It is possible to use more than 4GB VRAM

 

I believe 4.6 GB VRAM has been the max I've used ... my normal VRAM usage is around 2.6GB to 3.6GB.

 

You graphics settings (triple buffering), AA, NI, etc. etc. will impact usage along with screen resolution.

 

But it's important to note that because I was using 4.1 - 4.6GB VRAM that doesn't mean I NEED that much VRAM to render frames (buffers) ... pending driver strategies and/or software strategies textures stored in VRAM will be access considerably faster (if present) then textures from RAM (and/or your HD/SSD).  So the more textures you cache in VRAM the better the performance.  If the frames (however many are buffered) uses up all the available VRAM then the GPU will use standard system RAM (this is NOT a good situation and will induce stutters and performance issues as system RAM - even DDR4 will be much slower than VRAM).

 

As far as what happens when you don't have enough VRAM, it doesn't really matter what happens as performance would be so degraded as to be completely unusable ... but in most cases you just see a massive performance drop.

 

Also, don't mix application's VAS usage with VRAM usage ... they have a relationship but it's NOT a direct mapping (unless you have an ancient PC circa 1995 ish), there are no 32bit limits in VRAM usage.

 

Quote from Microsoft's article:

 

 

 

 ...permanent virtual address range does not have to be used for each virtualized allocation. With the new approach, only allocations that are created as "lockable" consume space in the virtual address space of the application. Allocations that are not created as "lockable" do not consume space. This approach significantly reduces the virtual address space that is used. Therefore, the application can run on large video memory configurations without reaching the limits.

 

Cheers, Rob.

From what I recall of the release of P3D V2.0 it was on the 24th of November 2013. There was an announcement in advance of that, that it would be released on November 24th. Again if I recall correctly that announcement came about a month before the release date. So assuming they do thing the same this time as they did the last time, expect an announcement of a release date about a month in advance of that date and then for V3 to be released as per the announcement. So based on that we have at least a month to go! I'm willing to bet that it will be announced in the second half of September and released almost to the day two years after V2.0.

 

Maybe someone else can add a little more meet to these bones :-)

Just for the record......what happens if you run out of VRAM (as opposed to VAS) during a flight in P3D?

Nothing unusual like an error or CTD. The GPU uses slower system RAM.

Quote from Microsoft's article:

The quote from Microsoft's article reads in full (my emphasis):

Interim Solution

To address this problem, Microsoft is changing the way in which the video memory manager persists the content of video memory resources to avoid using a permanent virtual address range for each virtualized allocation. With the new approach, only allocations that are created as "lockable" consume space in the virtual address space of the application. Allocations that are not created as "lockable" do not consume space. This approach significantly reduces the use of virtual address space so that the application can run on large video memory configurations without reaching the limits.

 

Although this approach reduces virtual address consumption, it does not eliminate the 2‑GB virtual address space limit, which many applications are approaching quickly on their own. It is only a matter of time until applications reach the limit for other reasons.

 

This interim solution is covered in the Knowledge Base Article 940105, "Virtual Address Space Usage in Windows Game Development."

 

Long-Term Solution

The long-term solution to this virtual address space problem is 64-bit hardware, which has significantly more address space. Windows Vista X64 provides 8 TB (8,096 GB) of user-mode virtual address space to native 64-bit applications. This is large enough to allow growth on both video memory configurations and application memory usage for many years.

Ref: Virtual Address Space Usage in Windows Game Development (WDDM_VA.doc)

 

 

b757, on 12 Aug 2015 - 7:53 PM, said:

I got my PPL for about $4500
 

 

That's cheap...

Got my PPL this summer, in Sweden ended up aroundb 12000 inUSD...

Worth every Swedish Krona..

That's cheap...

Got my PPL this summer, in Sweden ended up aroundb 12000 inUSD...

Worth every Swedish Krona..

 

Holy smokes. I got my for about $6000 USD

R7,000 South African Rand in 1987 (in todays GBP terms, about £350)

Holy smokes. I got my for about $6000 USD

Well Sweden got a rather heavy tax load..

100LL is about  10 USD a USGallon, mainly because of environmental taxes.

With the C172 urging for 9 USG/hour... well..

I do wonder if FSUIPC has V3 string, will the P3Dv3 install a registry key for P3Dv2 linking to P3Dv3 install location, that way all p3dv2 installers will automatically be able to install in P3Dv3

 

P3Dv2.5 did set the stage for new layout for its directories.

Hi,

 

and how will you tell an addon if it is to install into your P3D2.5 or P3D3 installation?

 

Extrapolating from the P3D1.4-P3D2.0 transition P3D3.0 will have a new registry key (and also new config dirs). This is also required to make sure only P3D3 ready addons are installed into P3D3 (aside the Migration tool which sure will help us to cheat again).

 

Kind regards, Michael

Hi,

 

and how will you tell an addon if it is to install into your P3D2.5 or P3D3 installation?

 

Extrapolating from the P3D1.4-P3D2.0 transition P3D3.0 will have a new registry key (and also new config dirs). This is also required to make sure only P3D3 ready addons are installed into P3D3 (aside the Migration tool which sure will help us to cheat again).

 

Kind regards, Michael

The best course of action for me would be to uninstall P3D2.5+ all the way and have clean P3D3.0.  I know it doesn't work many people.

 

Or LM just needs to have P3Dv3 just use P3Dv2 registry keys and with that almost all problems will go away in one stroke.

Holy smokes. I got my for about $6000 USD

 

I got mine for $A1200 in 1976 in a PA28. Was big money then - about 6 months wages. I did a refresher in 2007 after letting it lapse for a few years, this cost about $A5000 in a Jabiru 160. If anything it's gotten cheaper considering the aircraft available and the  standard navigation equipment, no more dead reckoning and finger to map navigation.

I doubt that P3D 3.0 is going to break compatibility with 3rd party add ons, don't you think. Sitting here with a basket of 40 euros at SimMarket and thoughts began to roll 

If the addon uses a very strict version check for compatibility, that can break it. If the addon uses undocumented code hacks that require hijacking specific memory addresses in the core sim... it's guaranteed to be broken.

 

Neither of those are L-M's responsibility.

But those things happen even with a P3d 2.5 hotfix.