As ever with aa there isn't a simple answer to the question! Not sure about dx9 I would have to look into it.

 

I have a beta version 4 where i disable msaa in the cloud shader. This seems to have a benefit so long as you don't select super sampling. If you send me a pm with an email address you can try it out.

 

Steve

I understand that in dx9 when AA was set in app controlled in nividia inspector, fsx excluded the clouds from AA. Is this the same in dx10?

 

The reason I ask is that even with inspector set to app controlled and a fresh .cfg, when I even look at a single cloud in dx10 with in game AA turned on my fps plummets from 25 to around 10-12 which is not fun. I even have REXE dxt5 512 clouds installed. However, by turning AA off, clouds do not have any impact on fps. This seems to say that under dx10 clouds are anti-ailised no-matter what, which is unnessecary and obviously will kill a weak gpu like mine due to the complexity of the clouds.

 

So basically can clouds be excluded from AA in dx10?

As you point out, it's your GPU that's the issue. I'd rather not lose AA quality for the sake of everyone that can't get it anyways. The following fsx.cnfg settings may help your situation. It will drop the DX10 in game AA down to 2xMSAA (ref: http://www.tomshardw...eon,2868-4.html):

 

[Graphics]

MultiSamplesPerPixel=2

MultiSampleQuality=2

That is one super article, Rod! Thanks for posting it. It's going to get pegged into the How-To doc asap.

Thanks for the arcticle, I like the GeForce CSAA vs. Radeon EQAA table.

 

Ive also tried that setting but I found that there are to many jaggies on the wings for example when using MultiSamplesPerPixel=2 with MultiSampleQuality=2 or MultiSampleQuality=4.

 

I would suggest that you add the different options in your how to doc. So users can choose according their GPU which setting is best. But one thing is certain, it makes a big difference in performance.

yep , it sure does. It'll get get there, Eef. This is one very productive thread, and - actually - the whole thing has become a learning experience. That article is "Everything you ever need to know about AA", isn't it!

Haha yes it is. Sorry if you think im pushing you or something, It is hard for me to write in english with the right tone. Especially with the fact it is just text so people can interprete it differently then I actually mean.

 

As you point out, it's your GPU that's the issue. I'd rather not lose AA quality for the sake of everyone that can't get it anyways. The following fsx.cnfg settings may help your situation. It will drop the DX10 in game AA down to 2xMSAA (ref: http://www.tomshardw...eon,2868-4.html):

 

[Graphics]

MultiSamplesPerPixel=2

MultiSampleQuality=2

 

Great article! I have also tried the 2xMSAA setting in the cfg, and while it made a slight difference (still a fps drop), the visuals were pretty poor. I will give Steve's beta shader a try, but if all else fails I will have to go with 2x AA. Ideally I'd love a new gpu, but I am on a student budget, and when I bought my laptop I never thought I would get into any sort of gaming… go figure!

I've spent a fair bit of time AA tuning, as others have in the other AA thread which started me on my quest:

http://forum.avsim.n...n-dx10-preview/

 

What gives me the best balance in DX10 preview:

In game, via above fsx.cnfg setting: 4x16 (aka 16xCSAA in nvidia speak). 8x8 or higher chokes my GPU without hardly any overall improvement (8x32 is sweet if you can afford it).

In NI (nvidia inspector): transparency supersampling: 4xGSAA (8xGSAA is a teeny bit better but chokes my GPU in some situations).

I've found that NI FSAA didn't do much more than make the free flight aircraft preview look somewhat better so I don't use it.

(And the usuall disclaimer: YMMV.)

 

What is CRITICAL for excellent FSX DX10 preview VC visuals (that is, if you are picky like me) is that in-game AA and NI GSAA MUST be used together. The combination is pretty darn good, but alas it's not quite on par with NI 8xS in DX9. Considering all the other DX10 preview perks (fabulous water, moving VC shadows, generally better performance and visuals) the slightly dimished VC quality is a compromise that I'm glad to make (and I'm sure in a little while I'll forget about noticing it.)

DX10 definitely pushed the video card to the max. So much so that I wonder if there is something wrong.

 

DX9

 

DX10

Well total crud! I flew over very dense cloud cover at 10K and my FPS plumetted into the upper teens. Here I thought I had DX10 dialed in; but anyways I immediately tried disabling AA in game and FPS was pegged back at 30. So I flew the same area in DX9 with NI override 8xS and 2xSSGS and saw FPS in mid 20's. So here's my conclusion: my 560ti can handle DX10 cloud provided it not a dense cover; otherwise in dense cloud cover it pegs 100% and FPS chokes badly. Now why does FSX DX9 not have this problem with my 560ti, even if FSX being hit with an NI override? Is this a DX10 specific cloud shader issue? (I hate flying dense cloudy weather anyways, but sometime ASE gives me no choice.)

Is this a DX10 specific cloud shader issue?

Steve can probably answer this, Rod - but I would say you are probably correct.

Sounds like the same issue i'm getting in X-Plane 10 with HDR and 4x SSAA Quad Render (which is the only ingame setting above FXAA).

Runs good for everything, but when looking at a cloud, the framerate dips to 1/5'th of the normal framerate.

 

There obviously is an issue in both Flight Sims (and many other games) where Super-Sampling completely ruins your framerate if there are lots of transparent textures on top of eachother. I wish there was a way around this..

