I mentioned sounds above. Try checking on this setting: settings, recommended settings, sound, 16 bit 96000, or less. If set too high, stutters and sound clicking can possibly result.

On 3/2/2025 at 7:45 PM, Bob Scott said:

Antivirus?

Tried with Defender off and made exclusion for MSFS - no luck unfortunately

On 3/2/2025 at 8:18 PM, sloppysmusic said:

Does it happen with any other games /sims? Check windows updates are NOT allowed to use full bandwidth when checking for and downloading regular updates. Or not check at all for a week. 

3d Mark has a great pc /cpu /gpu test suite that has a free trial version. You could install the free test and let it run to see if it runs smooth or pauses like the sim does. 

Windows automatic indexing used to be a real pc hog. It scans your hard drives and files regular which would slow your work down to snails pace if you had older hard drives (disks not solid state). 

It detects file changes and scans them which would cause havoc if it was doing it with temporary cache files. 

Just some random ideas! 

No I've been playing Squad, Ready or Not, Arma and Assetto Corsa very smooth with zero issues. I have checked the windows update thing off with no success. I will attempt the 3D mark and report back thank you sir. I have checked the auto indexing and things with another gentleman seemed still happening. Many thanks I do the 3D mark and hope can provide some insight, many blessings! 

20 hours ago, Sonosusto said:

Potentially. Microsoft Defender etc sometimes will turn itself back on, run updates, etc when you already turned it off.

This should be looked into.

Yep made exclusion and it happens if I turn Defender off then immediately launch sim, plus not happening at all even on other cpu intensive games such as squad, thanks for the comment though sir I appreciate it blessings 

19 hours ago, Noel said:

What version of Windows?  Win 11 version 24H2 caused persistent audio/video cutouts for me and some others and thankfully I had a clone well before 24H2 auto installed itself.  So installed the clone which was 23H2, and all became well again.  I had to do some regedits to prevent 24H2 from installing itself as I have Win 11 Home, which does not include group policy editor which would let you do this w/o the reg hack.

Windows 10 22H2, tried with prev update no change unfortunately 😞 
 

18 hours ago, Funky D said:

You can try the program LatencyMon. It's made for testing a machine for realtime audio recording, but can also be helpful just to see what may be spiking the CPU. Just run it with the sim and other programs closed and see if you get a latency spike that matches the timing of the stutters in the sim. It will list the file/process that causes any spikes, and usually a quick Google search will tell you what the file is related to.

Running LatnecyMon gives me a "Conclusion: Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts. Looking at the "Highest measured interrupt to process latency" bar along with the others shown, I don't see any spikes or major fluctuations 😞 

 

14 hours ago, Rusty Spanner said:

Good point, and probably at least partly responsible for millions of dollars spent on hardware and countless hours tweaking and fiddling.

 

I wonder if using current hardware on a very old version of the sim could achieve that elusive goal?, I remember some discussion after a some years of FSX being in circulation that the latest hardware could run the old sim perfectly, iirc the answer was no.

While I do appreciate the sims can always stutter, I have previously flown with fantastic results, smooth and just the odd stutter coming to land at major city etc. This is a very consistent *cluster* of stutters that continually repeat in the same pattern regardless of situation. Min settings and sitting still in the default 152? Big cluster of stutters every 30-60 seconds.

12 hours ago, Paladin2005 said:

If you use an AMD CPU

- have you disabled SVM in Bios?

- Have you disabled IOMMU in Bios?

 

Had all 30-40 secs stutters, sound problems, low fps. With both disabled, problem gone.

The last Windows update changed something in the way virtual machines are utilised, and MSFS somehow has a touch to it.

Mine are off, thank you for the comment anyway sir! This is a very tough nut to crack it seems, blessings to you! 

11 hours ago, cianpars said:

Reinstalling my older audio drivers from disk helped with my stutters.  Unfortunately windows keeps updating them even though its set to install only when i tell it too 

Tried with no luck unfortunately 😞

3 hours ago, Fielder said:

I mentioned sounds above. Try checking on this setting: settings, recommended settings, sound, 16 bit 96000, or less. If set too high, stutters and sound clicking can possibly result.

Will look into and report back, many blessings! 





So folks, I am much thinking maybe to reinstall Windows at this point is the solution but that would be a very big effort and I am working a lot. We know it happens only in MSFS, on a completely fresh install, yet I am getting such a consistent stutter surely there's a culprit? I'm trying to think what telemetry could be easily set up to monitor while I use the sim, in dev mode it shows a big thin blue line spike upon each one, I believe this represents the mainthread. I have hwinfo64, hwmonitor etc but they are very confusing to for me to really see what's going on as much as I try, my eyes aren't the best. I have made a significant troubleshooting solo effort before coming here and I'm so grateful to all the help so far! If anybody could perhaps point in the direction like if we say hypothetically a windows reinstall would fix, what's it actually changing to get rid of the stutter if that makes sense, like can we via telemetry apps isolate and find the problem I wonder. Any recommendations I'm all ears and very very appreciative. God bless all! 

