FSX-MS Mouse Cursor - FPS Hit When Visible - Suddenly Started Happening

[GHarrall 494]

Hi all,

 

I have read in the past that the FPS hit when the mouse cursor is visible can be problematic and is a known 'issue' of sorts. 

 

Despite this, up until recently, I have never found this to be an issue on my own system.

 

Suddenly, it has appeared on my PC  :(

 

 

It seems to have occurred at around the same time as installing the TDuke V2 and A2A 182 but also is affecting aircraft that I haven't seen it on before such as the RA Legacy and 737 NGX

 

Locked and easily achieving 30 FPS, I now see hits down to 26-27 just having the mouse pointer visible. I know there are work arounds etc such as moving the pointer to the top of the screen etc, but I was wondering if there was ever any consensus on what causes this and if its fixable so to speak. It certainly seems that something has 'triggered' it on my system at least anyway.

 

Thanks,

 

Glenn

[~Craig~ 10]

The only aircraft I ever see it on (and pretty badly) are the iFly 737 and 747.   I don't supposed you've installed either of those recently too?

[Groovin_DC-10 50]

It happens on all airplanes for me but it's not an issue as it only takes about 2fps on average, a little more with the NGX and iFly.  As far as I know, there is no known fix for this.

 

Is it possible that it's one of those things you never really payed attention to in the past and now that you've noticed it, it kind of sticks out?

 

Interesting how your FSX won't hold the target fps when the cursor is on the screen.  If I set my fps to 30 and the cursor is visible, the fps will still stay at 30, unless it's a plane that hits my fps hard and I'm only able to achieve 29-30fps max.

 

Hopefully someone has an answer for that.

[GHarrall 494]

The only aircraft I ever see it on (and pretty badly) are the iFly 737 and 747.   I don't supposed you've installed either of those recently too?

 

No, neither of those. Thx though.

 

 

It happens on all airplanes for me but it's not an issue as it only takes about 2fps on average, a little more with the NGX and iFly.  As far as I know, there is no known fix for this.

 

Is it possible that it's one of those things you never really payed attention to in the past and now that you've noticed it, it kind of sticks out?

 

Interesting how your FSX won't hold the target fps when the cursor is on the screen.  If I set my fps to 30 and the cursor is visible, the fps will still stay at 30, unless it's a plane that hits my fps hard and I'm only able to achieve 29-30fps max.

 

Hopefully someone has an answer for that.

 

It is possible that I haven't paid attention to it in the past I suppose, although I am fairly anal about stuff like this 

 

Not sure whats going on but its bothering me at the moment that's for sure.

[z06z33 763]

It happens on all airplanes for me but it's not an issue as it only takes about 2fps on average, a little more with the NGX and iFly. As far as I know, there is no known fix for this.

 

Is it possible that it's one of those things you never really payed attention to in the past and now that you've noticed it, it kind of sticks out?

 

Interesting how your FSX won't hold the target fps when the cursor is on the screen. If I set my fps to 30 and the cursor is visible, the fps will still stay at 30, unless it's a plane that hits my fps hard and I'm only able to achieve 29-30fps max.

 

Hopefully someone has an answer for that.

There must be a fix somwe here in the code here as p3dv2 doesn't have the issue.If dovetail would fix that issue I'd buy steam fsx and be happy.

[Capt Speirs 52]

I have read about this phenomenon for years and still don't get it, it has never happened to me. Sorry you have to deal with this, OP.

[WebMaximus 372]

I'm seeing this all the time flying the NGX but I don't think it's a big issue since the fix is very easy...simply move the mouse cursor to the top of the screen whenever not in use.

 

However would be nice if the problem somehow could be permanently fixed.

[robertwolant 8]

It's a classic bug you can't really help.

 

If you have a very good system and high performance you may not notice it.

But if your performance is weak or average, you prrobably will.

 

It, as mentioned above, also depends on the addon aircraft. Some are less other more pron to it.

For instance I see no pointer influence in Majestic Dash, but in iFly 744 I will lose up to 6-7 FPS!

[lodestar 186]

It is visible with any aircraft which is hard on FPS. With other aircrafts, you may not see it with FPS locked becouse there is a FPS hit anyway(from 67 to 65fps for example), but PC is capable to maintain target FPS which is usually lover then 60-70  ^_^

 

There was a FSUIPC function to assign a key to make mouse pointer invisible, but from what i've read, it still needs 5 seconds for FPS to increase. So, no solutions at this time...

