Bad FPS drops and microstutters

[VeganMobster]

I've written about this before, but unfortunately, despite attempts to address the issue, it hasn't gone away.

 

My gameplay is too often laggy and stuttery. When nothing is happening and I'm in the air, I get 50-60 FPS. But there are some situations where the frame rate suddenly drops to 30 or below:

 

1) Being on the ground (ie. before takeoff) or flying close to the ground, especially buildings

 

2) Air combat involving several planes

 

The FPS drop isn't a huge issue, but it's the stuttering that makes gameplay annoying: the screen freezes for a split second, and then jerks along. It seems to be happening especially when something is loaded onto the screen, but also when there's a lot going on.

 

My specs are in the signature. My GPU driver is up to date, Windows is up to date. I've done spyware and malware scans, as instructed by a professional. I have Razer Game Booster running. 

 

Is anyone else experiencing this?

[Urra]

I've changed this file on my end and it helped. (at least worth a try)

terrain.ini (Found in Drive:\Program Files (x86)\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\graphics)

 

PixelSize=10 //meters

 

LodCount=10

 

 

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

 

It seems on the surface like it loads terrain in smaller chunks and avoids changing terrain quality repeatidly.

Edited December 17, 2014 by roaming_gnome

[VBF-12_Snake9]

Go into your game graphic settings and set your frame lock at 30 or 50. 30 is better if your having these problems. 

 

I'm guessing they are not going to fix this problem, just wait until these ati cards are phased out over time.     I'm looking at next month getting a new card. 

Edited December 18, 2014 by VBF-12Snake9

[DD_Arthur]

 

 I have Razer Game Booster running. 

 

 

 

Try disabling game booster too.

[SYN_Mike77]

About 10 years ago I got involved in a garage game that was being developed by 5 guys (I was the sixth guy on the team, I did some historical research, splash screen writing and testing, loads and loads of testing! - The games were an American civil war series that was picked up first by activision and then paradox - they were the Take Command series Bull Run and @nd Manasas)

anyway, the programer demanded that we all download a utility called "End it All" It easily turns off all the crap running in the background that you don't need. He wanted a clean computer for testing but I quickly discovered that all of my programs run better after running this little ap! I use it to this day.

[VeganMobster]

Thank you for the tips. Locking the FPS at 30 is, I suppose, one option. I tried it, and unfortunately it doesn't get rid of the stuttering (freezes).

 

I've noticed that in some situations in multiplayer mode, disabling the HUD gives at least periodically an extra 10 FPS.

[Dakpilot]

Are some of the people the people experiencing FPS issues running the Steam version? I read somewhere that some had corrupted Steam installations that caused high CPU usage even with Steam running in the background at idle, was solved by a re-install of steam.

Bit of a long shot but maybe a look in that direction may help someone

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[VBF-12_Snake9]

About 10 years ago I got involved in a garage game that was being developed by 5 guys (I was the sixth guy on the team, I did some historical research, splash screen writing and testing, loads and loads of testing! - The games were an American civil war series that was picked up first by activision and then paradox - they were the Take Command series Bull Run and @nd Manasas)

anyway, the programer demanded that we all download a utility called "End it All" It easily turns off all the crap running in the background that you don't need. He wanted a clean computer for testing but I quickly discovered that all of my programs run better after running this little ap! I use it to this day.

I loved that game, being a history buff and what not. WW2 and the civil war are my two greatest intrests. Been to Manasas battle ground twice. I seen where just recently they updated that game. Great work on the game. Again I loved it.

[BlueHeron]

I have the exact same problem as VeganMobster, it's very annoying.  I'm not running the steam version BTW, I pre-purchased from the website.  BTW, specs are below:

 

AMD Phenom II X4 955

ASUS HD6970 (latest video drivers)

8 GB RAM

Windows 7

Edited December 21, 2014 by BlueHeron

[SharpeXB]

I've changed this file on my end and it helped. (at least worth a try)

terrain.ini (Found in Drive:\Program Files (x86)\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\graphics)

 

PixelSize=10 //meters

 

LodCount=10

 

 

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

 

It seems on the surface like it loads terrain in smaller chunks and avoids changing terrain quality repeatidly.

