Phantom FPS performance

[RedeyeStorm]

I was wondering if it is just me.

The performance of the F4 fps wise is terrible. When I fly the F5, F16 or Hornet I get an fps somewhere between 40 to 55 fps. The Tomcat does a bit worse, somewhere between 33 and 45 fps. The Phantom does for me between 10 and 21 fps. Not verry playable off course.

Still tinkering away off course.

I run a I9-9900K, RTX 3080, 32mb and a Valve Index. The fps I mentioned are all with the same mission in SP. I don’t fly MP.

[G.J.S]

Your PC is light years ahead of mine on specs, but I have no issues. Could it be the settings for the Phantom (where you can adjust individual mods) that require attention?

Im nowhere near my PC to be more specific at the moment.

Edited July 24, 2024 by G.J.S

[RedeyeStorm]

@G.J.S, I am unclear about what you mean with ‘individual mods’? Can you elaborate please?

[Glide]

32 minutes ago, RedeyeStorm said:

Valve Index

Are you upscaling the resolution by chance?  I have the Crystal with the 3080 and the attached settings.  With no frame locks, turbo modes, latency modes, etc. just DCS doing it's thing, no quadviews, no DFR, and the headset at .72 resolution, I get very acceptable frames even on DLAA.  This is a busy mission with heavy weather on Caucasus map.  You should be able to achieve the same.  I have light missions like my PG Dogfight mission where I get 90fps with these settings, but I have to account for these heavy missions if I don't want to be tweaking my settings all the time.  I hope this helps.

[RedeyeStorm]

@Glide, thanks for you respons. My problem however is only with the Phantom. All other planes have (for me) acceptable framerates. 40 fps I find accetable for the graphic fidelety.

[rhead]

I have a same issue. My CPU is a pretty old and I don't expect much performance these days. However, most of other modules (F/A-18C, F-16C, F-14A/B, F-5E, AV-8B and FC 2024) have good fps (about 60~75 in single mission). However, F-4E has only around 20 fps.

Edited August 11, 2024 by rhead

[Silhou]

Hey! Make sure you are using the multithreaded version of DCS, not the singlethreaded. This will significantly improve your performance. We do not recommend running the F-4 in the singlethreaded version. You already have both versions installed, always. To run the multithreaded version simply run the DCS.exe in your Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\bin-mt folder.

Also, a tip from user “Mederlock” to improve performance, if running into issues:

“A little tip that might help some people's performance: in the task manager details page, dcs.exe->set affinity->de-select the first core. If you check the DCS log file you can even see which of your cores perform the worst and de-select those specifically. You'll have to re-do this every time you launch the game or use a tool like process lasso to automate it on startup. I've heard a few reasons why this can help, [...], I don't really know the theory but it certainly helped my performance a lot, as well as several other people in the group I play with. Worth a shot if you're having stuttery or poor performance.”

[RedeyeStorm]

6 minutes ago, Silhou said:

Hey! Make sure you are using the multithreaded version of DCS, not the singlethreaded. This will significantly improve your performance. We do not recommend running the F-4 in the singlethreaded version. You already have both versions installed, always. To run the multithreaded version simply run the DCS.exe in your Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\bin-mt folder.

Also, a tip from user “Mederlock” to improve performance, if running into issues:

“A little tip that might help some people's performance: in the task manager details page, dcs.exe->set affinity->de-select the first core. If you check the DCS log file you can even see which of your cores perform the worst and de-select those specifically. You'll have to re-do this every time you launch the game or use a tool like process lasso to automate it on startup. I've heard a few reasons why this can help, [...], I don't really know the theory but it certainly helped my performance a lot, as well as several other people in the group I play with. Worth a shot if you're having stuttery or poor performance.”

Hi @Silhou, thanks. I already have applied that solution, have been using that for some months now and have been using MT since it came out. I have run some tests with the next to last update and have found that affinity and priority settings do not make much if any difference (couldn’t notice a difference in play) on my system (I9-9900K, 32mb RAM, nvidia RTX 3080). Also tested ST but performance was definitely worse.

PS you guys delivered once more a beautiful module.

[stef80]

Hello! I have the same problem with low FPS since the last update (09.08.2024). Before I had solid FPS at 60FPS (Vsync on) with the F-4. Now it drops randomly under 20 or 30 FPS. DCS-FPS counter says: CPU bound. Never had this before (at least with my settings).

I have no FPS problems with any other module except for the new CH-47 module where it seems to be the same "CPU bound" problem. I run the DCS MT version.

I know its early access. Maybe the feedback helps. Greetings.

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

Did you both check VRAM usage?

Both the F-4 and CH-47 are new modules and thus use better/more detailed textures.

A 3080 in particular doesn’t have a lot of VRAM, and in the current state of the CH-47, not even 16GB is enough.

Also, using V-sync is not always the best idea, same as using “full-screen” in the settings menu.

[Glide]

4 hours ago, stef80 said:

it seems to be the same "CPU bound" problem

Do you happen to have a screenshot of that CPU bound message?  When the FPS drops below the vsync timing, you are GPU bound, not CPU bound.  When you are hitting your vsync target all the time, you are CPU bound, because the GPU gets to idle a bit.  Anyway, don't get hung up on the messages.  What's your spec?

