Automated Tweaking and Tuning tool for FSX

[corkyo4 2]

Would just like to add my findings on here, in the name of progress and research etc.Firstly fantastic bit of kit!!!My pc spec is as followsIntel Dual Core E8500 @ 4.0ghz4.0gb corsair ram 1066mhzxfxforce 9800 gtx+ 512mb gfx card1tb hdd for fsx320gb hdd for win 7 64bitHaving analysed my cfg file and loaded it up in FSX i was disappointed with the performance. I had a noticeable increase in stutters. So i had a play with some settings that were suggested as being set too high. These didnt really improve anything.So i tried analysing the cfg again this time setting the processor speed to a lower setting - again the same problem. So i opened up my good cfg file and the analysed versions together and went through several lines to compare each.The only major difference i spotted was with respect to bufferpools, my original file had something like usepools=0 however the analysed version had something like usepools=1 and bufferpools=8093 etc etc.So i deleted this entry and set usepools to =0. Problem solved!!No more stutters.I have to say having set usepools=0 ages ago, this did give the biggest improvement in performance. I have noticed that i now have a windowedvsync=1 which i never had before so this has improved this even more.YippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeCheersTom

[Tabs 2,790]

The AA talk in the beginning got me thinking... Am i using correct AA settings? In inspector, it says 2X2 SuperSampling + 2x MultiSampling. Then, i have transparency supersampling and multisampling disabled. Is this transparency AA what you are talking about, am i correct? :)

Kim,If your card can handle it, yeah 8xSQ will look better than 8xS. It's got a higher degree of super sampling than 8xS does but a lower level of multisampling. SS is more taxing on the card.

[Rezabrya 0]

One thing I noticed is that your tweak site turned aircraft self shadowing on, and ground shadows off. I used to run ground shadows with no a/c self shadowing. Is there any advantage to just running a/c self shadow and not ground shadows?

[gheeD 62]

Kim,If your card can handle it, yeah 8xSQ will look better than 8xS. It's got a higher degree of super sampling than 8xS does but a lower level of multisampling. SS is more taxing on the card.

Ryan, Thanks for your reply, i sort of solved my question by myself, i re-read the question about this same thing asked earlier, and understood that i should leave the transparency stuff off. I then tried 8xS instead, and i am loving it! Even though 8xSQ is all around smoother edges, but 8xS provides sharper image, but without jaggy edges, except trees in the horizon, ofcoure. But thats something i can live with, since i most of the time have ASE on and visibility so low, that i can't see the horizon. :)

[Riah069 157]

Thxs for another addition bojote.But i have to ask. What about ATI users? With setting the Video card option to "I Dont Know" wont that not take into account my card in adjusting the FSX.cfg?RegardsMike

[bojote 20]

Thxs for another addition bojote.But i have to ask. What about ATI users? With setting the Video card option to "I Dont Know" wont that not take into account my card in adjusting the FSX.cfg?RegardsMike

Hi Mike,Simply pick one that is equivalent in speed/features to your ATI card. I only use that for reference. Once I analize your cfg I can determine if you are using an ATI card and recommend ATI specific tweaks, such as the Shader 3 Mod for improved speed under weather (clouds).

One thing I noticed is that your tweak site turned aircraft self shadowing on, and ground shadows off. I used to run ground shadows with no a/c self shadowing. Is there any advantage to just running a/c self shadow and not ground shadows?

Altough the setting for A/C Self shadow is for DX10 only, the 'combination' of having THAT option checked plus AC shadows OFF gives a 3%-5% DECREASE in CPU usage. So, it must be some kind of internal calculation FSX is doing which 'affects' performance slightly. Again, 3% is NOTHING! so, unless you want to squeeze the last drop of performance, this is not strictly neccesary.

[mario340500 6]

Hi *******,Thanks for this magnificant tool, have tried it out and it work brilliantly.. Just a quick Q though, I want to try limiting my frames externally to exactly 30 as per the Tweak Tool's recommendation.Please advise what is the quick easy way of doing this? My FPS is set to unlimited in FSX.Thanks and Regards,Mario

[Guest freebird77]

Altough the setting for A/C Self shadow is for DX10 only.

Hi *******,I hope you find my comment as contributing and I think I stated this before or meant to; This IS a DX9 feature as well, enabling in DX9 enables self shadows on of the exterior of the AC model, the tail will cast a shadow on the fuse, Wings will cast shadows on lower fuse etc etc. In DX10 the feature adds cockpit shadows, turn the feature off in DX9 and no more exterior self shadows.AC shadows is different, its just for the aircraft to cast a shadow on the terrain.Cheers!

[bojote 20]

Hi *******,I hope you find my comment as contributing and I think I stated this before or meant to; This IS a DX9 feature as well,

Interesting, I didn't know that. thanks for the tip firebird! I understood it was DX10 only by a comment I read long time ago.

[gliderdriver 6]

*******,I set up and saved demanding test flight using Open Clouds with lots of cloud layers, and with my original fsx.cfg was getting around 13 jerky fps with many of your earlier tips including HighMemFix etc. After optimizing using your online tool, which changed my buffer pools and added some vsync things, and doing the other 'recommnded' things, including reducing FPS Limiter to 20, now getting around 20 fps very smooth as you would expect - the difference between unplayable and devinly playable.Tweaking finished, over, no more with the tweaking I hope. At peace with my FSX, and now to fly - on VATSIM.Many thanks,Phil

[Guest wims]

Reduced the performance on my machine, I suspect adding vsync was the culprit. However, I only did an incredibly short test, about 2 minutes on autopilot on an old save I had lying around

[s_phoenix 0]

Hello,could you please advice me what does it mean whet recommended use the " EXTERNAL FPS limiter"? What is this?

[RelaxX 11]

This is from my FSX guide:Limitation of the frame rate fps.It doesn't make sense if the PC calculates and draws the screen content with a rate of 50 fps and more. That is simply a waste of valuable computing power. Hence it's better to limit the frame rate enabling the simulation to run smoother and with better image quality. We don't use the internal FPS limitation, because this function is a bit inefficient and consumes about 5 fps. We rather set the internal limiter to "infinite" and use an external FPS limiter from Marko Ludolph. You can download the file FPS_Limiter_0.2.rar and unpack it. Java should be installed on your computer to use this excellent limiter. You can move the directory FPS_Limiter_0.2 into the FSX-directory (e. g. C:\FSX). Then you start the user interface FPS_Limiter_GUI.jar. You accept the preset maximum fps of 30, select "Search Executable" and point to the FSX.exe file. Pushing "create bat" will create the batch file you need to start the FPS_Limiter_0.2 and the simulator FSX. You can increase and decrease the preset fps-limit on the fly using F12 and F11. This setup should stabilize the frame rate and run the simulation smoother. More CPU power is available to do texture work and thus increase the image quality. Just test it with your test flights

[s_phoenix 0]

Thank you for clarify :(

[trisager 2]

Thanks for this tool, *******! While I haven't actually used the updated FSX.CFG directly, it does give some excellent hints of where to look for performance improvements.The suggestion to tweak TextureMaxLoad to avoid white texture flashes was a good one, at least on my system. I've increased it in steps, now up to TextureMaxLoad=24, and the white flashes are almost gone. That is 8 times higher than the default value, but I have yet to experience any ill effects from this change.