - 2 x EVO Nvme 500GB - Virpil Warbird Base T-50CM2 and TM Throttle + Trackhat + G25 + AOC AG271QG 27"

My Modules: JF-17, F-16C, AV-8N/A, F-18C, ASJ37, MiG-15Bis, MiG-21Bis, Fw-190D, Bf-109K, P-51D, F-86F, Ka-50 III, UH-1H, Mi-8MTV2, NS430, FC3, A-10C, Mirage 2000C, L-39, F-5E-3, SA342, Spitfire, AH-64, Mirage F-1CE.

My Maps: Nevada, Normandy, Persian Gulf, Syria, South Atlantic.

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Can you reshare video?

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solid advise here ^^^^... watch out for core saturation... if DCS is putting too much on the primary core by default,... it will be hell with stutters on heavy missions... While many will argue that you need a faster cpu (which is always a good thing), what you need to watch out for is how you are utilizing the cpu you have... on some systems, DCS will run on one primary core for simulation and one for audio... if that is the case on your system, that primary core is likely to get over saturated inducing stutter and hangs... to remedy this, you need to split the core affinity to spread the load... I dedicate 6 cores to DCS.. at only 3.7ghz (no OC)... and have it locked at 60fps.. with the primary core split, none of the cores ever even come close to full saturation...

[ATTACH]209048[/ATTACH]

DCS does of course respond differently with every hardware configuration..

 

 

 

 

Is the affinity core info kept in the config file? If so, what is the line item change?

 

 

Thanks

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I would suggest that setting DCS.exe to use all cores should be a sticky note on the forum, as it has changed my multiplayer experience, and will probably help a lot of other people as well.

 

I did exactly opposite. Set the DCS affinity for a two physical cores and huge improvements for the performance.

 

The DCS has basically a dedicated two cores for it (with one core only it dies, with all it dies, with just two it is free to swap audio and itself between those two cores) and set priority over others by default.

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Is the affinity core info kept in the config file? If so, what is the line item change?

 

Thanks

 

Affinity is the windows own set.

 

I recommend using "Project Lasso" for the more permanent configurations.

 

https://bitsum.com/

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Fixed video link:

This YouTube video pointed me in the right direction.

 

 

But I set all my cores to use DCS.exe, as just setting two caused sound problems.

 

I have my graphics settings on high for most things but have left shadows off . I’m still experimenting on how much load I can get away with.

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Fixed video link:

 

Thank you!

 

I have enabled shadows - at the lower settings - and again could fly in multiplayer no problem.

 

The busiest server I could find had 8 players, and it was great to be able to fly with no stutters, online, and with shadows enabled (I even stopped overclocking my graphics card).

 

Here is a link on this forum about the Affinity setting, including setting it up in DCS so you don't have to keep doing ctrl alt del, and use Task Manager:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=118535&highlight=multicore

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  • 4 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
I have no issues myself, RAM is 16gb DDR3 @ 1866mhz

 

I was lucky with my CPU which is at 4.4Ghz without boost or overclocking.

 

Hi BIGNEWY,

 

I have the same CPU and i´m lucky too. Without OC just bios default i have mine CPU at 4.6Ghz :)

 

Best regards,

F.

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  • 10 months later...

Hi guys - will re-activate this post as it seems relevant to me

 

I have 32Gb RAM and since Super-Carrier release, RAM has been an issue to me. Wasn't before.

 

Usually the issue happens on this scenario:

- Using VR

- MP mission

- More than 5 ppl on server

 

So the memory usage goes up absurdly right when I join a server, to 95%, then I believe the PC starts paging, then stutters kick in. After a while memory goes down to around 80%, but stutters never goes away. I have a terrible experience from that point on.

 

It has been quite frustrating as I can never really play DCS anymore, sometimes I can have some good experience for about 40 minutes if I do some restarts and try again. But it has been harder and harder. I believe there is some memory leak for me somehow. I tried everything, re-install, repair, metashaders, cleanup, you name it.

 

I5 9600k - 4.6Ghz

32mb RAM 2400

RTX 2080 Super

DCS only on SSD M2

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I’ve found my performance has gone downhill since the beginning of the year.

From my testing DCS only uses around 12GB and the Windows system will always access the pagefile no matter how much RAM you have. That is why I have an NVME as my C: drive and DCS sitting on an SSD.

Last year I resolved all my DCS performance issues by buying an RTX 2080ti, but after some DCS updates this year it feels like the CPU has a lot more to deal with, and that might be the bottleneck? I use process lasso but even that doesnt help these days.

As a result, I’ve stopped flying DCS for now.

i9 12900KS, ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 APEX, 64 GB DDR5 4700 mhz, ASUS RTX4090, Water cooled, C - NVME SSD, 😧 DCS on SSD, TM HOTAS Warthog Stick & Throttle, Crosswind rudder Pedals, 2 x Thrustmaster MFDs on LCD Screens, Varjo Aero VR, Logitech game controller

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