The top "VAS-hungry" settings in P3D and FTX Global Vector

[RaptyrOne 1,398]

 

 

I'm a very happy GA-flyer with no VAS issues, and reading stuff like this makes me even more happy that I never invested in the complex tubeliners. Good luck to you!

 

Most of my flying is in NGX but I often hop into A2A's Texan T6 Harvard if I don't feel up to procedural simming. Buzzing around in Orbx PNW between a few of their airports (Friday Harbour, Orcas Island, Diamond Point and Skagitt for example, dries up the VAS tank far too quickly. Thus GA aircraft certainly provide no "insurance" against VAS consumption, unless maybe they are those very basic default P3D models. So it is far from being about the type of aircraft you fly, rather a combination of several factors. Complex scenery and airports are probably far bigger VAS thieves over a few hours of flying than the aircraft itself would ever be.

 

Some of the add on airports I have required huge downloads. Once installed, the space on disk is measured in GB not MB! Most new payware airports are huge downloads. The detail is fantastic but our lust for absolutely realistic and living airport scenery and surrounding countryside is a big part of the problem for sure. Our hardware can handle it with one eye closed, our 32-bit software simply cannot.

 

I have found the single biggest VAS killer to be setting LOD to max (take it back one notch). On the subject of vehicle traffic, having shadows active for simobjects means that the cars are drawn with their shadows. Hundreds of them at a time, even on 5% vehicle traffic. Switching this option off (sim objects can cast shadows) seems to help both VAS and frame rates.

 

I am using moderate Vector settings that include the traffic lights. To me they really add to the night time immersion on approach.

 

I did a completely clean install of P3D v3.4.9 onto a formatted PC. In other words I wiped Windows too. So everything is pristine and I have a proper P3D v3.4 not a half upgraded (Client only) install. I am not noticing that VAS is worse in this version but I have no special tools to track this reliably. Just my own observation.

[WebMaximus 372]

VAS and Vector vs UTX2.1 is pretty identical . Maybe 50mb on some occasions. Dont waste time and money here if its a VAS question.

 

I have gone back to Vector as it blends better with OPENLCEU and NA.

 

But i have seen VAS use as high as 400MB on both products so tweaking them or disable the most for tubeliners is a must here

 

Michael Moe 

 

Many thanks Michael, good to know!

[simmerhead 885]

Most of my flying is in NGX but I often hop into A2A's Texan T6 Harvard if I don't feel up to procedural simming. Buzzing around in Orbx PNW between a few of their airports (Friday Harbour, Orcas Island, Diamond Point and Skagitt for example, dries up the VAS tank far too quickly. Thus GA aircraft certainly provide no "insurance" against VAS consumption, unless maybe they are those very basic default P3D models. So it is far from being about the type of aircraft you fly, rather a combination of several factors. Complex scenery and airports are probably far bigger VAS thieves over a few hours of flying than the aircraft itself would ever be.

 

I've been flying around ORBX's PNW for a week now in the RealAir Turbine Duke. I've got Friday Hrabour, Orcas, Skagit, Concrete and lots of other airports installed, and on top of that John Patch's Vancouver+ V3. I'm struggeling to get far above 20 fps on my computer as I am an eyecandy junkey, but VAS usage is rarely above 2,7 Gigs. I have a huge custom made AI traffic package with ships and aircraft running as well. I'm not sure what's eating up VAS at your end, but it seems pretty strange. 

[WebMaximus 372]

Most of my flying is in NGX but I often hop into A2A's Texan T6 Harvard if I don't feel up to procedural simming. Buzzing around in Orbx PNW between a few of their airports (Friday Harbour, Orcas Island, Diamond Point and Skagitt for example, dries up the VAS tank far too quickly. Thus GA aircraft certainly provide no "insurance" against VAS consumption, unless maybe they are those very basic default P3D models. So it is far from being about the type of aircraft you fly, rather a combination of several factors. Complex scenery and airports are probably far bigger VAS thieves over a few hours of flying than the aircraft itself would ever be.

 

Some of the add on airports I have required huge downloads. Once installed, the space on disk is measured in GB not MB! Most new payware airports are huge downloads. The detail is fantastic but our lust for absolutely realistic and living airport scenery and surrounding countryside is a big part of the problem for sure. Our hardware can handle it with one eye closed, our 32-bit software simply cannot.

