I wonder if there is a way to turn off the photo files for CYYZ and CYUL ? With Global, Vector and LC you really don't need them anymore.

Sure, just rename the photo bgls from .bgl to .off.

Exactly, in fact Fly Tampa CYUL has a humongous set of photo files and I notice the bump in VAS during overflight. It rises then falls as i approach and depart that area. There is no need in P3D to constantly switch things on and off in scenery.cfg like I and many did in FSX.

Good to know. Thanks Dan.

How do you know which ones are the photo bgl's vs the others needed for the airport ?

How do you know which ones are the photo bgl's vs the others needed for the airport ?

The bgl will usually have photo in the file name. Another thing to look for is a file that is larger than 1000KB.  One of the Montreal photo bgls is 470,746KB! That is excessive, almost 500MB hit to VAS.

The bgl will usually have photo in the file name. Another thing to look for is a file that is larger than 1000KB.  One of the Montreal photo bgls is 470,746KB! That is excessive, almost 500MB hit to VAS.

 

great thanks.

I use a lot of MS photoscenery.. I am going to test this theory in P3D V3.3.5 this weekend and report back

 

Most of my western US states except for PNW I use photoscenery.

 

1) I am going to start at EHAM and check my VAS with everything on.

 

2) Then I am going to turn them all off (western US states photoscenery)  and check my VAS with a saved flight from (1)

 

 

I just tested this  in P3D V3.35

 

It makes no difference to VAS whether I had all my US Photoscenery turned off or not. I got the same VAS usage in P3D

 

CONFIRMED! 

This is not "wrong".

 

If you have everything enabled in your library and fly from, lets say, Mallorca -> Frankfurt with the 737 NGX and have every airport on the way enabled, you can run into trouble with the VAS. 

 

Yes that is true but airports/scenery enabled in other parts of the globe well away from your flight path will have no impact on VAS.

 

Bruceb

Unfortunately FT's CYYZ is a pig when it comes to VAS.  You can save some by turning off all elements....especially ground people.  Probably requires textures to be downsized further to really work well.  I also turned off the Photo scenery BGL which was taking up 250MB

I just tested this  in P3D V3.35

 

It makes no difference to VAS whether I had all my US Photoscenery turned off or not. I got the same VAS usage in P3D

 

CONFIRMED!

 

Exactly..

So here is a little bit of testing that I did.

 

FTX Global, Vector and LC.

LC (Major, secondary, tertiary roads, small streams, bridges, railways - So High Settings.  I change these later and will note it).

Weather clear

PMDG 777 (Air Canada livery)

Test was to load aircraft on runway 05.  Then look around VC, then look outside in spot view.  

Then taxi over to runway 24R via H-B-C and takeoff and fly to 5000ft, turn to fly over downtown and then back over the airport.

Using WideFS VAS count of amount VAS remaining in MB. (this is remaining not used)

My Traffic 6  set at 5%

Road Traffic OFF

Ships at 10%

 

Test #1 - Default Fly Tampa Toronto Install and settings.

- Loading up in VC     VAS Remaining  285MB

- Look around VC       OOM

 

Test #2 - Light Texture Install, default Fly Tampa config settings

- Loading up in VC     VAS Remaining  345MB

- Look around VC       Look Around VC - 171 MB

- Look Spot View        OOM

 

Test #3 - Light Texture Install, Fly Tampa config - turn off clear glass, interior

- Loading up in VC     VAS Remaining  395MB

- Look around VC       Look Around VC - 247 MB

- Look Spot View        193 MB

- Taxi around airport   OOM

 

Test #4 - Light Texture Install, Fly Tampa config - turn off clear glass, interior.

(I also resized the Texture files that were above 512 to half size).  No noticeable reduction in quality in my mind.

- Loading up in VC     VAS Remaining  399MB

- Look around VC       Look Around VC - 301 MB

- Look Spot View        231 MB

- Taxi around airport   OOM

 

Test #5- Light Texture Install, Fly Tampa config - turn off clear glass, interior.

(I also resized the Texture files that were above 512 to half size).  No noticeable reduction in quality in my mind.

In Orbx LC turn off everything.

- Loading up in VC     VAS Remaining  625MB

- Look around VC       Look Around VC - 425 MB

- Look Spot View        397 MB

- Taxi around airport   163

- Was able to takeoff and fly around but did not test for very long.  Looks terrible with this setting.

 

 

Test #6- Light Texture Install, Fly Tampa config - turn off clear glass, interior.

(I also resized the Texture files that were above 512 to half size).  No noticeable reduction in quality in my mind.

In Orbx LC turn off everything except Highways and Secondary Roads

- Loading up in VC     VAS Remaining  564MB

- Look around VC       Look Around VC - 431 MB

- Look Spot View        408 MB

- Taxi around airport   275

- Was able to takeoff and fly around and after a few minutes OOM.

 

I also tried to turn off the Photo BGL but for some reason I ended up with trees and houses all over the field.  Not sure why because that worked previously.

 

 

Bottom line is that this software is really not suitable to use with PMDG aircraft unless you have the default FSX or P3D scenery.  I think it might be better to turn off the airport and use some freeware scenery that simulates it reasonably well.

 

Does anyone know if there is a way to resize BGL files to half size?  This may fix the issues.

 

 

I also tried to turn off the Photo BGL but for some reason I ended up with trees and houses all over the field. Not sure why because that worked previously.

 

Perhaps you inadvertently turned off a bgl that included exclusion rectangles?

Disable all Vector and NA LC orbx entries in the scenery library. I load into FT CYYZ with over 1GB free that way. It's ORBX causing the OOM from my trials.

Disable all Vector and NA LC orbx entries in the scenery library. I load into FT CYYZ with over 1GB free that way. It's ORBX causing the OOM from my trials.

 

Well that certainly does work.   I got up to 950MB and dropped as low as 750MB.  Only problem is now you lose out on all the ORBX goodness.  Probably not as big a deal on the LC but losing vector you miss all of the lakes and coastlines which you definitely do see on a flight to Europe where you go over some incredible terrain in eastern Canada.  

My point was the biggest VAS hog in that area is ORBX Global product which was marketed as a way for tubeliner sim pilots to upgrade their visuals without going into full region performance issues. Disabling all the vector options including all roads still leaves you with VAS issues. Does Lake Ontario, of which I have a bunch of real world flying experience, seriously have over 800 MB of vector detail?

 

What if you turn autogen off, but leave vector on? I wish P3D had a debugging utility to let us see what assets are loaded in memory at any given time.

I wish P3D had a debugging utility to let us see what assets are loaded in memory at any given time.

 

Also, When its loading a scenario, instead  of that %age bar, I wish I could see the files and folder its loading with a debug flag or something... 

My point was the biggest VAS hog in that area is ORBX Global product which was marketed as a way for tubeliner sim pilots to upgrade their visuals without going into full region performance issues. Disabling all the vector options including all roads still leaves you with VAS issues. Does Lake Ontario, of which I have a bunch of real world flying experience, seriously have over 800 MB of vector detail?

 

What if you turn autogen off, but leave vector on? I wish P3D had a debugging utility to let us see what assets are loaded in memory at any given time.

 

Funny thing is that I can load up the PMDG777 at FSDT's Vancouver with ORBX PNW and never run out of VAS.  Go figure.