[stef80]

On 8/16/2024 at 6:47 PM, Glide said:

Do you happen to have a screenshot of that CPU bound message?  When the FPS drops below the vsync timing, you are GPU bound, not CPU bound.  When you are hitting your vsync target all the time, you are CPU bound, because the GPU gets to idle a bit.  Anyway, don't get hung up on the messages.  What's your spec?

I did some tests with the F-4, quick mission, Free flight, Caucasus. First screenshot is with vsync (60fps) on. Second screenshot with vsync off. With vsync off it basically says all the time "CPU bound (main thread)". However, I get up 80-110 fps in the F4. Turning off "vsync" and "full screen" obviously helped a little bit. But it still randomly drops down to 20,30,40 fps for a couple of seconds and goes back to normal fps. I turned down the setting to standard medium and the random fps drops are still there.

The 8GB VRAM of my RTX 2070Super are almost at max. with 7,5 GB. But that is almost the same with any other module where I have no problems, except for the CH-47.  

I checked the cores of my i7 9700. Core no.1 and no.6 at 100% (especially no.6). The rest of the cores are around 40%

 

My Specs:

MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro carbon

Intel i7 9700K (8 cores)

DDR4 32GB

Nvidea RTX 2070 SUPER

M.2 NVME 1TB

 

[Glide]

4 hours ago, stef80 said:

Turning off "vsync" and "full screen" obviously helped a little bit

I see.  Looks good with vsync off.  Are you getting a lot of screen tears?  The main concern is whether it's running smooth.  I would go with the second settings.

[stef80]

Yes , I was getting a lot of screen tears. So I activated "Fast sync" in the nvidea panel. This reduced the tearing to a minium and it´s running smooth enough for me now. Frame drops are still there but not as bad as before. Maybe there will be some performace updates in the future as with the other modules.

[RedeyeStorm]

I am flying VR so no VSync.

[RedeyeStorm]

Considering all the posts regarding performance of DCS in general I now doubt there is any relation to the F4.

[BJ55]

Have you tried the special option "lower hbui refresh rate"? To me it made a huge difference, now I can use 8x sim speed without killing my PC.

[adirtynurse]

On 8/24/2024 at 10:16 AM, RedeyeStorm said:

Considering all the posts regarding performance of DCS in general I now doubt there is any relation to the F4.

That might be, but for me the F4 is the only one experiencing significant FPS issues. Don't have that with other modules. Not even the F14.

7 hours ago, BJ55 said:

Have you tried the special option "lower hbui refresh rate"? To me it made a huge difference, now I can use 8x sim speed without killing my PC.

I tried that, but unfortunately it didn't do anything

[Nealius]

In VR I usually get frames varying between 60s and 72 (locked refresh rate) in other modules. Same settings, same mission, same location in the Phantom and I'm at 36 (half refresh rate). 

Edited September 4, 2024 by Nealius

[supersylph]

On 8/14/2024 at 9:14 PM, Silhou said:

Hey! Make sure you are using the multithreaded version of DCS, not the singlethreaded. This will significantly improve your performance. We do not recommend running the F-4 in the singlethreaded version. You already have both versions installed, always. To run the multithreaded version simply run the DCS.exe in your Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\bin-mt folder.

Also, a tip from user “Mederlock” to improve performance, if running into issues:

“A little tip that might help some people's performance: in the task manager details page, dcs.exe->set affinity->de-select the first core. If you check the DCS log file you can even see which of your cores perform the worst and de-select those specifically. You'll have to re-do this every time you launch the game or use a tool like process lasso to automate it on startup. I've heard a few reasons why this can help, [...], I don't really know the theory but it certainly helped my performance a lot, as well as several other people in the group I play with. Worth a shot if you're having stuttery or poor performance.”

Is it possible to make an optional texture option for F4E with slightly lower quality?

[RedeyeStorm]

@draconus, Saïd that using medium textures means that lower resolution skins are used. How much lower no idea because I haven’t tried it. My DCS runs at 10 fps so grounded until fixed.

[Nealius]

Even with medium textures the Phantom makes online flying a pain when players aren't even flying the Phantom. With one F-4 holding short, the texture pop-in as I'm coming in for landing chokes my system so hard right where I need the most finesse for flaring, and I plow into the runway thanks to the Phantom-induced freezing. With textures medium. On a 4070Ti Super. 

[lorfar]

I all.

I have the same problem.

I just didn't notice it before today.

In the same mission I tried to change to another plane, and the problem is not there.

The fps in the case of other planes in the same mission are fine.

But with the F-4E there is a noticeable drop in fps.

I don't understand if it was fixed with an update.

Edited November 11, 2024 by lorfar

[Eber]

On 9/4/2024 at 7:20 PM, RedeyeStorm said:

@draconus, Saïd that using medium textures means that lower resolution skins are used. How much lower no idea because I haven’t tried it. My DCS runs at 10 fps so grounded until fixed.

I also had FPS problems, but only in VR. I think my FPS going down to like 10 were due to both Bluetooth and WiFi on in my Headset. Turning the Bluetooth off gave my the 70 fps back. As always: this information may be not helpful for you, but worth a try?

[RedeyeStorm]

@Eber, I have an Index which is hard wired. So that should not be an issue.