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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: rbifly on February 13, 2012, 05:36:39 pm

Title: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on February 13, 2012, 05:36:39 pm
I have installed KDFW,KLAX,KLAS, and most recently GSX.  I experience multi-second pauses usually after departure climbing through a couple thousand feet. Usually just one or two long pauses.  Flying the PMDG 737NGX.  Popup set to 30.  Any other settings that can be used to fix this?

i7 920 4 GHz windows 7 FSX sp2,REX,GEX,UTX,flightbeam sfo, fsdt scenery

thanks
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on February 13, 2012, 07:22:12 pm
Can you estimate the distance from the airport center when the pauses appear ?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on February 13, 2012, 07:26:04 pm
For example, departing LAX last night off of 24L I experienced a multi second pause just over the shoreline.  That is probably within a couple miles from the departure end of the runway?

Tonight KLAX to KLAS no problems.  Then on the return trip Departing KLAS 15 second freeze at 1000 feet still over the 25R departure runway.  Another 10 second freeze on the perimeter of Las Vegas at 11000 feet.  Only really have the problem on departures.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on February 15, 2012, 06:21:10 am
Any ideas?  Just about a 30 second pause departing KLAS from 7L . less than 1000 feet estimate within a mile of the center of the airport.  I hate to think I need to start reinstalling things.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on February 15, 2012, 01:18:55 pm
A pause when approaching *might* be related to the loading of objects, because FSX takes a bit of time to create objects, but not a pause when leaving.

A pause of 10 seconds it's out of this world, it should take MUCH less to load the *whole* scenery.

Do you use UT2 maybe ? That's very well known for having large pauses when everything stops for 10 seconds or more, when loading AI.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on February 15, 2012, 04:41:08 pm
I do use UT2, but have never had this issue.  I initially saw some of this behaviour at KDFW ( short pauses on departure ) only after installing LAX and DFW.  Then after installing KLAS and then GSX I started to see this behaviour.  It will not occur initially, but usually after completing a flight from say LAX to LAS it will occur on departure from LAS.  Not sure if the issue is induced after by GSX usage.  I don't see the issue at KSFO.  Any ideas for troubleshooting?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on February 16, 2012, 04:38:00 am
Tonight I edited the XML file so that UT2 would not start.  I flew LAX LAS LAX and experienced pauses at 1000 feet over the runway and 110000 feet on the outer LAS are.  Interesting though that the pause were only about a 1 second now.  Is there some interaction between the the Add on manager and UT2?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on February 16, 2012, 10:00:02 am
Interesting though that the pause were only about a 1 second now

That's a significant change, and confirms what I was suspecting about UT2 being the main problem.

Quote
Is there some interaction between the the Add on manager and UT2?

Not between them, but both are Simconnect clients, and they both create objects using it. But on a busy airport with many AI, UT2 can create *lots* of them, and this pauses the sim.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on February 16, 2012, 07:26:15 pm
So I'm sure there are others using fsdt with UT2 and PMDG without any issues?  Would you recommend that I reinstall my FSX system?  Is there a traffic program that is more compatible?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on February 17, 2012, 07:08:22 am
I uninstalled and then reinstalled the latest UT2 version.  The problem seems to have gone away.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on February 28, 2012, 08:37:08 pm
Unfortunately this problem seems to still be present.  I recently reinstalled FSX and all my add ons and I still have the issue.  I will still get the long pause on departure from KLAS or KDFW at abut 1000 feet still over the airport.  I do think it is related to UT2 and wonder what I can do to solve this.  The thing that is unique is that the problem will not present itself at first, but only after sitting at an airport for an extended period of time.  I think the UT2 traffic activity builds to a level so that there is some conflict.  Is there something you can suggest to troubleshoot this?  Simconnect?  graphics? page file?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on February 28, 2012, 08:58:29 pm
If the problem happens only after a while, it's unlikely a conflict between the scenery and UT2, and the pause is caused by UT2 alone, since basically all the scenery objects are created immediately as soon as you enter the scenery area, which in case of KDFW is fairly large at 16 nm, once all objects are created, there's almost zero Simconnect activity on our part, even the active Docking systems and the special custom runway lights don't use Simconnect, except for querying the AI positions but, it's the same if the AI were default and, since you said that by removing UT2 the problem goes away, it means the scenery itself is not causing any problems with AI.

What happens if you simply lower the AI density in UT2 ?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on February 29, 2012, 12:49:57 am
I just did a flight from KLAX to KLAS...  No problems on that leg.  After arriving at the gate,  I toggled UT2 off.  Just before takeoff from KLAS, I toggled UT2 back on.  Still had the 30 second pause. Yesterday I tried toggling UT2 off before takeoff and still got a pause at KDFW.   Not sure what the mechanism is, but it requires a period of time before it presents itself.  Will try at a reduced UT2 setting, but I think I will still have an issue.

Next repeated the above with the UT2 sliders reduced from 70% to 30%.  No change...  same 30 second pause departing LAS

Finally disabled UT2 again by way of the xml... flew LAX to LAS with no issues.  Sat in LAS for about an hour then on departure had a 15 second pause at the same location...  Now wondering if it is really UT2 at fault?  Any ideas?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on February 29, 2012, 01:53:42 pm
Before, you said this after removing UT2:

Quote
Interesting though that the pause were only about a 1 second now

Now you are back to 15 seconds pause ?

If it happens only after some time, maybe it's simply the whole combination of your installed addons in FSX that have requested too much memory, and Windows has decided to reclaim it.

Memory might become fragmented after some time, you might try an utility like this:

http://www.pcwintech.com/cleanmem

Try to run a memory defrag just before takeoff, and see if it makes any difference.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on March 01, 2012, 05:11:35 am
No change...  I stayed on the ground in KLAS longer and experienced a 30 second delay on departure.  

