P3D4 Dynamic Lights and FPS drop

[Terblanche 28]

1 minute ago, warriorpilot said:

Same here, I have a 970 and it's ok. Most of my low performance comes from having too much scenery loaded. For example NYCX with Imaginesim KLGA and FSDT JFK is allot of scenery to load when flying at 180 knots.

... and I thought with P3D that is no problem anymore like it is with FSX that loads everything while P3D only loads the scenery where you are flying. Maybe I'm mistaken but that's what I read somewhere AND with the 64-bit it should not be a problem to fly from EDDF to EGLL while EHAM is loaded as well, and yet the amount of scenery loaded should then influence the overall FPS and not only when you switch lights on and off.

[Nuno Pinto 1,394]

Any scenery that hasn't been compiled with the new SDK might suffer issues when hit with dynamic lighting. I am not tech enough in relation to this, but i've seen a post somewhere by Rob Ainscough that mentions the issue.

When the light produced by dynamic lights hits a surface compiled with other than the new SDK, performance might suffer. I've seen this happen with some older airports i installed in V4. Either wait for an update from the developer (that probably used the old SDK from FS2002) or just put up with it.

Either way, this is not a PMDG issue.

[Terblanche 28]

1 minute ago, Nuno Pinto said:

Either way, this is not a PMDG issue.

Then why the FPS drop when you sit at 37,000" over the ocean? And if it is a scenery 'problem' then there will be a drop in FPS with other 3rd party aircraft as well.

[Nuno Pinto 1,394]

I never experienced drops when flying, only when dynamic lights hit said surfaces and it's easily reproduceable (just turn on/off the lights).

I have no idea what's causing YOUR fps drops, but i'd hardly point this to PMDG. Maybe your hardware just reached the limit somehow in that situation? Water can be taxing on your system if it's kept on "ULTRA"... I don't know, just throwing possibilities here.

[chapstick 2,757]

You can't use SSAA with dynamic lighting on. Period. It sucks, but that's the situation right now. If we want to use this thing at night and have realistic illumination, you have to use MSAA. It's a step back from V3 in terms of anti-aliasing options. My suggestion: Make two graphics profiles. One for day flying that has DL checked OFF and AA set to use some level of SSAA. That will reduce shimmers. Create another profile for night flying that has DL ON and uses MSAA so that you get illumination without the FPS hit. 

 

Alex Pugh

[stevefocus 15]

14 minutes ago, Chapstick said:

You can't use SSAA with dynamic lighting on. Period. 

 

Alex Pugh

That's funny because I'm using SSAAx2 with dynamic lighting just fine. Yeah there is a little fps drop but at x2 its hardly noticeable. 

[scandinavian13 5,192]

3 hours ago, Terblanche said:

As you can see from above, it's not so easy to just bring sliders down and or tweak the GPU ... maybe PMDG can advice on the recommended settings and/or investigate what it is with the QOTSII that hit the FPS for a home run when you switch on the lights. My gut tells me it has something to with the fact that the B744 has an AI-object for the lighting and that there is a tension/strain between the two. But I can be completely wrong.

This is not actually a fact. The P3D version doesn't use this.

4 hours ago, garrett_frank said:

I didn't imply that it was.

Asking for an option implies that there is a belief that it is possible. My response was to indicate that the provision of an option is not in the realm of possibility, from a practical point of view. It's technically possible to keep a PC cool by building it in a refrigerator, but the practicality of that move is very low.

[Terblanche 28]

35 minutes ago, scandinavian13 said:

This is not actually a fact. The P3D version doesn't use this.

HUH?? I'm almost 99% sure I saw the "shadow AI object" behind me on the EFB screen in P3D4. Will have to make sure of the 1% doubt now. 

[Terblanche 28]

1 hour ago, Nuno Pinto said:

I have no idea what's causing YOUR fps drops, but i'd hardly point this to PMDG. Maybe your hardware just reached the limit somehow in that situation? Water can be taxing on your system if it's kept on "ULTRA"... I don't know, just throwing possibilities here.

Let me test some more tonight and make more detailed notes. As I said, at the moment P3D4 is a bit of frustration to me because of the stuttering and shimmering and to find the sweet-spot without having to tweak anything outside P3D4. None of my scenery, autogen, water sliders are at 100% at the moment and HDR lighting also turned OFF and only Dynamic Lighting ON ... [sigh]

[maca11 2]

from my side.

MSAA is OK with dynamic lights on and actual lights switched on.

SSAA with lights switched on (landing lights) reaches 100% of my GPU (1080) and this stutters..

 

 

JM

[downscc 1,327]

Agree, nice thing about the 4K display is that there isn't as much of a need for AA and 2xMSAA or 4xMSAA works just fine.  On my system (6700K 4.7GHz 980Ti), SSAA kills performance regardless of lighting.

[kamaz74 81]

Has anyone else noticed that lights do not illuminate the ground unless dynamic lighting is checked? Is this intentional? My performance suffers slightly when using dynamic lighting. Also, I will corroborate that SSAA is unusable on my 980Ti and 7820HK (obviously not a PMDG problem). 

[chapstick 2,757]

33 minutes ago, kamaz74 said:

Has anyone else noticed that lights do not illuminate the ground unless dynamic lighting is checked? Is this intentional? My performance suffers slightly when using dynamic lighting. Also, I will corroborate that SSAA is unusable on my 980Ti and 7820HK (obviously not a PMDG problem). 

That's how it works. You either turn DL on and get illumination or leave it off and don't. 

Alex Pugh 

 

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

5 hours ago, downscc said:

Agree, nice thing about the 4K display is that there isn't as much of a need for AA and 2xMSAA or 4xMSAA works just fine.  On my system (6700K 4.7GHz 980Ti), SSAA kills performance regardless of lighting.

I'm happy to have someone confirm this!  I'm running a 55" 4K, and with any level of AA on in P3DV4 my frames are almost cut in half.  I turn it off, and I see no change in graphics quality and I regain my frames!

 

[fghdgdfdfgfgf 111]

2 hours ago, kamaz74 said:

.... Also, I will corroborate that SSAA is unusable on my 980Ti and 7820HK (obviously not a PMDG problem). 

Doesn't mean that PMDG and other developers don't have a problem, cuz in my mind they do..