- Awful stutter -

[Lixma 06]

This stuttering was happening pre-patch but it's worse now.

CPU 7600K@4.4ghz, Radeon 6700XT 12GB, 32GB RAM, Win 10

First half of video shows performance - it's a juddering mess. About halfway through (1:54) I pause DCS, go to CPU affinity settings in Task Manager, turn off Core 0, hit OK; turn it back on, hit OK; and then I return to DCS - which now plays flawlessly; smooth as glass - watch the frame time graphs.

This procedure needs to be done on every mission load or it reverts back to stuttering.

e: this is happening with both default .exe and .exe in mt-bin folder.

 

Normandy - Spitfire-IX (CW) WW2 test (inf. ammo).miz DxDiag.txt

Edited April 15, 2024 by Lixma 06

[MadKreator]

@Lixma 06 Adding dcs exe( both ST and MT), saved games folder,  track ir, srs, helios( everything dcs related basically) as exceptions in windows defender, really smoothed out all of my stutters. I tried affinity and messing with cores with no noticeable improvement ( actually all that did was increase load times for me). But after excluding anything DCS related, it now runs smooth as glass too, not a burble or micro stutter to be found. Just another idea.

Edited February 22, 2024 by MadKreator

[Lixma 06]

Thanks for the tips, MK, but I tried that already. Ralphidude (i think) on Youtube had a video claiming it was his 'silver bullet' but it didn't do anything for me.

The problem seems to be related to proximity to units - a free-flight on a bare map is almost stutter free.

Toggling Core 0 fixes it completely, so the solution lies in something DCS is doing (or not doing).

[MadKreator]

1 hour ago, Lixma 06 said:

Thanks for the tips, MK, but I tried that already. Ralphidude (i think) on Youtube had a video claiming it was his 'silver bullet' but it didn't do anything for me.

The problem seems to be related to proximity to units - a free-flight on a bare map is almost stutter free.

Toggling Core 0 fixes it completely, so the solution lies in something DCS is doing (or not doing).

I figured it wasn’t the be all end all fix like the video claimed lol It seemed to work for me from free flight to medium/ heavy missions. Now I will say, I haven’t loaded up a dense MP server or heavy liberation mission( most of my flying is testing and developing Helios stuff, not too much fun flying). I will have to try your fix on top for fun ( if I can figure it out) just to see the results.
A few months ago @BIGNEWY posted a lua file (mt.lua) to add to dcs saved games in the config folder that was some help for MT. Idk if its still valid, or if that change made it in permanently.. On my side that file seemed to help distribute the load better across cores. I was getting most activity on only a few cores( 8-11 or something). After adding that lua I have activity on most all 24 cores with the densely packed original 4 distributed more evenly across the top 8 or 12 or so. 
* I should add, by my own volition, I do keep DCS capped at 60 fps. 1- just to give it overhead as I feel 60 fps is ample for a flightsim, 2- trackir seems to be smoother at that fps cap, 3- Helios runs smoothest in that area too…. Obviously I’m running 2d. Haven’t fired up VR in a long long time.

Edited February 22, 2024 by MadKreator

[Vigo68]

No way for me, still stuttering, no change for me in new version of dcs, i am VERY DISAPPOINTED.  For me from version 2.9 is DCS in singleplayer unplayable (MT or non MT are same). Tell me please WHY multiplayer is SMOOTH and singleplayer not WITH SAME SETTINGS? I took two screenshots one in singleplayer and one for multiplayer without restart DCS without ANY changes on setting or running backgrounds programs.   What makes MULTIPLAYER different from SINGLEPLAYER? 

[SAM77]

I use the Instant Action Mig 29A landing mission at Sochi to test. Prior to the latest patch I had to turn off core 0 for the game to run smoothly in MT (ST had no issues) otherwise I would get huge drops in framerate when approaching the runway threshold, during touchdown and rollout.

After the latest patch the game runs a whole lot better and now, I only get a few (1-2 sometimes 0) small drops in framerate (noticeable but playable).

Switching to F10 map and other views causes a big freeze or significant loss in framerate. In that respect it's still not as smooth as turning off core 0. However, the performance during flight is a major improvement over the previous version on my old system with only four cores (I5 7600k).

Whatever tweak ED did for the latest patch worked really well. Hopefully the next patch gets it to run as smooth as turning off core 0.

Edited February 23, 2024 by SAM77

[AKULA_OPTIMUS]

The terrible stuttering still there forme since 2.9. It always puts one CPU core to the max, 100% , while the rest have irregular performance.

The only way to solve it, is to turn OFF the affinity of one core with the task manager (I have 4), then turn it ON again, then all cores stabilize at smooth 90% and the game runs mostly great. But you have to perform this EVERY time you get into an aircraft.  