 

I have found the single biggest VAS killer to be setting LOD to max (take it back one notch). On the subject of vehicle traffic, having shadows active for simobjects means that the cars are drawn with their shadows. Hundreds of them at a time, even on 5% vehicle traffic. Switching this option off (sim objects can cast shadows) seems to help both VAS and frame rates.

 

I am using moderate Vector settings that include the traffic lights. To me they really add to the night time immersion on approach.

 

I did a completely clean install of P3D v3.4.9 onto a formatted PC. In other words I wiped Windows too. So everything is pristine and I have a proper P3D v3.4 not a half upgraded (Client only) install. I am not noticing that VAS is worse in this version but I have no special tools to track this reliably. Just my own observation.

 

You're right VAS issues certainly is a mix of many different things both add-ons used as well as settings in P3D and add-ons. Guess that is what makes it so hard to compare and also track down what is actually the culprit in your particular system.

 

Hope we'll see a 64-bit P3D in a not too distant future and that it indeed will cure many of these issues many of us currently have.

 

As for LOD and shadows, both good tips to save some VAS!

I've been flying around ORBX's PNW for a week now in the RealAir Turbine Duke. I've got Friday Hrabour, Orcas, Skagit, Concrete and lots of other airports installed, and on top of that John Patch's Vancouver+ V3. I'm struggeling to get far above 20 fps on my computer as I am an eyecandy junkey, but VAS usage is rarely above 2,7 Gigs. I have a huge custom made AI traffic package with ships and aircraft running as well. I'm not sure what's eating up VAS at your end, but it seems pretty strange. 

 

Yep, it is strange why some have huge VAS issues and others don't but as I just said in another reply I guess it's all a combination of lots of things. After all computers and software mostly are quite logical although it's not always so easy to see that logic being a human...

[Dirk98 354]

VAS and Vector vs UTX2.1 is pretty identical . Maybe 50mb on some occasions. Dont waste time and money here if its a VAS question.

 

I have gone back to Vector as it blends better with OPENLCEU and NA.

 

Michael Moe 

 

Yes, exactly my finding, same VAS but blends BETTER with OPENLCEU and NA color- and autogen-wise. 

 

Dirk.

[simmerhead 885]

It must be som kind of voodoo...

 

Feel for you though. I had these problems in FSX before I learned of the HIGHMEMFIX tweak, and it is no fun when your screen freezes on final after a four hour flight...

[WebMaximus 372]

Yes, exactly my finding, same VAS but blends BETTER with OPENLCEU and NA color- and autogen-wise. 

 

Dirk.

 

Very glad you saved me from spending money on nothing because obviously if I would have replaced FTX Global Base and Vector with GEX/UTX the main reason would have been to improve the VAS situation.

 

At the same time I'm a bit confused because I read a number of people saying they did just that...replaced the Orbx line of products with GEX/UTX and noticed a major improvement in VAS usage doing so.

[WayneG 1]

I keep my traffic settings OFF. Its a huge vas leak. They found this out this year and i doubt they fixed it. So try turn off all your traffic settings

 

Wayne George

[WebMaximus 372]

It must be som kind of voodoo...

 

Feel for you though. I had these problems in FSX before I learned of the HIGHMEMFIX tweak, and it is no fun when your screen freezes on final after a four hour flight...

 

Very nice of you but actually I'm quite good now after reverting back to 3.3 from 3.4.

 

Still though I'm a bit puzzled because although I'm back using the exact same setup I did before upgrading to 3.4 I'm all of a sudden dangerously low on VAS from time to time and I never noticed this before in 3.3 as far as I can remember. The only thing I can think of that changed is P3D is now populated with fall textures rather than summer textures.

 

No idea though if that could play a role in all this.

[Kuragiman 227]

 

 

At the same time I'm a bit confused because I read a number of people saying they did just that...replaced the Orbx line of products with GEX/UTX and noticed a major improvement in VAS usage doing so.

 

I use GEX P3D/UTX2.1 USA.  I have FTX Global too but shelved it.  The VAS is NOT that much better between the two products.  I got it because prior to LC it was a huge improvement in the US for autogen placement, LC for cities and does wonders for the coastlines and rivers.   I also noticed a slightly FPS/Smoothness improvement on my system.   Of course now I am looking at going back to FTX Global, using UTX 2.1 USA for vector and getting LCNA.     Choices choices choices.    