I will add that when I'm experiencing this if I exit FSX it will take a long time before I am able to click the exit confirmation button.  A clue?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on March 01, 2012, 12:10:32 pm
I will add that when I'm experiencing this if I exit FSX it will take a long time before I am able to click the exit confirmation button.  A clue?

That's just confirm the fact that what you are experiencing is simply too much addons, too high settings (and the combination of them), too much memory allocated, and Windows trying to recover it in order not to crash, possibly using the swap file, which of course will result in slowdowns.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on March 01, 2012, 06:23:48 pm
So since this pause only occurs at the same position over the fsdt runways...  I'm wondering what the scenery or Add on Manager is doing that triggers this?  And can this be adjusted?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on March 01, 2012, 11:58:56 pm
So since this pause only occurs at the same position over the fsdt runways...  I'm wondering what the scenery or Add on Manager is doing that triggers this?  And can this be adjusted?

The Addon Mananger doesn't have anything to do with this, especially if you set the anti-pop setting to the maximum value, which means *everything* will be loaded when you are 16NM from the airport, and nothing will be loaded/unloaded anymore. With the anti-pop up on its minimum value, the largest objects will still be loaded at 16 NM ( in case of KDFW ), but the smaller objects will have smaller ranges.

However, even at the minimum settings, the usual effect are *slight* pauses of 0.1/0.5 seconds at most, nobody ever reported a 10 or even 30 seconds pause, ever.

At the maximum setting, you can safely discount anything related in any way to the Addon Manager. Of course, you'll have a somewhat larger pause (by "large" I mean 3-4 seconds) AT *exactly* 16.0 NM out, but that's to be expected.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on March 09, 2012, 07:40:36 pm
Additional info.  Did a windows reinstall followed by FSX/Acceleration, UT2, & FSDT scenery.  Same effect.  Only seems to occur with the PMDG NGX and not the MD11?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on March 09, 2012, 09:14:20 pm
Only seems to occur with the PMDG NGX and not the MD11?

At least this would safely discount the scenery being a problem.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on March 20, 2012, 06:35:35 pm
Just built a new i7 2600K based system running @ 4.5GHz.  Still see the pauses on departures in the NGX.  PMDG blames fsdt.  fsdt blames pmdg.  It would be real nice if you could work out these problems since the scenery is so nice and considering the GSX support of the NGX. :-\
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on March 20, 2012, 06:45:48 pm
PMDG blames fsdt.  fsdt blames pmdg.

I'm sorry, but we don't "blame" anyone but, based on your report:

Quote
Only seems to occur with the PMDG NGX and not the MD11?

How can be explained any differently than a difference between the two airplanes, which obviously doesn't have anything to do with the scenery ? Have you reported this to PMDG ? How they explain it ?
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on March 20, 2012, 06:54:03 pm
In any case, I've just tried what you described as the worse situation (30 sec. pauses after departure from KLAS 7L) using the 737 NGX 800, and I couldn't see any pauses of any kind.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on March 20, 2012, 06:59:39 pm
PMDG says that it is something to do with your software and security settings I think and to use at my own risk.  I only get the pauses if I sit at an fsdt airport I have arrived at for a while before departing again..  The fact that it occurs on a completely new machine is interesting.  running GEX,UTX,REX, UT2 PMDG 737 NGX700
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on March 20, 2012, 07:09:45 pm
PMDG says that it is something to do with your software and security settings I think and to use at my own risk

They are wrong, and it's clear they used this explanation without knowing anything about how our software works.

In fact, since almost all objects are called by a module that is *external* to FSX (the Couatl.exe), it would be even less likely it would cause such problems to FSX, like memory consumption for example,  since the memory is taken from a different set than the maximum of 4GB FSX can allocate (while, for example, their own gauges and *their* security module, being in-process .DLL, will take away from the same memory available to FSX). The Addon Manager, which runs in-process, does almost nothing right now, it's basically left just as an interface to activate the scenery.

And besides, how they explain it doesn't happen with the MD11 ? If it was our "security module", causing a conflict with their own, for example, it should happen with the MD11 too, on an FSDT scenery.

Quote
The fact that it occurs on a completely new machine is interesting

What I found more interesting, instead, apart for the fact it doesn't happen with the MD11, is that nobody else posted in this thread.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on March 20, 2012, 07:21:58 pm
Quote
What I found more interesting, instead, apart for the fact it doesn't happen with the MD11, is that nobody else posted in this thread

I agree.  But just want to figure out how to get this working better.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: virtuali on March 20, 2012, 07:25:19 pm
I agree.  But just want to figure out how to get this working better.

To know what might be, I should be able at least to replicate the problem. As I've said, I couldn't see any pauses, departing from KLAS 7L. Made two tests: one with no AI traffic, absolutely smooth, and another one with UT2 at 100%.

Departing with UT2, I've got a bit of stuttering while on the runway roll, probably because UT2 was still creating traffic, but no problems of long pauses, by continuing the runway heading up to a point were the desert starts.
Title: Re: long pauses on departure
Post by: rbifly on March 20, 2012, 09:07:55 pm
This is how I test.  I depart KLAX and fly to KLAS in the NGX 700.  park at gate C21 and sit for at least a half hour to an hour.  Use GSX for boarding etc.  UT2 is pretty busy with Southwest flights at the airport.  Then on departure off 7L or 25R I'll get the pause.  Last night it was 19 seconds.   Doesn't seem like I will get the pause unless I sit at KLAS for a while.  I thought maybe there was something wrong with my last computer, but now with my new i7 2600K system with FSX running off a SSD I'm scratching my head as to why I still experience this. 

I can attach my CFG file later if that will help.