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Nemo

Keeping it simple is beautiful too

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Due to some other reasons, it was necessary to reset my whole system. I cleaned up two SSD drives and reinstalled Windows 10 (1903) and P3Dv4.5HF from scratch. Then I installed ORBX Global, Vector, Landclass and all NA regions. I added Pilot's FTX Mesh (2018) and three ORBX airports for PNW (Orcas Island, Friday Harbor and Anacortes). I activated AIG Traffic and AI Ships Traffic (Henry Nielsen), both via xml method. Finally, I added Active Sky weather and A2As C172. That was it, nothing else. No Shader tweaks. No texture replacements (except FTX Global). No config tweaks.

Flying around those three airports in cloudy weather with some fog was absolutely stunning and I could keep 30 fps (monitor @ 30 Hz) with moderate-high settings. Coming from an overfreighted system where I had all these fancy texture replacements (TOGA, REX SF, ASCA, ...) and shader tweaks (PTA, REX EF, ...) and many other stuff, I was very surprised and impressed how good default shaders and textures are interpreted from P3D. I've tried a lot of add-ons in the last two years, and even when I went back to texture and shader backups, I've always had the feeling that small leftovers intrigued my sim. One example were terrain reflections which were always flickering a bit too much in the water. All looks better now.

My conclusion: I will stay away from shader and texture replacements for a while. Probably I will try it later again, but I will be very careful. Sometimes less is more.

Edited by Nemo
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- Harry 

i9-13900K (HT off, 5.5 GHz, Z690) - 32 GB RAM (DDR5 6400, CAS 34), RTX 3090Windows 11 Pro (1TB M.2) - MSFS 2020 (MS Store, on separate 4TB M.2).

 

 

 

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I use P3DV4 for my main sim but reinstalled FSX Steam for one aircraft, the a2a Connie because it's just too expensive to repurchase. Using FSX as a retro sim I just use default scenery, OPUS FSI weather. No traffic addon since I don't want to see modern aircraft. With this simplicity I'm able to crank up the sliders and you know, things look pretty good and performance is great. Even in tired old FSX. i have some freeware retro airports from California Classics giving me a 1950s world.

Now my P3DV4 is loaded down with stuff. Some time I think we simmers, myself included, are afflicted with gotta have it idus when new stuff comes out and purchase more out of curiosity then need and there is no shortage of smilling marketers who know how to touch that nerve.

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Vic green

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4 minutes ago, PATCO LCH said:

Now my P3DV4 is loaded down with stuff. Some time I think we simmers, myself included, are afflicted with gotta have it idus when new stuff comes out and purchase more out of curiosity then need and there is no shortage of smilling marketers who know how to touch that nerve.

So true Patco! I am guilty of this!  


Maurice J

I7 7700k 4.7 \ EVGA 1080ti \ G-Skill 32GB \ Samsung 4K TV

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I'm ready to do the same. I have detailed airports that I never use and airplanes I never touch. There's a lot of bloat that needs to go away.

 

Bill W

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1 hour ago, BillW said:

I'm ready to do the same. I have detailed airports that I never use and airplanes I never touch. There's a lot of bloat that needs to go away.

 

Bill W

Deleting scenery you aren't flying over/near and deleting aircraft you aren't flying isn't going to make your FPS magically shoot up or reduce stutters. You'll see reduced load times, but that's it. I don't know what was wrong with OP's system, but compared to something like Orbx Vector, shader and texture replacements are minor performance hits. 

 
 
1
17 hours ago, Nemo said:

Due to some other reasons, it was necessary to reset my whole system. I cleaned up two SSD drives and reinstalled Windows 10 (1903) and P3Dv4.5HF from scratch. Then I installed ORBX Global, Vector, Landclass and all NA regions. I added Pilot's FTX Mesh (2018) and three ORBX airports for PNW (Orcas Island, Friday Harbor and Anacortes). I activated AIG Traffic and AI Ships Traffic (Henry Nielsen), both via xml method. Finally, I added Active Sky weather and A2As C172. That was it, nothing else. No Shader tweaks. No texture replacements (except FTX Global). No config tweaks.