 

You aren't going insane though.   When i was on 3.2 ( my last version I flew before hanging up my pilot's wings for a year) I could go from coast to coast on a 5 hour flight with the settings and add-ons I am using now.    Now I can't even complete an hour and a half flight with hearing DING DING DING DING on final.   Something has changed and not for the better in VAS management.    God I do not wantto have to Texture Optimize all these HD airports again just to save a buck of memory.... *sigh*

[WebMaximus 372]

I keep my traffic settings OFF. Its a huge vas leak. They found this out this year and i doubt they fixed it. So try turn off all your traffic settings

 

Wayne George

 

Do you mean in Vector or in P3D or both? And do you mean only road traffic or traffic on the water as well?

 

I'm right now doing the return leg back to Orbx ESSA from FT EKCH and I just reached my TOC and have just over 600 MB VAS left. This is in the NGX with no traffic in Vector nor in P3D and this is true for both land and sea traffic. I also have all options in Vector disabled including highways and primary roads. The only single option I kept enabled is beaches. However looking at my VAS counter that has now dropped with another 100 MB to just above 500 MB no one of these disabled options seem to have helped me which I also find strange. Having around 500-600 MB in this position is what I've seen with all the options enabled as well on earlier flights.

 

Another interesting thing is that I've been flying between ESSA and EKCH for a couple of flights now trying out different settings and for some reason I always end up having more free VAS when I fly from ESSA to EKCH vs the other way around. At the gate at EKCH I usually end up with somewhere between  500-600 MB where I at ESSA end up somewhere between 200-300 MB.

 

Since both airports are included regardless of the direction of flight and the scenery in between are the same I don't really understand why there is this huge difference. The only thing I can think of is something at EKCH or close to EKCH is consuming lots of VAS and doesn't return it when leaving the area. Taking off from 04R I have actually seen the VAS drop from about 1 GB down to 600-700 MB somewhere between 5000 ft-FL100. Pretty much the exact same thing has happened twice in a row at the same postition/altitude.

 

I'm now established on the ILS 01R into ESSA and noticed how my VAS dropped down to 220 MB but now it has recovered to 350 MB...

 

And now I'm at gate 4 shutting down with 315 MB left so that's OK but I still find that quite low considering all the options I've now disabled. During flight I even went into the P3D menus and decreased the distance of cloud and terrain shadows from 30.000 m down to 10.000 m and from 6000 m to 3000 m for object shadows. Maybe I need to restart P3D for those changes to have an effect though.

 

Oh yeah...forgot one more thing I did during the flight...decreasing the max cloud draw distance in AS16 from 110->90.

 

I might do one more short flight tonight after a proper restart of both P3D and my PC now that I did some changes to see what happens but if I still see the same sorrow VAS situation I don't really know what to do...

 

Sure, if I have about 300 MB VAS at my destination gate and no OOM CTDs I'm all good but I would prefer to not having to worry about VAS in this way and I haven't had to until now for some weird reason.

 

What is so interesting is how this started after I upgraded to 3.4 and even now after restoring my system back in time and to 3.3 I still have VAS issues. It's almost like the P3D gods are watching me saying 'Don't you think we noticed how you upgraded to 3.4 and then tried to escape from the issues by going back to 3.3 Richard..."

I use GEX P3D/UTX2.1 USA.  I have FTX Global too but shelved it.  The VAS is NOT that much better between the two products.  I got it because prior to LC it was a huge improvement in the US for autogen placement, LC for cities and does wonders for the coastlines and rivers.   I also noticed a slightly FPS/Smoothness improvement on my system.   Of course now I am looking at going back to FTX Global, using UTX 2.1 USA for vector and getting LCNA.     Choices choices choices.    

 

You aren't going insane though.   When i was on 3.2 ( my last version I flew before hanging up my pilot's wings for a year) I could go from coast to coast on a 5 hour flight with the settings and add-ons I am using now.    Now I can't even complete an hour and a half flight with hearing DING DING DING DING on final.   Something has changed and not for the better in VAS management.    God I do not wantto have to Texture Optimize all these HD airports again just to save a buck of memory.... *sigh*

 

Thanks Brian both for the comfort as well as the information and confirmation replacing the Orbx stuff won't do much of a difference for VAS.

