Performance issues F1BE

[Hogges]

Dear Aerges Team,

 

I have been having issues with flying the F1BE specifically due to massive performance issues and after another failed attempt tonight feel compelled to try and create a bug report about it.

I am on the latest open beta and play in 3440 x 1440 resolution with Vsync enabled via Nvidia to cap the frames at 60fps in line with my TrackIR.

Ever since the F1BE was released I have been experiencing frame drops. Sometimes after a while, sometimes pretty much instantly but it usually gets so bad at some point that the plane sadly becomes unplayable for me. This is strange because it is the only module that I have this issue with. Everything else is running completely fine and smooth including the EE and CE. Tonight we tried to do a multiplayer flight on the Caucasus map on a private server hosted by me with one person joining. I was in the BE and my friend in the EE. At first everything was smooth but as soon as we entered the runway together my frames started dropping again. Shortly after take off I was only seeing frames between 10 and 25 frames with huge lags. This time it happened righter after changing back from the F2 outside view into the F1 cockpit view. There was a slight delay getting back into the cockpit and I could immediately notice the frames not being fine any more. Previously it has often started while looking outside to one side and would then initially only get bad on that one side. We then reloaded the mission with my friend now flying the BE and he could also notice a large decrease in frames compared to the EE, although not quite as bad as for me. We also noticed that the BE seems to use more video memory than any of our other modules.

I was able to take some screenshots. You can see the difference between the BE and EE. The same is true for all other modules.

I am also attaching a track hoping it might help as well.

I really hope there is something that can be fixed because I would love to fly the BE and especially utilize the Multicrew aspect of it but this is sadly not possible for me at the moment.

I also looked for other reports on the forum and did find a few references to resource usage but am not sure if these have been addressed yet. See these two examples:

 

Thank you for looking into this and I am happy to provide more information if needed.

server-20240116-195422.trk

Edited January 16, 2024 by Hogges

[Flappie]

Hi. Please attach your options.lua file (from Saved Games/DCS.../Config).

I'll try and replay your track using your options.

[Hogges]

Thank you for your help! Really interested to hear about other results.

options.lua

[fausete]

Hi,

Thanks for the work reporting. In order to isolate possible sources of the issue, can you repeat the tests with the sight repeater in the rear cockpit turned off?

Edited January 17, 2024 by Vibora

[Temetre]

Just a guess, maybe its connected to video memory usage? You hit 9gb of your 10gb in that one screen, and with continually worsening performance it could be a culprit. 

Easiest check would be to just lower textures to minimum and see if the issue persists.

Edited January 17, 2024 by Temetre

[Hogges]

4 hours ago, fausete said:

Hi,

Thanks for the work reporting. In order to isolate possible sources of the issue, can you repeat the tests with the sight repeater in the rear cockpit turned off?

 

Thank you for following up! That was also something we thought about and we did try with and without sight repeater, radar and mirrors in both cockpits and unfortunately it was always the same result.

 

4 hours ago, Temetre said:

Just a guess, maybe its connected to video memory usage? You hit 9gb of your 10gb in that one screen, and with continually worsening performance it could be a culprit. 

Easiest check would be to just lower textures to minimum and see if the issue persists.

 

It does seem like it might be linked to the video memory as this is also something we had noticed looking at the numbers. I was interested and did a quick test in the same scenario as my previous flight with a variety of modules to see what the video memory does immediately after launching the game. All on the Caucasus map with the same settings and just a few static planes placed at the airport. Here are the results:

Mirage F1 BE with sight repeater and mirrors: 8.833Mb

Mirage F1 BE without sight repeater and mirrors: 8.788Mb

Mirage F1 CE: 7.296Mb

Mig 15: 5.053Mb

Mirage 2000: 6.471Mb

MB339: 6.815Mb

F14: 7.897Mb

Viggen: 5.986Mb

Hind: 8699Mb

So the BE definitely has the highest usage. It makes sense to me that some older modules like the Mig 15 have way less usage but the BE does seem to use a lot of resources here and it seems logical that this might cause performance issues. I will try lowering the textures but this is certainly not something I like to do since it is not necessary for the other modules and the game generally runs perfectly fine with my settings.

 

 

 

 

[Ramsay]

1 hour ago, Hogges said:

It does seem like it might be linked to the video memory as this is also something we had noticed looking at the numbers.

I note in options.lua that the Preload Radius is set to 150,000 m, AFAIK this will consume lots of RAM and can cause problems, IIRC the general recommendation is to set it 60,000 m unless running off a HDD (and have lots of RAM) or if you only have 16GB of RAM (where it should be reduced to 30,000). YMMV

Edited January 17, 2024 by Ramsay

[Temetre]

vor 19 Stunden schrieb Hogges:

So the BE definitely has the highest usage. It makes sense to me that some older modules like the Mig 15 have way less usage but the BE does seem to use a lot of resources here and it seems logical that this might cause performance issues. I will try lowering the textures but this is certainly not something I like to do since it is not necessary for the other modules and the game generally runs perfectly fine with my settings.

Idk if Aerges can optimize texture usage, but mind its a quite detailed module, and the BE with two seats naturally takes more memory. Similarly the F-14 or F-15E have more FPS impact because theyre two-seaters.

[Vee.A]

I've been having similar issues as well. Even on low settings the back seat in particular will make my fps go from 60-90 to a consistent 20-30 no matter what. Turning the sight repeater off doesn't do anything either. Other two seat modules such as the tomcat and Mudhen perform fine.

Edited January 22, 2024 by Vee.A

[Solo Wing]

I’ve had the same problem too. If I turn the settings as low as they will go, it smooths out and stutters once or twice every 30 seconds or so. I’ve dialed the options.lua file down to 30,000m, with marginal improvement if I don’t downgrade the graphics as well. 

I don’t really know how I can help, but I’m happy to do what I can. It’s probably worth noting that I have the stuttering in VR, but if I play in 2D, it’s as smooth as one would hope.

[Hogges]

I've wanted to come back to this topic as I have just revisited the BE for the first time since my initial report and testing in a 2-player multiplayer flight on the Caucasus map. The new exterior textures are lovely!

I am sad to report that the BE is still causing performance issues for me in the latest version of DCS. I flew the BE solo with mirrors and radar off. VRAM usage in the cockpit still seems to be very high compared to all other modules I have including the Phantom. Whilst performance was definitely better than previously, frames starting tanking again upon returning to the base after about one hour of general formation flying and dogfight training. I have incorporated all the previous tips like lowering the preload radius without it making a noticeable difference and still do not see performance issues like this with any other module.

This means that the BE still remains unusable for me, which is a great shame. I can only hope some improvement and optimisation is still possible and would very much love to finally fly it properly.

In the meantime, happy holidays to the team at Aerges and I remain hopeful for future improvements!

 

[archer86]

I purchased one month ago and from day one I noticed that the  b model has the worst framerate if I compare with other modules like f-4, f-14.... 

Even single seater has framerate issue but not that much as two seater one.

F-1 is my favorite nowadays but l am not having fun because of framerate issue.