Unfocus window and all stutters and freezes go away

[DavidV81 2]

If you put the focus on another window (Program) all the stutters and freezes magically go away. You can test this by hitting the windows key to bring up the start menu while flying. The downside is you can't use the keyboard and mouse while doing this. But I found I can map all the buttons on my joystick and get by with infrequent use of the keyboard. If you have a single monitor you can just bring up file explorer... resize it and put it at the bottom of the screen and leave the focus on that window.

I'm running modest hardware.... i5-4690, 16GB, RX 580 with 8 GB VRAM. 

Give it a try. This means these problem are fixable by Microsoft.

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by DavidV81

[flapsdown 45]

I suspect this is also a hold over from FSX where the program was/is always looking to determine where your mouse pointer is on the screen for interaction with the virtual cockpit - when the mouse is not focused on the sim's window, you get some performance benefit...  

[UAL4life 240]

Wow can’t believe that works... word not allowed. 

[DavidV81 2]

I just tried unplugging the USB wireless receiver for my Mouse/Keyboard and Flight Sim completely locked and crashed. So I think it definitely is something with the mouse/keyboard. Anyone have a wired keyboard/mouse they could try to see if that is any better?

[UAL4life 240]

Any usb Action, ie disconnecting or connecting be it a thumb drive or otherwise will Crash the sim. 

[Emerson67 248]

4 minutes ago, UAL4life said:

Any usb Action, ie disconnecting or connecting be it a thumb drive or otherwise will Crash the sim. 

True

Yesterday I disconnect the USB throttle quadrant while creating the rolling cache file: CTD!

Edited August 21, 2020 by Emerson67

[langly 129]

This was the case for me until I enabled hyper threading.

[DavidV81 2]

1 hour ago, langly said:

This was the case for me until I enabled hyper threading.

Unfortunately my i5 doesn't have hyperthreading 😪 

This focus on a different window fix will get me by for VFR flying in a 172 for now. But a hardware upgrade is in my future... and hopefully some patches are released in the near future.

Edited August 21, 2020 by DavidV81

[Aceman2020 17]

55 minutes ago, langly said:

This was the case for me until I enabled hyper threading.

Good to know thx

[TheRandomGuy 21]

Found some dude on reddit that also noticed the simulator running better when unfocused. He changed processor scheduling to enhance background applications instead of programs and his stutter went away. Seemed that his Win 10 mistook MSFS for a background app. Others who tried the workaround had similar results.

Here’s a guide (Win 10 included): https://thewindowsclub.com/processor-scheduling-in-windows-7-8/amp

Reddit thread: https://reddit.com/r/flightsim/comments/idmdqq/update_msfs_2020_stuttering_when_window_focused/

Don’t forget to change it back when not flying.

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by TheRandomGuy