Stutter when looking sideways

[dutchili]

I experience terrain stutters when looking sideways, approx. from a 45 degree angle compared to 'straight ahead'. The stutters disappear after a second or two when their are not many objects to show in my field of view. (but the issue is reproduceable even in de Nevada desert)

It is very reproduceable and not something new in the latest release.

I wonder: why is the 'system' working differently from a specific viewing angle?

Anyway, it might be a clue to further performance improvements.

@BIGNEWY
 

[BIGNEWY]

Hi, 

you will need to attach your dcs log and dxdiag

please also attach a screen shot of your dcs setting and graphics driver settings and we can look for reasons. 

I am unable to reproduce on my system 

thank you 

[Nedum]

11 hours ago, dutchili said:

I experience terrain stutters when looking sideways, approx. from a 45 degree angle compared to 'straight ahead'. The stutters disappear after a second or two when their are not many objects to show in my field of view. (but the issue is reproduceable even in de Nevada desert)

It is very reproduceable and not something new in the latest release.

I wonder: why is the 'system' working differently from a specific viewing angle?

Anyway, it might be a clue to further performance improvements.

@BIGNEWY
 

The fact that the stuttering starts from a certain viewing angle has to do with the fact that more objects in the near distance have to be transported across the screen more quickly. They appear and disappear more quickly than if a "few" were "slowly" approaching you from the front.
Many tools can no longer compensate for this, for example by reducing the level of details (LoD). Also, more data has to be processed quicker by the GPU and CPU, which causes objects to enter and leave the field of view much faster.
This is a good example of the fact that our brain can indeed perceive more than 45 FPS (or rather Hz).

Your system will probably not be able to cope with all of this with your current settings in DCS, so you have to lower them.

Edited March 1, 2024 by Nedum

[dutchili]

Here you go @BIGNEWY

ground stutters.trk dcs.log DxDiag.txt options.lua

[BIGNEWY]

Thanks I have only taken a quick look as I am busy with other tasks but, 

try Setting your Preload Radius to 60000 and try to adjust settings to achieve higher FPS overall, then try capping your fps using the slider in game or if you use vsync / gsync to your monitors refresh rate. Also try without a cap or any sync if you are using it already. 

let us know if you notice any difference 

 

[dutchili]

Thanks for having a quick look. These settings have no effect.

I tried a small, medium (60000) and large setting for preload. 

For FPS cap: if i set my Oculus Quest from 90 FPS to 120 FPS is see the exact same thing. 
Changing in game FPS sliders has no effect.

[BIGNEWY]

try setting 90hz in the Quest 

with dcs settings target 60 - 90 FPS 

turn any motion smoothing or asw off and on and compare. 

[Tango3B]

If I may add something…I do not know if you use Track IR but if you do please also make sure that you exclude Track IR or your VR gear from your Antivirus scans. This can tremendously help with your DCS experience and can significantly reduce stuttering. Also, make sure you exclude every single DCS related folder or application from your Antivirus scans. For me and a lot of people I know this and also BN’s suggestions absolutely made the difference. I hope this helps…

Edited March 1, 2024 by Tango3B

[dutchili]

I played around with these settings and 60 fps as in-game setting, combined with a pre-load of 60000 improved the situation. There is still the occasional spike in simulation time according to the FPS counter, but less significant than before.

 

When setting an in-game FPS setting of 30 i get bad overal graphics performance and the FPS counter shows 'FPS limit'.

At 60 FPS set in-game and 90 FPS in the headset (45 per eye), the 'simulation' is unable to keep up at all times. I hope the team can find what is causing that to further improve and create more headroom.

[BIGNEWY]

Just now, dutchili said:

I hope the team can find what is causing that to further improve and create more headroom.

The thing is not everyone gets it, it is usually system specific

[dutchili]

Any suggestions for what to look for in my system?

[Nedum]

Hi,

firstly, congratulations on this very powerful system. It shouldn't let you down even in VR and should always run super smoothly. So yes, there is something wrong with it or DCS.
I see a lot of error messages which, if I'm not mistaken, come from various mods.
I would suggest the following:

Disable all Mods
Disable Tacview.
Perform a slow repair.
Delete the fxo and methashader2 folder.
To check Windows for old or corrupt files, please open the console (cmd) as administrator and type the following: sfc /scannow.
If Windows detects errors, restart the system after completing the repair and repeat this process until no more errors are detected.
Also, try to let Windows manage the Windows system cache again.
After you have done this, please post a DCS.log here again.

Edited March 1, 2024 by Nedum

[dutchili]

Thanks @Nedum

 

-------

C:\Windows\System32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 48% complete.

Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.

-------

 

When i run /verifyonly it says if found issue. But...now what?

[Tango3B]

4 hours ago, dutchili said:

Thanks @Nedum

 

-------

C:\Windows\System32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 48% complete.

Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.

-------

 

When i run /verifyonly it says if found issue. But...now what?

Try this: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

And then run sfc /scannow again.

[dutchili]

The /verifyonly log file showed that the issues where of type 'access denied'. 

 

I ran DSIM as you said. Took a while to get passed 62.3% but then completed successfully. Reran /verifyonly and the error in the log indicate stuff related to drive staging updates.
re-tried sfc /scannow. Did not complete again.

