Terrain Mesh and Frame Rates

[Guest Jet]

I'm running an 800 mhz machine with FS2002 so I'm pretty strapped for Horsepower.I would love to get one of the Terrain Mesh programs for better scenery but am worried about the performance aspect...will I take a hit with these 30 meter Terrain Mesh programs?Thanks,Greg

[Guest ScottPilot]

Hey Greg!My system is a PIII 1GHZ with 521MB SDRAM and a Geforce 4 MX 440 64MB card. Not the fastest for running MSFS, but I have it working pretty well. Since you didn't give any more details about your system, I'm working on the assumption that our systems are similair.I use Eddy Denny's RealScene Terrain Mesh for the U.S. and many other other 30m scenery add-ons on my system from FS-Scene's website. I get good frame rates and a very smooth sim. My average FPS on the ground are around 14-15fps (very smooth) and 19-20 fps (locked at 20fps) when in the air.After installing Eddy Denny's package, my frame rate and smoothness actually got better. I have my terrain mesh complexity slider set at 70 in MSFS. This seems to be the optimum setting for my system and I get very nice looking mountains and valleys with little to no blurry textures (very sharp). My autogen settings are at NORMAL.When it comes to scenery, having a decent 3D accelerated video card is a must. Yes, MSFS is pretty CPU dependent for most of it's functions, but for rendering terrain mesh, there is no substitute for a good video card to enhance performance.So my suggestion would be to download some local terrain mesh scenery for a certain area and give it a try. Of course, if there is alot of Autogen scenery included with it, you may not get the best performance, but if it is just an upgrade in the terrain mesh, I think you might be OK.The only way you'll know, is to give it a try with some free add-on first. You can always take if off if it is too big of a performance hit.I am running Windows XP Pro and have spent many hours "tweeking" MSFS and my system settings to get optimal performance. But it is worth it in the long run, since MSFS is running pretty well for me now.Hope this helps!Scott :-)

[Guest Jet]

Great response thanks.I'm on a 256R with a 6400 128mb video card. M fps are slightly below yours. I might be a little more turned up on some of my sliders and I'm locked at 25 FPS.I'm very interested to hear your Frame rates actually improved with Terrain Mesh, wow. I'm a big fan of FS Genesis, so I would probably go that route. I think I will give it a whirl.Thanks

[Justin Toposim 16]

HI Greg,There's a bunch of free stuff under the Mesh Central tab. You can download and install any or all of it to get a good performance benchmark on your system.Hope this helpsJustinhttp://www.fsgenesis.net

[Guest ScottPilot]

Yea, I though it was strange also that my FPS an smootheness improved after adding Eddy Denny's mesh and some from Mesh centeral, but it did. Go figure.Anyways, When flying VFR in MSFS, the new mesh makes all the difference in the visual realism of the terrain. For me its a must since I do most of my flying in mountain regions.Also, I tried locking my FPS at 25, but I still got better performance when locked at 20 fps. It is totally dependant on the individual computer that is runninf MSFS.Have a good day!Scott :-)

[Guest JonP01]

Of course what level of performance reduction you can tolerate is quite a subjective thing. One person's "still smooth" sim can become a very annoying stutter fest for another person.My personal experience is that on my previous PC (Pentium III 933 and Geforce 3), I could not tolerate the performance reduction associated with any sort of terrain mesh add-on, even with relatively lower resolutions such as 100 metres.On my current PC (Athlon 2400+ XP and Geforce Ti 4400), I don't really notice any performance degradation at all with most terrain mesh, unless I push the slider all the way to 100%. At 100% I get the occassional stutter in tight turns in mountainous areas but that is about it. With the slider at about 85% no problem. With mesh of around 75 m to don't notice any performance hit at all ith the slider at 100%, regardless of terrain or weather conditions.So the answer to your question is that your setup will take a considerable hit from high resolution mesh. It then becomes a question of whether you can tolerate the reduced performance or not. I should add that having lots of free real memory before you start the sim is quite critical to how it will perform with terrain mesh.

[Guest Jet]

Thanks for your response and the wealth of information form everyone.Seems like it's time again to turn up the power...man I'm an upgrade maniac with FS2002.Thanks all, very much appreciated.