MSFS2024 drops from 70-75 FPS to 10-13 after ALT+TAB — any fix? "Limited by rdrthread"

User Support Hub Install, Performance & Graphics
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Hey everyone,
I’ve been experiencing a really strange performance issue in MSFS (2024):

  • When I load into a flight PMDG 772/Fenix A320 in LIPZ, LOWW or some other scenery (actually nevermind, it happens also with default sceneries), everything runs smoothly at 70-75 FPS on Ultra settings 1440p.
  • But the moment I press ALT+TAB to switch to another window (browser, Navigraph charts, doesn’t matter), and then go back to MSFS, the FPS drop to 10–13 and never recovers, also in devtools FPS i see it’s limited by rdrthread.
  • Doesn’t matter if I wait, switch to windowed/fullscreen, or change resolution. The only way to restore performance is restarting the sim start flight and no Alt-Tab. without switching to another window, all stages, like: pushback, taxi and takeoff very smooth.

Here’s what I’ve already checked or tried:

  • Running in exclusive fullscreen.
  • Disabled NVIDIA overlay (I use the new NVIDIA App), Xbox Game Bar and other overlays.
  • No MSI Afterburner or other third-party overlays running.
  • Disable FXAA in Nvidia Control Panel

System:

  • RTX 4080 Super
  • i7-14700K
  • 64GB DDR5 6400Mhz
  • Windows 11
  • MSFS 2024, MS Store version, SU2 Beta

Has anyone encountered this before? Any workaround or fix would be really appreciated!

UPD (little explanation about conditions):

3 diffferent conditions i have (default KSEA):
These conditions happen randomly without any pattern.

  1. Loading good 60-65fps. After Alt+Tab stil 60-65fps
  2. Loading bad even without touching Alt+Tab - 10-15 fps, nothing help.
  3. Loading good 60-65fps, after Alt+Tab 10-15 fps.

So it can be like this
1 - restart sim - 1 - restart sim - 2 - restart sim - 3 - restart sim - 2 - restart sim - 2 - restart sim 3

UPD-2:
Also tried reverting from driver 576.28 → to 552.12
Did not help.

UPD-3:
Tried to compare processes and utilization.
Here is comparisation bad to good cases:

r/MicrosoftFlightSim - MSFS drops from 70-75 FPS to 10-13 after ALT+TAB — any fix? "Limited by rdrthread"

So, we have much more CPU usage and RAM usage exactly inside MSFS, not from other program.
Continue investigation…

UPD-4 Hardware tests:

I check my CPU, RAM and GPU stress test and GPU VRAM stress test with Prime95, OCCT and Furmark, and found 0 errors at any hardware.
Next step: rollback from Beta to Release version.
Something happened inside MSFS.

UPD-5 Finally:
Reverting from SU2-Beta (1.4.18.0) to Release (1.3.23.0) - solve the problem.
No fancy terrain from SU2, but stable 50+ fps at any scenery with any aircraft.

So, will wait when they fix it :smiley:

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Could you please attach screenshots of your Nvidia Control Panel settings? It would be really helpful to see:

  • The screenshot from the “Global” tab
  • The screenshot of the profile settings for MSFS 2024

Additionally, if you’ve optimized any settings for MSFS 2024 using the Nvidia app, please include those as well.

3

Hi @Usefff154734 and welcome to the forum !,

Thank you for your post! Your topic has been moved to a sub-category of the User Support Hub

The General Discussion category is meant for discussions that fall outside of our other sub-categories.

If you would like other users to help you with an issue you are experiencing in the sim, consider these User Support Hub categories for your future post:

User Support Hub > Aircraft & Systems
User Support Hub > ATC, Traffic & NAVAIDs
User Support Hub > Crashes (CTDs)
User Support Hub > Hardware & Peripherals
User Support Hub > Install, Performance & Graphics
User Support Hub > Scenery & Airports
User Support Hub > User Interface & Activities
User Support Hub > Virtual Reality (VR)
User Support Hub > Weather & Live Weather
User Support Hub > Miscellaneous

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5

I’ve also seen this issue identified recently for E:D on Win11 24H2. They’ve posted a workaround that I’m not particularly comfortable with doing. But it seems the issue is more widespread than just MSFS2024.
Regards

6

Can you share with me link for this workaround.
Because right now, after SU2 releaset, i made short flight KBOS-CYUL without issues, and then prepare flight KBOS - KSFO, and get 12fps in KBOST instead of 50 on first flight.

7

Hopefully you can read the linked thread in the E:D forum.

Regards

8

It’s worth mentioning that Elite Dangerous is based on DirectX 11 , unlike MSFS 2024 , which uses DirectX 12 . I know what I’m talking about - as someone who’s been playing Elite Dangerous for years, currently the Odyssey expansion.

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I had great performance in SU1, but moving to the beta early on saw my RdrThread spiking to 250+ and my FPS tanking. I reverted to SU1 and the issues went away so I’m satisfied it’s not an addon, driver or similar issue. Since, SU2 has gone live, and the issues I faced have returned.

