Using F10 causes FPS drop - possible workaround

Friar · September 25, 2023

For those that have this issue, I know @BluBear suffers in VR, I have just seen this post... (I am not sure if this is a one-time set-up that solves the issue or you have to do it each time)

Hi! I wanted to share a very useful discovery that at least in my setup, helps me fix the F10-map-related FPS drops when they happen. This doesn't prevent the FPS from dropping when using the map, but fixes it when that happens.

Most of you are probably already aware that doing alt-tab can get your original FPS back, but it's unreliable at best, and sometimes it just won't fix it at all no matter how many times you do it. Well, I think I found out why: even if you alt-tab, if any screen (including the VR headset) is showing any pixels from DCS, there's a high chance the drop in FPS isn't fixed. So you have to make sure absolutely no screen is showing any part of the game at all, including the VR headset if you are using one, to get your FPS back reliably.

In my case, that means doing two steps:

1) Alt-tabbing to another full screen app. Not just any app, but a full screen one. I just use a cmd.exe window in full screen mode with F11, which I always have opened anyway when flying because of some home made scripts I use for a button box.

2) Switching to the desktop mode of Virtual Desktop (which I use for the VR headset), getting out of VR mode, so DCS isn't rendered in the headset anymore. In the case of VD, you can do that with a VR controller or with the Shift+Windows+D keyboard shortcut (while DCS isn't in focus, otherwise DCS "eats" the key presses. But after step 1 DCS is already out of focus, yay).

Those two steps guarantee that no screen, desktop or VR headset, is trying to show any pixels from DCS at all. And that seems to do the trick, I get my high FPSs back every time when doing this, 100% reliable in my case at least. Hope that's the case for others as well!