Stuttering whilst panning with TrackIR or Mouse - I want to kill myself...

May 22, 2020

Hey folks,

So I've been following development of IL-2 for years and years. Finally built a decent system that I believe should handle it without too much trouble. I was somewhat annoyed that there is no free demo version of IL-2 BoX just to see how it runs on my machine so after a lot of debating finally paid the full price for Battle of Bodenplatte especially as I was told this is a well optimized game and should run a lot better than DCS, and DCS runs fairly well on my rig.

However after many many hours of testing and searching for answers on many forum threads I am now at a dead end. I think my game runs fairly smoothly when there is no camera movement. So even in external view if the plane is barrel-rolling and the ground is moving underneath it seems really smooth. As soon as I use the mouse externally to pan around I see a distinct stutter as the view starts to establish in it's new position. That is not a game changer for me, in fact I don't care. However I assume I have the same issue when panning inside the cockpit with trackIR and that IS a big deal - it stutters.

I see there's loads of threads on this and they all involve force feedback. In my case I use a Thrustmaster Warthog and do not have FFB. I also disabled that in the game settings just in case. The stutter is present at absolutely any settings - low/ ultra/ whatever. My FPS is pinned at 60 most of the time. I use a 60Hz 4k 38" monitor 3840 x 1600 and have VSync on to avoid screen tearing.

The only setting combination that significantly improved the situation is having BOTH in game VSync set to ON, and Nvidia Control Panel VSync set to on also. If it's one or the other it's terrible. With both of them on it's playable but still far from perfect and honestly ruins the experience. I also have camera smoothness set to 100 and it helps but obviously adds lag. Otherwise I've tried every possible combination of graphics settings and FPS target set to every possible option. Everything has no effect really. Panning camera stutter is always there. Whether the game is on pause or not, doesn't matter.

The following is not my own video but shows perfectly what I am experiencing - it's smoother with both VSync in game and in Nvidia set to ON but still the same idea:

Could somone tell me if there is a solution? I'm exceptionally annoyed that I had to pay full price for a sim I could not have tested out beforehand with a demo version. And I'm fairly certain my computer should be able to run this sim on high settings. Here's my system:

Dell XPS 15 laptop i7 7700HQ (CPU undervolted) using a cooling pad and extra thermal pads & connected to:
eGPU RTX 2080 Super
32GB RAM 2400MHz
EVO 970 m.2 SSD 2TB
38" 4k 60Hz monitor

Edited May 22, 2020 by CommandT

May 22, 2020

1 hour ago, CommandT said:

Hey folks,

So I've been following development of IL-2 for years and years. Finally built a decent system that I believe should handle it without too much trouble. I was somewhat annoyed that there is no free demo version of IL-2 BoX just to see how it runs on my machine so after a lot of debating finally paid the full price for Battle of Bodenplatte especially as I was told this is a well optimized game and should run a lot better than DCS, and DCS runs fairly well on my rig.

However after many many hours of testing and searching for answers on many forum threads I am now at a dead end. I think my game runs fairly smoothly when there is no camera movement. So even in external view if the plane is barrel-rolling and the ground is moving underneath it seems really smooth. As soon as I use the mouse externally to pan around I see a distinct stutter as the view starts to establish in it's new position. That is not a game changer for me, in fact I don't care. However I assume I have the same issue when panning inside the cockpit with trackIR and that IS a big deal - it stutters.

I see there's loads of threads on this and they all involve force feedback. In my case I use a Thrustmaster Warthog and do not have FFB. I also disabled that in the game settings just in case. The stutter is present at absolutely any settings - low/ ultra/ whatever. My FPS is pinned at 60 most of the time. I use a 60Hz 4k 38" monitor 3840 x 1600 and have VSync on to avoid screen tearing.

The only setting combination that significantly improved the situation is having BOTH in game VSync set to ON, and Nvidia Control Panel VSync set to on also. If it's one or the other it's terrible. With both of them on it's playable but still far from perfect and honestly ruins the experience. I also have camera smoothness set to 100 and it helps but obviously adds lag. Otherwise I've tried every possible combination of graphics settings and FPS target set to every possible option. Everything has no effect really. Panning camera stutter is always there. Whether the game is on pause or not, doesn't matter.

The following is not my own video but shows perfectly what I am experiencing - it's smoother with both VSync in game and in Nvidia set to ON but still the same idea:

Could somone tell me if there is a solution? I'm exceptionally annoyed that I had to pay full price for a sim I could not have tested out beforehand with a demo version. And I'm fairly certain my computer should be able to run this sim on high settings. Here's my system:

Dell XPS 15 laptop i7 7700HQ (CPU undervolted) using a cooling pad and extra thermal pads & connected to:
eGPU RTX 2080 Super
32GB RAM 2400MHz
EVO 970 m.2 SSD 2TB
38" 4k 60Hz monitor

If I noticed correctly you are using an external GPU for your laptop, right? So, then make sure your system is running on this external GPU

and not accidentally on the build in GPU.

