2.9 (after update )massive stuttering/image freeze for 1-3 sec all time even at LOW settings

[Mateo]

Hardware and settings:

 i7-6920HQ CPU @2.90GHz 2.90 GHz, 16GB RAM, Quadro P5000M (like GTX1080),

Disk Space 2x500GB, currently free 50GB and 150 GB on disk with DCS

pagefile set to 32768 as desired for DCS

CPU overclock/turbo boost/hyperthread/c states/speedstep - all disabled in BIOS, either switchable motherboard graphics.

CPU cores unparked - during gameplay in DCS all 4 cores nearly/fully loaded

Unlimited Power plan for windows

Nvidia Control Panel settings adjusted for DCS, different settings gave no impact or even get things worse

 

Problem:

DCS 2.5-2.8 at medium settings gave me about 45FPS as a stable value at FullHD resolution, pretty stable and fancy.

DCS 2.9 even after first patch/hotfix is likely to give even 60FPS on medium settings (I have limiter set to 50 now), but few times a minute I have got huge stuttering, image freeze for 1- 3 seconds.

I have tried to isolate the source - no success. I tried LOW/OFF settings with lowest possible resoution. Stuttering still exist, which is very strange to me that this stil existing at lowered settings. I attach my testing settings which are a bit lower than normal, screenshots with graphs, dxdiag, Logs and track files.

stutter_01.trk stutter_02.trk DxDiag.txt dcs.log dcs.log.old DCS-SimpleRadioStandalone.log DCS-SRS-GameGUI.log DCS-SRS-InGameRadio.log debrief.log

[Mateo]

I have noticed improvement when I set my hyperthread in BIOS to enable. It is strange for me, usually hyperthread make things worse, but now during simple test I have notice improvement that is worth for ED to pay attention. It shows that my stuttering is probably CPU related. During my test one of core go to nearly 100% usage. I disabled that core and re-enabled during the gameplay, in effect stutters were gone again, and CPU usage was average on all cores.

If some of you have the ability to hyperthred your CPU, it might be worth a try.

[The_Nephilim]

I thought the Quaddro cards were not good at rendering games?? I think you should get a different PC..

[Thor_HUN]

I have the same problem to. Before the 2.9 update I had ~80 FPS with "higher" video options. After the update I got ~70 FPS and a lots of stuttering with this options. Example video...

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by Thor_HUN

[Mateo]

@Thor_HUN

Does your stuttering occur also when you lower the settings to absolute minimum ?

[Ace5]

I'm also getting tons of Stuttering / FPS Spikes with the same settings as 2.8 which was very smooth but now its a complete stutter fest in 2.9...

I've Tried EVERYTHING suggested in every single post so far with no success

 

[Mateo]

19 hours ago, The_Nephilim said:

I thought the Quaddro cards were not good at rendering games?? I think you should get a different PC..

My configuration give me stable 50 FPS (with limiter on) with theoretical FPS above 100. Quadro cards are hard to get configured for gaming due to it's priority to precision over the speed of calculation. It doesn't mean for me that I should get new PC, people with way better GPU for gaming have already experience the same stuttering issue. I haven't got much troubles with it in other games and DCS for long time. Once I had the issue with my CPU and this time it is also showing on CPU cores thread issue in DCS itself, because 2.8 was working just fine.

 

Regarding my stuttering and HT - I have confirmed today that problem is almost gone with hyperthread enabled and reseting the cores for DCS in task manager. I have perfect stability and a huge performance gain with 2.9 after previous experience with 2.8 

CPU - core- thread sharing might be clue of the problem in my case.,

 

Best Regards,

Mateo

[pickafivestring]

Same issue....that brought me to this thread.  I'd been away since 2.5.6, and decided to update to 2.9.xxx.  Intel i7, 32GB ram, and 3080Ti.  Can run MSFS2020 fine.

[truebrit]

Same, all was good before 2.9, and the "fix" made things even worse.

[The_Nephilim]

2 hours ago, Mateo said:

My configuration give me stable 50 FPS (with limiter on) with theoretical FPS above 100. Quadro cards are hard to get configured for gaming due to it's priority to precision over the speed of calculation. It doesn't mean for me that I should get new PC, people with way better GPU for gaming have already experience the same stuttering issue. I haven't got much troubles with it in other games and DCS for long time. Once I had the issue with my CPU and this time it is also showing on CPU cores thread issue in DCS itself, because 2.8 was working just fine.

 

Regarding my stuttering and HT - I have confirmed today that problem is almost gone with hyperthread enabled and reseting the cores for DCS in task manager. I have perfect stability and a huge performance gain with 2.9 after previous experience with 2.8 

CPU - core- thread sharing might be clue of the problem in my case.,

 

Best Regards,

Mateo

well it was a suggestion not a law or command too.. but if it was the HT Enabling and now it is good great. but I always hear the quaddro cards are not goo with using them for gaming.. thats all if it works great..

 

Were the cores parked??

