Hi All

I promised in a previous thread that if I could figure out what was causing a massive FPS drop on my new system I would share the info in case it helps others. The problem occurred when flying with full AI in heavy traffic areas like London, New York etc. Turning the AI off gave an instant jump of anywhere between 50-100 FPS. Using MyTraffic AI instead of my own also gave a huge FPS increase, but as much as I appreciate that program (and them making it freeware) the AI models were just not up to current standards.

 

I checked aircraft models and of course textures. In the process I certainly fixed a number of issues like missing alpha channels etc. I reconfigured my video cards with nVidia Inspector and tweaked the FS9 file a zillion times. All of these things certainly resulted in a much better installation but not a solution to the problem.

 

I now know what the problem was. When I transferred stuff from my old machine to the new one I moved the AI aircraft and traffic files I was using on my old system into the new one. It was these traffic files that were causing the problem. Having had them on my old system for years and having added huge numbers of repaints from AVSIM, there were dozens which were looking for aircaft and textures that were no longer available. The heavier the traffic, the more stuff the CPU was trying to find, causing massive FPS drops.

 

By doing a completely clean reinstall of WoAI traffic, I am now getting FPS in the 50s in the busiest areas and in the 80-90's at others. (2-300 at default airports) I also had dozens of files that I had done mysef for military traffic, airlines not covered by WoAI etc. By checking each one and making sure that there are no missing aircraft, my AI density is now creeping up to what it was on my old system - with no discernible FPS hit.

 

As all of these errors had crept in over the course of probably more than 8 years, I had no idea how much false information they contained. It wasn't such a big deal with my old machine as I didn't expect good FPS in busy areas and it was usually adequate. But the difference on the new machine was so dramatic that it became a major headache for me trying to solve it. Now it's fixed!

 

To summarize - if you want optimum FPS with lots of AI, make sure you've fixed missing alpha channels and mips. (See discussion at the top of the forum). Then make sure that all your AI traffic files are "clean" - they do not include any entries that are not actually able to display in the sim. It can be tedious, by the result is definitely worth it.

 

Thanks for all the support everyone gave me. I am now in FS9 heaven

Ian

Glad you got it sorted Ian! Also, thanks for the updated info. That kind of stuff is good to know.

 

Excellent Ian.

 

Looking forward to your future tales of derring-do!

Congratulations. I think you feel now like I did when I startet FS2004 with my new overclocked CPU for the first time.

 

Nevertheless, it seems that checking AI planes this way could be a task for many of us. There is something to do with FS2004 (except flying) every day. (I added my first AI DC-8 today...)

 

Happy landings, Ian!

Very definitely worth getting to know, and use: ACA2005

http://world-of-ai.com/downloads.html

This tells you everything about AI on your system, and highlights problems like orphan textures etc.

 

(I also frequently use the airport timetable feature, to view a particular departure or arrival.)

Hi Ian, is there any tool to help detect these missing AI. Or do you have to decompile the traffic BGL files and check manually?

Hi Ian, is there any tool to help detect these missing AI. Or do you have to decompile the traffic BGL files and check manually?

Right now I'm doing it manually by decompiling in TTools, then selecting the flightplans in YRoute. If there are missing aircraft, it tells you which ones they are and you can either look to reinstall them or just swap with another aircraft. I think ACA2005 would be the utility to use but the last time I tried it I couldn't figure out how to use it. Maybe time to RTFM! LOL Even better, maybe it's time to just fly and stop tweaking for a while!

:rolleyes:

Hi Ian. ACA2005 actually scans for that very same error (any many more). It just gave me a list of about 100 missing planes. You don't need to RTFM. It took me a couple of minutes of poking around. Give it a shot!

I do tend to get blanks looks whenever I mention ACA2005...

 

But honestly, just tick a few boxes and let it find some errors for you.

It does in an instant what would take you hours!

 

Once you've eased into the other features it has, you will find you cannot optimise your AI without it, I promise.