Automated Tweaking and Tuning tool for FSX

[bojote 23]

resolve the occasional white flash as textures load

Vic, I had a discussion with Adam two or three months ago about *THAT* particular situation. According to Adam, the white flashes are the result of the terrain engine trying to 'use' a texture tile that has NOT yet being loaded into 'video' memory. So, to make the 'textures' load a bit 'faster' you can tweak this with TextureMaxLoad. The default in FSX is '3'. The 'terrain engine' has a mechanism to 'wait' longer and allow the textures to load into video memory, that setting is SWAP_WAIT_TIMEOUT (which DOES work in SP2) however, there IS a downside.. if SWAP_WAIT_TIMEOUT is too high, then the terrain engine will stall, and fall behind loading textures (it will wait too much) hence, you'll experience blurries. if TOO low, then things will look like a christmas tree with white lights flashing all over. What I'm not 100% sure, is the 'effect' of SWAP_WAIT_TIMEOUT and TextureMaxLoad when running with your frames 'locked' so I would 'experiment' using UNLIMITED frames (and using the external limiter) to see if there is any difference.FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION is the ammount of time the terrain engine will use (per frame) to do calculations. so, 0.33 means that 33% of the time it takes the sim to render a frame, will be used by the terrain engine to load terrain... SWAP_WAIT_TIMEOUT and TextureMaxLoad are critical settings if you want to experiment with the above. For testing, I would leave FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION out of the equation.Now, there is yet ANOTHER cause of white flashes in the sim due to a 'bug' in the way shaders are rendered in single pass... You'll experience this bug if your WATER is set BELOW the WATER_EFFECTS=6 setting. WATER 6 and 7 and two pass shaders and fix this 'flashing issue' which is in NO WAY related to the first I described.Let me suggest the following, forget about the 'tweaking tool' for now. Try to apply the above changes manually and let me know if you see an improvement.

[vgbaron 3,734]

Let me suggest the following, forget about the 'tweaking tool' for now. Try to apply the above changes manually and let me know if you see an improvement.

ok - will play around tonight and tomorrow. I'm trying to avoid using the FPS limiter - I remember now why I stopped using it. The F10,11 & 12 hotkeys interfere with TrackIR and the ENB Mod and running multi monitors screws up the frame rate. However, if I can completely eliminate the flashes, I'd have to reevaluate the situation.Vic

[pmb 5,139]

Dear *******,this is just to say a big thank you. In a Web with continuously growing numbers of ad overlays popping up, needless mini shops centered around ROI, SEO "optimized" pages, crippleware, backup-free overwritten configuration files etc. etc. you just offer a tool of intestimable value - for free, no ads on the page, no shopping chart, no "Give return", not even a postcard is asked for.I had implemented some of your suggestions before, thus I can't say how much fps the Optimizer acutally gave. However, flying in dense areas like Munich, Wellington NZ and others on a mediocre 3 GHz machine is now real fun again, and with frames locked to 25 fps via the external limiter the experience is much more smoother than before.Thank you once more, Michael

[bojote 23]

In a Web with continuously growing numbers of ad overlays popping up, needless mini shops centered around ROI, SEO "optimized" pages, crippleware, backup-free overwritten configuration files etc. etc. you just offer a tool of intestimable value - for free, no ads on the page, no shopping chart, no "Give return", not even a postcard is asked for.

Hmm.. I should ask for the postcard then ;) Glad you liked it Michael. Thanks for the kind words.

ok - will play around tonight and tomorrow. I'm trying to avoid using the FPS limiter - I remember now why I stopped using it. The F10,11 & 12 hotkeys interfere with TrackIR and the ENB Mod and running multi monitors screws up the frame rate. However, if I can completely eliminate the flashes, I'd have to reevaluate the situation.Vic

I have the TrackIR keys mapped to my mouse. Makes it really easy to enable/disable with the thumb finger. ENBSeries keys can be disabled using null chars like this: (I also had the same problems you describe)[iNPUT]KeyUseEffect=20KeyBloom=232KeyOcclusion=232KeyReflection=232KeyCombination=16KeyScreenshot=232KeyShadow=232KeyWater=232KeyShowFPS=232

[hewlett 0]

:( I've just got to say thank you "bojote" This is the first time flying FSX use your automated cfg my sim is true enjoyable to fly !Using Win7 Ult.Intel 3680 @ 4.4 air580 evga @ 850/1680/2100Very studder free SIM.Oh and hyerper thread dis.External limitor @ 45 fp/With pnw and lots of extras.Thanks Man ! :(

[vgbaron 3,734]

I have the TrackIR keys mapped to my mouse. Makes it really easy to enable/disable with the thumb finger. ENBSeries keys can be disabled using null chars like this: (I also had the same problems you describe)[iNPUT]KeyUseEffect=20KeyBloom=232KeyOcclusion=232KeyReflection=232KeyCombination=16KeyScreenshot=232KeyShadow=232KeyWater=232KeyShowFPS=232

