"Choppyness" in Game

[timeisnotlinear]

I recently installed a 4K monitor to glorious avail. Ran perfectly until two updates ago. Now everything is really choppy in game. A pilot in the arena mentioned running in dx9 mode, but I can't find the place where I would configure that. And is that necessary? It was running perfectly.

Stats:
1 x Intel Core i7-5820k 3.3ghz 6-core processor
16 GB DDR4 (I think it's DDR4, if it really matters I'll look harder. In Task Manager it just says other. LOL. I guess Windows isn't configured to actually identify DDR4 yet.)
2 x 4GB GTX 970 FTW (Factory Overclocked) [SLI'd, even though that won't work in game]
1 x ASUS PB287Q 28" 4K/UHD 3840x2160 1ms
 

[Skuzzy]

The 970 does not have enough power to drive a 4K monitor at steady frame rates, all the time.  You will probably need to shut down some of the graphic features.  Easy to test, just disable Reflections, as a start, and see if that helps.

Be sure SLI is disabled or it will cause more performance problems with AHIII.

The DX9 version of the game is the shortcut you have on your desktop, if that shortcut was created by our installer.

[The Fugitive]

To change from DX11 to DX9, or vice versa right click on the desktop icon and select "properties". In the box that says "Target" you'll have the address the icon points to. In my case its ,

"C:\Hitech Creations\Aces High III\aceshigh11.exe"

Change the acehigh11.exe to aceshigh9.exe and save and thats it.

[timeisnotlinear]

The 970 does not have enough power to drive a 4K monitor at steady frame rates, all the time.  You will probably need to shut down some of the graphic features.  Easy to test, just disable Reflections, as a start, and see if that helps.

But it was running steady at between 46 and 59 FPS for almost two weeks; maxed out in graphics. No choppyness. Now it's between 50 and 59 FPS since a recent patch, which still shouldn't be choppy. I have noticed the tree detail has dropped too. Unless the CNTRL+I feature is giving me bad data, shouldn't 50-59 FPS run pretty smooth?

[timeisnotlinear]

To change from DX11 to DX9, or vice versa right click on the desktop icon and select "properties". In the box that says "Target" you'll have the address the icon points to. In my case its ,

"C:\Hitech Creations\Aces High III\aceshigh11.exe"

Change the acehigh11.exe to aceshigh9.exe and save and thats it.

Is that running the old version of the game, or still the "beta" version. The newer version's graphics are so clean.

[Bizman]

The Dx9 version is not "old" or "beta". It's exactly the same, the only difference being that Dx11 uses some more advanced gimmicks for transform and lighting on the very same graphics. A new kind of bling, in a way. So you won't miss the graphics using the Dx9 version, only the reflections and surface structures may look a little bit different.

It doesn't hurt to try, there's both versions installed in your computer anyway. Fugitive's way of changing the version in the icon properties is one way to make a shortcut, but if you so wish you can make icons for both versions. Simply right click the game icon, choose Open Location and you'll find yourself where the game is installed. There you'll find aceshigh9 and aceshigh11. Right click on one and choose Send To>Desktop (Create a Shortcut).

[DubiousKB]

I have also been noticing this type of behavior, but to throw a wrench in, it only seems to occur near or above CV groups. The ships "stutter" but my FPS shows steady 59-60 so it's puzzling. 

I also have a 4k Monitor and run high resolution; please don't tell me to simply lower the resolution; that will make me sad.... (on the plus side, it might help seeing "dots" as everyone around me seems to notice aircraft inbound well before I have a "dot" show up...

[Skuzzy]

The NVidia 1080Ti is about the only video card on the planet which might be able to keep up with a 4K monitor with no stutters.

Around a CV is a lot of bullets, which are not graphical loads, but CPU loads, which will detract from keeping the data flowing to the video card which could already be struggling to keep up with the display.

[DubiousKB]

The NVidia 1080Ti is about the only video card on the planet which might be able to keep up with a 4K monitor with no stutters.

Around a CV is a lot of bullets, which are not graphical loads, but CPU loads, which will detract from keeping the data flowing to the video card which could already be struggling to keep up with the display.

with an Nvidia 1080 non-Ti, what would you suggest I do? Simply reduce screen resolution to start? 

I thought it was peculiar to see this type of result when "frame rate" was still high.... I'll try starting with reduced screen real-estate to make it easier on my rig....

[timeisnotlinear]

The NVidia 1080Ti is about the only video card on the planet which might be able to keep up with a 4K monitor with no stutters.

Damn it. Why would you say something like that? You're like the chick who gets in my car and says, "So is this thing fast?" I mean....my hand is forced at that point, I have no choice. 

I'll report back how the 1080Ti performs, but I have to go out of the country first. So give me a couple months.

Please don't take this as game bashing, I love the game you've all created. Seriously, it's a work of art. But I'm a Product Owner in the IT space by day and have to ask; if the specs I listed I'm running can't run a game maxed out in graphics without choppyness at sub 60 FPS, what kind of boxes is this game being developed for?

[Skuzzy]

It is not the game that is the issue.  It is the amount of data a video card has to generate for the 4K display.  Think about that.  Let's do some simple math for each of the recent generations of monitors.

HD: 1920x1080
Pixels Per Frame: 2,073,600
Data Per Frame: 7.91MB
Time to display full frame, at 60 FPS: 0.1667 seconds
Data generated per second: 474.61MB

UHD: 2560x1440
Pixels Per Frame: 3,686,400
Data Per Frame: 14.06MB
Time to display full frame, at 60 FPS: 0.1667 seconds
Data generated per second: 843.75MB

4K: 3840x2160
Pixels Per Frame: 8,294,400
Data Per Frame: 31.64MB
Time to display full frame, at 60 FPS: 0.1667 seconds
Data generated per second: 1,898,44MB

Nearly 2GB/second of data just for the frame buffer, has to be generated per second.  It takes an incredibly fast piece of hardware to do that consistently.

From the HD monitor, you quadrupled the amount of data for each frame.  That is a substantial leap.

[timeisnotlinear]

Roger that. I'll try the 1080ti. When I built this box, I didn't realize that SLI wasn't supported on a lot of games. Thought I was getting away at half the price by buying two cards. D'oh!

[DubiousKB]

Math seems legit... But but high resolution! 

I'll drop it down to see the differences...