fixed Huge SP performance degradation with 2.9.7.58923 and 2.9.6.58056 compared to DCS 2.9.5.55918

[tmz]

Hello,

I noticed a huge performance degradation with 2.9.7.58923 and 2.9.6.58056 compared to DCS 2.9.5.55918 on most busy SP missions.

A mission (attached) that is playing perfectly on 2.9.5 shows a huge CPU usage with 2.9.7. As an example, I get 20-30 FPS in VR, 20-50 FPS in pancake with 2.9.7 compared to 72 FPS (max rate set on the headset) in VR or 75 (max FPS set in DCS) pancake with 2.9.5.

Specs :

• Happens on VR with VD and Pancake
• 4090 / 7800x3d / 64GB DDR5
• 2-week fresh install of Windows (reimaged after 2.9.6.58056).

Sorry about the quality of VR screenshots, but the graph shows it all.

Attached :

• Benchmark miz file (no scripts)
• DCS log from 2.9.7 run
• VR and pancake screenshots from 2.9.7 and 2.9.5.

dcs.log Scenic-Bench.miz

[Martallica]

Same here.

 

[Starfire13]

Same. This really needs to be fixed because all mid to large scale missions (>100 aircraft) are now unplayable. I have to stick to small scale stuff to not get single digit frame rates whereas previously I could get 70+ fps in the same mission.

[The_Nephilim]

what is the cause of this error:

 

 

2024-08-09 21:06:15.879 ALERT   DX11BACKEND (16072): Error: Can't find precompiled shader for effect ui/ui.fx:DIRECTX11=true;USE_DCS_DEFERRED=1;.
Recompilation process will take some time, please wait
(this situation should not occur on end user PC, if there is no manual shader editing)

 

 

Are you manualy editing the shaders or similar?

[tmz]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not editing shaders manually, I tried another run and deleted fxo/metashader2 folders, same error and same results.

dcs.log

[Kahless_uk]

Single digit frames running that miz, looking at cpu usage shows 2 cores 100% the rest doing nothing

dcs.log

[Viper33]

DCS is literally dying. ED doesn't know what they are doing anymore. I thought the removal of "open beta" meant more testing and more stable updates but what we got was the opposite and fewer updates to begin with.

Edited August 10, 2024 by Viper33

[thrston]

Same here. Last two patches turned my campaign experience into abysmal slideshow.

From 60fps to unplayable 9. 

[av8orDave]

Gotta admit; it is pretty dang frustrating. Campaigns and modules that we've paid good money for are now barely functional. I'm fully in favor of returning to the Open Beta / Release format if ED is going to use the current setup as a test format where we're supposed to accept ridiculous steps backwards in performance while they figure their stuff out. Ugh.

[shastasm]

+1. Not happy since I waited over a month for this to be resolved and optimistic this would be priority for ED in this patch.

[wilbur81]

3 hours ago, Viper33 said:

DCS is literally dying. ED doesn't know what they are doing anymore. 

 

Absolute nonsense.

[The_Nephilim]

12 hours ago, tmz said:

Thanks for the reply. I'm not editing shaders manually, I tried another run and deleted fxo/metashader2 folders, same error and same results.

dcs.log 166.83 kB · 2 downloads

Ya, well whatever it was the log stated it should not happen on a end users PC. maybe DCS is broke. maybe try a clean slow repair or a total reinstall?? I tried that benchmark and it ran horribly..

[A Hamburgler]

Having the same issues since 2.9.6. I posted about it here with logs and photos. 
 

 

[diego999]

The final open beta was the last playable version for me. Unified DCS has been bugs piling on top of other bugs so far. 

[tmz]

I’ll try, but 2.9.7 is just the second release installed in that path since I reinstalled Windows (also run 2.9.5 as the others are unplayable for me). As I had a performance problem with 2.9.6 hotfix before reinstalling, and as we are many to have this issue I don’t think this is related to my DCS install (and I don’t want to screw up my 2.9.5 install).

[Tomcat388th]

@tmz   I ran your mission and I averaged 10fps in VR with Virtual DT.  I'm not that versed in the mission editor but I seen there were over 1300 units for blue and red. How many are moving or active.  Our squad had troubles with moving AI tanking performance in MP and had to scale it back some.  I use the 4ya Syria server as my stress test for VR and as of right now it fine.  DCS is a strange some people 0 problems the others the computer catches fire. I have been on both ends of the spectrum.

[Wood]

Every single time it gets worse after each update. Seems like the product QA is not there. 

Edited August 11, 2024 by Wood

[Archangel44]

I agree, 2.9.5 was very playable with graphics set to high and some on ultra. Each update, frame rates are going down that even turning down the graphic settings in game, frame rates still aren’t as good as before.

Please work on this as I really enjoy this game.

 

Thank you

Edited August 10, 2024 by Archangel44

[NeedzWD40]

I've been trying to track down the main cause of this issue and the only thing I can report is that it's somehow related to AI aircraft combined with ground units, but mostly AI aircraft. I ran a simple script in OP's mission to remove all fixed wing aircraft 10 seconds after mission start and my frames returned, though there was still an occasional skip on the frame time. Spawning in as the F-18 had a considerable reduction on frames, though still playable.

If you wish to test this, add in a trigger with the condition of time more than 10, then a do script action with the following code:

local aigroups = coalition.getGroups(1,0)
for i, d in pairs(aigroups) do
d:destroy()
end

local aigroups = coalition.getGroups(2,0)
for i, d in pairs(aigroups) do
d:destroy()
end

This will delete all blue and red fixed wing aircraft 10 seconds after mission start. Helicopters will remain, however, which I felt there were few enough that they didn't merit removal. I tested removing all ground objects, but this didn't have the same impact as aircraft removal. Variations of removing every other aircraft had some impact, though performance didn't really improve until every 7 out of 10 aircraft were removed.

[A Hamburgler]

Below are two images. The first one is 2.9.6 and the second one is 2.9.5. Its the same mission no scripts, no triggers, no mods, and look at the difference.

 

I have been playing DCS for years and understand all the trouble shooting you need to do. I have done everything from removing tacview, fresh install, clearing fxo, and so on. Nothing has work and it seems to be narrowed down to the update with the issue. 
 

Please tell me how you go to 160 FPS in 2.9.5 to 9 FPS in 2.9.6. That’s not some small decrease. That’s an issue with the update.

 

Edited August 10, 2024 by A Hamburgler

[Talonr]

I usually avoid performance-related posts because so many factors are involved. However, I have noticed a performance hit in VR with the current patch. I do not know the cause and haven't tried a flight in screen mode. Hopefully, the issues will be resolved with the next patch. 

[DragonSoulkin]

Having the same issue.

[Martinbulldog]

10 hours ago, Talonr said:

I usually avoid performance-related posts because so many factors are involved. However, I have noticed a performance hit in VR with the current patch. I do not know the cause and haven't tried a flight in screen mode. Hopefully, the issues will be resolved with the next patch. 

I hope its fixed before the next patch, multiplayer is unplayable now. Not bothering to play it like this, how do these updates get passed testing.

[buceador]

 

[rob10]

5 hours ago, Martinbulldog said:

... how do these updates get passed testing.

Because for most people (obviously not all as evidenced in this thread, but most) they don't have the problem you're seeing.  In a perfect world it would get caught but there are so many possible systems and configuration that there is no way to catch every possible issue.  And if it does get caught but only effects 0.1% of users it might not be considered serious enough to stop a patch fully.