cloud textures

[Guest emergency_pants]

Hi,I'm getting some seriously low framerates when I have large clouds. I find my framerates fairly acceptable when the clouds are numerous but small, regardless of how many layers there are (I'm using FSMeteo). But it seems odd to me that I can have three or four complex cloud layers and some nice aloft wind and take no framerate hit at all... and then sometimes I get just a couple of rainclouds that are absolutely ENORMOUS and my framerates drop to about 1 or 2 fps. It's so anoying!!!Does anyone have an idea of how I can stop this from happening?I'm using FS Sky World and I took a look at the texture sizes... but they don't seem to be very big. Maybe there are some stray ones? Or maybe I just have to live with it?Any help would be appreciated... thanks,Simon.

[Guest SoarPics]

Hi Simon,Have you tried adjusting your "Cloud Settings" on the display page of the sim. I run mine at 30% on my 1.5Ghz Athlon, and rarely see a framerate hit.Hope this helps,

[Guest emergency_pants]

I have mine at 60% but I'll try and drop it down to 30%It seems a shame to lose the clouds though. Does it make much of a difference to the look of the clouds?Thanks SoarPics.

[Guest SoarPics]

Not to me, but then everybody has their own preferences. Tweak to compromise, that's what we all do with this sim anyway. :-lol

[DMullert 216]

Hey Simon!Here's a thought and an observation I've made with this.When flying and using FSMeteo, along with the nice FSSky World clouds, I tend to notice a drop in frame rates progressively after a while. It gets to the point where everything drops to about 4FPS with FSMEteo and Radar Contact going. I figured that if you hit the "ALT" key and change the time of the day by 1 second, or 1 minute and let the sim reload, everything comes back to normalin terms of frame rates. It's pretty odd but it always works for me.Give it a try and see if that helps!Sincerely,Dennis D. Mullert

[Guest]

Simon,Try going into FSUIPC and checking the "limit cloud height to 1000 ft" setting. I understand that when FS stretches clouds too much in the vertical direction, it can impact framerates.--Tony

[Chris Willis 8]

Hi, Fsw clouds have same performance like default.Yes when the clouds have many layers, or the clouds are high in height the fps will lose, There is a way to increase the FPS by reducing the clouds density slider, this slider means, how many clouds quantity will have in front you.This is why It is complicated to have a detailed sky like everyone would like, FPS is an priority overs anything else, as a developper I can tell your it is hard with out sacrifice the details and realisme.ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFshttp://fsw.simflight.com/fsw.jpg

[ulisses 1]

I have the same thing but it was caused by ATC, AI traffic is always growing and memory goes down...next time it happens, instead of advance the time by 1 second, try to move the ATC slider to 0 and see what happens...Ulisses

[Guest]

Hi,I use FSSky World along with the FSMeteo weather gauge. When this happens I just refresh the weather using the gauge and it seems to always get rid of those annoying clouds; however, I'm going to give Tony's advice a try tonight."Learn from your parents' mistake...use birth control."(I M A UCLA) BruinAddict *:-*DemetriousAsus A7V266 MBAthlon XP 1600+ (@ 1.53)512MB PC2100 DDRVisionTek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 4400 (Detonator 29.42 WHQL)NEC MultiSync E1100+ 21"SoundBlaster Live! Platinum 5.1Cambridge DTT2500 Desk Top TheaterWestern Digital 7200RPM ATA/100 40G HD (Primary)Western Digital 7200RPM ATA/100 40G HD (Secondary)300W PSUWindows XP Professional (Both drives - Multiboot)DirectX 8.1("I am humorous and well versed in the subtleties of everything pertaining to nothing." - BA)

[Guest emergency_pants]

Thanks for all your advice.I dropped the clouds slider down to 40 and it helps alot! But I think Tony knocked it right on the head when he says that there is a frame-rate hit when clouds are stretched vertically. In my case, it's HUGE! Apart from the vertical stretching or very deep cloud layers, my system seems to handle all other cloud formations very well, with AI set to max and plenty of upper winds too.I'll try limiting the cloud height next time I fly... I think that will do the trick and maybe I'll even be able to move the slider up a little. Well... might as well be optimistic, eh? ;) Heheh.Thanks all.Simon.