Performance drop 15-20% after World Update 3 (1.13.16.0)

Bug Reporting Hub Resolved
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102

Seeing as how the MSFS Support desk is now trying to put the onus for poor performance on my computer, here is the complete and UNredacted transcript of communication between me and the SUPPOSED support team. This is a long read.

Request #94054 Persistent Single-Digit FPS

David Schitoskey Today at 15:15

You people need to get you stuff together! NOWHERE is, or was, there any mention of “professional graphics cards” not being supported! It was good enough for me to be selected for Tech Alpha testing. And up until this most recent World Update, everything was performing flawlessly. Also, in regards to my professional graphics card, it uses the SAME GAME READY driver from Nvidia as the complete RTX Series of GPUs. So why is that all of a sudden an issue? As I said, this was all working perfectly until you rolled out that FAULTY World Update. Own your mistakes and make it right! And since when is the Nvidia Quadro P4200 a "Professional Graphics Card? It is probably the most used GPU in laptop computers, however. Your move!

Support Today at 10:12

Hi David,

We are not supporting professional graphics cards like your Nvidia Quadro P4200 so we cannot guarantee that Microsoft Flight Simulator will run properly on your workstation.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards.
Microsoft Flight Simulator Support Team

David Schitoskey Yesterday at 12:48

So, what you are telling me is that I’m a sucker for spending $120 USD on the premium deluxe version that is totally unusable? How long will I have to wait for a fix? This whole thing is absurd.

Support Saturday at 17:39

Hi David,

Thanks again for bringing this matter to our attention. We’re sorry to hear the issue wasn’t resolved after following our guidelines.

This issue has been tracked in our internal bug tracker. Please keep an eye on our future development updates & Patch Notes.

Kind regards,
Microsoft Flight Simulator Support Team

David Schitoskey Saturday at 16:50

Its pretty obvious you people don’t read these complaints! If you had bothered to read, you would know that I literally tried everything you suggested! Try reading before you respond! Do you think I’m stupid or something? Your game is the problem! Try fixing stuff instead of rolling out eye-candy! I had the “perfect sweet spot” for my computer and this sim before you rolled out a bad update. Now, find me a fix that works!

Support Saturday at 13:00

Hi David,

Thanks for contacting Microsoft Flight Simulator Support today. We recommend following the steps below to see if they improve your FPS/performance issues :

Check the System Requirements

A good first step is to check the System Requirements for Microsoft Flight Simulator

My system meets the minimum requirements:
MSFS will run smoothly with lower graphical settings but higher graphical settings will strain your system.

My system meets recommended requirements:
MSFS will run smoothly in the vast majority of cases but specific graphical settings and setup need a more powerful system

Make sure your System is up to date

Please ensure that your Windows 10 version is 1909 or higher and that your system is fully updated.

  • Make sure Windows is up to date:

    • Select Start, then select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for Updates.
    • For more information/troubleshooting, see: Update Windows 10

Make sure all the updates in the Microsoft Store are installed, especially Gaming Services and Xbox Companion app.

  • In the top right-hand side corner of the Microsoft Store, click on the Arrow icon or the three-dot menu > Downloads and updates. Then click “Get updates” > Update all

Note: You can turn on automatic updates in the Microsoft Store to make sure you won’t miss future updates.

  • Select the Start screen, then select Microsoft Store
  • In Microsoft Store at the upper right, select the account menu (the three dots) and then select Settings.
  • Under App updates, set Update apps automatically to On.

Update the drivers of your GPU

Outdated or corrupted drivers can impact the performance of MSFS. We recommend that when trying this step that you completely remove your old drivers before updating to the latest versions. To remove your old drivers and then update to the latest:

  1. Press the Windows Key
  2. Type Add or Remove Program
  3. Scroll down the list and find your graphics driver
  4. Click the driver once and select uninstall. Confirm this by clicking Uninstall again.
  5. Once complete reboot Windows
  6. Download the latest drivers from here:
11. **Nvidia - [Click Here](https://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx)**
12. **AMD - [Click Here](https://www.amd.com/en/support)**
  1. Install to the latest driver and then reboot your PC again

Switching to the dedicated Nvidia GPU

  1. Open the Nvidia Control Panel. One way to do that is right-clicking on an empty space on the desktop and choosing Nvidia Control Panel from the menu.
  2. Navigate to 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings.
  3. Open the tab Program Settings and choose Microsoft Flight Simulator from the dropdown menu.
  4. Next, select the preferred graphics processor for this program from the second dropdown. Your Nvidia GPU should show as High performance Nvidia processor.
  5. Save your changes.

Microsoft Flight Simulator should now run with the dedicated Nvidia GPU.

