Stuttering every few seconds

[davetfc 4]

On 3/24/2019 at 1:41 PM, anshugiri said:

8600k at 5.0, RTX 2080, Samsung 850 EVO, 16GB Ram, monitor refresh 30 hz.

Hi,

Just wondering, what have you set in your target frame rate and vsync settings? Since your monitor refresh rate is 30 hz, I would suggest trying with 28 or 29 as target frame rate setting with vsync = on.

Kind regards,

[bean_sprout 1,201]

On 3/24/2019 at 6:33 AM, Cruachan said:

@anshugiri I have posted about a similar issue in the past few weeks. In my case the sim exhibited a regular slight single stutter every 3 seconds. It was barely noticeable but sufficient to destroy that sense of immersion we are all seeking.

This regular stutter was also visible in Slew mode while stationary on the ground and a slow 360 degree turn was started. I used to use this test to check for the presence of the stutter at the beginning of a session. Lately it hasn’t been necessary as this stutter appears to have resolved spontaneously! Fingers crossed.

I never found the cause, but did discover I could get banish it for the duration of a single simming session by simply rebooting. Restarting Prepar3D was not enough; the regular stutter would persist. A warm or, preferably, cold reboot provided the solution. Might be worth a try.

Regards,

Mike

Use Unlimited and Windows 10!  🙂

bs

[Cruachan 705]

12 minutes ago, bean_sprout said:

Use Unlimited and Windows 10!  🙂

bs

Ha,ha @bean_sprout if nothing else, I award you full marks for persistence! 😊

It will take much more than that to convince me that Windows 10 should be my default O/S. No doubt that day will come. However, my experience to date tells me MS still have some work to do.

Lately I have not had any issues, as described, but I know I have an effective 'workaround' should they recur.

Meantime, I'm about to try the latest NVIDIA driver set since they do seem to be performing well for others.

Regards,

Mike

 

 

[Cruachan 705]

Looks like it was indeed a driver issue. No such problems noted with the 419.67 driver set....so far. As others have commented, these drivers do seem very solid and are performing well. Sim even more fluid than before with frame rate locked internally at 30fps (No VSync or TB).

Mike

[John_Cillis 2,406]

On 3/24/2019 at 6:16 AM, ddawson said:

If you have not done so, try enabling write caching on the drive(s) where Windows and P3D are installed.

Doug

I have write behind caching disabled, because a system lockup, though it has not happened to me yet, can cause data to be lost which has happened to me once when we had a sudden power failure when my ups was low, I had corrupted files that I had just downloaded.  I have seen no difference in P3D with right behind caching disabled, or Xplane, I have no stutters during turns or panning around the aircraft, just an occasional scenery access brief pause every thirty minutes or so, not enough to detract from the fluidity, just something I notice.

Sometimes too aggressive AA settings can cause a stutter, and too much AI in the background.

John

[John_Cillis 2,406]

3 hours ago, Cruachan said:

Looks like it was indeed a driver issue. No such problems noted with the 419.67 driver set....so far. As others have commented, these drivers do seem very solid and are performing well. Sim even more fluid than before with frame rate locked internally at 30fps (No VSync or TB).

Mike

Glad I scan these threads, have not updated my drivers since the beginning of time, lol.  Maybe placebo effect but the sim seemed more fluid to me too, I lock my frame rate at 33 fps, just like the number for some reason and the sim always keeps up with it. 

John

[Cruachan 705]

Hi John,

Try locking internally at 30fps (without VSync or TB). It should release some performance overhead without compromising fluidity. If this does not achieve the desired result then choose a frame rate which is a proper fraction of your monitor’s refresh rate. For example, 30fps would be 1/2 of 60Hz, 1/4 of 120Hz. As you can see from my signature, my 144Hz capable monitor has been set to refresh at 120Hz. That way I have increased the likelihood of a screen refresh coinciding with my chosen Prepar3D frame rate of 30fps. My rig is not dedicated to Prepar3D and I find a 120Hz Screen refresh more than adequate for everything else, so it never needs to be changed.

Quoting a paragraph from a response made by Steve a few days ago:

“The internal limiter is not a 'limiter'. It makes look ahead frames stored into a buffer. When the buffer is full, only then are frames limited. Since there's always going to be a difference in time to construct each frame there's inconsistency. That inconsistency is filled in with the look ahead. When any of the look ahead is depleted another is built as well as the one to display. That's why you see high CPU use with the internal Locked fps slider.”

So, with a lock of 33fps your 1060 GTX is working quite hard to keep up with demands unless, of course, you have elected to run with appropriate settings commensurate with the capabilities of your hardware and flight preferences.

Regards,

Mike

Edited March 28, 2019 by Cruachan

[asgnp 27]

HERE'S THE FIX.
Works perfectly for me to remove the micro-stutter (for native 60hz monitors). There's no need to set monitor refresh rate to 30hz.

1. P3Dv4
   1. Set Frames to "Unlimited"
   2. Vsync to OFF
   3. Triple Buffering to OFF
2. RivaTunerStatistics Server
   1. Create profile for P3D
   2. Set Scanline Sync to "Scanline Sync x/2" by clicking twice on the text label that says "Scanline Sync".
   3. In the textbox to the right of "Scanline Sync x/2", set value to 60hz (if your monitor is native 60hz).

