AS 2004.5 Performance/Frame Rates

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,1. Is your video driver up to date?2. Is your MB drivers up to date?3. Lower cloud draw distance to 30.4. In AS set your maximum visibility to 59.Please let us know!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[shortspecialbus 13]

I installed the system from scratch 2 days ago, so all drivers are up to date.Max visibility in AS is 59Lowering cloud draw distance to 30 has minimal effect, only 1-2 fps at most.Forgot to mention I also have Ultimate Terrain: Canada/Alaska and FSBuild 2.2, but the problem occurs anywhere, and FSBuild 2.2 is long closed by the time that I'm running FS.

[JSkorna 137]

OK thanks,Any troubles if you run dxdiag?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[shortspecialbus 13]

Nothing showed up, log is at http://www.easykill.net:83/dxdiag.txt if you want to see it.-stefan

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,Things look good there. What happens if you use FS04 Real Weather?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[shortspecialbus 13]

using the "gray and rainy" theme at KMCN (selected because it has a similar weather pattern at the moment) on the ground with the PMDG gives between 17 and 22 FPS, with it around 19-20 most of the time.Active Sky Weather with METAR of KMCN 302233Z 00000KT 10SM BKN025 18/16 A2986 AO2 RAE03 P0001 gives FPS of 7 to 15, with it hanging around 10 most of the time. If it was actually raining in Macon in AS, it would be much much worse. I can't find a city that's actually raining at the moment, but this gives an idea.AI traffic at an airport (Heathrow or something) doesn't have much of an impact. Only the AS clouds do.If you'd like me to try a different location/weather combination, let me know.Hope this helps, maybe.-stefan

[shortspecialbus 13]

In case it helps, I made some files available online.One change I made that I hadn't mentioned since I started this post was turning TextureAGP=0 in fs9.cfg. It made little difference.http://www.easykill.net:83/activesky/as2004.loghttp://www.easykill.net:83/activesky/AS2004.inihttp://www.easykill.net:83/activesky/fs9.CFGHope those help.-stefan

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,Looked at your files and things look good. What gets me is that AS uses whatever cloud textures you have installed. It may use them a little differently. I would try the hi performance FSW clouds again and limit cloud layers to 3 as right now it is 4. Any antivirus running while running FS?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[shortspecialbus 13]

No anti virus running or even installed. Nothing else is really running besides the stock stuff. I might try that freeware app to kill off unnecessary services before running FS, but I'm not expecting much.I'll try the 32 bit FSW clouds and limit to 3 again, but I think I had tried that and not noticed anything great. I'm hoping to get them in the 15-20fps range. I don't want to lower detail sliders, partially because they don't really make much of a difference, and partially because the FSGenesis mesh will be kinda a waste then, hehe.The only thing that has affected FPS in a really negative fashion is ActiveSky so far. I'm hoping we'll get it fixed without losing the benefits of it.Thanks for the help!-stefan

[brucewtb 247]

I should have done a search before starting another thread because I seem to have exactly the same problem. Changing cloud texture to the lo FPS version makes no difference. Up to now I didn't think there was an FPS issue with AS over and above what you would expect from weather with overcast conditions and multiple cloud layers but now I'm not so sure.Bruceb

[shortspecialbus 13]

I've just decided to give up on it, I've tried almost every setting. The problem is somewhat mitigated when not in VC mode for some reason (maybe it knows not to try drawing behind the cockpit) but VC works fine with the normal clouds.Meh.I ended up setting visibility distance to 150 miles in FS9 (that way you don't get the "sky-below-the-horizon" thing where it looks like you are always surrounded by water when at altitude), cloud distance to 60NM, and visibility restricted to 59 miles in Active Sky.It works well enough and I'll just suffer the MASSIVE frame drops I guess. Oh well, maybe Active Sky 5 will be better.-stefan

[Guest TonyDAVIES]

