Performance drop on long flights

Bugs & Issues Performance, Graphics & CTDs
#1

So I have been dealing with this issue since I started doing long hauls on flight sim,.

When I fly GA aircraft the gpu usage is at 100% all the time which is great, it means the sim is using all of my pc resources. But after 4 hours or so I see it goes down to 80%. Now, I have been flying the 747 lately in real time. Besides airliners not using 100% gpu (usually 80% to 65%) I notice that after around 7 hours into the flight the gpu goes from 70% to 30% and the fps are so bad. The only solution to this problem is to restart the sim.

I have downloaded Intelligent standby list cleaner for possible memory leak, I have played with process lasso settings, I have set the nvidia control panel for the highest performance, I went into task manager and set the sim to high priority, I even did a complete graphics driver wipe. And still. The gpu simply goes down from 70% to 30%. My temperatures are good. My gpu temperatures were at 60C, and my CPU at 60C to 70C. It is not thermal throttling.

No, it’s not the VFR map. No, it’s not avionics refresh rate. No, it’s not windows update. No, it’s not Nvidia drivers. No it’s not AI traffic because I have it turned off.

Gpu usage just degrades with time on ANY airplane.

Below my specs and a screenshot of MSI Afterburner performance monitoring. Please this is so frustrating, I’ve spent too many days and hours trying to figure out what is happening.

My specs AsRock Z390 Pro 4 Intel LGA 1151
Intel Core i7 9700K 4.7GHz
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB
32GB 3200MHz DDR4

Looks like just before it happened I almost had a CTD as shown in the graph.

perf drop
perf drop4480Ă—1440 464 KB

Decrease in FPS and GPU usage after 1.12.13.0 (i9-9900K/3080/32GB/NVME)
#2

perf drop 2
perf drop 24480Ă—1440 514 KB

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#3

I don’t have numbers but clearly after several hours of flying I get more and more stuttering. I just reset the computer once it becomes no fun to play. It gets so bad that it takes several minutes just to get get off the pause screen to select Main Menu. I’ve noticed RAM usage will skyrocket from maybe 7gig to 12-13gig when this happens. RAM usage for the Sim.

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#4

That’s something different. In my case my gpu is at 100% when I pause it. I can leave it in pause for hours and still be at a 100%.

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#5

hi !

probably has nothing to do with your system, I have the same problem, occurs since the 2nd update after the release (at least for me). And I don’t think we’re the only ones, it’s been reported before.
It’s definitely an issue with MSFS. I haven’t found out what’s causing it either - but it might be the weather (I suspect it has something to do with the weather, as it might be reloaded worldwide) or something else. after about a minute it continues to run normally for me.
exactly the same error - smooth as silk - constant 33 FPS (limited in my case) - then it suddenly starts with pauses of about 1 sec. 22FPS - pause 1 sec. - 24FPS - 1sec.- 20FPS - 1sec. - 15FPS - 1sec. and so on and so on. after a while it goes on as normal again - and meanwhile my CPU and GPU utilisation drops to 10%, 20% etc.
Like I said, haven’t tried it with Live Weather and Traffic disabled - but it definitely has to do with the software itself !!!

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#6

The point being Asobo has given us multiple paths to the same or similar issues. If you’ve read through all the reported issues, it’s hard to find a common solution.

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#7

I just took off from Manchester in A320 for a flight to Kos. I was only 30 minutes into the flight just over the sea between England and Holland and the FPS dropped down to make it unplayable. Can’t believe we’re still getting these basic issues so long after release.

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#8

I’m seeing this gradual decreased use of the GPU over time as well.

When I start a session, I’m hitting my regular 35-40 fps. My CPU main thread is almost maxed out (CPU limited on Ryzen 2700X) and GPU (RTX2080) is 70-80% usage.

The longer I play, the lower my GPU usage gets and frame rates lower accordingly. After a couple of hours, my GPU will be down to about 30-40% usage and frame rates in the mid 20s.

It doesn’t matter if it’s on the same flight or a series of shorter flights. It’s like the effect is cumulative over time. After about 3-4 hours, my GPU will be down to 20-30% usage and my frame rate to below 20 fps and the sim is unplayable at that point. Only a restart of the sim will fix it.