With FG, I generally see 60-100fps depending on where I am at with no stutters. I’ve run every graphic settings on highest with exception of motion blur which is off. In SU2 when I spawn in I’m facing very low fps and a render thread that is excessive.

Eventually this does go away, but only until I move my camera and then it spikes again. This makes it very difficult to play; infact impossible and very frustrating. I would do anything to just go back to SU1 but I know that’s not possible.

I’m on Windows 11 with 7800X3D and a 4090, 64GB DDR5 RAM. Nvidia drivers updated a couple of days ago.

Having found comfort 2024 was running well for me in SU1, I’ve started to enjoy simming more. I’ve recently purchased new hardware to go along with it to improve my experience, but it’s all useless if the sim can’t run. I’m hopeful I can find a solution.

10

My Alt-Tab worked fine one time in SU3b, and then caused the sim to start crashing again if I switched between the sim and my browser.
Regards

11

I have absolutely same symptoms as you.
“Limited by RDR thread.”

I tried everything.
SU2beta. SU2 release, SU3beta.
Reinstall MSFS.
Clean install of Windows 11 and MSFS.
Deleting nvidia drivers. any Nvidia controlpanel settings.
Definitely EVERYTHING.
I spend more than 1 week for investigation.
For me work only solution is rollback to SU1.
But now it’s gone, and MSFS unplayable even release or beta version.
It 10000% something INSIDE simulator.
All what i can, just wait next patch.

12

Try turning off HAGS.

13

Tried.
Not help

15

But I read in another forum, that you could try to disable any upscaling method and reenable them

16

I now found a solution. You have to disable any Upscaling/Anti Aliasing method like DLSS, FSR, TAA, etc. You can reenable it afterwards. It still has a FPS drop but you go down from 70 FPS to 40/50 FPS, which is acceptable. It goes back to the 70 FPS slowly. I hope that helped! :slight_smile:

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This sounds like the typical issues with borderless window implementation when game loses focus, that happens when you press ALT-Tab. The drop persists until game recovers rendering focus again.

Under Windows settings, go to System → Screen → Graphics. Two of the options there can result in inconsistent FPS:

  • Optimizations for windowed games
  • Variable refresh rate

Try to disable both. Both are meant for compatibility with older DX11 games and therefore do not add anything to DX12 titles, which is FS2024 case. By they way, those settings indeed lead to FPS problems with multimonitor setups or G-sync as well.

I have both off and this leads to no FPS change when focus is at any of my two monitors (my main one is G-sync). You should always see the max possible FPS depending on what has the focus (game rendering or desktop rendering).

Independently from those settings, always remember to click back anywhere inside game window (e.g: the cockpit) to ensure rendering focus was restored to game after you were playing around with the windows or the monitors.

Cheers

18

Anybody find a solution for this? Having same issue with 9800x3d/4090 in su3 beta

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On my Win11 23H2 system I found those settings at:

Settings –> System –> Display –> Graphics –> ‘Change Default Graphics Settings’

I had Variable Refresh Rate ON (because my monitor supports VRR) but I turned it OFF to see what happens. ‘Optimizations for Windowed Games’ was already OFF.

20

I just had this happen, a few times, after connecting 3 screens.

What happens is, sometimes, not always, if I ALT TAB to switch to Navigraph, or Edge, or whatever, instantly the sim goes to like 2 or 3 FPS, and the audio sutters in the same way. The center (main) screen freezes, and the 2 side screens do move but with the very low FPS. It doesn’t recover.

I have a new PC (built in August) and have been in beta testing since September, everything has been running well since SU4.

  • 9800X3D (latest AMD chipset)
  • RTX 5090 (latest driver 591.67)
  • Win 11 Home 25H2 (up to date)
  • ReBar ON (by default)
  • HAGS ON (by default)
  • VRR on (needed)
  • using 4K, TAA @ render scale 80, Max Frames 32, FSR3 Frame Gen x2, Ultra settings with the sim traffic turned off, using Beyond ATC and FSLTL models. No other addons.

The sim runs very well, with the above (admittedly high) settings. Temps are very cool, CPU and GPU utilization are good, etc.

I’m not sure where to look for cause. I tried looking in Event Viewer, but there is nothing there indicating a problem. Google seems to indicate this is not specifically an MSFS issue, but a windows issue of some kind. Microsoft issued a fix for 24H2 a year ago…

I will try:

  • System > Display > Graphics > “Optmizations for Windowed Games” > OFF
  • Gaming > Game Bar > OFF (I use an Xbox controller at the moment, but not game bar)
  • Gaming > Game Mode > OFF (not sure it’s needed)

Will report if the above works or not…

Edit, I have a feeling I know why this happens: When you ALT TAB, Windows draws a live preview icon of each open window, which includes 3 for my 3 MSFS screens, plus Navigraph, BATC, Edge, etc, so it might be a jolt to the system resources. There is an old style of the ALT TAB switcher that just shows application icons instead of live previews of the open window, but requires a registry edit to switch back to that. Maybe I’ll try…

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Try the Windows key instead of Alt+Tab.

Also, for testing purposes
Turn off FSR3 Frame Gen.
Render scale 100.