Quick question for anyone who can answer.I wrote a little .bat file to delete all the shader cahce files for FSX, then start FSX and so far this has worked well. Occasionally, I would get the black screen while flying the JS41 and realized I'd forgot to rebuild the shader cache, hence the .bat file. My question is, would there be any reason not to do this? It's not that it necessarily needs to be done every time FSX is started so that's why I ask.Thanks.

I'm intrigued as to why you feel the need to do this? :( Regards,Tom Wright

I couldn't think of a good reason to go through this trouble.

I kinda doubt it was ever intended to be done after every start. What I understand from ******* Altuve is that it's a good idea to do any time you've changed settings, updated drivers etc, but I don't think it's necessary to do every time you run the sim.

Yeah, it kinda defeats the purpose of having a cache file. Part of the cache building optimizing process requires you to actually run the sim. During this process you may actually see stutters. So you don't want a new cache file, you want an optimized file. How can you tell your shader file is funked up? Well, if you're in the clouds and/or around a lot of water and you're getting severe stutters, despite high and steady FPS, you might have a shader cache problem. This can happen by just changing AA settings and/or screen resolution, not to mention what TABS has already mentioned previously in this thread.Ken Carlin

I'm intrigued as to why you feel the need to do this? :( Regards,Tom Wright

To avoid the black screen problem I was experiencing, this .bat file seemed like a good little tool for deleting the cache. At the very least, it's convenient.

I couldn't think of a good reason to go through this trouble.

No trouble writing the .bat file. It's a nice and quick way to delete the files when necessary.

@ Echo offdel "C:\Users\U S E R N A M E\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX\Shaders" /Q/S>nulcd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\"start fsx.exe

I kinda doubt it was ever intended to be done after every start. What I understand from ******* Altuve is that it's a good idea to do any time you've changed settings, updated drivers etc, but I don't think it's necessary to do every time you run the sim.

The culprit would be the updated drivers. I forgot to rebuild the cache thus the black screen, I dislike this and decided that I didn't want to go through it again! haha, my forgetful dumboot sometimes! I'll keep deleting the cache every start for snits and giggles just to see if I notice any anomalies.

Yeah, it kinda defeats the purpose of having a cache file. Part of the cache building optimizing process requires you to actually run the sim. During this process you may actually see stutters. So you don't want a new cache file, you want an optimized file. How can you tell your shader file is funked up? Well, if you're in the clouds and/or around a lot of water and you're getting severe stutters, despite high and steady FPS, you might have a shader cache problem. This can happen by just changing AA settings and/or screen resolution, not to mention what TABS has already mentioned previously in this thread.Ken Carlin

Isn't the cache optimized on the fly? There a pun there? :rolleyes:Seriously though, I haven't noticed a change for the worse, no stutters and REX2HD seems to be behaving like normal. Does it take multiple FSX starts to optimize the cache properly?

No trouble writing the .bat file. It's a nice and quick way to delete the files when necessary.

I understand how to write a .bat file and use it, and to me it is troublesome to execute every time I run FSX. This was in response to your original question "would there be any reason not to?". The moral of my statement was I couldn't think of a good reason to do it (as in ever time I start FSX). I've noticed a lot of folks like placebo effects, though, so to each his own! I do tend to agree with Ken's stance, though. It's a pointless thing to do at launch. Why would you want a new cache at every start?

To avoid the black screen problem I was experiencing, this .bat file seemed like a good little tool for deleting the cache. At the very least, it's convenient.

Do you have the HIGHMEMFIX=1 line in your fsx.cfg?Tom Wright

I understand how to write a .bat file and use it, and to me it is troublesome to execute every time I run FSX. This was in response to your original question "would there be any reason not to?". The moral of my statement was I couldn't think of a good reason to do it (as in ever time I start FSX). I've noticed a lot of folks like placebo effects, though, so to each his own! I do tend to agree with Ken's stance, though. It's a pointless thing to do at launch. Why would you want a new cache at every start?

Placebo effect aye? Did you even read this after you typed it? hahaHow is it more troublesome to double click on a .bat file versus the FSX.exe? Still only double clicking one time to launch. Seems less troublesome to me especially when It's necessary to delete the cache files which does happen on occasion. I'm experimenting here and was curious if there would be a negative impact and if not... Thanks.

Do you have the HIGHMEMFIX=1 line in your fsx.cfg?Tom Wright

No, it wasn't in the cfg. I thought I did this already. fsx.cfg updated. Thank you Tom.

Placebo effect aye? Did you even read this after you typed it? hahaHow is it more troublesome to double click on a .bat file versus the FSX.exe? Still only double clicking one time to launch. Seems less troublesome to me especially when It's necessary to delete the cache files which does happen on occasion. I'm experimenting here and was curious if there would be a negative impact and if not... Thanks.

Relax! And good luck. Don't ask questions on the forum if you don't expect other's answers! :(

Relax! And good luck. Don't ask questions on the forum if you don't expect other's answers! :(

My apologies if i seemed defensive, been stressed past couple week.

My apologies if i seemed defensive, been stressed past couple week.

Hey Jon- I liked your pun! :( Since I can't understand a damn thing I posted earlier, I'll try again: Sounds like your shader is already optimized (giving you smooth performance), so there's no need to flush a perfectly optimized cache for a new one. Yes, FSX does optimize (rebuild cache) on the FLY, and it's during this process that you may experience "stutters" directly related to that 'shader building process' -hence, a reason why you may NOT want to flush your perfectly smooth shader cache.Ken Carlin

Isn't the cache optimized on the fly? There a pun there? :( Does it take multiple FSX starts to optimize the cache properly?

I don't have any facts to back it up, but I think it may if you don't fly in a shader intensive environment after that initial rebuild . After my last cache rebuild, I took the MD11 into some pretty rough skies just to help things along, in case it does matter. :-)Ken Carlin

I don't tweak FSX and I don't have issues beyond those that are inherent in FSX and can't be fixed anyway, so I'm very intrigued why people feel that messing with a few .ini files does anything to fix the problem in the software?It has seemed to me for a long time now that FSX has serious memory management issues, and that the more you fill FSX process memory space, the more likely you are to encounter problems (which tweaking a .ini file will never fix). You may delay a problem, so on your 4 hour flight FSX doesn't crash, but that is all you are doing - delaying the problem.Best regards,Robin.

Well, if you can't fix the problem, then delaying it so you can finish the flight is the next best thing. And FSX is way beyond repair. The thing is a total disaster of a program, and makes us all look like fools having to build mega super machines and countless add ons to get the thing to run like we think it should. The things we do for our hobby....