Hey guys! Due to an issue with the video I had to delete and reupload it, that being said I am still extremely happy I found this fix, as i was ready to pull my hair out when it came to performance issues in DCS World!
I work in cybersecurity. There is definitely a risk associated with exclusion. I think all of Spuds recommendations are relatively low risk except one. You always want to be as narrow as possible when excluding a folder. I wouldn’t exclude the entire saved games folder, just the relevant sub folders. As for mods etc, I recommend downloading them to a non excluded folder before installing them so Defender can get a look before they are loaded. Thanks for info Spud!
This. One of the first things I do during an assessment or after a foothold is identify excluded locations, modified environment paths, and any startup applications or services with a space in their paths. With excluded folders, I essentially have a single location on the localhost that I can do anything from without the malware protection service even batting an eye. Be careful out there.
After years of placebo fixes that do literally nothing I can’t believe how much of an improvement this makes. Micro stutters appear to be gone. Well done.
Dude you just saved my sanity. I have been TEARING my hair out over performance inconsistencies in W11 and this just fixed DCS VR for me AND even helped by applying the same technique to STALKER GAMMA. You are the GOAT
Thank you for sharing this information. I followed the instructions in the video and have seen around a 10-15% increase in frame rates. Frame rates are much more stable and gameplay is very smooth. Thanks again for sharing.
Two things I did that made a huge difference were forcing DCS to only use the performance cores. And also disabling cores that were getting stuck on 100% utilization in the main menu. In VR it was a night and day difference. DCS really doesn't seem to use 13 and 14th gen CPU's well unless you use software to manage it yourself.
It made no difference for me on Win11 with a 13700KF. I think Win11 can handle the E cores better. But on Win10 it's worth a try. But disabling core parking helped me remove the stutters I got every 1-3 seconds.
+1 this. I recently built a new PC with a 13900k with a Gigabyte Aorus mobo, and in the bios there is a default tweak "Disable E-Cores", and I've been setting that in Bios before running DCS. For those of you who don't have that type of pre-progammed tweek in your mobo bios, you can still find each E-core and disable it manually in the Bios.....I think it's actually 12th Gen and above that introduced E-cores.....but guys, if you have the processor and you haven't tried this, YOU MUST!. I have also had some success with some other games. Some don't like it all at, for instance Elite Dangerous throws graphical artifacts if you disable the E-cores.
thanks for this! i hope every DCS player sees this video because it is easy to do, easy to revert. making the exclusions should help many users; i hope. i love your videos.
I use the Task Scheduler and set Winows Defender Scan to once every 2 months and seems to do the trick, and to be honest seems to be easier than your way of doing it. Of course it means nothing else will be scanned but I have a computer that is dedicated to DCS so not too worried and have been doing it for close to 3 years. But your way seems to me more practical if you're worried about other apps. 🙂👍
While this works, the risk is very high. I wish you reconsider how you communicate this across to the mass who do not understand cyber hygiene. We just give reason for bad actors to exploit this exclusion. Even if you have other protection within your network such as EDR and network level protection, and other anti-malware capabilities to compliment your security. This is still risky. It is better to look for better security software than MS Defender as they are well known to be not well optimized. I once had a bug that the defender consumed 14GB of ram .🧐 For your reference, i am a tech consultant with 25 years experience and had skills to cyber hygiene.
i have done the same with AVAST ! It works very fine ! THX . In fact my rig is a 13600K + 64go DDR5 @6000 at cas 32 and a RTX 3070TI + TrackIr 5 . I run at 2560*1440 . I usually have a steady 120 fps ( vsynch at 120 hz and fps limited at 120 ) . Some times i had a drop of fps for no reasons and i detected that was a strange CPU usage. That's the root cause. Bingo you find the right solution ! I have tested 3 times for long sessions ! and that issue is gone ! Your are the king man ! THX again
I had some major frame issues lately. What helped for me was to switch over to using the Multi-Threading option and setting the max FPS for DCS to something lower than the max FPS of my computer screen.
Exactly. You can find various conversations on message boards about this. I set all my flight sims in the Nvidia Control Panel for "max frame rate" for each game to 60 fps. This is generally considered a good point as they eyeball and brain really can't see the difference above that (some have argued they CAN, maybe so. I think that is also an issue with a persons age). What I have found this does, is makes your GPU "take it easy". Running any game with FPS unrestricted is just crazy, it can cause your experience to be bad as the FPS is bouncing around all over the place. Locking at 60fps definitely also keeps it "smoother". A good way to utilize this (fine tune it), is to run MSI Afterburner utility and set it up to see your GPU and CPU settings in-game. Run the game with no FPS lock, and then 60 fps lock to see the difference with the Afterburner running in game. Basically you are giving yourself the ability to tune your "eye candy", the graphics. Then, what I do, is look at how much GPU memory is being utilized, and slowly dial up the various graphics settings both in game and in the NVCP on each game to get the GPU utilization to about 90% as seen in Afterburner. That leaves you 10% GPU overhead to handle situations where you enter graphics intense areas. So once set, I set up a situation in DCS mission editor with a lot of units, clouds, maybe at dusk, etc. to get my GPU and CPU chugging. If I haven't allowed enough overhead, I then go back and dial down some graphics settings, to get it back to where I have enough overhead (again, using MSI Afterburner in game to watch the readings.
Just upgraded my AMD 5900X system to RTX 4090 and boomed, the exact same thing, as you described it happened to my DCS game play. I’ll have to try this trick tomorrow.
This is absolutely amazing, just had my best NoE apache flight ever.. suddenly it's super smooth down low too. Also cockpits are completely loaded now right when you enter the sim.. thanks for sharing!
