Prepar3D Forums

Hi there,
For about a week now i have noticed that something is wrong with P3D V4. It happend twice that P3D freezes followed by a really annoying buzzing sound. I cant do anything but restart the pc via the physical power button. After contacting the windows technical support they told me to run the chkdsk /f /r without success. The second time this happend they told me that thre might be something wrong with the registry files and told me to refresh my windows installation without loosing any files. I did that but other than adding the windows creator tool i dont think that solved the problem ( note that the problems occured before windows creator was downloaded ). After a bit of research i found out that these freezes might be caused by high cpu usage. SO the next time i played i waited until i was on cruise altitude at 32000 feet and openend the task manager. The CPU usage for P3D was between 50 and 70 percent. At some moments it even went up to 97 percent. The CPUs temp was about 75 C and is overclocked from 4.2 to 4.75 ghz.( with watercooler). The GPUs temp is about 84 C when playing P3D. It would be nice if something could tell me why the usage is so high and how i can lower it.
Normally i use the PMDG 777-300er and run chaseplane and activesky along with p3d v4 on a 144hz monitor with gsync active and frames set to unlimited. I dont know if this is linked with the problem i just described but i notice that my frames per second are very unstable in p3d. In the cockpit of pmdg 777 it jumps between 40 and 60 fps. And in the outside view it jumps between 70-120 fps while sometimes jumping back to 30 for a second. ( I have already tried the general debugging steps ). ( i wanted to add an image but i could not figure out how )

Additional Informations:

Prepar3D version: 4.0.28.21686

Operating system: Windows 10 Pro Version 1703 ( Build 15063.540)

All add-ons installed (applications, scenery, vehicles, etc.): P3D V4, ORBX FTX Global Base/ Europe LC/ Innsbruck, ActiveSky16, GSX, Chase Plane, FlyTampa Amsterdam/Copenahagen/ Vienna, Aerosoft Oslo/Trodheim, FSUIPC 5 ( free edition), SODE, PMDG 747 V3, PMDG 777-200/300, the new aerosoft crj 700/900, FSFX 777 Immersion, PTA, URP 1.1, Reshade, VPilot, FSDG Sharm El Sheikh, SDG Cairo Intl Airport, TFDI 717. I also have Bitdefender 2017 Installed but all addons and games are put in exclusion zone.


Hardware (graphics card, CPU, RAM, displays, etc.): GPU: NVIDIA GEFORCE Titan X ( PASCAL)
CPU: I7 7700K overclocked from 4.2 to 4.75ghz
RAM: 32 GB Corsair CM4X8GE3000C15K4
Hardrive: 2 TB WDC WD2003FZEX-00SRLA0
SSD: Samsung SSD 960
GPU Cooler: H115i
Monitor: Acer Predator XB271HU-8 144hz Gsync




Changes made to your system – overlocking, graphics accelerators (NVIDIA Inspector), debuggers: CPU overclocked from 4.2 to 4.75 ghz

Changes to Prepar3D's settings or configuration files: None

Thanks in advance,
Ahmed Al-Dabbass

I would like to add that the first time this happend a blue scrren appeared stating that the pc ran into a problem and gave me this stillstandcode: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. I contacted microsoft and they told me to run the chkdsk /f /r, but that did not resolve the problem

Hello Ahmed

I have (had) the exact same Problem. I tryed a many "solution" as it gets. The only think that has helped so far, is to lower the GHZ of the CPU. I had mine overclocked from 4.2 to 4.7 - also with watercooling.

First I tryed 4.6 GHZ, but again...it freezes. Then I used 4.4 GHZ and the freezes where gone.

It could be, that this solution helps you to. I still have enough FPS (locked to 33). My P3D is stable and I hope it stayes that way. -Sorry for my english. :-)

Regards
Gerry

GerryD wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:34 pm Hello Ahmed

I have (had) the exact same Problem. I tryed a many "solution" as it gets. The only think that has helped so far, is to lower the GHZ of the CPU. I had mine overclocked from 4.2 to 4.7 - also with watercooling.

First I tryed 4.6 GHZ, but again...it freezes. Then I used 4.4 GHZ and the freezes where gone.