[Thor_HUN]

14 hours ago, Mateo said:

@Thor_HUN

Does your stuttering occur also when you lower the settings to absolute minimum ?

Video 1 with low settings

Video 2 with low settings

 

[Mateo]

Tip#1

Please pause the gameplay or unpause when standing on runway/parking with bo camera movement and then:

- minimize DCS, open task manager, and disable half of your cores for DCS.exe

-press OK. Check stuttering in DCS and come back to task manager.

-open that core settings again, choose opposite configuration, check unchecked cores and uncheck previously checked in.

-press OK. Check stuttering in DCS and come back to task manager.

-back in task manager select (check in) all cores again for DCS.exe

-press OK. Check stuttering in DCS and come back to task manager.

 

In my case when I am using hyperthread enabled I need to do likewise once, at first DCS.exe launch every windows restart...

And of course I can't explain why it is working.

 

Tip#2

Change your power plan in your windows settings, there is hidden power plan Ultra Performance that is different from High Performance, Balanced and Battery Saving which are basic ones. You can Google to set it as active and check out.

Tip#3

Return your pagefile to auto

 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Mateo

[fatboy]

Same for me unfortunately,

                                                 Was running like glass smooth before 2.9 but now it's simply awful. I have been fiddling with the graphics but with not much success except for turning Vsync back on seem to help a bit.

I have a 9700k

32 gig of ram

Nvidia 2080

Nvme.m2 Drive

(Solved my Problem)

My problem seemed to be my track IR.. it for some reason after the 2.9 patch was causing the problems. I changed the profile and made sure it was on Track clip pro not track clip. And now its glass smooth again. I cannot say as to why it set itself on the wrong profile and did weird things but I'm glad it's better again. Don't know if this will help you folks in anyway but good luck.

Edited October 31, 2023 by fatboy
Solved

[Valium]

The same issue.

 

i7-13700K, RTX3080, 64GB RAM, 512GB SSD for DCS

[Obic]

I notice a lot of performance drop also with 2.9 
I tought it was oculus update at first but no 
2.8 was super stable, but Even if I have the FPS & Frametime trough brute force it start to jump all over the place at random
I did notice my Vram was not as utilised like 7/24GB
I tried dialing back settings & no luck 

5800x3d (HT OFF), 4090, 64GB ram 
Ran the usual repair & Clean up 

[fatboy]

Not solved, I'm so confused by this. Working the other day and not working again today.

[YoYo]

Solved by unparked cores method (Win10, 13900).

[Valium]

On 11/1/2023 at 7:29 AM, YoYo said:

Solved by unparked cores method (Win10, 13900).

Can you describe it in details? 

[Checkmate]

I have all the same issues as above. I was flying just fine in 2.8, but as soon as I upgraded to 2.9 I get all the stuttering and pauses, which I can not figure out. I am running on a AMD Ryzen 3970 threadripper, 2080 ti, and 128GB Ram. I just can’t go out and buy a new computer every time ED decides to do major update. I’m not even sure a new computer is going to even solve the problem. 

[josgar84]

Hello, I have the same problem and tried everything I could find before posting. I unparked the CPU cores but nothing worked. Considering all the posts on other sites, the problem seems to come from the DCS code. Since version 2.9 I have spent all my time trying to reduce display problems when the goal is to use the software. Even people with latest generation RTX 4090s and Core I9s have the same problem. Question: Do you need a machine that costs $10,000?

[YoYo]

4 hours ago, Valium said:

Can you describe it in details? 

This post was for me the solution, nothing worked for me before. Stutters gone (even with HT=on):

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by YoYo

[cwarre9]

I'm having similar issues.  My Logitech keyboard has a display that shows the percent of RAM and CPU use.  When I load DCS 2.7, at idle with just the opening wallpaper screen I show CPU use at under 15%.  When I load DCS 2.9, it jumps to over 50%.  When I open a 2.9 mission, it runs 88 to 100%.  RAM use is consistent between the two at ~60%.  I'm running Windows 10.  Intel Core i5-4460 CPU at 3.2 GHz 4 core - 4 Logical Processors.  32 GB RAM.  Just bought a new RTX 3060 with 12GB RAM thinking it might take some of the load off the CPU and it supported DLSS.  Didn't help.  I know nothing about multi-threading.  Any info or help is appreciated. 

[Flappie]

For those who keep having performance issues:

1. Ensure you are not running DCS with administrator privilege.
2. Try disabling HPET.

[Stele]

Just noticing I'm having the same issues with 2.9. Tried lowering absolutely everything and I'm getting these pause freezes every few seconds. Waiting to see if the next update changes anything. I've tried cleanup and repair, but no go.

[Stele]

10 hours ago, Stele said:

Just noticing I'm having the same issues with 2.9. Tried lowering absolutely everything and I'm getting these pause freezes every few seconds. Waiting to see if the next update changes anything. I've tried cleanup and repair, but no go.

Ok, I found the culprit at least on my side. I ran it without multithread and it ran perfectly with no stutters.