P3dv4 blurry laggy slow texture loading popping and stutters

[theskyisthelimit 48]

I'm seeking some other suggestions on my issue i'm having with p3d..

I've tried pretty much all suggestions found on here for the dreaded stuttering and laggy loading of textures (lagging even with the lancair at 150 knots).

So far i've done the following to try to get closer to a baseline:

1.  tried various AM's.. 
2.  eliminated AM's
3.  reset prepar3d.cfg
4. lowered graphical sliders
5. reinstalled nvidia 1080 driver to default using a clean install of the driver
6.  this is on a clean windows 10 (creators update, latest updates) drive as well, or was a month ago
7.  tried locking frames via NI, setting NI to Fast sync, Setting p3d to vsync on and triple buffer.. tried lower frame limiter inside p3d (all no good), so for now still on vsync on, triple buffer, no frame limit in either place

The next level of testing i went back to a "clean" scenery.cfg with only the baseline items enabled in sceneryconfigeditor.. meaning i left all addons in my original install intact, but turned them off (i have many including a bunch of ftx).

What I found was that i'm mostly stutter free on a cleaner scenery.cfg.. i'm 80% sure something(s) causing the stutter addon wise though not confirmed yet.  I actually found that disabling the ftx library in scenery.cfg resulted in no stuttering on my one test.. so..

My latest test was to reinstall ftx addons.. i did openlc, ftx global, nca and sca. (i removed the orbx folder first)..

Stuttering is better, but if you do hard turns in even the lancair around a lightweight area like Pittsburgh, you get a hiccup here and there (maybe every 10 seconds) as the turn occurs.  

I still have some landscape slow loading though, but no worse than when i tested with a fully clean p3d install.. it still pops autogen and tiles here and there.

At this point the only things i have left to try are to maybe turn off my overclock (not sure if this can actually cause either of these issues or not.. anyone have any experience there?)..

And also to take my clean install and slowly increment things again, beyond what i've done on my dirty install with just a "clean" scenery.cfg.  In general it feels like my stuttering may be linked to scenery addons or maybe my overclock, more testing needed.

Thanks for any input

 

 

 

[vgbaron 3,486]

Each system is different (where have we heard THAT before?) - you are doing what is needed to determine the problem on your system. I'd continue what you are doing and systematically eliminate each scenery add on until you determine the cause.

Vic

[Wanthuyr Filho 83]

If your CPU has HyperThreading enabled, just try to disable it. Mine made quite a difference.

 

[Guest]

First of all I would forget about all cfg tweaks. I never use them and never need them. They only cause havoc imho. Secondly: a little pause every now and then is normal, specially when turning. So are random textures loading around you and things popping up from time to time. It's all part of the ESP engine.

My super tweak is: don't look too closely at what is going wrong but simply look at what is going right. Enjoy the flight! If I pay close attention I can see things moving and loading and popping all the time but I chose to not pay close attention and let myself immerse in the wonderful world of P3D. Just now I finished a flight above FTX Norway in the A2A Comanche with rainy weather: it was totally awesome. At one moment I noticed some texture loading and popping but I mainly noticed it because I was looking for it. Whenever I focus on my instruments (flying with VOR only here) and enjoy the beauty of Norway I just don't notice any of the moving/loading/popping.

When I read your post and read things like 'a hiccup here and there' and 'pops autogen and tiles here and there' I think the problems lies in your focus on the wrong things. Stop tweaking and start to enjoy the flying.

[GSalden 4,655]

Make sure you have at least 15% free space on a SSD and 25% on a harddisk.

Last week my fps went up/down + stutters. It appeared that after installing that 1 extra addon my P3D SSD had just 11% free space. After placing the addon on another SSD the problem was gone and the addon is working great...

[theskyisthelimit 48]

7 minutes ago, GSalden said:

Make sure you have at least 15% free space on a SSD and 25% on a harddisk.

Last week my fps went up/down + stutters. It appeared that after installing that 1 extra addon my P3D SSD had just 11% free space. After placing the addon on another SSD the problem was gone and the addon is working great...

Wow, interesting tip.. 15% really?  Thats about 150GB on a 1TB SSD.. mine in fact has around 30GB or so free.. could be one thing to check.

 

[theskyisthelimit 48]

14 minutes ago, J van E said:

First of all I would forget about all cfg tweaks. I never use them and never need them. They only cause havoc imho. Secondly: a little pause every now and then is normal, specially when turning. So are random textures loading around you and things popping up from time to time. It's all part of the ESP engine.

My super tweak is: don't look too closely at what is going wrong but simply look at what is going right. Enjoy the flight! If I pay close attention I can see things moving and loading and popping all the time but I chose to not pay close attention and let myself immerse in the wonderful world of P3D. Just now I finished a flight above FTX Norway in the A2A Comanche with rainy weather: it was totally awesome. At one moment I noticed some texture loading and popping but I mainly noticed it because I was looking for it. Whenever I focus on my instruments (flying with VOR only here) and enjoy the beauty of Norway I just don't notice any of the moving/loading/popping.

When I read your post and read things like 'a hiccup here and there' and 'pops autogen and tiles here and there' I think the problems lies in your focus on the wrong things. Stop tweaking and start to enjoy the flying.

Yeah i'm familiar with days of the past with this texture loading issue.. but prior to fine tuning it once i stripped it down to only a few addons.. i was getting stutters that would happen every few seconds.. it was very visible.. and texture loading or rather lack of loading that left the whole area under the airplane looking like i was flying over bad astroturf :)  

Once i thinned it down to a few addons.. yes the stutters are mostly gone and yeah i should let it go at this and start working them back on one by one till i figure out what truly caused the massive issue.

