Annoying Stuttering Problem

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Over the past few weeks I've been patting myself on the back for how smoothly FS9 was working and that I had it all tweaked, loaded with tons of great addons and was almost forgetting to fly FSX-SE.... Big mistake. Note to self - never, ever allow yourself to think that you now have a trouble-free sim setup...

 

In the past two days I have started getting an incredibly annoying micro-stutter. With FPS limit set to unlimited I can be at a scenery with loads of AI and FPS in the hundreds but every few seconds everything stops for just a microsecond. It happens when I pan the view in VC or if I go to outside view and watch the movement of AI on the ground. For just a moment, everything stops and then continues on smoothly with high FPS.

 

I have checked for duplicate AFCADS. I have checked my scenery.cfg for duplicates or incorrect entries. I have used NVidia Inspector and tried all the usual tweaks of FS9.cfg. I have checked all my textures for missing alpha channels. I have used Windows Task Manager to monitor performance and used the Resource Monitor. Everything checks out. And as I said, except for these momentary "stops" the sim is working perfectly - just as it was a few days ago. I have disabled all my recently acquired addon sceneries and disabled AI traffic. It made no difference.

 

I also updated my NVidia GEForce driver and just in case, tried some of the older ones as well as the latest.

 

Any suggestions??? It may seem like a minor issue but for me it totally destroys the immersion factor and makes the sim unenjoyable.... And as we all know, if I can't enjoy FS then life is just not worth living!!                                    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :mad:

Ian

[WingZ 547]

Mine does that when I have an AI plane assigned to a FP but missing a texture, or just missing.

Perhaps get ACA2005 and run through your sim:

http://aifs2.pvdveen.net/?page_id=5

Works for me.

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Thanks Ed - I will try that. I just confirmed it isn't a hardware issue - I have another install of FS9 that I use for retro flying and so cranked it up and it worked perfectly. AI textures here I come

[pschlute 37]

I dont think this is your problem, but an Active Sky weather update can also cause a micro stutter. I have mine set to 15 minutes so it doesnt bother me too much, although I would prefer it not to happen.

[vector 7]

I get a micro stutter when I load my GPS into a separate window to get a better look at it.  I just live with it as 99.999999% of the rest of the time my sim runs just fine.  I prefer to enjoy flying than trying to work out how I could get rid of such a very minor "problem".

 

Dijvid

[Appliance 51]

Ian run Process Explorer, a free program which can help identify other software programs which may be the problem.  Plenty of YT... video tutorials out there and a search in this very forum will unearth valuable advice on how best to configure it.  Best of luck mate.

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. So far I think I've eliminated "the usual suspects" as the cause. With ALL addon sceneries and ALL addon aircraft removed, it is still happening. I have a couple of other things to try by copying and pasting some folders from the copy of FS that isn't having a problem...

 

I do use AS but this is happening when I'm not using it and I almost never use GPS.

 

Charl - ACA2005 did show a  lot of errors in my AI but even with the AI removed and absolutely no traffic except the default file (which I have cleaned up to only have one single aircraft doing one single flight) it is still happening.

 

My thought at this point is that it must be something that is "global" - so I'll be focusing on that today.... As I said, it's not that I don't have other versions that are working - I do have FSX-SE and one complete installation of FS9 configured for retro flying that works fine... But you all know how it is - once you've experienced a problem you obsess about it until it's fixed... This hobby is so utterly addictive that rational thought flies out the window sometimes... LOL
Cheers

Ian

[pschlute 37]

 

 

But you all know how it is - once you've experienced a problem you obsess about it until it's fixed... This hobby is so utterly addictive that rational thought flies out the window sometimes... LOL

 

Yep, know what you mean.

[Skywatcher 133]

You could be getting a stutter from a program running outside of FS. It won't take much to cause this kind of thing. I'm kind of amazed everyone appears to have a completely silky smooth FS. I commonly experience stutters in 2d panel view while taxing and making a turn at an airport or in spot view if quickly moving around the aircraft on the ground or in the air. I may have to do some experimenting on this myself! lol

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Thanks Mark. I used performance monitor and other diagnostics to try to see if there's something running in the background but couldn't find anything significant. And then when I tried my alternative installation of FS9 and found the problem was not occurring, that confirmed it's something in the installation of FS9 that I use for contemporary flying that is causing it. I haven't found the problem yet as to be honest, I got frustrated and just switched to my retro version and am enjoying it. Eventually I'll get back to trouble-shooting the other. I have a pretty strong suspicion that the problem lies in one of the main texture files.... But until this problem began earlier this week, it truly was running "silky smooth" with no FPS issues except the "usual suspects" like EGLC with full traffic etc.

[WingZ 547]

That knocks out system issues, which is a big plus!

I recently found slow texture loading issues after a long flight.

The GPU fan had worn through its bearing and fused itself to the drive coils.

The poor thing then got hotter and hotter, the longer the flight  .

 

So on your system: perhaps easiest to locate an offending new file by simply doing a descending date search? 

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Excellent suggestion - I'm waiting for my enthusiasm level to increase and then I'm going back to trouble-shooting. In the meantime I'm enjoying flying WWII and Korean War aircraft....

[royth 0]

Another cause of stuttering can be your RAM strips not being tight in their slotts. Push them in quite hard, or remove one by one and clean the "teeth" and replace them firmly.   Roy.