In your camera settings make sure you do not have the option "cinematic" ticked. See here:

And if you use a 60hz monitor, I'd suggest to turn on the "fullscreen" mode and to cap your FPS to 60. Also enable Vsync in the game,

whereas in the NCP change Vsync to "Use 3D application settings".

Hope, this helps. If not, make a screenshot of your graphic settings of the game.

Cheers

May 22, 2020

16 minutes ago, -=-THERION said:

If I noticed correctly you are using an external GPU for your laptop, right? So, then make sure your system is running on this external GPU

and not accidentally on the build in GPU.

In your camera settings make sure you do not have the option "cinematic" ticked. See here:

And if you use a 60hz monitor, I'd suggest to turn on the "fullscreen" mode and to cap your FPS to 60. Also enable Vsync in the game,

whereas in the NCP change Vsync to "Use 3D application settings".

Hope, this helps. If not, make a screenshot of your graphic settings of the game.

Cheers

I have tried all of the above beforehand. Setting VSync ON in game and "application controlled" in NCP is definitely much much worse. And yes, my eGPU is definitely the one running the game. Fullscreen or not makes no difference really

May 22, 2020

Settings in game?

May 22, 2020

I hate to be that guy - but the issue you have is hardware related.

I have TrackIR 5 and have had it for years. It works flawlessly in this game. To THERION's point - this is an issue with your settings.

Keep in mind that TackIR was not designed for a laptop - even though it may work.

I have no issues with TrackIR stuttering once so ever! Her are some tips that could help you.

and...

May 22, 2020

Guys, the trackIR settings are not the issue. It works absolutely fine in other sims - DCS, War Thunder etc and I've tuned it for each application. Also, as I said my stutter issue also happens when panning with the mouse, so it's not a trackIR issue for sure.

Here are my in game settings, but like I say I can turn everything to low or zero and still have this issue. The game just feels restrained somehow.

BOS settings by Timur Khayrov, on Flickr

May 22, 2020

Your feeling that the game is restrained somehow is probably correct - there is a bottleneck somewhere.

First thing, I would set your dynamic resolution factor to 1. That setting just redraws the game at a lower resolution to keep the frame rate up. I think it actually hurts performance and probably isn't helping you. Your rig is theoretically a beast, it should not need that. It's stuttering rather than lowering the resolution so it may not even be working properly.

I think your problem may be texture loading. When one of the major updates for BoBP came out a while back a ton of people were getting stutters, especially online. The devs implemented a fix to the texture loading cache that mostly solved the problem. But it's clear that the game stutters when trying to load the bigger textures, especially with the new maps and the 4k textures of some of the planes. So if you are trying to run a 4K display off an external GPU then the game may be overwhelming the bandwidth you have between the GPU and the rest of your system.

Just to clarify - you say you have a laptop 'connected to' your RAM and SSD. Do you mean that all that hardware is externally connected to the laptop somehow, or is it onboard?

Also, it would be worth downloading MSI Afterburner or something like that and monitoring your hardware while you play. Maybe something is getting maxed out, causing stutters. When I had stutters it turned out my VRAM and RAM were both getting completely used up, showing the bottleneck. This is unlikely to be the case for you with 32GB of RAM and a beastly card, but its worth it just for info.

Also to clarify, when you say you turned everything down to zero, did you also disable Distant Buildings, SSAO, HDR, and 4k Textures. Some people note stuttering improvements with 4k textures off, and SSAO and HDR take quite a bit of performance so if those were still on even on low you would not be on the real lowest settings. Distant buildings is a performance hog too.

Also set Fullscreen to on, playing in windowed mode used to help with stutters but now it is the reverse.

May 22, 2020

I'm in a similar boat, as I've started experiencing really bad stutters when I go online, to the point that my gunnery is affected; and I wasn't too hot at shooting in the first place.

I noticed this problem after the recent shader patch, but, just a week or so before, I got a 4K monitor and so upped the resolution. There's a chance my issue could be related to that, however in going to 4k I was able to turn off AA so I thought that would help. The thing is, I barely touched IL2 in the time since I got the monitor so don't know the defining point that my performance became so crap.

GPU tweak doesn't seem to show things being maxed out*, but as I look around, especially to the side, at the ground, my view stutters to the point of making me sick. That and the affect on gunnery is making this game unplayable online for me at the moment.

*Updated: Yes it does show my GPU reaching 97% etc.but it doesn't seem to coincide with stuttering.

I've gone though trying many different settings and have got it to how it was before, but only in SP. MP still seems terrible. I'm holding off on a full re-install because that takes at least a day, but fear I may have to just in case that is what is required. What is frustrating is that my FPS are ok (just slightly less than they were pre 4k) and, even if I drop the graphics to the lowest, the stutter is still there.

