Momentary Freeze upon Opening Fire on Western Front Map (Lille)

[TG-55Panthercules]

I've been running all my VR tests on the Arras map (without really meaning to - I guess it just comes up first on the map list?), and have finally ended up with some settings that give me some very acceptable results in my test missions.  While fiddling around on my most recent tests I realized that there was another Western Front map now that I hadn't tried, so I just did a couple of runs (using my same QMB mission parameters as for my Arras map-based tests) using the Western Front Spring 1918 map (Lille area).  In general, things looked and ran (per FRAPS) pretty much the same as my previous tests on the Arras map, EXCEPT that the game froze up for about a second or so when I first opened fire.  As always, I  waited for 30-45 seconds after entering the mission screen before unpausing the game, to give it time to load in all the buildings and other objects, and I flew around for a few seconds after unpausing just fine, as I waited for the enemy planes to close the distance and come within range, and everything seemed fine, but as soon as I pressed the fire button things froze for about a second.  After that, the mission proceeded just fine.  FRAP reported FPS results of Avg: 89.921 - Min: 86 - Max: 91 and Avg: 89.558 - Min: 80 - Max: 91 for a couple of 2-minute periods during the missions, which is pretty much the same as it was reporting for my Arras map-based tests, so there didn't seem to be any particular adverse impacts from the WF map in general - just the one momentary freeze.. 

 

Any idea what might be causing this kind of freeze-up?

[BMA_Hellbender]

Hey Panthercules, that sounds like a wierd bug. What are your system specs?

[TG-55Panthercules]

Motherboard:  ASRock Z690-C/D5

CPU: Intel Core i9 12900K

CPU Freq: 5087.56 MHz

Cores: 8P+8E

Threads: 24

RAM Size: 32 GB (2x16GB)

RAM Freq: 4800 MHz (2x2394.1 MHz)

NB Freq: 3591.2 MHz

RAM Timings: 38-38-38-70

GPU:  3090

 

Note - ran a few more tests last night, and this seems to be happening on pretty much every QMB mission I've run on the Western Front Map so far (I've tried 3 different spawn points on the northern part of the map so far). It's happening whether I'm using SteamVR or OpenComposite/OpenXR.   It's probably not helping that the devs for some reason chose to put all the QMB spawn points for many-on-many missions near fairly large cities.  I've tried just waiting 45 seconds or so before unpausing, and even switching to external camera and looking all around during that pre-unpause time to try to make sure all the buildings and things load in, but I'm still getting one or two of these mini-freezes near the beginning of these missions.  I've even tried test-firing my MGs before closing with the enemy, but that doesn't seem to help (sometimes the freezes don't occur upon firing in those instances, but still occur later as I close on the enemy).  Perhaps the AI enemies are using some sort of lag switch ?

 

[EDIT]  I ran 4 or 5 more QMB missions tonight - this time on the southern part of the Western Front map.  Got the same kinds of freezes in the missions near Metz, but not as bad in the ones near Wombley (or whatever the one spawning point not near a big city is called).  It definitely seems to be large town-related, rather than gunfire related as I first thought.  Not sure what else I should try at this point, since waiting and looking around before unpausing doesn't seem to be having much effect.  

 

My video settings are pretty tame/balanced, in order to get acceptable results in VR (and the results seem fine once the initial freezes are over) - a screenshot of those settings is attached hereto, in case there's something lurking there that might be a clue. 

 

 

 Also, my startup.cfg file (minus the user info) is attached hereto if anybody wants to search it for clues.

 

redacted FC startup.cfg.txt

Edited March 7, 2023 by TG-55Panthercules

[BMA_Hellbender]

Can you check if it happens with other modules as well? As in WW2 planes on WW2 maps.

 

I'd play around with your graphics settings a bit, especially with horizon draw distance and Vsync on and off.

