Lag and freeze in developer mode

[jpfil]

Hi,

In normal mode I run FS2020 in Ultra settings.

But in developer mode, the sim lag then freeze, even in low settings.

I use a game pad to control the camera in developer mode.

Its appends when I work on a ligthouses scenery (I add airport beacon instead the ligthouse light). The lighhouses are placed along the Saint-Laurent river, in Québec, the first one is about 450 miles away from the last one.

All the editor windows are over my main screen, where is also the sim.

Is the lag and freeze are because the scenery area ? The gamepad control? ???

Thanks.

 

[GaryGB]

Hello:

MSFS DevMode typically decreases by 50%, ones run time FPS in normal flight mode.

One can reduce this FPS hit slightly by making sure desktop resolution is the same as ones assigned resolution used in MSFS itself.

More powerful computer hardware helps somewhat, but IIUC, this is an issue to be further optimized by MS-Asobo.

GaryGB

 

[jpfil]

I unchecked all of my Community sceneries, except the one I'm working on, and the latency has greatly decreased and no more freezes.

 

[GaryGB]

YIKES !

I knew that installing more addon content in the Community folder chain slowed the initial MSFS start-up, but I did not realize it was still reading that folder chain after one is already loaded into a live flight at a scenery development location.

OK, time to use a SymLink based MSFS addon configurator that does a "Quick Disable" (...like UTX does for FSX / P3D ) prior to starting MSFS for SDK GUI activities at run time.

GaryGB

 

[rhumbaflappy]

OK, time to use a SymLink based MSFS addon configurator that does a "Quick Disable" (...like UTX does for FSX / P3D ) prior to starting MSFS for SDK GUI activities at run time.

You can just rename the community folder (such as CommunityOld) and the sim rebuilds an empty Community when starting. Clean slate for development.

 

[GaryGB]

OK, even simpler CMD mode Batch file coding time.


That said, one might still wonder how useful Mark Russinovich's utility Junction might be when implemented via a Batch file.

Junction - Sysinternals

Create Win2K NTFS junction points.

docs.microsoft.com

GaryGB

 

[=rk=]

I knew that installing more addon content in the Community folder chain slowed the initial MSFS start-up, but I did not realize it was still reading that folder chain after one is already loaded into a live flight at a scenery development location.

MSFS always monitors ALL content. When I push a build from my own personal development folder and that build fails, for whatever reason, as I update the contents of the package source folder, my changes are being reflected in the console window, the sim is always watching, but don't believe me, try it yourself.

Beyond that, I experience no lag from content in the Community folder and I keep very few scenery titles. One could say, it is ok to have a crowded Community folder, but few scenery addons but, this is as much an assumption as to surmise that Community folder volume alone inhibits sim functionality, while in development mode.

If you are experiencing lag, you'd want to go through each addon sequentially and check which individual ones cause the slow down, then check those. Are they calling models, or textures that are not available? Are they creating name duplication conflicts? There is the condition that many scenery libraries were assembled, before the editor provided information about a models source .bgl, for many months we had to identify models only by the model name and after su5 that changed and we could see that some of the models we placed, might have been in other scenery project libraries - this is another opportunity for conflict.

Bottom line, open the console window, clear it's content and watch what is happening. Sudden lag? Ok, what is being loaded, or looked for and not found?

If you don't want to do all that, create new Community folders each time, that works too.

 

[GaryGB]

Indeed, these may be useful options.

Some day when I get some more free time, I may run Mark Russinovich's ProcessMonitor (aka "ProcMon" ...formerly "FileMon") on the MSFS executable like we did years ago on FSX.exe to see if it also goes on convoluted multi-folder-chain wild goose chase searches when the MSFS VFS is unhappy with our file / folder naming, causing performance impairment like we had in FSX.

Process Monitor - Sysinternals

Monitor file system, Registry, process, thread and DLL activity in real-time.

docs.microsoft.com

PS: Maybe only Jesus (Altuve) knows what evil lies in the ASCII strings of MSFS 2020 program code that might yet be tweaked. 😇

Perhaps we may find there is a 'steaming' Windows heap (Bojote ?) of CTD trouble to be found under the hood of MSFS' run time rendering engine.


GaryGB

 

[jpfil]

I use MSFS Addon Linker to manage my sceneries. Very easy.

I repeat : in normal mode I run the sim with Ultra settings and Community folder full of checked sceneries with no lag or bug. It is only in dev mode and since the last update that the sim lag and freeze.

I dont pretend that I have any solution. The only thing I said is that when I uncheck all but the request sceneries for the dev all goes correcly.

 

[toprob]

And just be aware that having any SDK windows crossing the screen boundary will really affect performance.
EDIT: oops, just saw that you've mentioned that in OP.

 

[=rk=]

I dont pretend that I have any solution. The only thing I said is that when I uncheck all but the request sceneries for the dev all goes correcly.

Thanks for raising the issue, if not for yourself, but also on behalf of anyone else experiencing similar that comes here for answers.