Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Mol on June 12, 2019, 03:09:23 PM
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Hi
I'm running AH on an I7 with a 4MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 but every now and then the graphics in AH pauses and stutters momentarily. Usually happens at the worst possible time entering or during a dogfight.
I suspect I'm not even close to having the card or game set up for optimal performance so I'd like to ask for help.
Not really worried about eye candy, I just want the smoothest flying possible.
Does anyone have any tips or ideal settings for this card and aces high?
BigMol
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Howdy MOL...
To start off it might help to run a DXDIAG (Direct X Diagnostics) on your machine. This will list your setup and settings so folks can see where you might make changes to clear up the stutters.
Assuming you are running Windows 10, right click the START, select RUN, in the box type DXDIAG. The app will open and take a minute or so to populate. Once it is finished you can select SAVE ALL INFORMATION. This will allow you to save the info in .txt form. You can then post it to this thread so that folks can help you. This usually works better than folks just shooting in the dark... so to speak.
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Are you running on dx9 or dx11 version? I suggest you run it in dx9.
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Hi
Here is my DxDiag.txt
Boy, that file is a monster.
http://www.filedropper.com/dxdiag_1 (http://www.filedropper.com/dxdiag_1)
Mol
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I don't think its your computer. I have a similar setup and what you are describing has come and gone many times. The last AH update in May brought it back to my computer, after many months of no stutters or pauses. I'm just waiting for the next update to hopefully fix it again. I agree that you might not have the problem in DX9, but I haven't switched lately.
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I have a stutter problem when I play as well. But it’s done that to me since AH3 came out. 1060 6GB. I think I read where it was a DX11? Problem
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970 here as well and occasional half a second freezes since AH3, a couple in an hour or so and usually when in action.
As others have said, it's somewhat related to DX11 making it mostly a Microsoft issue as far as I understand it. I've noticed the same with the King online games which should not be graphically too demanding. And actually, just as I was typing, I noticed that the emoticons above the typing screen stopped for half a second.
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Try to run DX9 instead, had problems as you have with Dx11
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DX11 is for people running VR DX9 is for people not running VR
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DX11 is for people running VR DX9 is for people not running VR
Unfortunately the stutters are still present in VR
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I don't think its your computer. I have a similar setup and what you are describing has come and gone many times. The last AH update in May brought it back to my computer, after many months of no stutters or pauses. I'm just waiting for the next update to hopefully fix it again. I agree that you might not have the problem in DX9, but I haven't switched lately.
Interesting. I had run DX11 for a few months with no pauses, then the AH server went down and was reset and the pauses are back.
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Hi,
I've noticed something that makes me think this is not a graphics problem. Just lately, whenever I notice a pause or stutter I've checked out the net status and seem to see that it correlates with a simultaneous spike in the "Variance in delay". A pause corresponds to a large spike and stutters with a series of smaller spikes. Often they come together.
So, it looks like the graphic effects I'm seeing are linked to the variance in delay and not my graphics set up. When it happens it happens suddenly and only lasts a fraction of a second but the net status shows a history over the last several seconds so its easy to check. I'm also trying to stay alert to see if the pauses also correspond to a fluctuation in frame rate or if that stays high through the pauses and stutters. Difficult though because its all over so quickly.
The plot thickens.
Any insights into this greatly appreciated.
BigMol
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Hi,
I've noticed something that makes me think this is not a graphics problem. Just lately, whenever I notice a pause or stutter I've checked out the net status and seem to see that it correlates with a simultaneous spike in the "Variance in delay". A pause corresponds to a large spike and stutters with a series of smaller spikes. Often they come together.
So, it looks like the graphic effects I'm seeing are linked to the variance in delay and not my graphics set up. When it happens it happens suddenly and only lasts a fraction of a second but the net status shows a history over the last several seconds so its easy to check. I'm also trying to stay alert to see if the pauses also correspond to a fluctuation in frame rate or if that stays high through the pauses and stutters. Difficult though because its all over so quickly.
The plot thickens.
Any insights into this greatly appreciated.
BigMol
Hi Mol,
I have provided an attachment below that I had captured using MSI Afterburner's graphing overlay while playing AHIII DX11 vers some time back that shows that the screen freezes do interrupt the GPU directly (looks like the GPU is entering a TDR-timeout delay recovery-GPU stalls then the monitor drivers call the OS to reset the GPU drivers to restart the GPU to resume operation....all this happens within the 2 sec window the OS allows before calling a fault and AHIII generating a .dmp file).
This is related to a driver issue running under Directx 11 API at the OS kernel level and I still get these to date running on the current box in sig below using the latest graphics drivers.
I have also provided some attachments that I also captured using Latency Mon running in the background while playing AHIII DX11 vers that also caught my box going thru a screen freeze. The attachments show that the OS Kernel Mode Driver Framework (driver file Wdf01000.sys) was getting a ton of ISR's which set off a bunch of DPC's which will stop a process from utilizing the CPU until the DPC has finished executing.