Hey that's pretty good! I made the changes before doing a proper "before" test but the MT version does feel a bit more playable to me now. (It hated my old i5-7500 before and I would often be forced to fly with the ST version, which is getting buggier with every update and will soon be completely abandoned.) I'll try putting it back as it was tomorrow and do some more controlled A/B tests. But this should help! Thanks Spud!
This helped my setup (similar to yours) go from “meh” to the performance I had expected to get. As I mentioned in a comment thread I’d recommend buying better antivirus software to scan whatever you excluded from MS Defender vs having no protection at all. Defender has horrible performance for anything data intensive… but better solutions are available. At work we had to switch from Defender to a commercial solution for 9TB SQL Server data files to get the performance we expected. Better antivirus is better than no antivirus.
This did nothing for load times or fps for me or 8 other pilots in my squadron. Are u in vr? What fps are u getting and what are your system specs gpu,ram etc.
I think that one advice is to have a PC for DCS or gaming only and say an Apple device (completely different OS) for your sensitive stuff. That is one that you download stuff to and one that you leave clean.
You had me at TrackIR! I've been struggling with random stuttering for weeks now with it.....sometimes its smooth as silk, other times it's a stuttering mess and it's completely random. I'm definitely going to try this along with another fix I saw today. Cheers bud 🍻
Problem with TrackIR is that you HAVE to cap your game at 60fps or 120fps (if able to reach a steady 120....). Otherwise your game seems to stutter because TrackIR has a 120hz camera so your game need to be only at 60 or 120 to be smooth. It's a huge limitation from TrackIR. Don't know if this is your problem anyway
I'm genuinely surprised how much this helped. i was actually gonna spend my night tweaking the settings/files after i got >10fps on a 2060 i-10600K 16gbs ram high settings. (on 4ya servers) but now it seems to be at 40fps on the carrier and 60 (limit) in the air. thanks so much for sharing this spud!
@@Spudknocker First thank you for doing what you do to help the community, seems like more people should just politely keep quite to some of their comments.If one doesn't like the info just move on. Oh,yes,why don't the other bright one's share their info on better ways to operate DCS!
DCS Creates a boatload of temporary files on your C drive. If your C drive is close to full move all of your games to a different SSD and it will run buttery smooth.
I'm running an old system in win 10 and vr and it's been a horrible experience for a long time. This fix works wonders even in win 10. Its not perfect but atleast its playable for me now. It may not be the best solution securitywise in the long run but hopefully that will be fixed. Thanks a bunch for this, Spud!😉
As users, we should not be doing these things, its not our job to fix the game like we were programers, its ridiculous the amount of things people had to try to get more performance since 2.9 came out. Sacrificing a virgin would have been easier.
Great tip, looking forward to trying this out tomorrow! I agree with the same issues of inconsistent fps and in the least logical places. I'm locked to 60fps at 4k but do get moments of it dipping to 20ish for no apparent reason.
I’d be very keen to hear how you went through the PC upgrade process. Did you go the Intel 14900K for gaming and video editing? If you were interested in only DCS would you consider 7800X3D? I’m still sporting the Intel 6700K and it’s running 100%. Definitely looking into upgrading this year.
Hey Spud! Nice video! One thing that made DCS butter smooth for me was putting 128gb page file on an Nvme. Even 64gb is getting low for detailed missions.
The cure is often worse than the disease, so I wholeheartedly agree with you. Preferably disable Defender altogether via group policy. Dedicate the rig for simulator use, and use common sense. If paranoia hits hard, do scheduled scans or on-demand scans with a solid signature-based antivirus solution, or just use dual boot for risky stuff. There are, of course, other tweaks for a dedicated simulator rig, but real-time scans of any sorts are normally the worst offenders in any environment (for both clients and servers). Over the last 16 years, antivirus solutions have given me hundreds of hours of good income
Any vr players struggling on occulus. Dont use the in game options for antistropic filtering or msaa. Use adrenaline or geforce to do these things with. And use the occulus debug tool to turn off asw and also increase the resolution as desired in the pixels per display pixel overide. Vr only😊
I have the same specs 14900k, 4090, 64GB ddr5 and this problem has been driving me crazy. Unfortunately this solution didn't work for me. The only thing that seems to work somewhat is disabling cores that are at 100%. Thanks for the info though.
After a lot of research, I came up with something. Probably no one should have this problem, but I'll share it just in case. The last update improved my 99% FPS percentile a lot. This probably caused my set limit of 60 FPS to be too low. Because of this, CPU usage was so low that it caused core parking, which caused the game to be choppy. Ironically, raising the FPS limit to 90 solved the problem because it forced the CPU to work harder and thus no core parking occurred, (MSI Ventus RTX 2080 Ti OC 11G, Core I9-13900KF) So if you have a weak graphics card but a strong CPU, turning off some CPU cores (affinity mask) may help. I recommend setting the FPS limit as close to the 99% FPS percentile as possible.
Yes. Forcing the disabling of core parking via MSconfig is also an option to solve the problem. But raising the FPS limit seems like a better solution to me.
Since the vast majority are still on Windows 10, does this only apply if you are on Windows 11? I know W11 seems to have a lot more issues overall, until it gets to the more stable state that W10 is now in.
Spud. I'm in a similar situation. I upgraded to a new computer this week. I tried what you recommended after multiplayer timed out on me consistently for the first time yesterday. I've sent a trouble ticket into Eagle Dynamics for help but wanted to see if you or any of your followers can help. I've flushed my dns, did your recommendation in this video, lowered my graphic setting, checked my internet and router, adjusted virtual memory in advance settings, system reset and reinstalled all apps and softwares. This is a major upgrade and and so confused on why this is happening since I never had this issue with my old laptop that was also on windows 11. If anyone knows anything, I'm open to any suggestion. This is 1 of 2 games I play.
