reported MT freezes even in main menu

[Hammer1-1]

yeah unfortunately the best I can do is just untick core 8 in taskmanager.

[Rapierarch]

5 hours ago, Flappie said:

@AdrianL made a nice discovery and issued what I believe to be the best workaround so far. He made a Powershell script which:

1. Disables core "8" of his i9 13900K CPU during DCS startup,
2. Re-enables it 30 seconds later.

I hope it works for you all. Here's the workaround script:

$app = Start-Process "E:\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\bin-mt\DCS.exe" -PassThru
$app.ProcessorAffinity = 4294967039
Start-Sleep -s 30
$app.ProcessorAffinity = 4294967295 

Line 2 disables the affected core (all but the crazy core are used).

Line 4 re-enables the affected core (all cores are used).

You may need to edit the DCS path as well as the processor affinity, depending on your CPU and on the core that goes crazy.

This tool calculates processor affinities in decimal: https://www.gfsg.co.uk/affinitymask.aspx?SubMenuItem=utilties

Here's how to create and execute a Powershell script:

1. Open Windows notepad.
2. Copy-paste the lines and edit them as explained above.
3. Save the file as myDCSscript.ps1
4. Right-click the file then click "Open with Powershell".

 

 

Can i get a script for 3950x. For turning off and on the Core 0. It is my bloody core that I had to manually switch off and on.

[Flappie]

@Rapierarch Here you go. Don't forget to edit the path to DCS. You'll also need to authorize Powershell sripts execution.

32threads_core0out.ps1

[Chunk]

4 hours ago, QuiGon said:

@Danzig @Miro @Chunk @Yodeling What OS are you guys running? Win10 or Win11?

Win 10

Edited October 21, 2023 by Chunk

[Rapierarch]

1 hour ago, Flappie said:

@Rapierarch Here you go. Don't forget to edit the path to DCS. You'll also need to authorize Powershell sripts execution.

32threads_core0out.ps1 163 B · 1 download

Thanks!

[TrigaNZ]

 

[KoN]

14 hours ago, Predator-78 said:

Big are you now convinced that the problem does not depend on computer to computer? I have been writing to this forum for more than a month reporting that there is something wrong with the MT version, after 2.9 the stuttering problems have become even more evident. If you pay attention, slightly older CPUs are not affected by this particular problem.

Inviato dal mio SM-G998B utilizzando Tapatalk
 

I'm sure ED are very aware of the problems. I know it's frustrating we've all been there .

This happens every time DCS launch a big patch . Remember 2.5 launch day . 

Just need to give good bug reports and let them deal with things we are all chasing the perfect sim . 

I've gone back to single thread tried all day today to get things just right but I can't do MT something not , right few months back was rock solid in VR.

Great improvement but maybe two patches back something messed up MT. 

Single thread back too MSAA x 2 . In VR. 

With flat screen I have no issues apart from the ghosting. 

Every thing runs smooth . 

[Ballinger French]

Okay, I was hesitant to upgrade from DCS 2.8 after reading about all the people here having issues with massive stuttering on Intel Core I7 & I9, 12th and 13th generation CPUs.  My system is based on a I7 12700K, overclocked to 5.0ghz on 8 P-cores and 3.9ghz on 4 E-cores, with 32mb of DDR5 running at XMP profile specs.  I have a Nvidia RTX 3070 with 8 gigs of ram for video.  I upgraded to DCS 2.9 today.

I am experiencing absolutely NO stuttering or pausing running the DCS 2.9 MT executable, and in fact the sim is as smooth as it's ever been.  I'm running under Windows 11 64 bit Pro with a M2 PCIe Nvme SSD, and both Windows and DCS installed together on the same card.  For me personally, this has been about the smoothest major DCS update yet.  DLSS, DLAA, both working flawlessly with excellent performance all around. 