@CommandT

When I first ever had stutters (way back before moving to 4k, there were two things that really helped:

1) Set Nvidia vsync to 'Fast'

2) Via task manager, set the affinity of Track IR to use just two processors, e.g. CPU 2 and CPU 3

I'm pretty annoyed at myself because I bought the new yaks before realising the game is now not working for me online. But I hope the two things above can help your setup.

Edited May 22, 2020 by deleted@210880

May 22, 2020

2 hours ago, John_Yossarian said:

I'm in a similar boat, as I've started experiencing really bad stutters when I go online, to the point that my gunnery is affected; and I wasn't too hot at shooting in the first place.

I noticed this problem after the recent shader patch, but, just a week or so before, I got a 4K monitor and so upped the resolution. There's a chance my issue could be related to that, however in going to 4k I was able to turn off AA so I thought that would help. The thing is, I barely touched IL2 in the time since I got the monitor so don't know the defining point that my performance became so crap.

GPU tweak doesn't seem to show things being maxed out*, but as I look around, especially to the side, at the ground, my view stutters to the point of making me sick. That and the affect on gunnery is making this game unplayable online for me at the moment.

*Updated: Yes it does show my GPU reaching 97% etc.but it doesn't seem to coincide with stuttering.

I've gone though trying many different settings and have got it to how it was before, but only in SP. MP still seems terrible. I'm holding off on a full re-install because that takes at least a day, but fear I may have to just in case that is what is required. What is frustrating is that my FPS are ok (just slightly less than they were pre 4k) and, even if I drop the graphics to the lowest, the stutter is still there.

@CommandT

When I first ever had stutters (way back before moving to 4k, there were two things that really helped:

1) Set Nvidia vsync to 'Fast'

2) Via task manager, set the affinity of Track IR to use just two processors, e.g. CPU 2 and CPU 3

I'm pretty annoyed at myself because I bought the new yaks before realising the game is now not working for me online. But I hope the two things above can help your setup.

Thanks for the suggestions but unfortunately I can only set VSync ON or OFF, nothing else so ON seems to be the only real way.

How do you set the affenity of trackIR in task manager exactly? I've had a look but can't find that setting exactly.

Haven't tried MP yet so can't comment. I mean I got the SP panning to a point of where it's kind of smooth-ish but it feels really restrained still and just not "fluid" like what I get in DCS or War Thunder with some stuttering here and there. So frustrating, I cannot describe

3 hours ago, RedKestrel said:

Your feeling that the game is restrained somehow is probably correct - there is a bottleneck somewhere.

First thing, I would set your dynamic resolution factor to 1. That setting just redraws the game at a lower resolution to keep the frame rate up. I think it actually hurts performance and probably isn't helping you. Your rig is theoretically a beast, it should not need that. It's stuttering rather than lowering the resolution so it may not even be working properly.

I think your problem may be texture loading. When one of the major updates for BoBP came out a while back a ton of people were getting stutters, especially online. The devs implemented a fix to the texture loading cache that mostly solved the problem. But it's clear that the game stutters when trying to load the bigger textures, especially with the new maps and the 4k textures of some of the planes. So if you are trying to run a 4K display off an external GPU then the game may be overwhelming the bandwidth you have between the GPU and the rest of your system.

Just to clarify - you say you have a laptop 'connected to' your RAM and SSD. Do you mean that all that hardware is externally connected to the laptop somehow, or is it onboard?

Also, it would be worth downloading MSI Afterburner or something like that and monitoring your hardware while you play. Maybe something is getting maxed out, causing stutters. When I had stutters it turned out my VRAM and RAM were both getting completely used up, showing the bottleneck. This is unlikely to be the case for you with 32GB of RAM and a beastly card, but its worth it just for info.

Also to clarify, when you say you turned everything down to zero, did you also disable Distant Buildings, SSAO, HDR, and 4k Textures. Some people note stuttering improvements with 4k textures off, and SSAO and HDR take quite a bit of performance so if those were still on even on low you would not be on the real lowest settings. Distant buildings is a performance hog too.

Also set Fullscreen to on, playing in windowed mode used to help with stutters but now it is the reverse.

Sorry, the SSD is internal inside the laptop itself. I replaced the original.

I think I have MSI actually. Will have to take a look. I feel like the issue is not strictly related to having a lot of load in terms of graphics though. And to answer your question, yes, tried Distant Buildings, SSAO, HDR, and 4k Textures OFF = no effect. Game still feels a bit unreponsive and stuttery. It's at a point where I guess it's playable but not enjoyable. I'm really giving up now. Tried every possible combo and it feels terrible. Going back to DCS I guess...