Exclude scanning of all folders connected to a russian software during war times...yeah sounds about the right thing to do =) Anyways, I think this is a low risk move. Besides, we can always do a manual scan now and then.
Weird! I did exactly what was described in the video, but it didn't work for me. Sometimes it takes minutes for the missions and textures to load. Sometimes, Windows offers to kill the process, because its unresponsive for minutes. I have a very fast system as well (I7, 64G Ram, 4090), and when I fly, it's very smooth, but loading times are horrible. I have an extra NVME SSD for the game installation and windows on another SSD. Can't understand where the problem is... When everything is loaded and I quit the mission, next time I start the mission, everything is quick! Seems to be the transfer of the textures and shaders into VRAM. Something, we can't fix!
I use Bitdefender and it takes over windows defender. It has a game mode which can be manually or automatically created for your favorite games. I picked Bitdefender for this reason and have no problems with it so far. The first time I had any kind of stutter was when 2.9 came out and I had TFAA selected in one of the many combinations we can try now. Still not sure about SSS as I haven't seen that black shadow issue I saw on another vid. Every once in a while I go right to the BIOS and check for a update and make sure xmp is selected and the bios has the right ram speed selected. Then I work my way down through the Nvidia control panel, the Bitdefender game mode selections and then to the game graphic settings. Always find something that got changed with a update or whatever. The best catch was the auto selected ram speed in the BIOS and a BIOS update along with the xmp boost. Especially with a new PC. To be honest I haven't looked at that for a while.
That works great and I’ve been running that for a year or so with no issues. Windows defender is like a virus itself and there should be an option to turning off that intrusive protection. I use the pc only for dcs and there is no external software running in, so there is no point for an antivirus that will slow down performance all the time looking for nothing
Which is why I permanently disabled it in the registry 😂 Nothing running on my PC but DCS. Disabled it over a year ago and haven't had an issue yet. Much better performance in DCS!
Just a question, and yes, i know it is a little more work, but couldnt you only exclude them WHILE you are playing? Then un exclude them when not actively playing? Btw, thank you sir! I would never have figured this out myself
I'm not experiencing any of this with an i7 14700k. Runs at a locked 180fps with max settings with 15 second loading screens on an 990 pro. Probably an SSD issue considering you mention load times as well. 1% lows and long load times is it having issues pulling files quick enough. Really don't think it was Windows Defender, no one else reports this issue, though that might take some random writes/reads off the drive and help. Check drive temps and if that's not it, might be a faulty SSD.
No more room to update DCS anymore. Solution is now to move everything temp. from the CoreMods folder, to another drive until update done. Mostly had already moved the larger aircraft to another drive and was already using symbolic links for terrain and aircraft.
This is wierd, i never got any blurry textures problem in loadings and i got a very decent setup.. Why using Windows Defender tho? ESET is more efficient and i never had to exclude anything to "grind" my texture loadings...
@Spudknocker Add a good disclaimer about the risks. This might not necessarily be a huge risk for the average DCS user, but there is a risk nonetheless. I like you, but doubling down on this is just dumb. You should be more clear about the risks associated with doing this, instead of making it sound like a cure-all for DCS and potentially other games as well. DCS User Files might have a pretty safe community, but you don’t know with other games and mod websites. For anyone thinking of doing what he says in the video, make sure you actually understand the security risks before doing this. I’d agree that some people are being over dramatic about it, but come on man, at least add a good disclaimer instead of calling it the “Magic Fix.”
This is a great idea and I'm excited to see if it helps with my constant hitching. But man, it would have been so much easier to apply this if the video description just said Windows Defender > Exclusions > Exclude C:\whatever, C:\whatever. An 11-minute (!!) video was really not necessary.
I was expecting the CPU core parking issue. Not this. :D CPU core parking issue is something that happens last time on many windows PC's. System forces cores to park even when they are needed. Fun part is for those who experience this issue, the ST runs better than MT. There is needed to manually turn off the core parking through the msconfig menu or via windows registry.
@@jaromirandel543 BTW, I temporarily enabled my e-cores again to see if anything changed recently and the stuttering was unbearable. I disabled them again and DCS MT went back to buttery smooth performance. Cores are unparked
Hi there! I really need to try this but more than anything I am interested to know if it is possible setting my username/saved games/dcs path from the disk where windows are installed (c:) to a path on another drive (eg d:) where I have my DCS already installed (I chose to install it on a drive other than the windows drive).
Yep, especially if you're lucky enough to have DCS on a dedicated machine (I built my PC just for that). Permanently disabled it in the registry over a year ago, no issues yet.
Do I still need to exclude dcs and quest 2 app in windows defender if my current antivirus is mcafee? Saw a lot of comments pointing out a boost in fps and might try this out later, great video as awlays👏
@@snwilliam6886 i think you can even uninstall mcaffe, because many experts say (and in my experience also) that external anti virus softwares doesnt really do anything besides slowing your computer down.