It’s not a hardware or heat issue causing thermal throttling. When at normal load, my GPU temp is at its normal 75-ish degree mark for this sim, well under the 87 degree mark that will cause throttling. Over time as the GPU usage decreases, so does the GPU temperature. By the time I’ve been playing for 3-4 hours, the GPU temperature is only a few degrees above its idle temperature.

#9

It does decrease over time, however I’ve seen that besides the gpu slowly decreasing its usage I experience what is shown in the first picture which is a drastic gpu usage drop (from 70% to 20%).

At first I though it was a memory leak (which I had but since ISLC was installed it fixed it). Then I realized it was something else.

I don’t want to speak too early, but I’ve rolled back to Nvidia driver 457.51 and I still have decreased gpu utilization over time but it seems to be way less noticeable (from 80% to 60% in 7 hours). So far I have done 2 long hauls with it (about 10 hours each flight). So my guess is that is a mix of poor driver and sim optimization and a problem with the software itself.

I would be happy if I can just save the flight and just restart the sim but even that function is bugged and not reliable.

I will give updates on how the sim is behaving with the 457.51 driver. But so far it has been an “okay” experience.

#10

I’m still using the older nVidia driver from early December, I think? Not sure of the version number. I’m not at home at my computer atm.

I tend to go by the “if it ain’t broke, don’t ■■■■ with it” philosophy. I didn’t have this gradual slow down issue previously. I haven’t made any changes to my computer (outside of necessary Windows security updates). I haven’t so much as installed new software or games. The only thing that changed between then and now is the MSFS update.

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#11

huh, well that’s interesting. I guess then It’s a combination of too many factors leading up to a big mess. If you can provide your driver version when you can that would be great. There is no doubt that the latest MSFS update was no bueno, not even for VR. But at the same time I have folks with almost my same specs having a 12 hour flight with gpu at a 100% with 80% lows the entire flight which bugs me a little to be honest.

#12

Just remote connected to my PC at home. My driver is 460.89. From a quick lookup, that was released on Dec 15.

In any case, I didn’t have any issue with this gradual slow down before the Sim Update 2. This isn’t an nVidia issue. It’s an Asobo issue.

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#13

Yup, I agree. Samw on my end. i9 10900KF, 32 Gb ram @ 3600mhz and Asus tuf 3080. All starts good with high fps and no to very little stuttering @ Ultra and 2K resolution. Then after a while, don’t matter if I take off or just sit around/taxi the airplane and any airplane makes no difference… the fps will take a turn for the south and stutterin g creeps back into my life! The trime frame for all this to go from great to disaster is about 45min-1 hour of being on the Sim. Very bad indeed!

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#14

But when you say fps drop, did you take a look at what is happening on your system ? How high was your gpu and cpu usage when you first started the flight vs how low was it after a couple of hours ? Are you using any addons? Settings like cars, airport environment and AI aircraft can be heavy on the CPU. You mentioned you have everything set on ultra so I am curious. I tested it with no addons, no cpu heavy settings like traffic, LOD to 90 and graphic settings between high and medium.

#15

The really frustrating thing is if we’re seeing bugs like this you know darrn well Asobo is with they’re many testers and computer configurations.

On another note, I haven’t seen any Nvidia updates ever mention FS2020 fixes in their release notes. Pretty sure this issue is all on Asobo’s end as others said.

Personally, getting to the point I just fly in the world alone. Only mod is A320FBW these days.

#16

And again, I ask. Are you having these same issues without addons ? Mods like Salty’s 747 and FBW can affect your performance. So, as I did please make sure to test without mods. I would appreciate your feedback when you do.

#17

All I can really say is I seem to have less problems using less features.

As I’ve said many times on this forum, Asobo doesn’t pay me to troubleshoot their program. I’ll notice something then come here to gripe about it. If they care, they can contact me for further details.

But the many issues people post here I’ve had. I seem to have less of them flying the 152. I seem to have more on the Longitude. FBW A320 doesn’t give me specific problems so I stick with it. There’s some kind of memory usage issue which causes massive stuttering but I really don’t know what brings that on.

There are folks here that know a lot more knowledge about computers/Windows then I along with more time to fiddle so I’ll let them do all the troubleshooting.

#18

But it is your responsibility as a customer to make sure your addons are not the ones causing the problem before coming here and start complaining and calling out Asobo. That’s why I am asking to delete your community folder and do some test flights to make sure no addon is causing it.

#19

Already done that multiple times, it’s Asobo. When it comes right down to it, it’s a frakking game, but do what you wish…

#20

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