Hi guysYep I had the same problem a while back but I have created a solution I am happy with, you may not be. Dont give up Stefan. My solution to poor frame rates is aimed mainly at PMDG737 users.Firstly can I just say how the PMDG737 is very high on system resources and to expect to use 32bit clouds with it is just too much, therefore the low framerates.Flight sim has always been a compromise between framerate and eyecandy and will continue to be so. You can have all the eyecandy you wish flying the default cessna but not when it comes to something like the PMDG737 if you want a smoother flight then it is necessary to reduce the eyecandy use reduced quality clouds, DXT clouds. The drawing and displaying of clouds in FS is the biggest hog of resources. OK the clouds I use are not the best of quality but flying the 737NG your head is inside the cockpit most of the time.My SystemAMDXP26001GBFX5900XT 430/800Antialaising 4XAnistrophic 4XPerformance ModeI am running FS9.1 PMDG737NG,FSGenesis,AS2004.5,Ivap and TeamspeakFrame Rate low18/average22/set limit24.The file I have created contains DXT clouds and sky textures. (Render to Texture must be on)My tweaked FS9.cfg file.My AS2004.5.ini fileWith this setup I have a frame rate of 20fps on final approach in VC mode with rain, mist, wipers going. Remember to backup your textures if you do decide to try these texturesplease email me if anyone wants to try this setup. I will send you the zip file 2.5mbHope this helps someone.Grey skies and WindshearTony

[Chris Willis 8]

HI StefanBe sure you are using HIFPSv2.zip version, these are the fastest optimized clouds available, in DXT and 32 bits for system compatibility with render to texture on or off.Hifpsv2.zip= reduced visual + best performance possibleHIFPS.zip= great visual, little 20 % lower fps than Hifpsv2.zipAvailable at avsim libraryBoth are optimized for best performance possible in 32 bits or DXT smallest size possible and medium size.DXT does not mean, you will have better performance on all system, not right, on some system the performance degrade with the render to texture enabled, enabling render to texture can cause flickering and issue with some system and config and it does reduce the clouds visual map. Using reduced 32 bits clouds can have much better on performance without enabling render to texture enabled.ThanksChris WillisHiFi Simulation Software Team Developerhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004betateam.jpgFreeware Addons for FSW GROUP

[shortspecialbus 13]

Hi,I've read through the forums and done many searches with no luck. My system specs are pretty good:Athlon 64 3400+1GB RAMGeForce 6600GT120GB HDAs I only use Windows for Flight Simulator, there is nothing else on that particular drive in the computer. There are several SATA drives in the computer, but Windows ignores them as they are all ext3 partitions.My FS9 Settings:Visibility Distance 60Cloud Draw Distance 603d Clouds 100%, Maximum cloud coverageMost other sliders are maxed out, and AA/AF are turned on.FS Addons:Active Sky 2004.5, Active Camera, FSGenesis (all of it) and all PAI airlines. Also the PMDG 737NG.I realize it's a pretty big load for the machine. However, I have my FPS capped at 25, and if there are no clouds around, it keeps up just fine, staying at 25 the entire time except for the occasional dip to 16 for a half second.The problem is when ActiveSky is running and has put a bunch of weather in, Frame rates drop down to about 4.2 FPS. The catch is, they only drop that far if clouds are visible on the screen. If I point the view in a direction that it's only terrain or only blue sky, the FPS immediately jump up to 25. As soon as clouds are visible, it's right back down to 4.2 FPS. This happens in any planes, from the default Cessna 172 to the PMDG. I have tried the FSW clouds, with no real help. Maybe bumps it up to 4.6FPS or so.Things I have also tried:RenderToTexture on/off: neither setting makes a difference.Changing resolution from 1280x1024x32 to lower settings: Minimal difference. Changes from 4.2 to 6 or 7fps or so.Cloud Layer Limits: Currently limited to 3, but limiting to 10 doesn't make it worse.Turning off Overcast Enhancements: Not much difference, maybe up to 5fps.Lowering all sorts of visual sliders: Minimal difference.Turning off Anti Aliasing: Minimal difference, jumps up to about 6.2 FPS.I'm kinda at a loss here, my machine should be able to handle this fine I think. Nobody else seems to be complaining of drops this massive, especially with all the settings I've tried.If the only solution to this is to drop res to 640x480 and drag all sliders to minimum, there is something wrong, since my machine should do better than that.As I said, the problem only occurs when actually drawing clouds on the screen. As soon as I change the view so that clouds are not being drawn (e.g. completely off the screen and not just hidden by a VC) the FPS jump immediately up to 25 and stay there.Any ideas?Thanks.-stefan

[brucewtb 247]

Unlike my former video card (a 4800SE) on my system with the 6800GT it makes no difference what type of clouds I use performance is much the same and outside AS with overcast it is very good in all cloud scenarios. If, as it is beginning to seem, this is an inherent problem with AS then I will just have to adapt and hope for a fix. I guess I never noticed this before because with my old card performance in any cloud scenario was so poor that any further decline with AS overcast wasn'y obvious.Bruceb