I recently watched your video titled “The MAGIC FIX For Better Performance in DCS World 2.9!” and felt compelled to share some feedback. While I appreciate the effort you put into creating content, I must say that this tutorial falls short in several key areas, particularly due to its excessive descriptiveness. From the outset, the video is laden with an overwhelming amount of detail that ultimately detracts from its usefulness. It feels as though every minute aspect of the process is dissected to an unnecessary degree. Instead of providing a clear and concise guide, the video bombards viewers with superfluous information that only serves to muddle the core message. This level of detail might be beneficial for a handful of users, but for those seeking a straightforward solution, it becomes a frustrating barrier. For instance, when discussing the settings adjustments, the narrative dives into intricate technical jargon and step-by-step explanations that are not only redundant but also confusing. Rather than streamlining the tutorial to highlight the essential changes needed for performance improvements, the video seems more like an exhaustive manual on every conceivable setting in DCS World. This approach could be overwhelming for viewers who are simply looking for practical, actionable advice. Additionally, the video’s structure contributes to its lack of clarity. The lengthy explanations about each adjustment option create a convoluted experience where the main points get lost in a sea of details. It’s as if the video’s goal is to cover every possible aspect of the topic, rather than focusing on delivering a coherent and effective solution. This results in a presentation that feels disorganized and difficult to follow. In summary, while your commitment to detail is evident, it unfortunately makes the video less accessible to those who are searching for a clear and concise tutorial. A more streamlined approach that focuses on the most impactful changes and avoids excessive elaboration would greatly enhance the utility of the content. I hope this feedback is helpful and encourages a more focused approach in future videos.
Well ,I must say some get, It wasn't just produced for the book worms out there ! But thank you for your two cents . I must add why haven't you backed your views into action ?
@@Spudknocker It might not have been the exclusions. Doing more testing. I think a PTC update got pushed out to me just before I enabled exclusions. Doing a factory reset on the Quest now and retesting...
@@Munky332I have the same issue with my Rift S. Any luck fixing it yet? I will let you know if I find anything. I’m not convinced it was the exclusion, but I have removed them and restarted with no improvement.
@@billzebob1637 I ended up having to uninstall oculus software, opting out of PTC, and factory resetting my Quest 3. Dunno if you're in the PTC or not, but the newest PTC patch was dogshit for me. EDIT: Also, I noticed *zero* improvement from excluding Oculus, DCS, Saved Games folders from AV, even turned it completely off and nothing. Intel 14700k @ 5.8hz all P-core/4.4 E-core, and a 4090.
Hey spud, what motherboard did you go with? I'm going with a 14th gen intel cpu soon and some mobos need a BIOS update before they'll boot with a 14th gen cpu. I want one thats ready to go out of the box for 14th gen.
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Hey guys! Due to an issue with the video I had to delete and reupload it, that being said I am still extremely happy I found this fix, as i was ready to pull my hair out when it came to performance issues in DCS World!
Ha! I was right in the middle of the video when it disappeared. I thought I was losing my mind 😆
@@defsoundguy sorry!
I hate windows defender with a passion.
Spud! It works on Windows 10 as well. I added a few other folders directly related to DCS and NVIDIA. Worked like a charm.👍🙂
Do you use SSD for DCS? Cpu and gpu is not all, you need ssd nvme for DCS.
I work in cybersecurity. There is definitely a risk associated with exclusion. I think all of Spuds recommendations are relatively low risk except one. You always want to be as narrow as possible when excluding a folder. I wouldn’t exclude the entire saved games folder, just the relevant sub folders. As for mods etc, I recommend downloading them to a non excluded folder before installing them so Defender can get a look before they are loaded. Thanks for info Spud!
This. One of the first things I do during an assessment or after a foothold is identify excluded locations, modified environment paths, and any startup applications or services with a space in their paths. With excluded folders, I essentially have a single location on the localhost that I can do anything from without the malware protection service even batting an eye. Be careful out there.
Thank you. Looking for an actual expert before I tried this.
At least some of us understand… him deleting critical comments and doubling down is making him look bad though.
@@777XGang Agree
Which specific subfolders of Eagle Dynamics \ DCS OpenBeta would you recommend including in the exceptions?
After years of placebo fixes that do literally nothing I can’t believe how much of an improvement this makes. Micro stutters appear to be gone. Well done.
Dude you just saved my sanity. I have been TEARING my hair out over performance inconsistencies in W11 and this just fixed DCS VR for me AND even helped by applying the same technique to STALKER GAMMA. You are the GOAT
Glad I could help!
Thank you for sharing this information. I followed the instructions in the video and have seen around a 10-15% increase in frame rates. Frame rates are much more stable and gameplay is very smooth. Thanks again for sharing.
Two things I did that made a huge difference were forcing DCS to only use the performance cores. And also disabling cores that were getting stuck on 100% utilization in the main menu. In VR it was a night and day difference.
DCS really doesn't seem to use 13 and 14th gen CPU's well unless you use software to manage it yourself.
That's only Intel. It makes no difference for Ryzen (I've tried it).
It made no difference for me on Win11 with a 13700KF. I think Win11 can handle the E cores better. But on Win10 it's worth a try.
But disabling core parking helped me remove the stutters I got every 1-3 seconds.
+1 this. I recently built a new PC with a 13900k with a Gigabyte Aorus mobo, and in the bios there is a default tweak "Disable E-Cores", and I've been setting that in Bios before running DCS. For those of you who don't have that type of pre-progammed tweek in your mobo bios, you can still find each E-core and disable it manually in the Bios.....I think it's actually 12th Gen and above that introduced E-cores.....but guys, if you have the processor and you haven't tried this, YOU MUST!. I have also had some success with some other games. Some don't like it all at, for instance Elite Dangerous throws graphical artifacts if you disable the E-cores.
Yep, my experience as well. Disabling E-cores on my 13700KF made a huge difference in DCS MT and VR! Using Win 10
thanks for this! i hope every DCS player sees this video because it is easy to do, easy to revert. making the exclusions should help many users; i hope. i love your videos.
Thanks for the support!
I use the Task Scheduler and set Winows Defender Scan to once every 2 months and seems to do the trick, and to be honest seems to be easier than your way of doing it. Of course it means nothing else will be scanned but I have a computer that is dedicated to DCS so not too worried and have been doing it for close to 3 years. But your way seems to me more practical if you're worried about other apps. 🙂👍
Hey man! Honestly I would do both!
