IMO the base XP10 looks about the same as the base P3d2. Both look better than FSX, even in FSX DX10 mode. As to reliability I never saw any difference between XP10 and P3d2, but both were far more stable than FSX.

 

But where the comparison breaks down is when you load up P3d2 (or even FSX for that matter) with add-ons. Then by comparison, XP10 looks downright cartoony. FSX becomes a babbling idiot and P3d2 's warts start to show.

 

 

Rob take a look at this screen print and tell me if you think somehow SLI will improve this picture.

 

First thing I noticed is that you have Volumetric Fog turned off ... hence those odd looking white squares ... if you turn Volumetric Fog back ON, those white squares will go away (but at a VAS/fps cost).  But I think you said you run 1920 x 1080 resolution?  That puts a lot less stress on the GPU - I'm running 2560 x 1600 and plan to move to 3840 x 2160 this year (4K monitor) which will also provide the need for more than one GPU.

 

SLi (if utilized in the next patch) will allow me to turn off FXAA and use NI to manage the AA with SGSS 8X ... this will make the AA quality considerably better but needs more than 1 Titan to operate at that high an AA and stay above 20 fps consistently.  But it will all depend on how LM decide to utilize SLi ... wait and see.

Some new posts by Beau:

 

On another note, while memory usage is higher with the new pop-free system, the massive memory spikes are being caused by frequent small allocations causing fragmentation. This causes VAS usage to rise well beyond the amount that is actually used each frame. We are working on optimizing the memory usage of the autogen system so VAS usage should be markedly better with the next update.

Beau Hollis
Rendering System Lead - Prepar3D® Team

 

 

We're looking into memory in general yes. I'm not sure off-hand if that specific issue has been resolved or not. Some of the memory growth issues were related to certain UI screens not having their memory freed because of how C# manages memory. We've cleaned most of that up. I don't think we clear the texture cache on airport change, but it is capped to a fixed size.

Beau Hollis
Rendering System Lead - Prepar3D® Team

Sounds good! At least they know what's causing the spikes! Good news!

I believe this was recently added to Wes's list of bugs being worked on: 

 

• Rendering Performance - Further optimize autogen system

Bazinga!  Yes, great news indeed.

 

I did a flight from KPHX to KDFW last night (both 3rd party scenery) -- I was actually doing pretty good (2.3 hrs into flight and just as I was on approach to KDFW, the airport loads an the FSUIPC chimes start ... ding ding ding (I went from 3.4GB VAS to 3.9GB VAS) ... airport consumed 500MB ... but I figure if KPHX had been unloaded (texture cache cleared) I would have stayed clear of the VAS limit.  (Building = Dense, Veg = Normal).

 

To be honest Veg = Normal is a little too sparse for my visual liking.  BUT, if LM have a VAS solution (and it sounds like they do), I'd estimate I can bring both Building and Veg back up to Very Dense - 1 notch below extreme and that I can visually enjoy.

 

Want to reiterate here, we're getting continued development and I feel it's progress.  Kudos to the LM team for listening, reacting, and working for solutions ... it's refreshing and certainly more productive than just having developers say "it's all your fault".

 

 

To be honest Veg = Normal is a little too sparse for my visual liking. BUT, if LM have a VAS solution (and it sounds like they do), I'd estimate I can bring both Building and Veg back up to Very Dense - 1 notch below extreme and that I can visually enjoy.

Want to reiterate here, we're getting continued development and I feel it's progress. Kudos to the LM team for listening, reacting, and working for solutions ... it's refreshing and certainly more productive than just having developers say "it's all your fault".

 

Very dense is as low as I want to go: I rather reload an autosaved flight that having to watch Normal or Dense autogen. ^_^ And yes, it's GREAT to see how much LM is doing and (even more important) actually achieving! I just discovered they solved the white Orbx lights problem too! Those guys are magicians! ^_^

 

 

First thing I noticed is that you have Volumetric Fog turned off ... hence those odd looking white squares ... if you turn Volumetric Fog back ON, those white squares will go away (but at a VAS/fps cost).

 

Sure, I was aware of this, just wanted to do a quick screen print.

 

 

That puts a lot less stress on the GPU - I'm running 2560 x 1600 and plan to move to 3840 x 2160 this year (4K monitor) which will also provide the need for more than one GPU.
 
SLi (if utilized in the next patch) will allow me to turn off FXAA and use NI to manage the AA with SGSS 8X ... this will make the AA quality considerably better

 

I can't tolerate FXAA personally, and truly, when you enable MSAA (and SSAA in p3d.cfg) the only place that is really troublesome is approaching the runway start & also the runway edges are poorly AA'd, but otherwise I much prefer the razor sharp IQ that losing FXAA offers.   Oddly, everything else looks quite well AA'd, including plane exterior view and everything else.  Why runway edges are as jagged as they are I'm not sure why that isn't persistent w/ other line edges elsewhere in the sim.

