I have only noticed one or two posts from people about this issue. I am having a massive performance hit with SP2 cloud textures. Just left KMCO with the metar:

 

 

KMCO 151553Z 33005KT 6SM BR OVC005 19/17 A3016 RMK AO2 SLP212 T01890172

KMCO 151403Z 1514/1612 32006KT 5SM BR SCT003 OVC005 FM151600 34007KT P6SM SCT004 OVC008 FM151800 36008KT P6SM SCT010 OVC020 FM152000 01012KT P6SM SCT025 BKN050 FM160000 35007KT P6SM SCT050 FM160600 34006KT 5SM BR SCT003 OVC008

 

I took off to the north on the JAG2 departure in the NGX. In the clouds and after breaking out on top I am still getting poor performance. If I look up (with track ir) to the top of the cockpit frame rates jump up to 30 from 10. 30 is my max setting. I lose 20 frames just by looking back down at the clouds. I have 1024 textures set for all settings in the AS2012 and DXT1 for all textures. Upon reaching cruise I gained only between 5 and 10 frames. Still not good. Is anyone else seeing this? I am tempted to go find textures somewhere else but that is not an ideal solution as I live being able to select weather influenced textures base on the flight I am doing and not have static texture set. Losing 20 frames just with the clouds though is unacceptable to me. Here is my AS2012 settings:

 

 

[Options]

fsVersion = FSX

AutoRefreshAI = False

DynamicRateofChangePercent = 20

VATSIMDownloads = False

AutomaticDownloadInterval = 10

AutomaticDownloads = True

CAVOKCloudGenerationPercent = 15

NoDataCloudGenerationPercent = 30

CirrusCloudGenerationPercent = 45

MaximumCloudLayers = 11

MinimumCloudTurbulencePercent = 0

MaximumCloudTurbulencePercent = 100

MinimumCloudIcingPercent = 0

MaximumCloudIcingPercent = 100

StratusCloudOccurrencePercent = 20

MinimumVisibilitySM = 0

MaximumVisibilitySM = 50

MaximumUpperVisibilitySM = 90

MaximumSurfaceWindSpeed = 100

MinimumWindTurbulencePercent = 0

MaximumWindTurbulencePercent = 100

MinimumWindShearPercent = 0

MaximumWindShearPercent = 50

DisableWindsAloft = False

WakeTurbulenceStrength = 0

CreateVirtualStations = False

EnhanceRouteCoverage = False

DepictHurricanes = True

EnableSkyScapeMode = False

UseSkyScapeforStratus = False

ForceHighPriority = True

UpdateRange = 500

EnableWindSmoothing = False

EnableVisibilityGraduation = True

EnableFogLayerSimulation = True

LocalSuppression = True

SuppressionRange = 110

StartupWave = False

EnableDirectWindControl = True

ShowSimMessages = False

SupressOnGround = False

ForceDestinationWeatherZone = False

VoiceATIS = False

ThermalGenerationRatePercent = 40

UpandDowndraftGenerationRatePercent = 75

MaximumDowndraftRate = 502

MaximumUpdraftThermalRate = 500

DisableHazeLayer = True

FogLayerGeneration = True

DatFileOverwriteUserEdit = 0

ForceWindLock = False

SuppressionCeiling = 10000

FSXDepictionMode = DWC

PreventFSXCloudRedraws = False

PreventTstormsWithCB = False

GraduationCeiling = 25000

UseStratusForFog = True

StratoCumulus = True

PostPlanGraphicsPrompt = True

LocalWriteswithDWC = False

OvercastEnhancement = True

ReduceVisibilityInCloudLayers = True

 

And my relevant FSX.cfg:

 

 

[bUFFERPOOLS]

UsePools=1

Poolsize=8388608

RejectThreshold=262144

 

[sOUND]

AmbientUIMusicVolume=-6.000000

SOUND=1

SOUND_QUALITY=2

SOUND_LOD=0

UISound=1

AmbientUI=0

PrimaryDevice={50584917-96C4-4C30-84A6-8DB2B2A5A83F}

VoiceDevice={50584917-96C4-4C30-84A6-8DB2B2A5A83F}

AmbientUIMusic=FSX01

SOUND_FADER1=0.500000

SOUND_FADER2=0.500000

SOUND_FADER3=0.500000

SOUND_FADER4=-0.500000

 

[Display]

ChangeTime=4.000000

TransitionTime=4.000000

ActiveWindowTitleTextColor=255,255,255

ActiveWindowTitleBackGroundColor=0,28,140,64

NonActiveWindowTitleTextColor=255,255,255

NonActiveWindowTitleBackGroundColor=24,33,87,64

InfoUpperRightTextColor=255,0,0

InfoUpperRightBackGroundColor=0,0,0,0

InfoLowerLeftTextColor=255,255,255

InfoLowerLeftBackGroundColor=255,0,0,128

InfoLowerRightTextColor=255,255,255

InfoLowerRightBackGroundColor=255,0,0,128

InfoBrakesEnable=True

InfoParkingBrakesEnable=True

InfoPauseEnable=True

InfoSlewEnable=True

InfoStallEnable=True

InfoOverspeedEnable=True

BLOOM_EFFECTS=0

SKINNED_ANIMATIONS=1

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=80

UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=0

WideViewAspect=True

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=0.65

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_VASI_SCALAR=0.75

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_APPROACH_SCALAR=0.55

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_STROBE_SCALAR=0.65

 

[Main]

