Frame freeze and Stutter

[EtherealN]

Put in enough action in the mission and any system will croak, yes. Part of the difficulty of mission design is to ensure that there's enough to do to keep things tense, but not so much that no-one can run it. :P

 

Multicore is on the wishlist, but it is not exactly a small operation to do. 64-bit support will happen first from what I've heard which will give some benefits.

 

But yes, most systems will suffer slowdowns in some circumstances, but there are ways to alleviate the problem. Setting water to 0 in the config file is a big winner, as is decreasing view distance.

[Nate--IRL--]

So this is normal behavior for DCS on all systems? If so are we waiting for multi-core support from DCS?

 

Also note that drivers play a big part too. There was a recent thread where somebody replaced their sound card drivers and a lot of stuttering disappeared, related to queued sounds, such as cannon fire.

 

Nate

[Dung_Beetle]

OK, I feel like a total idiot, but I can't figure out how to edit the Options.Lua file to set water to zero. I opened it notepad, but wouldn't allow me to save.

 

Before I reinstalled my OS I replaced my sound card with X-Fi Fatality 1 card. It didn't fix the problem.

[Nate--IRL--]

Try opening it as Administrator? Also it is generally advised to use Notepad++ to edit these files due to a bug in the default windows notepad.

 

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/download.php

 

Nate

[Dung_Beetle]

I set water to zero, and it didn't seem to make much difference.

[Nate--IRL--]

Just as an experiment, try disabling your sound cards in windows device manager, and re-check the sim.

 

Other general recommendations for Black Shark include Turning off mirrors in the options (these never gave good performance.) Water to Normal not high and Res of Cockpit displays to 512.

 

Just to re-iterate when things get busy the Sim will drop frames, however in my experience it has never been too low as to be unplayable. Your personal Definition of playable may be different

 

Nate

[Dung_Beetle]

When I disable the sound card the game won't launch. I've tried Xonar DX2, Realtek on board sound, and I have X-FI Fatality 1. I've tried all 3.

[Panzertard]

Stuttering caused by missiles... that is strange =(

Hm interesting. Sounds / Textures (smoke especially) causing the stutter perhaps? Not seen this problem myself - but I do know a few people have requested "smoke mods" in the mod section.

If this really is the case - then I have no suggestions right now except for trying a "vastly different computer setup" or a smoke mod.

Or going through the full spectrum of checking your PC's general health. Sorry.

 

That's very strange.

I have stuttering when events are loaded, like when flying over the ingress points and a trigger is activated, but after some seconds it's fluent like before...

Yes, I've experienced minor stutter like this in certain large mission - but only minor. This may indicate that something is loaded from the hardrive due to trigger activation. If you do know how/where/why triggers are being used - maybe you could see a pattern when that happens.

If that is the case - the follwing things may have an impact on your eperience;

- harddrive performance / file fragmentation / file system health / disk usage.

- Antivirus / Security software that intercepts disk usage. Maybe try to disable / remove while testing (note: do not use your omcputer on internet without it - just for testing).

 

So this is normal behavior for DCS on all systems? If so are we waiting for multi-core support from DCS?

No, not at all - but as you may have noticed, some configurations or personal setups may have issue. Unfortunately you're onw of them.

 

O/C in general may help with "general performance" - but for stuttering I would not recommend it.

O/C in general if you have problems may only cause more symptoms or problems. So when you have problems, be sure that you have a healthy system which includes running at stcok speeds and recomended bus speeds / memory timings.

 

All of you guys may have different causes for the stuttering - most often it's related to your combination of hardware + software, or maybe even hardware degradation.

 

Have any of you guys tested "vanilla" DCS - no patch etc? Any difference there?

Also, there's a few general hints and tips in this thread; TROUBLESHOOTING - Help us helping you.

Maybe you can find some recomandation that may provide you with some ideas. :)

[Panzertard]

Here someone who finally solved his stutter - it was audio related;

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=765865&postcount=26

[Tez]

Do you think we make baby toys? We just have a conversation about projectiles generation for ground and sea vehicles. If the real prototype rate of fire is thousands in sec - it's true in sim too. The main impact on CPU happens when all tons of virtual metal have to ricochet.

[Kirai]

Do you think we make baby toys? We just have a conversation about projectiles generation for ground and sea vehicles. If the real prototype rate of fire is thousands in sec - it's true in sim too. The main impact on CPU happens when all tons of virtual metal have to ricochet.

 

With all do respect, that was a bit patronizing. I think most of us know that BS is pushing the limits on the CPU but regardless it is a bit frustrating when the stutter and freezing happens when everything goes hot so this thread is all about tips to solve this problem not meant as a complain against your lovely work on this tremandous sim. :thumbup:

[vCUJOv]

I have simillar problem. If my frame goes below 60. Trackir stutters and lags. The sim is smooth but trackir makes it choppy. It was silki smooth at lower fps with vista 32. I upgraded to W7 64 and 6gig ram. Now more fps but stutters. :doh:

[EtherealN]

vCUJOv, please review this link that was posted by Panzertard earlier in this thread: TROUBLESHOOTING - Help us helping you.

 

However, if TrackIR is having issues then it is likely a TrackIR problem. Have you ensured that your software and game definitions are up-to-date, and that you are wearing your track-clip correctly? When I first converted from mouse-view to TrackIR I had a lot of issues from wearing my cap as I would on a normal day (the block-the-sun mode ;) ) instead of wearing it at such an angle as to present the most head-on (geddit? :D ) target for the TrackIR camera to shoot it's IR LEDs at.

[JG14_Smil]

Hello,

 

Just wonderring what your windows virtual memory setting is.

[Panzertard]

Hello,

 

Just wonderring what your windows virtual memory setting is.

Thats an interesting question. Altough if you have "sufficient" memory in your computer, Windows will in 99% be able to handle it automaticly in a better manner than a manual override. :)

But there are some cases where you can manually move it / adjust it and solve stutter issues.

 

Cujo, if you can dump us a DXDiag so we can understand your computer config a bit better that would be a good tool for us, bud :)

[vCUJOv]

vCUJOv, please review this link that was posted by Panzertard earlier in this thread: TROUBLESHOOTING - Help us helping you.

 

However, if TrackIR is having issues then it is likely a TrackIR problem. Have you ensured that your software and game definitions are up-to-date, and that you are wearing your track-clip correctly? When I first converted from mouse-view to TrackIR I had a lot of issues from wearing my cap as I would on a normal day (the block-the-sun mode ;) ) instead of wearing it at such an angle as to present the most head-on (geddit? :D ) target for the TrackIR camera to shoot it's IR LEDs at.

 

I don't know whta the problem is. Track IR works fine in other games. Thanx anyway

[EtherealN]

Getting additional information on your system, as indicated by the link I gave you, might help then. ;)

[Hippo]

Here someone who finally solved his stutter - it was audio related;

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=765865&postcount=26

 

I had this problem. It was due to sound drivers. I think it's likely you might have a similar issue. One way you can check this is as follows:

 

Load the mission "Battle", and start the frame rate counter. Once in the mission, as soon as possible put the chopper into a hover and wait. Within a couple of minutes there will be intense battle activity and lots of explosions, etc. On my system when this happened, the frame rate would drop into single figures - which is not right at all. Exit the mission.

 

Now, disable sound in the options menu (don't just lower the volume, unselect the radio button. Start the same mission again and do the same thing as above. I normally do get a frame rate drop when the action hots up but nothing like when I had the problem with sound.

 

From memory, I think I would start the mission with around 50 fps. With the sound issue, this would drop to 5 in places, making the game unplayable. Without the sound issue, it would drop to around 25-30 fps when the action got heavy, but only for very brief moments; so it wouldn't impact on the gameplay.

 

If this happens to you, then you know it's a sound issue. You can then try other driver versions, etc. Since on my soundcard I know that the "GX" mode is to do with emulating EAX, you might try changing options to do with that if you have them in your hardware?

 

I have a Asus Xonar DX sound card with Win7 64 (there are other posts on this and other forums where people with this soundcard have had these types of problems). What worked for me was the following:

 

Install the latest Xonar DX (beta) driver for Win7 - 64, and the latest sound card firmware.

There is also a patch on Asus's website for Vista 64. I don't think I've installed it on this ocassion; but I might have - I tried lots of combinations before I sorted this out, and now I can't remember. I'm pretty sure I didn't use it though.

When running ensure none of the DSP Mode icons are activated (esp the "GX") in the Xonar DX Audio Center.

[vCUJOv]

Hi. Thanx for all your replies. I've been busy working on my ram settings. It looks like its stable at 1600 with a stock cpu speed. I still get the stutters though. I tried running BS with no sound still the same. Anyway see the Dxdiag. Thanx for your help

DxDiag.txt

[Panzertard]

Here's one device that should give you issues - altough I've only seen problems that caused DCS not to work properly, not to cause stutter;

      Device Name: SideWinder™ Mouse
        Attached: 1
   Controller ID: 0x0
Vendor/Product ID: 0x045E, 0x0724
       FF Driver: n/a

Try using another mouse just to see if it's the culprit in this case as well.

 

I also register that you're using "What U Hear" (Creative SB X-Fi).

I've not registered that Creative device for anyone else yet.

- Maybe you could test without sound (Disable the Creative devices in Device manager)?

At least it should indicate whether sound is part of the issues. :)

[vCUJOv]

Thanx for the help. I'm starting to think it really is some kind of culprit with trackir. It's smooth when I use keyboard to pan around. Tried it with different mouse and same thing with trackir. Tried it with my onboard sound and same. Something does not like BS + W7 + trackir. Like I said before. I was running BS on vista 32 with 3 gb of ram and had no problems at all. Everything was silky smooth at even lower fps.

[Panzertard]

Win7 + TrackIR is "silk smooth" here as well, so it must be some sort of combination you have - software/hardware/system health which pulls out the symptoms.

[vCUJOv]

Win7 + TrackIR is "silk smooth" here as well, so it must be some sort of combination you have - software/hardware/system health which pulls out the symptoms.

 

What is your GPU and which drivers are you running?

[Panzertard]

GTX 295, 191.07

[asparagin]

I found that even when using Trackir, the mouse is still being "sensed" in the cockpit view. So when using trackir and then moving the mouse at the same time, interferences happend. So i added a modifier in the controls options at "axis commands", for the mouse movements. (for e.g. LMB 2).

Now i have to press LMB 2 when viewing outside but the interferences in the cockpit are gone, the view is smoother and me is happy.