I never experienced any delay with the game startup or freezes in the main menu, and this leads me to believe whatever issues other Intel CPU owners are experiencing must somehow be software/BIOS setting related rather than hardware incompatibility.  One thing I have noticed with Intel-based systems is that both motherboard BIOS and Windows tend to be overly 'green' with dynamic CPU scaling and core parking.  Core parking is set by default on Windows Intel based systems, and essentially shuts down several physical CPU cores when the system in not under significant thread loading, much like Nvidia video cards automatically throttling GPU and memory clocks when not under load to save electricity and reduce heat.  I really suspect Core Parking might be a culprit here in regard to DCS stuttering in that the DCS platform may not be properly thread loading parked cores when the sim is booting up.  Again, Core Parking should disable itself as the CPU core demand goes up, but I'm wondering in something is getting flubbed up in the process and the DCS engine is somehow avoiding thread loading the parked cores, even though they should be 'unparking' as the sim boots up. 

Just a theory.  It certainly wouldn't hurt to disable CPU core parking on your Intel CPU/Windows setup and giving it a go.  Whatever IS going on with those of you experiencing the horrible stuttering, it really does not seem to be hardware dependent as my system is the same as several others on this thread that are seeing the stuttering with the MT beta. 

Here is simple tutorial on how to disable Core Parking on Windows 11:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFz8HRk4WfI

 

[TrigaNZ]

Process Lasso, fixed all my problems, solid 120fps now.

 

[Predator-78]

I am not sure if this is a language barrier thing or not, but the team are working on tweaking MT with everyone's feedback, the complexity is huge, as mentioned a few times hardware and configuration can be different between machines and users. You will need to be patient while we work on the problems and the reports we have. 
thank you

don't worry there are no barriers, we understand each other. For my part, all the patience possible, no one rushes and it is right that the developers take their time. The important thing is to have taken the problem into consideration. Good work

Inviato dal mio SM-G998B utilizzando Tapatalk

[Hammer1-1]

2 hours ago, C229 Kiwi said:

 

I havent had great success at all with Process Lasso on Windows 11.

[TrigaNZ]

That is a shame, my DCS has never run so well before.

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by C229 Kiwi

[YoYo]

6 hours ago, Ballinger French said:

Okay, I was hesitant to upgrade from DCS 2.8 after reading about all the people here having issues with massive stuttering on Intel Core I7 & I9, 12th and 13th generation CPUs.  My system is based on a I7 12700K, overclocked to 5.0ghz on 8 P-cores and 3.9ghz on 4 E-cores, with 32mb of DDR5 running at XMP profile specs.  I have a Nvidia RTX 3070 with 8 gigs of ram for video.  I upgraded to DCS 2.9 today.

I am experiencing absolutely NO stuttering or pausing running the DCS 2.9 MT executable, and in fact the sim is as smooth as it's ever been.  I'm running under Windows 11 64 bit Pro with a M2 PCIe Nvme SSD, and both Windows and DCS installed together on the same card.  For me personally, this has been about the smoothest major DCS update yet.  DLSS, DLAA, both working flawlessly with excellent performance all around. 

I never experienced any delay with the game startup or freezes in the main menu, and this leads me to believe whatever issues other Intel CPU owners are experiencing must somehow be software/BIOS setting related rather than hardware incompatibility.  One thing I have noticed with Intel-based systems is that both motherboard BIOS and Windows tend to be overly 'green' with dynamic CPU scaling and core parking.  Core parking is set by default on Windows Intel based systems, and essentially shuts down several physical CPU cores when the system in not under significant thread loading, much like Nvidia video cards automatically throttling GPU and memory clocks when not under load to save electricity and reduce heat.  I really suspect Core Parking might be a culprit here in regard to DCS stuttering in that the DCS platform may not be properly thread loading parked cores when the sim is booting up.  Again, Core Parking should disable itself as the CPU core demand goes up, but I'm wondering in something is getting flubbed up in the process and the DCS engine is somehow avoiding thread loading the parked cores, even though they should be 'unparking' as the sim boots up. 

Just a theory.  It certainly wouldn't hurt to disable CPU core parking on your Intel CPU/Windows setup and giving it a go.  Whatever IS going on with those of you experiencing the horrible stuttering, it really does not seem to be hardware dependent as my system is the same as several others on this thread that are seeing the stuttering with the MT beta. 

Here is simple tutorial on how to disable Core Parking on Windows 11:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFz8HRk4WfI

 

As it was befere, wait for it ;). The fact that you haven't had it so far doesn't mean that it won't appear. If you don't notice it for a week, i.e. until next Thursday, it's ok, maybe you're lucky. The problem occurs 50/50 or sometimes or more often, it depends.

