Dynamic Lighting Performance & 4.1

[somiller 694]

1 hour ago, Rob Ainscough said:

I do however always run with TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=10 which makes for a very nice distance viewing at all altitudes.

Indeed, on your NASA super computer you can handle that LOD. Us mere mortals have to settle for =9 or less...lol. I tried =10 and it does indeed produce large, hires, view radius, but with a meager GTX 1070 it takes VRAM right up to the limit - at least.

[vgbaron 3,627]

My problem with using 10 is the extremely long load times. I like the visuals and the 1080Ti can handle it but every time I make a little change I have to sit and wait *forever* for the sim to load again. Switched back to 9 - excellent visuals and a halfway decent load time.

Vic

 

[simbol 5,821]

5 minutes ago, somiller said:

Indeed, on your NASA super computer you can handle that LOD. Us mere mortals have to settle for =9 or less

Lol

[FalconAF 213]

On ‎10‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 6:22 PM, vgbaron said:

This has been a must do for anything using the ESP engine. There was some documentation about it from Phil Taylor of Aces back then as a releif from certain stutters and fps loss at startup. NickN's bible and prior posts stressed the benefit of making a quick spot view spin.

Ahem

Not to toot my own horn, but I was the first one to notice this worked in the FSX days.  I posted it in the NickN forums, and Phil Taylor noticed it and posted it in his personal blog for FSX.  THAT is how it became the "must do" recommendation for FSX long ago.  And why I said in my original post (way back in this thread) it's be a recommendation for a "long time".  Yes...it still works in P3D, probably for the same ESP reasons vgbaron stated.

(Edit:  OK, I did toot my own horn.  But sorry.  It's not anybody else's fault if you weren't aware of a "recommended action" in flight simming that HAS been around for darn near 10 years now).

[FalconAF 213]

And there is one other thing I notice in the posts in this whole thread.

Many people have not "moved forward" with their thought processes about hardware upgrading today as opposed to the past.  And that is sad, and just causing massive confusion and VERY BAD advice from some people.

Yes, in the past with FSX, it usually made MORE sense to upgrade your CPU instead of your GPU.  Why?  Because FSX was mostly CPU intensive.  It was NEVER programmed to use your GPU extensively.  A faster CPU gave much more improved performance than a faster GPU.

Not anymore.  With P3D today, much of the previous FSX CPU rendering HAS been moved to the GPU (along with NEW visuals, like....Dynamic Lighting).  Yet we see SOOOOO many people here with maxed out CPU systems and still using a GTX980 or GTX1070....or even "just" a regular ol' GTX1080.  Heck...the difference between a GTX1080 vs a GTX1080ti us HUGE today when it comes to P3Dv4.  And the difference between a 1080ti and a 980 or 1070 is....well, if somebody doesn't understand what it REALLY is concerning their P3D performance....oh well.

You need the hardware that will run the program the way the program is designed.  Today with P3D, that means BOTH a current CPU AND the fastest darn GPU you can find.  If you are still using 980's and 1070's, that will be part of your problems. You won't come anywhere near the performance of someone using a 1080ti, because P3D today is designed to utilize the GPU.  The fastest one you can install.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Dirk98 said:

What is your method of switching P3D setting profiles in-flight?

I have 8 (well 9 profiles now) ... it's easy to create profiles in P3D, just select what you want, goto the Display tab and select Save Settings, viola, profile created.  So during flight it's easy to bring up the Graphics options, Display tab, select the profile I want to run, hit Ok and back into my flight.  It can be a bit worky when you want to "update and existing profile" ... you have to remember the exact name and then get prompted to replace ... I did add my voice to LM to make it easier to manage graphics profiles, but didn't happen.

Prior to 64bit P3D V4, changing graphics settings "on the fly" was a risky proposition due to OOMs, but in V4 it's a non-issue to switch between profiles, fast and easy.  

You'll have to experiment, but some elements of a graphics profile/settings will not require a shader recompile ... "I think" (need to check my notes) DL, shadows, reflections do NOT require a re-compile so no time lost waiting.  I know for sure any AG/Terrain changes will trigger re-compiles.

Cheers, Rob.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, vgbaron said:

extremely long load times

Agree, even longer if you have lots of PR.  TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=9 is indeed a good compromise and much faster to load than 10.  But, I just can't seem to let go of 10 and live with the long loads.

Cheers, Rob.

[somiller 694]

44 minutes ago, FalconAF said:

And there is one other thing I notice in the posts in this whole thread.

Many people have not "moved forward" with their thought processes about hardware upgrading today as opposed to the past.  And that is sad, and just causing massive confusion and VERY BAD advice from some people.

Yes, in the past with FSX, it usually made MORE sense to upgrade your CPU instead of your GPU.  Why?  Because FSX was mostly CPU intensive.  It was NEVER programmed to use your GPU extensively.  A faster CPU gave much more improved performance than a faster GPU.