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/389059-forcing-aa-with-hdr-which-compatability-bits/

Guys, I have a fast system I7 2600K @4.6ghz and 780 GTX). I jumped on the DX10 band wagon about two weeks ago when I purchased Steve's DX10 Scenery Fixer. I installed it, set everything up, and edited the nvidia inspector setting for proper use with DX10.

 

First test flight the cockpit texture resolution didn't seam as sharp as with DX9, but it wasn't too noticeable until I switched back to DX9. I was amazed at the jump in performance, and how smooth it was, however yesterday I loaded real weather using OPUS in conjunction with REX cloud textures (4096x4096). As I climbed through 9,000' and made entry into a layer of HD clouds, I watched my FPS drop from close to 60 to 10-15 with unplayable stutters.

 

I experimented with the DX10 fixer AA settings, from 32X down to 8, and tweaked the NI settings, going from 2SGSS to just 4SS. No significant jump in performance and now the cockpit was full of Jaggies and shimmers.

 

I sat on this a bit and realized with how DX10 draws cloud textures, it is impossible to get a good balance between performance and great graphics. To get playable smoothness in the clouds, you will have to degrade your texture settings so the cockpit won't look nearly as good as it did. This is just because of the clouds, no where else in DX10 did I experience a drop in performance.

 

Needless to say, I reverted to DX9. I realized I had not added bufferpools=0 to my fsx.cfg, so I added that. I started FSX back in DX9 mode and set the PMDG on runway 13 on Flytampa's Hong Kong Kai Tak airport. I ran FRAPS and wanted to run a quick benchmark, and realized my FPS was at a steady 30 instead of 20-24. I took off and it remained steady and smooth, even as I flew through the same clouds I detailed above. The biggest thing that blows about going back to DX9 is that there are no more amazing cockpit shadowing. Other than that, after reverted back to DX9 I am experiencing a perfect balance between texture quality and performance.

Hi friends,

I also have issue with clouds - look at the screen:

http://www.fotoszok.pl/out.php/t2033254_cloudcut.jpg

What is the reason that clouds which are far away from my aircraft are sometimes cutted? (not always). I have ASN and REX4 2048 clouds optimized for DX10 DXT5 (TML in FSX.CFG file is set to 2048), DX10 Steve Fixer, GTX660Ti and i5 2500K 4.3GHz.

There is other issue: sometimes, some clouds appears as if like exposed by invisible cover (it's hard to say, but I hope you know what I mean...). It regards only far-away clouds.
And I suppose that both above issues are related (but I can be wrong of course..)


ASN options:
[General options]
FSVersion=FSX
AutomaticDownloadInterval=5
VATSIMDownloads=0
[Cloud options]
EnhanceIMCConditions=1
MaximumCloudLayers=5
MaximumCloudDrawDistance=110
ForceBrokenToSeven=0
MinimumCloudDrawDistance=90
[Wind options (and effects)]
InterLayerInterpolation=1
WakeTurbulenceStrength=70
[Visibility options]
MaximumVisibilitySM=50
MaximumUpperVisibilitySM=150
 

I have all options "ON" in DX10Fixer in "Cloud Shader" window.

Best regards,
Lucas

Guys, I have a fast system I7 2600K @4.6ghz and 780 GTX). I jumped on the DX10 band wagon about two weeks ago when I purchased Steve's DX10 Scenery Fixer. I installed it, set everything up, and edited the nvidia inspector setting for proper use with DX10.

 

First test flight the cockpit texture resolution didn't seam as sharp as with DX9, but it wasn't too noticeable until I switched back to DX9. I was amazed at the jump in performance, and how smooth it was, however yesterday I loaded real weather using OPUS in conjunction with REX cloud textures (4096x4096). As I climbed through 9,000' and made entry into a layer of HD clouds, I watched my FPS drop from close to 60 to 10-15 with unplayable stutters.

 

I experimented with the DX10 fixer AA settings, from 32X down to 8, and tweaked the NI settings, going from 2SGSS to just 4SS. No significant jump in performance and now the cockpit was full of Jaggies and shimmers.

 

I sat on this a bit and realized with how DX10 draws cloud textures, it is impossible to get a good balance between performance and great graphics. To get playable smoothness in the clouds, you will have to degrade your texture settings so the cockpit won't look nearly as good as it did. This is just because of the clouds, no where else in DX10 did I experience a drop in performance.

 

Needless to say, I reverted to DX9. I realized I had not added bufferpools=0 to my fsx.cfg, so I added that. I started FSX back in DX9 mode and set the PMDG on runway 13 on Flytampa's Hong Kong Kai Tak airport. I ran FRAPS and wanted to run a quick benchmark, and realized my FPS was at a steady 30 instead of 20-24. I took off and it remained steady and smooth, even as I flew through the same clouds I detailed above. The biggest thing that blows about going back to DX9 is that there are no more amazing cockpit shadowing. Other than that, after reverted back to DX9 I am experiencing a perfect balance between texture quality and performance.

 

I guess it's not much help but I have similar  specs to you with no issues with clouds or FPS. Dx10 runs much faster/smoother for me with. 

 

 

Definitely something up with your settings.

 

edit - why are you using 4096x4096 clouds ??  Try 2048 with DXT5. I use REX direct with ASN, clouds still look amazing and I can crank AA levels up.

 

Regards