I never used the Affinity Mask tweak in FSX because it didn't seem to make any difference in FSX. After stumbling across a topic about the effects of the tweak in P3D 2.0 I decided to give it a try, specially because I sometimes notice ground textures loading their highest res version when I am getting pretty close. Not as bad as it was in FSX and not distracting, but still. So I decided to take off with the F22, a plane that flies a lot faster than my default A2A C172, and fly straight ahead, just to see if it would make any difference. And boy, does it make a difference.

 

My CPU is an i5 2500K @ 4.5 GHz and I have a GTX580.

 

Now let's see if you can spot the subtle difference... :rolleyes:

 

This is what I looked at after a minute and a half without the tweak (which includes the take off: without the take off it would be less than a minute before I would see this). Total blurries an no autogen in sight.

 

 

And this is what I looked at WITH the tweak:

 

 

Somehow the tweak seems to prioritize the loading of textures and autogen! The great thing also is that it keeps on doing this, so no matter how long I fly, the autogen keeps on coming in time and so do the ground textures. Even when I use a time accel of 2x!!!

I did notice however that the ground textures seem to be given priority up to the one but highest res, by which I mean that when I pause the sim after let's say 4 minutes of flying straight on with the F22, I do see the ground textures getting one notch sharper. If you know what I mean. But the autogen is loaded in time no matter what! While without the tweak I would have complete blurries after 1.30 minutes already, so low res ground textures and NO autogen at all! With the tweak I simply can't reach the end of the 'autogen cone' as I would without the tweak after a minute.

 

I also have to add that with this speed and the tweak I do get some little stuttering every now and then, probably because the engine is struggling to load all the autogen and textures so something else HAS to suffer from it. When I fly on longer I would get 'low spikes' of even 5.0 fps. But since I usually fly low and SLOW this won't be a problem for me because with the C172 the engine will have time enough to load the autogen and textures in time.

 

Anyway, this tweak is a keeper, mainly because of the 'rock solid autogen load guarantee' it delivers! Whatever happens and how hard your PC needs to struggle, the autogen will be there and most of the textures too!

 

I know LM said they have somehow implemented the tweak and that is isn't needed anymore, but BOY, were they wrong about that!

Yes sir, it does make a difference!

This tweak works great with my setup!

What a great find, Jeron. Thanks for sharing! B)

 

How is the A2A C172 working in your system?

 

How did you install it?

Great news.

 

 

What is the tweak (config modification)?

 

Tim

What is the tweak (config modification)?

 

Yes, add this to your Prepar3d.cfg:

 

[JOBSCHEDULER]

AffinityMask=###

 

In my case with my CPU I use AffinityMask=14. The number is different for different kinds of CPU's depending on the amount of cores and if you have hyperthreading enabled or not.

 

 

 

How is the A2A C172 working in your system?

 

How did you install it?

 

It's working great! The only problem so far is that the sim locks up completely when you change the screen mode or window size but that is solved by unticking MipMaps for the VC in P3D 2.0's settings menu. Or you have to load another plane whenever you want to switch screen modes. And on my PC the DME doesn't seem to work but I've read others having similar problems in FSX. I posted about this on the A2A forum but haven't received an answer yet.

 

There are two possible ways of installing it:

1. create a fake FSX.exe in the P3D 2.0 folder (I copied the P3D.exe and renamed it to FSX.exe) and when you run the installer and it says it can't find FSX, simply point it towards the Prepar3D v2 folder.

2. If you have the plane installed in FSX, you can also manually install it into P3D by simply copying the appropriate files! That's how I've done it right now (I made a backup of the plane's files before I removed FSX). If you want to, I can post a list of everything you need to copy.

 

EDIT

Here's how to move the plane manually anyway. You need to copy to the P3D folder (or backup for future use):

 

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/A2A - copy entire folder

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Effects - copy all 25 files that start with fx_a2a_c172_

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Effects/Texture - copy all 3 files that start withfx_a2a_c172_

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Fonts - copy segoepr.ttf and segoeprb.ttf

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Gauges - copy A2A_Accusim.dll

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Gauges/accusim - copy entire folder

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Gauges/accusim_xml - copy entire folder

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/SimObjects/Airplanes/A2A_C172 - copy entire folder

 

There also is a folder in your default Documents folder, called A2A, which holds your saved profiles. If you want to back up the plane to use it in the future by manually installing it, like I did, you should also copy that entire folder. If you use FSX and P3D on the same computer, both sims (afaik) will use this folder to save the lasest state of it.

Thanks.

 

Followup question, are you setting your fps or using unlimited?

 

Tim

 

 

Followup question, are you setting your fps or using unlimited?

