IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad

IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad

Slow motion in career mode???
Is there any fix to having a slow motion feeling in career mode? It only seems to happen when there is around 10 planes or more in a dogfight. I tried 10 plus planes on quick missions and didn't have that problem.
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Showing 1-15 of 31 comments
Lee Enfield Jan 4, 2021 @ 4:22pm 
I'm currently trying out different graphic settings to see if I can improve the performance because I've had a couple of fights were I felt like I was flying through treacle. It's nothing new, I remember asking for advice about this a year or two ago. But I've recently been playing more of IL-2 again and changed loads of settings which have had an adverse effect on performance. I thought things would have improved because I've got my graphic card running super nice in most every other game I play and have overclocked it to improve things.

I dearly want to play with dense unit numbers, but I've had to revert to medium density because like you say, the more planes, the slower the action feels. I've tried different resolutions too, but that didn't make much difference, but I know for fact, I can't play it in my usual resolution of 3840x2160, I have to use 2560x1440 because it feels slightly better. I flew a mission last night with a lot of graphics turned down, terrain distance, shadows, grass quality, cloud quality etc and did see an improved performance, but !
I got into a dogfight and all seemed well and then flew back to base, for about a minute or two everything I did seemed speeded up, turning my head and such, and then as fast as that occurred, it went back to normal.

I am sure you'll get a lot of advice about this and I'll look to see if I can pick up on any golden tips myself, but there's a part of me that's convinced that the actual AI programming is what is making the biggest effect during those big dogfights, especially on dense unit numbers, so many AI controlled planes acting and reacting.
Reichsmarschall Jan 4, 2021 @ 6:33pm 
Yes i read your post from the other year, it was very helpful. I also turned down my settings to low and it made no difference. I also noticed the same thing in tank crew when a massive dogfight is overhead. Its definatly got something to do with the dense unit numbers but only seems to effect the career mode and not quick missions?
InfernusMatrix Jan 4, 2021 @ 11:06pm 
Check to see what your CPU usage is at, same goes for GPU. That will let you know what is bottle-necking and whether or not its the game alone slowing down.

Are you frames the same and consistent at 3840x2160 versus 2560x1440?

I remember with Simulation type games that are poorly optimized (ARMA3) that going to higher settings actually yields better performance, because it uses the GPU for things that would otherwise be handled by the CPU. I'm not saying this is what is occurring here but thought it make for good conversation.
Last edited by InfernusMatrix; Jan 4, 2021 @ 11:08pm
David Bowman Jan 5, 2021 @ 2:13am 
most likely your cpu is stuggling(i have similar issues in this game when in big fights)
Lee Enfield Jan 5, 2021 @ 7:36am 
Originally posted by InfernusMatrix:
Check to see what your CPU usage is at, same goes for GPU. That will let you know what is bottle-necking and whether or not its the game alone slowing down.

Are you frames the same and consistent at 3840x2160 versus 2560x1440?

I remember with Simulation type games that are poorly optimized (ARMA3) that going to higher settings actually yields better performance, because it uses the GPU for things that would otherwise be handled by the CPU. I'm not saying this is what is occurring here but thought it make for good conversation.

Thanks for the reply and I did a short(ish) test to check a few things, here are the figures-

I ran a career mission in my Spitfire with 7 other planes in the squadron, that was with the resolution at 2560x1440 and unit density at high.

Whilst en route my frame rate was 59/105
and cpu 10.4% gpu 17.4%

There was a slight rise in cpu usage when I turned on the in game recorder, to 18%, no change in gpu.

For a spell I turned on the auto pilot feature and saw a drop in fps to 59/73,
turned it off and the fps went back to 59/105.

I went in, to attack 6 enemy planes and the fps went to 59/41 then it bounced back to 59/101 after first contact.

cpu at this time was 32% and not much change in gpu.

To end this first test I let my plane get shot down and whilst burning and falling my fps went down to 24/64 (quite considerable impact)

I ran the sim again and this time in 3840x2160 but still with high density units. During the second run we had close interaction with 12 enemy 190s and another flight of 3 Spitfires.

Whilst en route with AI pilot flying my fps was 37/78.

cpu 13% and gpu 33%.

I went in to a fight with 6 enemy planes and 3 friendly my fps was 35/68

cpu 22% gpu 29%.

Again to end this one I let my plane get shot down and my fps went down to a horrific 10/67. All through this test with 3840x2160 res the stutter was horrendous and flight seemed sluggish, that's why I can't play it in this resolution, the fps is affected from what I can see.