 

Bigger screens I'm also less interested in--you end up moving the display away from point-blank range anyway so for the cost, size, power use, it's hardly worth it for me.  Multi-screens maybe, but not one larger screen.  I'm still intrigued a little by GSYNC.  The only thing that would move me towards a 2nd Titan would be seeing that frame rate improve--the one in the screen print--and as I hinted I don't see a 2nd Titan will have any impact on that.  Further, if and when LM/nV improve DX11 AA I can't see how I will need a more potent GPU to accomplish that.  I ran FSX using maximum AA options in Inspector and had absolutely no trouble rendering those.

This link hits the nail on the head concerning the OOM problem:

 

...#####.wordpress.com/fsx-oom-and-addon-vas-usage...

 

I downloaded the link for a process manager from the link above and have had no more problems with OOM errors once I tweeked my Prepar3D graphics settings and kept the VAS below 3.9 GB.  The 4 GB VAS limitation includes Prepar3D and all sub-processes listed in the process manager under Prepar3d.  However, if I allow the VAS to get up to 3.9GB, I start losing screens and at around 4GB, I get the OOM error message and the program shuts down.  This only happens between initial descent and final approach and doesn't occure during the rest of the flight.

 

I'm using Prepar3D, FTX Global scenery, REX, Active Sky NEXT, and GSX, with the AS Airbus Extended X.  The only to subprocesses running under Prepar3D are the sound files for Airbus Extended X and GSX.  When my VAS usage approaches 3.9GB, I can shut the GSX process down immediately, giving me an extra 300-400MB, and the program doesn't give me an OOM error.

 

Unfortunately, I can't use the higher scenery settings in Prepar3D without getting an OOM error.  The scenery is still very reasonable and the frame rates are great:

Graphics: 1024x1024; Anisotropic 4x

Scenery: Terrain: Detail radius-High; Mesh Complexity: Medium; Mesh Resolution 38m; Texture Resolution 1m....Scenery Objects: Scenery Complexity-Extremely Dense; Autogen Vegetation Density-Normal; Autogen Buliding Density-Normal; Water and Bathymetry-Medium; Special Effects: Medium.  Lighting Shadows-low;

Traffic: Airline-27; General Aviation-0; Airport Vehicle Density-none; Road Vehicles-23; and Ships-54.

 

Other settings might work OK too, but so far, I don't get any OOM errors with these settings even when using all of the programs I listed above, so I'm content.

 

With these settings, I've successfully completed 11 flights from KPHX-KSFO, and 2 from KJFK-KFLL with NO OOM errors.

 

I've also read on the forum that LM is working on a fix to the OOM problem.  The problem will also be solved once LM converts the simulator from 32bit to 64bit.

Unfortunately, I just attempted a long flight from KBOS to KSFO, and I got an OOM message halfway through the flight.....work in progress.  Hope LM comes up with a solution.

Unfortunately, I just attempted a long flight from KBOS to KSFO, and I got an OOM message halfway through the flight.....work in progress.  Hope LM comes up with a solution.

I believe the only way to escape OOM cause by scenery is to run Autogen at Sparse. I have not had an OOM yet, with the Vegetation and Building Autogen in Sparse.

I have trees at Dense and buildings at Very dense and I simply expect and accept an OOM after half an hour or so: thanks to FSUIPC's autosave option, I then load the last saved flight and fly on. Usually I only lose a minute or so of flying time. This is the only acceptable workaround that works for me. Lowering settings to Sparse is a no go for me. I've been mainly flying in NCA lately and in a lot of parts there aren't that many trees so I don't get OOM's anyway (my flights take about 30 to 45 minutes).

I have trees at Dense and buildings at Very dense and I simply expect and accept an OOM after half an hour or so

 

Hi Jeroen

 

Could you provide me with a specific flight plan and/or Lat/Lon coordinates and Aircraft used and/or weather scheme?  I'd like to test your specific scenario that is OOM causing.

 

Thanks, Rob.

Hello;

 

Pls check below, It helped me a lot with my OOM problem:

 

#####.wordpress.com/2012/09/24/oom-out-of-memory-helperfix/

 

I hope it will help you a a lot...

 

regards

pawel

 

I'd hope most people here are running FSX and P3d on Win7 64 bit or Win 8 64 bit. The "fix" is an out of date suggestion.

 

 

 

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