😀✌@@Spudknocker
Wow. This gave a noticeable performance improvement in VR. Well played, sir.
Don't get yourself infected with any viruses...but this does indeed work.
Man I really thought it was my computer parts holding me back whenever I loaded into the F-15E. Thanks Spud!
I am glad it helped you out dude!
I fly f15e in vr and this did nothing for me or 8 of my pilots of our squadron. We fly in vr are u?
While this works, the risk is very high. I wish you reconsider how you communicate this across to the mass who do not understand cyber hygiene.
We just give reason for bad actors to exploit this exclusion.
Even if you have other protection within your network such as EDR and network level protection, and other anti-malware capabilities to compliment your security. This is still risky.
It is better to look for better security software than MS Defender as they are well known to be not well optimized. I once had a bug that the defender consumed 14GB of ram .🧐
For your reference, i am a tech consultant with 25 years experience and had skills to cyber hygiene.
Its extremely high risk. You can tell none of these people served in the military.
@@tinto278yah 100% it’s about as risky as frying an egg with the hob on just a little bit too high 😂
The Samsung 990 Pro (x2) is the chef's kiss. Along with 7800x3d, 64gb 6000cl30, 4090.
i have done the same with AVAST ! It works very fine ! THX .
In fact my rig is a 13600K + 64go DDR5 @6000 at cas 32 and a RTX 3070TI + TrackIr 5 . I run at 2560*1440 . I usually have a steady 120 fps ( vsynch at 120 hz and fps limited at 120 ) . Some times i had a drop of fps for no reasons and i detected that was a strange CPU usage. That's the root cause. Bingo you find the right solution ! I have tested 3 times for long sessions ! and that issue is gone ! Your are the king man ! THX again
I had some major frame issues lately. What helped for me was to switch over to using the Multi-Threading option and setting the max FPS for DCS to something lower than the max FPS of my computer screen.
Exactly. You can find various conversations on message boards about this. I set all my flight sims in the Nvidia Control Panel for "max frame rate" for each game to 60 fps. This is generally considered a good point as they eyeball and brain really can't see the difference above that (some have argued they CAN, maybe so. I think that is also an issue with a persons age). What I have found this does, is makes your GPU "take it easy". Running any game with FPS unrestricted is just crazy, it can cause your experience to be bad as the FPS is bouncing around all over the place. Locking at 60fps definitely also keeps it "smoother". A good way to utilize this (fine tune it), is to run MSI Afterburner utility and set it up to see your GPU and CPU settings in-game. Run the game with no FPS lock, and then 60 fps lock to see the difference with the Afterburner running in game. Basically you are giving yourself the ability to tune your "eye candy", the graphics. Then, what I do, is look at how much GPU memory is being utilized, and slowly dial up the various graphics settings both in game and in the NVCP on each game to get the GPU utilization to about 90% as seen in Afterburner. That leaves you 10% GPU overhead to handle situations where you enter graphics intense areas. So once set, I set up a situation in DCS mission editor with a lot of units, clouds, maybe at dusk, etc. to get my GPU and CPU chugging. If I haven't allowed enough overhead, I then go back and dial down some graphics settings, to get it back to where I have enough overhead (again, using MSI Afterburner in game to watch the readings.
Just upgraded my AMD 5900X system to RTX 4090 and boomed, the exact same thing, as you described it happened to my DCS game play. I’ll have to try this trick tomorrow.
This is absolutely amazing, just had my best NoE apache flight ever.. suddenly it's super smooth down low too. Also cockpits are completely loaded now right when you enter the sim.. thanks for sharing!
Of course man! Glad I could help!
You are the man!, this is GOLD! 72 stable FPS in Enigma Cold War server...no words to thank you for this info.
Hey that's pretty good! I made the changes before doing a proper "before" test but the MT version does feel a bit more playable to me now. (It hated my old i5-7500 before and I would often be forced to fly with the ST version, which is getting buggier with every update and will soon be completely abandoned.)
I'll try putting it back as it was tomorrow and do some more controlled A/B tests. But this should help!
Thanks Spud!
This makes a big difference - also in Win10 - Thanks a lot!!!!
This helped my setup (similar to yours) go from “meh” to the performance I had expected to get. As I mentioned in a comment thread I’d recommend buying better antivirus software to scan whatever you excluded from MS Defender vs having no protection at all. Defender has horrible performance for anything data intensive… but better solutions are available. At work we had to switch from Defender to a commercial solution for 9TB SQL Server data files to get the performance we expected. Better antivirus is better than no antivirus.
I am glad it helped you dude!
I found this fix a week ago and it really helped me a lot, I no longer have stuttering and DCS runs very smoothly.🥳
This did nothing for load times or fps for me or 8 other pilots in my squadron. Are u in vr? What fps are u getting and what are your system specs gpu,ram etc.
I think that one advice is to have a PC for DCS or gaming only and say an Apple device (completely different OS) for your sensitive stuff. That is one that you download stuff to and one that you leave clean.
You had me at TrackIR! I've been struggling with random stuttering for weeks now with it.....sometimes its smooth as silk, other times it's a stuttering mess and it's completely random. I'm definitely going to try this along with another fix I saw today. Cheers bud 🍻
Hey man make sure to report back if it helps you out!
Problem with TrackIR is that you HAVE to cap your game at 60fps or 120fps (if able to reach a steady 120....). Otherwise your game seems to stutter because TrackIR has a 120hz camera so your game need to be only at 60 or 120 to be smooth. It's a huge limitation from TrackIR. Don't know if this is your problem anyway
I'm genuinely surprised how much this helped. i was actually gonna spend my night tweaking the settings/files after i got >10fps on a 2060 i-10600K 16gbs ram high settings. (on 4ya servers) but now it seems to be at 40fps on the carrier and 60 (limit) in the air. thanks so much for sharing this spud!
