This makes no sense!

[godimaginedme 25]

Wow.  Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.  Sure, defeating most of the visuals will get anyone's frame rate up, but when I spend megabucks on hardware, I expect to see some visuals when I fly.  I keep all my sliders as high as I can.  The effects and visuals are much of the enjoyment for me, unless I'm flying inside a cloud.

I agree.. This system wasn't cheap!! 

 

Are you concerned about FPS or stutters? Lock your FPS at 20. Leave your sliders alone. Now fly. If it stutters, start adjusting your sliders and retest. get it SMOOTH at 20 and then try adjusting the FPS higher if you need the bragging rights.

 

Bottom line - if it's SMOOTH - the FPS do not matter. If it's NOT smooth, then 55fps is useless.

 

With P3D especially, it's a BALANCING act - your hardware, your settings and your expectations. Some settings affect the GPU and some affect the CPU.

 

Vic

 

I'm not so worried about FPS, but higher FPS = much more smooth. At airports in the middle of alaska, with no add on scenery around, it's smooth. By smooth, I mean, no stutters, TrackIR panning is glassy smooth. There isn't any of that 'ghosting' going on, just like in real life when you turn your head. That usually only happens with I'm getting at the very least 50 FPS. At 22-28, like I get at Seattle or PAKT, it ghosts and jitters with a larger stutter happening every 10 seconds or so. It's just so weird, no matter what settings I use, if I'm at a complex area, in a complex plane, I seem to be pegged at around 27 FPS or so with the stutters. I can lower just about anythin, and for some reason, it hovers around that area...

[vgbaron 3,626]

I'm not so worried about FPS, but higher FPS = much more smooth

Not true. Above a certain point, around 20FPS - it makes NO difference. If it appears SMOOTHER at higher it's because it WASN'T smooth at the lower.

 

I'm saying GET IT SMOOTH at 20 - if it looks better at 30 then it wasn't smooth.

 

Smooth is smooth = NO stutters. The lower you lock your FPS the more room your system has for graphics.

 

Not to start a war but for those who want to jump in and say they can see the difference between 20 and 30 - bullpuckey - it ONLY means you didn't have it set right at 20.

 

If you get it smooth at 20 and it makes you feel better - try going to 30 BUT it may not be smooth.

 

When you get it right, you'll know what I mean.

 

Vic

[tutmeister 710]

Thats not true if you use track ir. With head tracking and fast panning around you need a higher fps than for a fixed forward view with occasional panning.

A smooth 20 is great if I'm flying the ngx or a low and slow Cessna with ezdok camera views but it doesn't matter how smooth your sim is, 20fps is not enough to support fast panning. If I'm flying the spit fast and low and using track ir to look all over the place while throwing it around the sky, 20 won't cut it. That's when I try and run closer to 60 as it makes all the difference.

 

Each user has different flying styles and needs but just because how you fly is acceptable at 20fps doesn't mean it is for all users.

 

You are right in that smoothness can be achieved once you reach approx 20 fps as smoothness is a function of having consistent time periods between frames without any variation.

This can be assisted by limiting your frames but it doesn't mean a low frame rate of 20 can cope with fast movement. It is after all the reason you get poor motion blur in the cinema with fast moving objects or camera pans.

 

Chris

[godimaginedme 25]

Not true. Above a certain point, around 20FPS - it makes NO difference. If it appears SMOOTHER at higher it's because it WASN'T smooth at the lower.

 

I'm saying GET IT SMOOTH at 20 - if it looks better at 30 then it wasn't smooth.

 

Vic, let me see if I'm understanding you correctly... Are you saying, get it as smooth as possible at 20 FPS, THEN go unlimited? Because if it can be smooth at 20, it should be smooth everywhere?

 

I tried that, but 20 isn't going to work. It stutters no matter what my settings are. I set everything to the left, and it was still stuttering. Once I put it on 30, it was much more smooth, with some slight stuttering. Once unlimited again, everything was back to normal. 

 

 

 

Thats not true if you use track ir. With head tracking and fast panning around you need a higher fps than for a fixed forward view with occasional panning.

A smooth 20 is great if I'm flying the ngx or a low and slow Cessna with ezdok camera views but it doesn't matter how smooth your sim is, 20fps is not enough to support fast panning. If I'm flying the spit fast and low and using track ir to look all over the place while throwing it around the sky, 20 won't cut it. That's when I try and run closer to 60 as it makes all the difference.

 

Each user has different flying styles and needs but just because how you fly is acceptable at 20fps doesn't mean it is for all users.

 

I totally agree. 

 

What would one say is the primary limiting factor? I know P3D and FSX are CPU bound, but which settings tasks the CPU the most. My GPU load is only around 30% or so at most times. 

 

Thanks

[Mickeyj 35]

Hi Andrew,

 

first thing you should know that ORBX PAKT is still not compatible with P3D2. So you wont get any support from ORBX in that manner. However what you can do is either kill the custom airport lights and/or the static aircraft. I did that myself and it helped a little. The reason to delete the lights is that there might be some old FS9 code has been used for it. P3D2 does not like FS9.

 

 

I totally agree. 

 

What would one say is the primary limiting factor? I know P3D and FSX are CPU bound, but which settings tasks the CPU the most. My GPU load is only around 30% or so at most times. 

 

Thanks

 

AI traffic is a CPU hitter for example. Your own aircraft and the corresponding gauges are CPU things.  

[WarpD 824]

Ok... if you can't get smooth at 20fps... you have a serious configuration problem with your system.

 

Uninstall all addons... you need a clean, vanilla Prepar3D to work with first. Absolutely nothing installed but Prepar3D.

 

Get that working without performance issues, then you work with one addon at a time. Exactly one.

 

Any other approach is going to be a complete and total waste of your and anyone else's time when trying to help you.

[godimaginedme 25]

I think you might be misunderstanding what smooth means..... I can hold 20FPS no problem, the panning however, is not smooth.

[vgbaron 3,626]

Andrew - I use TrackIR and have no problem panning at 20. on a rare occasion I'd get a stutter when panning but it was usually because my TrackIR sensors had moved ever so little.

 

In the FWIW department - I use ASN all the time, GEXP3D, UTX, Orbx regions ( PNW, CRM, etc). I do NOT use FTX Global, Vector or OpenLC. I do NOT fly the NGX or PMDG a/c but I have lots of payware like the A2A stuff, Carenado and Alabeo that are more demanding graphically than default a/c.

 

Ed's suggestion is the way to go. Get it smooth and start adding back the add-ons.

 

Vic

[godimaginedme 25]

I think I may have stumbled upon a fix. Putting effects on low and LOD radius to high, everything is acceptably smooth... thanks guys

 

[vgbaron 3,626]

If that's the balance that works on your system - great!!

 

Enjoy!

 

Vic