Really Bad Frame Rate Problems (Or Something!)

[ChipShop]

I wonder if anyone can help me with this, as it is ruining my whole FSX experience!
Not that long ago (perhaps 6-7 weeks), I started getting 'fatal error has occurred' messages and a resultant game crash/restart at random times, but, during every flight!
I carried out a compatibility check, it turned out that for some reason or other my FSX had decided to run itself in Windows Vista mode; whereas, I am using Windows 8.1! That seemed to have sorted out that problem (I think); however, I now have another seemingly worse problem; in that when I start a flight using even the simplest aircraft that I have, namely Just Flight's Chipmunk; my screens are VERY jumpy and jerky. and when in outside view on the ground, the screen pulses in and out and it is almost impossible to control the aircraft!
Once airborne, the jerkiness reduces a little bit, but certainly not as smooth as it once was!
As mentioned, I run on Windows 8.1; and have ORBX FTX Global Base; EU England/Scotland/Wales installed along with UK2000 VFR Airports for all of the UK.
I have not changed any of my settings at all, from those previously in use!
Also, for the record, I have now updated my ORBX FTX system to all of the new versions with still the same screen problems!

Can anyone offer a solution please, as I'm on the verge of giving up on FSX!!!

ChipShop:banghead:

[CavOk]

I no longer use FSX but I remember a similar problem. Assuming you're using Windows Defender or similar try is. Make sure that all folders used by FSX are excluded from anti virus scans and see if that makes a difference.

[Jafo]

If it's been 6 or 7 weeks....first thing to look at is your Windows Updates history going back to around then.

Uninstall all of them since then and check results.

Only two 'people' can affect your system.....you....and....Redmond.
More often than not...it's Redmond....;)

[ChipShop]

Hi Jafo,

Well, the only thing with regard to FSX that was updated back then was the ORBX Libraries Version 160906, since then the problems seemed to begin!
Having said that, since then the Libraries have been updated again!
Or, do you mean actual Windows Updates?
ChipShop:encouragement:

[DaveB]

Redmond is where Microsoft's HQ is Chipshop;)

ATB
DaveB:)

[Jafo]

Hi Jafo,

Well, the only thing with regard to FSX that was updated back then was the ORBX Libraries Version 160906, since then the problems seemed to begin!
Having said that, since then the Libraries have been updated again!
Or, do you mean actual Windows Updates?
ChipShop:encouragement:

Yes....Microsoft Updates.

[Roger]

If it was a post migration issue then a thread in the ORBX forum suggested this:

Please check the following:

Do you have the latest Orbx Libraries installed? What is the contents of the following file: FSX\ORBX\User Documents\Versions\FTX_AA_ORBXLIBS.txt?
Have you tried deleting your SceneryIndexes folder? It can be found at %programdata%\Microsoft\FSX\SceneryIndexes
Have you tried deleting your Shaders folder? It can be found %localappdata%\Microsoft\FSX\Shaders

[Rudyjo]

When all else fails, run system restore, pick a date a little more than 2 weeks ago and see if it corrects the problem.
You can always set it back to today's date.

[ChipShop]

Thanks for the advice guys, I have a feeling that maybe and only maybe initially the problem was with FSX not running in the correct compatibility for,windows 8, I say that because the clarity of the scenery is nigh on perfect! It's just this jerkiness of movement that's the problem!
I run my FSX using Kostas tweaks, and have rechecked the settings and noticed that some of the values had altered; that may have occurred when I ran the windows compatibility troubleshooter (perhaps I shouldn't have done that); I've now corrected the tweaks and hopefully that sorts out this part of what's happening!

I've been checking posts over on the ORBX FTX forum and see that there are issues with library insertion points being changed since the update to FTX central v3.
I noticed that something didn't quite look right with my airport scenery but couldn't figure out what it was, until that is, when I started next to the airport terminal at my local airport! The buildings etc. were the default ones, and not the UK2000 VFR airfield scenery that I use!
That means the top scenery layers are conflicting with the base layers, if I understand things correctly?
so, when I fire up the computer later on, I'll see about correcting the library insertion points in FTX Central and report back!
Fingers crossed,
ChipShop:encouragement:

[ChipShop]

Well, I've just wasted a whole morning trying to get a smooth running FSX!
I've tweaked and adjusted the cfg. file, it is a little bit better, but I still have very jerky screen movements!
Once airborne the actual aircraft movements are reasonable (pitch,yaw,roll), however actual movement through the air and on the ground, remains stuttery!
At a bit of a loss to know what to do next really!
ChipShop:dejection:

[lownslo]

At a bit of a loss to know what to do next really!

Might try deleting the fsx.cfg and letting the sim build a new one.

Greg

[stansdds]

I used to be a huge fan of applying tweaks to the cfg file, these days, not so much. I have a Core2Quad Q9650 overclocked to 3.8 GHz, 4 GB of DDR2-800 overclocked to 845 MHz, an Nvidia 560Ti SOC video card with 1 GB of VRAM, and I still use 32-bit Windows XP-SP3. Tweaks I added were basically Nick's guide to setting up FSX. Incredibly few tweaks to the cfg file. I did find that using Nvidia Inspector helped to push some of the load off the CPU and onto the video card. But as for tweaking the cfg file, there really is not that much that needs to be done on a quad core system at 4 GHz or better.