Switching to the dedicated AMD GPU

  1. Open Radeon Settings. One way to do that is right-clicking on an empty space on the desktop and choosing Radeon Settings from the menu.
  2. Navigate to Preferences > Additional Settings > Power > Switchable Graphics Application Settings.
  3. Select Microsoft Flight Simulator from the list of applications. If it is not in the list, click the Add Application button and select the *.exe-file of MSFS from the MSFS’s installation directory. This adds MSFS to the list and you’ll be able to select it afterwards.
  4. In the column Graphics Settings, assign the High Performance profile to Microsoft Flight Simulator.
  5. Apply your changes.

Microsoft Flight Simulator should now run with the dedicated AMD GPU.

Use Game Mode

When you’re playing games on Windows 10, Game Mode makes gaming your PC’s top priority, so you get the best possible game performance. For more info, see Use Game Mode while gaming on your Windows 10 device.

Increase the Virtual Memory (Pagefile) on your system

  • In the Windows Search bar, type Advanced system settings and open the Control Panel.
  • Make sure you’re on the Advanced tab.
  • Click the Settings button from under the Performance
  • On the Performance Options box, go to the Advanced tab > Performance
  • Click on Settings
  • On the Virtual Memory box, uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives
  • Click to select the drive on which Windows 10 is installed (by default C:)
  • Click to select the Custom size radio button.
  • In the now-enabled fields, type the minimum and maximum size of the Pagefile in megabytes (MB) according to the physical memory present in your computer.
  • Click Set and then click OK.
  • Restart your computer.

Turn off any extra Power monitoring software

Sample of power monitoring software that may cause performance issues:

  • MSI DragonCenter
  • RyzenMaster
  • Gamefast from Dells Killer Control Center
  • Any software installed that may be adjusting or monitoring power settings

Then, make sure that your Power settings are correct.

  • Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options
  • Change to High Performance
  • Perform a Full Shutdown (not restart).

Change the graphics settings

An easy way to boost performance is to tweak graphic settings. To reach those:

  1. Open the MAIN MENU, select OPTIONS

  2. Then click on GENERALS

  3. Under the GRAPHICS tab you will find a wealth of options for you to adjust that may allow you to get better performances

  4. Once done, press F11/click to APPLY & SAVE

Don’t hesitate to experiment with the settings under the Graphics tab: each has a different impact on performance, and you might find the perfect sweet spot for your system by tweaking different settings and testing them.

We remain at your disposal for any further question.

Kind regards,
Microsoft Flight Simulator Support Team

David Schitoskey Saturday at 11:43

I have tried every single piece of advice offered here in our forums - following CptnLucky’s instructions to the letter; I have emptied my community folder of all mods; I have turned every single performance robbing setting either off or down to low; I’ve set every setting to medium; I’ve set everything to high; I’ve min/max’d all settings; I’ve adjusted my Nvidia Control Panel every which way - including loose and footloose; I’ve reset the Nvidia Control Panel back to factory settings; I’ve rolled back Windows updates; I’ve used every single Nvidia driver published during the past 18 months, and absolutely nothing has improved. Before this last world update everything was working perfectly. My flights were buttery smooth - not a single stutter, shudder, or any other aberration. Something has changed in the sim and I can’t correct for it. The only thing I haven’t done is a complete uninstall of MSFS 2020, and then reinstall. I’ve even tried rolling back my computer to a known good state from prior to the UK world update.

My Computer Specs:
Intel Xeon 2.7 GHz., with Automatic OC to 4.0 GHz.
64GB DDR3 SDRAM 2666 MHz
3TB Raid-0 SSD array (3 [all] Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVME M.2 1TB each)
Nvidia Quadro P4200 GPU
1024 Gbps Fiberoptic Internet connection - hardwired. Tried wireless but no change.

103

FWIW the Developers FPS counter is partially broken. It does not go lower than 10 FPS. Anything lower is shown as 10 FPS. FPS < 10 FPS has to be manually calculated.

104

This hardware list for a business-class PC server. The Xeon CPU and the Quadra GPU are not designed to run graphics programs or gaming software no matter the drivers or graphic settings.

The Raid-0 disk array is designed for heavy-duty processing of sequential files typically on a server. MSFS does not have a lot of sequential file processing. The graphics cache is strictly random file processing.

Finally, both CPU and GPU are older technologies. I recommend that you invest in a new gaming PC.

2 Likes
105

you expect topnotch performance with a non game pc…wowsers.

1 Like
106

I had to format my PC and reinstall the FS 2020. I installed it on clean disk, latest version of windows and latest hardware drivers. I thought these procedures may give me a better FPS number. Although I didn’t format my PC for that reason, I avoided installing the UK & Ireland scenery; I was concerning seeing if that scenery was the prime reason for the low FPS issue. It is the same condition I encounter now either with or without this scenery installed which means (as I think) the decrease in the number of FPS is because of the last update not because of the scenery in particular.

107

I don’t expect top notch performance and never have. The whole point is that everything was working fine before the update. Nowhere did I demand or say I expected top notch performance. The best I’ve ever expected was respectable and smooth playability.

