Ultimate Traffic 2 a real frame killer

[captain420 3,099]

After numerous tweaks and fiddling around with settings I have come to the conclusion that UT2 is the ultimate cause of extremely low FPS performance at airports. I performed some tests and my findings were that with UT2 disabled I am able to get anywhere from 25-30fps consistently. But with it activatedm it shoots back down to 18-20fps, sometimes even 10-15fps.

 

I can run FSX pretty close to max'ed out without UT2. So the question is whether I want AI traffic or not.

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

It's no secret that AI, whether its UT2, WOAI, MTX, or any other AI will have the ability to lower FPS. For me the difference in FPS is rarely much lower than without AI except at large hubs like Heathrow, JFK, etc. and even then with a lot of AI, the most I usually lose is around 5 FPS of the top.

 

The other thing with AI is that in some areas like New York city the AI fps hit will be even worse since you have AI going into and out of JFK and Laguardia, plus Newark isn't that far away, When you add up the AI parked at, going into and out of all three hubs, the FPS hit can become significant.

 

WIth UT2 you can use some of the features it has to lessen the FPS hit. First turn off the animated jetway feature in UT2 on the front page of the UI. When that is active every AI that is parked will have the jetways activated to attach and detach from the AI. This can cause a major FPS hit, especially at large hubs with a lot of AI.

 

Then look in the config area of the UI and you can limit the amount of AI that will spawn, the distance from you that they will spawn and the altitude at which you wont see them on the ground. By lowering these numbers you can pick up some FPS, especially if you lower the spawn limit to something like 150 or 200 aircraft.

 

You can always of course turn the AI sliders down or if you fly airliners mostly out of major hubs, turn off GA traffic. You can also use the in-game UT2 functions to increase or decrease the traffic density to meet you FPS needs without having to exit FSX. Those functions can be accessed from the top down menu by pressing the Alt key when in FSX.

 

Lastly, for performance you should take the time to mip-map the AI textures if you haven't already. By default all the UT2 AI textures come without mip-maps, as do the textures for most AI addons like WOAI packages. Mipping the textures will help with performance a little as well as take some load off the GPU and reduce the shimmering textures of AI. You can find the mip mapping instructions pinned in the UT2 forum in the registered support area. Also turn of the Daedalus default stuff for airlines with no paints.

 

Personally I have never had any major FPS hit using UT2 or any AI package on my old Core2Duo system or my newer i7 system. For example at FSDT's KJFK, LAX or DFW, running UT2 at 100% airlines and 0% GA and with car traffic turned off, I can usually maintain FPS in the NGX of 25 FPS or higher. 

As they say, there is no free lunch, especially when it comes to FSX. The more objects and animations you introduce into the sim the lower the FPS will get. My guess is that you might have the jetways active for AI and have the spawn amounts and distances set to high. Reducing those and turning off the jetways will help performance a lot. BTW, the jetway feature only effects the AI, not the a/c you are flying, you can still use the jetways.

[Groovin_DC-10 50]

Great explanation, Cmp :good: .

 

Aaron,

It also depends where you're testing I guess.  If you're testing at a major payware airport, the included ground vehicles and road traffic can hit pretty hard too on a very complex aircraft.

You can also use the shortcut keys to decrease/increase traffic on the spot.  This can also be accessed from the top menu.  So if you're flying into JFK, you can lower the ai well before you descend.

[captain420 3,099]

Ahh excellent tips. I appreciate this.