Trying to hunt down FS9 stutters

[CaptKornDog]

Hello all,

Over the past week, I have finally gotten fed up with FS9 microstutters I've been experiencing for quite some time on my relatively new machine. Setting almost all of my FS settings to minimal and still seeing the same stuttering every 5-10 seconds pushed me over the edge for a full reinstall. After installing the bare bones FS9 and 9.1 patch, no stutters existed; I thought I was off to a good start. With defrags and reboots, I was ready for reinstalling my addons. The next item I installed was FSUIPC (the freeware version). Loading FS9, I was surprised the stutters had already come back. These are most notable when I'm taxiing and staring at a taxiway sign, it jumps as it moves by my plane, it's not fluid. Panning around the aircraft in spot view also reveals these stutters, I'll see the sim stutter at least once per revolution around my plane. Looking at the ground below during flight also reveals these stutters, as objects seem to "pop" by under my moving aircraft. Trying to troubleshoot, I removed FSUIPC and rebooted my computer. Reloading FS, the same stutters were gone.

Is there a chance someone might have some insight on any kind of settings within FSUIPC that may be causing this? I literally have no other addons installed at this point, just FS9.1 and FSUIPC. My internal FS9 settings are generally mid-to-high end with FPS locked at 60 FPS (refresh rate of my monitor).

Thanks very much!

K.S. Weber

Private Pilot, ASEL; IA student

i7 975 @ 3.33 GHz|12.00 GB RAM|Win7 Home Premium 64-bit|GTX 570 1280 MB

Beta Tester, FS Kneeboard / Premiere Aviation Apps

[Ian P]

Possibly nothing to do with it, but I get microstutters in FSX if my Samsung printer driver monitor is running in the background.

I can have anything else I like, but that one background process causes stutters.

Might be worth checking what else is running using task manager and killing anything and everything you can?

Ian P.

[Pete Dowson]

Is there a chance someone might have some insight on any kind of settings within FSUIPC that may be causing this? I literally have no other addons installed at this point, just FS9.1 and FSUIPC. My internal FS9 settings are generally mid-to-high end with FPS locked at 60 FPS (refresh rate of my monitor).

I don't know anything in FSUIPC which could cause stutters on its own. Is it a registered copy? Do you have assignments in it? Maybe something you are asking FSUIPC to do is causing some problem with a joystick driver or similar?

You say "every 5-10 seconds", which sounds very odd. This sort of period is usually associated with Networking, where the PC is checking at such intervals for other computer connections. But unless you are also using WideFS there's no Networking in FSUIPC.

Try renaming the FSUIPC.INI file so it uses default settings. If that helps then it'll be a matter of going through the settings in a process of elimination.

Incidentally, I think you are more likely to get smooth fluid operation in more circumstances by setting a more normal frame rate limit, such as 30 (half your monitor refresh rate). 60 sounds a bit too much to maintain constantly on high settings even for FS9 on a recent PC.

Regards

Pete

[CaptKornDog]

Thank you for the replies. I do not have a registered copy of FSUIPC, and no assignments. I am not using WideFS either.

Renaming FSUIPC.ini seemed to have no effect.

Unfortunately, setting 30 FPS does not create a fluid experience at all, it seems that panning around and taxiing around is an even larger series of stutters. 60 has seemed to be ideal for me. Without FSUIPC installed, with the default C172, panning around KSEA, I'm able to maintain between 59 and 60 FPS. With unlimited selected, I can maintain about 110 FPS. Even with my old install, I could consistently see about 50-100 in almost all scenarios (locked at 60 though).

K.S. Weber

Private Pilot, ASEL; IA student

i7 975 @ 3.33 GHz|12.00 GB RAM|Win7 Home Premium 64-bit|GTX 570 1280 MB

Beta Tester, FS Kneeboard / Premiere Aviation Apps

Edited July 14, 2011 by CaptKornDog

[Pete Dowson]

Thank you for the replies. I do not have a registered copy of FSUIPC, and no assignments. I am not using WideFS either.

Hmmm. something very odd is going on then, because with no add-ons or aircraft gauges using FSUIPC, and no settings by you because it is unregistered, it is doing absolutely nothing. I can only surmise that the little extra memory it is using is sufficient to cause some memory management problems in FS. Maybe you have a failing memory chip?

Renaming FSUIPC.ini seemed to have no effect.

Well, of course it wouldn't if you are unregistered, because it would just make another identical default.

Since you appear to have no use for FSUIPC, why are you installing it?

Regards

Pete