Background (Content Manager) downloads can have significant impact on UI performance

Sim Update 15 Beta Install, Performance & Graphics
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1

Have you disabled/removed all your mods and add-ons?

no

Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?

no

Are you using DX11 or DX12?

DX12

Are you using DLSS?

yes

Brief description of the issue:

Today, I received three small updates to World Updates I had installed. I launched the downloads in Content Manager and wanted to proceed with the preparation of my flight. While the updates were downloading and installing, I noticed that UI elements became unresponsive for several seconds at a time, then the UI was sluggish, but usable, and then the UI became unresponsive again. This cycle repeated several times until the Content Manager was done with the three updates. Once the background actions were completed, the UI was no longer sluggish and the sim behaved as expected (no restart was necessary).
I don’t remember background downloads ever having such a massive impact on the rest of the sim.

PC specs and peripheral set up:

Ryzen 9, RTX4090, SSDs (M.2), 64 GB

Just to clarify: not complaining, the issue doesn’t really bother me, but I can see people losing their **** if this wasn’t just a fluke on my system, but a widespread issue, so I chose to document it.

For context: I’m currently quite content with the sim performance. No slow download speeds, no excessive stutter (I fly in VR, so my expectations are kinda low), “normal” (for me) frame rates. (I think there has been some visual degradation, but I chalk that up to Asobo testing and tuning stuff.)

:loudspeaker: For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

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2

FYI, for those who have not gone into Content Manager since the .9 build was released, the 3 updates are:

Beta SU 15 v1.37.9.0-Pic 4 (World Updates)
Beta SU 15 v1.37.9.0-Pic 4 (World Updates)1360×715 51.7 KB

As you can see, Japan & UK are tiny. USA is larger. I’m wondering if the UI issue you experienced was caused when the 753 MB USA file was being decompressed onto your SSD / HDD?

3

Maybe, but that still shouldn’t happen, right? And it hasn’t happened for much larger downloads, the sim was happy to install full world updates in the background without bothering me with UI issues.

Full disclosure: I have an ongoing problem with the TDS GTNXi, that, according to the developer, could be related to “poor SSD performance”. So something could be wrong on my system, but if it is, it hides very well and doesn’t show in benchmarks:
image

Perhaps I should try running MSFS from another SSD, but who’s got the time for experiments like that? In the context of the GTNXi problem, I already went down the rabbit hole and updated and reconfigured the BIOS, updated chipset drivers, ran benchmarks and system tests. Eventually, I just gave up and stopped using the GTNXi.

So, yeah, maybe it’s me.

4

Or maybe it’s not your SSD, nor decompression, but some other gremlin lurking in the shadows… :slightly_frowning_face:
When the next build drops, I’d suggest using the Windows Resource Monitor to monitor your network & SSD to see if anything is causing the UI in MSFS to become unresponsive. Alternatively, you could use Performance Monitor to capture what’s going on on your PC, if you are familiar with that tool.

5

TDS followed up on the issue I had with the GTN, advised me to try the latest version, and the issue seems resolved; it’s unclear what caused it originally, since I was the only customer having that issue, but since the GTN is working perfectly now, it seems logical that it wasn’t lacking SSD performance.

So, yeah, maybe it’s not me. Or, indeed, some other gremlin is haunting my system. :smiley:

Or maybe – DUNN, DUNN, DUNN – my SSD is just TOO FAST for MSFS, maybe the content manager saturates some queue because it doesn’t have to wait for writes to complete, causing the UI not to get its share of the resources. 1st world problems.

In that case, this issue should not be fixed. People complaining will just love to get the response that their UI stuttered because their hardware is just too good.

6

I believe every content manager download has some “post-processing” after being downloaded - perhaps error checking, moving files in to place, compiling WASM(?) … regardless, even if I am in Content Manager doing 1 download at a time, when it finishes, there is a significant freeze for a few seconds or longer. (on Xbox X)

7

Thank you for the clarification, I don’t think I noticed it this bad ever before. Maybe some sluggishness, but I never had the whole UI freeze on me for several seconds.

Maybe I was just lucky and was never interacting with the UI while the post-processing happened. In that case, this is not a regression and should probably be closed by the mods.

Mods, if you feel this is not a regression, fire at will!