Taking advantage of an offer to improve Setting Results

[Fakum]

Yes, understood now, thanks

 

[Ozmandi]

@Fakum Have you had any luck with limiting or getting rid of the stuttering?

[Leg2ion]

Hi guys - apologies for jumping in. Just built a new PC - DCS installed onto a M2 SSD, 32GB DDR4 with an MSI RTX3070 and AMD5600X. 24" monitor at 60hz/1080P. Got fed up with all the various videos, tweaks and advice - so spent a few hours playing with settings myself. No matter what I did the jitter/micro stutter was always there - albeit lessened or increased. Watching the FPS counter it would be at a sustained level but every few seconds drop to around half - which appeared to coincide with the jitter. I started with Nvidia CP at default, and played with the in game settings moving up from everything off/low to max out - absolutely no difference. Then set them to a reasonable level and played with the various NCP settings - none of the common current advice helping either.

 

I then installed MSI Dragon Center and set the 'User Scenario' to 'Extreme'. Loaded up DCS - smooth as - jittering gone. Slowly bumped everything in game up to max/ultra - still no issues. Reset the User Scenario back to balanced - ran DCS - jitter back. So - reselected extreme, and uninstalled Dragon Center. No change - all still good - so it has obviously changed something in the background - but not sure what - as I cannot see any change or difference to CPU/GPU clock speeds nor to any of the settings. All settings in NCP are back to default, all in game settings at max. 

 

If that helps anyone good - just be aware of the MSI install - as it also loads something called cFos - which trashed my internet connection - and needed to be uninstalled separately.

[Lange_666]

Over the years i've learned that installing software that comes with videocards, motherboards etc... is in general utterly crap.

Is there no explanation on what the difference is between User Scenario and Extreme?

[Leg2ion]

Hi - couldn't agree more but I tend to install them to see if anything has changed and someone has actually made something decent - then uninstall. Always do it in the early days of a build so if it screws anything up can re-format and re-install windows and start again. 

 

The 'User Scenario' is the page whereby you can select various pre-sets - the descriptions being 'Extreme Performance' - Provides ultimate performance for overclocking. 'Balanced' - return to system default settings, 'Silent' - Reduce noise by lowering the performance where possible and lastly 'User' - allows you to customize the settings.

 

So a description of what the result may be but not how it achieves it. I did notice it installed RyzenMaster SDK, which has since been uninstalled when I got rid of Dragon Center.

[Fakum]

11 hours ago, Ozmandi said:

@Fakum Have you had any luck with limiting or getting rid of the stuttering?

I have limited them under certain configurations, but have not eliminated. I have put so much time into this, I even took 2 solid days out of work in addition to working on it at every opportunity, weekends, nites (no one said it would be easy!) ,, I walked away for a bit as it has fried my brain. But I still follow this and will continue to fiddle. There has been a tremendous amount of support, just in this thread alone. Sometimes though, there are alot of contradictions. Basically though, I have received alot of good tips here and alot of specific points of focus, which has been extremely helpful!

[Fakum]

@Leg2ion That is all very interesting! I may give that a go next week. I will say this as well, because I do alot of experimenting, and as we all know, that can really muck up the works! I personally use Acronis Backup software. And before I do anything like you described, I do a backup of my PC and then go throw in the software and make changes to my hearts content. And if I either dont like the software or muck it up, I simply restore. Thanks for your post

[Leg2ion]

Cheers @Fakum. Be interesting to see what if any results you get. It is almost going back in time to the dark ages when more time was spent 'tweaking' than actually playing anything! There are so many different videos, tips, hints, helpful, not so helpful bits of advice on various forums and a lot of out of date info.

 

I 'might' at some point re-install it, then run Afterburner and RyzenMaster and try to log clock speeds/temps - to see if there is any major differences between the various presets - though for now I am hitting around 110 - 120fps with everything cranked up and all the sliders as far right as they can go.

[Fakum]

Wow! I was doing some quick research about the that MSI Dragon Center with DCS,,, it is worth the read even if you dont want to try this software.

