TIR active --> stutter. TIR not active --> no stutter

[Lange_666]

Here's the story (TrackIR 4 on latest TrackIR 5 software on Win 7 64-bit):

Everything ran fine until past weekend i played around a bit too much with Windows 7's internals and things went a bit belly up. Not much but enough to make me think of a fresh install.
Prior to that, DCS: A-10C (1.1.0.9) ran smooth with the occational hickup when the TGP was turned on or so but these hickups don't have anything to do with TrackIR.

So i decided to go ahead and buy an SSD drive to put Windows 7 and DCS: A-10C on in an entirely fresh install.
Installed Win 7, installed drivers and other stuff, basically everything in the same version and setup as before.
Installed DCS: A-10C (1.1.0.9) and there it was... supersmooth flying and then all of sudden...stutter....about every 4 to 12 secs. It was not the occational stutter which can happen in DCS: A-10C nor was it TrackIR lag. It didn't happen specially when viewing around or so. Even with a large dead zone and looking straight ahead, the game just stuttert, they last around +/- 1 second. This didn't happen on the previous install.

So i started to look for a solution, pulled my own tricks with no luck at all, went through (quickly) the entire stutterrelated topics without finding any cure. Ran DCS latency (all fine), resource monitor, killed every not-needed process etc... but the stutter stayed... very anoying.
Then i decided to kill some background stuff (Avast, GameBooster and his options etc...) which ran together with DCS: A-10C and upon killing TrackIR (version 5.1 and later on 5.1.3) the stutter vanished. Once TrackIR was shut no more stutter. I also tested all combinations of the background proggy's and everytime i killed the TrackIR process, the stutters where gone. TrackIR back on, stutters where back.

I then installed Falcon BMS and IL-2 CLOD and both show the same problem... stutter with TrackIR active, no stutter with TrackIR paused or shut down.

I also tried moving it to another USB port, installing it on or off the SSD (which contains Win 7 and DCS: A-10C, nothing else, all other software runs from a normal HD). No joy.

It is not panning that causes the stutter, looking around is not lagging, it's the entire game that suffers from a stutter when TrackIR is running.

So far i didn't find a solution to this and flying without TrackIR is a no go. Question still stands: Why did it not produce stutter on the previous install and why does it stutter now?

Any thoughts would be welcome...

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

When running TrackIR, do you notice any spikes in memory usage or processor usage that correlate to these stutters?

[Lange_666]

On the 3th core i notice spikes but i'm not certain that these are caused by the TrackIR software. But they do come at a regular interval.

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

Do the spikes occur without TrackIR running? How about with TrackIR but no game running?

Process Monitor from the sysinternals blog is good for watching individual process and core usage.

[Lange_666]

The spikes don't occur when only TrackIR is running.
The spikes don't occur when only a game is running.

The spikes do occur when both are running together.

I did not had this prior to the SSD installation.
I also made a complete fresh install today. Win 7 on SSD, TrackIR and DCS: A-10C on HD, nothing else installed, nothing else active. Same problem.

If needed i can provide you with a few screenshots of the spikes, game only, TrackIR only and both active.

I've also seen quite a few posts on ForceFeedBack and TrackIR causing stutter. I don't have FFB and it's disabled in all the games i run (if that option is available).


Extra info:
i7 950 @ stockspeed, ASUS PT6 Deloxe V2 Motherboard, GTX480, 12 GB DDR3 16000 RAM, Cougar HOTAS, 2 HD's and one Kingston 128GB HD with the Win 7 64-bit OS and DCS: A-10C installed on it, all other games and software installed on the HD's. Doesn't make a difference when i install TrackIR on the SSD too, the moment TrackIR runs together with a game (SSD or HD), the stutter starts.
No powered USB HUB, TrackIR USB sits on a single port.
No issues previous to change to SSD.

[Lange_666]

95% solved!!

Tweaked the SSD confirm this page: SSD TWeak

Still having some very small microstutter when looking over the shoulder (more right then left ? ) when terrain is moving quite fast underneed. Didn't had this before but i can live with that for now.

I was 100% that it was the SSD but i find it still weird that without TIR there was no stutter and with TIR the stutter was there...