Rob, are you using ASN weather engine?

 

Yes, but in this video I just did my own custom weather.  

 

 

Just a quick question, does the AM setting in your video use all cpu cores and is HT enabled?

 

Yes HT enabled.  My AM info can be found in this recent thread I started: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/440977-affinitymask-2388-and-cpu-core-10-not-always-running/

 

But again my AM is specific to my hardware, OS, BIOS and is a result of a threading issue where a real CPU core was not being used when it was specified to be used.  2388 was a solution for me -- but the gist of my thread is that folks may want to confirm their CPU activity is as expected ... in my case it was not as expected.

 

 

 

Are the lights bound to the building or the vegetation autogen slider?

 

I "think" it's bound to LOD ... building/vegetation sliders just determine quantity not distance -- at least that's how it appears to me. 

 

Cheers, Rob.

I made a quick video of the same area at 15,100 ft ... I don't know if this is what you wanted me to test out?

 

Rob, thanks for the testing. You can see what I actually mean in the video I just made (make sure you watch it in 1080p):

 

I'm flying at 15000 feet in the video and the radius of vector road lights is very limited around the aircraft (LOD is set at Max). This is over default L.A. You can clearly see how the vector road lights pop up just in front of the aircraft. You can see no lights in the distance. When you fly tubeliners at high altitudes this is particularly annoying as it is very unrealistic not to see the city lights in the distance...

 

EDIT: I just check the same situation in FSX. Looks exactly the same. But because of much better AA this is not as apparent. Nevertheless, the popping up of the vector light is exactly the same as in FSX. Definitely something to improve in future versions of P3D...

 

 

You can clearly see how the vector road lights pop up just in front of the aircraft. You can see no lights in the distance.

 

Well, you need to keep in mind you are 3 miles high and the lights are extending 9 miles or so (based on my real world references of LA area) ... so not exactly "in front" of the aircraft.  To go beyond 12000 will require A LOT of VAS and processing power -- most likely can't be done in 32bit address space. 

 

You can change this value in your Prepar3D.cfg

AUTOGEN_TREE_MAX_DRAW_DISTANCE=12000.000000

 

Do NOT go beyond 12000 as it will likely crash P3D.

 

WARNING, large images ( 2560 x 1600)

 

Here are the lights at 12000 (max you can achieve using manual edits of Prepar3D.cfg)

http://robainscough.com/images/930a7027a6afb7c89495bdf03757a0b0.jpg

 

Here are the lights at 9500 (max you can achieve via using P3D settings)

http://robainscough.com/images/d83719229d6272156794c3d1b384f6ee.jpg

 

Cheers, Rob.

I guess, I will try the manual tweak... Thanks for the hint!

 

I think, this is an area with improvement potential. Why not automatically reduce the vegetation and building density at night (you don't see the buildings and trees at night anyways) and extend the LOD for the vector lights? If the sim balances this trade-off automatically, maybe this can be done without a significant increase in VAS usage. Just an idea... Because right now it looks kind of strange that the lights only appear in a very limited circle around the plane and further out everything stays dark. Maybe even the density of the lights could be reduced because I would rather see the same number of lights further out into the distance than all of them concentrated in that circle around the plane...

At 15000 feet those lights should be a soft glow, not distinct light sources.

Yes, but in this video I just did my own custom weather.  

 

 

 

Yes HT enabled.  My AM info can be found in this recent thread I started: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/440977-affinitymask-2388-and-cpu-core-10-not-always-running/

 

But again my AM is specific to my hardware, OS, BIOS and is a result of a threading issue where a real CPU core was not being used when it was specified to be used.  2388 was a solution for me -- but the gist of my thread is that folks may want to confirm their CPU activity is as expected ... in my case it was not as expected.

 

 

 

 

I "think" it's bound to LOD ... building/vegetation sliders just determine quantity not distance -- at least that's how it appears to me. 

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

Thanks Rob for that information. Your system and mine are close as far as hardware. I will do some testing with some of the AM settings.

 

Regards,

 

Lamar.

I think, this is an area with improvement potential. Why not automatically reduce the vegetation and building density at night (you don't see the buildings and trees at night anyways) and extend the LOD for the vector lights?

 

I believe that's because Orbx lights are actually trees, so they are bound to whatever trees do in the P3D engine.

 

I agree, it would be nice to see further with some blending applied, but I'm just letting you know why that's not happening ... VAS limits in a 32bit address space.  It's one of the those blind eye things you'll need to adopt for now.

 

Cheers, Rob.

I believe that's because Orbx lights are actually trees, so they are bound to whatever trees do in the P3D engine.

 

 

Actually I think they are both.

 

The standard lights are tied to trees, but the vector (road) lights I believe are tied to buildings. I know that the building slider must be at normal or above for the road lights to even appear.

 

You can see it in your shots, that while the standard lights are drawn further out in the 12000 shot, the road lighting doesn't seem to have moved a bit.

 

Not that it really matters I guess, just sayin'.

 

 

The standard lights are tied to trees, but the vector (road) lights I believe are tied to buildings.

 

Oh ok, that makes sense - trees and buildings.

 

Cheers, Rob.

Perhaps P3D needs a 3rd autogen type, lights. In fact, I can imagine this would be very useful.

Totally agree.

Really really kills the realism to not have lights way off in the distance (that's all you need way off in the distance at night really).

Hello fliers, I have noticed that as I fly around medium size cities and even the country side I see the autogen pop up just in front of me. I have the sliders setting at about medium and I have HT enabled with AM setting of 84. I have FTX Global and Vector add on. Is this normal for P3D just as it does in FSX? Are there some settings that I can adjust to decrease the popping autogen?  Any help will be appreciated, thanks.

I had that, too.  Try this...and some will debunk it...but it worked to remove the pop in front, and around you.  For your HT, use the following setting...

 

[JOBSCHEDULER]

AffinityMask=242 

[bufferPools]

UsePools=0

 

Put the above at the very top of your .cfg file  You can also try the AF setting of 254 for HT as well. See what works better, to bring smoothness and clarity of base textures.  You can also try to set your LOD to 9.5    It has been stated that P3D will only see up to 6.5 MAX...but good, bad, or indifferent, that setting of LOD at 9.5 cleaned up the auto gen pop right up.  This setting certainly won't hurt, nor crash out P3D...so why not give it a try, snake-oil (some say) or not.  If it works...than Snake Oil 'lubricated' your install...and you will  'slither'  into better performance, LOLOLOL!   Try the settings, and see if this can help you.  Running P3D or FSX in HyperThread Mode some say, is also Snake Oil Territory...but I can run it either way through the BIOS. I have always had much better, and much smoother performance, with HT enabled, across all the sim's.  A User's choice, to be sure.....

Hey Sesquashtoo, thanks so much for that information. I will apply thoes settings and give it a go. Let you know how it is on my system.........

 

Hey Sesquashtoo, thanks so much for that information. I will apply thoes settings and give it a go. Let you know how it is on my system.........[/quot

 

You are welcome. A great sim and nothing posted here will harm your install.