Clouds a bit too heavy on the system...?

[Alan_A 1,650]

Jeroen, are you using volumetric fog or not?  I had terrible frame rate penalties with cloud cover until I turned volumetric fog off.  After that, there was very little performance hit even with heavy overcast set at maximum density and distance.

 

In general, I've found that clouds have the heaviest performance impact among graphic items - that was true for me in FSX and again in P3D V2 - so I suspect you're right that the graphics card is the limiting factor.  But going without volumetric fog helped me improve my odds.  

[MikeT707 1,181]

 

 

Hopefully a new GPU will fix this. And all my other problems too.

When might you be acquiring this new video card.  Would love to see your in depth reports when you get it.  

[Guest]

Interesting you could also test with this setting too Jeroen in the cfg file OPTIMIZE_DENSE_CLOUDS=0 to 1 just curious...

 

Also you cloud save the clouds as DXT5... now it's 32 bit very small file size but still.

 

That setting made no difference. It even seemed to reset itself to 0 after using the various menu's...!

 

 

 

My issue aside, I can tell you that with a powerful card, I don't get as much of a noticeable performance hit from clouds being at maximum density / distance.

 

Good to know!

 

 

 

After that, there was very little performance hit even with heavy overcast set at maximum density and distance.

 

BINGO! We have a winner! Turned Volumetric fog off, set distance and coverage to MAX... fps steady at 34!!! Loaded an heavy Orbx theme, fps while flying (for a very short while) around 32. Turned volumetric fog on: fps 21!

 

Well, that's clear then: bye bye Volumetric fog, at least for now! But er... this is yet another new feature down the drain! Apart from the autogen not popping up (but having to have it at Very dense instead of Extremely dense) things are looking more and more like FSX now. No building and vegetation shadows, which I wanted, no real clouds to fly through, which I wanted... Okay, I have to say that with all those options OFF the performance is better than FSX where I could maintain around 30 fps but frequently dipped into lower 20's and where I often had microstutters. So the question is: is 'steady autogen' and smoother performance and the possibility to make things even better with a new GPU (which wouldn't make much difference with FSX) worth the 200 bucks I spend on P3D 2.0? Well, I guess so. And let's not forget actual support and a future that might things even better. Yes, it think it's worth the 200 bucks to me. I always disliked FSX for a few things and those things are solved now. As I said before P3D was released: everything else would be a bonus. Well, I guess I will have to wait a bit more for that bonus but what I wanted at least, I've got now.

 

 

When might you be acquiring this new video card.  Would love to see your in depth reports when you get it.  

 

I bet you do. Letting me do all the hard work. B) I am still undecided if I should get the GTX780 or GTX780Ti. Think it will be the GTX780 (the price difference between the two cards is almost exactly what P3D itself cost so that's a bit too much. I probably will buy it somewhere this month. But when I do, I will sure let you all know! ^_^

 

EDIT

One little problem: Volumetrig fog prevented the Orbx lights from showing up as little white dots in the distance. So now I have THAT problem again! I will see what happens when I turn those lights off completely... Sigh...

[Novation 534]

That's extremely interesting that you noticed a rotating cloud... That said, all my clouds were behaving like that.  Extremely disconcerting when panning around.

 

 

This is a huge bugbear with P3Dv2 for me, yet I keep reading about the fantastic 'new' clouds, that are sadly nothing of the sort, and I can't believe more people don't notice it. The clouds are not only more taxing, but the visible spinning is far-far worse than it ever was under FSX, which is a great shame. It is also not possible to set Custom-Advance weather, to create you own weather, as you lose all your clouds 99% of the time.

 

Clouds seem very broken with v2, although the fog is certainly better.

[Alan_A 1,650]

 

 

BINGO! We have a winner!

 

But er... this is yet another new feature down the drain!

 

Glad the "fix" worked for you.  

 

In general, I agree with you - the new graphic feature set carries a real performance penalty.  I'm able to maintain some shadows on a GTX 680 - buildings, sim objects and own vehicle, set to cast and receive.  There's a small but acceptable penalty.  Can't work with terrain or vegetation shadows though.

 

But speaking personally, even without all the new graphics, I'm happy to have something that looks like FSX but runs much better.  That's partly because of my preferences - I do most of my flying in the US northeast and mid-Atlantic, and it's a thrill for me just to be able to fly into New York City, which I was never able to do in FSX, even on my current rig - any kind of weather took me down to single-digit frames, even with a framerate-friendly aircraft like the Q400.  A similar situation in P3D V2 gets me a more-than-flyable mid-20's framerate.

 

I think that before we can work with the new graphics features, we'll need to upgrade video hardware, and developers will have to do some optimization.  I'm looking forward to that - I'd like to be able to get more atmosphere out of the sim.  But for the moment, I'm also OK with what I've got.

[Jimmy RFR 406]

 

 

I am still undecided if I should get the GTX780 or GTX780Ti.

 

This is always purely a personal call.  I doubt that there's real, noticeable, measurable improved performance in P3D of a GTX780 vs a GTX780Ti that would justify the increased cost of the Ti.

 

I personally went the Ti route; but then, it's been 3 years since I had upgraded my video card.  I tend to extract a fairly significant lifespan from video cards, which then makes a great argument (to myself) for upgrading to a current top-of-the-line card.  I should be good for another 3 years. ^_^

[Guest]

I think that before we can work with the new graphics features, we'll need to upgrade video hardware, and developers will have to do some optimization. I'm looking forward to that - I'd like to be able to get more atmosphere out of the sim. But for the moment, I'm also OK with what I've got.