47 minutes ago, WesleySnipez064 said:

Tried with Defender off and made exclusion for MSFS - no luck unfortunately

No I've been playing Squad, Ready or Not, Arma and Assetto Corsa very smooth with zero issues. I have checked the windows update thing off with no success. I will attempt the 3D mark and report back thank you sir. I have checked the auto indexing and things with another gentleman seemed still happening. Many thanks I do the 3D mark and hope can provide some insight, many blessings! 

Yep made exclusion and it happens if I turn Defender off then immediately launch sim, plus not happening at all even on other cpu intensive games such as squad, thanks for the comment though sir I appreciate it blessings 

Windows 10 22H2, tried with prev update no change unfortunately 😞 
 

Running LatnecyMon gives me a "Conclusion: Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts. Looking at the "Highest measured interrupt to process latency" bar along with the others shown, I don't see any spikes or major fluctuations 😞 

 

While I do appreciate the sims can always stutter, I have previously flown with fantastic results, smooth and just the odd stutter coming to land at major city etc. This is a very consistent *cluster* of stutters that continually repeat in the same pattern regardless of situation. Min settings and sitting still in the default 152? Big cluster of stutters every 30-60 seconds.

Mine are off, thank you for the comment anyway sir! This is a very tough nut to crack it seems, blessings to you! 

Tried with no luck unfortunately 😞

Will look into and report back, many blessings! 





So folks, I am much thinking maybe to reinstall Windows at this point is the solution but that would be a very big effort and I am working a lot. We know it happens only in MSFS, on a completely fresh install, yet I am getting such a consistent stutter surely there's a culprit? I'm trying to think what telemetry could be easily set up to monitor while I use the sim, in dev mode it shows a big thin blue line spike upon each one, I believe this represents the mainthread. I have hwinfo64, hwmonitor etc but they are very confusing to for me to really see what's going on as much as I try, my eyes aren't the best. I have made a significant troubleshooting solo effort before coming here and I'm so grateful to all the help so far! If anybody could perhaps point in the direction like if we say hypothetically a windows reinstall would fix, what's it actually changing to get rid of the stutter if that makes sense, like can we via telemetry apps isolate and find the problem I wonder. Any recommendations I'm all ears and very very appreciative. God bless all! 

It appears to even be happening in the MSFS menus folks, I have previously been quickly loading into a flight, the odd stutter but whatever, now I play around with the globe , fine for 30-60 seconds then bang 3-4 big stutters, exact pattern as when in flight. Bizarre guys

54 minutes ago, WesleySnipez064 said:

Tried with Defender off and made exclusion for MSFS - no luck unfortunately

No I've been playing Squad, Ready or Not, Arma and Assetto Corsa very smooth with zero issues. I have checked the windows update thing off with no success. I will attempt the 3D mark and report back thank you sir. I have checked the auto indexing and things with another gentleman seemed still happening. Many thanks I do the 3D mark and hope can provide some insight, many blessings! 

Yep made exclusion and it happens if I turn Defender off then immediately launch sim, plus not happening at all even on other cpu intensive games such as squad, thanks for the comment though sir I appreciate it blessings 

Windows 10 22H2, tried with prev update no change unfortunately 😞 
 

Running LatnecyMon gives me a "Conclusion: Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts. Looking at the "Highest measured interrupt to process latency" bar along with the others shown, I don't see any spikes or major fluctuations 😞 

 

While I do appreciate the sims can always stutter, I have previously flown with fantastic results, smooth and just the odd stutter coming to land at major city etc. This is a very consistent *cluster* of stutters that continually repeat in the same pattern regardless of situation. Min settings and sitting still in the default 152? Big cluster of stutters every 30-60 seconds.

Mine are off, thank you for the comment anyway sir! This is a very tough nut to crack it seems, blessings to you! 

Tried with no luck unfortunately 😞

Will look into and report back, many blessings! 





So folks, I am much thinking maybe to reinstall Windows at this point is the solution but that would be a very big effort and I am working a lot. We know it happens only in MSFS, on a completely fresh install, yet I am getting such a consistent stutter surely there's a culprit? I'm trying to think what telemetry could be easily set up to monitor while I use the sim, in dev mode it shows a big thin blue line spike upon each one, I believe this represents the mainthread. I have hwinfo64, hwmonitor etc but they are very confusing to for me to really see what's going on as much as I try, my eyes aren't the best. I have made a significant troubleshooting solo effort before coming here and I'm so grateful to all the help so far! If anybody could perhaps point in the direction like if we say hypothetically a windows reinstall would fix, what's it actually changing to get rid of the stutter if that makes sense, like can we via telemetry apps isolate and find the problem I wonder. Any recommendations I'm all ears and very very appreciative. God bless all! 

Another update that may provide the key folks, I previously perhaps was being too erratic with my troubleshooting due to my workload, stress and generally chaotic nature at times, I have sat down and used a timer, so far, and I hope I'm not being too hasty with this assessment as it could provide the key, the stutter is appearing every 55 seconds. I have tried 6 times now and it's happened bang on time each time. I also noticed through MSI afterburner that my GPU is clocking down as low as 55mhz upon each stutter - perhaps relevant or perhaps this is normal as if the cpu hitches then the gpu has no workload I'm not too sure. Continuing to test folks, blessings to all! 