[theskyisthelimit 48]

27 minutes ago, Wanthuyr Filho said:

If your CPU has HyperThreading enabled, just try to disable it. Mine made quite a difference.

 

I havent tested this angle just yet, but was planning on it, though i think with v3 i did for a similar issue with no real results.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

My system is not that far off yours.  It's a store bought MSI Vortex 7700 3.6 GHZ with a 1060 3GB vid card and 8GB Ram.  I get very good performance untweaked, the only thing I don't use is autogen so that might explain my performance.  I have a sampling of AI, all other sliders maxed, and I achieve my locked 33fps all the time.  Unlocked fps can jump into the 70's.  I surmise if my setup works well, yours should too although you have a slightly lower cpu.  The best bet us to backup your .cfg file then delete it so P3D rebuilds it.  Don't tweak your vid card until you've tried P3d's settings.  I went with P3d's settings slid right and did not have to touch my vid card settings.  I get no stutters, no blurries, no issues at all.  When I bought my system at Fry's I told the salesperson I was buying it specifically for flightsimming.  He looked up the specs in some book and the system fell above the recommended specs.  My system was marketed as a gaming system, although it was not high end.  I just bought the tower and used my existing monitor and speakers from my old system.  Since I had a VGA monitor I bought a converter cable, looks great with my 1060 card.

Hope my specs give you hope, usually the culprit in performance is having AA set too high.  I use 4X instead of 8X and can hardly notice a difference.

 

John

[fluffyflops 1,845]

3 hours ago, theskyisthelimit said:

I'm seeking some other suggestions on my issue i'm having with p3d..

I've tried pretty much all suggestions found on here for the dreaded stuttering and laggy loading of textures (lagging even with the lancair at 150 knots).

So far i've done the following to try to get closer to a baseline:

1.  tried various AM's.. 
2.  eliminated AM's
3.  reset prepar3d.cfg
4. lowered graphical sliders
5. reinstalled nvidia 1080 driver to default using a clean install of the driver
6.  this is on a clean windows 10 (creators update, latest updates) drive as well, or was a month ago
7.  tried locking frames via NI, setting NI to Fast sync, Setting p3d to vsync on and triple buffer.. tried lower frame limiter inside p3d (all no good), so for now still on vsync on, triple buffer, no frame limit in either place

The next level of testing i went back to a "clean" scenery.cfg with only the baseline items enabled in sceneryconfigeditor.. meaning i left all addons in my original install intact, but turned them off (i have many including a bunch of ftx).

What I found was that i'm mostly stutter free on a cleaner scenery.cfg.. i'm 80% sure something(s) causing the stutter addon wise though not confirmed yet.  I actually found that disabling the ftx library in scenery.cfg resulted in no stuttering on my one test.. so..

My latest test was to reinstall ftx addons.. i did openlc, ftx global, nca and sca. (i removed the orbx folder first)..

Stuttering is better, but if you do hard turns in even the lancair around a lightweight area like Pittsburgh, you get a hiccup here and there (maybe every 10 seconds) as the turn occurs.  

I still have some landscape slow loading though, but no worse than when i tested with a fully clean p3d install.. it still pops autogen and tiles here and there.

At this point the only things i have left to try are to maybe turn off my overclock (not sure if this can actually cause either of these issues or not.. anyone have any experience there?)..

And also to take my clean install and slowly increment things again, beyond what i've done on my dirty install with just a "clean" scenery.cfg.  In general it feels like my stuttering may be linked to scenery addons or maybe my overclock, more testing needed.

Thanks for any input

 

 

 

are you running a 4k monitor??

[theskyisthelimit 48]

20 minutes ago, tooting said:

are you running a 4k monitor??

I am in fact.. i should have mentioned that (i have also tried no AA, but it didnt make a difference, so i've left it at 4x).. i run it at the 4k60hz res  (its a sony 43" tv technically).

I should mention, though often doesnt matter.. that the fps counter (via fraps) shows a solid 60, maybe drops to 57 when the hiccup occurs.. in the case of my full blown install.. i might only average around 50-53 in this region with those massive hiccups and blurs.

[turnandbank 243]

11 minutes ago, theskyisthelimit said:

I should mention, though often doesnt matter.. that the fps counter (via fraps) shows a solid 60, maybe drops to 57 when the hiccup occurs.. in the case of my full blown install.. i might only average around 50-53 in this region with those massive hiccups and blurs.

Have you tried locking the frames to 30 or 33.  I find I get more stutters and textures not keeping up more when I use unlimited frames or lock them at a rate the sim cannot maintain 100% of the time.  Note, my experience is based on Prepar3d v2 still, as I have not yet upgraded, but the same principle may still apply.

[theskyisthelimit 48]

5 minutes ago, turnandbank said:

Have you tried locking the frames to 30 or 33.  I find I get more stutters and textures not keeping up more when I use unlimited frames or lock them at a rate the sim cannot maintain 100% of the time.  Note, my experience is based on Prepar3d v2 still, as I have not yet upgraded, but the same principle may still apply.

Yeah i had tried that, no real luck (either internal or external frame lock)

[theskyisthelimit 48]

At this point i also tried turning off the overclock on my ram and cpu.. no change..

I also went to my clean OS i have on hand.. tried running the same addons via the same full blown folder (copied over my appdata folder and program data etc).. less stutters, slightly..

The real ticket still seams to be the FTXAA_ORBXLIBS entry in the scenery.cfg.. if i disable that its really ok, for the most part (i think).. i cant find any data online about this causing an issue which is strange.

The other thing related to blurries and texture loading.. i would think that they wouldnt do this close range to the aircraft for photoscenery, because i have that issue there as well (worse in some cases).

 

 

[Slayer 190]

Sounds like a complete wipe of P3D and clean all remnants out is in order. Sux but sometimes there is no other option.