[SOLVED] Massive frame rate loss when connecting via vPilot

[Reinhard Brantner]

Hi,

My setup: P3D 5.3 latest HF on WIN10, a lot of addon scenery, some addon aircrafts, ASP3D for weather, AIG AI planes and vPilot (currently 3.4.6 in host mode) for the VATSIM connection. I am flying with that setup very long time without any problems. I use my PC only for flightsim - so no other software is used there. After three weeks of holidays I wanted to fly again on VATSIM. But suddenly when I connect to VATSIM the absolute stable 30 frames (I have locked them to 30 in the sim) immediately drop down to 3-5 fps, as soon as some other aircraft is in the vincinity. With that frame rate flying is of course impossible.

I have absolutely nothing changed, I use the same AIG models as before, everything is unchanged. Only some Microsoft updates for WIN10 were applied after my three weeks vacancy.

I tried it with different planes, on different airports, deactivated all the AI models so that only the default plane is selected, I checked the .NET installation, I reinstalled vPilot, the debug window shows no error, I really tried everything to isolate the root cause. And it's definitely as soon as I connect via vPilot to VATSIM and there is one other aircraft within the distance defined in the performance section, the frames go down.

At the moment I have no clue, what I should change. As I have not found similar reports on the web, I assume, it must be a local problem. But what should I change?

Any idea is appreciated.

Best regards
Reinhard

 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 at 10:48 AM by Reinhard Brantner
problem solved

[Reinhard Brantner]

Here are two screenshots: one connected to VATSIM and one offline. See the difference in frames.
Rgds
Reinhard

[Ross Carlson]

That's very odd, given that nothing has changed in vPilot or P3D in those last three weeks. Something must have changed and you're just not aware of it.

Does it happen if you run vPilot in standalone mode, not in split host/remote mode? Does turning off antivirus and/or firewall help? Does running vPilot and/or P3D as administrator (or not as Administrator) help?

I'd also try not using AIG and just using a default model like the CRJ to rule that out.

[Reinhard Brantner]

I also tried in standalone mode - same result. Antivirus/firewall I also tried to disable. I am running vPilot and P3D as administrator.

I also disabled all AI models so that only the CRJ was displayed. Also in that case the frame rate drops. Further experiments showed, that obviously with every additional AI aircraft shown the frame rate is divided by two. So if I keep only one plane in vincinity active (ignoring the others in vPilot), I get 14 frames, with two active 7 frames, and so on.

That's really strange. I will now rollback the Microsoft updates - let's see, if this helps.

Thanks for your quick response.

Reinhard

 

[Reinhard Brantner]

Hi,

I deinstalled the last two Microsoft updates - no success. I made another finding: When I connect to an airport, where all the planes are parked and are not moving, the frames stay on normal level. But as soon, as one of the planes start to move (push back or taxi), the frames drop.

So now I really have no idea, what to do.

Rgds
Reinhard

 

 

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Just for an added data point -- if you haven't already -- when you observe this, can you type ".aircraft" and check on the reesulting pop-up screen that it is in fact an AI model and not one of your complete, complex add-ons being used to represent other aircraft?

[Reinhard Brantner]

2 minutes ago, Robert Shearman Jr said:

Just for an added data point -- if you haven't already -- when you observe this, can you type ".aircraft" and check on the reesulting pop-up screen that it is in fact an AI model and not one of your complete, complex add-ons being used to represent other aircraft?

Dear Robert,

Thanks for the hint. Yes I have definitely checked, that only AI models are selected. I have configured this in the model matching section of vPilot, where I have excluded the P3D simobjects.

BR
Reinhard

[Andreas Fuchs]

You could install swift pilot client for testing purposes and see if the same things happens. If not, then something may be going on between vpilot and P3D. If you got similar things happening, then you'll know that it is not about pilot clients, but about the AI models/aircraft that are injected into P3D.

If you would like to give it a shot, let me know and I can assist you to get it done quickly.

[Reinhard Brantner]

5 hours ago, Andreas Fuchs said:

You could install swift pilot client for testing purposes and see if the same things happens. If not, then something may be going on between vpilot and P3D. If you got similar things happening, then you'll know that it is not about pilot clients, but about the AI models/aircraft that are injected into P3D.

If you would like to give it a shot, let me know and I can assist you to get it done quickly.