 

[Leg2ion]

OK - so that is odd - as I did not add DCS to Dragon Center gaming mode. I just ran it, set the User Scenario to Extreme, exited then ran DCS by clicking on my normal DCS Desktop icon, then uninstalled MSI Dragon and all its various components.

 

I have had a quick look at Afterburner and RyzenMaster - and nothing seems untoward - no major overclocking being indicated that may have occurred in the background, all temperatures normal - so WAS NOT going to reinstall MSI DC.

 

However, what I have noticed is my advanced power settings through windows settings are now at max. Not sure what they were on before - but now am tempted () to re-install MSI DC and reset it to 'Balanced' and have another look at the power settings - to see if this is what is being changed - power management mode in the Nvidia Control Panel still being set at optimal. 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Leg2ion

[Fakum]

Thats all very interesting indeed. I will probably install it just to experiment. Im not so sure I want to keep it installed though. I watched a couple of YouTube tutorials on MSI DC, and see that it is a very powerful utility,,, it can do tons of changes to your PC settings etc,,,

[Leg2ion]

Yep - whatever changes it has made have definitely remained after un-installing it - just don't know what - which is frustrating.

 

If you do install it though - word of warning as per the above - make sure you get rid of cFos and it is uninstalled when you uninstall MSI DC - as it slowed down my internet connection to the point of it being at standstill.

[Leg2ion]

Ok - this is now an obsession!!!  Checked my Windows power settings - and they were on 'Ultimate Performance'. Under the advanced settings tab this shows both minimum and maximum processor power are on 100%. Having a quick spare half hour - re-installed MSI DC, and reset it back to Balanced Mode. Double checked Nvidia Control Panel on stock settings, and reset just to be certain. Re-checked Windows Power settings - and everything back on 'Balanced', with minimum processor power now showing as 0%. Re-ran DCS - and jitters/stutters immediately apparent. 

 

Closed MSI DC down - with the User preset still on Balanced, and un-installed it, followed by RyzenMaster SDK and cFos. Did a reboot into BIOS - still showing both processor and memory at stock speeds. Booted into Windows, left all alone and ran DCS. Jitters/stutters still present - good. Exited DCS, and went back into advanced power settings. Selected 'High Performance' (and not Ultimate) as the active power plan - as this also defaults to both min and max processor power to 100%. Carried out another reboot for good measure - verified the power plan still on High, then ran DCS. No indication of any jitters. 

 

I think that the PCI Express link state power management may also hinder things, so also ensure this is set to off, and not set to any power saving modes, as it can try to power down when there is no traffic across the PCIe bus - which - if on - may be why there are constant jitters?

 

Maybe worth checking Windows power settings, and selecting either high or ultimate, and seeing if it has any effect before installing MSI DC?

 

 

[Fakum]

OMG,,, LOL,, Im going to have to re-read that a few more times to try and grip the flow,,, so ultimately, what settings do you think need to be viewed that offered you a jitter free ride?

[Leg2ion]

OK, this has completely confuzzled me as well!  So - bin off MSI DC install for now - as I think I have nailed that the different presets change power settings only. Head to Start, Settings, Power and Sleep, then on the right hand side should be 'Additional Power Settings'. Click on that, then if possible change it to either 'High Performance' or 'Ultimate'. Then run DCS and see how things go. The 'Extreme' MSI DC setting set my power settings to 'Ultimate' , but I am now on High windows power settings with no issues. Not sure whether any of this is linked to either the CPU performance state, or the PCIe Link State Power.

 

Next step for me is to reset everything back to balanced through Windows, re-establish the jitters (that'll be the engineering devil in me wanting to create a fault to fix!) then play with either the CPU power management settings or the Link State - one at a time - and see which one is needed.

[Fakum]

Standing by LOL

[silverdevil]

you can also create a new power profile from 'high performance' as a template. then mess around with the settings. 

 

create a power plan

[Fakum]

I personally have not seen any discussion about creating or modifying this to improve DCS Performance. So is it worth dabbling in, and if so, what are the recommended settings?

