active Bad stutters with FTX Vector and Prepar3d v4.5

[SPowell42]

Hi, I've been out of the flight sim scene for several years now, but just got a new gaming laptop (Alienware m15). It's basically a brand new laptop with almost nothing else on it except Prepar3d v4.5. I applied my FTX global base, vector, North American LC, and then took a few flights down the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

 

Flight 1 from KFFA  (First Flight) to KHSE (Billy Mitchell) was gorgeous, everything looked incredible

Flight 2 from KHSE to W95 (Ocracoke) was also incredible

But on flight 3, from W95 to Cape Lookout and then in to KNKT was quite horrible. I'm hitting bad stuttering, where the entire sim pauses for 1 to 2 seconds before unfreezing.  It does this every 5 or 10 seconds. If I use my joystick hat to just scroll around in 360 degree circles in the virtual cockpit, the sim can freeze long enough that I can go more than 360 degrees around between jumps.

 

I spent the last two days isolating the issue to FTX vector. I uninstalled all FTX products, ran default Prepar3d v4.5 and it ran great, even with all sliders completely maxed. I spent a lot of time making sure it wasn't a CPU or graphics card issue. I do not overclock either CPU or GPU.  Also tested with Hyperthreading on/off - no difference. Then I did the following:

 

1. Uninstalled FTX Vector - stutters gone, even with Prepar3d settings maxed out (for the most part)

2. Reinstalled FTX Vector - stutters back, even with very minimal Prepar3d settings

3. Disabled 2nd, tertiary roads and power lines (read these could have bad FPS hit) - still have stutters

4. Literally turned off EVERY single option in FTX Vector configuration - still have stutters

5. Disabled all of the remaining FTX Vector scenery items in the scenery list - stutters gone

6. After switching them on/off one at a time, narrowed the issue to scenery file FTX_VECTOR_CVX

 

My gaming laptop is pretty beefy, i-9750 6 core intel CPU at 2.6 GHz (supposed to boost to 4.5 GHz but it never makes it past 3.8 - 3.9 GHz), RTX 2070 Max-Q graphics, 32 GB ram, 1 TB SSD drive. Not as powerful as a gaming desktop obviously but still pretty good.

 

Is there something I'm missing? Some specific setting that isn't compatible with P3d v4.5, or something? I can get rid of the stutters if I slide every graphics option down to minimum....but I'm having a really hard time understanding how my frame rate can be 100+ and still have huge long freezes - constantly.

 

Any help is appreciated - thanks!

Scott

 

 

[SPowell42]

p.s. forgot to mention that I also did a "verify files" inside or Orbx central to make sure FTX vector files were ok. They checked out fine.

p.p.s. also flew this using the default Maule, haven't added any payware aircraft yet.

 

Thx,

Scott

[SPowell42]

I seem to have found the answer, it was due to the surf effects. By turning my "special effects" sliders down to the min, everything is working great. Found the solution in the following post:

 

 

 

Thanks everyone!

Scott

[John Dow]

Vector can sometimes overload the ability of the computer to process all the detail... especially in areas where complex waterbodies and shorelines are within drawcall distance.

 

Probably not a lot you can do about it other than uncyheck everything you don't think you need in the Vector control panel and balance the need for Vector accuracy.

 

I was having problems in the Great Lakes area and turned Vector off and I was still able to enjoy the scenery despite there being less detail in the shorelines etc.

[Gabe777]

May I interject on what may be a related issue.

 

I notice you refer to your Auto Boost not working as it should on your CPU.

 

You may benefit from looking into that as an independent issue. It may be causing issues.

 

I have my 7700k set at 4.5 on all cores permanently.  Makes little difference to temps or power consumption. But it makes the entire system more stable, and there is no bouncing up and down.

 

When I do have auto boost set, however, it does go to the full turbo of 4.5 and stays there while P3D is running.

 

The fact yours is not even reaching its advertised speed would be a cause for concern for me. It could just be setup incorrectly in the bios or it could be more sinister, such as a power supply issue.

 

Sorry to butt in, but it may be wise to investigate that and get your system 100 percent stable before looking at P3D settings.