The issue is, which hardware driver is the real issue that is causing the OS to halt AHIII momentarily while operating under DX11? Or is the issue within Windows OS itself? From looking at the screen it seems obvious that it appears to be the GPU drivers, but it could also be the sound chip drivers, or LAN drivers (or a combination of all of these) that is being affected but the issue is at the Windows OS kernel level in conjunction w\ operations thru the OS level DX11 API which primarily intercepts the game's generated graphics calls then sends them after applying the called for Directx 3D graphics applications to the GPU drivers to then instruct the GPU to process the calls then store the finished frames in mem buffer until called to flip them to the monitor screen. Thruout all these episodes I've never heard the game's sound stop while the screen is froze or have noted the ingame vox to stall while this is going on but I don't use vox most of the time so I can't personally say but I know several players have reported that vox is interrupted when a screen freeze occurs which lends to what you've noticed.
Under Dx9 this is mostly gone as when I've run the game under Dx9 (the game client's coding is the same being used w\ both Dx9 and Dx11 API's...the 2 game shortcuts when activated instruct the OS as to which Dx API to use w\ the game) this issue is non existent. Now under Dx9 the GPU is put under much more of a graphics load processing the in game graphics calls than it is processing the same graphics calls under Dx11 but under Dx9 these screen freezes are mostly non existent whereas under Dx11 they are occurring at random intervals for .5 secs to 1 sec....I have witnessed them happening when the GPU was under a heavy load and also while relatively unloaded w\ no set pattern established except that each time they do occur the GPU is momentarily stalled as shown on the graph (GPU usage %, GPU framerate and GPU frametime drops towards 0 then restarts and resumes normal operations).
As you can see from the dates on these snippets this issue has been going on w\ AHIII for the past 2+ yrs when using under Dx11. So while HTC and Co is trying to figure this out, most just run the game under Dx9 to not have to deal w\ the issue.
Just trying to give you a little history background concerning this issue playing AHIII, at least from my perspective.
Now if you do figure out something that we haven't found yet please let us know as I would appreciate the efforts.
Hope this helps.
:salute
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The issue is, which hardware driver is the real issue that is causing the OS to halt AHIII momentarily while operating under DX11? Or is the issue within Windows OS itself? From looking at the screen it seems obvious that it appears to be the GPU drivers, but it could also be the sound chip drivers, or LAN drivers (or a combination of all of these) that is being affected but the issue is at the Windows OS kernel level in conjunction w\ operations thru the OS level DX11 API which primarily intercepts the game's generated graphics calls then sends them after applying the called for Directx 3D graphics applications to the GPU drivers to then instruct the GPU to process the calls then store the finished frames in mem buffer until called to flip them to the monitor screen. Thruout all these episodes I've never heard the game's sound stop while the screen is froze or have noted the ingame vox to stall while this is going on but I don't use vox most of the time so I can't personally say but I know several players have reported that vox is interrupted when a screen freeze occurs which lends to what you've noticed.
These are the main questions and to stir the pot even further I've noticed similar behaviour with other games and even with this forum which makes this look more like a Windows problem rather than an AH issue. A driver issue is what one might suggest first. I'm bound to use older drivers because any of the latest ones from the last couple of years will cause the video card to stop responding and restart so any driver issue should be fixed by now. Like Pudgie I haven't had any sound issues with several drivers so that doesn't look like a potential culprit either. And about the Windows OS: I'm using 7 but there's many suffering from the same issue running on various versions of 10 so that's another illogical suspect. A hiccup in the network connections is all that's left and with Level3 biting more than they can chew there's nothing one can do there.
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I've read a bunch of people that have to set war thunder back to DX9 due to a short period black screen for a second or two in DX11, so it's defintively more games that experience problems with DX11.
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This is related to a driver issue running under Directx 11 API at the OS kernel level and I still get these to date running on the current box in sig below using the latest graphics drivers.
Hi Pudgie
Thanks for the detailed response, but I have always run the game with the DX9 version, so for me at least I don't think it is related to DX11.
I'm pretty sure the pauses and stalls I'm seeing are related to the variance in delay, because the spikes and pauses correlate almost 100%.
That can't be a coincidence, and I'm guessing may be related to the way the game code responds to players with poor connections.
Mol
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Hi Pudgie
Thanks for the detailed response, but I have always run the game with the DX9 version, so for me at least I don't think it is related to DX11.
I'm pretty sure the pauses and stalls I'm seeing are related to the variance in delay, because the spikes and pauses correlate almost 100%.
That can't be a coincidence, and I'm guessing may be related to the way the game code responds to players with poor connections.
Mol
You do know that the game defaults to DX11. You have to either change where the icon is pointed or make a new icon to start in DX9
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I'm pretty sure the pauses and stalls I'm seeing are related to the variance in delay, because the spikes and pauses correlate almost 100%.
That can't be a coincidence, and I'm guessing may be related to the way the game code responds to players with poor connections.
Mol
There was some discussion about that when the issue started. If memory serves me right Skuzzy told that the spikes in variance is another symptom rather than the cause.