[silverdevil]

1 hour ago, Fakum said:

I personally have not seen any discussion about creating or modifying this to improve DCS Performance. So is it worth dabbling in, and if so, what are the recommended settings?

 

i was referring to a previous post

 

On 3/14/2021 at 12:50 PM, Leg2ion said:

OK, this has completely confuzzled me as well!  So - bin off MSI DC install for now - as I think I have nailed that the different presets change power settings only. Head to Start, Settings, Power and Sleep, then on the right hand side should be 'Additional Power Settings'. Click on that, then if possible change it to either 'High Performance' or 'Ultimate'. Then run DCS and see how things go. The 'Extreme' MSI DC setting set my power settings to 'Ultimate' , but I am now on High windows power settings with no issues. Not sure whether any of this is linked to either the CPU performance state, or the PCIe Link State Power.

 

Next step for me is to reset everything back to balanced through Windows, re-establish the jitters (that'll be the engineering devil in me wanting to create a fault to fix!) then play with either the CPU power management settings or the Link State - one at a time - and see which one is needed.

 

i tried it on whim and i see no differences. i believe this is a mix of MSI and Windows settings he discusses. i do not have MSI mobo hence no software for it. honestly the changes i made to the power profile started giving normal windows usage jitters lol. the power profiles can assist with spin up time when a task starts. DCS works on two cores (i think) and it somewhat limits performance. i have this i7 7700 it has 4 cores. but i do not believe that DCS uses all that much CPU. it seems to always turn out to be a bottleneck at GPU, GPU memory, and system memory.

 

PS honestly i think the way to beat the jitters is to sacrifice resolution or limit eye candy settings and keep high res. i am still betting since there is limited advice from ED on this matter, there will be some improvements when 2.7 is released.

Edited March 15, 2021 by silverdevil
PS

[Leg2ion]

50 minutes ago, silverdevil said:

i do not have MSI mobo

 

PS honestly i think the way to beat the jitters is to sacrifice resolution or limit eye candy settings and keep high res. i am still betting since there is limited advice from ED on this matter, there will be some improvements when 2.7 is released.

 

 

For the record I do not have an MSI MB - mine is an Asus. My GPU is MSI. Additionally, I have put all settings on low/minimum - with stock NVidia CP settings - and still 'got the jitters'. Then put NVCP power settings to prefer maximum (or whatever it is) - same. 

 

Anyhoo - moving swiftly on. Just reset Windows power settings to 'Balanced' - ran DCS - and yep - got the jitters. So, went into the advanced power profile, selected PCI Express link state power management back to off - ran DCS - Jitters. Went back into the settings, and then selected CPU minimum power as 100% - ran DCS again - still the jitters. (Rebooted in between every selection). Again went back into Windows power settings - selected high performance profile. Ran DCS - all fine - so there is obviously something else going on when Windows Advanced Power is set to High/Ultimate.

 

So @Fakum - if you can go into Windows settings, power and sleep options, additional power settings then select either high or ultimate if you can, then run DCS and see how it goes. 

 

What I do know is this works for me, with all settings at max.

 

 

[silverdevil]

@Leg2ion - thanks for updating and confirming. i too was on balanced and changed it to high performance.

[Leg2ion]

@silverdevil - Did you notice any difference? I have gone from 'stock' high settings in game to everything maxed out (with NVCP settings on default) and am still maintaining around 120-140fps with no issues.

[silverdevil]

i just finished with mission 2 of Operation Piercing Fury Campaign. i was getting stutters every so often. it may be because of so many AI. its funny because one day its great and the next it has issues. by no means do i think it is unplayable. maybe a tad annoying.

[Leg2ion]

@silverdevil - maybe try upping them further to ultimate and again see if there are any differences?

 

[silverdevil]

i did not have "ultimate" power scheme. but i did find a way to add it if it does not exist. trusty powershell (which i use everyday at work) How to Enable Ultimate Power Plan. you can also watch this video and decide if the improvment is what you want. Does The New Ultimate Power Mode Improve Gaming? - Windows 10