Hi Andreas,

Tested now with swift - same result. As soon as there is one aircraft nearby and if it is moving, the frames are going down massively. So this is not related to the pilot client.

Next trials: Reinstall P3D client and eliminate AI models step by step.

Rgds
Reinhard

 

[Ross Carlson]

Did you ever create a SimConnect.ini or SimConnect.cfg file?

[Reinhard Brantner]

6 hours ago, Ross Carlson said:

Did you ever create a SimConnect.ini or SimConnect.cfg file?

Yes - of course have I configured the simconnect setup according to the documentation. I am flying with that setup since many years very stable. I run a complete simulator setup (no mouse, no keyboard necessary) with  curved gaming monitor and two touchscreens for the panls, GoFlight hardware, etc.

As now with swift it shows the same result, it must be something corrupt in my P3D installation. vPilot definitely is not the reason. So let's hope, that the in the meanwhile spoilered new version of P3D wil fix it. I always make a fresh installation with every simulator version to be on a clean base. Thanks fo your support.

Rgds
Reinhard

[Andreas Fuchs]

Okay, then test with swift and use a reduced "Active Model Set", start with one aircraft in it only.

Off to flying now for the coming 6 days, limited time until then...

[Ross Carlson]

8 hours ago, Reinhard Brantner said:

Yes - of course have I configured the simconnect setup according to the documentation

What documentation are you referring to? I ask because vPilot does not require any SimConnect.ini or SimConnect.cfg files. (Nor any SimConnect.xml files ... forgot to ask about that one.) The vPilot documentation does not refer to them. Those files could possibly be causing issues. I would try deleting/renaming them. Probably not the issue if you haven't changed those files at all since things were working, but I would at least rule them out.

Edited August 9, 2022 at 02:14 PM by Ross Carlson

[Reinhard Brantner]

1 hour ago, Ross Carlson said:

What documentation are you referring to? I ask because vPilot does not require any SimConnect.ini or SimConnect.cfg files. (Nor any SimConnect.xml files ... forgot to ask about that one.) The vPilot documentation does not refer to them. Those files could possibly be causing issues. I would try deleting/renaming them. Probably not the issue if you haven't changed those files at all since things were working, but I would at least rule them out.

There are several documents for simconnect configuration, which I used: First of all the P3D SDK, then FSUIPC and ASP3D. They all use the simconnect configuration and they all work well.

Rgds
Reinhard

[Ross Carlson]

10 hours ago, Reinhard Brantner said:

There are several documents for simconnect configuration, which I used: First of all the P3D SDK, then FSUIPC and ASP3D. They all use the simconnect configuration and they all work well.

Just to rule it out, I'd try temporarily renaming those files, since they are not required for vPilot. vPilot works fine with the default SimConnect settings, which is what you get if you don't create the .cfg/.xml files.

[Reinhard Brantner]

Dear Ross,

Same result w/o these files. I also reinstalled the P3D client component. I tried with all AI models completely removed. It's always the same. As soon as I connect to VATSIM and an aircraft nearby is moving, the frames drop dramatically. Independent, if this is vPilot or swift.

So I think, the next (hard) step will be a complete re-install of my sim PC.

Rgds
Reinhard

[Andreas Fuchs]

Rollback of graphics driver?

[Reinhard Brantner]

7 minutes ago, Andreas Fuchs said:

Rollback of graphics driver?

Already done - latest driver - older driver (nVidia) - no success so far.

Rgds
Reinhard

[Reinhard Brantner]

Dear all,

I have found the solution with the help of a friendly P3D user: Obviously a MS update did reset my sound device settings in P3D for using the default sound device instead of the dedicated setting I had defined. I set it back to address the sound device directly and everything is fine and smooth again.

Thanks for your hints - maybe this solution helps someone later. I never had thought, that the audio settings could be the problem.

Best regards
Reinhard

 

[Nicholas Wallbridge]

I had this problem too!  But my setup is X-plane (11.55) and xPilot. What I couldn't understand was that switching TO VR and back again (I fly in VR and 2-D in different stages of flight) made the problem go away. I went around the Swift route and back again and then the problem just stopped happening ... probably when I changed the sound drivers in xPilot for better compatibility with VR (I could lose the microphone sometimes when switching to VR, if set to MME but seems fine with Windows DirectSound).  That might also explain why switching to VR originally helped,.  I am posting this in case the developers need to take a look and need more info.