Not anymore.  With P3D today, much of the previous FSX CPU rendering HAS been moved to the GPU (along with NEW visuals, like....Dynamic Lighting).  Yet we see SOOOOO many people here with maxed out CPU systems and still using a GTX980 or GTX1070....or even "just" a regular ol' GTX1080.  Heck...the difference between a GTX1080 vs a GTX1080ti us HUGE today when it comes to P3Dv4.  And the difference between a 1080ti and a 980 or 1070 is....well, if somebody doesn't understand what it REALLY is concerning their P3D performance....oh well.

You need the hardware that will run the program the way the program is designed.  Today with P3D, that means BOTH a current CPU AND the fastest darn GPU you can find.  If you are still using 980's and 1070's, that will be part of your problems. You won't come anywhere near the performance of someone using a 1080ti, because P3D today is designed to utilize the GPU.  The fastest one you can install.

 

I believe I will go out and buy a new system with a 7900X and a couple of 1080Ti's...right about the time you send me the money. Rememer, we don't all have $3000-$5000 laying around to spend on what many people consider to be a toy. And I suppose a 1080Ti is great, but if your still running a 4790k or a 6700k, it's not gonna do much for you. The idea that P3D does a better job of balancing cpu/gpu resources is true, but acting like going from a 1070 to 1080Ti on a 7700K is suddenly going to turn it into a God-like system is just not true. It will still be a system that will be brought to it's knees the instant you try and run DL and SSAA.

[simbol 5,821]

35 minutes ago, Rob Ainscough said:

I have 8 (well 9 profiles now) ... it's easy to create profiles in P3D, just select what you want, goto the Display tab and select Save Settings, viola, profile created.  So during flight it's easy to bring up the Graphics options, Display tab, select the profile I want to run, hit Ok and back into my flight.  It can be a bit worky when you want to "update and existing profile" ... you have to remember the exact name and then get prompted to replace ... I did add my voice to LM to make it easier to manage graphics profiles, but didn't happen.

Prior to 64bit P3D V4, changing graphics settings "on the fly" was a risky proposition due to OOMs, but in V4 it's a non-issue to switch between profiles, fast and easy.  

You'll have to experiment, but some elements of a graphics profile/settings will not require a shader recompile ... "I think" (need to check my notes) DL, shadows, reflections do NOT require a re-compile so no time lost waiting.  I know for sure any AG/Terrain changes will trigger re-compiles.

Cheers, Rob.

I will research if I can do a tool to switch display profile settings via PDK or SimConnect, if I can I could develop a small tool to allow people to switch settings dynamically between day or night.

This could help a lot of users with their DL problems.

Simbol 

[somiller 694]

11 minutes ago, simbol said:

I will research if I can do a tool to switch display profile settings via PDK or SimConnect, if I can I could develop a small tool to allow people to switch settings dynamically between day or night.

This could help a lot of users with their DL problems.

Simbol 

Ooh, Ooh, that would be a really great tool, but as Rob indicated, some changes require shader recompile. You think you might be able to do it so recompile isn't necessary?! My problem is that different settings in my day and night profiles require that recompile...drats.

[somiller 694]

56 minutes ago, Rob Ainscough said:

It can be a bit worky when you want to "update and existing profile" ... you have to remember the exact name and then get prompted to replace ... I did add my voice to LM to make it easier to manage graphics profiles, but didn't happen.

Rob,

And don't forget the wonderful bug fix in 4.1 that got us back to the dreaded "Custom" profile name every time you save a setting, then close settings, and reopen settings. Before saving an existing profile, I can't tell you how many times I've had to look at the name of the existing profile 3 or 4 times before I can remember the exact syntax for overwriting.

[simbol 5,821]

20 minutes ago, somiller said:

Ooh, Ooh, that would be a really great tool, but as Rob indicated, some changes require shader recompile. You think you might be able to do it so recompile isn't necessary?! My problem is that different settings in my day and night profiles require that recompile...drats.

Well it depends of the settings of course, Rob is just switching using the menu, so my possible solution would do the same.

If you have a profile setting without shadows, different anti aliasing, etc. And my tool change to such profile dynamically at dusk it would help with DL without you having to go to do the changes.

Simbol 

[GSalden 4,657]

7 hours ago, simbol said:

I will research if I can do a tool to switch display profile settings via PDK or SimConnect, if I can I could develop a small tool to allow people to switch settings dynamically between day or night.

This could help a lot of users with their DL problems.

Simbol 

If you could make such a tool then it would be a musthave for everyone.

regards, Gerard

[Uteman 51]

8 hours ago, somiller said:

And I suppose a 1080Ti is great, but if your still running a 4790k or a 6700k, it's not gonna do much for you.

It did a lot for me, I bought a 1080Ti to replace a 980Ti because Vram at 4k was the big issue. 6Gbs in the 980Ti just wouldn't cut it whilst the 6 core 3930k at 4.4Ghz was doing the job. The visual change from a 980Ti to a 1080Ti at 4k and nothing else modified (i was already running the latest nvidia drivers at the time) was palpable.

[simbol 5,821]

5 hours ago, GSalden said:

If you could make such a tool then it would be a musthave for everyone.

regards, Gerard

After exploring all the available SDK functions under PD3 version 4.1 (both Simconnect and PDK) there is nothing that would allow me to change Display settings profiles dinamycally.

I will submit a feature request directly to LM later this week.

Best Regards,

Simbol