[Lixma 06]

2 hours ago, AKULA_OPTIMUS said:

The only way to solve it, is to turn OFF the affinity of one core with the task manager (I have 4), then turn it ON again, then all cores stabilize at smooth 90% and the game runs mostly great. But you have to perform this EVERY time you get into an aircraft.  

Exactly.

You'd think 'turning it off then turning it back on again' would be too much of a meme to be true - but here we are.

[rfxcasey]

I've been having some dropped frames since the last update as well, prior to that everything was smooth as silk. It seems that my frame rates are now dropping for a split second and causing much lower 99 percent frame rates.  Something weird I noticed is when the game is in the background, with a focused window over the game, it runs smooth as butter, especially my head tracking, but when the game is focused, my head tracking get jittery and the game doesn't run as smoothly. Going to full screen mode doesn't fix this, its very strange. Per the change log it appears there was some terrain "optimization" that's been implemented, perhaps its causing this behavior. Hopefully this is just a bug that will be patched with a hot fix, but I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed.

I have exceptions for my Eagle Dynamics, Saved Games\DCS and headtracker folders in my antivirus already.

Edited February 23, 2024 by rfxcasey

[LHP]

How many of you are using an extended/multy screen game view? 

I went through a few weeks of testing and trying to find my glitches to the point of formating my computer and starting over again, I found that the extended screen/multyscreen that was what caused it.

There's nothing I can do to fix it, just have to wait for a patch, could be what's causing your issues?

Here's my thread just incase it may be of some help to someone, I tried a lot of things, they may or may not help you but I thought I should share my experiences, just incase

 

Good luck guys

 

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/343265-really-bad-frame-glitches-5-7fps-with-vsync-finally-found-the-issue-extended-displaymultyscreen/

 

 

 

 

[LorneMalvo]

Thanks a lot! It's unplayable without doing core 0 trick. ED need to fix this.

[Lixma 06]

19 hours ago, LHP said:

How many of you are using an extended/multy screen game view? 

Single monitor here.

The problem seems to be related to proximity to units (aircraft, ships etc). I don't know whether it's to do with texture loading, LODs, or whatever.

Here's another video showing the issue (and fix). I fly past a few aircraft and it's a stutter-fest.

At 2:10 I disable Core 0; re-enable Core 0; and then do another fly-by. Fixed. Beautifully smooth.

 

[diego999]

I'm having the exact same issue. Will try your fix tonight.

Edit: tried. Made no difference.

Edited March 3, 2024 by diego999

[LHP]

I'll try it out too! The more of us who test it the better

Edit: it made a little difference for a few mins then it went back to the glitches, tried it a few times, no real improvement 

 

Edit Edit, I'm an idiot, I was in standard dcs not MT dcs when u tested, i have concrete proof of it now, It makes a huge difference, I'll upload a video soon 

Edited March 8, 2024 by LHP

[Lixma 06]

On 3/3/2024 at 4:10 PM, diego999 said:

I'm having the exact same issue. Will try your fix tonight.

Edit: tried. Made no difference.

 

 

On 3/5/2024 at 5:12 AM, LHP said:

I'll try it out too! The more of us who test it the better

Edit: it made a little difference for a few mins then it went back to the glitches, tried it a few times, no real improvement 

Instead of toggling Core 0, try the other cores. Others have had success doing this; I just happened to get lucky with Core 0.

Are the devs aware of this? Is this a side-effect of the push towards multi-threading? Will it be fixed?

[Rissala]

On 2/22/2024 at 7:46 PM, Lixma 06 said:

This stuttering was happening pre-patch but it's worse now.

CPU 7600K@4.4ghz, Radeon 6700XT 12GB, 32GB RAM, Win 10

First half of video shows performance - it's a juddering mess. About halfway through (1:54) I pause DCS, go to CPU affinity settings in Task Manager, turn off Core 0, hit OK; turn it back on, hit OK; and then I return to DCS - which now plays flawlessly; smooth as glass - watch the frame time graphs.

This procedure needs to be done on every mission load or it reverts back to stuttering.

e: this is happening with both default .exe and .exe in mt-bin folder.

+1 for core 0 toggle. The difference is smooth 62 fps and unplayable stuttering. I have to do this every time I launch DCS. I have the the excact same processor and RAM amount as you.

[Lixma 06]

Any news if this is being looked at? It's un-playable unless you go through this Core 0 ritual every mission.

 

[LHP]

I ended up buying project lasso because I was so impressed with what it did for me, I now use the following setup for dcs

When dcs is running it runs

PL...

Only on cores 0-15 (my p cores + hyper threads) - I haven't tried it without HT just yet

I also have every background process except essentials locked to my e cores 

High performance power plan

High priority 

I don't use vsync anywhere no nvcp or inside dcs etc 

All frame limiters are removed (evga x1, nvcp, etc) except in dcs where I have the frame limiter set to 60

 

NVCP

prefer high performance,

Nvidia low latency ultra 

 

WINDOWS

all game things off, game bar, game mode etc

HAGS off

 

This seems to give me the most constant performance, however there are the usual little tweaks, and i still have to do the core 0 toggle every time, to get rid of small glitches, but then after the toggle they go away

 

Still getting performance drops but the above settings seem to be most useful setup, definitely needs some serious looking at by ED tho, this is the only game I have had to go to this level of messing around to get 60fps all my others are fine, maybe a tweak here or there but this took me weeks!