User Objects=Airplane, Helicopter

SimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\Airplanes

SimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\Rotorcraft

SimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehicles

SimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\Boats

SimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\Animals

SimObjectPaths.5=SimObjects\Misc

SimObjectPaths.6=SimObjects\UT2 Aircraft

Maximized=2

Location=440,130,1480,908,\\.\DISPLAY1

HideMenuNormal=1

HideMenuFullscreen=1

ProcSpeed=8550

PerfBucket=7

 

[PANELS]

IMAGE_QUALITY=1

QUICKTIPS=1

PANEL_OPACITY=100

PANEL_MASKING=1

PANEL_STRETCHING=1

UNITS_OF_MEASURE=0

DEFAULT_VIEW=1

 

[Weather]

WindshieldPrecipitationEffects=1

MinGustTime=10

MaxGustTime=500

MinGustRampSpeed=1

MaxGustRampSpeed=200

MinVarTime=80

MaxVarTime=80

MinVarRampSpeed=10

MaxVarRampSpeed=75

TurbulenceScale=0.500000

WeatherServerAddress=fs2k.zone.com

WeatherServerPort=80

WeatherGraphDataInDialog=0

AdjustForMagVarInDialog=1

DynamicWeather=1

DownloadWindsAloft=0

DisableTurbulence=0

CLOUD_DRAW_DISTANCE=5

DETAILED_CLOUDS=1

CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=8

THERMAL_VISUALS=0

 

[DISPLAY.Device.ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series.0]

Mode=1920x1080x32

TriLinear=1

 

[GRAPHICS]

SHADER_CACHE_VERSION=1

HIGHMEMFIX=1

ForceWindowedVsync=1

FORCEFULLSCREENVSYNC=1

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=1693500673

TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=4096

NUM_LIGHTS=8

AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=0

AIRCRAFT_REFLECTIONS=1

COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=1

LANDING_LIGHTS=1

AC_SELF_SHADOW=0

EFFECTS_QUALITY=2

GROUND_SHADOWS=0

TEXTURE_QUALITY=3

IMAGE_QUALITY=0

See_Self=1

Text_Scroll=1

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=1693500673

D3D10=0

 

[sCENERY]

LENSFLARE=0

DAWN_DUSK_SMOOTHING=1

IMAGE_COMPLEXITY=5

MAX_ASYNC_BATCHING_JOBS=3

 

[TrafficManager]

AirlineDensity=0

GADensity=0

FreewayDensity=0

ShipsAndFerriesDensity=0

LeisureBoatsDensity=0

IFROnly=0

AIRPORT_SCENERY_DENSITY=0

 

[TERRAIN]

LOD_RADIUS=4.500000

MESH_COMPLEXITY=100

MESH_RESOLUTION=25

TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=29

AUTOGEN_DENSITY=4

DETAIL_TEXTURE=1

WATER_EFFECTS=4

In AS2012 put your cloud layers back to the default of 5, you have 11 set now which is more than double what you have by default. Also try reducing your cloud draw distance in FSX a notch or 2 if reducing the number of layers didn't help.

 

I see you have an ATI/AMD graphics card as well, they hate clouds, especially when you have so many of them in view like you have with your current configuration. Nvidia cards handle large quantities of clouds many times better.

I have seen other people say the number of cloud layers does not affect frames? I will try going back to 5 to see what that does. But will that limit the weather depiction?

I would also test it with your FPS set to 30 rather than unlimited and see if that helps.

 

I test on two systems - a 9650 @ 3.88 and a 980X @ 4.2 - both using Nvidia cards and at MOST I might have a 2 - 4 fps drop in heavy thunderstorms in a dense area like JFK or LAX.

 

Vic

I can assure you it will effect the frame rate, more of just about anything in FSX reduces performance, especially with an ATI card.

@ Vic - I unfortunately have an ATI card. A 5870 1gb x2. I wonder if 32bit at 1024 would be better? Maybe ATI has a hard time with DXT stuff? As well, I have an external limiter and have it set at 30. Are ATI card users simply out of luck?

 

@ Andy - tried lowering layers and reducing draw. did not help much at all. Maybe gained a couple frames.

Try removing all the tweaks in the bufferpools section of your fsx.cfg then.

Hi Eric,

 

I saw in your CFG TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=4096, should be at 1024x1024, on some system\config, at 4096x4096 it use more memory for nothing. ATI/AMD I think hate DXT format, Try 32bit 1024x1024. High amount of Antialasing setting is know as frame rate killer with Clouds.

 

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=80, default is is 30, try to get it to 30.

 

 

Also it depend which aircraft you are using and at which area, dense airports, with traffic, autogen etc.

 

 

Ps: I have Nvidia cards, I don't see this problem.

Chris, thanks for the suggestions. I cannot implement them until Monday morning as I work the next few days but will try them out and report back.

To clarify something, Texture format and resolution are universal which means, example take 512x512 dxt1 ground and change it from another 512x512 dxt1 ground texture, no matter what appears, it will be the same, performance are related to the size amount of the files only or format on some graphics cards do run better then others, this is the same for all game type, PS,PC or any platform game, the difference are only when the size of the files increase or decrease by the resolution or format you will see difference, as a fact, we got same post as you but this time he was not using our texture this time, so changing texture to others will not change.

Chris, 32 bit at 1024 for all textures seems to work a little better. Also reduced cloud layers in the UI to 8.

Hi Eric,

 

Thanks for the reports, you might try windowed or full screen as well, some have better performance either with one..Also a HD defrag can help a bit.