 

I get ultimately the only thing to do is stick around and wait for P3Dv4 which I hope will be...yes you guessed it right...64bit :wink:

[WayneG 1]

Do you mean in Vector or in P3D or both? And do you mean only road traffic or traffic on the water as well?

 

I'm right now doing the return leg back to Orbx ESSA from FT EKCH and I just reached my TOC and have just over 600 MB VAS left. This is in the NGX with no traffic in Vector nor in P3D and this is true for both land and sea traffic. I also have all options in Vector disabled including highways and primary roads. The only single option I kept enabled is beaches. However looking at my VAS counter that has now dropped with another 100 MB to just above 500 MB no one of these disabled options seem to have helped me which I also find strange. Having around 500-600 MB in this position is what I've seen with all the options enabled as well on earlier flights.

 

Another interesting thing is that I've been flying between ESSA and EKCH for a couple of flights now trying out different settings and for some reason I always end up having more free VAS when I fly from ESSA to EKCH vs the other way around. At the gate at EKCH I usually end up with somewhere between  500-600 MB where I at ESSA end up somewhere between 200-300 MB.

 

Since both airports are included regardless of the direction of flight and the scenery in between are the same I don't really understand why there is this huge difference. The only thing I can think of is something at EKCH or close to EKCH is consuming lots of VAS and doesn't return it when leaving the area. Taking off from 04R I have actually seen the VAS drop from about 1 GB down to 600-700 MB somewhere between 5000 ft-FL100. Pretty much the exact same thing has happened twice in a row at the same postition/altitude.

 

I'm now established on the ILS 01R into ESSA and noticed how my VAS dropped down to 220 MB but now it has recovered to 350 MB...

 

And now I'm at gate 4 shutting down with 315 MB left so that's OK but I still find that quite low considering all the options I've now disabled. During flight I even went into the P3D menus and decreased the distance of cloud and terrain shadows from 30.000 m down to 10.000 m and from 6000 m to 3000 m for object shadows. Maybe I need to restart P3D for those changes to have an effect though.

 

Oh yeah...forgot one more thing I did during the flight...decreasing the max cloud draw distance in AS16 from 110->90.

 

I might do one more short flight tonight after a proper restart of both P3D and my PC now that I did some changes to see what happens but if I still see the same sorrow VAS situation I don't really know what to do...

 

Sure, if I have about 300 MB VAS at my destination gate and no OOM CTDs I'm all good but I would prefer to not having to worry about VAS in this way and I haven't had to until now for some weird reason.

 

What is so interesting is how this started after I upgraded to 3.4 and even now after restoring my system back in time and to 3.3 I still have VAS issues. It's almost like the P3D gods are watching me saying 'Don't you think we noticed how you upgraded to 3.4 and then tried to escape from the issues by going back to 3.3 Richard..."

 

Thanks Brian both for the comfort as well as the information and confirmation replacing the Orbx stuff won't do much of a difference for VAS.

 

I get ultimately the only thing to do is stick around and wait for P3Dv4 which I hope will be...yes you guessed it right...64bit :wink:

I mean both, so definitely make sure traffic is off, its always been a massive vas hog 

[simmerhead 885]

I had to do a test flight in P3D v3.4 just to check the numbers.

 

IFR flight in the RealAir Turbine Duke v2 from Seattle to Vancouver in ORBX PNW + FSAddon Vancouver+ V3 with very high settings, 1920x1080 monitor, FSGRW weather, TracIR, Saitek cockpit setup, lots of air 100%, ships 100% and car 5% traffic. Average fps of around 21 with these settings.  

 

VAS peaked at about 3,5 Gb on approach to CYVR. All in all I'm pretty happy with that, although I have no idea if P3D v3.3 would be better. 

[Michael Moe 494]

Richard. Try also stay away from buggy terrain shadows for a while.

 

Use only Cloud shadows

 

A question.

 

Are you using any HD liveries or externally sound add ons or just PMDG default?

Could be some thing

 

Michael Moe

[WebMaximus 372]

Will keep the terrain shadows in mind but I still don't get why all of a sudden I need to start disabling stuff I've been using without any issues only a couple of weeks ago.

 

Using the standard NGX with the only exception I replaced some of the sounds but I've been using those for years so I'm positive those have nothing to do with this.