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gosta

Mesh terrain scenery

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Hi everyone,Does anyone have a good set of mesh terrain scenery to recommend? I know there are tons of them in the library but I would like to look for those that doesn't have any impact on framerates. I've got a slower computer than most of you, so frames are really important to me to maintain that I'm flying and not stuggering around. By the way, if I add those, does it affect airport scenery? Time for some VFR for me!Thanks!alvin

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Alvin,almost ALL mesh files will influence framerates. You give the processor MORE to do by feeding it more altitude points.... so it will need to take that processing time from somewhere ;-)As for which mesh you want.. depends largely on where you want to fly. Most commercial mesh such as FSGenesis', LAGO's, and the likes are high resolution and on a very slow PC will certainly affect your framerates.It also depends on WHERE you are flying, US, Europe, Asia?If you want to generally improve the US without too big a framerate hit then I suggest you use the old Eddie Denney mesh files he made for FS2000. There are 8 of them with a ninth that has some patches.Most other mesh is higher resolution. LAGO, new Eddie Denney, FSGenesis, Raimundo Taburet, Gaia mesh, etc.It would have helped if you would have also spcified your system information (processor speed, graph card, etc.).Cheers, :-outta Francois :-wave[table border=0 cellpadding=10 cellspacing=0][tr][td valign=bottom" align="center]"At home in the wild"[/td][td valign=bottom" align="center][link:avsim.com/alaska/alaska_052.htm|Don's Alaskan Bush Charters]"Beavers Lead the Way"[/td][td valign=bottom" align="center][link:www.avsim.com/vfr_center/mainpages/vfr_flights_main_page.htm]VFR Flight Center]"Looking Good Outside"[/td][/tr][tr][td valign=top" align="center]http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/logo75b.gif[/td][td valign="top" align="left" colspan=2]http://www.fssupport.com/images/moose2.gif[/td][tr][/table]________________________Francois A. "Navman" DumasAssociate Editor &Forums AdministratorAVSIM Online![/bemail: fdumas@avsim.com________________________


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Guest Lindy

Alvin, how "slow" is slow? Your system specs will affect the advice you get.For my part, I run (for another couple of weeks at least) a P3 700 CPU with 320 mgs of RAM and a 64 mg DDR video card. In my FS Options I don't set my FRs too high. Actually the default setting after installation was 25 fps, and I lowered that figure to 20 fps. I run Ed Denney's 2000 mesh for Alaska; I also have some freeware FS Genesis mesh for some areas in the States and some free mesh for the islands of Hawaii that I found in the Library, oh and I almost forgot, I also run the SATPAC mesh files for Australia, as many as there are available.When I start FS2K2, I have 94 percent system resources and hardly notice any impact at all from the mesh files I have. But I fly almost exclusively in less dense scenery areas...... bush flying, as opposed to going into busy, heavily detailed city airports. I average probably about 10-15 fps but get smooth performance, so I'm happy.-Lindy :-wave

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Hi,Just this week I received in the mail the U.S. mesh bundle from FSGenesis, which provides 38m mesh for the entire continental U.S. The enhancement to the scenery is quite apparent, but unfortunately so is the impact on the framerates. As was already mentioned it isn't really possible to increase mesh detail without decreasing the framerates in some way. The FSGenesis mesh causes quite a large drop (in some areas more so than others). However, I think the enhanced appearance justifies the frame drop, and already detailed areas like the grand canyon will become even more complex. I'm thinking of posting some pics in the screenshots forum, so keep an eye out there if you want to see what I mean.-Derek

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Hi guys,Thanks so much for the advices. I usually fly more around Asia but some Alaskan stuff would really be great. But even at LHR for example, full of Pai, already slows my frames to about 10.My computer specs are..Windows98Athlon 900Mhz256RAMNvidia GeForce 2 MX 400 64MB RAMVIA AC97 Audio controllerThanksCheers!

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Well, that's not a bad system. Take note that ATC and especially AI coupled to large airports really kill your frame rates, much more than mesh. I think you would see a good performance when flying in Alaska with the Eddie Denney (or FSGenesis Yukon) mesh. :-outta Francois :-wave[table border=0 cellpadding=10 cellspacing=0][tr][td valign=bottom" align="center]"At home in the wild"[/td][td valign=bottom" align="center][link:avsim.com/alaska/alaska_052.htm|Don's Alaskan Bush Charters]"Beavers Lead the Way"[/td][td valign=bottom" align="center][link:www.avsim.com/vfr_center/mainpages/vfr_flights_main_page.htm]VFR Flight Center]"Looking Good Outside"[/td][/tr][tr][td valign=top" align="center]http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/logo75b.gif[/td][td valign="top" align="left" colspan=2]http://www.fssupport.com/images/moose2.gif[/td][tr][/table]________________________Francois A. "Navman" DumasAssociate Editor &Forums AdministratorAVSIM Online![/bemail: fdumas@avsim.com________________________


Francois A. 'Navman' Dumas

 