Cool to see that it worked so well man!
Hey Spudknocker followed your advice, totally worked thanks !
Awesome!
@@Spudknocker First thank you for doing what you do to help the community, seems like more people should just politely keep quite to some of their comments.If one doesn't like the info just move on. Oh,yes,why don't the other bright one's share their info on better ways to operate DCS!
DCS Creates a boatload of temporary files on your C drive. If your C drive is close to full move all of your games to a different SSD and it will run buttery smooth.
Always on C, or on the install drive?
I'm running an old system in win 10 and vr and it's been a horrible experience for a long time. This fix works wonders even in win 10. Its not perfect but atleast its playable for me now. It may not be the best solution securitywise in the long run but hopefully that will be fixed.
Thanks a bunch for this, Spud!😉
As users, we should not be doing these things, its not our job to fix the game like we were programers, its ridiculous the amount of things people had to try to get more performance since 2.9 came out. Sacrificing a virgin would have been easier.
It's not a DCS problem, it's a Windows 11 problem. And yes, we should not have to be doing it.
Great tip, looking forward to trying this out tomorrow!
I agree with the same issues of inconsistent fps and in the least logical places. I'm locked to 60fps at 4k but do get moments of it dipping to 20ish for no apparent reason.
I’d be very keen to hear how you went through the PC upgrade process. Did you go the Intel 14900K for gaming and video editing? If you were interested in only DCS would you consider 7800X3D?
I’m still sporting the Intel 6700K and it’s running 100%. Definitely looking into upgrading this year.
Hey Spud! Nice video! One thing that made DCS butter smooth for me was putting 128gb page file on an Nvme. Even 64gb is getting low for detailed missions.
Holy Molly!
A 12fps gain for free lol! How cool is that?
Thanks!
Wow dude! That’s amazing! What a huge boost!
The cure is often worse than the disease, so I wholeheartedly agree with you. Preferably disable Defender altogether via group policy. Dedicate the rig for simulator use, and use common sense. If paranoia hits hard, do scheduled scans or on-demand scans with a solid signature-based antivirus solution, or just use dual boot for risky stuff. There are, of course, other tweaks for a dedicated simulator rig, but real-time scans of any sorts are normally the worst offenders in any environment (for both clients and servers). Over the last 16 years, antivirus solutions have given me hundreds of hours of good income
Thx Spud. That really helped with the stuttering for my pc. 4070 TI. 64gb ram. Core(TM) i7-13700KF 3.40 GHz
Definitely seems to help performance, thanks for the tips.
No problem dude!
Any vr players struggling on occulus. Dont use the in game options for antistropic filtering or msaa. Use adrenaline or geforce to do these things with. And use the occulus debug tool to turn off asw and also increase the resolution as desired in the pixels per display pixel overide. Vr only😊
Thank you, big help for me but no trackIR but my Varjo Base and smooth sailing.
I have the same specs 14900k, 4090, 64GB ddr5 and this problem has been driving me crazy. Unfortunately this solution didn't work for me. The only thing that seems to work somewhat is disabling cores that are at 100%. Thanks for the info though.
Pretty sure this just fixed my problem! Thanks Spudknocker!
I was wrong, back to 10 fps today😢
Helloh.
Wouldn't it also help to exclude the Windows Pagefile? DCS does a lot of writing and reading there.
After a lot of research, I came up with something. Probably no one should have this problem, but I'll share it just in case. The last update improved my 99% FPS percentile a lot. This probably caused my set limit of 60 FPS to be too low. Because of this, CPU usage was so low that it caused core parking, which caused the game to be choppy. Ironically, raising the FPS limit to 90 solved the problem because it forced the CPU to work harder and thus no core parking occurred, (MSI Ventus RTX 2080 Ti OC 11G, Core I9-13900KF) So if you have a weak graphics card but a strong CPU, turning off some CPU cores (affinity mask) may help. I recommend setting the FPS limit as close to the 99% FPS percentile as possible.
Or maybe force core parking off via MSconfig. I am going to try that now.
Yes. Forcing the disabling of core parking via MSconfig is also an option to solve the problem. But raising the FPS limit seems like a better solution to me.
Thanks for all the EXCELLENT content and teachings Spud!! Much appreciated!
I’m glad if helped you out dude!
Since the vast majority are still on Windows 10, does this only apply if you are on Windows 11? I know W11 seems to have a lot more issues overall, until it gets to the more stable state that W10 is now in.
XDR File scan path exclusions are fairly common requests in the corporate technology world.
as always, thank you bro.
Thanks a mill Spud!! That helped for sure, much appreciated 🙏
Awesome man!
Looks like I'm not the only one forgetting about AV exclusions
Win10 here but for sure the latest updates include Defender. I'll look for similar options to exclude folders. Thanks !!
Spud. I'm in a similar situation. I upgraded to a new computer this week. I tried what you recommended after multiplayer timed out on me consistently for the first time yesterday. I've sent a trouble ticket into Eagle Dynamics for help but wanted to see if you or any of your followers can help. I've flushed my dns, did your recommendation in this video, lowered my graphic setting, checked my internet and router, adjusted virtual memory in advance settings, system reset and reinstalled all apps and softwares. This is a major upgrade and and so confused on why this is happening since I never had this issue with my old laptop that was also on windows 11. If anyone knows anything, I'm open to any suggestion. This is 1 of 2 games I play.
Exclude scanning of all folders connected to a russian software during war times...yeah sounds about the right thing to do =) Anyways, I think this is a low risk move. Besides, we can always do a manual scan now and then.
