This may help some people but your mileage will vary and this is MY experience and what I found out from countless hours of testing…
First my specs:
CPU AMD 3600
RAM 32gb
FX 5700 XT GPU (21.4.1 drivers)
750w PSU
IMPORTANT (you’ll see later) MSFS202 version = STANDARD purchased through Steam
Dual Monitors, 32" freesync enabled, 1440 res
MSFS is on new SSD
I’ve been on the forum having a lot of issues with CTDs (VCRUNTIME140/.NET and some .EXE just crashing to destop). After the last update I was getting the stutters issue that others were reporting as well.
After multiple attempts to Asobo for help I received the same cut and paste email about C++, clean your community folder, etc. none of which helped with the CTDs. No disrespect they can only do so much and have to try a solution to fit everyone, I get that. I have no hate for them at all - they are trying.
After some months of dealing with this issue or that I noticed that when I get stutters there was always someone around that was in a custom livery - yes, Asobo knows this and put it up on their website for MP don’t use any custom liveries, check - but last night while flying on the E. USA server but at Charles Degaule airport I saw someone at a terminal with a flashing nameplate! Strange enough but what I also noticed was that my stutters sync with the blinking nameplate AND that when I got close to the player their model never was drawn by the sim. So I grabbed my phone and began making a video of what was going on.
Now, we’ve known liveries seem to be causing the issue with stutters but now there is this “flashing/blinking nameplate.” So I kept recording and flew away from the player and when I got to max distance to detect the player my stutters stopped and their nameplate was no longer blinking. A little bit further away and their nameplate disappeared (like other players I was moving away from).
So still recording I turned back toward the player, the nameplate appeared, then it started blinking and at that point the stutters returned in sync with the blinking nameplate.
Fastforward to this morning around 0830 I go on the sim and jump in a twitch group flight with someone people and have a couple players log in to fly and they have blinking nameplates and my stutters returned! No one else was having stutters or seeing the blinking nameplates just me. The leader of the stream was adamant about people using default liveries so I asked “person X and Y what are you flying?” They responded “Default aircraft with default liveries.” I went one step further since this was a GA flight for fun “which default aircraft?” Both said “STEAM GAUGE C172” while I and others were in g1000 version or some other GA plane. Also both of their C172s never showed any model, just blinking nameplates
One of the pilots mid flight ended up switch to the g1000 version and his nameplate was no longer blinking AND I could see his model but I was still getting stutters because the other player was still in the steam gauge version…
Being someone with the STANDARD version of MSFS2020 I decided to do something radical (I wanted to do this anyway but…) I logged off and purchased the Premium Deluxe version of MSFS 2020 and downloaded all the aircraft, airports, etc. After buying the upgrades I went into my hangar and all planes were downloaded and everything looked good.
I think rejoined the flight at another airport in my same g1000 C172 and a player in the steam gauge 172 and his nameplate was NO LONGER BLINKING and I HAD NO STUTTERS! All models loaded and everything went fine for the next hour or so, no ctds, no stutters, etc.
I then went and flew (without a restart of the sim) with another streamer on N. Europe server. This was a ~3 hour flight. I loaded in with the Mooney (and a custom livery for the Mooney) and as soon as I did the streamer started getting stutters when my nameplate appeared in her view. I IMMEDIATELY logged off to the main menu and watch her on twitch and the stutters stopped exactly when I left. I grabbed a default Mooney livery logged back in and everything was smooth as silk.
NOTE: I always use generic aircraft models in my settings for both multiplayer and AI (I don’t fly with AI anything) aircraft.
So what the heck does all this mean?
Here’s my conclusion, again I’ve done all this on my own and been tested things for at least 3 months until now, if you have a different bundle than some players in multiplayer and they are flying aircraft you don’t have you will get stutters along with a blinking nameplate. So “default aircraft and liveries” to them (based on their purchased bundle) is not the same for you with standard. Next there ARE liveries made by people out there that causing stuttering WITHOUT a blinking nameplate.
I also “believe” that these conflicts from bundles AND liveries/addons are causing the VCRUNTIME CTDs well, because they are conflicts in data.
This would also make sense for people who report flying over “custom” scenery but may also be flying to or over an airport that is in one of the bundles that isn’t in standard edition. So the crashes and stutters seem random but really they are not, it is when you are over or around different bundled scenery THAT YOU DON’T OWN or HAVE ACCESS TO.
Bottomline, if you don’t have MSFS planes from other bundles you’ll see a blinking nameplate AND get stutters. If you have those aircraft and someone in draw/detection distance is in a custom livery of any type, you’ll get stutters but no blinking nameplate. If there is a conflict between which purchased bundle you have vs. other players you will probably have CTDs.
This has been my experience and I played today for 8 hours straight no crashes at all, no stutters after the upgrade to P.D., and using no custom liveries. Take it for what it’s worth, I’m not a programmer, I don’t work for Asobo of MS, just someone who loves this sim, loves flying, hates technical issues, and doesn’t stop until there is a solution and this seemed to work for me.