I tried editing this file and I am now crashing 100% of the time even after putting the original one back

[Urra]

I tried editing this file and I am now crashing 100% of the time even after putting the original one back

Sorry to hear that about the original. I would double check for any spelling mistakes in the filename and content first. If that does not work there is thread dedicated to the file change and would search for it under "terrain" where the contents are also listed by others. Pick one of the several examples. I would suggest pasting in their examples instead of mine to see if there was a space or letter omitted.

 

Try here:http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/12501-you-also-think-bos-beautiful-how-about-making-it-absolutly-g/?fromsearch=1

 

PS. I noticed you titled another thread in the forum terrain.cfg instead of terrain.ini

Edited December 21, 2014 by roaming_gnome

[III/JG2Gustav05]

Go into your game graphic settings and set your frame lock at 30 or 50. 30 is better if your having these problems. 

 

I'm guessing they are not going to fix this problem, just wait until these ati cards are phased out over time.     I'm looking at next month getting a new card. 

you mean that using ATI card can cause these micro-stutters?

[VBF-12_Snake9]

Yes, older ati cards have a huge stutter problem that can be sovled by the in game frame limiter.  Been that way for a long time and still is. 

[Zettman]

I've changed this file on my end and it helped. (at least worth a try)

terrain.ini (Found in Drive:\Program Files (x86)\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\graphics)

 

PixelSize=10 //meters

 

LodCount=10

 

 

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

texlod=4096,16

 

It seems on the surface like it loads terrain in smaller chunks and avoids changing terrain quality repeatidly.

 

 

S!

 

You changed your pixelsize to 10. What exactly does it do? Most terrain.ini example I saw on this forum used pixelsize 50. I could not see any difference between pixelsize 50 and 5 as I made a small ingame test.

 

Zettman

[Urra]

S!

 

You changed your pixelsize to 10. What exactly does it do? Most terrain.ini example I saw on this forum used pixelsize 50. I could not see any difference between pixelsize 50 and 5 as I made a small ingame test.

 

Zettman

I've also changed that value from .001 to 20000 and have not seen too much change also. That 10 value doesn't hurt it though.... If I test it once and get much better framerates, I can come back a few days later and get something lower again doing the same steps. Without a basic unchanging environment its impossible to find out. Although in the end it's frustrating because the crazy jumps in framerates when more planes are close by give me an actual headache after an hour or two of flying and that is what will keep me away from this wonderful Sim more than anything. Goodluck.

[RedeyeStorm]

I am also experiencing frame rate drops when other airplanes come close. It suggests that losding the lods causes a slow down. Two thing I noticed is then altering the terrain.cfg or ini helps some. What also works for me (in solo play) is to press pauze, wait a bit and resume. What helped me the most however is changing the bitrate to low. This suggest that loading sounds of planes coming closer is the culprit. Let me know if this improves the FPS drops on your end or not. It would help me to determine if it is the game or my rig.

 

RedeyeStorm

[361fundahl]

I only get stutter and fps drop when I am close to 3d model like plane and I swing my view very fast.

 

Everything maxed, two gtx680 and i7 3770 with 32gb ram ddr3, 64bit os

[VeganMobster]

Well, now I've even reinstalled Windows to try to solve this performance issue, but gameplay still pretty much sucks. The worst scenarios are multiplayer games on normal servers: many planes around me, a lot going on. The frame rate falls and the jerkiness sets in. This with 'balanced' graphics settings.

 

 

 What helped me the most however is changing the bitrate to low. This suggest that loading sounds of planes coming closer is the culprit. Let me know if this improves the FPS drops on your end or not. It would help me to determine if it is the game or my rig.

 

Thanks for the tip. That did not work for me, though. 

 

 

I probably won't be playing this game very much.

[BlueHeron]

Started getting this issue again after the last few updates.  Is anyone still experiencing micro-stutters?  I get them whether CrossFire is turned on or off.  I've tried reinstalling DirectX as suggested in another post, but to no effect.

 

I get the exact same problem in Rise of Flight but not in any other sims.  

 

Can anyone suggest something else to try?

 

AMD Phenom II X4 955

ASUS HD6970 x2

8 GB RAM

Windows 7

Edited February 29, 2016 by BlueHeron

[BlueHeron]

Update:  it looks like completely removing the second video card fixed most of the stutters.  I still get a little if I quickly look from left to right in the cockpit but that's probably just a general performance issue.

 

At least now the game is playable on the lowest graphic settings.   Until my next video card upgrade!