It could be, that this solution helps you to. I still have enough FPS (locked to 33). My P3D is stable and I hope it stayes that way. -Sorry for my english. :-)

Regards
Gerry

Hi Gerry,
Thanks for the reply. When and how often would it freeze on your system? Also I would like to know how much of an decrease in fps u had after lowering the GHz of your CPU. I would like to hear the opinion of an P3D Employee aswell. Is this the right forum for it ?

GerryD wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:34 pm Hello Ahmed

I have (had) the exact same Problem. I tryed a many "solution" as it gets. The only think that has helped so far, is to lower the GHZ of the CPU. I had mine overclocked from 4.2 to 4.7 - also with watercooling.

First I tryed 4.6 GHZ, but again...it freezes. Then I used 4.4 GHZ and the freezes where gone.

It could be, that this solution helps you to. I still have enough FPS (locked to 33). My P3D is stable and I hope it stayes that way. -Sorry for my english. :-)

Regards
Gerry

Also i would like to add that I had P3D V3 and then V4 with all these addons and the same CPU for about a year now and never had a problem with the sim freezing. As I stated earlier this just happend a week ago

I also use P3D V4 since a few weeks. Before that I had also Version 3 a never a Problem. At the beginning, I noticed, that P3d V 4 without Addons worked fine. Then I added more and more Orbyx to it. (I own 95% of tem). At the Moment I have all addons from Orbyx installed that are usable for P3D V4. Orbyx Vector was for me allways a Addon wich made me the most troubble - don't know why. So this also was the last one I installed. After that, the Sim was freezing right after take off. Bevor that, it was allways a couple Minutes after take off.

Vector uses a my Computer more CPU-Power, than without. So, after I lowered the CPU to 4.4 GHZ P3D is stable. The FPS a pretty much the same as with 4.7 GHZ. I think it depens also on your Settings in P3D. it is not possible to fly with all sliders on max! As we both have pretty much the same Hardware, I Thing you should give it a try in lowering your CPU. If it works, then you will find out, that the FPS do not matter, as Long as you have a least 25 FPS.
As I said bevor I locked my FPS to 33.6 (Nvidea-Inspector) and on P3D it is unlimited. Most of the time I can hold that, except sometimes when I have havey weather (Active Sky).

Do you have any other Errors in the Windows Event-Logfiles? I had also some of it,, like USB-Charger, dll. Errors and so on. I noticed that it also is important, that Windows works without any Errors.

Regards
Gerry

GerryD wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2017 5:55 am I also use P3D V4 since a few weeks. Before that I had also Version 3 a never a Problem. At the beginning, I noticed, that P3d V 4 without Addons worked fine. Then I added more and more Orbyx to it. (I own 95% of tem). At the Moment I have all addons from Orbyx installed that are usable for P3D V4. Orbyx Vector was for me allways a Addon wich made me the most troubble - don't know why. So this also was the last one I installed. After that, the Sim was freezing right after take off. Bevor that, it was allways a couple Minutes after take off.

Vector uses a my Computer more CPU-Power, than without. So, after I lowered the CPU to 4.4 GHZ P3D is stable. The FPS a pretty much the same as with 4.7 GHZ. I think it depens also on your Settings in P3D. it is not possible to fly with all sliders on max! As we both have pretty much the same Hardware, I Thing you should give it a try in lowering your CPU. If it works, then you will find out, that the FPS do not matter, as Long as you have a least 25 FPS.
As I said bevor I locked my FPS to 33.6 (Nvidea-Inspector) and on P3D it is unlimited. Most of the time I can hold that, except sometimes when I have havey weather (Active Sky).

Do you have any other Errors in the Windows Event-Logfiles? I had also some of it,, like USB-Charger, dll. Errors and so on. I noticed that it also is important, that Windows works without any Errors.

Regards
Gerry

Thanks Gerry. U really helped me out. Is there a reason for 4.4 GHz. Someone else told me that too. Can I try 4.5 GHz or would it freeze aswell. Also after lowering the clock speed of my CPU should I try to add an affinity mask. Should I turn hyperthreading on or off ?

