11.02RC1 is out

[barrel_owl 304]

50 minutes ago, Colonel X said:

For running XP11 with orthos, you're running a low end system, so stutters are to be expected and I don't think it's the slow HDD or X-Plane code to blame. To give you a perspective, in the scenario you describe, I have 12GB RAM and 10GB VRAM in use by X-Plane, however no stutters while the orthos stream from an external USB3 drive. Memory and bandwidth is crucial when running orthos, it's logical you will face issues here with 8GB RAM and 4GB VRAM (although you can make sure to not overload the latter).

Wait. You are probably right, however we can't always blame the hardware for the lack of performance of the platform. This was and still is the constant argument used by many in another section of this forum that I prefer not to mention and, as a matter of fact, is also the reason why a lot of users ended up switching to X-Plane at one point. Orthos seem to be the future in this market, AeroFly is also walking on that path apparently, so X-Plane needs to improve further this aspect and provide an acceptable performance even to users with medium range systems.

Don't get me wrong, I have been using X-Plane for few weeks and I am very happy, I also noticed some improvements in loading areas with orthos with the latest update, however please note that not everyone can afford or may be comfortable to spend money to get a graphic card with 10 GB VRAM. This can't be a requirement to have an acceptable performance.

[Colonel X 1,428]

42 minutes ago, barrel_owl said:

Wait. You are probably right, however we can't always blame the hardware for the lack of performance of the platform. This was and still is the constant argument used by many in another section of this forum that I prefer not to mention and, as a matter of fact, is also the reason why a lot of users ended up switching to X-Plane at one point. Orthos seem to be the future in this market, AeroFly is also walking on that path apparently, so X-Plane needs to improve further this aspect and provide an acceptable performance even to users with medium range systems.

Don't get me wrong, I have been using X-Plane for few weeks and I am very happy, I also noticed some improvements in loading areas with orthos with the latest update, however please note that not everyone can afford or may be comfortable to spend money to get a graphic card with 10 GB VRAM. This can't be a requirement to have an acceptable performance.

Of course the sim needs to improve performance (and it's amazing what Laminar has in store here compared to P3D, which is just a hopeless world of pain in that department). However people need to manage their expectations. Orthos are surprisingly easy to handle (RAM and a fast HD are cheap and easily upgraded) - not so much scenery (objects, shadows ect.); single thread CPU perf. hasn't significantly improved for 4 years now and X-Plane needs all it can get (multithreading optimizations go a long way but as of now its still a drop in the bucket). You just can't expect to run X-Plane 11 in high settings (and especially concerning world detail, anything below MAX is a tough compromise, that's an open secret) on aged middle class hardware. Of course it will run, somehow, but - speaking solely of the graphical fidelity here - it's a game of compromise.

[ryanbatc 12,770]

2500k and gtx 970 is a low end system?  Can't agree with that - it's definitely not high end.  Anyway I do have plans for a newer system in the upcoming year, but there's no way I'll be shelling out for a 1080Ti - that's just nuts.

[Colonel X 1,428]

21 minutes ago, ryanbatcund said:

2500k and gtx 970 is a low end system?  Can't agree with that - it's definitely not high end.  Anyway I do have plans for a newer system in the upcoming year, but there's no way I'll be shelling out for a 1080Ti - that's just nuts.

I adjusted that to "aged middle class hardware" in my last post. But honestly, that CPU is not for X-Plane. I know it's been the "working class hero CPU" for what, 8 years now?, "pound for pound champ", "most bang for the buck" ect. - but for X-Plane 11 in 2017, probably the most demanding piece of entertainment software on the market today - come on, it's really time to retire it. 

For anybody looking for a long term investment for X-Plane I'd recommend waiting for 16GB GPU's. X-Plane eats VRAM and already you have to take care not to overload a 1080ti. 

Edit: It's 6 years old. Vintage nevertheless.

[sightseer 895]

12 hours ago, ryanbatcund said:

 Previously I'd get about a 10 sec pause and or huge stutter, followed by about 1 min for 5-7 fps while the scenery loads, then fine.  Now I get about a 5 second pause, followed by 20 sec of 15-20 fps stutters.

Ryan -  Have you compared this with VSync on and off?  I had tried VSync on for screen tearing but I kept having that extended period of very low frames and I was able to tie it to VSync so for me its off and its overall smoother.

I have no idea if this is your issue though. 

[Griphos 138]

I think this thread is largely speculating without any solid evidence. It's typical group-think logic: newer is better/more demanding, and "more" fixes things. 

I'm running a very similar system: 2500K at 4.4 Ghz and newly upgraded to 16gb RAM with a 970 4gb. I run XP11, Ortho and regular scenery at pretty high settings (full right or one notch down on most sliders) just fine, even before the recent memory upgrade. I experience good to high frame rates (40s mostly, with very little trouble staying above my 30 FPS lower limit in my reduce LOD plugin) and very little pausing as tiles load into memory from HDD, even at double speed. 

The secret, for me, is triple buffering and 2XSS AA and no higher. That clearly indicates software/code limitations. 

Having more memory certainly provides room for larger chunks to load, but do larger chunks load just because you have more memory, or does one tile load at a time because of coding?  I get very short pauses when tiles load, and FPS rapidly recovers.  This stayed the same when I moved from 8 gb to 16 gb.  I don't pause any less frequently. It's pretty infrequent as is because I fly low speed GA planes at low altitude and don't transit tiles often.  If I just sightsee and land at the same airport, I rarely experience pauses or stutters before or after the upgrade. 

[Anxu00 176]

On 6/22/2017 at 9:16 PM, ryanbatcund said:

Now I get about a 5 second pause, followed by 20 sec of 15-20 fps stutters.

So it's better.  It may be that I only 8GB of ram and 4 of vram.  Also I noticed my 2500K is working harder - more cores are being used and at higher percentages.

Oh, I also used Socal area for testing.  Departed Ry 27 at KRAL and did 250 KIAS on a 250 heading towards KSNA.  There's a pronounced scenery load about 4 min into the flight where the ZL16 ortho loads the new tile.

I don't get it.  That's alot of noticeable wait.  So far I have not seen stutters with XP-11 and orthos yet, but I have 16 GB or RAM and my CPU is running at 4.8 Ghz.  

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

9 hours ago, Anxu00 said:

I don't get it.  That's alot of noticeable wait.  So far I have not seen stutters with XP-11 and orthos yet, but I have 16 GB or RAM and my CPU is running at 4.8 Ghz.  

I have 12 GB total system memory, and run my CPU at 4.2 Ghz.  No stutters.  All ortho fly over...z17/19/2 and no stutters. I don't even have stutters any more as the scenery loads in, since the current release candidate. Before, yes I did. Now...nope.