Hi all,

 

I've been doing some instrument flying exercises and I'm trying to get a dense overcast without hammering performance.  So far, I've been going back and forth between Active Sky settings and P3D settings, trying this and that.  I wonder if anyone else has gone through this exercise and can give some tips.

 

Thanks!

Okay, found one thing...turned off cloud shadows...Duh!  Also, I can't seem to get a solid overcast in P3D with ActiveSky.  Hmmm.

I think for dense overcast, you could try bumping up the cloud layers in ASN, but that may impact performance.  In fact, I was just tooling around in the ASN settings last night and there is a lot you can control.

 

Just a thought...

 

-Jim

 

 

I think for dense overcast, you could try bumping up the cloud layers in ASN, but that may impact performance. In fact, I was just tooling around in the ASN settings last night and there is a lot you can control.

 

Yeah, I've tried a lot of them.  I'm glad the real world doesn't require all that stuff!

in P3d turn cloud coverage to max and within ASN there is on option to make overcast better.

 

I get total blanked overcast like that and make sure your not running NVi with AA. I run shadows with no problem.

Yeah turn cloud coverage or density to max p3d

if you have REX weather architect use that..it will save you on the performance since it updates the sim once.i ,for once, had an overcast with pmdg 777 and did not see much performance impact..

Okay, found one thing...turned off cloud shadows...Duh!  Also, I can't seem to get a solid overcast in P3D with ActiveSky.  Hmmm.

 

 

I'm using ASN and depending on the METAR of course, I can get a solid overcast. I think what really drags your performance down is the amount of cloud layers, not density. Taken, who doesn't want a thick cloud layer to plunge through but face it, it will bring your system down on its knees. 

 

Oh and you are correct - cloud shadows KILLS performance. Also, you could try settings your AA down a few notch, especially if you're using sparse grid anti aliasing through Nvidia Inspector. Even my GTX 970 struggles with 2x SGAA in dense cloud conditions.

 

 

Yeah turn cloud coverage or density to max p3d
if you have REX weather architect use that..it will save you on the performance since it updates the sim once.

 

I don't have Wx Architect but I do have Rex Essentials Plus which I could use to set the static conditions once and then turn off since it doesn't clear out the weather when it exits like ASN does.  I did set the weather manually and globally so there's really no reason for ASN to set the weather again unless it's doing that for some unknown reason.  In the past I had some problems getting a solid overcast from Rex...you'd be in the soup and, suddenly, you'd be in the clear...the clouds had completely vanished.  That was in FSX a few years ago.

 

 

 

I'm using ASN and depending on the METAR of course, I can get a solid overcast. I think what really drags your performance down is the amount of cloud layers, not density. Taken, who doesn't want a thick cloud layer to plunge through but face it, it will bring your system down on its knees.

Oh and you are correct - cloud shadows KILLS performance. Also, you could try settings your AA down a few notch, especially if you're using sparse grid anti aliasing through Nvidia Inspector. Even my GTX 970 struggles with 2x SGAA in dense cloud conditions.

 

I only set one layer, though, it's thick and I wonder how many 'clouds' it takes to get that much coverage.  One thing I'm seeing with ASN is that the altitudes for the deck is all wrong.  If I set overcast 1000-10,000, I can look down even at 4-5,000 feet and still see the ground as if it's a thin fog. Also, the tops are wrong, sometimes ending at a random solid altitude way below 10,000.  I posted a thread on this over at Active Sky's website.  As an aside, I think ASN works well in FSX with setting these weather conditions and I get a decent solid deck there, though I haven't tested it completely.

 

One thing I did notice is that, if I change the cloud type to 'Simple' in P3D, performance goes way up.  I'm doing some instrument training right now so it doesn't matter much, but it would be more than nice to get realistic overcast with realistic looking clouds when I'm just doing regular flying. 

Only using one layer does not give ASN much to work with.

 

To recap

anti aliasing through Nvidia Inspector is a no no.

P3D cloud density to max.

 

​ASN uses historically weather so once you find a data with the right weather you can reuse that weather/date all you like. 

 

Personally don't find shadows kill FPS AA does big time.  

Using ASN I can shoot Cat III all day with no performance hit and complete coverage. I have AA set in NVI and it doesn't seem to be an issue on my system. I use 3 layers in ASN. I have cloud shadows on. I have volumetric fog on. I have max cloud density, 90 mile cloud draw. It really depends on your system.

 

I don't manually set the layers and vis. I usually just set historical weather date to a time when I know there was bad weather and locate an airport, get the chart and have at it.

 

Vic

When I set stuff manually, even just using P3D weather, I'm not getting solid.  Sometimes it's large gaps in coverage, miles wide.  Don't get me wrong, it's gorgeous...but it's not solid.

 

In terms of performance, with ASN off and only using P3D, Cloud Coverage max, volumetric fog on, base 1000, tops at 11000, shadows off, settings lower than mid-way, in the Carenado Bananza, I'm getting low 20s.  (i7-4.2 Ghz, GTX 970)  Also, the tops are way off...way too low.  The bases are better at least.

 

EDIT:  BTW, turning off volumetric fog, which doesn't seem to have much use in this scenario, gives me 25-30ish fps.  That works.

You'll probably see a small gain in performance if you wish you clock your i7 to 4.5 ghz. Should't be any problem. If it's the 4770K, I remember going from max turbo mode (4,2 ghz) to 4,5 ghz gave me some more FPS to play with.