fsx-se Loading times, SSD and differences

[Raven9000 272]

 

So I noticed I have quite a long loading time in FSX, where normally it would run up to just 6% and stall there for a LONG time, to later continue loading and starting the flight, etc.

 

Reading around I saw that it's probably addons loading, and in particular I suspected mesh/

 

I have FS Global Ultimate (all 3 sets) installed, and they are quite big.

 

Sure enough, today I disabled them as a test, and it loaded up in just a few seconds....

 

Now I know that to optimize your setup, I really should customize this (with configurator or something) because who needs Asia mesh for flying in North America, or US mesh when flying over Italy, right?

 

But besides that, I'm curious as to the following if anyone knows:

 

 

- Why exactly does it load up all that mesh in the first place? Isn't it supposed to load just scenery for XXX miles around where you are or something...?

 

- I noticed that this behavior of taking forever to load only happens the *first* time I load FSX after a reboot. Neither subsequent flights not if I quit FSX, and then start it again shows this long initial loading time. Why exactly would that be?

 

- I currently have my sim stuff on a 250GB SSD disk, but due to limited space my mesh is on a standard HDD. I have just purchased a new 1TB SSD to move my sims there, and so I can think of putting my mesh and other stuff on the 250GB disk. Would this make any difference for this issue?

 

 

- while we're on the SSD issue, I know the faster loading times are supposed to help with blurries, etc. Now, is there anything that get loaded while FSX runs in parallel that might benefit from being on a separate SSD disk instead of being on the same one where FSX is?

 

Thanks!!

[Denco 48]

- while we're on the SSD issue, I know the faster loading times are supposed to help with blurries, etc. 

 

When I moved my FSX to my SSD I didn't notice any improvements to improve fsx blurries problem but I found my loading times have improve drastically. 

[Raven9000 272]

Hmm... seems to be contrary to what everyone says about loading textures, and the like... I wonder why?

[Denco 48]

Hmm... seems to be contrary to what everyone says about loading textures, and the like... I wonder why?

To be honest I was expecting to see an improvement but found I still have to lock my frames to 30 fps to lessen blurries. Kind of a bummer since my sim runs great with unlocked frames and only dips to 20fps when in big airports in big cities.

 

Because of this I started looking towards Xplane. But I find that one lacking in terms of addons and can't get it to look good as fsx.

[JRBarrett 3,034]

Why exactly does it load up all that mesh in the first place? Isn't it supposed to load just scenery for XXX miles around where you are or something...?

 

- I noticed that this behavior of taking forever to load only happens the *first* time I load FSX after a reboot. Neither subsequent flights not if I quit FSX, and then start it again shows this long initial loading time. Why exactly would that be?

Yes, high resolution mesh will definitely cause a long delay at the 6 percent point - especially FS Global Ultimate. As you have noticed, the delay only happens on the first start-up of the sim. Subsequent restarts go much quicker, unless one reboots the computer, which will cause the long delay again on the next restart of the sim.

 

I don't think the sim is actually loading all of the mesh into memory - that would quickly exhaust all available RAM memory. Rather, it appears that the sim is scanning the actual location of each and every mesh file on the media (either HD or SDD) which is then indexed by the OS. It appears to be mainly a Windows cache or indexing thing, since the scan only has to be done once, unless the system is rebooted. Even if the sim is shut down the operating system "remembers" the file locations.

 

I have noted that the initial pause at 6 percent is MUCH shorter after putting the sim on an SDD.

[Lorby_SI 2,036]

Why exactly does it load up all that mesh in the first place? Isn't it supposed to load just scenery for XXX miles around where you are or something...?

 

The simulator cannot know which of those tens of thousands of bgl files contains information to what geographical position. That is why it takes a quick peek inside and builds a scenery cache. It can't do this at runtime, imagine this disk scan happening continuously while you are flying. And anything could have happened to the files too, so the sim can't just rely on them being there (= build a cache or database only when something new is installed).

[W2DR 1,859]

Hmm... seems to be contrary to what everyone says about loading textures, and the like... I wonder why?

 

I don't think it's contrary at all. I can't remember ever seeing a post that said in-game loading times were visually different. Are the actual texture load times faster with the SSD? Of course. Can you visually tell the difference in-game? Not that I know of. I've run FSX on an SSD, a 10,000 RPM HDD in a USB docking station, a 7200 RPM HDD, and a 5400 RPM HDD. And, I can honestly say that I've been unable to SEE any difference. So, my bottom line is this. Will it load faster initially? Yes. Can you tell the difference in-flight? No.

 

Doug

[Capt Speirs 52]

I don't think it's contrary at all. I can't remember ever seeing a post that said in-game loading times were visually different. Are the actual texture load times faster with the SSD? Of course. Can you visually tell the difference in-game? Not that I know of. I've run FSX on an SSD, a 10,000 RPM HDD in a USB docking station, a 7200 RPM HDD, and a 5400 RPM HDD. And, I can honestly say that I've been unable to SEE any difference. So, my bottom line is this. Will it load faster initially? Yes. Can you tell the difference in-flight? No.

 

Doug

You might want to check what is chocking your SSD, I certainly see a difference. A common problem is lack of optimization, see #6 in this guide.

[magnetite 38]

I wonder if having more cores makes a difference in the loading times? Would be kind of interesting to see this tested with a hex or octa-core machine.

[W2DR 1,859]

You might want to check what is chocking your SSD, I certainly see a difference. A common problem is lack of optimization, see #6 in this guide.

 

Thanks for the link Ric. The SSD is fine. Everything is just as it should be. Maybe it's just these aging eyes that can't see a difference. The initial load times are vastly improved but beyond that I can't notice any change in performance vs. the HDD.

Doug

[fullmetal02 23]

Please post differences. Until then it's a moot point.

 

I have had FSX on multiple setups. There is no difference!

[JRBarrett 3,034]

Please post differences. Until then it's a moot point.

 

I have had FSX on multiple setups. There is no difference!

I don't know if there is a noticeable difference while actually flying, but, with my original 7200 RPM Seagate HD, the initial loading of FS Global Ultimate terrain mesh resulted in a consistent 2 1/2 minute pause at the 6 percent point.

 

After moving FSX to a Samsung 500GB SDD, the pause at the 6 percent point on initial load was reduced to 25 seconds. All other system components were the same.

[fullmetal02 23]

Sorry I should have been clearer; yes loading times differ based on a number of factors, and yes you will see faster loading times with a SDD.

 

In sim I've never been able to discern a difference.

[Lorby_SI 2,036]

I can see a difference when using TrackIR on a triple-screen setup. In my HDD days, when I turned my head fast enough, then some terrain features, clouds, AI planes and other objects were black for a short while and then reloaded their textures from disk. This has improved massively since I moved to an all-SSD setup and additionally run all the UT2 models off a RAMdrive (...and it has become worse again with P3D V3.x, which seems to unload textures more aggressively than the other sims did).

[Capt Speirs 52]

Thanks for the link Ric. The SSD is fine. Everything is just as it should be. Maybe it's just these aging eyes that can't see a difference. The initial load times are vastly improved but beyond that I can't notice any change in performance vs. the HDD.

Doug

Glad to help, just remember, if you re having fun, it doesn't matter. FPS chasers will for ever chase their tails and perfectionists, well, they are perfectionists.