I'll play around with those - for now I've made some changes.Changed Water_Effects to 6Set FPS Unlimitednot a white flash in two hours of testing!! :)Tried the FPS Limiter and w/o - no problems but no apparent difference. Had it set to 60Smooth flight no issues.THEN - applied the same changes to the CFG file adjusted by the tool. NO flashes but slight stutters.I 'think' I have it narrowed down to the Affinity Mash of 56 - removed that and the stutters appear to be gone. Want to test some more to be sure.One other thing I've noticed and it's not a problem for me but when I turn my head in a cockpit like a P-51, the prop effect and the sides of the canopy tear a bit. I do NOT see this tearing anywhere else except the cockpit frame and the prop . I'm in windowed mode and have the VSync's applied in the cfg.BUT the white flashes are completely gone.Moving right along - will try some more tomorrow.Thanx,Vic

[gheeD 62]

I'll report for my friend too, he's using a C2Q cpu and a GTX275 if i remember correctly, and now hes getting 60+ fps with same image quality he was getting before! He has never before done any tweaking, but i linked the tool to him and he followed the instructions, and now he's really happy that the fps improved so much. :)

[Tomaz Drnovsek 441]

Do you get "reasonable performance" in eham with the tweaks but no limiter or without them both ?

I use those tweaks because they make a difference for me:[bufferPools]UsePools=1RejectThreshold=102400PoolSize=2097152[JOBSCHEDULER]AffinityMask=14[GRAPHICS]HIGHMEMFIX=1At the gate at EHAM (Aerosoft) with almost every slider to the right (AG Very dense, cars and boats 9%), with UT2 (Airliners 100%, GA 20%) and MTX (Airliners 40%, GA 30%), in PMDG 744-8i VC, Fair Weather... I get around 23 FPS and a pretty smooth performance (occasional stutter on turning, panning)... if I lock frames internally I get 14 FPS, with frames unlocked and FPS limiter I get around 22 but stutters even taxiing slowly and looking straight ahead. But yes, unlimited frames only work well with heavy hitting payware stuff, where I usually get something around 30 FPS with payware AC on a payware scenery. For GA is no good because everything becomes very jerky. For that I have to lock frames internally and all is good. With limiter in both cases, stutters.

[phmcr 95]

Just released it today: http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.htmlIt's like an fsx.cfg critique tool :) it will analize yours and see whats wrong with it and even apply tweaks (if you need them) it analizes the file you 'send', so this is 100% safe. You could send a 'backup' fsx.cfg or a dummy one just for testing.

Thanks ******* for all your efforts. Despite the tool indicating I should set BP etc, I have better results with setting it to ´0´. The same goes for unlimited vs. limited. I do not use an external limiter and with FSX limiting it to 25, I have a very constant 18-25 FPS flying the PMDG MD-11 in and out of main hubs. Unlimited will give me better frames on the ground, but stutters when at cruise level.Menno

[Ioan92 63]

*******, you're the FSX messiah.I ended up getting 40 FPS in my PMDG 747 in Frankfurt... A jump from 30 maximum.Fricken love you!

[RNGR 0]

Your RejectThreshold value needs adjusting!

For what ?

Aircraft shadows removed for performance. Use Conversative to prevent this change. Ground shadows kill performance, adjusting. Bloom effects are a known performance killer. Disabling.

Only 1-2 fps lost with shadows and bloom enabled.

You have DX10 Preview mode enabled, you'll get more peformance in DX9 with the tweaks applied from this service. Please, consider changing the mode to DX9.

What ? Enabling DX10 i get about 10-12 fps more than DX9 and better water and reflections. And DX9 has max texture size limitation (4096x4096 max)

Try adjusting autogen according to your hardware. Yours is set too high! Your Mesh resolution is set too high for your hardware! try setting it to 19m. Ignore this recomendation if using ORBX products. Your texture resolution is set too high for your current hardware!. Your scenery complexity is too high for your hardware! consider reducing it just one notch. MAKE SURE to disable Transparency Anti-aliasing for improved smoothness with your NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 card

Are you shure ? I have about 40-60 fps with my settings without many tweaks (Only AffinityMask and BufferPools applied):)Balance between memory, cpu, video and hard disk speeds - way to high fps :)

[RNGR 0]

So, i apply recommended tweaks :)With tweaks (First 3 pictures) and without tweaks

[bic 44]

Thanks, it says I'm using a nonstandard texture size and ignoring it. What does that mean? What should I be using?

[jordanal 70]

Testing the tool and analyzing the differences line by line, I'm a bit surprised the two line items colored Red were removed entirely from the (Main) section of the newly generated fsx.cfg. Was this intentional?(Main)User Objects=Airplane, HelicopterSimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\AirplanesSimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\RotorcraftSimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehiclesSimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\BoatsSimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\AnimalsSimObjectPaths.5=SimObjects\MiscSimObjectPaths.6=SimObjects\AircraftMaximized=1Location=47,13,1916,1146,\\.\DISPLAY1HideMenuNormal=0HideMenuFullscreen=1ProcSpeed=14789PerfBucket=7DisablePreload=1

[bojote 23]

Thanks, it says I'm using a nonstandard texture size and ignoring it. What does that mean? What should I be using?

If you are using REX with HD textures you can completely ignore that warning. It is an integity check more than anything.

Testing the tool and analyzing the differences line by line, I'm a bit surprised the two red line times were removed entirely from the (Main) section of the newly generated fsx.cfg. Was this intentional?

Yes, it is.BOTH lines, are 'calculated' by FSX everytime it is started *IF* the line is not present. It is an 'index' to determine proper speed of your CPU. If you upload a file that has been alreday 'optimized' by the configurator before I'll know that procspeed IS accurate and not some old calculation done when you first started FSX long time ago.