Best practices for reducing VAS usage

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

After the last reinstall of P3D I left FTX Vector away - never had any OOM issues again afterwards. And I can barely see a difference.

Depends on where you fly. Africa and the USA for example, look like two completely different sims in both FSX and P3D. Africa it seems, was definitely not on anyone's priority list when the programs were developed. Even Vector and Global don't get it right in Africa but it is a huge improvement.

[Cargostorm 151]

My formula for never getting an OOM, is to use UTX in all the areas that I fly, and nothing by Orbx except  their trees, and staying away from add on airports.

 

Wow, that is a drastic approach. Flying with default airports would be a no-go for me as it entirely destroys the illusion.

[vgbaron 3,493]

Yes, a lot of it has to do with scenery but the aircraft you fly is equally as important, IMHO.

 

I like to set up a flight at a simple default airport and then load different a/c and use FSUIPC to check remaining VAS right at startup. It's not the most scientific approach but I do reboot between changing a/c and frankly there are some a/c that use considerably more VAS at startup than others. That VAS doesn't get returned so it's a constant build.

 

I suggest, just FYI, that we check out favorites against a default and see how much you lose/gain with each a/c.

 

Vic

[Bobsk8 12,525]

Wow, that is a drastic approach. Flying with default airports would be a no-go for me as it entirely destroys the illusion.

 

In real life I have flown to many, many airports.  What I see in P3D is fine with me, especially since I spend about 1/100 of my flying time at the airport, if that much. Added to that, all my flying is with a VA and I try to fly to different airports on each flight. If I started buying airports, I would have to rob a bank to afford to purchase even a small portion of the airports that I land and takeoff from. Today, is typical, 5 different airports. 

[Cargostorm 151]

I have the opposite problem: too many addon airports, but too little time to visit them regularly. I like taxiing in a nice scenery, and even modelled local airports myself that are not available.

 

As to maintain good VAS, I deactivate every scenery that I do not need for the particular flight using SimStarter NG.

[swiesma 625]

Depends on where you fly. Africa and the USA for example, look like two completely different sims in both FSX and P3D. Africa it seems, was definitely not on anyone's priority list when the programs were developed. Even Vector and Global don't get it right in Africa but it is a huge improvement.

 

When I fly from KSFO or KPHL the scenery looks good. Even without Vector.

But I use FTX Global.

[Flyfox 114]

Switch from full-screen mode to windowed mode and back once in a while and observe the VAS usage going down significantly. This is my method to keep VAS below out-of-memory errors. Or save and reload your flight from time to time.

[captain_adf 16]

Switch from full-screen mode to windowed mode and back once in a while and observe the VAS usage going down significantly

 

Interesting, I will try that. What's the easiest way to monitor VAS during a flight? I forget if FSUIPC can do it or if you need another program installed.

[vgbaron 3,493]

you can set FSUIPC to show remaining VAS.

 

Vic

[captain_adf 16]

I've made some of the recommendations proposed here, notably reducing Vector settings to only major roads. However I still OOM with the NGX from SFO (FB) to LAX (FSDT) with NCA and SCA both active.

 

I tried the same flight in the Mooney which I'm assuming consumes minimal VAS vs the NGX. On the ramp at SFO, I start with around 1400 MB of available VAS according to FSUIPC logging. This drops only slightly during flight to around 1200. However when I get near lax, VAS plummets to 600.

 

Should I try any of the settings in FTX Central for NCA or SCA, will any of them save VAS? Any other thoughts? I'd hate to have to disable the regions altogether because they're so beautiful.

[vgbaron 3,493]

Those two regions are really tough on VAS. I agree that they are so well done it's a shame to disable them. Try disabling some of the bridges, etc. I lost the link but Rob A had posted a while back a batch file that would auto disable a bunch of the VAS killers in NCA Think it was bridges and certain roadways, derricks etc.

 

As Cargostorm mentioned - good idea to deactivate any scenery you are not going to use.

 

Vic

[Dirk98 354]

I lost the link but Rob A had posted a while back a batch file that would auto disable a bunch of the VAS killers in NCA Think it was bridges and certain roadways, derricks etc.

 

Vic

Rob, if you are following, could you post the link to your file here?

 

Thanks,

Dirk

[ErichB 3,638]

My formula for never getting an OOM, is to use UTX in all the areas that I fly, and nothing by Orbx except their trees, and staying away from add on airports.

That's quite extreme. I think I'd rather stop simming if that was the only option I had. I was marginally in agreement until the 'no addon airports' bit. What's the point then? You run a tough regime Bob

 

[Jimm 437]

One option that would be very difficult to try is whether ORBX's Unified OpenLC Lookup migration helps or hurts VAS.  If anyone is up to date with what ORBX is moving towards, the recent migration of their scenery into one big pot, is supposed to help with performance, and to be honest, after I migrated, I don't believe I have seen a difference, but cannot confirm.  I'm not willing to uninstall everything and then reinstall, bypassing the upgrade and subsequent migration, so for now, I am migrated. I will however, cite an example of a flight I performed last Sunday.

 

Keeping in mind, I use a laptop for my sim, I went for broke (thinking I would definitely OOM) and performed a flight from KIAD to KPHX (roughly 4.5 hours).  This would be the longest flight I have ever done in a flight simulator.  I utilized Flightbeam's KIAD and KPHX (superior detail and look, but a big resource hog), combined with FTX Global, Vector and ASN weather.  I was able to complete the entire flight, even raising my arms after landing with a resounding WOOHOO to my wife.  Granted, after landing, I had serious stutters to the gate, but I completed the flight.  I even went as far as to activate GSX with a Follow Me car, and again, everything work but was plagued with stutters.  I was very happy after that flight, knowing I could do longer flights now in P3D, with heavy scenery.

 

Now, taking into account that many people have their recommendations on what to use, how to have it set, etc., on my rig, Vector is on but with a lot of features turned off, such as underlays, tunnels and secondary roads.  I never saw the point of having them on if I'm flying tubeliners.  From what I have gathered, Vector is a beast in itself, and I believe ORBX is working on another update for it, but don't quote me.

 

I have only had one airport give me consistent issues and that's Frankfurt V2, from Aerosoft.  It is well known to have OOM issues for a lot of people, so I've held off flying to it, but otherwise, ORBX's airports never gave me any serious issue, even ESSA works pretty well and it's an impressive airport to fly in and out of.

[Sethos 4,297]

That's quite extreme. I think I'd rather stop simming if that was the only option I had. I was marginally in agreement until the 'no addon airports' bit. What's the point then? You run a tough regime Bob

 

 

Well, I do hear the VAS usage is extremely low if you don't play at all.