7 minutes ago, roadrabbit149 said:

To clarify: yes, the sim is loading the sim directly, then after 28 seconds the screen appears asking for aircraft/airport/weather/ date and time. This is the window I refer to as the data entry screen.

It’s always advisable to show the Scenario menu. I have no idea what this second screen is doing. It does sound like the Scenario screen but it shouldn’t show once your inside P3D. That could be part of the problem.

Go into the menu and select “Show Startup screen” or similar wording. Exit and restart P3D and then at the Scebario screen hit OK to load the sim with your chosen aircraft and airport. The F-35 is fine.

9 minutes ago, roadrabbit149 said:

Regarding the N/A entries: these are what is displayed by the <nVidia In Game Overlay> when selected. When I select <Shift-Z> I get the actual readings of around 0.3 fps.

I’d remove that. If you want to monitor performance MSI Afterburner and Riva Tuner SS is recommended.

6 hours ago, roadrabbit149 said:

For more info I used the nVidia Game Overlay to check performance.

This looks suspicious. If you want to boost fps I’d recommend Steam Lossless Generation app. I’m using it successfully with the sim set to 29fps using the RTSS app and x2 in LS to give 58fps. Cost is around £8.

I was only using the nVidia In-Game Overlay to monitor fps in MS2020 (i.e NOT trying to boost performance). I had just not removed the overlay when I ran P3Dv5.4 and I saw the figures. I shall remove it from my next run of P3Dv5.4.

The performance boost app you suggest looks interesting. I shall try it out when I have solved the current problems.

1 hour ago, roadrabbit149 said:

I was only using the nVidia In-Game Overlay to monitor fps in MS2020 (i.e NOT trying to boost performance). I had just not removed the overlay when I ran P3Dv5.4 and I saw the figures. I shall remove it from my next run of P3Dv5.4.

The performance boost app you suggest looks interesting. I shall try it out when I have solved the current problems.

When having problems it’s always best to strip out any non-essentials. Report back without the overlay.

Shift+Z will show fps.

2 hours ago, roadrabbit149 said:

Files deleted for a clean install were four: P3Dv5 Scenery, P3Dv5 Content, P3Dv5 Client and P3Dv5 Professional. There was no 5th file as previously described.

Ah … ok, there are additional folders you will need to delete manually via file explorer for a truly “clean” uninstall AFTER you’ve removed those from Add & Remove Programs.

I’m in the office right now so don’t have the list but will post later tonight unless someone else can provide the list … it’s common knowledge so hoping someone else can chime in.  Some of the folders are under hidden AppData so you’ll need to show hidden folders in file explorer.

Steps:

1.  Add & Remove Programs (Windows OS) and select the 4 entries.

2. Use File Explorer and manually navigate to those 5 other folders that will need to be deleted (list pending)

3. Reboot

4. Re-install P3D V5.4

5. Run P3D V5.4 (it will take a little time to rebuild indexes and the cache files etc.)

6. Don’t change any graphics settings for now, and just go fly with defaults as a “test”

I've had a few instances where the [JobScheduler] entries have screwed themselves up and P3D (v5.3 I'm running) ends up running on a single core.

Result = really slow startup / loading and same in the way of fps, not that this is the OP's issue but just throwing it out there as a point of interest as it can happen.

I also clear compiled .cso shaders (as thousands can build up) and terrain data files as a first step of troubleshooting as they will both rebuild new and fresh when P3D is started.

 

3 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

If you want to boost fps I’d recommend Steam Lossless Generation app.

 

2 hours ago, roadrabbit149 said:

The performance boost app you suggest looks interesting. I shall try it out when I have solved the current problems.

Lossless scaling is a great piece of kit, I use it to achieve a 60 hz vsync or up to 120 fps without vsync, the short vid below shows a 60 Hz vsync, choose one of the YouTube 60fps renders if viewing.

Cheers

 

Well, if you're running MSFS just fine and P3D is giving you sub-zero frame rates and is barely utilizing the CPU and GPU, then something really strange is going on specifically with P3D.  I don't think your hardware is the issue, otherwise you'd have problems with other software as well.

You already did a complete reinstall, so I doubt that your installation is corrupted.

I would disable any and all addons you're using, if any.  

Delete your P3D.cfg file and let P3D build a new one when you run it again.

Then, set all of P3Ds settings at their lowest so you're running a vanilla sim.  Make sure to turn off any anti-aliasing, as I had issues with the TAA, DLSS, and FR2.

Turn off volumetric clouds and dynamic lighting.

Turn off all AI plane traffic, road traffic, and ship traffic.

See what happens.