[BJ55]

@Ballinger French : you nailed it! I have the same pc specs, but Win10 pro, after setting heterogenous policy to standard with ParkControl the main menu and OS hanging issues with MT are resolved. Thanks!

Best regards.

[MaverickM1]

Update: Since a mobo + cpu upgrade was scheduled for next year I decided to do it now so I switched to AM4 (MSI b550 A Pro, 5800X3d, NVME pcie4.0 for DCS and 3.0 foir windows + 64gb 3600mhz ddr4 kit. I kept the 4070ti, it seems it is enough for even this new config. Now -using OpenXR- I get rock stable 80 fps while using my RiftS and the settings are pretty close to maximum. (cutter/grass trees visibility range and tree/objects details at max, shadows , textures, clouds on max, only visibility range is set to medium (but due the resolution of my RiftS it is plenty). PixelDensity is set to 1.6. Looks cool, feels stunning. But.. I think my good old 4790k should be enough for a good VR experience as it was right before the 2.9 update. (but I wanted to tell to devs that on a mainstream AM4 it works like charm. 

Just to make it clear for the devs, it is not a 13th gen intel issue only. My spec is i7 4790k runing on constant 4.8ghz on all 4 cores/8 threads, 32gb ram, 4070ti ichill vga, win10 pro on ssd, dcs is on dedicated nvme ssd. I fly only in VR and single player mode (except a very few cases I fly in pair with a friend of mine using missions I create for ourselves. Prior to 2.9 update I managed to get rock stable 80 fps (the native  refresh rate of my RiftS)  with really high settigns in OpenXR mode. OpenXR was a game changer for me due the elimination of the very disturbing and flying immersion killer rubberbanding/stuttering movement of the ground objects. It wa really a joy to fly the game, the immersion ws so strong I could feel the strange feeling in stomach while doing some maneuvres. I was so happy to see my investments on gpu, warthog stick, simrig, vr finally gets paid out and I can niw concentrate on flying the game and nit playing with settings back and forth for a decent fos. It was my best dsc month since the Tomcat annuncement. After installing the 2.9 the game became a paperweight again. Since I have zero interest in 2d display mode (tried trackir as well but vr is the only way for me it seems) now I have to wait for a fix again to get back the old frame rate. Now in native MT mode it is the worst nightmare, fps drops to 40ish range and terrain object are stuttering like crazy (looks like 5 fps for me!), also I get the Cpu bound fps display in red. What very strange is, in OpenXR mode ai don’t get Cpu bound message or any other but fps is crap. I lowered my setting to potato to get 80fps again in OpenXR but it still drops to 55-60 sometimes  Even in such cases no stutter on ground objects…but the game looks potato. Since I fly only vr, I don’t want to use dlss ever, dlaa would be nice but I can live without the crappy ai stuff. My biggest concern for an nvidia splash screen the good stable OpenXR will never be the same… fun fact, (as a game developer myself) at first boot to 2.9 when I saw the “this game contains code provided by nvidia” I knew it will be some huge issue  

Additional info I didn’t see in previous posts: in non OpenXR MT mode (where I can select dlss/dlaa) the f10 map causing a 3-5 sec freeze with sandglass pointer constantly on first activation.
Also, as somebody noticed here, during mission loading I get black screen  while in OpenXR mode I see the loading screen normally.

I hooe my post helps devs to see, the issue happens on systems was abke to run the game butter smooth 2 days ago and now it is a slide show. It is the same thread utilizing issue for 4th or 13th gen cpu systems it seems. I hope they can fix it very soon. 

Edited November 15, 2023 by MaverickM1

[Flappie]

@MaverickM1

With DCS 2.8, the following CPUs could show the symptoms of this bug: Intel 12xxx & 13xxx, AMD ...X3D (keep in mind it's not universal: many owners of such CPUs have no stutter issue).

Since DCS 2.9, it looks like a lot more CPU models can be affected as well now.

I edited the internal report to explain this change.