You installed well over a dozen add-ons... all you did was leave out the shader/texture replacements and CFG tweaks. I'm struggling to see how this is "keeping it simple." 

Not trying to rain on your parade here, but every few weeks someone makes a thread about the magic bullet they found for performance when it really just came down to a placebo effect. Or clearing some bad setting from the CFG. 

 

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1 hour ago, Chapstick said:

Deleting scenery you aren't flying over/near and deleting aircraft you aren't flying isn't going to make your FPS magically shoot up or reduce stutters. You'll see reduced load times, but that's it. I don't know what was wrong with OP's system, but compared to something like Orbx Vector, shader and texture replacements are minor performance hits. 

You installed well over a dozen add-ons... all you did was leave out the shader/texture replacements and CFG tweaks. I'm struggling to see how this is "keeping it simple." 

Not trying to rain on your parade here, but every few weeks someone makes a thread about the magic bullet they found for performance when it really just came down to a placebo effect. Or clearing some bad setting from the CFG. 

 

It was not meant to be about performance it was more about visuals ... But you are right, shaders and texture replacements don't hit performance very much.

My main reason for a complete reset was that two other non-sim related applications did not run very well and after two and a half years with Windows 10, I thought it might be a good idea to install windows 10 from scratch. This made a P3D re-installation necessary too. I only wanted to state how good P3D feels without any major tweaks and texture or shader replacements. I was so surprised.

I always had some minor visual issues no matter which addon was active or not. I guess after two years of trying and experimenting so many P3D addons and other tweaks, some traces might have been left in the Windows abyss, so even a complete P3D uninstall/reinstall would not help. Anyway, now I have a very clean system and a very clean sim.

And yes it could be a bit placebo, but performance is better too. But this is also because I've not yet installed so many add-ons. For sure I will install some more. PMDG airplanes and some FT and FB airports are already back on my sim. Visuals (and performance) is still very good and I will be a bit more reluctant with further additions. And most important, I will make a complete image backup of both, Windows 10 and P3D hard drives. Right now.

Edited by Nemo
  • Upvote 1

- Harry 

i9-13900K (HT off, 5.5 GHz, Z690) - 32 GB RAM (DDR5 6400, CAS 34), RTX 3090Windows 11 Pro (1TB M.2) - MSFS 2020 (MS Store, on separate 4TB M.2).

 

 

 

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With those addons and your setup - you can probably do more than 30fps and no need to do 30hz monitor.  30hz monitor is just bad period (I hate the lag).

 

with A2A birds - you do get very good fps.  

 

Simplicity is the key - and you have truly found your happy place in your Sim - 

Happy Simming!!!

Edited by Skywolf

Active Pattern: MSFS2020 | In Long term Storage: Prepar3d  

How I Evaluate Third Party Sim Addon Developers

Refined P3Dv5.0 HF2 Settings Part1 (has MaddogX) and older thread Part 2 (has PMDG 747)

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13 hours ago, Chapstick said:

Deleting scenery you aren't flying over/near and deleting aircraft you aren't flying isn't going to make your FPS magically shoot up or reduce stutters. You'll see reduced load times, but that's it. I don't know what was wrong with OP's system, but compared to something like Orbx Vector, shader and texture replacements are minor performance hits. 

You installed well over a dozen add-ons... all you did was leave out the shader/texture replacements and CFG tweaks. I'm struggling to see how this is "keeping it simple." 

Not trying to rain on your parade here, but every few weeks someone makes a thread about the magic bullet they found for performance when it really just came down to a placebo effect. Or clearing some bad setting from the CFG. 

 

I'm not concerned with performance. I just want some of these things off of my hard drive. Why load the drive down with unused items? My machine actually performs very well. I do agree that this would not give more fps. 

 

Bill W

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