P3DV2.1 stutter or no stutter

[nyc01 0]

i was set to 36, but unlimited seemed smoother.. no real stuttering or tearing. Sync control is set to adaptive. Ill try a few fresh flights later tonight and confirm things, but fairly certain.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the info, I'd be curious to see if the adaptive v-sync is even working. I can check again but from what I can see Nvidia Inspector and Nvidia's control panel still isn't forcing any settings on Prepar3d.

 

There was a comment made by LM in their forum that said they recommended the unlimited frame rate setting along with v-sync/triple buffering enabled in order to see anything that resembles fluid performance. After playing around with the frame rate lock I have to agree with them.

Would you sell me your PC? How much?

 

 

 

I'd like to know the magic specs also, lol. That's another subject that hasn't been brought up with the claims of stutter free performance.

 

Stutter free compared to what? I have to seriously question some of the claims I've seen here and over in LM's site on how smooth and fluid Prepar3D v2.0/2.1 really is. Many of the Prepar3D users from what I can gather from comments being made are oblivious to the stuttering and probably have never seen a sim/game even run at a consistent 60 fps with v-sync enabled. Let's face it, FSX was certainly never any benchmark for fluid game play, lol.

 

Smooth, fluid performance to me would be something on par with what I've personally seen from say Outerra running at 60+ fps along with v-sync/triple buffering enabled. Some of the combat flight sims out there or racing sims (iRacing or Asseto Corsa comes to mind). Even X-Plane 10 running at 60 fps v-sync/triple buffering is pretty good as far as fluid game-play is concerned.

[theskyisthelimit 48]

I retested for stutters..

 

Tried one area that is not a direct FTX area, but just has generic FTXG+V.. default cessna, outside view.. clouds panning behind the aircraft.. maybe one stutter every 60 seconds (or longer), very few.. this with Vsync set to ON in P3D and triple buffer (screen at 144hz) with frames unlimited..  i noticed as it was doing its fly by of the clouds, a small stream materialized (initially without stutter), then a half second after, brief stutter.. just one example.. (this all at about 4500 feet or more with the fair weather setting)..

 

Then we get a bit worse..

 

I installed the FTX Northern Cali..  just north of San Fran (which i also have aerosoft installed, so when you fly by the city with fair weather frames go as low as 22 fps).. but just north of the city the frames become nice, up around 50-70 at 4-5k in altitude.. do the same external spot view.. i get more frequent stutters.. maybe ever 20-30 seconds a brief "hiccup"..

 

I did attempt to record using fraps (dxtory caused p3d to crash).. but the stuttering became more than if not recording.. (set it at 60 fps too)..

 

Frustrating, i'd like to record this, but for now, no video.. though again i have to reiterate, my settings are uber high on the res side at 5760x1080.. to record i should really drop the res to 1080p..

 

EDIT:  I did manage to record a clip at 1080p.. assuming the encoded version doesnt introduce more hiccups than the original, the link is below.. The original doesnt really show hardly any stutters when using 1920x1080 (maybe a brief one at the beginning).. compared to every minute or so at 5760x1080.. the link should be live in about 30 minutes (if it isnt 1:1 when done ill kill it later):

[Guest]

I did attempt to record using fraps (dxtory caused p3d to crash).. but the stuttering became more than if not recording.. (set it at 60 fps too)..

 

Setting Fraps to record at 60 fps is really going to stress your system out especially at 1080p or higher -- I use 2560 x 1600 @ 30 fps for most Fraps duty.  YouTube converts the footage to 1440p (no option here).

 

Your stutters are very much the same as mine, maybe a little less drastic, but noticeable ... assume you're flying at around 120 Kts?

 

Also did some more stutter testing, focused on nVidia Inspector settings, shadows, reflections but still can't seem to rid myself of them.  

 

Here is a quick video that makes the stutter issue more clear and easier to see.  Only about 160 kts ... but it does look faster.  Notice that when I climb and slow the stutters aren't less, pretty much the same.

 

[nyc01 0]

I retested for stutters..

 

 

Something new I tried tonight brings me back to one of my original suggestions in a discussion with LM when Prepar3D v2.0 was first released last year. I decided to try the same exact way I used to run FSX before Nvidia added the ½ refresh option, running the display at 30Hz. I went into the Nvidia control panel and set the resolution to 1920x1080@30Hz and then fired up Prepar3D with the frame lock set at 30 fps and v-sync/triple buffering enabled. As I suspected when the frame rate is locked at the refresh rate of the display (as long as you can maintain 30 fps) there's no stuttering at all.