[Cyborg71]

10 hours ago, Ballinger French said:

Okay, I was hesitant to upgrade from DCS 2.8 after reading about all the people here having issues with massive stuttering on Intel Core I7 & I9, 12th and 13th generation CPUs.  My system is based on a I7 12700K, overclocked to 5.0ghz on 8 P-cores and 3.9ghz on 4 E-cores, with 32mb of DDR5 running at XMP profile specs.  I have a Nvidia RTX 3070 with 8 gigs of ram for video.  I upgraded to DCS 2.9 today.

I am experiencing absolutely NO stuttering or pausing running the DCS 2.9 MT executable, and in fact the sim is as smooth as it's ever been.  I'm running under Windows 11 64 bit Pro with a M2 PCIe Nvme SSD, and both Windows and DCS installed together on the same card.  For me personally, this has been about the smoothest major DCS update yet.  DLSS, DLAA, both working flawlessly with excellent performance all around. 

I never experienced any delay with the game startup or freezes in the main menu, and this leads me to believe whatever issues other Intel CPU owners are experiencing must somehow be software/BIOS setting related rather than hardware incompatibility.  One thing I have noticed with Intel-based systems is that both motherboard BIOS and Windows tend to be overly 'green' with dynamic CPU scaling and core parking.  Core parking is set by default on Windows Intel based systems, and essentially shuts down several physical CPU cores when the system in not under significant thread loading, much like Nvidia video cards automatically throttling GPU and memory clocks when not under load to save electricity and reduce heat.  I really suspect Core Parking might be a culprit here in regard to DCS stuttering in that the DCS platform may not be properly thread loading parked cores when the sim is booting up.  Again, Core Parking should disable itself as the CPU core demand goes up, but I'm wondering in something is getting flubbed up in the process and the DCS engine is somehow avoiding thread loading the parked cores, even though they should be 'unparking' as the sim boots up. 

Just a theory.  It certainly wouldn't hurt to disable CPU core parking on your Intel CPU/Windows setup and giving it a go.  Whatever IS going on with those of you experiencing the horrible stuttering, it really does not seem to be hardware dependent as my system is the same as several others on this thread that are seeing the stuttering with the MT beta. 

Here is simple tutorial on how to disable Core Parking on Windows 11:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFz8HRk4WfI

 

"Shack!!!!"

This absolutely solved the stutters and hang ups for me. Now running MT at locked butter smooth 60fps.

Thank you for sharing. Knowledge is power!.

[Danzig]

10 hours ago, Ballinger French said:

Okay, I was hesitant to upgrade from DCS 2.8 after reading about all the people here having issues with massive stuttering on Intel Core I7 & I9, 12th and 13th generation CPUs.  My system is based on a I7 12700K, overclocked to 5.0ghz on 8 P-cores and 3.9ghz on 4 E-cores, with 32mb of DDR5 running at XMP profile specs.  I have a Nvidia RTX 3070 with 8 gigs of ram for video.  I upgraded to DCS 2.9 today.

I am experiencing absolutely NO stuttering or pausing running the DCS 2.9 MT executable, and in fact the sim is as smooth as it's ever been.  I'm running under Windows 11 64 bit Pro with a M2 PCIe Nvme SSD, and both Windows and DCS installed together on the same card.  For me personally, this has been about the smoothest major DCS update yet.  DLSS, DLAA, both working flawlessly with excellent performance all around. 

I never experienced any delay with the game startup or freezes in the main menu, and this leads me to believe whatever issues other Intel CPU owners are experiencing must somehow be software/BIOS setting related rather than hardware incompatibility.  One thing I have noticed with Intel-based systems is that both motherboard BIOS and Windows tend to be overly 'green' with dynamic CPU scaling and core parking.  Core parking is set by default on Windows Intel based systems, and essentially shuts down several physical CPU cores when the system in not under significant thread loading, much like Nvidia video cards automatically throttling GPU and memory clocks when not under load to save electricity and reduce heat.  I really suspect Core Parking might be a culprit here in regard to DCS stuttering in that the DCS platform may not be properly thread loading parked cores when the sim is booting up.  Again, Core Parking should disable itself as the CPU core demand goes up, but I'm wondering in something is getting flubbed up in the process and the DCS engine is somehow avoiding thread loading the parked cores, even though they should be 'unparking' as the sim boots up. 

