Extended 3-5 second Pauses (Cause Unknown)

[Cruachan]

Hi,

This post is addressed to the Prepar3D v4 Development Team

Users of Prepar3D v4.1 are experiencing pauses in the running sim and recently there have been some speculations as to what may be causing these brief interruptions. Two threads are evolving at AVSIM where users, myself included, have been reporting their experiences. Instead of reproducing all the relevant info here (which would be somewhat tedious if not difficult), I invite you to pop over to the Prepar3D Forum at AVSIM and read the current active thread:

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/5258 ... rbx-socal/

Please don't be misled by the title of the thread as it is becoming clear that these pauses are occurring at a variety of geographical locations and not restricted to one particular area in the sim world. I first became aware of a 4-5 second pause in v4.0 after takeoff from KVPS (Eglin) and while flying westwards towards HRT (Hurlburt). I have confirmed that the pause is also present in a clean Prepar3D v4.1 installation before the activation of any add-ons. I have been using this as an example as it exemplifies what we are all experiencing in other diverse locations. The sim continues as normal after the pause terminates.

There is also a secondary (original) thread (the link is provided in my first post on page 1 of the above thread):

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/5258 ... nt=3762346

I have conducted some basic investigations in order to try to determine CPU and GPU activity during these pauses and images are included. My System Specs. appear in my signature at the bottom of my AVSIM posts.

It is now becoming clear that many Prepar3D v4.1 users are experiencing these events and are feeling more encouraged to provide reports of their experiences.

It may be that you are already aware of such events. If so, I wonder if they are scheduled for investigation with the aim of establishing the cause and implementing a solution? Some suggestions as to possible explanations have been offered.

Best regards,
Mike

[mwilk19]

Apparently, no one else has seen this happen. A lot of lookers though.

[ervski]

Our flight group (five flyers - most using P3D4.1 with JoinFS v 1.4.3) experienced two 3-5 second Pauses yesterday flying between NZOH & NZWN New Zealand North Island with Orbx , fair weather, 2,500, 120knt, DCH-2, current date starting at 0700 local. Being lead acft, I called out pauses but of course they could see I was paused, they too experienced at same location. We cannot quantify cause but our group general feel it is a scenery loading issue.

Thanks for highlighting issue, we identified this issue on Orbx Form back with P3Dv2/Orbx.

erv/ervski49

[Mike Sierra]

Could it have something to do with ATC soundfiles to be loaded?
I encounter pauses of 2-5 seconds each time, when I come into the reach of an airport ATC broadcaster. When P3D finishes the pause, the ATC message is coming in.
Michael.

[Cruachan]

Yes, lots of theories but no definitive answers....as yet.

By posting here my hope was/is that a Developer would chip in and provide some clarification for us.

For what it's worth, my own opinion is that this is a problem associated with difficulty encountered by Prepar3D while attempting to load certain scenery elements. My example flight from KVPS (Eglin) to HRT (Hurlburt) was used simply to confirm that this particular pause occurred immediately after a clean installation of Prepar3D v4.1 and before FTX ORBX Global BASE was involved/reinstalled. Also it may be worth noting that this pause has persisted as the installation has matured.

On occasions, after a pause has been encountered, I might spend a little time:

a) Flying around in the general area where the pause occurred, OR
b) Slewing backwards along the same track where the pause was encountered and then proceeding along the same flight path.

In both cases this usually, but not always, results in the disappearance of the pause (this also works with some brief hesitations). This suggests to me that said problematic scenery elements are now loaded in memory and thereby ceases to be a problem.

However, resetting/restarting the same flight scenario will bring the pause back.

Mike

[Cruachan]

However, resetting/restarting the same flight scenario will bring the pause back.

Further testing has revealed that this is not necessarily the case. Using my example at KVPS there is a brief pause during takeoff. This pause clears second time the takeoff is performed and does not return following a Reset of the flight scenario. Again, this seems to support the theory that a scenery element is involved as this particular hesitation will again be present following a fresh restart of P3D.

Mike

[downscc]

I've reached a hypothesis that loading scenery elements causes most of these pauses. Scenery elements such as buildings or structures that are not from default libraries or autogen elements. I often see this happen as I approach an airport, the simulation will pause for the few moments that the airport elements such as terminal buildings are rendered. Of course, the elements do not have to be withing the field of view to cause this. There are a few locations that seem to be worse than others, again I associate these with scenery elements such as departing LAX on a SID towards the East overflying SNA is a good one.

I keep hoping that as LM improves the multithreading ability of the code that this hiccup gets cured.