A Huge FPS Increase

[Jure 36]

Late to the show, been on holidays... which is not a bad thing :smile:

 

I've just one thing to add:

During my long love affair with FS9 I have discovered that DXTBMP gives noticeably better results quality wise than Imagetool when converting a texture from 32-bit to DXTx, at least on my machine(s). While I've done many a batch job with Imagetool (always in some test folder away from FS installation) I've dropped it altogether in favor of DXTBMP.

 

Now I have work to do. While I will leave my AI collection mip-less and DXT1 for now, I know I have tons of alpha-less DXT3 textures floating around.

 

Thanks Ian for starting this great thread and thanks to everyone else for a lot of useful info and useful tools (especially Neumanix)! Can't wait to finally land at EDDF without that HUGE pause close to the rwy treshold! :smile:

 

Regards,

Jure

[CaptKornDog 281]

Ian, thank you very much. Also, neumanix, thank you for making it much easier.

 

 

 

Check your "TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=" setting. I used to set it 30 and I had sttuters everywhere, then I changed it to 10 and 99% of the stutters are gone. You might wanna lock FPS at 35.

 

Well the key question there is are you running in full screen or windowed mode?

[nam1394 10]

Windowed. Why? Does it make a difference?

[CaptKornDog 281]

Windowed. Why? Does it make a difference?

 

Absolutely, vSync and video cards/FS in general will apply some calculations and settings differently between the two.

[Jure 36]

 

Check your "TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=" setting. I used to set it 30 and I had sttuters everywhere, then I changed it to 10 and 99% of the stutters are gone. You might wanna lock FPS at 35.

 

Surely, you mean TEXTUREMAXLOAD? TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD needs to be set to 1024 to properly show largest textures correctly...

 

I keep TEXTUREMAXLOAD between 8 and 10, depends...

 

Regards,

Jure

[nam1394 10]

Surely, you mean TEXTUREMAXLOAD? TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD needs to be set to 1024 to properly show largest textures correctly...

 

I keep TEXTUREMAXLOAD between 8 and 10, depends...

 

Regards,

Jure

 

I have two TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD one under Graphics which set to 1024 and another one under display which I was talking about and both are written the same. Is that wrong?

[Jure 36]

I have two TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD one under Graphics which set to 1024 and another one under display which I was talking about and both are written the same. Is that wrong?

 

Yep, I think so... the one in DISPLAY section should be TextureMaxLoad, without the underline characters. Here's a quote from another forum, by Jim Karn:

 

"Those are two different settings. The TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024 is in another section and should not be changed. The TextureMaxLoad=10 goes in the [Display] section and is adjustable. Each system will most likely respond differently. Just use caution when editing the cfg file, and at the very least, back it up before making any changes."

 

And here's another, explaining the TextureMaxLoad:

 

"NOTE: THIS TWEAK IS NOT ONE FOUND ON FLIGHT SIM SITES. IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT THE FS9.CFG FILE IS OR WHAT THE CONTENTS MEAN, DON’T MESS WITH THIS!

 

 

NOTE: IF YOUR NOT RUNNING A DECENT VIDEO CARD AND CPU/MOTHERBOARD.... FORGET THIS TWEAK, IT WILL GET YOU NO-WHERE

 

 

 

Ok gather around … I have a little treat for you tweakers.

 

Before I get into this I want you to understand that if you believe 40+ frames are necessary for smooth flight and great scenery – or- you believe running ‘unlimited’ on the frame lock and nothing else… this tweak is not for you and there is probably nothing I can do to convince you that your 7900GTX does not need to be locked @ or above 38-45FPS. (Note: the unlimited frame trick does work but NOT for most systems)

 

 

Understand that blurry textures and stutters come from both the same source -and-difference sources all at once. Assuming you have a good CLEAN system which you have tweaked and optimized so your not running all sorts of programs in startup and you have a good base to work from… try this:

 

 

The TEXTURE BANDWIDTH MULTIPLER is just that. It multiplies, just like it says.

 

The mystery is, what does it multiply? Well, it multiples loading a specified number of 256x256 ground textures (in file kb size depending on what ground textures you use) AND it calculates a load for the rendering engine to analyse based on the frame lock.

 

So the question is… where is that specified number?

 

Here it is:

 

TextureMaxLoad=X

 

Never seen that one? If you haven’t don’t be surprised because it is an Microsoft developers edit which is undocumented. The DEFAULT value when the line is not present in the FS9.cfg file, ... is “3”.

 

 

And the formula the system produces is:

 

TextureMaxLoad -MULTIPLED BY - TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT – DIVIDED BY – FRAME LOCK = X

 

Now that you know this, how does that help?

 

Immensely!

 

Knowing that, I will go on to say the TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT does NOT require a set number or to be a factor of anything. Although it is best this number remain a divisible by 20 the number used for the TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT is not set in stone and it is completely based on the system being tweaked.