 

You have to turn eye candy settings down considerably in Prepar3D even with the highest end hardware in order to consistently maintain 60 fps which is obviously why I'm still seeing some stuttering with the frame rate set at unlimited and v-sync enabled. With those settings every time I drop below 60 fps some stuttering will occur as v-sync divides the refresh rate.

 

Unless Lockheed Martin makes resolution options in the menu available with a 30Hz refresh rate (which I have seen in other sims/games) or Nvidia's ½ refresh rate option finally works with Prepar3D I don't see any other way to completely get rid of the stuttering (unless you are using a G-Sync display).

[theskyisthelimit 48]

I installed the latest nvidia driver (334.89).. my first test with fsmark07 was a drop in performance.. 35.48 over 45 seconds.. down from 39.73.. ill have to recheck things later.. disappointing if true.

[nyc01 0]

I installed the latest nvidia driver (334.89).. my first test with fsmark07 was a drop in performance.. 35.48 over 45 seconds.. down from 39.73.. ill have to recheck things later.. disappointing if true.

 

 

 

If you can consistently maintain 30+ fps try going into the Nvidia control panel and set your refresh rate to 30Hz along with v-sync/triple buffering in Prepar3D and see if the micro stuttering is gone.

[theskyisthelimit 48]

If you can consistently maintain 30+ fps try going into the Nvidia control panel and set your refresh rate to 30Hz along with v-sync/triple buffering in Prepar3D and see if the micro stuttering is gone.

 

In the control panel under change resolution i only have 144 down to 60hz.. Perhaps this is because you appear to have an HDTV and in my case they are considered PC monitors (asus vg248qe).. my screens do support the pending G-sync that is coming though.

 

Ill try more tests later to confirm a drop in performance, but if it holds, ill be going back to 332.21 from January.  Though with the newer driver they fixed the bug that prevented the taskbar from being seeing when the screens were on high res surround mode via remote desktop.

 

Perhaps I should try once again to set the limiter to 36 in P3D and the refresh rate in nvidia (if its working in the new version) to 1/4 (for 144).. or maybe limiter at 30 and set it to 1/2 (at 60).. all the claims of super awesome 144hz dont hold much ground with P3D at least.

 

I still have my V2.0 install as well.. aren't most saying there was less stuttering in 2.0.. i'm thinking in my situation its about the same, just that I now look for it more since the claim of removing stutters with 2.1 was put out there.   May swap back to 2.0 just to compare for a sample test.. Simulations are a tasking process no doubt.. probably going to be a pain to ever get rid of fully, but praises to LM for trying.. maybe in 2.2

[nyc01 0]

n the control panel under change resolution i only have 144 down to 60hz.. Perhaps this is because you appear to have an HDTV and in my case they are considered PC monitors (asus vg248qe).. my screens do support the pending G-sync that is coming though.

 

 

 

You should be able to create a custom resolution in the Nvidia control panel and set it to 30Hz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ill try more tests later to confirm a drop in performance, but if it holds, ill be going back to 332.21 from January.

 

 

I installed the 334.89's on a fresh OS and didn't see any difference from the 334.67's I had installed before. I haven't had any problems with them so far with Prepar3D or X-plane 10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps I should try once again to set the limiter to 36 in P3D and the refresh rate in nvidia (if its working in the new version) to 1/4 (for 144).. or maybe limiter at 30 and set it to 1/2 (at 60).. all the claims of super awesome 144hz dont hold much ground with P3D at least.

 

 

Like I mentioned earlier forcing the ½ refresh rate option in the Nvidia control panel or by way of Nvidia Inspector isn't doing anything yet with the 334.67 or 334.89 drivers. As far as the 144Hz refresh rate goes unless you can run the sim/game at a consistent 144 fps I don't see how it's going to help anything. With G-Sync you will see an improvement because the refresh rate is continuously variable with the frame rate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still have my V2.0 install as well.. aren't most saying there was less stuttering in 2.0.

 

 

I guess if that were true, why would stuttering be high on the list of LM's bug fixes right after 2.0 was released? They even admitted they had stuttering issues with 2.0.

 

I have seen a significant drop in stuttering with 2.1 compared to 2.0 and from what I can see so far all of the stuttering issues now are related to the frame rate not matching the refresh rate with v-sync enabled (no different then what you would see in any other sim/game).