Weird! I did exactly what was described in the video, but it didn't work for me. Sometimes it takes minutes for the missions and textures to load. Sometimes, Windows offers to kill the process, because its unresponsive for minutes. I have a very fast system as well (I7, 64G Ram, 4090), and when I fly, it's very smooth, but loading times are horrible. I have an extra NVME SSD for the game installation and windows on another SSD. Can't understand where the problem is...
When everything is loaded and I quit the mission, next time I start the mission, everything is quick! Seems to be the transfer of the textures and shaders into VRAM. Something, we can't fix!
I use Bitdefender and it takes over windows defender. It has a game mode which can be manually or automatically created for your favorite games. I picked Bitdefender for this reason and have no problems with it so far. The first time I had any kind of stutter was when 2.9 came out and I had TFAA selected in one of the many combinations we can try now. Still not sure about SSS as I haven't seen that black shadow issue I saw on another vid. Every once in a while I go right to the BIOS and check for a update and make sure xmp is selected and the bios has the right ram speed selected. Then I work my way down through the Nvidia control panel, the Bitdefender game mode selections and then to the game graphic settings. Always find something that got changed with a update or whatever. The best catch was the auto selected ram speed in the BIOS and a BIOS update along with the xmp boost. Especially with a new PC. To be honest I haven't looked at that for a while.
Awesome I’m glad that works for you dude!
Thanks Spud, much appreciated! Have any of you guys excluded any VR software? I'm running a Q3.
That works great and I’ve been running that for a year or so with no issues. Windows defender is like a virus itself and there should be an option to turning off that intrusive protection. I use the pc only for dcs and there is no external software running in, so there is no point for an antivirus that will slow down performance all the time looking for nothing
Which is why I permanently disabled it in the registry 😂 Nothing running on my PC but DCS. Disabled it over a year ago and haven't had an issue yet. Much better performance in DCS!
Just a question, and yes, i know it is a little more work, but couldnt you only exclude them WHILE you are playing? Then un exclude them when not actively playing?
Btw, thank you sir! I would never have figured this out myself
If you use Process Exclusion instead of Folder exclusion that will happen automatically
i use riva tuner and cap my fps to my refresh rate, 144hz. IT HELPS a ton with smoothness since 2.9
Thats also a great performance tip dude thanks!
using vsync or adaptive?
@@theeltea not using vsync. just make sure riva tuner doesnt let your frame go above your refresh rate.
@@dunbar555 Yup I run the same, just making sure, thx
Cap 2 under your refresh rate (142)
Allows you headroom when pre rendering frames
I still use Windows 10, and this isn’t such a big deal but I’ll check it out 😊 thanks for the tip! I may be able to gain some fps!
YES!!!!! Thanks for doing this!!!!
No problem man!
I'm not experiencing any of this with an i7 14700k. Runs at a locked 180fps with max settings with 15 second loading screens on an 990 pro.
Probably an SSD issue considering you mention load times as well. 1% lows and long load times is it having issues pulling files quick enough. Really don't think it was Windows Defender, no one else reports this issue, though that might take some random writes/reads off the drive and help. Check drive temps and if that's not it, might be a faulty SSD.
The problem I have comes with the AI causing massive FPS drops. We are talking about SAM sites, they seem to be extemely cpu intensive.
No more room to update DCS anymore. Solution is now to move everything temp. from the CoreMods folder, to another drive until update done. Mostly had already moved the larger aircraft to another drive and was already using symbolic links for terrain and aircraft.
Thanks, Spud, you are awesome.
This is wierd, i never got any blurry textures problem in loadings and i got a very decent setup..
Why using Windows Defender tho? ESET is more efficient and i never had to exclude anything to "grind" my texture loadings...
@Spudknocker Add a good disclaimer about the risks. This might not necessarily be a huge risk for the average DCS user, but there is a risk nonetheless. I like you, but doubling down on this is just dumb.
You should be more clear about the risks associated with doing this, instead of making it sound like a cure-all for DCS and potentially other games as well. DCS User Files might have a pretty safe community, but you don’t know with other games and mod websites.
For anyone thinking of doing what he says in the video, make sure you actually understand the security risks before doing this.
I’d agree that some people are being over dramatic about it, but come on man, at least add a good disclaimer instead of calling it the “Magic Fix.”
What is RDAF and where can one get those sick liveries?
They are all available for free in my discord!
Yes this did get my i7 and 4060 over the mark of perfect for DCS great job as always Spud
Very helpful, thank you!
This is a great idea and I'm excited to see if it helps with my constant hitching. But man, it would have been so much easier to apply this if the video description just said Windows Defender > Exclusions > Exclude C:\whatever, C:\whatever. An 11-minute (!!) video was really not necessary.
Sooooo lucky to find this.
I was expecting the CPU core parking issue. Not this. :D CPU core parking issue is something that happens last time on many windows PC's. System forces cores to park even when they are needed. Fun part is for those who experience this issue, the ST runs better than MT. There is needed to manually turn off the core parking through the msconfig menu or via windows registry.
or just disable the E-cores in bios and live happily ever after in DCS multi-thread😂 (especially for VR)
@@redtailpilot disabling E-cores will not solve problem with parking P-cores
@@jaromirandel543 True. I should've wrote "and"
@@jaromirandel543 BTW, I temporarily enabled my e-cores again to see if anything changed recently and the stuttering was unbearable. I disabled them again and DCS MT went back to buttery smooth performance. Cores are unparked
Thanks, it helped me here on my laptop. 👍
Perfect timing. I have a similar system as you and am struggling with inconsistent performance. Will try your tips tonight!
Dude, did you have an actual antivirus software? No exclusions option anywhere on my pc.