3 Likes
108

I’ve reached the same point of absolute frustration - and I went out and bought near enough top notch hardware specifically for MSFS in VR before this latest update.

There was an intermittent performance issue prior to the update and the update has made it occur much more frequently and for more users. It has nothing to do with settings at all.

They’ve rolled out a sloppy broken update without any support in here or on zendesk.

1 Like
109

I’m in total agreement. For me, prior to this latest update I truly was not having any performance issues. I’ve always run the sim on “middle of the road” settings. Performance was quite acceptable and buttery smooth flying. Even with the B787X I had acceptable sim performance. However, now the support team wants to claim my computer isn’t up to the task. I don’t think so!

2 Likes
110

Who (from Asobo/MS) said that?

PS: There is nothing wrong with your setup contrary to what @PacificSet90456 thinks.

1 Like
111

@DronkeyKlong, look at the last response from the support team I received yesterday. And you are right about there being nothing wrong with my computer setup. Because I set up a Raid-0 side array @PacificSet90456 thinks I have a server. It’s a high-end laptop (a Dell Precision Workstation #7760) that is only 1 year old that I purchased from Dell. Nothing about it is old or outdated. Do I sometimes wish I would’ve bought a high-quality desktop gaming machine? Yes. However, at the time I needed a laptop. My computer is used from 3d modeling, graphics creation and editing, as well as video editing. Also, my computer runs X-Plane 11.52 will all settings maxed out, or near maxed, and maintains a rock-steady 45 fps - even over the most graphics intensive sceneries. Why not MSFS at low to moderate settings?

112

Same on my side! For the first time I had to set some of the graphic options to Medium!

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113

I could have written those lines!

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114

Ah, that is just a scripted response. As for the only unscripted answer regarding your GPU, basically they said they havent tested it, but there is no reason a 1080 class prograde GPU would be any less performance than a consumer model.

Also unless you are running at 4K, a 1080 GPU is not going to be a limiting factor, the CPU is. But you are using a modern CPU at 4Ghz, so it should not be bad in any way. If you want best perf, turn off all AI/live air traffic.

In the end, this is a bug they either introduced in the last update or made it just a lot more obvious.

1 Like
115

Finally got rid of those spikes and sudden perf issues just by deleting my rolling cache and reloaded the sim then things got back to normal. (still have some nuclear photometry towns by the way :alien:) Anyway, I just gave this try and it did work for information so that I was able to put my set back to High/Ultra in the best smooth way as much as possible, sounds good on my side, wish you the same guys! :rocket: (I keep my vote for solidarity!) :wink:

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117

I thought I saw someone say they had really good luck with running in windowed mode, so I tried that last night and got 2 flights in without any major drops in frame rate. There were a handful of moments when the frame rate hitched a bit, but only for two or three seconds instead of that 3 to 5 minutes of 10 fps nonsense. Will it work again tomorrow? Who knows.

118

I have no idea what you have. Doing research on the various components says what they are optimized for. Of course it can run games, video processing, graphics rendering, etc… It’s a Windows 10 PC.

There are others running MSFS that have a Xeon CPU and/or a Quadro GPU. However, there doesn’t seem to be any CPU/GPU upgrade recommendations to the best Xeon or Quadro. And no recommendations for users to reconfigure their disks to implement Raid-0 configuration to improve disk performance.

Software redesigns, reconfigurations, and tweaks to maximize MSFS graphics performance can only go so far. At that point only hardware upgrades will improve graphics performance.

119

I don’t how it is managed, but, strangely, my Ethernet speed diminishes in London downtown, where it lags, and inscreases once I’ve left downtown.

I pretend it’s a network issue, instead of the other components.

Have a look a those pictures; the lowest rate is downtown and the highest outside of it.

The speed is at around 50 kbps downtown and around 30 mbytes elsewhere! :hot_face:

We can see that the other components have enough room.

Downtown
Downtown1249×960 63.3 KB

Elsewhere
Elsewhere1268×971 66.6 KB

I think the problem is not on our side, but on Microsoft’s side, which cannot send us the data we need.

What do you thing?

2 Likes
120

I doubt your Ethernet is directly connected to Microsoft. There might be a dozen or more routers and servers between you and Microsoft and any of them could be a bottleneck. Or other programs like OneDrive or Dropbox could be synchronizing files. Just looking at the total network traffic on your network card cannot show total end-to-end network performance.

121

I remember this bug through a good chunk of alpha and through a little bit of beta where the main thread would begin to stall and the GPU would become under-utilized. There must be some thread or process blocking such that the render thread stalls out which will show as an under-utilization. The GPU is frequently “waiting”. This was fixed early after release but seems to have found its way back. It doesn’t seem to be time based (IE: 1-2 hours into flight), it seems to be distance based (400-500NM into flight). Tried a few flights in different areas with the A320 and the TBM, both started futzing out at around the same distance, not the same time.

1 Like