May 23, 2020

2 hours ago, CommandT said:

Thanks for the suggestions but unfortunately I can only set VSync ON or OFF, nothing else so ON seems to be the only real way.

How do you set the affenity of trackIR in task manager exactly? I've had a look but can't find that setting exactly.

Haven't tried MP yet so can't comment. I mean I got the SP panning to a point of where it's kind of smooth-ish but it feels really restrained still and just not "fluid" like what I get in DCS or War Thunder with some stuttering here and there. So frustrating, I cannot describe

Sorry, the SSD is internal inside the laptop itself. I replaced the original.

I think I have MSI actually. Will have to take a look. I feel like the issue is not strictly related to having a lot of load in terms of graphics though. And to answer your question, yes, tried Distant Buildings, SSAO, HDR, and 4k Textures OFF = no effect. Game still feels a bit unreponsive and stuttery. It's at a point where I guess it's playable but not enjoyable. I'm really giving up now. Tried every possible combo and it feels terrible. Going back to DCS I guess...

I'm sorry its not working out for you. I really think it has to be something with your setup or config or something. Your hardware is all light-years better than mine and I can run the game basically maxed out (albeit on a 1080p display). Your hardware should be good enough to run the game flat out without stuttering, there are guys doing it with the same or worse hardware. The only thing you've got going on that's different is that your GPU is externally mounted.

I would definitely at least try MSI afterburner and see whats going on. The game is great and usually runs pretty well on mid-range hardware as long as you tune the settings.

May 23, 2020

10 hours ago, CommandT said:

How do you set the affenity of trackIR in task manager exactly? I've had a look but can't find that setting exactly.

Open task manager whilst trackir is running

go to 'details' tab

find the trackir process in the list (sort by memory will probably show it near the top)

right click it

select 'set affinity' (5th option down for me)

uncheck all CPUs and try selecting just the last two

Then click OK

Close task manager

NB. You do have to do this each time you run TrackIR but it becomes second nature.

May 23, 2020

I've been doing more checks and think that my new resolution is too high for my system to handle, so putting it midway between the old and new settings on 2560 x 1440 instead seems to stopped the ground juddering when I move my head.

I also yesterday limited my frame rate to 60 in GPU tweak and unlinked Power target and GPU temp target in there as well; my thinking being to try and give the GPU full power at all times.

Edit: Yes definately got my game set up properly again, SP and MP. A lot of testing, starting from every setting on low and a low resolution, but got there in the end.

Edited May 23, 2020 by deleted@210880

May 24, 2020

hey don't know if it helps, but with my settings as per the last post here:

I got a lot smoother experience.

June 17, 2020

I have the same problem but it's nothing new for me.

I'm almost only flying quick missions because they are mainly my testing playground. I've spent almost half of my playtime trying to improve the smoothness of the game.

I have everything maxed out (except for AA, I'm at fxaa 4x on 1080ti 8600k@4.8ghz). The game is beautiful and reportedly running very fast, almost never below 100 fps and around 130 fps most of the time. In solo flights, it's perfectly smooth. In a full dogfight however (16 planes, ground units etc.) it feels like 130 micro stutters per second.

As for the track ir stutter, I have the same problem too. In Elite Dangerous I had a similar problem when running at 144fps (on 144hz freesync monitor). Setting the ingame framerate cap to 120fps totally solved the problem (which matches trackir's report rate 120hz). Looking around with Trackir became perfectly smooth. Unfortunately, the same solution doesn't work for IL2. It's still stuttery no matter where the ingame fps cap is set.

June 17, 2020

I have exactly the same problem. I raised a ticked with support , i am praying. I can't play like this. The smoothing setting in camera options works a bit but not much. All other games are smooth as silk. I really hope they take this seriously and fix this.

June 22, 2020

It appears that Il-2 is creating repeated frames when panning which cause I micro stop-motion. It appears on my system no matter the settings, the lower the FPS cap the more noticable it is.

Setting latency mode to ultra seemed to have improved this, but it still happens. Also, shader cache on produces regular microstutters on my system, you might try to turn it off and see if it helps on yours.

One thing you could do is measure frametimes, with a tool such as CapFrameX. My recordings show that frametimes jump regularly (aka every other frame) between extremely low and quite high in relation to each other. (For example 10ms - 20ms - 10ms - 20ms). The difference is larger the lower the fps cap.

Also I can confirm that Vsync on worsens the problem. (Measurably)

Edited June 22, 2020 by 216th_Jordan

Stuttering whilst panning with TrackIR or Mouse - I want to kill myself...

Recommended Posts

CommandT

THERION

CommandT

THERION

JG7_X-Man

CommandT

RedKestrel

Guest deleted@210880

CommandT

RedKestrel

Guest deleted@210880

Guest deleted@210880

BlackBadger

AristocratPanda

RumHam

216th_Jordan

Please sign in to comment

Browse All

Activity