Edited March 28, 2024 by LHP

[Lixma 06]

No change.

Unplayable stuttering (both .exes) until disabling then re-enabling Core 0 in the affinity settings. After which it runs perfectly smooth.

 

[RickJamesBish]

I have been hunting down solutions for sporadic performance on my 13700k and 4090. This ranged from sudden extremely long load times, that I could get to finally continue loading by simply opening task manager, to long freezes in the game, to very unresponsive menus after existing the mission that had the long freezes. I was just experiencing this, and it continued after killing DCS and restarting 4 or 5 times.  After killing it the last time, I tried the trick of disabling Core #8 (same windows session not a restart) and I played from start to finish through a mission without the faintest hint of a freeze or studder of any type.  I have a friend with a similar gen processor and 3000 series GPU that had the same symptoms that this core disable seems to have addressed right away. 

I have seen this issue referenced, and even the fix I tried and another temporary fix as far back as 2023, so why has it not at least been acknowledged by ED? Even if it is an INTEL issue, with affecting and ED product you would expect them to collaborate and find out what is going on.  If they have acknowledged this, then I apologize, but I have not seen it. 

 

Edited April 10, 2024 by RickJamesBish

[Lixma 06]

2 minutes ago, RickJamesBish said:

I have seen this issue referenced, and even this and another temporary fix as far back as 2023, so why has it not at least been acknowledged by ED? If it has been, then I apologize, but I have not seen it.

I'm hoping it's just a case of 'We're on it, don't worry!'

I had suspected it was something to do with low Core count. My CPU (7600K) has only 4, and I've seen others with the same issue who have similar CPUs. But if you're having the same trouble with a 13700K then....

[Lixma 06]

Another bump for this...can any dev shed light on this?

i7-7600K, Z270mb, 32GB RAM, Radeon RX 6700XT, Windows 10

Proximity to units causes massive stuttering (Even on an empty map there's stuttering but not as bad)

Disabling and re-enabling Core 0 in the affinity settings (1:20) cures it completely. Same result with both ST and MT .exes.

DCS.log, DxDiag, .TRK attached

dcs.logDxDiag.txtstutter_invincible_test.trk

 

Edited April 15, 2024 by Lixma 06

[jcookeusa]

I just wanted to add to this thread that your fix (turning off and then back on again Core 0 on the DCS.exe affinity) works perfectly for me.

I'd been away from DCS for maybe a year? and came back just recently to fly the F-4 (after the 2.9 version release).  The terrible stuttering and freezes were a shock, as DCS has always been really nicely smooth.  The freezes occur primarily when switching to an external view, but even happen in the cockpit.  I see second or two long complete view freezes, every few seconds.

Anyway, after getting into the plane, if I do the core off/on affinity switch, it's very smooth again.  I'm on a pretty old system, too, by the way : i5-2500K (4 cores @ 3.3GHz, OC to 4.2GHz), Asus P8Z68-V, 32GB, Nvidia GTX1070 8GB, Win 10, 2560 x 1440

Thanks, Lixma!

 

[LOW_Hitman]

vor 6 Stunden schrieb jcookeusa:

I just wanted to add to this thread that your fix (turning off and then back on again Core 0 on the DCS.exe affinity) works perfectly for me.

I'd been away from DCS for maybe a year? and came back just recently to fly the F-4 (after the 2.9 version release).  The terrible stuttering and freezes were a shock, as DCS has always been really nicely smooth.  The freezes occur primarily when switching to an external view, but even happen in the cockpit.  I see second or two long complete view freezes, every few seconds.

Anyway, after getting into the plane, if I do the core off/on affinity switch, it's very smooth again.  I'm on a pretty old system, too, by the way : i5-2500K (4 cores @ 3.3GHz, OC to 4.2GHz), Asus P8Z68-V, 32GB, Nvidia GTX1070 8GB, Win 10, 2560 x 1440

Thanks, Lixma!

 

This can't be an option for us as customers to manipulate affinity settings and disable or enable processer cores to make that game running as it should be. This core issues are well known for a long time so its up to ED to fix this.

[jcookeusa]

5 hours ago, LOW_Hitman said:

This can't be an option for us as customers to manipulate affinity settings and disable or enable processer cores to make that game running as it should be. This core issues are well known for a long time so its up to ED to fix this.

Agreed.  I didn't mean to suggest that this is fine and I plan to do the core switch every time I fly.  I was just adding my vote for this correcting the bad freezing behavior (on my individual system, at least), in case that might help ED debug.