extremely long loading times for maps (AH-64D only?)

[Nereid]

If you select an instant action for the AH-64D for a map then it loads within a few seconds in the non multithreaded version even the first time. In the multithreaded version it could take minutes or it won't even start at all (within a reasonable time). This happens not all the time but the first time or after choosing a different map in between. The map loading times are huge compared to the non multithreaded version.

This happens sometimes (but rarely) with self created (and simple) missions too. (corection: I start them from the editor most of the time. And loading the map into the editor takes forever in the MT version)

Otherwise: Congratulations. Aside from  a little stuttering every few minutes for halfd a second or so, it works great.

version: 2.8.3.38090

drive: SSD

RAM: 64 GB

CPU: i7 13700K

Win-10

Edited April 9, 2023 by Nereid

[Nereid]

I just did a time comparison for the load times:

Instant Action (AH-64D, Caucasus, Cold Start)

MT: 95 seconds

Non MT: 21 seconds

[Rapierarch]

16 minutes ago, Nereid said:

I just did a time comparison for the load times:

Instant Action (AH-64D, Caucasus, Cold Start)

MT: 95 seconds

Non MT: 21 seconds

What is the ram usage in both cases? Does it just take long or does it load more to the ram?

Use windows resource monitor and check the column "working set"

[Nereid]

2 hours ago, Rapierarch said:

What is the ram usage in both cases? Does it just take long or does it load more to the ram?

I tried a few things in the last hour and RAM is not the issue here. But I think I found the solution. because I'm using the 13700K there are 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores. So I tried to disable the E-cores for DCS by setting the core affinity in the task manager to the first 16 cores (8 real cores and 8 HT- cores of the real P-cores). And.... well... the issue is gone.

So it seems that using the E-cores causes the problem. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Nereid

[Rapierarch]

2 minutes ago, Nereid said:

I tried a few things in the last hour and RAM is not the issue here. But I think I found the solution. because I' usinf the 13700K there are 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores. So I tried to disable the E-cores for DCS by setting the core affinity in the task managere to the first 16 cores (8 real cores and 8 HT- cores of the real P-cores). And.... well... the issue is gone.

So it seems that using the E-cores causes the problem. 

I really hate the tech these days. Those different cores both on AMD 3d processors and intel are making it super hard to run games properly. It is like all the problems of early threadripper processors in gaming all over again. At least it was a workstation targeted processor but not the normal consumer class. 

[Nereid]

7 minutes ago, Rapierarch said:

I really hate the tech these days. 

Indeed. And maybe it is caused, because I'm still using Win-10. Non computer nerds will have a hard time to use this workaround. But because we are playing DCS most of us are some kind of such nerds. 

Edit: checked it twice now and it worked both times.

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Nereid

[Rapierarch]

1 minute ago, Nereid said:

And maybe it is caused, because I'm still using Win-10.

I don't think so. As far as I know that fix has also been implemented to win10 and it should differentiate the p-e cores correctly. 

What I also remember that community managers were also told to upgrade to Win11 sometime at the end of last year. I remember NL told it in a discussion about Win11 on reddit. So you should be able to upgrade too without braking anything about DCS. 

[Nereid]

13 minutes ago, Rapierarch said:

So you should be able to upgrade too without braking anything about DCS. 

I know. But Win-10 works quite well for me. To some extent I stick to the "never change a running  system" idea.  

Anyway. I'm 99% percent sure the E-cores are causing this. 3 tests now and all with loading times around 20 seconds. Before it was ALLWAYS around 90 or more seconds (and sometimes it got completely stuck) 

Of course it could something like a race condition because of too many cores too. But this is very unlikely in my opinion and I'm to lazy now to check if disabling any other 8 cores will fix it too.

Edited April 10, 2023 by Nereid