Frame Spikes issue: pics and documentation

[baylor703]

Recently got a new PC and everything runs great except DCS, including other sims. I've run through literally every tip I could find to fix these frame spikes. The game will run like butter, with plenty of headroom, but a major spike occurs every 4 to 6 seconds. It only lasts a split second, and visually it almost looks like the game is going "back" a frame or two and then jumping forward. An interesting observation is that it only starts once you're about 30 seconds into a mission. You can load directly over a city, high traffic, clouds, etc, and there are no spikes for half a minute. Then it starts.

Also interesting is that it happens whether the game is paused, or un-paused. In the pics provided the game is paused.

On a side note, with the new FPS menu, is the green line the GPU and white CPU?

 

PC Specs *using reverb g2:

-RAM: VENGEANCE® RGB RT 32GB 
-PSU: Super Flower Leadex III 850W 80+ Gold 
-MOTHERBOARD: ASRock B550M STEEL LEGEND AM4 
-CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 
-GPU: MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 3080 12GB 
-NVME: Team Group MP33 M.2 2280 2TB 

Methods attempted:

-disable hotplug, HAGS off/on, game mode and dvr mode off and on, pre-rendered frame adjustments in nvidea cp, low latency on/off, disable all unnecessary startup apps on windows start,  Set physx in nvdia cp to GPU controlled and not cpu, Made exceptions for Exe and folder in windows security (not running avast/malwarebytes), locking and unlocking frames, 60hz mode vs 90hz, creating 32gb page files, disabling fTPM in bios (re-enabled after it didn't work), different outlets, different usb ports for hmd, deleting all shaders, running openxr vs steamvr, latest driver and bios for motherboard, disable track writing, allowing a 100gb shader cache in nvidea cp, vsync off,  running in high performance mode... etc

Edited November 8, 2022 by baylor703
Added info

[edmuss]

First thing to do is check that all RGB is off and the associated software is disabled, similarly winwing exports have been known to spike the CPU. If you're using steamvr try openxr to see if that alleviates it.

You can correlate the frametimes to the FPS you're pulling, as a test disable all reprojection and see what the frametimes are in comparison to the FPS. 11ms is 90fps, 16ms is 60fps 22ms is 45fps. That should allow you to work out which line is which, I'm afraid I've not looked into the new graph in any detail yet.

[baylor703]

Appreciate the response, edmuss. I have all LED RGB off. I run through openxr. There is plenty of headroom. Reprojection is off. I have absolutely no idea what could be causing this. It seems like I've scoured the forums and found virtually every possible fix and nothing has worked. Doesn't matter if the graphics settings are the lowest or highest possible- constant frame spikes and micro-stutter. Here's a vid with parameters shown. I've noticed it tends to get worse the longer the mission runs. It occurs whether I run in VR or 2D.

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by baylor703

[Fazzybear]

I had the same thing with micro stutters this last patch.  What helped me is going back to version 516.94 of the nvidia drivers.  Not sure what version you're running but this might help.  YMMV

[TZeer]

You could also try and disable windows search indexing.

 

[WipeUout]

Your CPU usage should be around 15-20% and if it is running at 36% it means you have something else running.  If your windows has been installed a while ago, I would suggest saving your data and do a clean windows install following FR33TY's guide : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J31Q8T-1eNk&t=1121s

This is a bit of work but will give you a fresh install, optimize your PC and get rid of anything impeding your performance.

Other than that, what are your DCS settings?  Maybe lower your textures and increase pre-load to max?

[baylor703]

On 11/15/2022 at 1:56 AM, TZeer said:

You could also try and disable windows search indexing.

 

I'll check it out

 

On 11/16/2022 at 12:28 PM, WipeUout said:

Your CPU usage should be around 15-20% and if it is running at 36% it means you have something else running.  If your windows has been installed a while ago, I would suggest saving your data and do a clean windows install following FR33TY's guide : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J31Q8T-1eNk&t=1121s

This is a bit of work but will give you a fresh install, optimize your PC and get rid of anything impeding your performance.

Other than that, what are your DCS settings?  Maybe lower your textures and increase pre-load to max?

I'll check and see. I've disabled all startup programs and my CPU usage usually sits about 1 or 2% when not running DCS. I've noticed that lowering textures helps with overall frames, but the frame spikes seem to happen regardless. Smooth for 3 seconds or so, then a major spike. Repeat indefinitely. Settings make no difference, and it will do it even when the game is paused. The spikes do not occur in the menu screen. I have an nvme drive and set preload to max.

[TZeer]

@baylor703 I saw a tip somewhere about going with PCI-E 3 instead of 4 in BIOS. Some have had success with that.