Is there a cure for stuttering road traffic? (P3D 4.5)

[Noel 4,493]

I'm flying exclusively night flights, and I have a lot more CPU headroom as an indirect result, so turned road traffic back on for the ambience  but it's as bad as it was at initial release in terms of herky jerk motion, and was hoping perhaps someone has figured out how to fix it.  Everything else is liquid smooth for me so they stand out.

Thanks in advance

[Ray Proudfoot 8,945]

@Noel, I'm also on v4.5 and turned off road traffic a long time ago. With it on and even set to very modest levels (7%) I was getting a brief stutter every 7 seconds or so. Turns out it was down to that option. I fly daytime almost all the time and to be honest, I don't miss it.

Just another of those long-standing issues in ESP that need sorting out.

[787flyer 633]

5 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@Noel, I'm also on v4.5 and turned off road traffic a long time ago. With it on and even set to very modest levels (7%) I was getting a brief stutter every 7 seconds or so. Turns out it was down to that option. I fly daytime almost all the time and to be honest, I don't miss it.

Just another of those long-standing issues in ESP that need sorting out.

 

I did the same Ray.

I think I turned that option off in the FSX days to conserve CPU power and FPS and have had it consistently switched off in P3D. And I dont miss it either.

The other reason I turned it off was it was unrealistic to see cars travel across taxiways/runways in front of an oncoming 747 because the airport scenery at the time could not cope with realistic tunnels that ran underneath the taxiways!

Is it any better in MSFS?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,945]

5 minutes ago, aldridgem said:

Is it any better in MSFS?

Don't have it so can't say. It's probably fine as it's a completely different engine.

[Noel 4,493]

26 minutes ago, aldridgem said:

 

I did the same Ray.

I think I turned that option off in the FSX days to conserve CPU power and FPS and have had it consistently switched off in P3D. And I dont miss it either.

The other reason I turned it off was it was unrealistic to see cars travel across taxiways/runways in front of an oncoming 747 because the airport scenery at the time could not cope with realistic tunnels that ran underneath the taxiways!

Is it any better in MSFS?

I did the same for all my prior FSX/P3D use, but since I only do dusk to dawn flying in P3D it's a definitely plus to see the road traffic.  Since night flying makes terrain scenery virtually irrelevant I have the usual power-sucking processes dialed way back and I love it:  I can now fly my beloved PMDG 777 into any airport w/ CPU headroom to spare, which means there is ample headroom for road traffic again.  I cope w/ the jerky motion by not looking at it and leaving it to peripheral vision.  This is one of those things I have to scratch my head was left in P3D, yet apparently was never addressed, at $200 a pop no less.  And no clever community mod for it either.

Road traffic in MSFS is much smoother but currently doesn't offer lighting at night, but it's fine during the day.

[DChockey08 299]

Vehicle traffic was always one of those things that was eye-candy that was super immersive and effective in creating a living world but just wayyy too intense on the CPU to turn on at all. 

In MSFS it seems much better in terms of resource usage. It seems as though the traffic is only loaded in very close to the user aircraft, much closer than in P3D. That helps the performance hit. 

[SN737 139]

14 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@Noel, I'm also on v4.5 and turned off road traffic a long time ago. With it on and even set to very modest levels (7%) I was getting a brief stutter every 7 seconds or so. Turns out it was down to that option. I fly daytime almost all the time and to be honest, I don't miss it.

Just another of those long-standing issues in ESP that need sorting out.

Exactly what happens to me in dense scenery airports, even at 5% stutters, as you describe, I turn it off, no stutter whatsoever. I'm on P3Dv5 though

Edited February 11, 2021 by SergioN

[Ray Proudfoot 8,945]

6 minutes ago, SergioN said:

Exactly what happens to me in dense scenery airports, even at 5% stutters, as you describe, I turn it off, no stutter whatsoever. I'm on P3Dv5 though

The fault lies in the underlying engine - ESP - that forms the basis for FSX and all versions of P3D. Don’t hold your breath It will ever be fixed.

[SN737 139]

13 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The fault lies in the underlying engine - ESP - that forms the basis for FSX and all versions of P3D. Don’t hold your breath It will ever be fixed.

I agree!

[rob0203 689]

I didn’t turn it on but in the changelog for Prepar3d V5 it says:

• Improved road traffic performance 

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by rob0203

[d.tsakiris 418]

7 hours ago, rob0203 said:

I didn’t turn it on but in the changelog for Prepar3d V5 it says:

• Improved road traffic performance 

 

Yes, I can confirm that turning road traffic way up in V5 has almost no FPS impact (and the test was in SFO). No comparison with older versions.

[Christopher Low 5,352]

I always disable general road traffic in P3D. I have never considered it to be anywhere near realistic. Exceptions to this rule are customised traffic in a handful of addons. The best example that I use is FlyTampa Amsterdam Schiphol, where the freeway traffic has been carefully modelled to accurately follow slight rises and falls in the terrain/tunnels etc.

[Rogen 1,087]

I edited the traffic XML to reduce the speed those cars and Truck traverse the roads / highways / motorways.

It's an acceptable workaround provided you don't get too close.

Also helps if you can run at 60 fps vsync'd.

Cheers

[Noel 4,493]

8 hours ago, d.tsakiris said:

Yes, I can confirm that turning road traffic way up in V5 has almost no FPS impact (and the test was in SFO). No comparison with older versions.

Did they solve the herky jerky animation as well?

[d.tsakiris 418]

59 minutes ago, Noel said:

Did they solve the herky jerky animation as well?

Well, if you are referring to the sudden changes of direction and attitude while “driving“ along the roads, then no, I don't think so. But this isn't a traffic simulator...