Just a theory.  It certainly wouldn't hurt to disable CPU core parking on your Intel CPU/Windows setup and giving it a go.  Whatever IS going on with those of you experiencing the horrible stuttering, it really does not seem to be hardware dependent as my system is the same as several others on this thread that are seeing the stuttering with the MT beta. 

Here is simple tutorial on how to disable Core Parking on Windows 11:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFz8HRk4WfI

 

no cure for me sadly but thx

[NAJ]

I had similar stuttering to previous posters - sometimes (but rarely) it was fine, but mostly I got horrible stuttering in 2.9, both MT and ST (all flat screen here).  Since applying Ballinger French's suggestion re core parking (for which, thank you), I also have buttery-smooth 120 fps in MT without fail (so far).  If I turn core parking back on, it goes back to a stuttery mess...

[Flappie]

Thanks to @Ballinger French's suggestion, we're going somewhere.

So far, disabling cores parking works for : @BJ55, @Cyborg71 and @NAJ. What is your CPU model and your OS, guys?

Edited October 22, 2023 by Flappie

[Squidfall]

Hi,

got an old i5 4690k (4 Cores), RTX 3050, 32GB, Win 10.
2.8 MT ran smoothly at capped 60 fps/1080p. I also got severe stutters/freezes since 2.9. The fps counter shows 60fps with a theor. of 136fps but getting random freezes up to 1-2 sec., even in cold & dark and with no other units on the map. Core parking is already disabled.
When I switch to ST client, the stutters are gone.

Edited November 17, 2023 by Squidfall

[YoYo]

Btw. All in all, an interesting issue, I tested it a bit now in 2D with HT=off and something actually happens beyond what was before. Every few seconds it drops from 180 frames to 15 for half a second. During this session, I put my 8th core to sleep and everything returned to normal. So it seems that the problem has compounded and is now more visible also in 2D and even with HT=off.

[Lurz]

I have the same issue with ST client also - no difference. Tried to untick the cores one bye one - didn`t work for me. Also disabled Core Parking - no result. I'm with an old i5 6600K 4 cores CPU.

[Loukuins]

23 hours ago, Flappie said:

@AdrianL made a nice discovery and issued what I believe to be the best workaround so far. He made a Powershell script which:

1. Disables core "8" of his i9 13900K CPU during DCS startup,
2. Re-enables it 30 seconds later.

I hope it works for you all. Here's the workaround script:

$app = Start-Process "E:\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\bin-mt\DCS.exe" -PassThru
$app.ProcessorAffinity = 4294967039
Start-Sleep -s 30
$app.ProcessorAffinity = 4294967295 

Line 2 disables the affected core (all but the crazy core are used).

Line 4 re-enables the affected core (all cores are used).

You may need to edit the DCS path as well as the processor affinity, depending on your CPU and on the core that goes crazy.

This tool calculates processor affinities in decimal: https://www.gfsg.co.uk/affinitymask.aspx?SubMenuItem=utilties

Here's how to create and execute a Powershell script:

1. Open Windows notepad.
2. Copy-paste the lines and edit them as explained above.
3. Save the file as myDCSscript.ps1
4. Right-click the file then click "Open with Powershell".

 

 

I tested with your workaround, I manually reenable the CPU that I disabled and CPU usage seemed so much better and had even fewer Freeze, on a flight of 5 min doing mach 1.0 in a JF-17 in the 4YA Syria server packed with people I counted like 7-9 freeze, still having sometimes weird behaving of the CPU performances tho making the frame times VERY unstable.

Screenshot taken after landing after my 5 min flight on the 4YA server, don't take in account the last 5 sec of the graph since the usage changed because of my alttabbing (I have FPS limiter for unfocused apps)

Here is the task manager just being on the multiplayer menu, as you can see there is still an issue tho.null

Edited October 22, 2023 by Loukuins

[slughead]

Disabling core parking appears to have resolved this for me. With 2.8 I was seeing this problem less often. With 2.9 it would happen every time I used DCS. I would previously disable core 8 and the fault would be resolved. Core 8 was always 100% and parked - which is rather bizarre as I would have thought that would be possible. I have been testing with core parking disabled on and off today without issues. I will report back if I experience the problem again.