FSX can run very well on a great many computers. I agree with Nick when he says that one of the worst things to ever happen to FSX was the introduction of textures larger than 1024x1024. FSX was not really designed for textures any larger, but when people found out that the cfg could be modified and that textures of 2048x2048 and even 4096x4096 could be used, they started making add on scenery and aircraft with massive textures sizes. These massive textures quickly fill the Virtual Address Space (VAS) and put a real strain on computers during the image rendering process.

[ChipShop]

Might try deleting the fsx.cfg and letting the sim build a new one.

Greg


I used to be a huge fan of applying tweaks to the cfg file, these days, not so much. I have a Core2Quad Q9650 overclocked to 3.8 GHz, 4 GB of DDR2-800 overclocked to 845 MHz, an Nvidia 560Ti SOC video card with 1 GB of VRAM, and I still use 32-bit Windows XP-SP3. Tweaks I added were basically Nick's guide to setting up FSX. Incredibly few tweaks to the cfg file. I did find that using Nvidia Inspector helped to push some of the load off the CPU and onto the video card. But as for tweaking the cfg file, there really is not that much that needs to be done on a quad core system at 4 GHz or better.

FSX can run very well on a great many computers. I agree with Nick when he says that one of the worst things to ever happen to FSX was the introduction of textures larger than 1024x1024. FSX was not really designed for textures any larger, but when people found out that the cfg could be modified and that textures of 2048x2048 and even 4096x4096 could be used, they started making add on scenery and aircraft with massive textures sizes. These massive textures quickly fill the Virtual Address Space (VAS) and put a real strain on computers during the image rendering process.

Hi Greg,

If I did delete the fsx cfg. what would that do?


Yes stansdds, I see what you mean; so perhaps some further settings adjustments?

I'll consider any help, and act on what would be best for my FSX; it IS simply a matter of the stuttering/jumpiness now, as the clarity of scenery and aircraft etc., are fine!

ChipShop:encouragement:

[RobM]

Deleting the fsx.cfg will cause FSX to rebuild it as vanilla default, so any tweaks you did would be gone. Resetting your .cfg like that can
sometimes help. But you do lose all your previously done permissions, so you would have to do them over again when you select an
aircraft or scenery.

I don't know if I can offer much help, but maybe just to tick off a few items:

(1) Do you have that line HIGHMEMFIX=1 in your fsx.cfg file? Everyone generally agrees this is needed, regardless of what other tweaks you've
done to your .cfg file. From personal experience, not having it can cause bad stutters.

(2) Do you get the stutterfest everywhere in the world, or just in the UK? I ask because your heavy duty scenery (Orbx and VFR 2000 Airports)
are in the UK. Elsewhere in the world, you only have FTX Global scenery and default FSX. If it's only in the UK, that would narrow done the problem.

(3) Re your Orbx sceneries, are you still on Central2, or have changed over to Central3 yet? If you're on Central3 and have an Orbxdirect account,
then on the off chance it might be an Orbx problem, go to Orbxdirect Support, manually download the newest library, and install the library as
administrator. Again, do this only if you already have Central3. Reinstalling the Orbx Libraries has fixed lots of Orbx problems for me in the past.
If the problem is not with Orbx, then no harm done. But after running the library, you may have to reset your FTX insertion points in Central3.

I don't know if any of this is any help at all, just some suggestions.

Thanks - Rob

[ChipShop]

Hi Rob,
Many thanks for your input, in answer:-
1/ Yes, Highmemfix=1 is in place.
2/ I generally only fly in the UK, but, I'll give flying elsewhere a try and report back on that one!
3/ Yes to FTX Central 3, and all libraries are up to date.
thanks again mate,
ChipShop

[ChipShop]

Hi Rob,

Well, I've tried the most basic default flight I could think of and it's exactly the same problem!
I chose a default aircraft as well DH Beaver; when near the ground jumpiness and stuttering becomes more pronounced (bl**dy awful to be precise!):banghead:
It makes me want to uninstall FSX altogether; hassle like this isn't what I came to flight simulation for! Grrrrrrr!:dizzy:
ChipShop

[DaveB]

Chippie..

Is there still a function in FTX Central to return to default.. thereby temporarily removing ORBX sceneries? If so, return to default and try your low and slow flight again. While this won't fix anything.. it may help rule out what's causing your stutters.
ATB
DaveB:)

[Jafo]

Just wondering here....did you uninstall the MS updates?
If you didn't bother....the chances are you're wasting your time trying to find something else that didn't actually change.

[Wim]

Chippie..

Is there still a function in FTX Central to return to default.. thereby temporarily removing ORBX sceneries? If so, return to default and try your low and slow flight again. While this won't fix anything.. it may help rule out what's causing your stutters.
ATB
DaveB:)

A simple way is to uncheck all orbx and FTX scenery in the scenery library on start-up and see what that brings. Om my system the frame rate rose from around 14fps to 24 fps when Orbx was returned to the default FSX scenery.