It was like I say a short test of performance but the results were akin to what I find in most flights. I did also take a screenshot of my graphic settings which I'll attach.

I suppose the only thing I can surmise from this is it's not straining my cpu or gpu. But maybe if I set all my graphics to their lowest, put unit density to low, reduce my resolution etc then this game will run super smoothly, otherwise, I've got to keep testing things to find that balance between quality and performance.

I hope it helps.
InfernusMatrix Jan 5, 2021 @ 4:38pm 
Seems like you have a decent computer so its down to poor game optimization. What if you turn on everything to HIGH but run it at a low resolution? What are your system specs?
DrDeath_MD Jan 5, 2021 @ 4:51pm 
It's the IL-2 game engine. It struggles with many planes in the sky especially multicrew planes like bombers.
Reichsmarschall Jan 5, 2021 @ 6:58pm 
I just un-checked all the boxes in the right hand side of the graphics page. It handeled pefectly. I had no issues at all. Everything was fast and crisp and I didn't really notice a quality issue.
Lee Enfield Jan 6, 2021 @ 10:34am 
Originally posted by InfernusMatrix:
Seems like you have a decent computer so its down to poor game optimization. What if you turn on everything to HIGH but run it at a low resolution? What are your system specs?

My specs- i7-7700CPU @ 420GHZ, Nvidia 1080 graphics card, 16GB RAM, W10 OS

I tried running most of the graphics on either high or medium and there was a noticeable improvement during flight, but the plane density wasn't massive during that test even though it was on high density.

But I have to be honest, this to me is defeating the object of my goal. I want to record 4K quality videos, but I'm having to turn down graphics to achieve good performance. It's not limited to this game, this whole topic of performance, I play Hell Let Loose and that forum is full of identical topics on performance.

I don't know, but I'm beginning to smell a rat, whether it be the games or the PCs we spend a small fortune on to play these games. I mean, Nvidia even posted a tutorial the other month about improving performance during competitive gameplay, and their sage advice ? Turn down loads of your graphic card settings.

But anyway, I'll keep searching for the golden balance.
Lee Enfield Jan 6, 2021 @ 10:38am 
Originally posted by Reichsmarschall:
I just un-checked all the boxes in the right hand side of the graphics page. It handeled pefectly. I had no issues at all. Everything was fast and crisp and I didn't really notice a quality issue.

I tired that, all check boxes except V-sync and full screen unchecked, ran a mission with some of the detail settings set higher and with dense formations on and it was awful at times sadly.
I've got to be honest, things like 4K textures on or off is barely noticeable to me, so some of these settings make no sense to me, another one is cinematic, I can't see what that applies to the game ? I'm glad you found your balance though, I'll keep testing.
Last edited by Lee Enfield; Jan 6, 2021 @ 10:38am
martin77 Jan 8, 2021 @ 8:43am 
Originally posted by Reichsmarschall:
I just un-checked all the boxes in the right hand side of the graphics page. It handeled pefectly. I had no issues at all. Everything was fast and crisp and I didn't really notice a quality issue.

when your FPS is low, and go higher when u pause the game, then the cpu is the bottleneck and the graphic is not the cause. (in career)

InfernusMatrix Jan 8, 2021 @ 12:15pm 
Yeah but according to his tests the biggest usage between the CPU and GPU were:

cpu 13% and gpu 33%.
cpu 22% gpu 29%.

His system is hardly bottle necking. I would give this game ARMA3 level optimization which is rather poor!
Lee Enfield Jan 8, 2021 @ 5:45pm 
Originally posted by martin77:
Originally posted by Reichsmarschall:
I just un-checked all the boxes in the right hand side of the graphics page. It handeled pefectly. I had no issues at all. Everything was fast and crisp and I didn't really notice a quality issue.

when your FPS is low, and go higher when u pause the game, then the cpu is the bottleneck and the graphic is not the cause. (in career)

I can confirm that there was no fluctuation in frame rates when paused mate.
Lee Enfield Jan 8, 2021 @ 5:45pm 
Originally posted by InfernusMatrix:
Yeah but according to his tests the biggest usage between the CPU and GPU were:

cpu 13% and gpu 33%.
cpu 22% gpu 29%.

His system is hardly bottle necking. I would give this game ARMA3 level optimization which is rather poor!

👍
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Date Posted: Jan 4, 2021 @ 2:16pm
Posts: 31