Stuttering in MSFS

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Paul K
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Stuttering in MSFS

Post by Paul K »

For the last week or so, I've been getting increasingly bad stuttering in MSFS, and as of this morning, it is almost unusable. I've been through all the hints and tips on almost every forum i.e. switching off and deleting rolling cache, deleting contents.xml. moving my community folder to a back up, updating graphics driver, trying out everyone's NCP settings, even reducing the in-game settings to minimum. Still stuttering.

I have an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, an RTX 3080ti, and 32Gb RAM - up until now it's been fine. Before I do a re-installation of MSFS, is there anything I might have missed ?

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TSR2
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Re: Stuttering in MSFS

Post by TSR2 »

Hi Paul, do you have OneDrive or Dropbox or such like that automatically syncs your files? If so, try Pausing it before you start.

Deleting the rolling cache isn’t a great idea as it then has to re download the data on the fly, which slows performance.

Also, if you press the windows key + G it should bring up the Xbox game bar overlay which should show you performance data (without using task manager or dev mode) how much CPU is being used?

I’m not particularly familiar with the AMD cpu’s but I think thats a decent one. In which case it may be that your LoD settings are too low and the CPU isn’t being given enough to do.
Ben.:tunes:

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Paul K
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Re: Stuttering in MSFS

Post by Paul K »

Hi Ben, thanks for the response.

Yes, I do have OneDrive, and iCloud too, but they're switched off. I've disabled just about every other process I can think of, too.

Rolling cache - I have a fast internet connection, and so after deleting the rolling cache file, I turned it off completely. I've wound my bandwidth down from 'Unlimited' to 40 Mb/s too, which helped once before (I think).

Xbox game bar - roger, will employ that next time.

Low LOD settings aren't giving my CPU enough to do ... that's a curious notion (to me, anyway). My instinct is that the less the CPU has to do, the better the performance - maybe that logic is too simple. Without taking up too much of your time, could you elaborate on that a bit ?

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Re: Stuttering in MSFS

Post by TSR2 »

It does seem counter intuitive, but if they are too low, the GPU ends up trying to do it, instead of the CPU. Theres a thread on it somewhere. If you have a fast CPU, you can turn the LOD right up.
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Paul K
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Re: Stuttering in MSFS

Post by Paul K »

Hi Ben - I see what you mean. GPU use was at 98% with CPU use around 8-10% - then I increased Terrain LOD up to about 250, and CPU use rose to 20% plus or minus.

I have reset Nvidia control panel Global and MSFS settings to default, and have raised the priority of flightsimulator.exe to 'above normal' in Task Manager (I won't go any higher with that). I restart the PC, and go straight to Steam and MSFS. This seems to have solved the stuttering problem, at least for the first 10 or 15 minutes anyway. I haven't flown any longer than that.

I now need to see if it runs as smoothly with Little Nav Map and PicPick screen-grab software running at the same time.

Do you have any Nvidia control panel settings ( global and MSFS ) that you use and recommend ?

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Re: Stuttering in MSFS

Post by Paul K »

Here's a screencap of me circling Cambridge at about 1000 ft. You can see the X-box performance overlay in the upper right. I think I have the Terrain LOD turned up to 300 here, and though the frame rates are in the 30s, it is smooth and stutter-free - for now!

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Re: Stuttering in MSFS

Post by TSR2 »

Great stuff Paul. The GPU will always be high ish, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the LoD is computed on the CPU when it’s turned up, meaning the graphics card can just do its thing without having to process LOD too. (At least thats how it was explained to me.)

I hate the Nvidia drivers with a passion. I don’t have GeForce experience installed and I uninstalled the physix driver which seemed to be the root of CTD. I either use the default Windows Nvidia driver for the graphics card or the Nvidia studio driver (which is more stable) but without Geforce Experience, Physix or the Audio driver installed. I’m not sure how that would play with VR though.
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Paul K
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Re: Stuttering in MSFS

Post by Paul K »

Yes, I'm thinking of dropping GeForce Experience myself, and going the Guru3D method of installing new drivers. It's what I used on my old computer.
Thanks for the help, Ben. Chats like this add another layer to my meagre comprehension of PC workings. :cheers:

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Paul K
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Re: Stuttering in MSFS

Post by Paul K »

Well, they're back, and now I can't seem to be rid of them for more than a few minutes. Even with rebooting the computer, sometimes things start off okay, but within a few minutes the stuttering starts. Frame rates are fine - into the 50s and 60s at times, but still stuttering. I'm scratching my head - more research, and hope SU 10 in August will sort it out.

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Re: Stuttering in MSFS

Post by TSR2 »

Must admit I’ve never had it, but from whst others have detailed elsewhere I’m convinced its server side (or connection related). Have you tried with photogrammetry off?
Ben.:tunes:

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