Limited by GPU/Micro Stutters

[davidc2]

I have been having a problem with MSFS ever since I've gotten it on my new 1 1/2 year machine, the sim (while in the sim itself, in a plane) will pause for about 1/2 second, every 3 seconds.

 

This occurs if I am using VR, or if I am not using VR at all, no matter what my settings are, the micro stutters still occur.

 

I have installed a new GPU (GTX 3070) have the latest drivers installed. It has improved my VR experience a lot! I went from 15-18 FPS, and am now getting 35-50 FPS in VR. While in drone view, I can swivel my head around, look at everything and usually things are very smooth. Occasionally I may get a blackness in the VR field but only for a second.

 

The micro stutters are still occurring through. Thinking it my be my CPU, I installed the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, had it running while in VR in the sim, no throttling occurred. According to the report, there were no problems.

 

My heat on the CPU is averaging in the 50-70's while in the sim, fans are going etc.

 

I turned on Developer mode, and saw that I was limited by GPU. I could see, every 3 seconds a red spike in the field, the FPS would drop down from 30 to around 20, for a half second, then it was normal.

 

I am including the screenshot.

 

Any suggestions?

 

[JSkorna]

Try flying in Offline Mode and see what happens.

[davidc2]

Try flying in Offline Mode and see what happens.

 

Just tried that. Did not help :(

[tiger1962]

I could see, every 3 seconds a red spike in the field, the FPS would drop down from 30 to around 20, for a half second, then it was normal.

 

I am including the screenshot.

 

Any suggestions?

 

It could be your antivirus and/or firewall that's scanning your MSFS internet connection every 3 seconds.

Try adding your entire MSFS folder to your antivirus and firewall exceptions list.

[davidc2]

It could be your antivirus and/or firewall that's scanning your MSFS internet connection every 3 seconds.

Try adding your entire MSFS folder to your antivirus and firewall exceptions list.

 

Hmm, interesting.

 

Would that be the one in the appdata/local........ (can't think of the exact path, hoping that is enough information for you to answer :D )

[tiger1962]

Hmm, interesting.

 

Would that be the one in the appdata/local........ (can't think of the exact path, hoping that is enough information for you to answer :D )

 

Yep, that's the one:

 

[davidc2]

Found the actual exe file (finally, lol), added it.

 

Added to the exclusion list the entire folder.

 

Did not help at all :(

 

Edit-I have also disabelled all of my mods, and changed to a stock AC (C-172). No change

Edited July 10, 2022 by davidc2

[davidc2]

Well, a took a longer flight and found out that the stutters are still present, but not as "hard" (if that makes sense), the intensity appears to have been reduced.

 

Perhaps excluding in Norton worked better then I had previously thought. Thx Tim!!

 

Still not perfect, but it is a lot better!

[tiger1962]

Glad it helped, David. One other thing to try - lower your FPS limit to 20 as an experiment. If the stutters are gone or almost gone, raise the limit to 30 and test again. The objective is to find the FPS setting which gives the best balance between stutters and smooth visuals for you. For me, it's 20fps and I only get occasional stutters in high detail scenery or in high AI traffic areas.

[davidc2]

Glad it helped, David. One other thing to try - lower your FPS limit to 20 as an experiment. If the stutters are gone or almost gone, raise the limit to 30 and test again. The objective is to find the FPS setting which gives the best balance between stutters and smooth visuals for you. For me, it's 20fps and I only get occasional stutters in high detail scenery or in high AI traffic areas.

 

I gave it a go. 20 FPS did not decrease the stutters, but nothing bad happened either.

[tiger1962]

I gave it a go. 20 FPS did not decrease the stutters, but nothing bad happened either.

 

Well that's good news and progress of a sort - less stress on the system as a whole gives the CPU more time for things like processing sound and other background stuff. Have you overclocked the RTX3070? I can recommend MSI Afterburner: https://www.msi.com/Landing/afterburner/graphics-cards

It has an auto-scan feature which detects the optimum (safe) settings for your GPU, it works perfectly with my humble RTX2060.

