What impacts Textures?

[RickSinGA 1]

Because of a bad case of "Memory Loss", literally, I had to reinstall FSX after a stick of memory went bad in the middle of loading an FSX flight.  I am not sure if this is the correct forum, I went to FSX and saw the notice about posting Hardware related topics so I figured it was a 50/50 shot this is the correct forum.

 

My system, FSX, runs smoother and more visually appealing now than it ever has and overall I am very happy with it.  That said, I just can't help thinking it may run a little better if I tickle it here and there.  Well I have been twiddling with it over the past few days and have found a number of things that do make it visually better in different ways.  My FSX settings have been stroked and I have tried all combinations of nVidia Inspector, DX10 Fixer, FTX, UTx 2.0, ASN, Texture Direct4 and on and on.

 

The last thing on my list has to do with texture resolution, I think.  When I take a flight in urban areas (say NYC or Portland) the scenery, roads, streets, houses and vegetation look absolutely stunning; if I go very slow or pause waiting on it to catch up.  All this at relatively low GA elevations, at 5,000+ all is fine.  Okay, I know, turn the FSX settings down; but I want it all!  Don't get me wrong, the visuals are acceptable the way they are but...........!

 

I have checked to see if I am over using the CPU or Video card but see nothing that makes me think I am causing them to overwork (heat).  So, I think, should I be looking at my hardware and or settings?  It must be a bottleneck somewhere, because when it catches up it is amazing to look at.  I will add that FPS are fine, 18-30 locked at 30, and the system runs very smoothly the way it is.  No studders etc.

 

Can someone point me in the right direction to put me out of my misery, or at least understand the problem better?  P3D may be the answer but I want to do this in FSX if at all possible.  To much time, energy and $$ already expended etc.  If I do go P3D, I plan to wait on the 64x version.

 

As I was sitting here writing this I happened to think.  I have been running @ 4.4GHz while reinstalling etc.  So... I upped it to my normal FSX speed of 4.9GHz.  Everything is better, looks better and is almost there?  So I guess I answered my question.  FSX needs more than 4.9GHz for an eye-candy boy like me to be happy?  Or is there something that I can still do, short of being happy with what I have?  I also just noticed that as I leave the congested area everything looks amazing again!  Damn, the VAS is getting high again now!  $!#% -jkl; ;ljfdslkjfev  'lifelk'f'a  ....................................................................................................................

 

Sorry, just rambling now.

 

Thanks

Rick S.

[SAAB340 28]

Textures as in ground textures that sharpens when you pause, are impacted by: if the textures are stored on an SSD. The number of threads your cpu have and are actually assigned in the FSX affinity mask. The FFTF value set. Internal FPS lock set inside FSX and if BP=0 is used.

[RickSinGA 1]

Okay, I have Hyper Threading off in the BIOS; AM=14; FFTF=0.15; FSX Internal Frames locked at 30; NI Vsync Rate=1/2; NI-Frames=29; BP=0; TBM=120 and everything runs off 2 SSD's.

 

I do run in 3x surround at 5290x1050 from my EVGA GTX-780Ti sc. (Looking forward to the release of the GTX-980Ti sc)

 

Since remembering to reset my CPU speed I have enjoyed a lot better performance but still see some blurring at low altitudes.  I may have to reduce the load radius from 7.5 to 6.5 in some FTX urban areas because of VAS OOM issues; although disabling UTx has lessened this problem somewhat.

 

I have noticed that UTx really increases the blurries and have had to disable it altogether.  Must be something between FTX or FS Global vs UTx; likely something in my configurations.  ASN has very little effect except in very heavy weather/clouds.

 

Anything here you would suggest changing?

 

Thanks

Rick S.

[SAAB340 28]

As far as blurry ground textures goes FSX wants to use more threads. So you can try to activate Hyperthreading and try AM= 244 and/or AM=249. Keep an eye on your temps though.

 

I'd take away the 29 FPS lock inside NI because having anything apart from your CPU to limit your frames will take away texture loading. Using external FPS lock is a good way to reduce texture loading.

Using the internal FSX FPS lock will on the other hand help with texture loading.

 

The times when you don't have enough CPU to maintain your locked FPS you can trade texture loading against FPS with the FFTF setting. Up to around FFTF=0.66 you'll get maximum textureloading, but at the expense of a lot lower FPS. By using 0.15 as you do, you get higher FPS at the expense of texture loading when you can't maintain your internal 30FPS lock. Default FFTF=0.33.

[RickSinGA 1]

Thanks, will do some experimenting with your suggestions & post back tomorrow.

 

Rick S.