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EuropeRides

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Guest Lindy

You have a respectable system for FS2K2. As Francois suggested, Eddie Denney's freeware 2000 Alaska mesh should work fine for you (that's what I use too and it's very acceptable for me).You might want to double check your options settings. AutoGen, AI, weather (that's a biggie for me), shadows (either buildings, aircraft or both -- another biggie for me), and the density of your clouds -- these can all adversely affect your FRs. Also make sure you don't have your FRs locked at too high a figure. And if you find a setting that gives you smooth performance but maybe low FRs, just turn off that FR counter and enjoy! I get smooth performance even at 10 fps.Good luck-Lindy :-wave

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HI Derek,Not sure where you have your slider settings, but if you ahve your Terrain Complexity slider pegged to the right, you'll notice the significant drop. Try moving it back to 96 or so. Just this little tweak will result in a 20-30% increase in performance without noticeably degrading the visual appearance.Hope this helpsJustinhttp://www.fsgenesis.com


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You are right, I have all my display sliders maxed out. I am a scenery addict so I always give priority to visual quality over performance. However, when I said that the FSGenesis scenery caused a "large drop" in framerates, I did not mean it to sound that it dropped to unplayable levels. The worst case I experience is around 13 fps, which is still tolerable by my standards. Of course, if moving the terrain complexity slider a bit to the left increases the performance as much as you say, it may well be worth it. Thanks for the tip :-).-Derek

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Guest eko

I agree with most of the ideas here.It has been my experience that sliding the terrain slider to about 80 or so, helps framerates and I see (or don't see, I guess) any discernable loss of terrain quality.Also, the BIGGEST hog is the AI. If you're dropping frames, keep sliding the AI down. In places like Alaska, there isn't too much traffic ANYWAY. :-) If I drop my AI down to 0%, I get no FPS hit anywhere. Example: Downtown Atlanta (with the Atlanta Skylne addon, nonetheless!), flying towards Hartsfield with 100% AI my average FPS is 6-9. Turning down the AI to 50%, average FPS is 12-16. Turning down the AI to 0%, average FPS is 18-24. My frame rate is locked at 24, BTW.AI has a HUGE impact on FPS, much more so than terrain, and slightly above third party complex airports, scenery.

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Hello folks,Thanks to all of you for the replies and advice. I agree AI is the biggest factor in decreasing my framerates in FS. Especially in default Heathrow with Pai, it really pulls it down to 5. This is my display settings in FS, I have checked all boxes in the hardware tab and set my FPS limit to 23. For some reason I still experience FPS at about 8 in spot plane view, in most default airports. I can see my settings are pretty low already for a system like that, which everyone says it's quite a capable one. I would like to take the opportunity to ask if there is anyway to speed up my system? I run FS without any 'outside' programs. Don't have many add ons in my computer, my FS size is barely 1.5GB, I don't download stuff that I don't usually use.Thanks everyone, you all ave been giving great help :)Cheers!

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Hi Alvin,I have a similar system to yours, the specs are:AMD Athlon 1GHz,256MB RAM,ATI Radeon 7200 64MB,Aureal Vortex Sound CardI'm running FS Genesis and a lot of freeware mesh sceneries (There's an excellent one for Norway at www.fsnordic.net ), also I have a lot of highly detailed airports (Simflyers etc.), and on approach to one of those airports over FSGenesis mesh in the PSS Airbus I get around 15-20fps (AI traffic set to 20% with all PAI installed) using real weather. With ActiveSky, frame rates drop slightly when it's downloading new data. I have also turned off the frame rate lock (set the target rate to 'unlimited'), this way I get consistent display quality without stutters. As far as the display settings go, you would want your terrain mesh complexity to be fairly high, otherwise you're not getting what you've paid for in the way of mesh detail :). Having said that, I didn't notice much difference between 80% and 100% either, but quite a significant amount of difference between 60 and 80%. My screen resolution is 1152x864x32, the rest of the settings are in the screenshot.Cheers,Gosta.

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Cheers Gosta,Thanks for the comments. I will try out the settings you have and I'll hope my FS runs a little faster. Good thnig that is I haven't had a FS crash (as in program) after I inatalled 98, looks promising. Does anyone have a habit like me of opening a second view at the top left corner? :)Cheers!

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Hi Alvin,opening another window is definitely a frame-rate killer. I used to have the outside view open in the top left corner, but I gave that up after FS98... well, I could say it's because I wanted ultimate realism and you don't see the outside of your aircraft from the cockpit, but the truth is, I just didn't have the processing power :). Now I only use the top-down view when I'm at the gate at an unfamiliar airport to get an idea how to reach that far-away runway ATC wants me to go to. Just opening that window results in a serious drop in fps - mine go down from 12-15 at the gate at Simflyer's KEWR to about 3-4.Cheers,Gosta.

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Hi Gosta,It really kills frame-rates. I guess I won't need another window now. The reason I have a new window by the side is to watch my approach and touchdown. Well shame on me that I've forgotten there's something called replay! By the way, do you know how to use the flight video? I would love to tape my approach and landings and save it up like what I can see on instant replays.Cheers!

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