I excluded that stuff plus my screen recorder thanks a lot for the tutorial
Hi there! I really need to try this but more than anything I am interested to know if it is possible setting my username/saved games/dcs path from the disk where windows are installed (c:) to a path on another drive (eg d:) where I have my DCS already installed (I chose to install it on a drive other than the windows drive).
Thanks for the good Instraticon
I havent run antivirus for the past 2 years... If you know what you're doing, youre just fine...
Yep, especially if you're lucky enough to have DCS on a dedicated machine (I built my PC just for that). Permanently disabled it in the registry over a year ago, no issues yet.
I had some stuttering on the Nevada map last night and I tried using process lasso to fix it, disabling hyper threading. it seemed to have worked
Do I still need to exclude dcs and quest 2 app in windows defender if my current antivirus is mcafee? Saw a lot of comments pointing out a boost in fps and might try this out later, great video as awlays👏
I think it would be a good idea if you are worried about performance issues
Mcafee is worse than any virus you could ever get.
@@Spudknocker ok cool 😎 will try it later, thanks
@@snwilliam6886 i think you can even uninstall mcaffe, because many experts say (and in my experience also) that external anti virus softwares doesnt really do anything besides slowing your computer down.
you should remove mcafee while youre at it
I recently watched your video titled “The MAGIC FIX For Better Performance in DCS World 2.9!” and felt compelled to share some feedback. While I appreciate the effort you put into creating content, I must say that this tutorial falls short in several key areas, particularly due to its excessive descriptiveness.
From the outset, the video is laden with an overwhelming amount of detail that ultimately detracts from its usefulness. It feels as though every minute aspect of the process is dissected to an unnecessary degree. Instead of providing a clear and concise guide, the video bombards viewers with superfluous information that only serves to muddle the core message. This level of detail might be beneficial for a handful of users, but for those seeking a straightforward solution, it becomes a frustrating barrier.
For instance, when discussing the settings adjustments, the narrative dives into intricate technical jargon and step-by-step explanations that are not only redundant but also confusing. Rather than streamlining the tutorial to highlight the essential changes needed for performance improvements, the video seems more like an exhaustive manual on every conceivable setting in DCS World. This approach could be overwhelming for viewers who are simply looking for practical, actionable advice.
Additionally, the video’s structure contributes to its lack of clarity. The lengthy explanations about each adjustment option create a convoluted experience where the main points get lost in a sea of details. It’s as if the video’s goal is to cover every possible aspect of the topic, rather than focusing on delivering a coherent and effective solution. This results in a presentation that feels disorganized and difficult to follow.
In summary, while your commitment to detail is evident, it unfortunately makes the video less accessible to those who are searching for a clear and concise tutorial. A more streamlined approach that focuses on the most impactful changes and avoids excessive elaboration would greatly enhance the utility of the content. I hope this feedback is helpful and encourages a more focused approach in future videos.
Well ,I must say some get, It wasn't just produced for the book worms out there ! But thank you for your two cents . I must add why haven't you backed your views into action ?
Other than being a little broad with the exclusions and not implying safety checks for mods, this was an interesting.
Whatever this did, I am now unable to launch the game *at all* in VR. DCS simply crashes on launch... Quest 3 for reference, using link cable.
Uh oh! Thats no good! Just delete the exclusions and restart your PC
@@Spudknocker It might not have been the exclusions. Doing more testing. I think a PTC update got pushed out to me just before I enabled exclusions. Doing a factory reset on the Quest now and retesting...
@@Munky332I have the same issue with my Rift S. Any luck fixing it yet? I will let you know if I find anything. I’m not convinced it was the exclusion, but I have removed them and restarted with no improvement.
@@billzebob1637 I ended up having to uninstall oculus software, opting out of PTC, and factory resetting my Quest 3. Dunno if you're in the PTC or not, but the newest PTC patch was dogshit for me.
EDIT: Also, I noticed *zero* improvement from excluding Oculus, DCS, Saved Games folders from AV, even turned it completely off and nothing. Intel 14700k @ 5.8hz all P-core/4.4 E-core, and a 4090.
Same for me. It was an oculus fail. Thanks or following up.@@Munky332
I have an anti virus and my windows defender shows my anti virus deals with it all. do i need to make exceptions in the anti virus instead?
I am wondering that the new machine does not have antivirus installed and it explains why Windows defender is on.
Interesting.. OK.. I amusing Tobii but will do similar procedure..thanks Sir.
You can definitely do the same procedure with Tobii Eye Tracker!
Menus are different now. Options under virus and threat protection not the same.
Nice call Spud!
Hmm does windows 10 have also something like this?
Im running windows 10, does this apply to this os as well? Thanks!
Great Video! I always disable Windows Defender and any other AV for games
Absolutely!
Good Stuff!
Thanks for the support dude!
Hey Spudd when’s the F15E WSO cold start tutorial coming out?
Hey man, its basically the same as the front seat haha but I can do a specific video if you think its needed
If you've downloaded everything on Stream, wouldn't it work just as well?
When I click 'Add an exclusion', the windows security tab crashes and closes. Any one with this problem that has fixed it?
Hey spud, what motherboard did you go with? I'm going with a 14th gen intel cpu soon and some mobos need a BIOS update before they'll boot with a 14th gen cpu. I want one thats ready to go out of the box for 14th gen.
So why not just Disable Anti-Virus when playing then ??
That should also work!
or disable it for good via the registry, like I did a year ago 🤣 (nothing on this PC but DCS, so I accept the risk. Haven't had a single issue yet).
Hey sorry, what do you mean by 99th percentile?
Hey man so it’s basically a statistical measure that means that the FPS value is below 99% of other values
but this is for if you only use defender, what about if you use norton????
Thank u so much man!
Intro longer than an anime episode 😂😂😂