Stutters in DX10 - workarounds?

[Alan_A 1,650]

Thanks, Paul, I'll give that a try. Rebuilding the FSX.cfg didn't seem to help. Have been away from the sim for a couple of days but I'll see what the registry tweak does. Will let you know.

[Alan_A 1,650]

OK, took me a while but I think I've got a clue... about this, anyway.. B)

 

While testing for a bunch of different variables, I noticed in my peripheral vision that there were often small texture flashes and/or black squares associated with the stutters. On a hunch I turned off all the AI aircraft. Stutters gone.

 

This makes me think that there's some sort of corruption either in the AI textures (MyTraffic 5.3b) or, more likely, in the Shockwave lights that I've assigned to the default aircraft that are used as GA AI.

 

I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling the Shockwave lights. If that doesn't work, I'll try swapping MyTraffic in and out via the simobjects lines in the config.

 

All of this is happening in DX9 - I reverted back as part of my diagnostic run, and I actually find I like the textures better, so I may stick with it. But since the problem started in DX10, I'll keep posting findings here in case it helps someone else. I may be delayed a few more days between weekend travel and the Jewish holidays, but I'll keep you all advised.

[Alan_A 1,650]

Well, reporting back after a week of tests and no joy - stutters are still there. I've tried with and without Shockwave lights, and with and without MyTraffic. I tried the registry edit. I turned 2XSGSS off and then on again. No change. Stutters vanish when I turn AI off. Otherwise, they're there.

 

At this point I think I need either to replace the graphics card (it's running hot, and there are graphics glitches associated with the stutters) or reinstall FSX. I'm not eager to do either of those - there's a cost in money or a cost in time and neither seems appealing. The other possibilities involve doing without AI, getting my feet wet on VATSIM, or spending my time on X-Plane 'til sometime next year when I do a new Haswell build and will have to reinstall anyway. Still talking to myself about it, not deciding anything yet. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, thanks for your help and let me know if anything else comes to mind....

[Paul J 349]

Can you post your config and Inspector settings, Alan?

[Alan_A 1,650]

Sorry for the long silence. Just coming back to this.

 

Relevant excerpts from my current config are:

 

 

[GRAPHICS]

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=1693500672

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=1693500672

HIGHMEMFIX=1

TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024

NUM_LIGHTS=8

AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=1

AIRCRAFT_REFLECTIONS=1

COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=1

LANDING_LIGHTS=1

AC_SELF_SHADOW=0

EFFECTS_QUALITY=2

GROUND_SHADOWS=0

TEXTURE_QUALITY=3

IMAGE_QUALITY=0

D3D10=0

See_Self=1

Text_Scroll=1

[JOBSCHEDULER]

AffinityMask=14

[bUFFERPOOLS]

UsePools=1

Poolsize=8388608

RejectThreshold=262144 //131072

 

[snip]

 

 

[Display]

 

[snip]

 

 

BLOOM_EFFECTS=0

SKINNED_ANIMATIONS=1

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40

UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=30

WideViewAspect=True

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=1.2 //1

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_VASI_SCALAR=1.2

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_APPROACH_SCALAR=1.2 //1

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_STROBE_SCALAR=1.0

 

[Main]

 

User Objects=Airplane, Helicopter

SimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\Airplanes

SimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\Rotorcraft

SimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehicles

SimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\Boats

SimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\Animals

SimObjectPaths.5=SimObjects\Misc

SimObjectPaths.6=MyTraffic\Aircraft

SimObjectPaths.7=Orbx\FTX_AU\FTXAI_Aircraft

ProcSpeed=15507

PerfBucket=7

//HideInfoText=1

DisablePreload=1

FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.12

Maximized=1

Location=440,190,1480,968,\\.\DISPLAY1

HideMenuNormal=0

HideMenuFullscreen=1

[TERRAIN]

LOD_RADIUS=4.500000

MESH_COMPLEXITY=100

MESH_RESOLUTION=22

TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=29

AUTOGEN_DENSITY=4

DETAIL_TEXTURE=1

WATER_EFFECTS=4

 

[snip]

 

 

[sCENERY]

LENSFLARE=1

DAWN_DUSK_SMOOTHING=1

IMAGE_COMPLEXITY=5

[TrafficManager]

