P3D and my initial thoughts

[Rocky_53 1,579]

Not sure what can be the cause of your issues. Before getting a GTX 970 I used P3D v2.5  without performance problems with a GTX 580. I had to turn down tessellation to stay within the limited VRAM of the GTX 580, but otherwise I had an OK experience flying VFR in many of the ORBX NA regions.

 

While P3D is still abysmal in terms of fps (With high quality addons and AI Traffic I get around 25-35 fps in urban areas, even less at complex airports) it should not be as bad as you're experiencing. Something seems to be wrong on the hardware side of things. Are you GPU drivers up to date, or do you need to roll back to older drivers? Not all NVidia drivers perform well with certains combos of P3D and GPU.

 

Please share your P3D config screens so we can see what might be the cause of things. And if you're using P3D v3 - Don't touch the p3d.cfg file - leave it alone unless you're going to fly over photoscenery.

 

OK, as you suggested, here are some screenies. The only changes in the cfg are AM=84, I'm running i7 6700 with HT on. I did have FFTF=0.01 but it introduced blurries, as I had expected and so I have now removed it.  The aircraft is the Alabeo Twin Star, scenery Orbx Starks Twin Oaks with PNW. Sat at the airfield, with frames as shown in picture 1, then the other framerate shown is after turning east after take off. 

 

The crazy thing is, it didn't seem to matter what slider settings I set, the performance remained almost the same throughout, ie 15-20 fps. Even from sparse AG through to the sliders maximum! The big issue is stutters. Only two assignments in NI, ie, enhance AA and 4XSGSS. I really want to get to the bottom of this, but I am a little sceptical that blowing £400 on a 1070 will reward me with enough of a performance boost to make P3D a viable alternative to FSX-SE. I'm open to advice from those who have travelled the same road! Oh, BTW, I have tried both locked and unlimited framerates, once again, no difference in fps, just that locked seemed to help a little with smoothness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[simmerhead 885]

I can only see one screenshot Howard - I need to see Scenery, Lighting, Weather and Traffic settings as well. 

 

Anyway. Try to disable the Affinitymask (Which is the only tweak you should do if you have stutters or performance problems without it). 

 

Also, try without VSync. It isn't always needed, and VSync + 30 fps is no good idea if you can't maintain a stable 30 fps. 

[Mephic 129]

IMHO I would start with switching to:

 

1.  Unlimited FPS + adaptive vsync in Nvidia CP (built in fps limiter is simply (and always was even in FSX) broken)

2. Switching off road traffic, boat traffic completely (it's a flight sim, not car on roads sim)

3. INcreasing tesselation to max (I have not read what's your GPU but if you have at least GTX 780 there is absolutely no reason why you would not want to increase GPU load) - UPDATE: I read now that it's 770. Try anyway. 

4. Feel free to add user vehicle and clouds reflections  (again shift usage from CPU to GPU)

5. Switch Bathymetry OFF - this is biggest FPS killer and it's useless for flying (it is for submarine to be precise)  

6. 4x SGSAA is ridiculous unless you have Titan. Use instead:

 

1. Mode: enhance application setting

2. AA: 8xQ

3. Transparency: 8x Supersampling

 

It's not same as 4x SGSAA but delivers nice quality saving you performance

 

start from there

 

And make sure to get rid of all tweaks. Feel free to bump textures to 2048. 

[simmerhead 885]

Now all the screens are there! 

 

 

I don't use NVidia Inspector at all with P3D v3.4

 

 

SETTINGS

Try to disable VSync, triple buffering and limited fps @ 30. Set fps to unlimited for now.

 

 

LIGHTING

Cloud Shadows 40000m

Object Shadows 3000m

Internal Vehicle - Check both

Sim Objects - Check Cast

Building shadows - Uncheck both for now

 

 

SCENERY

Texture Resolution 60cm

Bathymetry - Uncheck!!!

Water Detail down one notch unless you HAVE to see waves. 

 

 

TRAFFIC

Road Traffic 5%

 

 

Rest seems OK! 

[Bob Scott 7,721]

4xSGSS is pretty aggressive for a 770 at that resolution.

 

I'd try pulling the water detail back a notch, uncheck building shadows, pull special effects detail back to medium and most definitely turn off SGSS. 

 

Then try setting MSAA to 8 in the sim and in NI AA mode to Use the 3D app setting.  If that smooths it out, you can try adding transparency supersampling to 8xSS in NI.

 

If none of this helps, try moving to a location outside the ORBX region, or just uncheck the PNW scenery areas in the scenery library.

 

With P3D and DX11, a two generations newer 1070 should make a significant difference over the 770, especially at resolutions above standard HD.

 

Regards

[Rocky_53 1,579]

Thanks guys, I'll have another looksey tomorrow and report back. Cheers.

[Guest]

Howard, a while ago I never thought I would ever say this but seriously... you gotta give the XP11 demo a try. Just do it. Try it for a while (the demo only plays 15 minutes but you can restart it as often as you want). It may surprise you. And if not, no harm done.

