B737 and 747 lag issue

[capflysim]

Hi there
After a bit of a break, I've decided to go back to simming with fsx and fscaptain again, and I have to say it's an absolute gem of an add on!
One of the issues I've had though, is that I've tested the fcdu with multiple aircraft, and they all seem to be fine but the boeing 737 and 747 can't seem to work with the fcdu. As soon as I load a flight the fps drops to the 1-5 range (it's usually around 70, and occassionally 100), and the game is basically unplayable.
I've recently upgraded my gaming set up and I'm pretty confident that it has nothing to do with my specs, since I also had this issue in my previous set up which was not as good.

This issue happens only with the 2 mentioned aircraft (I'll update you as I test more aircraft) but I have specifically tested the a321, crj700, and most GA aircraft and they seem to be fine. No other add-ons are active apart from world of ai. Both mentioned aircraft are fsx's own, and not a third party.

I would very much appreciate your help.

Thank you!

[capflysim]

I must also add that I'm running the fsx steam edition.

[capflysim]

And if it's of any help, I'm using the installed fcdu, not the .exe

[peter]

Hi Capflysim,

that is really odd. Normally, FSCaptain should not have any influence on frame rates. Have you tested these planes with the FCDU.exe as well? You can do that if you run FSX in windowed mode (hit alt-enter simultaneously).

One thing that could go wrong is that FSCaptain thinks you are using the PMDG versions of these airplanes. If I recall correctly, they have a much more sophisticated door opening procedure, and FSCaptain may try to open the doors accordingly. We should be able to see if that is the case in your FCDU log file, please send that to us. You could also try to declare the doors as INOP in the Administrator and see if that helps.

Best,
Peter

[capflysim]

Thanks for your reply.
The door inop solution didn't make any difference.
About the .exe, it appears as if it' s not lowering the fps, but the issue is that everytime I need to look at it the game pauses, and its just not the same.

[capflysim]

Ok, I just tried the learjet 45 and the a321 again, and the a321 had a massive lag, just as bad as the b737's, with the frame rate at 0.8. The learjet was stuck around 10-15.

[peter]

I will alert Travis of your problem.

[Travis]

CapSimFly,

I had a good talk with Dutch over the weekend about how we could find what's going on, and I have a (sort of) plan of attack.

I have a FSX-Steam Test Captain who experiences this behavior and he's willing to work with me to run some tests to isolate what's happening.

These tests may take a week or longer, and there's no promise we can find what's happening.  But we'll give it our best attempt.
-----

There is one thing that I would like to ask you for... it would help in one of the branches I'm following.

Could you please email me the panel.cfg files for your 321, 737 and 747? I'll get the ones from my Test Captain and look for any common items.

While you're doing that, if you could send a few panel.cfg files for aircraft that work fine for you, we could use that for purposes of elimination.

-----
If you would like to try the EXE while we're testing, you can easily disable the FSX pause by following these steps:

On your FSX Home menu screen, go to your Settings tab on the left side of the screen.  When you're on the Setting screen, next click "General" in the "Other Settings" group on the right side.

On that screen, look to the top left corner, and in the "Programs" group, uncheck "Pause on task switch" and then click "Ok".

You would then be able to make the FCDU - or any other add-on - as the Top Window and FSX should continue to fly.

Best,

[capflysim]

Thanks, I appreciate it.
I will send the files through shortly.

[awralls]

Capflysim, I also use FSX:SE on W10. I experience the same symptoms as you on many aircraft. I have found that a reasonable workaround is as follows:

Load your aircraft as usual, power up, and then load the FCDU gauge. Your FPS will be considerably reduced, as you say.

As soon as the gauge text appears, select the bottom left line select key that reads 'Offline'. After a second or so, your FPS should be restored. Thereafter, log in and you should be good to go. It has worked for me MOST of the time. I've come across at least one third-party aircraft that won't respond to this workaround, but for the ones you mentioned, I've tested and they work for me.

This should get you flying until Travis and the team come up with a full remedy.

All the best,

Andy

[capflysim]

Hi Andy
Thank you for your reply. I will definitely try that out and let the team know how it went.

[peter]

Aug 31, 2023 13:37:55 GMT -5 awralls said:

As soon as the gauge text appears, select the bottom left line select key that reads 'Offline'. After a second or so, your FPS should be restored. Thereafter, log in and you should be good to go. 

Many thanks for sharing that trick, Andy. Not only may it help Capflysim, it could also give Travis an idea where to look for the cause of this behaviour.

Cheers,
Peter

[capflysim]

I've just tested that trick on the b737 but it didn't work. The fps is pretty much consistantly at 0.8.

[peter]

Sept 1, 2023 9:49:51 GMT -5 capflysim said:

I've just tested that trick on the b737 but it didn't work. The fps is pretty much consistantly at 0.8.

Thanks for letting us know. 

[Travis]

This is a most frustrating issue!

For both Alan and Cap FS - FSX-SE and Win10 - it occurs when they open their gauge.

For Alan, on most of his aircraft it stops if he clicks <OFFLINE.  This does not occur for Cap FS.

For Dutch - FSX-Acc (boxed) and Win11 - it does not occur at all.

For me - P3D4 and Win11 Pro - it occurs when I arrive in the VC, and stops when I opened the gauge or run the FCDU.EXE.

I have since added code to prevent that from occurring when I arrive in my VC.  A minor victory if anything....

Next week I will work with my Test Captain (FSX-SE, Win10) and we will drill away on this.  I can't make any promises, I hate to say....

Best,