 

That's my view on it too now (well, for today, because I am known for switching my view on flightsims on a daily basis... :rolleyes: ). The fact alone that we've got something, whatever it is, to look forward too, is (almost) worth the 200 dollars alone! ^_^

 

 

 

I personally went the Ti route; but then, it's been 3 years since I had upgraded my video card. I tend to extract a fairly significant lifespan from video cards, which then makes a great argument (to myself) for upgrading to a current top-of-the-line card. I should be good for another 3 years. ^_^

 

Mine is tree years old too... so now you only making it harder for me to decide LOL!!!

[DarkstarF16 72]

Flew ENBM again today but this time I downloaded the latest Opus beta. Thought I'd do another flight with today's date just to check what happens. The snow was very heavy and visibility was terrible. With heavy cloud cover. My FPS had dropped slightly, maybe 2-5 but the flight was smooth without issues. I abandoned after about 15min as I hadn't got a clue where I was. You couldn't see the lakes at all.

 

Checked summer, and after doing large circuits for about an hour I landed without issues.

[Alan_A 1,650]

 

 

I personally went the Ti route; but then, it's been 3 years since I had upgraded my video card.  I tend to extract a fairly significant lifespan from video cards, which then makes a great argument (to myself) for upgrading to a current top-of-the-line card.  I should be good for another 3 years.

 

I tend to upgrade cards more frequently, since each upgrade seems to buy me a big performance improvement.  In FSX, going from 480 to 580 to 680 got rid of all my "sound freezes" (the lockup where the screen would freeze and the sound would continue).  So I'm planning to move to a 780ti - but since I've got the graphics card in my water cooling loop, I'm waiting either for the EVGA Hydro Copper release or for a third-party water block that I know will fit the card.  One of the downsides of water cooling - yet another compromise, but one I can live with.

 

 

...this time I downloaded the latest Opus beta

 

I haven't tried the latest Opus betas but in general I've found that Opus is harder on frames than default weather themes or user-created weather, especially with volumetric fog selected.  Try Opus overcast with volumetric fog off and see if that improves things.  In my experience, the cloudcover still looks very good and the performance, as noted above, is much improved.  

[DarkstarF16 72]

I haven't tried the latest Opus betas but in general I've found that Opus is harder on frames than default weather themes or user-created weather, especially with volumetric fog selected. Try Opus overcast with volumetric fog off and see if that improves things. In my experience, the cloudcover still looks very good and the performance, as noted above, is much improved.

Ill give it a go, but your right opus does put the brakes on the sim somewhat.

[n4gix 4,947]

This is a huge bugbear with P3Dv2 for me, yet I keep reading about the fantastic 'new' clouds, that are sadly nothing of the sort, and I can't believe more people don't notice it.

Perhaps that's because "more people" don't have this problem. Have you tried deleting your compiled shader files and allowing P3D to compile them anew?

[Jimmy RFR 406]

 

 

This is a huge bugbear with P3Dv2 for me, yet I keep reading about the fantastic 'new' clouds, that are sadly nothing of the sort, and I can't believe more people don't notice it. The clouds are not only more taxing, but the visible spinning is far-far worse than it ever was under FSX, which is a great shame. It is also not possible to set Custom-Advance weather, to create you own weather, as you lose all your clouds 99% of the time.

Clouds seem very broken with v2

 

You're the first person I've seem mentioning what appears to be the same issue as mine.  Would you mind going to the LM forums and chiming in?

[mganz121 159]

Jeroen. I really have enjoyed your posts but feel that you are falling into the "ever there" trap that so many of us fall into. You are pushing all the sliders right and your current hardware cannot keep up. Furthermore you cannot keep up and your disappointment is starting to take over  :p0310:

 

The golden rule (although not understood by many simmers) is to tune the software to the capabilities of your current hardware, not as you are currently doing, the other way round. I am waiting to see how you react when you upgrade your video card, only because I know that obvious smile will return once again. 

 

I am in the same boat as yourself with a GTX 560 Ti, but I have resisted the urge to push those sliders as far right as they keep tempting me. And that's why I am happily enjoying this baby because at it's current settings, it still leaves my FSX for dead. 

 

There is a new card coming, but in the meantime - "I will not give into temptation",   "I will not give into temptation",  "I will not give into temptation",  "I will not give into temptation",    :girl_devil:  :girl_devil:

[Jimmy RFR 406]

 

 

Perhaps that's because "more people" don't have this problem. Have you tried deleting your compiled shader files and allowing P3D to compile them anew?

 

You're very correct - I don't think many people are having this issue.  I myself wasn't, until I had cause to re-install.  I have indeed deleted the shader cache, as well as the .cfg file.  This issue has now occurred on multiple re-installs.  The only difference between my first install and these is the video card installed in my system.  However, my video card upgrade occurred while I had P3Dv2 installed for the first time.  At that time I was able to delete the shaders cache, and everything had worked perfectly after the upgrade, with the issues not present until the re-install.

[Novation 534]

You're very correct - I don't think many people are having this issue.  I myself wasn't, until I had cause to re-install.  I have indeed deleted the shader cache, as well as the .cfg file.  This issue has now occurred on multiple re-installs.  The only difference between my first install and these is the video card installed in my system.  However, my video card upgrade occurred while I had P3Dv2 installed for the first time.  At that time I was able to delete the shaders cache, and everything had worked perfectly after the upgrade, with the issues not present until the re-install.

 

I've tried deleting the shader cache, and indeed the whole package, but the cumulus1 texture remains far flatter looking, and more noticeably spinning than in FSX - which they do in FSX too. The texture is exactly the same as that used in FSX and changing it for another, such as REX also has no effect. I've seen some P3Dv2 vids showing the same thing, so its not just two or three people, maybe they simply have not noticed - it took me a while. If it is a local issue that would be great, as it is the main thing that bugs me with P3D thus far.