 

Assuming you have a x800 (or fairly close) or greater performance type card, -and- a DECENT supporting motherboard/memory/CPU... AND your Flight Sim works good but it is not as smooth or does not display the scenery as well as you would like… or you just want to play and have some fun, try the following.

 

First, save a copy of your FS9.cfg file for safe keeping.

 

Next, open your FS9.cfg and edit the following

 

TextureMaxLoad =X

 

 

……directly under the TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT= entry in you cfg file.

 

 

I will make this easy and without going into allot of chatter… about testing and tweaking because I cannot possibly tweak these numbers without sitting in front of the system.

 

 

Start with these values:

 

 

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=100

TextureMaxLoad =10

 

 

YOUR FRAME LOCK MUST BE REDUCED OR THIS WON’T WORK.

 

For x800 – x1600 and comparable Nvidia cards, lock your frame @ 22

 

You read right… 22 (you might be able to nudge it up to 24 after its tweaked)

 

 

For x850xt and comparable Nvidia, lock it @ 25

 

For x1800 and comparable Nvidia cards, lock it @ 28

 

For x1900 and 7900GT – GTX, lock it @ 30

 

Set your PAN_RATE= to either 600 or 700 for any card (your choice)

 

For x800 – x850 x1600 and comparable Nvidia cards, disable SHADOWS in the sim. Others can test it to see how it does. The cards I mentioned can also test it but if you are not using a GOOD set of properly designed DX3 clouds such as found in FLIGHT Environment, I would leave shadows disabled. Test using "Building Storms" so you can judge the full load properly.

 

THIS TWEAK assumes you know how to correctly set up your video drivers and have all the FS9 SCENERY sliders maxed and all boxes checked (except shadows for those I mentioned above) and correctly set up your cloud sliders (60 -40 – 100 with Detailed Clouds and 100% maximum density) AA disabled in the sim and the rest of the display settings correct.

 

 

When you first boot … DON’T judge the tweak until you fly around for a bit. It will most likely need to be adjusted.

 

If you have blurry scenery most likely the frame lock is too high. ONLY drop it by 1 to test.

 

Also, I would NOT exceed 10 as the value for TextureMaxLoad =X Good values are (3 default) 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10… but it WILL go higher. If you experience stutters, DROP the

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT= from 100 to 80.

 

Assuming the TextureMaxLoad = 5 or GREATER, I would not go any higher than 120 on the TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT no matter WHAT you have learned in the past about that setting… most of which was the max value being 400.

 

You guys with the right video cards but slower systems may want to work with LOWER TextureMaxLoad values and HIGHER TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT values.

 

 

The idea is to find the spot where your ground textures load in a flash with no stutters when changing views over an area your flying in for the first time during a flight. With the extra time after that flash load the sim can start using the correct calculations to start sharpening and displaying them further away.

 

 

You will need to work with this setting.. It’s REALLY a gem once you learn how to CORRECTLY set up the FS9.cfg by understanding how the sim works.

 

 

 

This setting was brought to you by Steve Lacey, software developer and co-founder of SwitchGear Software who posted it almost a year ago but no one seemed to catch on over this past year. With the introduction of FSX, hidden settings will start to surface and be explained."

 

Taken from the VOZ forum...

 

Hope that helps..."

 

I don't know the author of the latter one, but here's a thank you once more. 'tis a good tweak. :smile:

 

Jure

[nam1394 10]

Yeah, I just checked the site I got the tweak from, and it was as you said. I typed it wrong. Thank you very much.

[lincrun 0]

What a magnificent topic you created, Ian! My understatement of the day would be that my mind is boggling.

 

There is much food for thought here and I offer humble thanks to all contributors, too many to mention, but especially to neumanix. Gonna be busy for a while, methinks.

 

Lin

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Thanks Lin. I just wish there was some way of editing all this into a single "how to" guide for dummies like me! :lol:

 

Ian

[lincrun 0]

I think you may be many things, but a dummy is certainly not one of them. :Applause:

 

Lin

[flying_bob 38]

Thanks Lin. I just wish there was some way of editing all this into a single "how to" guide for dummies like me! :lol:

 

Ian

 

+1

[jetlag 65]

I am backing up now FSX 110mb install, then will run the fixer.

Also like to mipmap everything and see how it goes.

http://convimx.findmysoft.com/

Is this the program I should use ?

How does it work ? convert dxt3 to dxt3 with mipmaps? how many ?

 

A word of caution: I downloaded convimx from that site and ended up with the SearchBabylon virus. It could be a coincidence, or maybe not.

Is there another, safe, way to get this utility?

[N60JBravo 27]

Is there another, safe, way to get this utility?

 

Best place to get it is from the developer, Martin Wright.

 

MW Graphics

 

ConvImX is on the Beta Programs page.

 

regards,

Joe

[jetlag 65]

Best place to get it is from the developer, Martin Wright.

 

MW Graphics

 

ConvImX is on the Beta Programs page.

 

regards,

Joe

Many thanks,

Phil