I agree with the general remark on "frame rate paranoia". But there is a difference between smooth and non-smooth and in the end, the reason behind this difference is nothing more than frame rates. So, while I totally agree that it does not make a huge difference if your sim is providing 25-30 or 45FPS, as both is smooth enough to enjoy flying, there is a huge difference between 15 and 25FPS, as the former is definitely not smooth while the latter is smooth. So yes, you can argue that you should ignore this frame rate counter, but this is only valid as long as the FPS are generally in a range perceived as "smooth". And, in the end, it is and remains the only measure on which you can base your settings and compare preset A with preset B.

... and it makes a difference if you use TrackIR. Even with G-sync TrackIr becomes fluent when fps > 60 fps.Everything below will produce jaggy lines when panning around fastly.

 

 

. But there is a difference between smooth and non-smooth and in the end, the reason behind this difference is nothing more than frame rates.

 

I don't completely agree with this broad statement. Yes, it can be true under certain circumstances but it can also be false.

 

The key operative here is "smooth".  *IF* your sim is smooth - the FPS will not matter - although if you get too low it will no longer be smooth - but I maintain that *IF* it is SMOOTH - there is no visual difference between 20, 40, etc. 

 

Before someone jumps in with " I can see a difference, etc" - I say that if you CAN see a difference, it's simply because it is not smooth.

 

I am sure that if one were to look at a micrograph that measures nanoseconds they might se all sorts of stuff but with our EYES - I still maintain that for best performance and visuals - tune your system to the LOWEST FPS where you can maintain a smooth, stutter free flight.

 

For some that may be 20fps, 30fps, etc - too many different types of hardware to have a hard line number. The point being, especially for newbies, do not chase the FPS god - tune for the smoothest operation first and the fps will fall where they may.

 

Vic 

I totally agree, Vic, if we talk about smooth and non-smooth and how important this is for the simming experience. However, even with a perfectly smooth animation, you can still easily see the difference between big FPS numbers, for example 20 and 60. And in my case, the cutoff value inside P3D (and also FSX earlier) is around 20-25FPS. But thats absolutely personal. I already read some posts of people being happy with smooth 15FPS, but honestly, even if you show me a normalized video/graphics running at absolutely rock-solid constant 15FPS, I do not perceive this as "smooth", I can easily see the little stutters. A nice online tool to verify this is here:

 

https://frames-per-second.appspot.com/

 

Put the background on 60FPS, the upper ball on 60FPS without motion blur and the lower ball on 15FPS without motion blur and I am a hundred percent sure that you will not perceive the lower ball as "smooth". Impossible. If you have the 60FPS ball as a comparison, not even 25FPS seems to be "smooth", but without comparison, it is the lowest acceptable framerate for me in the sim, as I said.

 

Anyway, I did some additional testings on my build and I think I finally found an optimized setup and I hope that this blurries issue does not come back (have my FPS now on unlimited). Lets cross fingers, but I should now definitely go back to the flying instead of tweaking

 

 

Lets cross fingers, but I should now definitely go back to the flying instead of tweaking

 

Now you're talking!!   :smile:

 

Vic

15fps may be OK for FSX (if push comes to shove) I used that with track ir and the Frame locking, but with P3D 25fps seems to be the lower limit for me with the HDR effects, as the sky appears to be lagging the terrain with less fps.

Just did my first flight from EDDFv2-EKCH(FT) on pretty normal settings but complexity maxed out in the NGX 736.

 

LOD=High (4.5) REX512/1024 ASN 3 layers and started out with VAS remain at 1000000 but as time go buy it did decrease to 650000 and OOM (my first on approach to ILS30)

 

UTX2.1 Roads/4K 

But smooth as hell with @30HZ unlimited FPS

 

Michael Moe

P3DV3.3.5

Those with fps problems can look at newer GPUs as there's more done on the card with P3D than with FSX DX9, although FSX DX10 improves a bit too. Also worth trying connections to the monitor - HDMI vs DVD-I vs Display Port. A good setup might be a 30Hz display refresh and Unlimited on the fps slider. When Display Settings VSync is set on we get access to the Triple Buffer which improves performance of the output rendering but increases load on the sim. P3D is more difficult to set up that FSX, but it can be a very smooth experience when all factors gel.

Yes indeed. Try 30HZ Vsync ON and unlimited fps if its supported. wow

 

Michael Moe

Yes indeed. Try 30HZ Vsync ON and unlimited fps if its supported. wow

 

Michael Moe

Until you pan the view or bank quickly, or even stutttttter the mouse cursor across the screen.  Definitely don't try aerobatics. 

 

30HZ refresh rate drives me bananas ha, but I know some love it.

 

Things are just much more fluid feeling at 45+ fps on a 60+HZ screen.  I'll take the occasional micro stutter/long frame or random blurry and a higher frame rate every time over a locked low frame rate.  The plane just seems to "come alive", not sure how to describe it.

 

For long haul tube flying just staring straight ahead hours on end 30HZ would be fine though.  Doesn't cut it when hopping freight all over Papua New Guinea. 

 

Just truly does show, we each have our own vision of what's best. 

Just truly does show, we each have our own vision of what's best. 

In the context of the discussion, and to be fair, we were talking about what works well most of the time, not what's best.

Rather stupid question: you always talk about 30Hz and such, but my monitor is a Dell S2716DG running at 120Hz in Windows and 144Hz in other games. So, what would be the best Hz-rate for me? Should I also use 30Hz (e.g. 30FPS) or should I use 36Hz (36FPS, this would be a quarter of 144Hz)? Confusion here. Atm. I use unlimited inside P3D and let NVI limit my FPS to 45, as I wanted to try G-Sync. But as G-Sync is not working below 30FPS and my setup still dips below 30FPS in several cases, I turned G-Sync off again. So, I could basically tell NVI to limit my FPS again to 30 or 36, no?

30 Hz refresh is handy. In NI limit with Unlimited 144/5=28.8 so use 29, or 24 or 36, with/without vsync triple buffer, or set the Frame lock at 24 and ignore NI.

30 Hz refresh is handy. In NI limit with Unlimited 144/5=28.8 so use 29, or 24 or 36, with/without vsync triple buffer, or set the Frame lock at 24 and ignore NI.

 

In P3D I set unlimited fps and my monitor's refresh at 30Hz. Do I still need to limit 30fps in NI?

 

Thanks,

Dirk.

I get a feeling I'll get flamed, but here it goes:

As of v3.3 I've been running unlimited in P3D + vsync on and nothing else (my monitor is 60hz). Settings are custom, but nothing extremely high, my GTX980 is not being overloaded (settings matched) and 6700K is overclocked to 4.8.

I often get 60fps (often even on the ground and especially in the air, and that with the NGX), which produces extremely smooth movement. Constant 60fps is not possible (yet), but my FPS are always higher than 30, almost never below.

 

I stopped looking at the shift+z, as when the FPS drop (extreme clouding for instance, and there is no NI AA) I can really feel that (usually somewhere around 25fps, if it's really bad).

 

In any case, I can't identify any blurries, like...ever.