I am not very familiar with AMD CPU's, but Intel CPU's definitely don't clock all the way down to 55mhz during game usage, especially if the power plan is set to performance. It could do this if the CPU is throttling... how are your CPU temperatures?

ProcMon was mentioned by others... here is a quick tutorial from Microsoft on how you can use procmon to generate a useful log. You'll want to close out all programs, start up MSFS, and then alt-tab out and run procmon and go back into MSFS. Keep your watch handy and note the exact times the MSFS stutters. After a few times, alt-tab back out and stop procmon, then check the log and look at the entries during the times that the sim stuttered and see if you notice a pattern or some process that is running during those times that is not normally running. I used this method to determine 2020 did not like my bluetooth keyboard. Every time the sim stuttered, it wrote to a registry location that had "BT" in the name. Disconnected my bluetooth keyboard fixed the stuttering for me.

Sometimes a clean reinstall is the best option, but definitely rule out any CPU throttling... it would suck to spend all that time redoing your machine only to find there is a hardware issue.

1 hour ago, WesleySnipez064 said:

Another update that may provide the key folks, I previously perhaps was being too erratic with my troubleshooting due to my workload, stress and generally chaotic nature at times, I have sat down and used a timer, so far, and I hope I'm not being too hasty with this assessment as it could provide the key, the stutter is appearing every 55 seconds. I have tried 6 times now and it's happened bang on time each time. I also noticed through MSI afterburner that my GPU is clocking down as low as 55mhz upon each stutter - perhaps relevant or perhaps this is normal as if the cpu hitches then the gpu has no workload I'm not too sure. Continuing to test folks, blessings to all! 

Check this post, it may help: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/stutter-every-minuted-or-so-but-not-caused-by-settings/599227/25 

Yup.

Now I am noticing 20-40 seconds of peace before getting a 1 to 2 second stutter, with sound static/crackling noise.

Only 2024. Not 2020.

And no, I am not going through hoops, loops and doublescoops trying to find this  particular problem.

This is just aggravating.

This is what I get for pausing flight sim for a while and come back to this.

I wonder if rolling cache has anything to do with this…as great as SSD’s and M.2’s are, they appear to wear down pretty quickly. Check process lasso for any CPU spikes. I was having an issue with SearchIndex.exe causing pauses.

I had a similar problem turned out to be networkdriver for my printer.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/stutter-every-minuted-or-so-but-not-caused-by-settings/599227/28

13 hours ago, Sonosusto said:

with sound static/crackling noise.

Latest Nvidia HD audio driver casued that for me (as I use HDMI arc with soundbar). I fixed it by replacing the HDMI cable. Seems 2024 was super sensitive. 

Long shot but try changing the main thread cpu affinity?  I recently came across running STALKER and it has a bad hitch with Windows and simply moving or removing the main game thread to a different core fixes it 100%.

16 hours ago, Sonosusto said:

Yup.

Now I am noticing 20-40 seconds of peace before getting a 1 to 2 second stutter, with sound static/crackling noise.

Only 2024. Not 2020.

And no, I am not going through hoops, loops and doublescoops trying to find this  particular problem.

This is just aggravating.

This is what I get for pausing flight sim for a while and come back to this.

I also experienced this. Left it paused for an hour, came back and started stuttering every 8 secs. Had to restart my PC in order to get rid of those stutters.

Hi,

Not sure if this is your issue, but I have an AMD 7950X3D CPU on a Gigabyte M/B and just updated the bios to F34a and the Chipset drivers as Gigabyte states the following. 

Notice by the Bios update package: "Please also update AMD Chipset Driver to 7.01.08.129 or later version to improve gaming performance for 2CCD Ryzen 7000 & 9000 CPUs"

Before the updates: 

 

Hello folks after extensive research and troubleshooting, disabling the "SSDP Discovery" has completely solved the stutter. I have no idea why that was not happening before, it's something to do with bluetooth, smart tvs etc, the only thing I can think of is my new bluetooth keyboard (though I don't have bluetooth on my pc, just plugged it in via usb-c, and I use another keyboard for flightsim) perhaps activated this. ChatGPT led me in the right direction after many hours. Thank you so much for all your help here folks such a joy to see a community like this, many blessings! If it's possible for an admin to edit the original post with this, it may help some poor fella who encounters the same thing in the future, as I don't see the option to edit myself. Thank you and god bless all! 

49 minutes ago, WesleySnipez064 said:

Hello folks after extensive research and troubleshooting, disabling the "SSDP Discovery" has completely solved the stutter. I have no idea why that was not happening before, it's something to do with bluetooth, smart tvs etc, the only thing I can think of is my new bluetooth keyboard (though I don't have bluetooth on my pc, just plugged it in via usb-c, and I use another keyboard for flightsim) perhaps activated this. ChatGPT led me in the right direction after many hours. Thank you so much for all your help here folks such a joy to see a community like this, many blessings! If it's possible for an admin to edit the original post with this, it may help some poor fella who encounters the same thing in the future, as I don't see the option to edit myself. Thank you and god bless all! 

that was what i did to solve my problem,