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You do know that the game defaults to DX11. You have to either change where the icon is pointed or make a new icon to start in DX9
Hi Fugitive
The icon points to the "aceshigh9.exe" and not the "aceshigh11.exe" so I assume that's it.
Thanks for helping.
Mol
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There was some discussion about that when the issue started. If memory serves me right Skuzzy told that the spikes in variance is another symptom rather than the cause.
Hi Bizman
Must admit I never thought of that, and probably wouldn't have.
I would gladly concede to Skuzzy's superior knowledge but at the moment all kind of alarm bells and bullschit alerts are being triggered by that idea cause I've never heard of graphics issues impacting on network functions before.
Can that even happen?
Anyone seen graphics impact on networking before?
Mol
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Hi Bizman
Must admit I never thought of that, and probably wouldn't have.
I would gladly concede to Skuzzy's superior knowledge but at the moment all kind of alarm bells and bullschit alerts are being triggered by that idea cause I've never heard of graphics issues impacting on network functions before.
Can that even happen?
Anyone seen graphics impact on networking before?
Mol
I would expect the logic to be whatever's causing the hitch is affecting other parts of the system as well as graphics specifically. Just as an example, if it were halting the CPU, not saying it does just using it as an example, everything the system is doing would hitch.
Wiley.
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There was some discussion about that when the issue started. If memory serves me right Skuzzy told that the spikes in variance is another symptom rather than the cause.
Ok, I spoke to the IT guy in work and it seems I'm not just wrong, I'm also stupid.
Well, whichever way the symptoms work, its pretty frustrating and I wish it would get fixed soon cause it spoils my sense of emersion in the game, big time.
Mol
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Hey MOL,
Noticed that you are using Windows 10 while looking at your DXDIAG report....
Have you went through your Windows 10 OS and tweaked the settings/services that Skuzzy has previously posted in the stickied threads at the top of the Tech support forum? If not, I highly recommend that you do this
Hope this helps
TC
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Hiya TC! Please provide a link to the specific thread you're referring to. Skuzzy's got a bunch of Win 10 posts in Tech forum. Thanks :aok
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Hiya TC! Please provide a link to the specific thread you're referring to. Skuzzy's got a bunch of Win 10 posts in Tech forum. Thanks :aok
Hey Max, I went to copy and paste the link to the specific thread and noticed that Skuzzy had went back and edited it to not include or be specific towards Windows 10....
iirc, he did that because of the ways Windows 10 updates itself (and keeps resetting things back to default etc), that it becomes more difficult to make changes to Windows 10 and they permanently stay/stick....
The thread I was referring to is the first top stickied thread in the Tech support forum....you will notice that it has an edited in acknowledgement regarding Windows 10 OS at the beginning of the post
Outside of that, the only other place to look up on how to setup/tweak Windows 10 OS, that I feel comfortable telling others to check out is www.blackviper.com .....but his website has gone offline a few times over the past few years....
Hope this helps
Max, does any of your hotas setup or other components you are using in your USB powered hub require or need USB 3.0 ? If not, have you tried using it in a regular 2.0 USB port?
You saying that it doesn't respond if not used for say 20 minutes, sounds like your power settings for USB to be always on has defaulted back to go into power interrupt mode..... Windows 10 updates will cause that sometimes
(saw your other thread, figure I would respond to both this one as well as that one here in this one reply)
Hope this helps
TC
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Hope this helps
TC
Thanks, I'll work my way through it all in the hope something will resolve it.
Mol
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IF YOU ARE NOT USING VR GEAR: EXAM: OCLULAS RIFT OR VIVE OR SOME OTHER VR GEAR USE DX9. THAT SHOULD FIX YOUR PROBLEM-I RUN A GTX670 ON WINDOWS 7 AND NO PROBLEMS WITH MOST CANDY TURNED DOWN.
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IF YOU ARE NOT USING VR GEAR: EXAM: OCLULAS RIFT OR VIVE OR SOME OTHER VR GEAR USE DX9. THAT SHOULD FIX YOUR PROBLEM-I RUN A GTX670 ON WINDOWS 7 AND NO PROBLEMS WITH MOST CANDY TURNED DOWN.
I have always run the game with the DX9 version
Mol
Hi Fugitive
The icon points to the "aceshigh9.exe" and not the "aceshigh11.exe" so I assume that's it.
Thanks for helping.
Mol
BigMOL had already posted that he only uses the aceshigh9.exe version of the game which uses DX9
That was my reasoning for suggesting that he tweak and clean up his Windows 10 OS, to make sure that he doesn't have any processes and services starting up and running in the background
Things such as "data telemetry processes" , "Windows Updates", "Antivirus software", etc.....
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Hey Mol - I had a Asus 970GTX with the stuttering. Question - what sound card do you have or are you using the on-board sound?
I too am running a i7 with 16Gb ram, Win10, and had terrible stuttering...however, I discovered it was 100% caused by my sound card.
I had an older Sound Blaster and it was 99.9999% causing my pauses and stuttering. I put in a brand new SoundBlaster and issue went away...