FS2004 severe frame rate fluctuations

Hello, this is my first time on the Flight sim.com forums. And yes despite my name I do use fs2004 still. In May I built a new PC (see specs below) to upgrade from my previous old laptop for FPS. That laptop got 25-30 FPS mostly, but I decided I would get a new PC to boost from that. This new PC achives 80 maximum and 45 average. For some reason during a flight about 2 hours into a flight the FPS will begin to bounce between 15 FPS to 60 making the sim unplayable for the most part. I have looked around on the forum and found various solitons but non seem to work sadly.

I'd be grateful for any support

Thanks

FC

PC specs:

Intel I3 6100 (Hyper threaded, 3.7 Ghz)

AMD Radeon R7 360 2GB GDDR5

8GB DDR4 2133mhz

SSHHD 1TB (hybrid of SSD/HD)

Need input. Where you flying from/to? Where did this occur precisely? Were there any AI aircraft in the vicinity? Was the area near any add-on scenery?

As a sidelight ..... there are many places on my machine that I can go from 60 to 15 fps whenever there is heavy AI traffic in the area and/or in a complex scenery environment. Personally, I don't consider that a situation that makes the sim "unplayable" .... but that is just me.

Hello, this is my first time on the Flight sim.com forums. And yes despite my name I do use fs2004 still.

Welcome and we all do, it's better! :D

I would try locking your fps at say 25 or 30, see if you get any fluctuations and go from there.

Your problem sounds like what I call "the flight sim experience". :pilot:

We've all been there- get a new computer and dress it up a bit thinking we've finally got the ideal rig. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Bruce Artwick and Bill Gates are chuckling somewhere. :rolleyes:

The truth is that FS has been placing heavy loads on CPU's and operating systems since, well, FS5 for DOS. Whether or not we'll admit it, I'm sure we've all been in the same territory.

Getting serious, what you describe sounds a LOT like the basic Windows Memory Leak issue. FS grabs on to a chunk of memory and then Windows won't take it back so FS grabs more memory, etc, etc.

Your hardware is close to mine (I haven't committed to a GPU yet) but you didn't mention which version of Windows you're running. From my experience so far, Win10 seems to be more immune to memory leak.

The post saying to lock your frame rate around 30 sounds like a good plan. You'll also need to balance your expectations based on aircraft and scenery you've installed. We, as a group, are notorious for stuffing 30 pounds of stuff into a five pound bag. :pilot: You may also want to play around with your display resolution, I'm sticking with 1080p for the foreseeable future.

FWIW, I'm running 64 bit Win 10 and FS2002 on an i3 system. I'm sure I've beaten the FS experience this time! Mu-ah-ha-ha-ha-ha...... Oh, who am I kidding? It'll lock up on me eventually.. :p

BTW, I forgot to mention this-

Assuming you're running a version that supports the Windows Task Manager (the one with the display option that shows running graphs monitoring each CPU core and RAM usage) try using it to see where things are gumming up.

-Start FS. Load a default plane, not a downloaded one. Go to an airport where you haven't added scenery.

- Hit and put FS into windowed mode. Make sure FS isn't paused.

- Start Task Manager. Get to the graphs showing CPU and RAM usage. Again, make sure FS isn't paused.

- Keeping an eye on Task Manager, taxi around the airport for a while. Get a feel for what the T. M. graphs are doing. Usage levels, spikes, etc.

Use this T. M. "run" as a baseline.

- Now, load up a "busy" airport. Taxi around again and look for differences in the T. M. graphs. On modern systems, you really shouldn't see much of a change. Go back to the first airport and load up your most complicated downloaded aircraft. Taxi around again and keep watching those graphs. You should start to notice some patterns.

If the graphs stay stable and low, you've probably got a display/GPU issue. You could try throwing more hardware at it or turning down some display options.

