Hey all,

 

I was just wondering what performance people were seeing, from FSDT Zurich X (the 2011 updated version)  ?

 

I am surprised to be seeing 20 FPS in the Quality Wings Avro RJ in this airport, (with very modest settings; eg Autogen Sparse), on an i7 with a decent 2GB video card and Win 7 64bit........which I'm disappointed with.  

 

A lot of reports on the web state that this is a really frame rate friendly airport, but I think a lof of them are referring to the original (2007) version.   In the update they went HD and appear to have added a ton of detail.

 

...or maybe it's a problem at my end.

 

Here are some comparison averageframe rate results (unlocked), all using the same settings, in the QW Avro RJ100 :-

 

FlyTampa Athens:       42 FPS

Aerosoft LFMN Nice:    38 FPS

Cloud 9 Bergen:           38 FPS

Aerosoft MA Olso:        28 FPS

FSDT Zurich X 2.0       20 FPS

FlyTampa Vienna        31 FPS

 

The funny thing is, I chose the FSDT version of the Aerosoft version because I was sure I'd get better frame rates from the FSDT version, but I suspect the Aerosoft version would give me better than 20 FPS.

 

So just wondering if any other users of this airport could comment on their performance?

 

Cheers.

Hmmmm.... I de-selected the FSDT Zurich scenery in the FSX Scenery Library to do some benchmark tests against the default Zurich airport (which gave me 50 FPS), and when I re-selected the FSDT Zurich airport in the Scenery Library I now get this :-

 

 

 

Yup.... FSDT Zurich's buildings have disappeared, leaving just the jetways.   Couatl or Add-on Manager related I wonder?

 

I'll tell you, seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up with FSDT and Virtuali.   I'm unistalling the whole lot from my rig - I don't care what justification is given, this software is just very buggy;  that is my first hand direct experience of it.

I also have issues with building dissapearing, even after the product is activated. And now you need to do the whole web activation too.. But the airports are just too damn nice!

I am surprised to be seeing 20 FPS in the Quality Wings Avro RJ in this airport, (with very modest settings; eg Autogen Sparse), on an i7 with a decent 2GB video card and Win 7 64bit........which I'm disappointed with.

I don't have an i7, I have what is probably the worse possible CPU to use in FSX, which is the Xeon 2.66 mhz that comes with the 2009 MacPro.

 

I see about 30 fps on average, with Autogen to Normal with the Q400, and about 40 fps in the default 737.

 

 

A lot of reports on the web state that this is a really frame rate friendly airport

It is, but it's not one of our best, compared to our more recent products. It's not the airport I would do as an example of being particularly fps friendly. It has VERY good fps in FS9, though, and there are precise reasons for this.

 

More on this further on.

 

but I think a lof of them are referring to the original (2007) version. In the update they went HD and appear to have added a ton of detail.

Nothing has changed in the texture resolution, there's no "HD" anywhere and there's no change of code at all. It was JUST updated to depict the new terminal B which has been built since then.

 

There's no difference in the use of resources from the 2007 version, the scenery takes about the same memory, there's a new terminal, but is not so much more complex than the one that was replaced, and the texture resolution is the same.

 

The funny thing is, I chose the FSDT version of the Aerosoft version because I was sure I'd get better frame rates from the FSDT version, but I suspect the Aerosoft version would give me better than 20 FPS.

That's only an assumption. However, since they have by default static jetways, it's possible they might have a slightly better frame rate when using static jetways.

 

I de-selected the FSDT Zurich scenery in the FSX Scenery Library to do some benchmark tests against the default Zurich airport (which gave me 50 FPS), and when I re-selected the FSDT Zurich airport in the Scenery Library I now get this

That's normal, the Addon manager checks the Scenery Library only when FSX starts. It's not a "bug", if you just enable/disable a scenery in the Scenery Library without restarting SOME things from the old scenery are not entirely re-initialized and discarded and not all things from the new scenery are entirely loaded. Check on all FSX developers forum, it's very well known that, the only way to be SURE a new scenery is entirely loaded and the old one is entirely discarded, so you don't have any visual problems, is to restart FSX when you makes changes to the Scenery Library.

 

Based in this fact, the Addon Manager doesn't unnecessarily waste time with a new scan each time you touch something in the Scenery Library, on the assumption you would want to restart FSX anyway.

 

I'll tell you, seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up with FSDT and Virtuali. I'm unistalling the whole lot from my rig - I don't care what justification is given, this software is just very buggy; that is my first hand direct experience of it.