[martin-w 3,235]

I get this with all of my add-ons and its not just a couple of frames. The frames can drop from 50's to 20's.

 

Its because CPU cycles are used to render the mouse cursor.

 

Worst for me is PMDG planes. The new Turbine Duke v2 is bad too.

[Groovin_DC-10 50]

I get this with all of my add-ons and its not just a couple of frames. The frames can drop from 50's to 20's.

 

That's a MASSIVE fps hit.  I haven't heard anyone losing that many frames.  I have a low end PC, and even the NGX will only knock 5-6 frames when the cursor is showing.

[Nick M 106]

I have read in the past that the FPS hit when the mouse cursor is visible can be problematic and is a known 'issue' of sorts. 

 

Yes, although oddly it's still seems to rather poorly understood and documented. I say 'oddly' because on my system it's very easy to reproduce and I'll typically lose around a quarter to a third of my FPS due to this 'bug' in the more complex add-ons.

 

 

Its because CPU cycles are used to render the mouse cursor.

 

I don't think it is a rendering issue as such Martin. Instead, I reckon the FPS drop is caused by the fact that the simulator is performing calculation based upon where the cursor is and how the it interacts with switches and buttons in the VC. I'm basing this idea on some observations in this thread in the A2A forums.

 

It's generally noted that if the cursor is visible but it's superimposed over either a 2D window or the FSX title bar, FPS are unaffected. I've also noticed that if you view the VC in 'cockpit' mode rather than 'virtual cockpit' view (I have to glance to the side to actually see the VC in this mode) FPS are unaffected whether-or-not the cursor is visible.

 

Crucially, in both of these cases, the cursor is visible in the VC but without the click spots being 'enabled' and (on my system anyway) FPS are unaffected. This seems to suggest that it's a 'VC clickspot interactivity issue' which is causing the FPS hit.

 

I'd certainly welcome any more input on this topic - particularly from add-on developers. It does seem to be one of the last great FSX mysteries!  :huh:

 

Cheers,

Nick

[Groovin_DC-10 50]

I forgot to mention.  On my rig, the iFly 737 takes out the most fps when the cursor is showing.  Even more than the NGX.  I've seen quite a few people report this as well.

[martin-w 3,235]

That's a MASSIVE fps hit.  I haven't heard anyone losing that many frames.  I have a low end PC, and even the NGX will only knock 5-6 frames when the cursor is showing.

Well it's a percentage of frame rate don't forget, so it makes sense to refer to percentages rather than frames. But yes, it's a profound effect for me. Does vary dependent on add-on of course.

 

I did mention this to Ryan on the PMDG forum some time ago, and he responded in a way that suggested perhaps it was related to graphics card settings, this bemused me, so I asked him to elaborate but received no reply.

 

I don't think it is a rendering issue as such Martin. Instead, I reckon the FPS drop is caused by the fact that the simulator is performing calculation based upon where the cursor is and how the it interacts with switches and buttons in the VC. I'm basing this idea on some observations in this thread in the A2A forums.

 

 

 

Yes that would make sense. Wrong of me to say "render" your explanation is what I was trying to recall from a previous discussion.

 

Tell you what though... if the OP had no issues, and then suddenly it appeared, then it suggests that rather than an inherent bug that can't be mitigated, that there is a variable at work that's responsible, and if we can track down that variable, maybe mitigation is on the cards.

[Nick M 106]

Tell you what though... if the OP had no issues, and then suddenly it appeared, then it suggests that rather than an inherent bug that can't be mitigated, that there is a variable at work that's responsible, and if we can track down that variable, maybe mitigation is on the cards.

 

I'd love to think so! However, I recently reinstalled my copy of FSX and the frame-rate drop with complex add-on aircraft was apparent from the outset. While my system is not that recent (i72600k@4.53GHz, EVGA GTX570) it's generally pretty adequate for running FSX, and I have't got a host of other add-ons.

 

I think it's likely that the increasing complexity of internal MDL files is the culprit. Perhaps the way that click-spot functionality and animations are encoded into the MDL file? However, some of the add-ons that I use seem to suffer the problem more disproportionately than others.

 

I've noticed the frame-rate drop is more noticeable when the sim is being worked hard, and I wonder if the explains the OP's post? i.e. If Glenn's PC is now having to work harder (perhaps due to an additional add-on), the mouse cursor effect could be the 'final straw' that's pushing his FPS below the locked value.

 

Cheers,

Nick