[Christopher Low 5,354]

As far as I am aware, SGSS is more important for lower resolutions (like my own 1920x1080). I have been told that the higher the resolution beyond that, the less SGSS is required.

[Mephic 129]

As far as I am aware, SGSS is more important for lower resolutions (like my own 1920x1080). I have been told that the higher the resolution beyond that, the less SGSS is required.

It's not required at all if textures are properly mipmapped I believe (at least that is what resolved shimmering for some). Shame that some of most popular addons didn't have this in place. 1920x1080 is the most popular resolution and it's a real pain there is no proper AA on some objects. Nowadays in most games 4x MSAA is completely enough... shame that not in P3D. 

[Rocky_53 1,579]

Howard, a while ago I never thought I would ever say this but seriously... you gotta give the XP11 demo a try. Just do it. Try it for a while (the demo only plays 15 minutes but you can restart it as often as you want). It may surprise you. And if not, no harm done.

 

Hi Jeroen, how are you doing. Sure, I have thought about XP, it may well be something I have to consider.

As far as I am aware, SGSS is more important for lower resolutions (like my own 1920x1080). I have been told that the higher the resolution beyond that, the less SGSS is required.

 

Sure, I've just done a flight and found 4x is fine. 

[Bob Scott 7,721]

As far as I am aware, SGSS is more important for lower resolutions (like my own 1920x1080). I have been told that the higher the resolution beyond that, the less SGSS is required.

 

It's not, strictly speaking, a dot pitch resolution issue.  It's the perceptibility of the individual pixels that's the issue.  A 40" 4K monitor at 3 ft viewing distance doesn't need much, if any, AA help, because the pixels are so small in terms of angle of arc, or more simply in the eye's ability to perceive them, that jaggy lines, though they might be present under close inspection, are not visible because they aren't large enough for the eye to discern them.  Take that same image and put it on a 70" 4K screen at the same distance, and the jaggies are obvious, and AA is once again necessary.

 

Regards

[Rocky_53 1,579]

It would appear that fate will not allow me to enjoy P3D. My experience is exactly the same as it was the previous two failed times. I have spent all afternoon, flying in exactly the same scenario, have tried every combination that I've been advised. I have followed Rob Ainsworth's advice, plus others, but I cannot get any performance above 20fps with stutters. The only way I can achieve this is by not using Vsync, then the whole monitor just waves when I move. If I try to fly in 8/8 cloud cover, then the sim just reduces to absurd frames, barely in double figures.

 

I can't believe that P3D will become this great sim simply by replacing the Gpu for a 1070. However, I will be overclocking this weekend and I hope to fly with a large 4k TV soon, so a GTX1070 is on the cards. Maybe I will revisiit P3D then.

[Mephic 129]

If you turn on FAST VSync and set maximum pre rendered frames to 1 in nvidia CP you will have your issues resolved I believe. 

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

I can't believe that P3D will become this great sim simply by replacing the Gpu for a 1070

 

Howard,

 

I'm running P3DV3.4 under a GTX960, and I get up to 140+fps in the default F-22 at Eglin AFB (default location) running a 55 inch 4K TV as my main monitor, and three 23 inch LCD 1920x1080 monitors (used for other programs).

 

I get a steady 30fps (locked at 30) in the Aerosoft A320 at most any payware airport, and that's while streaming and running the Aivasoft EFB on other monitors.

 

My processor is an i7-4770K, running in Turbo Mode up to 4.5GHZ (not overclocked).

 

I don't have any tweaks in my CFG except for Affinity Mask, and I'm not using NVIDIA Inspector (at the moment).

 

Hang in there, with your system (far better than mine) I'm sure you'll be able to get it worked out.

 

[exodus1977 37]

It would appear that fate will not allow me to enjoy P3D. My experience is exactly the same as it was the previous two failed times. I have spent all afternoon, flying in exactly the same scenario, have tried every combination that I've been advised. I have followed Rob Ainsworth's advice, plus others, but I cannot get any performance above 20fps with stutters. The only way I can achieve this is by not using Vsync, then the whole monitor just waves when I move. If I try to fly in 8/8 cloud cover, then the sim just reduces to absurd frames, barely in double figures.

 

I can't believe that P3D will become this great sim simply by replacing the Gpu for a 1070. However, I will be overclocking this weekend and I hope to fly with a large 4k TV soon, so a GTX1070 is on the cards. Maybe I will revisiit P3D then.

 

I'm still running a 670 card and P3D works fine for me. And, I have 4 monitors hooked up to it. Besides your P3D settings...what other software do you have running in the background? I don't mean P3D related software (like weather programs, etc) but other programs and utilities that load in the background when your computer starts?

 

Another thing I'd check are your CPU and GPU temps while the sim is running. I've learned this from experience. You think you have a stable overclock and temps will skyrocket under load in the sim. The CPU and GPU will automatically throttle back to prevent damage and its actually equivalent to a massive under-clocking (if not a system crash).