Dave

 

5 hours ago, dave2013 said:

You already did a complete reinstall

No he didn't, he was missing the manual removal of the following folders:

C:\Users\[YourAccountName]\AppData\Local\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5

C:\Users\[YourAccountName]\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5

C:\Users\[YourAccountName]\Documents\Prepar3D v5 Files

C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5

and the location that Prepar3D v5 was installed ... I believe the default is C:\Program Files\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5

Using Windows Add & Remove programs to uninstall the 4  P3Dv5 Scenery, P3Dv5 Content, P3Dv5 Client and P3Dv5 Professional is NOT enough for a clean uninstall.  Some 3rd party content will place their files in these folders which will prevent 4 uninstallers above from actually removing the Prepar3D v5 folders (P3D doesn't touch files they didn't install so they get left along with folders).

1. Add & Remove programs to uninstall the 4  P3Dv5 Scenery, P3Dv5 Content, P3Dv5 Client and P3Dv5 Professional

2. Delete the above bold face 5 folders.

3.  Install P3D V5

And finally, the Intel® Core™ i9-9900K CPU has a graphics unit (Intel UHD Graphics 630), make sure that is disable in your BIOS/EFI as P3D will sometimes detect it and try to use it by default.

 

Edited February 25, 20251 yr by CO2Neutral

3 hours ago, CO2Neutral said:

And finally, the Intel® Core™ i9-9900K CPU has a graphics unit (Intel UHD Graphics 630), make sure that is disable in your BIOS/EFI as P3D will sometimes detect it and try to use it by default.

Before I do the recommended full uninstall/re-install described (for which many thanks) I opened the BIOS to look for the above Intel graphics unit. I searched everywhere but was unable to do so - exactly where is it?

Gents, if something was wrong in the BIOS it would affect all installed sims. MSFS is fine. P3D isn't.

The problem lies in P3D, not the BIOS.

@roadrabbit149, just disable Nvidia Overlay and start P3D in admin mode. Right-click shortcut and select Run As Administartor.

Also.. Go to nvidia control panel 3d settings and see what settings you are using for msfs then try the same ones on p3d. If it is set globally you could try local and tweak p3d there. If something is to use global setting try app controlled and vice versa. 

Also Windows power plan settings. Are you on a high performance or power save mode? Some software works poorly with all power save modes. You'll need high performance or even extreme (but you'll need to unlock that first) 

Gents All,

Progress at last!

I did the recommended clean re-install procedure and this time I did not enable any of the many add-ons I have when I restarted P3Dv5.4. I also made no alterations to the Scenario window and pressed <OK>.

The result is, using <Shift-Z> to display frame rate, I now have 60.0 +/- fps.

This confirms to me that I have a software glitch in (one of) my add-ons. I shall now add each one individually to try and isolate the faulty add-on(s).

The problem add-on was a corrupted FSUIPC6. Suffice to say that since I re-installed FSUIPC6 the problem has completely disappeared. I am currently sitting in an FSLabs A320 IAE at the Glasgow airport (UK2000 Extreme scenery). having just re-assigned all controls via FSUIPC6. My frame rate continues at a fairly steady 60 fps within a range of 54 to 74 fps

What has amazed me is how the frame rate has not noticeably altered at all, even when adjusting the various graphics settings.

 

Edited February 25, 20251 yr by roadrabbit149

6 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Gents, if something was wrong in the BIOS it would affect all installed sims. MSFS is fine. P3D isn't.

The problem lies in P3D, not the BIOS.

I didn’t say there was a problem in the BIOS?  P3D will find and try to use embedded GPU which can cause issues with extremely low FPS, especially if it’s selected by default.  There was also a known bug in P3D specific to using embedded GPU which caused issues just as described.  One can go to the BIOS to disable the embedded GPU (which should be done anyway regardless) which will ensure that P3D doesn’t find it.

Anyway, I’m glad the “Clean re-install” worked … yes it will remove any and all vestiges of add-ons and the like.

17 minutes ago, CO2Neutral said:

I didn’t say there was a problem in the BIOS?  P3D will find and try to use embedded GPU which can cause issues with extremely low FPS, especially if it’s selected by default.  There was also a known bug in P3D specific to using embedded GPU which caused issues just as described.  One can go to the BIOS to disable the embedded GPU (which should be done anyway regardless) which will ensure that P3D doesn’t find it.

In 20+ years of having PCs and flight sim programs I’ve never known the system to pickup the default graphics rather than a dedicated one. Neither have I ever disabled the default one.

2 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

In 20+ years of having PCs and flight sim programs I’ve never known the system to pickup the default graphics rather than a dedicated one.

So it can’t happen?  Not sure I follow that logic?

 https://prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=235925&hilit=intel+graphics&sid=c659068c0b3f74b38a58ef31bcf1c822#p235925

https://prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=211382&hilit=intel+graphics&sid=c659068c0b3f74b38a58ef31bcf1c822#p211382

BIOS/EFI will typically NOT default to Intel embedded Graphics but that can be set/determine by the BIOS/EFI on PEG or IGD settings.  Most motherboard manufacturers will default to PEG but that’s not a guarantee.

Anyway, it was a possibility so I listed it.  But as you can see my other complete “clean-install” solution resolved the issue.