Go to the "Rendering Options" screen, in the "CLOUD DETAIL" tab, and lower the "number of cloud puffs" slider to a very low value (I have mine to zero).Here's a comparison between default value (50%) and modified value (0%) for the "number of cloud puffs". One layer of "scattered cumulus", 2000ft thick. Note the FPS (first number top left):BEFOREAFTERBEFOREAFTERIf you want to change the density of clouds, alter the "size of cloud puffs" slider. Since I think 50% gives too much density for scattered clouds, I have mine to 0%. Here are the results for both "number of cloud puffs" and "size of cloud puffs" set to 0%:Marco

Edited January 2, 201214 yr by Murmur

Nice!Austin in the news list yesterday;

I shall now grant myself any X-Plane feature I like!And that feature is: Frame-rate improvement in the cloud-rendering! (I am working on it now).

Getting the cloud settings just right can be tricky because a lot of it depends on cloud cover. You can go fairly low with detail and number of puffs in overcast conditions, but it sometimes doesn't look as good when there is less cloud coverage.

Very good Marco! Those photos should have won the 'competition'

This is 25% detail and number of puffs:

needs a comparison .....

This is very cool!!! Thanks!

Helped me too. Thanx

I wonder if some of this performance is video card related? I tried your settings and saw very little difference-perhaps 2-3 fps.Then I noticed when I put a scattered layer I had few clouds (though with my settings scattered looks like broken).I'll have to experiment more-but it is interesting.My settings which I have had good results with are Cloud detial 24% opacity 63% and puffs 28%.Of course it is so overcast (and snowy) where I live in the winter perhaps I am not gonna see much difference.. :(

I found an 8 - 10 fps increase dropping number of cloud puffs from 23% to 22%. That seemed a significant breaking point for me. My graphics card is an ATI 6970 (2 gig VRAM). I have number of cloud puffs set at 22, size at 40 and opacity at 60. I have been flying over Washington state terrain with current weather conditions downloaded, so lots of clouds and averaging over 28 fps around Seattle Tacoma international airport and up into the 40's in the mountains without a lot of roads and cities.