AirlineDensity=30

GADensity=30

FreewayDensity=14

ShipsAndFerriesDensity=31

LeisureBoatsDensity=31

AIRPORT_SCENERY_DENSITY=2

IFROnly=0

 

[Weather]

 

[snip]

 

 

DynamicWeather=2

DownloadWindsAloft=0

DisableTurbulence=0

CLOUD_DRAW_DISTANCE=3

DETAILED_CLOUDS=1

CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=8

THERMAL_VISUALS=1

 

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580.0]

Mode=1920x1200x32

TriLinear=1

AntiAlias=1

 

Commented-out lines and settings are the result of experimentation, but so far, none of those variations, or any of the others I mentioned above, has had any effect.

 

NVidia Inspector settings are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As before, thanks in advance for anything you can suggest.

[Paul J 349]

Let's see how this one goes, Alan: :smile:

 

Relevant excerpts from my current config are:

 

[GRAPHICS]

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=1693500672

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=1693500672

HIGHMEMFIX=1

TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024

NUM_LIGHTS=8

AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=1

AIRCRAFT_REFLECTIONS=1

COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=1

LANDING_LIGHTS=1

AC_SELF_SHADOW=0

EFFECTS_QUALITY=2

GROUND_SHADOWS=0

TEXTURE_QUALITY=3

IMAGE_QUALITY=0

D3D10=0

See_Self=1

Text_Scroll=1

 

[JOBSCHEDULER]

AffinityMask=14

 

[bUFFERPOOLS]

UsePools=1

Poolsize=8388608

RejectThreshold=262144 //131072

 

[snip]

 

 

[Display]

 

[snip]

 

 

BLOOM_EFFECTS=0

SKINNED_ANIMATIONS=1

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40 Move to 100

UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=30

WideViewAspect=True

 

[Main]

 

//HideInfoText=1

DisablePreload=1

FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.12 // Make this 0.10

Maximized=1

Location=440,190,1480,968,\\.\DISPLAY1

HideMenuNormal=0

HideMenuFullscreen=1

 

[TERRAIN]

LOD_RADIUS=4.500000

MESH_COMPLEXITY=100

MESH_RESOLUTION=22

TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=29 // Make this 28

AUTOGEN_DENSITY=4

DETAIL_TEXTURE=1

WATER_EFFECTS=4

 

[snip]

 

 

[sCENERY]

LENSFLARE=1

DAWN_DUSK_SMOOTHING=1

IMAGE_COMPLEXITY=5

 

[TrafficManager]

AirlineDensity=30 // It will probably tolerate 30 AI and GA, but not with the others at their high levels.

GADensity=30

FreewayDensity=14 // Make this 10

ShipsAndFerriesDensity=31 // Make this 0

LeisureBoatsDensity=31 // Make this 0

AIRPORT_SCENERY_DENSITY=2 // Make this 1 Max

IFROnly=0

 

[Weather]

 

[snip]

 

 

DynamicWeather=2

DownloadWindsAloft=0

DisableTurbulence=0

CLOUD_DRAW_DISTANCE=3

DETAILED_CLOUDS=1

CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=8 // Make this 7

THERMAL_VISUALS=1 // Make this 0

 

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580.0]

Mode=1920x1200x32

TriLinear=1 // Make this Anisotropic

AntiAlias=1

 

Commented-out lines and settings are the result of experimentation, but so far, none of those variations, or any of the others I mentioned above, has had any effect.

 

NVidia Inspector settings are:

 

 

 

The two AA settings - Anti-Aliasing Behavior Flags and Anti-Aliasing Mode are in conflict with each other.

 

Quick note, Alan - if you press the "Funnel"- thingy at the top - between the green down arrow and the spy-glass, the screen will only show the Custom Setting Names area that you need to change.

 

[Alan_A 1,650]

Thanks, Paul. I'll try those settings (and use the funnel next time - I had no idea that was there). I'm not sure where the AA setting conflict crept in - will see if that's the issue. About the traffic settings - I'll follow your lead, but on the most recent tests, the only change that made a difference was killing the AI. The car and boat traffic had no impact - turned them off, stutters. Turned the AI aircraft off, stutters gone.

 

But I'll let you know what happens this time.

[Alan_A 1,650]

Once again, no luck. None of the variables makes any difference except for GA and Airline AI - if they're on, at any percentage, there are stutters. If they're off, no stutters no matter where anything else is set.