[TheFamilyMan]

Try lowering the MSFS graphics Render Scaling to at least 70 if you haven't already. That setting is the #1 VR performance killer if set too high. I use that setting with a rtx 3080 ti and a HP Reverb G2 revised and get very smooth frame rates, driver limited at 44 fps. Edited July 10, 2022 by TheFamilyMan

[davidc2]

Well that's good news and progress of a sort - less stress on the system as a whole gives the CPU more time for things like processing sound and other background stuff. Have you overclocked the RTX3070? I can recommend MSI Afterburner: https://www.msi.com/Landing/afterburner/graphics-cards

It has an auto-scan feature which detects the optimum (safe) settings for your GPU, it works perfectly with my humble RTX2060.

 

Thanks for the link Tim. I did the OC through MSI, no changes to performance stuttering :(

[davidc2]

Try lowering the MSFS graphics Render Scaling to at least 70 if you haven't already. That setting is the #1 VR performance killer if set too high. I use that setting with a rtx 3080 ti and a HP Reverb G2 revised and get very smooth frame rates, driver limited at 44 fps.

 

I lowered it from 80 to 70, took a VR flight around Jacksonville, no changes, still getting the micro stutters. Thanks for the suggestion, it's one I had forgotten to try :)

[rooitou]

Hi David, if you're using TrackIr, you must put that in virus exclusion as well. In fact, I had exactly the same thing a while back which also affected DCS World and yes anti-virus exclusion is definitely step one. But put everything else that run in or hook into MSFS in the exclusion list as well. If you have spam software such as Malwarebytes, that needs to have exclusions also. You need to exclude EVERYTHING that may interfere with the running of these flight sim programs. I typically exclude the whole folder of these programs, not just the single exe files and my micro-stutters are completely gone. Edited July 11, 2022 by rooitou

[davidc2]

Hi David, if you're using TrackIr, you must put that in virus exclusion as well. In fact, I had exactly the same thing a while back which also affected DCS World and yes anti-virus exclusion is definitely step one. But put everything else that run in or hook into MSFS in the exclusion list as well. If you have spam software such as Malwarebytes, that needs to have exclusions also. You need to exclude EVERYTHING that may interfere with the running of these flight sim programs. I typically exclude the whole folder of these programs, not just the single exe files and my micro-stutters are completely gone.

 

Thanks for the information. While I do not have Malwarebytes running, I went ahead and removed a bunch of background apps (ok, not a BUNCH, but some, lol).

 

You got me thinking that perhaps I do have something else in the background that is asking for information every 3 seconds, causing a micro stutter,

 

I took a VR flight last night into Paris (was a night flight) and the stutters were a touch more pronounced, however, it was at night (which is a killer for me in VR), but, it was not as bad as it has been. I am on the right track, just need to figure it out :D

[tiger1962]

If your Reverb G2 has a control panel or something, you should exclude that and any other Reverb software from your antivirus.

[davidc2]

If your Reverb G2 has a control panel or something, you should exclude that and any other Reverb software from your antivirus.

 

I did not install anything when I got my Reverb (just checked my machine again to make sure).

 

I do have OpenXR toolkit, guessing that should be excluded?

[tiger1962]

I do have OpenXR toolkit, guessing that should be excluded?

 

Yes, definitely!

[davidc2]

Well, I found out what was causing some of my major stutters-the 3rd party AC I was flying.

 

The PA-28 Piper from Just Flight. Each and every time I would fly it, I would get (every 3 seconds), a .75 (what I call hard stutter).

 

When I fly the stock AC (C172) I would still get the stutter, but it would be a

"softer" one lasting only .25 seconds

 

Still having problems which I am thinking is part of my CPU problem, but at least I know what AC to avoid (grr, one of my favorites) to get a better flying experience.

[roypaglia]

Glad it helped, David. One other thing to try - lower your FPS limit to 20 as an experiment. If the stutters are gone or almost gone, raise the limit to 30 and test again. The objective is to find the FPS setting which gives the best balance between stutters and smooth visuals for you. For me, it's 20fps and I only get occasional stutters in high detail scenery or in high AI traffic areas.

 

Sorry for David but I am unable to help at all. But just a quick note to Tim. When everyone seems obsessed with fps and get so upset when they do not hit at least 60, it's so refreshing to see someone set it at 20! I've recently got a new pc and it is set at 30. My experience is excellent. Of course now I've put the kiss of death on it!