The Importance of VSync

[Groovin_DC-10 50]

Hey folks,

Been an FS9'er much longer than FSX even though I got FSX with a bunch of add ons before FS9.  I decided to try FS9 last year and got hooked on the smoothness.  Since then, I tried FSX a few more times, including DX10 with fixes.  In DX10 it was working pretty good, but I couldn't stay on it because I have a lot of Aerosoft add ons and I get blank textures on some of the custom airport and road vehicles.

 

The thing that really bugged me about FSX until I got it figured out is the stutters/micro stutters and overall low FPS.

 

So about 3 days ago my FS9 installation got messed up when I unchecked UT USA from the scenery library.  Not wanting to re-install everything, I decided it was time to fire up FSX again and keep trying to smooth it out.

 

Over the past two years, I have tried so many things like using compressed textures from REX, adjusting values in the cfg, ******* tweak and Word Not Allowed's tweaks.

Some helped slightly, but overall, not much difference in stutters.  Yes, even with sliders set on the lower range I was getting stutters which was very noticeable from the VC when making turns.

 

Finally, the other day I got pretty fed up but I still wasn't ready to give up.  I've seen people with lesser machines than mine that have better performance.  My PC is no prom queen but it's no runt either.  I'm running AMD 955BE @ 4ghz, 8G DDR3, and GTX560.  So I decided to delete my current cfg and let FSX build a new one.  From there I began playing around with settings within FSX and Inspector.

 

When all options was starting to run out, I noticed one combination of settings I haven't tried.  That is unlimited fps in FSX, locked @ 30fps in Inspector, and VSync at 1/2 refresh rate.

 

I entered those settings, fired up FSX and WOW!  It was SMOOTH, SMOOTH, SMOOOOOTH!  The improvement was so massive that it felt like I upgraded my PC.  No joke!

 

Now my FSX performance is close enough to FS9 (but lower ai traffic settings) that I can safely say I'm migrating back to FSX.

 

My scenery settings are currently maxed out except for water (2x low), Scenery Complexity (Dense), Autogen (Normal-Dense don't really see perf difference).  All ai is turned off and Ultimate Traffic 2 set to 50%. 

When I'm flying VFR on add on scenery like Aerosoft Ibiza, Mallorca, Madeira, Tahiti X, Fly Tampa st Maarten complete, etc, I set scenery complexity and Autogen to max with ai boats and cars enabled, and it runs so smooth.

I'm so pumped to get this kind of performance in FSX that I purchased the Carenado T210M HD series last night and installed the realistic REX theme with no compression.  I did a test flight and the smoothness was awesome with insane graphics.  After this post, I have some chores to do around the house.  After that, I will be flying all night.

 

I guess most of you are wondering why I'm so excited.  After getting used to FS9 graphics, going back to FSX and getting the performance I expect and seeing the graphics quality on high end payware planes and crisp ground textures is really something else for an FS9er lol.  And best of all, my FSX is problem free.  No OOM or CTD.  Runs perfect every time.

 

My CFG is default.  The only things I've added are HIGHMEMFIX=1, Disable Preload, and HideInfoText.  I tried running the file through Bojote's system, but his tweaks gave me some stutters, so I went back to default cfg.

 

So if anybody is having issues with stutters, try all possible VSync settings before messing with the cfg.  I noticed on my rig, it seems like VSync is THE biggest performance killer if not set correctly.  Even the most popular and recommended method doesn't work well on my rig (locked 30 in fsx and 1/2 refresh rate in Inspector).

 

If anybody have a similar system to mine, you can try my settings and I'd be interested to see if we come to the same conclusion.  That is frames set to unlimited in FSX, locked at 30 in Inspector and Vsync set to 1/2 refresh rate in Inspector.

 

It's so good to be back to FSX with an unexpected performance increase.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

 

 

That is frames set to unlimited in FSX, locked at 30 in Inspector and Vsync set to 1/2 refresh rate in Inspector.

 

That's also what I use and it works without either stutters or tearing in both FSX and Prepar3d. I noticed that that is also the recommended setting for FTX Global.

[captain420 3,099]

I use the same settings and it works great for me as well.

[Groovin_DC-10 50]

Great to hear.  I didn't know this is what FTX recommends (still on the fence with Global as I already have UTX/GEX).  The one I see most of the time is Word Not Allowed's fps locked in fsx. 