Example log entry: 

2024-03-01 12:29:48, Info                  CBS    DriverUpdateStageUpdates failed [HRESULT = 0x8007001e - ERROR_READ_FAULT]
2024-03-01 12:29:48, Error                 CBS    Doqe: Failed staging driver updates [HRESULT = 0x8007001e - ERROR_READ_FAULT]
2024-03-01 12:29:48, Info                  CBS    Perf: Doqe: Staging ended.
2024-03-01 12:29:48, Error                 CBS    Failed staging drivers, rebooting and trying again [HRESULT = 0x8007001e - ERROR_READ_FAULT]
2024-03-01 12:29:48, Info                  CBS    Shtd: progress thread terminating. [HRESULT = 0x00000000 - S_OK]

[BIGNEWY]

18 hours ago, dutchili said:

Any suggestions for what to look for in my system?

It maybe a good idea to remove all unofficial mods 

Custom Mods
Tacview,Civilian Assets Pack - Navy v2.1,Iranian Fast Attack Craft 3.1.0,SAMSitesAssetPack,Civil Aircraft Mod,SMAO 2.0,A-4E-C,IDF Assets Pack,Hercules ver 6.8.2,Infantry AT

then run a full repair, as you are getting some integrity issues reported in your log 

 

 

[Tango3B]

11 hours ago, dutchili said:

The /verifyonly log file showed that the issues where of type 'access denied'. 

 

I ran DSIM as you said. Took a while to get passed 62.3% but then completed successfully. Reran /verifyonly and the error in the log indicate stuff related to drive staging updates.
re-tried sfc /scannow. Did not complete again.

Example log entry: 

2024-03-01 12:29:48, Info                  CBS    DriverUpdateStageUpdates failed [HRESULT = 0x8007001e - ERROR_READ_FAULT]
2024-03-01 12:29:48, Error                 CBS    Doqe: Failed staging driver updates [HRESULT = 0x8007001e - ERROR_READ_FAULT]
2024-03-01 12:29:48, Info                  CBS    Perf: Doqe: Staging ended.
2024-03-01 12:29:48, Error                 CBS    Failed staging drivers, rebooting and trying again [HRESULT = 0x8007001e - ERROR_READ_FAULT]
2024-03-01 12:29:48, Info                  CBS    Shtd: progress thread terminating. [HRESULT = 0x00000000 - S_OK]

Okay, looking at your DCS related problems please do what BIGNEWY said.

Looking at your Windows related problems I would suggest the following, though: click Settings, click Windows Update, click Expanded Options, click Recovery. Then look for "Fix problems with Windows updates - Your apps and files will remain". Click “Reinstall Now”. If this doesn't work, I'm sorry to have to tell you, then unfortunately you only have one option for Windows. Please click on “reset this PC” in the same menu as there will be most likely a severe problem with your Windows.

[dutchili]

Thanks all for helping out here.

I decided to go resetting the pc. That didn't go without issues. Resetting using the local copy didn't seem to work at all. I got page fault blue screen and the reset was rolled back every time. Then selected the online version which succeeded. But, when booting, the admin account was blocked. Fixed that in safe mode and ran McAfee and the Malisious Software Remove tool. None reported any issues.

Still, while downloading DCS again and synchin my onedrive etc, i already see some stability issues coming back. Whenever i use Google Chrome and visit web.whatsapp.com, i get an access violation in the chrome tab. Same things happens often in youtube and the discord windows app.
I have no clue why this happens. Even with all USB devices disconnected this happens (i suspected the USB audio driver).

All hardware connections in the box seem fine and no intel/motherboard driver updates are available. Driving me nuts.

As for DCS performance -> still many gigs to go for downloading (.....pro tip for those in the same boat -> change your power plan before going to sleep :) )

[rob10]

I'd actually start looking at your drive.  If one sector of it is going it can cause issues like you're seeing.  Mine started as instability then went to bluescreen and wasn't able to write windows info to that sector and caused all kinds of grief.

[dutchili]

Going to return it today. I formatted the drive, reinstalled windows, and the exact same issues occurred after the install.

[Traviz]

I am having the same problem. When I look inside the cockpit, I get 144++ fps. But it will go down to 10-40 fps when I look outside, especially with lots of building. I didn't have this problem before. It just happened like a week ago. ST and MT have the same problem.

[Flappie]

Try this in your NVIDIA control panel:

[dutchili]

I fly in VR, but i'll give it a try anyway.
I just got my computer back from the repair shop. That gave me the opportunity to do a clean DCS install and fly without any mods, before installing them.
I doesn't seem to make a big difference.
The biggest difference i could create are with:
- In game fps setting (60,while headset on 90)
- Oculus Quest 3 sharpening
- Oculus quest spacewarp (needed with 45 FPS per eye), but sometimes when the CPU processes cannot keep up, there seems some kind of desync as the in game FPS counter is still around 45 but i perceive a lower value.

I hope the next update releases some strain on the rendering processing that run on the cpu. That will be most helpfull.

[Antiguedad]

if used, try disabling any periodic statistic collector like the ones in msi afterburner or hwinfo. Those give periodic stutter that is more perceptible looking sideways. look at dcs performance graph to check if you have periodic frametime spikes. just trying to help.

[dutchili]

none of those installed