DCS 2.5 lagging EVEN in menus.

[WhiteP_42]

OK, so here's the thing. I have a laptop with an i7-8550U @ 1.80GHz, 16GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM, and a NVIDIA GeForce 1050 2GB DDR5. I have a good amount of FPS when I'm flying arround 15000 feet (60+ FPS) but, when I get close to the ground, my FPS drop to 10-15, which makes it unplayable. Even sometimes when I go into the cockpit and I start turning on the engines (I'm at 60+ FPS) I start getting 10-15 constant FPS out of the blue, and it really freaks me out. 

Of course, I'm not playing at max settings (not even close), I play at medium settings with cockpit textures at high. The worst thing is, if I succeed at landing my F-18 at 10 FPS, when I close the mission THE MENU starts going at 10-15 FPS! (I forgot to mention this is DCS 2.5.6, right?). Can anybody help me??

[Flappie]

 Hi. Can you please attach the following?

1. dcs.log ( C:\Users\your-name\Saved Games\DCS...\Logs\dcs.log )
2. dxdiag.log (here's how to make one)
3. Launch "cmd", paste the folowing command line, hit enter, and copy-paste the result:

   wmic pagefile list /format:list

[WhiteP_42]

dcs.logDxDiag.txt

 

In CMD:

AllocatedBaseSize=5652

CurrentUsage=135

Description=C:\pagefile.sys

InstallDate=20190222115205.462285+060

Name=C:\pagefile.sys

PeakUsage=1703

Status=

TempPageFile=False

[Flappie]

Thank you.

I see your PC runs on HDDs. This might be the main cause of your low FPS, but since it's a laptop, there's nothing much to do about it.

 

This may help with DCS performance:

• Disable ingame fullscreen mode (this will avoid potential black screen startups).
• Disable ingame Vsync.
• Enable Vsync in NVIDIA panel.
• Add exceptions in your antivirus for these two folders: "C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\" and "C:\Users\your-name\Saved Games\DCS\".
• DIsable NVIDIA Share if you have GeForce Experience installed.
• Disable Windows Game Bar DVR.

[WhiteP_42]

Wow, really? I thought installing it in a HDD would suck for the loading times, but I didn't know that it could affect my actual performance... Why does that happen?

[Flappie]

The storage is used for two things during a game session (it's the same for other games): game files being opened (textures, models, sounds... you name it) and pagefile read+write access. The pagefile is used to "expand" RAM, but it runs on way lower speeds, all the more when it's stored on an HDD.

 

Try monitoring disk access thanks to Windows Resource Monitor (Win key + type "resmon" + press Enter). Select the "Disk" tab, then launch DCS.

Whenever you have stutters or low FPS, alt+tab to Windows Resource Monitor, check "DCS.exe", and see what files are being accessed the most. You can sort them using the "Total" column. Check the "response time" column as well.

 

[WhiteP_42]

Ok, I did what you told me. This time I did the engine start and the whole taxi without frame drops until I arrived to the active runway ("drop1(takeoff)" image). The it was all the same: Horrible FPS when looking to the floor, fanstastic FPS when looking to the sky and water.

I send you also the images of my resource monitor, maybe you can spot what's wrong...

Maybe it's not important, but I use the X56 HOTAS from Logitech, maybe it's related with it? (I don't think so...).

[Glide]

Looking at the cockpit textures usually brings down the FPS counter, especially in the F-16.  The big question is does it stutter?

[WhiteP_42]

Well @glide, the real answer is that, at least for me, I don't notice major frame drops for looking at the cockpit textures (which I have set on high), I get stuttering and ridiculously low FPS just by looking at the floor (yes, just the floor, it doesn't happen on water) for which I have the textures in low.

Which is weirder is that, sometimes, I'm able to taxi to the runway with no frame drops/stuttering and sometimes I don't but, no matter what, I'll have framedrops and stuttering in the runway and when looking at the ground when flying, which pisses me off.

[Flappie]

Have you tried all of this already? Your low FPS could be due to your antivirus (we've seen this before).

 

17 hours ago, Flappie said:

This may help with DCS performance:

• Disable ingame fullscreen mode (this will avoid potential black screen startups).
• Disable ingame Vsync.
• Enable Vsync in NVIDIA panel.
• Add exceptions in your antivirus for these two folders: "C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\" and "C:\Users\your-name\Saved Games\DCS\".
• DIsable NVIDIA Share if you have GeForce Experience installed.
• Disable Windows Game Bar DVR.

 

[WhiteP_42]

@FlappieYep. Creating an exception seemed to help a bit: it made me be able to takeoff, but the stuttering and the constant 10-15 FPS came back once in the air, again just when looing at the floor, so the landing back at Kutaisi was nearly impossible. I don't really think the antivirus is the problem...

[Flappie]

We'll try something else: try renaming your "C:\Users\your-name\Saved Games\DCS" folder as "DCS_backup".

The game will launch with default settings and it will create a brand new "DCS" folder.

 

Then edit DCS graphics settings to match your current settings, and see if stutters are still here.

[WhiteP_42]

Yep, the stutters persists. Now they've started again just when I started taxiing to the runway...

[Flappie]

OK, then you can remove your newly created "DCS" folder and use the previous one instead ("DCS_backup" -> "DCS").

Is your FPS issue recent? Could it be related to a software change in your PC?

[Glide]

Stutters can occur from too much mission action as much as graphics issues.  For example, if all the artillery is going off just as a bunch of units are turning a corner and a full IADS is going off, and you get the picture.  Make sure you test on the same mission each time you make changes, and pick one that's not busy.  Stutters usually mean you are trying to put too much through the card, and it just needs to stop and restart.  I see from your specs you have 2 GB of VRAM and 16 GB of RAM.  I see you are running at 2k, but I would try 1440 x 900 or 1360 x 768.

[WhiteP_42]

hace 18 horas, glide dijo:

Stutters can occur from too much mission action as much as graphics issues.  For example, if all the artillery is going off just as a bunch of units are turning a corner and a full IADS is going off, and you get the picture.  Make sure you test on the same mission each time you make changes, and pick one that's not busy.  Stutters usually mean you are trying to put too much through the card, and it just needs to stop and restart.  I see from your specs you have 2 GB of VRAM and 16 GB of RAM.  I see you are running at 2k, but I would try 1440 x 900 or 1360 x 768.

Wait a sec, I'm not playing at 2k, I'm playing at 1920x1080...

[WhiteP_42]

hace 20 horas, Flappie dijo:

OK, then you can remove your newly created "DCS" folder and use the previous one instead ("DCS_backup" -> "DCS").

Is your FPS issue recent? Could it be related to a software change in your PC?

I don't remember that it happened with the F-15C... Maybe I should check it...

[-0303-]

On 12/12/2020 at 10:05 PM, Flappie said:

Thank you.

I see your PC runs on HDDs. This might be the main cause of your low FPS, but since it's a laptop, there's nothing much to do about it.

If we are talking about platter drives, White absolutely can get a huge performance boost switching out the platter drive for an SSD. I have a laptop and did that. The platter drive can be cloned to the SSD (using free Macrium Reflect, I did that).

If I arrived to Kobuleti and  it was full activity, game could freeze for minutes ....

1.8 GHz really? I thought my 2.4GHz (turbo to 3.4GHz) was low.