 

Currently I have fps limited to 34 in the sim itself. Haven't really experimented with setting it to unlimited yet. 34 works fine for me so far.

 

 

In my case with my CPU I use AffinityMask=14. The number is different for different kinds of CPU's depending on the amount of cores and if you have hyperthreading enabled or not.

What CPU do you have?

Yes, add this to your Prepar3d.cfg:

 

[JOBSCHEDULER]

AffinityMask=###

 

In my case with my CPU I use AffinityMask=14. The number is different for different kinds of CPU's depending on the amount of cores and if you have hyperthreading enabled or not.

 

 

 

 

It's working great! The only problem so far is that the sim locks up completely when you change the screen mode or window size but that is solved by unticking MipMaps for the VC in P3D 2.0's settings menu. Or you have to load another plane whenever you want to switch screen modes. And on my PC the DME doesn't seem to work but I've read others having similar problems in FSX. I posted about this on the A2A forum but haven't received an answer yet.

 

There are two possible ways of installing it:

1. create a fake FSX.exe in the P3D 2.0 folder (I copied the P3D.exe and renamed it to FSX.exe) and when you run the installer and it says it can't find FSX, simply point it towards the Prepar3D v2 folder.

2. If you have the plane installed in FSX, you can also manually install it into P3D by simply copying the appropriate files! That's how I've done it right now (I made a backup of the plane's files before I removed FSX). If you want to, I can post a list of everything you need to copy.

 

EDIT

Here's how to move the plane manually anyway. You need to copy to the P3D folder (or backup for future use):

 

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/A2A - copy entire folder

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Effects - copy all 25 files that start with fx_a2a_c172_

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Effects/Texture - copy all 3 files that start withfx_a2a_c172_

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Fonts - copy segoepr.ttf and segoeprb.ttf

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Gauges - copy A2A_Accusim.dll

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Gauges/accusim - copy entire folder

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/Gauges/accusim_xml - copy entire folder

Microsoft Flight Simulator X/SimObjects/Airplanes/A2A_C172 - copy entire folder

 

There also is a folder in your default Documents folder, called A2A, which holds your saved profiles. If you want to back up the plane to use it in the future by manually installing it, like I did, you should also copy that entire folder. If you use FSX and P3D on the same computer, both sims (afaik) will use this folder to save the lasest state of it.

Thanks for that helpful info on the A2A 172! I'm off to give it a go.

Cheers,

Greg 

 

 

What CPU do you have?

 

 

 

My CPU is an i5 2500K @ 4.5 GHz

 

^_^

 

 

Thanks for that helpful info on the A2A 172! I'm off to give it a go.

 

You're very welcome! If you have it running and you have some time left, could you check if your DME works...? (The DME is only available when you don't have the GNS in the panel.) And by working I don't mean if you can turn it on but if it actually shows the distance to the VOR that's set in NAV1 or on the DME itself. My DME only shows dashes, no matter what I do.

 

 

You're very welcome! If you have it running and you have some time left, could you check if your DME works...? (The DME is only available when you don't have the GNS in the panel.) And by working I don't mean if you can turn it on but if it actually shows the distance to the VOR that's set in NAV1 or on the DME itself. My DME only shows dashes, no matter what I do

 

I would love to check the DME...but am getting a fatal error when selecting the 172! I've done the manual install, then had the migration tool try it. Puzzling...I have not found anyone else having this happen. There were no issues during the installation. I'll keep digging around though.      

I would love to check the DME...but am getting a fatal error when selecting the 172! I've done the manual install, then had the migration tool try it. Puzzling...I have not found anyone else having this happen. There were no issues during the installation. I'll keep digging around though.

 

Hm, that's odd indeed...! I managed to get the plane installed by manually copying it and only copied the files I listed (which is a list I made myself). Also installing it using the fake FSX.exe trick worked. I don't own the migration tool but that one shouldn't even be necessary. And as you say, others are using this plane without any problems so... odd...! I hope you get it sorted! You might want to give that fake FSX.exe a try...? Maybe you should manually remove every trace of the plane before you do so, just to be sure. Although I can't think of a reason that would help, but well... computers...

A note about the A2A 172.. It's sorta broke in P3Dv2..  Lights still have power when the electrical master is off and engine not running.  Sometimes the strobe and beacon won't work until you reload another 172...  So if you have issues and are using the 172...  You might have found your problem.. I deleted it myself.. 

OK, got it. The panel cfg was set up for RXP GNS which caused the first fatal, then I had to use full screen (usually run in windowed). Then the plane loaded and went nose first, bending the prop, lol, needed an overhaul on the first flight! OK, DME works with NAV1, not NAV2. I tried ILS/DME's and VORs, same thing. Sure did fly nicely though...gonna go do some approaches in this weather we are having in Vermont.