[theskyisthelimit 48]

You should be able to create a custom resolution in the Nvidia control panel and set it to 30Hz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I installed the 334.89's on a fresh OS and didn't see any difference from the 334.67's I had installed before. I haven't had any problems with them so far with Prepar3D or X-plane 10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like I mentioned earlier forcing the ½ refresh rate option in the Nvidia control panel or by way of Nvidia Inspector isn't doing anything yet with the 334.67 or 334.89 drivers. As far as the 144Hz refresh rate goes unless you can run the sim/game at a consistent 144 fps I don't see how it's going to help anything. With G-Sync you will see an improvement because the refresh rate is continuously variable with the frame rate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess if that were true, why would stuttering be high on the list of LM's bug fixes right after 2.0 was released? They even admitted they had stuttering issues with 2.0.

 

I have seen a significant drop in stuttering with 2.1 compared to 2.0 and from what I can see so far all of the stuttering issues now are related to the frame rate not matching the refresh rate with v-sync enabled (no different then what you would see in any other sim/game).

for me the option to create a custom resolution is greyed out

[nyc01 0]

for me the option to create a custom resolution is greyed out

 

 

 

In the Adjust desktop size and position under Display in the Nvidia control panel you can try the Override the scaling mode set by games and programs option. Set the drop down option under Perform scaling on: to GPU.

 

The Customize option should now be available to you under Change resolution.

[theskyisthelimit 48]

In the Adjust desktop size and position under Display in the Nvidia control panel you can try the Override the scaling mode set by games and programs option. Set the drop down option under Perform scaling on: to GPU.

 

The Customize option should now be available to you under Change resolution.

 

Once I clicked apply, the check box got cleared automatically.. so i dont think my combo of hardware allows it.

 

I know the half refresh rate NI probably didnt work, but i did try setting the frame rate to 30.. to me this was worse than unlimited, even though the minimum on my test previous to this was around 30 min.. you would think a set rate at 30 would be smooth, but no, you could tell right away compared to unlimited it was bad, both in stutter and in smoothness.

 

Biggest issue i have now, in just letting the stuttering go for now.. is that i have a major case of the blurries/autogen not filling in quick enough.. this with the big jet and the fsmark07 test with Hybrid mode checked off (PNW installed).. i have to try it once with hybrid turned off, in case its more of a compatibility issue than setting issue.. but i did try various combinations of affinity masks on, affinity masks off.. fiber time set to 0.1 all the way to 1.33.. nothing has cured it.

[Guest]

I reinstalled FSX this afternoon so I could compare it with P3D. To answer the initial question of this topic... YES!!! P3D stutters like hell compared to FSX (with the Dx10 fixer and bufferpools=0)!!! I was truly amazed to see how smooth FSX ran. Now I clearly see that P3D v2.1 stutters all the time. Often the stutters are small, sometimes big, but YES it stutters!!!

 

After reading LM's remark that they found the cause of stutters, it's sad to see 2.1 stutters even more.

[DylanM 1,069]

It's the exact opposite here. FSX with DX10 fixer and bp=0 still stuttered for me (regardless of the speed of the aircraft) - I was able to improve it by using a very high TextureMaxLoad of 30, but it still occurred over dense autogen.

 

With 2.1 I get almost zero stutters, except for when a large custom autogen batch is loaded initially (e.g. SF in ORBX NORCAL).

 

Blurries did appear to be a bigger issue, but I was able to solve that with frames set at unlimited and setting processor affinity (I had better results setting "all processors" through task manager than AM=15 in the cfg).   

[nyc01 0]

I reinstalled FSX this afternoon so I could compare it with P3D. To answer the initial question of this topic... YES!!! P3D stutters like hell compared to FSX (with the Dx10 fixer and bufferpools=0)!!! I was truly amazed to see how smooth FSX ran. Now I clearly see that P3D v2.1 stutters all the time. Often the stutters are small, sometimes big, but YES it stutters!!!

 

I bought the SteveFX - DX10 Scenery Fixer when it was released last year and was amazed at how fluid 30 fps could be in FSX.

 

The big difference between Prepar3D v2.1 and FSX with the DX10 fix is that the ½ refresh rate option actually works with FSX/DX10 it doesn't with Prepar3D.

 

 

 

 

After reading LM's remark that they found the cause of stutters, it's sad to see 2.1 stutters even more.

 

 

The stuttering is now pretty much centered around not being able to lock the refresh rate to the frame rate with v-sync enabled, with v2.0 the stuttering also was related to the lack of optimization.

 

Forcing the displays refresh rate to match the frame rate for me has pretty much completely eliminated the stuttering in v2.1.

[Guest]

Small addition to my previous post: I added AM=14 to my cfg again and also limited fps to 34: it's a LOT smoother again. I had it set to unlimited and removed AM from the cfg because LM said that was better... apparently not for my PC...!