If the T. M. memory graphs are running at the high end or spiking high most of the time, you could add another 8 Gig of RAM (assuming you run a 64 bit version of Windows, 32 bit limits you to a max of 8 Gig) or, again, turning down some display and scenery options (including add-on cloud effects). Keep in mind with adding RAM, eventually you'll have to pay the piper. More RAM will require more (stable) power and longer access times.

If the CPU graphs start to go high and then stay high, you may have a heat issue on your mother board or GPU. Throwing hardware at this kind of problem isn't the no-brainer it used to be. While a higher capacity power supply and heat sink might solve the problem in the short-term, it really isn't solving the bigger problem that will lower the lifespan of your computer, namely there are chips in your system getting hot enough to cause a drop in performance. Trying to cool that is like turning on an air conditioner in a burning house, you really aren't fixing anything. :rolleyes:

Hi guys, thanks for the replies

I currently operate Windows 7 pro 64 but. I think it probably be a memory leak as it only will happen later on in a flight. Also, I have only flown the CS 757 on any longer flights so I wonder if the issue could relate as I have seen some issues with the CS 757 and FPS drops. Thanks Bob I will also try your methord mentioned and have a see at what happens. it's probably me and the idea of the FS experince you mentioned!

Thanks :pilot:

FC

To be clear, I'm not knocking highly detailed aircraft or scenery. Just expect to take a hit somewhere when you crank up the detail levels. ;)

High detail scenery could be the culprit, but a plane with all the bells and whistles will hit your RAM and CPU /GPU as soon as you load it and stay with you for the full duration of the flight.

It could be caused by several other things- a "possible" heat issue on your mother board or GPU, for example, would slow things down over time or something as simple as your anti-virus software running a daily scan (I do NOT recommend turning off A/V software unless your machine is unplugged from the internet) when you don't expect it.

You might also want to check your PC for air flow issues. Has a fan failed or are there dust bunnies inside the case?

What you could try is repeating the flight and let it run past the point where you notice the lag. Does it get better later on or go away? That could point to a scenery complexity issue, for example flying into a highly detailed airport as your destination. Does your computer still run "laggy" after you shut down FS?

Above all, you're not alone. This is an age-old problem we've all dealt with. :pilot:

Hi again,

I regularly clean my PC from dust and the airflow within it seems to be acceptable (1 front intake and a rear exhaust fan). I also play some other simulators and titles and don't seem to experience anything like it in fs after the same time, although again FS is a heavy program and can't be compared for fps! The peculiar thing is I did 2 flights recently, they where both the same route but the 2nd was the return journey, after landing during the fps issue i would park up and shutdown and the fps would return to 45fps. I guess the issue is probably related to 3rd party scenery causing these fps issues.Anyway, I have decided to lock my fps to 40 and it is playable but panning around the VC and exterior is very clunky, I wonder if their is any way to make this smoother?

Thanks :pilot:

FC

Hi there,

This has happened on numerous occasions, the most recent time was from Split in Croatia (freeware 3rd party scenery) to Manchester, England (UK2000 extreme) I was using around 50% AI traffic from World of AI. I used the captainsim 757 and had Smartcars running for my VA. I agree what your saying. 15-60 isn't bad however, panning outside and inside the plane makes it seem very clunky and jagged.I see people play at these fps and it is playable with the panning at a better rate.

Thanks :pilot:

FC

A good place to start would be by running dxtfixerx, if you haven't already:

Name: dxtfixerx.zip

Size: 127,071 Date: 11-27-2014 Downloads: 1,453

FS2004/FSX Utility--DXTFixerX v2.2 This is a tool that fixes the dxt3/dxt5 alpha channel bug in textures, that is unfortunately very common. These buggy textures causes stutters and slow texture loading. The root of the problem is when developers use imagetool to convert a texture with 100% opaque alpha channel to dxt3/dxt5 format. This tool simply and quickly scans your installation and fixes any faulty textures. By Peter Nyman.

Hi,

Yeah I will do that now, Thanks :pilot:

FC

Hey again,

Just scanned and fixed the faulty textures.Quite a few!

Thanks :pilot:

FC

Did it work?

Jim

CYWG