 

At this point I'm out - I may try a reinstall, I may try a different video card (the artifacting suggests there may be an issue there) - will probably wait to do either and spend more time with X-Plane, which in general I'm finding more rewarding these days. When I do get back to FSX, I'll stay with DX9 - speaking personally, I prefer the look. And I'll stick to Nick Needham's settings - none of the others have ever worked for me. I'm sure the DX10 project is worthwhile and I wish you guys luck with it, but it's not for me. Thanks for all the assistance, and check six!

 

[SteveW 1,792]

At the start of a flight the Ai is being setup in the background so you can't really worry about it, once the sim's been running a minute or so most Ai would be underway. Every now and again an aircraft may land or take off within your bubble radius and you will get a stutter. I'm running a full debug trace, maxed settings, and 17fps fixed DX10 and no stutters, move it up to 19 fixed and micro stutters, due to Autogen.

[Alan_A 1,650]

Thanks, Steve, understood - except that in this case the stutters are persistent beyond the point where you'd expect them to have settled out. Also, I didn't have them before making the switch to DX10. Haven't been able to trace out the reason but the video artifacting makes me think it's a video card issue. I've had problems along those lines before and upgrading the video seemed to take care of it. I may yet drop a (refundable) 680 in there and see what happens. If I do, I'll post results.

[mario340500 6]

Hi Alan,

 

check my sig for config dets etc.. but with the Asus GTX680 OC the following settings are perfect. FSX DX10 is so stutter free for me..

 

My TBM is 120 and Fibre setting is 0.1

 

You may want to read through this thread too:

http://forum.avsim.n...r-nvidia-cards/

 

Cheers,

Marz

 

[Eef 23]

I get artifacts with tbm at 80-120. Ive set it to 40 now because I also like to use usepools=0.

 

But I do get some kind of loading stutter at / near airports (addons etc) Does someone also experiencing this?

[Paul J 349]

I liked "0" too, Eef, but it all you're doing is setting one end of a range of buffers... Giving each vertex it's own buffer may well cause artifacting with DX10, as the graphics load is that much higher than that when using DX9 - it certainly did with many of my early investigational flights.

 

From Steve's notes -

RejectThreshold with UsePools =1 permits the tuning of this balance between shared and dedicated buffers. UsePools = 0 just sets one extreme.

This tuning i.e. - making an increase in the size of each pool - and then moving the RT up, testing, moving it up again, testing, etc (ad nauseum) will result in a much, much more reliable frame rate - and one without stutters. It's not a guessing game: each pc is slightly different from the next one, and people's preferences are also different. Nick Needham says "Why would you want road traffic? It's a flight simulator" Well - I like road traffic - to the tune of 10 - 20 %. I would strongly recommend using BP=1, increase the pool, trying 10MB, 12MB, 15MB, 20MB, 25MB and 30MB, using an initial RT of 128kB, then 256kB, 512kB, 768kB and 1meg - testing a single test flight two or three circuits foe each BP number and RT size. You TBM will be around the 100 mark, and won't make a lot of difference in the frame rate - locked at 30 within the sim, but it will make a difference as to how well it will hold that 30.

 

:good:

[Eef 23]

Thanks for the fantastic explanation. That are going to be a lot of testing flights

 

I will post when I get some results.

 

How do I know that for example tbm = 100 is the correct value for my system and not 80 or 120 for example?

[Paul J 349]

You'll know when you have no artifacting. TBM is like a throttle - it's a main multiplier in the graphics "push" to the monitor. I played road traffic at 45 or slightly higher against it and BP settings. Yeah - it takes a bunch of time, Eef. If you look at my Vancouver pics - that's only one set on part of one day - 347 pics - most at 29.9 - 30, with a couple at 27 or so heading south on the highway.

 

Once you can do that on the heaviest scenery you've got - guess how easy everywhere else is going to be - and guess how much you can push your settings... You've got a nice beast of a computer, there, and if you can come close to anything above 27.5 consistently - you can be real happy. ( bottlenecks are the 570 and the C9 ram sticks. Try for 8-8-8-24 & 1T. Also - I think 1.44 is pretty high for 4.8 - but I have zero experience with the 2500K, so it could well be fine. Have fun!

 

All the Best,

 

pj