I tried setting 1/2 refresh rate from Nvidia Inspector, but that didn't work for me. Instead... RivaTunerStatistics Server (MSI Afterburner) works perfectly to achieve the same thing.

[kenthom 19]

1 hour ago, anshugiri said:

HERE'S THE FIX.
Works perfectly for me to remove the micro-stutter (for native 60hz monitors). There's no need to set monitor refresh rate to 30hz.

1. P3Dv4
   1. Set Frames to "Unlimited"
   2. Vsync to OFF
   3. Triple Buffering to OFF
2. RivaTunerStatistics Server
   1. Create profile for P3D
   2. Set Scanline Sync to "Scanline Sync x/2" by clicking twice on the text label that says "Scanline Sync".
   3. In the textbox to the right of "Scanline Sync x/2", set value to 60hz (if your monitor is native 60hz).

I tried setting 1/2 refresh rate from Nvidia Inspector, but that didn't work for me. Instead... RivaTunerStatistics Server (MSI Afterburner) works perfectly to achieve the same thing.

For us dummies, how do you create a profile for P3D?  I only use computer for P3D sim.  Is profile necessary?

Edited March 28, 2019 by kenthom
Additional information

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

3 hours ago, anshugiri said:

HERE'S THE FIX.
Works perfectly for me to remove the micro-stutter (for native 60hz monitors). There's no need to set monitor refresh rate to 30hz.

1. P3Dv4
   1. Set Frames to "Unlimited"
   2. Vsync to OFF
   3. Triple Buffering to OFF
2. RivaTunerStatistics Server
   1. Create profile for P3D
   2. Set Scanline Sync to "Scanline Sync x/2" by clicking twice on the text label that says "Scanline Sync".
   3. In the textbox to the right of "Scanline Sync x/2", set value to 60hz (if your monitor is native 60hz).

I tried setting 1/2 refresh rate from Nvidia Inspector, but that didn't work for me. Instead... RivaTunerStatistics Server (MSI Afterburner) works perfectly to achieve the same thing.

I typically use NVI's framerate limiter2 at 30 fps, and that works well also, with lower CPU utilization..

But I must say after trying this, it does seem smoother and more fluid than NVI..

Lets try it for a few more flights to see if that sense continues..

One more little trick that seems to work for me (snake oil?) is to reset Affinity for the prepar3d.exe process in task Manager to "all cores" after starting up P3D.

[lownslo 592]

4 hours ago, anshugiri said:

HERE'S THE FIX.

Congrats for finding a solution that works for you! 🍻  How is the CPU utilization using your fix?

Greg

[asgnp 27]

10 minutes ago, lownslo said:

Congrats for finding a solution that works for you! 🍻  How is the CPU utilization using your fix?

Greg

CPU utilization is generally between 35 to 70%... i only fly the FSlabs a320... in other aircraft i'm sure it'll be much lower.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

On 3/24/2019 at 8:03 AM, w6kd said:

In a related measure, I set my sim machines up to disable last access file stamping, so that a write doesn't occur every time a file is read.

From an administrator-elevated command window type: fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1

This works with Win 7 through Win 10, perhaps with others.

Regards

 

Thank you, that is great advice...

[Rogen 1,087]

On 3/29/2019 at 12:49 AM, Anshu said:

HERE'S THE FIX.
Works perfectly for me to remove the micro-stutter (for native 60hz monitors). There's no need to set monitor refresh rate to 30hz.

1. P3Dv4
   1. Set Frames to "Unlimited"
   2. Vsync to OFF
   3. Triple Buffering to OFF
2. RivaTunerStatistics Server
   1. Create profile for P3D
   2. Set Scanline Sync to "Scanline Sync x/2" by clicking twice on the text label that says "Scanline Sync".
   3. In the textbox to the right of "Scanline Sync x/2", set value to 60hz (if your monitor is native 60hz).

I tried setting 1/2 refresh rate from Nvidia Inspector, but that didn't work for me. Instead... RivaTunerStatistics Server (MSI Afterburner) works perfectly to achieve the same thing.

 

Hey Anshu, great find!

Almost as smooth as actualy having a 30 Hz monitor, certainly if I was runing a 60 Hz monitor I'd be using this vsync option and now that I've experimented with it I'm surprised LM didn't include such a half vsync option in P3D itself as it would be somewhat of a game changer for smoothness given the otherwise difficulty in achieving high enough fps to match higher monitor refreshrates (such as 60 hz), especially after loading in a few GFX addons.

Found a couple of things.

1), I couldn't get the on screen display to show, but don't really care.

2), I was running reshade, however RTSS wouldn't work with it, not a biggy as I was only running three shaders.

3), I think the reason it is not quite as smooth as P3D's vsync @ 30 Hz is because P3D's vsync also offers a triple buffer, but no matter, RTSS's ability to lock the framerate by vsyncing @ half the refreshrate is clearly a winner for those running 60 hz monitors.

4), With the frame rate locked via RTSS's half vsync to 30 fps there's increased capacity available in the GPU to ramp up those settings for a better looking sim.

Win and win again 🙂

Cheers

[newtie 533]

There is no 'Scanline Sync' available below my FR limiter under Application detection level.

I'm using version 7.1.0

Thanks,

Mark