( Oh by the way are u just a random p3d user or someone from technicals support ? )

I am glad, that I can help you. There is no reason for 4.4 GHZ.....except the one, that I have a stable System! :-)
I have tryed 4.6, 4.5 but the result was allways freezes! So maybe yor System runns good on 4.5 or 4.6. Just try it out.
Hyperthreading I have turn on. In the BIOS it is probably set on Auto. I choosed Enabled.

Forget the AffinityMask. I have tryed this as well, but it did not work out, at least on my System. Try by yourself, but I am sure, you will not use it.

...and no, i am not from the technical Support. I am just a user, who has spend weeks to try every possible way to get this Thing flying. P3D is really great, but there is a lot to learn, especially if you have a whole Cockpit as I do. All the diffrent Hardware that must fit in is a Horror, because if you have Troubles, than there is not much knowing around. P3D V4 is new and i guess it is normal, that one has to be patient.

So let us know, if you get your sim flying :-)

Regards
Gerry

GerryD wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2017 8:23 am I am glad, that I can help you. There is no reason for 4.4 GHZ.....except the one, that I have a stable System! :-)
I have tryed 4.6, 4.5 but the result was allways freezes! So maybe yor System runns good on 4.5 or 4.6. Just try it out.
Hyperthreading I have turn on. In the BIOS it is probably set on Auto. I choosed Enabled.

Forget the AffinityMask. I have tryed this as well, but it did not work out, at least on my System. Try by yourself, but I am sure, you will not use it.

...and no, i am not from the technical Support. I am just a user, who has spend weeks to try every possible way to get this Thing flying. P3D is really great, but there is a lot to learn, especially if you have a whole Cockpit as I do. All the diffrent Hardware that must fit in is a Horror, because if you have Troubles, than there is not much knowing around. P3D V4 is new and i guess it is normal, that one has to be patient.

So let us know, if you get your sim flying :-)

Regards
Gerry

Haha. So I have contacted the pc company that build my pc. Luckily they had 3 Profiles saved in the bios. One was theirs with 4.8 ghz, the other one was the base one with 4.2 ghz and the last one was with turbo boost with 4.45-4.5 ghz ( which i am now using). Hyperthreading is on auto.

Thanks for ur patience with me :)

Not sure if the issue / cause was ever discovered, but I going through the same as those have shared above. I've mirrored all the aforementioned steps.

As such, I 'd like to throw a different curve at this - "SKY TEXTURES".
I'm curious as to how many of us have invested and use ENVTEX or REX Sky Textures. Bear with me. Lately, I've notice some interesting effects on performance with these enhancement textures(programs). In particular, spikes in CPU usage when certain sky textures package are in use. Today, as I write this, I'm experiencing 100% CPU usage and blurry textures despite making any adjustment to the UI settings within P3Dv4.1 (specs: I7 4790K, oc to 4.6 voltage at 1.260- GTX 1080).

Using Envtex/ENVDIR with sky setting of "Random" I flew out of FSDT KMEM for AS EDDF. I've experience long texture loading times as I switch views and the CPU spikes and ultimately flat-lines at 100%. On this flight, under the random ENVTEX setting, i'm seeing a sky set for the first time (in all my flights using ENVTEX/EVNDIR). Oddly, and to the point, as I continue my track east with the sun setting on my tail and blackness befalls, the CPU usage dropped dramatically to 65% usage. Thus suggesting that the sky, now black, no long contain textures that may induce high CPU usage.
Now, I love ENVTEX/ENVDIR and by no means am I pulling down the application. ENVTEX/ENVDIR is not the only time I've witness this. I had an identical challenge with REX4 which was then resolved by earlier versions of ENVTEX or and the Free Sky Texture Packages.
So I'm putting this out there for us to investigate and mitigate the potential threatening sources(s) so we can get back to flight.
Share you thoughts and experience
thank you
K

Maybe you hav already figure out how to solve your problem.If not, I would suggest you watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IEwSow96SI


I'm using this software since january 2017 when I gave up FSX and started with X-pLane 11. When LM launched prepar 3d, I was already using this software and, it helped me to dramaticaly improve the performance in prepar v4.

Using this software, which is a freware, you can assign in what cores you want prepar to run, whch solves the bottleneck of Core 0. You can also do other changes that improves your performace.

I was so happy with the improvements that I bought the payware version..Hope this helps you.

PS: I have no relations with the company that produces this software.

best regards,

plinio