Wim

[ChipShop]

Just wondering here....did you uninstall the MS updates?
If you didn't bother....the chances are you're wasting your time trying to find something else that didn't actually change.


A simple way is to uncheck all orbx and FTX scenery in the scenery library on start-up and see what that brings. Om my system the frame rate rose from around 14fps to 24 fps when Orbx was returned to the default FSX scenery.

Wim


Jafo; No, I haven't got around to that yet, I thought I'd exhaust the other possibilities first!

Wim; I like the sound of that idea, less drastic than removing files to begin with!

Stand by guys and I'll run it through....................

PS. I really appreciate all the help and advice from everyone, and thank you in advance of a successful outcome (fingers crossed)!

ChipShop:encouragement:

[ChipShop]

Chippie..

Is there still a function in FTX Central to return to default.. thereby temporarily removing ORBX sceneries? If so, return to default and try your low and slow flight again. While this won't fix anything.. it may help rule out what's causing your stutters.
ATB
DaveB:)

Not that I'm aware of Dave; the reply that I got from Nick Cooper was that unless I'd kept a copy of the previous Libraries download, it'd be very difficult to get another copy of THAT version of the scenery library.
Well my install was through FTX Central, which to the best of my knowledge doesn't give the opportunity to save the download!
ChipShop

[ChipShop]

Ok, I've tried running in default mode with ALL add-on scenery disabled and have the same result :- stutter city!

I'll see about the restore to a previous update/time!

ChipShop

[ChipShop]

Tried that too, removed windows updates all the way back to the beginning of October; have run it again in default scenery AND with all add-on scenery and get the same jerky movement of the background!
So, not ORBX; not Windows updates and not too much scenery!
What on earth is going on?
ChipShop:banghead:

[Roger]

Did this happen after ORBX migration? If so have you tried 2 & 3 in post #7 below?

[ChipShop]

Did this happen after ORBX migration? If so have you tried 2 & 3 in post #7 below?
Hi Roger,
Yes, long afterwards. It's certainly not a migration problem; for the record, I did a forced migration via FTX Central before I came to SoH for help!
ChipShop

[vortex]

Have you tried looking in Task Manager, Details when FSX is running to see if anything is using up CPU time or resources?

[ChipShop]

Hi, I ran the task manager while in game and it showed:-

CPU 28.6% 2.18Ghz 1,062.1 Mb Memory

Then Utilization 29% 2.20Ghz Process 6.4 Threads921 Handles 34911

Does that help?

ChipShop

[gaab]

Hi, I ran the task manager while in game and it showed:-

CPU 28.6% 2.18Ghz 1,062.1 Mb Memory

Then Utilization 29% 2.20Ghz Process 6.4 Threads921 Handles 34911

Does that help?

ChipShop

Looks like FSX is using a single core out of 4.

Check FSX.cfg for Affinitymask - just comment it if found, to see if this fixes your problem.

[JOBSCHEDULER]
AffinityMask=

You can also use Task Manager to set the affinity and priority while FSX is running to verify. But it only lasts for that session.

Gérard

[ChipShop]

Hi Gerard,

Affinity Mask = 14

However, when I ran the task manager with FSX running and it shows that CPUs 0 and 1 were in use but 2, 3 and 4 were parked!

I've deleted the cfg. file again and started with default settings and gradually added in settings to get back something like normal; however, the screen isn't stable at all, jittery and jerky movements still unfortunately!
FSX is the only sim that I'm having problems with:- IL-2 CloD; RoF both work perfectly, on this same system!

ChipShop

[shaggy]

This happend to me after an update to my videocard. I run an GTX1070 .
I had to wait until Nvidia released a new update to the card and after that I was back to normal. Also make sure that vertical sync is on in the Nvidia control panel. " If you use Nvidia of course"

[ChipShop]

Guys, thanks for all your kind help; but, it just isn't happening! Therefore, I've decided to take the plunge and go for a complete reinstall! Well away from the default location this time!
ChipShop:loyal:

[ChipShop]

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44428&stc=1http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44429&stc=1http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44430&stc=1http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44431&stc=1
Not that it will change my decision to do a complete reinstall; but, this sequence of 4 screenshots illustrate, that from a single view point how the screen is jerking in and out without me changing position or anything. So much so, (and I know this aircraft is a huge one) that it doesn't allow normal functions like turning on nav. lights; proper start up of engines and the like, all very frustrating!
Still re-install here we come!
ChipShop

[ChipShop]

Hi Guys,
I thought it only fair to anyone with a similar problem; who is reading this thread, in the hope of some help and guidance!
My conclusion to this problem was rather drastic, but necessary!
A complete reinstall of FSX and it's mods!
I very soon discovered that my whole FSX system was clogged up with all sorts of clutter and bits left behind from uninstalled mods and add ons! Furthermore, my new install of FSX was directed to a totally different drive, well away from the default C:\ x86 path!
I now have a useable FSX and am enjoying FSX once more!
ChipShop :encouragement: