DCS 1.2.6 lag/freezing/fps drop "fix"

[unknwn]

Hello everyone,

since 1.2.6 update DCS started to heavily freeze/lag/sttuter on heavier MP missions also low memory alerts started popping out on my system (8GB ram with pagefile disabled) even though 25% of free memory never gets used (2GB in my case). First thought was that DCS 1.2.6 uses more ram.

Enabling pagefile didn't really help, DCS wasn't freezing anymore however switching external views/texture loading was awful slow with huge fps drops (it was the reason i disabled it in the first place before 1.2.6).

 

There is a fix/workaround to let windows use 100% of memory which fixed awful peformance of DCS.

Read first answer.

http://superuser.com/questions/41789/how-to-suppress-low-memory-warnings-in-vista-home-premium-when-running-without

 

Now DCS runs pretty well without fps drops in heavy MP missions and switching views is almost instant like it used to be (i left pagefile disabled).

Though i am not sure about stability yet.

Edited October 13, 2013 by unknwn

[AtaliaA1]

Tracking Memory and Page File are not the same.

 

But Interesting read anyhow. You would think this "Hack" being a C++ work around would give the Simulator programmers something to work with when looking into the software utilization of Ram and Page File.

 

You have the Error/Problem, You are looking at a viable work around. Seems one could input some program language that would do a better job of Memory Handling.

 

Just a thought.

[Wolf Rider]

@unknwn...

 

Do you have the sim installed to its default C:\ Program Files location? (Your link refers to Vista, so I assume you're running Vista/ Windows 7) and are you running 64bit?

The Page File should really be left its default System Managed setting for Vista/ Windows 7 64bit

[AtaliaA1]

@unknwn...

 

Do you have the sim installed to its default C:\ Program Files location? (Your link refers to Vista, so I assume you're running Vista/ Windows 7) and are you running 64bit?

The Page File should really be left its default System Managed setting for Vista/ Windows 7 64bit

 

 

He did it both ways. for him better results with the latter. (Odd though)

[unknwn]

@unknwn...

 

Do you have the sim installed to its default C:\ Program Files location? (Your link refers to Vista, so I assume you're running Vista/ Windows 7) and are you running 64bit?

The Page File should really be left its default System Managed setting for Vista/ Windows 7 64bit

I am running windows 8 64bit. Game is installed on secondary partition (D: in my case).

My experience on heavy mp missions ( e.g. aerobatics server with 15+ players in same airport):

1.2.5 + 8GB ram + no pagefile = no lag

1.2.5 + 8GB ram + pagefile = a bit slower alt-tab/texture load than with no pagefile

1.2.6 + 8GB ram + pagefile = lag/fps drops

1.2.6 + 8GB ram + no pagefile = even more lag/fps drops + freezes

1.2.6 + 8GB ram + no pagefile + fix = no lag

1.2.6 + 8GB ram + pagefile + fix = haven't tried yet and i don't see a reason to

Basically what i think is that DCS 1.2.6 started to use more memory. My machine memory usage started to reach 75% RAM limit therefore more pagefile was used which is the reason for degraded performance.

Edited October 14, 2013 by unknwn

[doveman]

I looked at this fix but on my Win7 x64, the only one of those listed that I have is

 

{C0F51D84-11B9-4e74-B083-99F11BA2DB0A}

 

so I didn't want to try this workaround until I'd checked whether this is normal. I tried to ask on the Super User thread but it's four years old and locked now, so it may be there's a different/better way of supressing the low memory warnings now.

[doveman]

The "fix" with removing the registry entries is only removing the low memory warning, but does not do anything else.

 

To fix or drastically decrease the amount of stutters and freezes, use an SSD.

Disable DEP and install all 10 of the MS VC++ Redistributables:

2005 x86/x64

2008 x86/x64

2010 x86/x64

2012 x86/x64

2013 x86/x64

 

As well as DirectX 9 from the DCSW install and from Microsoft.

 

I'm able to fly for 8 hrs at a time without a crash or any freezes on <51st>.

The servers always crash before I do.

 

Yeah, I know. As I use a RAMdisk, sometimes, with the pagefile disabled, I'd get low memory warnings even when there was plenty of RAM still free.

 

I'll probably get an SSD soon though as managing the RAMdisks is a pain, even though they're about 6x faster than an SSD this doesn't really translate into loading 6x faster as there's probably a bottleneck where DCS is processing stuff whilst loading and so the transfer speed becomes irrelevant.

 

I'm curious as to why the VC++ stuff should be relevant to DCS though. I'm pretty sure DX9 must already be installed or I doubt it would work at all.

[doveman]

Because DCS is programmed in ANSI C/C++ using Microsoft Visual Studio.

And the developers have certainly been updating their SDK to match the most current version.

 

So, as things change with Microsoft VC++ functions/structure/optimizations, etc, newly released redistributables need to be installed as well.

 

There's currently 10 MS VC++ installs, 5 for x86 and 5 for x64.

 

It may also improve other software's performance and stability.

 

Sure it makes sense to have the latest, I just didn't see the sense in installing old versions back to 2005 but I just checked and they're all installed anyway except the 2013 ones. Even without those I've got 14 installed though, as there's three of each (x64 and x86) for 2008 and two of each for 2012.

[Dudester22]

I am also getting bad stutters on the same server and want to know if an SSD drives really does help DCS World? I currently have a Raptor drive running at 100000Rpm and 6Gb of Ram. I was told that 6Gb is enough or is this wrong? Would upgrading to 8 GB help much?

[doveman]

Redundant and repetitive versions of the same release is not good to have.

Get rid of all but the 10: 2005 08 10 12 13 x86 x64 with the newest version number at the end.

 

OK, thanks.

[doveman]

I am also getting bad stutters on the same server and want to know if an SSD drives really does help DCS World? I currently have a Raptor drive running at 100000Rpm and 6Gb of Ram. I was told that 6Gb is enough or is this wrong? Would upgrading to 8 GB help much?

 

I imagine 6GB might be borderline as Windows (are you using Win7 x64?) will use maybe 2GB, so that only leaves 4GB for DCS World (and any other programs you might want to run with it, TrackIR/Freetrack, Helios, SoftTH), so 8GB might help, although you might want to just get 2x8GB for 16GB if possible to be safe.

 

If you don't have sufficient RAM and Windows has to use the pagefile to make up for that, then I suppose putting the pagefile on a SSD might help, although it's hard to say how much over your already fast drive, so ideally you'd have enough RAM for it not to need the pagefile and then the storage drive just has to be fast enough to load the data as needed.

[Dudester22]

How do I disable defragmentation on the SSD? Also, I have an i7 930, that is overclocked to 4.0 Ghz and I have been told I will lose my overclock if I add more then 6GB of ram. Can you tell me if this true, if I will lose my overclock? Thanks!!

[sobek]

How do I disable defragmentation on the SSD?

 

Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter

 

Check if scheduled defragmentation is turned off for your SSD drive.

 

Also, I have an i7 930, that is overclocked to 4.0 Ghz and I have been told I will lose my overclock if I add more then 6GB of ram. Can you tell me if this true, if I will lose my overclock? Thanks!!

 

Lol, what? Who told you such nonsense? If the RAM can handle the overclock, you can add in as much as the motherboard supports.

Edited November 24, 2013 by sobek

[doveman]

Redundant and repetitive versions of the same release is not good to have.

Get rid of all but the 10: 2005 08 10 12 13 x86 x64 with the newest version number at the end.

 

Turns out that was bad advice and made it impossible to install MediaPortal which requires "Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redist ATL Security Update", which is v4148, whereas the latest version is 6161.

 

I've reinstalled it now and it's OK, I just hope the others weren't needed for anything.

[doveman]

I apologize, each system has unique software and configuration.

This update is something software-specific.

 

Hope that your DCS performance and stability will improve.

It will definitely do so with an SSD upgrade, just follow the correct procedures when installing it.

 

No worries. Just wanted to make others aware that they might need them before deleting.

 

I gave in and ordered a 256GB Samsung EVO SSD yesterday, so that should make my life a lot simpler, not having to mess around with updating RAMDisks anymore :)

[Devrim]

Hi... SSD solution solved my problem.

 

I bought an SSD. I installed DCS World and modules. It's fresh install, so no any mod or tweak except for Ricardo's A-10C cockpit.

 

I was in a multiplayer server (with 8 aircrafts), a free flight (DCS Hawk etc). Mostly I encountered these issues in this server. So to test this configuration, rejoined this server again. No any stutter or freeze for now. FPS was running between 35~80.

 

Succeed!

[Devrim]

Right. All done.

 

Before, initial loading time was near 2 mins. Now, initial or other loading times are the same. 20~30 secs.

[The_Nephilim]

The "fix" with removing the registry entries is only removing the low memory warning, but does not do anything else.

 

To fix or drastically decrease the amount of stutters and freezes, use an SSD.

Disable DEP and install all 10 of the MS VC++ Redistributables:

2005 x86/x64

2008 x86/x64

2010 x86/x64

2012 x86/x64

2013 x86/x64

 

As well as DirectX 9 from the DCSW install and from Microsoft.

 

I'm able to fly for 8 hrs at a time without a crash or any freezes on <51st>.

The servers always crash before I do.

 

OK 2 Questions I looked for 2013 x86/x64 VC++ no Such find?? do you have a link?

 

also how safe is it to disable DEP??

[El Hadji]

Solution for me was going from 8GB to 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 RAM. Moving the game between Seagate Momentus Hybrid disc and Corsair Force 3 SSD did very little - if anything at all. Adding additional RAM made a huge difference.

[panther494th]

hi i run ramdisc for fc2 and and it makes it very smooth

i have a water cooled with ssd drive on pc windows 7 and shed loads of memory

and still my game ie fc3 after 2 min gets very sticky for f1 f2 f3 views

[doveman]

I got my Samsung 840 EVO 256GB SSD now and from a quick check it looks like it's given me about 5-10fps extra when looking left or right at the start of "Cold Start at Mozdok" :)

 

Whereas it used to go something like 40-21-23 (Forward, left, right), now it's more like 40-30-28.

 

I'll have to do some more testing to confirm though.

 

EDIT: Even with the SSD, I'm still getting drops to 16-19fps when flying towards targets and the objects count increases, so it's still not playable and all the SSD has really done is improve my loading times :(

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=107551&page=6

Edited January 9, 2014 by doveman