[TG-55Panthercules]

Ran a few more test missions, including some on the Kuban map.  My controls are only set up for the simpler WWI birds, so I just flew them on the Kuban map.  Still got same kind of freezes on the Kuban map, again more pronounced in missions that spawned near larger cities than on ones that didn't.  But then I got sidetracked playing around with my graphics settings, because of how bad the Kuban map looked compared to what I was seeing on the Arras and Western front maps.  I realized I really wasn't all that happy with the visual quality in VR that my current settings were giving me, so I've begun running another series of tests to come up with something better.  Once I get a better set of settings, I'll have to explore the freezing issue again (unless maybe it goes away in the process).

 

[EDIT]  Ran several more test QMB missions last night with my newly re-jiggered settings.  Tried several maps (Arras, Western Front, Kuban, Moscow, Rheinland, maybe one other) and they all looked great this time.  Performance seemed solid (see FRAPS results below) and I only had 1 (or maybe 2) little freezes out of all the missions.  I'd prefer none, but at this point I may be ready to just declare victory and stop testing.  Really looking forward to the FC2 release now!

 

2023-03-08 21:24:20 - Il-2
Frames: 5395 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 89.917 - Min: 87 - Max: 91

2023-03-08 21:32:29 - Il-2
Frames: 5384 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 89.733 - Min: 83 - Max: 91

2023-03-08 21:36:01 - Il-2
Frames: 5383 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 89.717 - Min: 82 - Max: 91

2023-03-08 21:54:50 - Il-2
Frames: 5400 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 90.000 - Min: 89 - Max: 91

2023-03-08 22:08:08 - Il-2
Frames: 5401 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 90.017 - Min: 89 - Max: 91

2023-03-08 22:20:30 - Il-2
Frames: 5392 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 89.867 - Min: 84 - Max: 91

Edited March 9, 2023 by TG-55Panthercules

[RNAS10_Mitchell]

I experience this as well.  Don't have VR.  Older 1050ti ,4k, flat screen.  In general, game runs very smooth, mid 40's frame rate, which is totally acceptable for me.  Settings not Ultra, but pretty close.  Game runs very well for the most part, but do get the momentary stutters as mentioned above.  Monitor is vsync version.  Would like to eliminate the stutters, but so far my various adjustments have not been effective.

On 3/7/2023 at 5:35 AM, =IRFC=Hellbender said:

Can you check if it happens with other modules as well? As in WW2 planes on WW2 maps.

 

I'd play around with your graphics settings a bit, especially with horizon draw distance and Vsync on and off.

Will try the horizon distance settings.  Thanks!  Do you know if that just effects the landscape, or it that might also effect aircraft spotting?

[BlitzPig_EL]

That 1050ti is your issue.  Utterly inadequate to push a monitor at 2K, much less 4K.

[RNAS10_Mitchell]

 

3 hours ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

That 1050ti is your issue.  Utterly inadequate to push a monitor at 2K, much less 4K.

Ok, thanks.  The 4k in my post was supposed to be 4 gb ( on the card).    Monitor is 27 inch.  So not a huge number of pixels.

 

Actually plays IL2 pretty well, except for the occasional stutter.  You have any thought on the horizon distance specs as it could relate to aircraft spotting?

 

Power supply is the biggest reason I haven't gotten a better GPU.  PC is getting old , and thinking probably be better off just getting a new PC, then throwing money at upgrades.

Edited March 9, 2023 by RNAS10_Mitchell

[BlitzPig_EL]

If you do get a new machine you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

No idea about spotting vs. horizon draw distance, I just max mine out.  Running a 2070 Super.

[TG-55Panthercules]

Hmm - settings/visual quality have improved somewhat during the last few tests, with no apparent FPS loss per Fraps results.  Things have generally been very smooth and steady with good-looking visuals, BUT I'm still getting random mini-freezes about once every 2nd or 3rd mission.  Last one happened while I was strafing a train, after the main air battle and a balloon kill had gone smoothly.  I think using runway starts rather than air starts above big cities has helped, but now I have even less of a clue as to any possible pattern or cause for these mini-freezes.  

 

My MSFFB2 got here today, so I'll probably unbox it and run a few more test missions with it tomorrow.  Maybe something will sort itself out.