Thanks for sharing guys.

[IFR7700 228]

That was my "breakthrough" as well.  It's important to step-by-step the AVSIM DX10 Guide.

[Groovin_DC-10 50]

That was my "breakthrough" as well.  It's important to step-by-step the AVSIM DX10 Guide.

 

 

Hi Dennis,

I followed the guide but unfortunately on one of my favorite vfr scenery (Aerosoft Madeira), the airport vehicles and road traffic have blank textures.  Everything else was taken care of by the patch and slight mods.  Did I miss something that was suppose to fix the blank textures?  Also, my PMDG MD-11 nav and strobe lights don't work properly even after applying the "fix".  Same with some of the default planes.

It's really too bad because I find the colors in DX10 more vibrant.

[IFR7700 228]

Hi Dennis,

I followed the guide but unfortunately on one of my favorite vfr scenery (Aerosoft Madeira), the airport vehicles and road traffic have blank textures.  Everything else was taken care of by the patch and slight mods.  Did I miss something that was suppose to fix the blank textures?  Also, my PMDG MD-11 nav and strobe lights don't work properly even after applying the "fix".  Same with some of the default planes.

It's really too bad because I find the colors in DX10 more vibrant.

Hello Maurice,

 

Yeah, there are still a few "anomolies", however the hope is that Steve Parson's payware DX10 fixall repair program will fix all that.  Should be available "soon", whatever that means in the flight sim world.

[Teddy 1]

Maurice

 

Please post a screen shot of Inspector and that of fsx settings.  Maybe a copy of the fsx.cfg would also help.

 

Ted

[HighTowers 1,434]

I've had a decent amount of success with adding converter X.

 

Fixes blank AI, and scenery. Most not all. So if you can't wait for Steve's final fixes, try that out.

 

http://www.flightsimtools.com/adconvx/

[neumanix 113]

Listen guys, the important thing with the 1/2 refresh rate tweak is to NOT, I repeat NOT use an external frame rate limiter.

In other words, lock the fps to 30 INSIDE FS9/FSX/P3D and not in Inspector. In Inspector you just set vertical sync to 1/2 refresh rate.

That's the only way to get things really smooth.

If you set a frame limit in Inspector your fps will hover around 30 but there will still be the occational jump and therefore stutter.

You want to restrain the rendering of frames and therefore you must lock your fps inside the simulator.

 

Try it and see the difference.

[Anthony25368 5]

Is the op running in dx10 mode?

[William J.S.S 173]

Didn't the OP state He is getting smooth results though with the other way around? Same here. I think just each system is different. I get WAY smoother frames and WAY less stutter when I let Nvidia control the frames, and set unlimited in FSX.

 

Each is own I guess. Happy for the OP though either way for His gains!

[Rocky_53 1,579]

Listen guys, the important thing with the 1/2 refresh rate tweak is to NOT, I repeat NOT use an external frame rate limiter.

In other words, lock the fps to 30 INSIDE FS9/FSX/P3D and not in Inspector. In Inspector you just set vertical sync to 1/2 refresh rate.

That's the only way to get things really smooth.

If you set a frame limit in Inspector your fps will hover around 30 but there will still be the occational jump and therefore stutter.

You want to restrain the rendering of frames and therefore you must lock your fps inside the simulator.

 

Try it and see the difference.

Absolutely. There is no reason to run unlimted frames on any rig IMO, all it simply does is move the priority for the CPU to run higher rates of frames rather than lock the sim at 30 and put the emphasis on loading terrain textures. However, as we all know, every sim is different and so, who knows....

[lodestar 186]

Listen guys, the important thing with the 1/2 refresh rate tweak is to NOT, I repeat NOT use an external frame rate limiter.

In other words, lock the fps to 30 INSIDE FS9/FSX/P3D and not in Inspector. In Inspector you just set vertical sync to 1/2 refresh rate.

That's the only way to get things really smooth.

If you set a frame limit in Inspector your fps will hover around 30 but there will still be the occational jump and therefore stutter.

You want to restrain the rendering of frames and therefore you must lock your fps inside the simulator.

 

Try it and see the difference.

 

+1

 

That's my experience too. I tested that in FSX and FS9 with saved situations

[Rocky_53 1,579]

Absolutely, 1/2 refresh rate tweak was not designed to work with unlimited frames anyway!