That's not your experience. Your experience as reported here, didn't show any bug, that behaviour was entirely intended, you are being mislead thinking this was a bug, only because you didn't knew it was supposed to work like this.

 

But speaking more about performances, it always wrong to compare Apples vs Oranges, which means sceneries from different areas. The only comparison I could accept, would be against Aerosoft Zurich.

 

But if you were trying to prove some kind of point, it's good you mentioned Zurich, because this offers me a way to demonstrate what I keep saying about the Addon Manager + Couatl.

 

Zurich was designed in 2007, and it's still a very FS9-ish scenery. It doesn't use the Addon Manager for much, and it uses Couatl just for the interactivity features, like the moving windowblinds, or the docking system.

 

It's a scenery which COULD be done without the Addon Manager Couatl. And it's a scenery that is what we could offer, should we continue to rely on plain SDK methods, as was suggested in the other thread, I think it was you.

 

Of course, even if it was running without the Addon Manager and Couatl, the performances would be EXACTLY the same. The Addon Manager handles the dynamic traffic so, if you want to have an idea on how much frame rate you would gain without it, just TURN THEM OFF in the Addon Manager (yes, we just update it with a "Ground Traffic" option that can be turned on/off) so, since it can now turned off, the argument is moot.

 

There's still lots of slow FS8/9 code inside Zurich. THAT'S why the update to 2.0 is FREE, is not a remake, it's just an update to the current airport status.

 

We haven't done with Zurich 2.0 what we did with JFK V2, which means replacing all the old FS9 code. THAT's why Zurich is way more fps friendly in FS9, the more FS8/9 code a scenery contains, the more is better performing in FS9, and of course the opposite is true, the more a scenery is FSX native, the more is difficult to port it back to FS9 without slowing it down or compromise a lot in visual quality.

 

Being entirely FSX native, is what makes a scenery entirely and totally Addon Manager/Couat-dependent. And the results speaks for themselves, see these two screenshots, which shows JFK V1 and JFK V2 at the same identical settings. JFK V2, thanks to use of 100% native FSX code, is 30% faster, so you get MORE fps increase by updating JFK, than upgrading the CPU:

 

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=8498.msg69304#msg69304

 

An user comment here:

 

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=8681.0

 

i would like to thank you for a wonderful scenery with some amazing performance running everything on max except water low x2 and traffic at 30% by UT2 and TML at 1024 in DX10.

 

This scenery looks fantastic and i was very impressed with the night lights over the city and in the airport. I was managing 22-27fps in the NGX on approach ILS13L after a turist tour over Manhattan.

 

JFK V2 is one of the "Can't be done without AM/Couatl" sceneries, because it doesn't have a bit of the slow FS8 code Zurich is full of, and it relies on them for a lot of memory-saving methods, from seasonal changes, shaders in place of polygons (the ground has been entirely remade), and the results are obvious. JFK V1 was what you suggest as being a "Lite" scenery with no Couatl-specific issues, JFK V2 is entirely reliant on it. 30% increase. Same place, same settings.

 

So, thank you for having brought up the issue with Zurich fps, which gave me a perfect chance to prove how much work the Addon Manager/Couatl modules do in the performances department.

 

 

I de-selected the FSDT Zurich scenery in the FSX Scenery Library to do some benchmark tests against the default Zurich airport (which gave me 50 FPS), and when I re-selected the FSDT Zurich airport in the Scenery Library I now get this :-

Dave, shame you uninstalled the whole lot.

 

After you reselect the airport in the FSX scenery library all you need to do is reboot FSX and it will show up again.

 

The other day I had the same thing happen. I have been doing the whole "turn off sceneries your not using when flying the 777, etc" to save memory. I had turned off LSZH and all my Euro scenery since I had been flying in the US mostly. Then I decided to do a flight from JFK to LSZH and went into FSX scenery library, turned on LSZH, then loaded a flight from LSZH and nothing was there but jetways.

 

I checked the addon manager and it said it was not installed but active, but it was installed for sure. 

 

Then I remembered that if you activate an FSDT scenery in FSX that you need to reboot FSX for it to take effect. Sure enough after a reboot and reselecting LSZH, I loaded the trike there to check and it was back to normal and no issue since.

 

It would have been easy to for me to get mad and put it off as a problem with Couatl or Addon Manager, but like a lot of times, it was user error as it was in my case. After reselecting the scenery in the scenery library a simple reboot of FSX solved all.