Does AI really cost this much FPS?

[Mace 1,902]

3 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Yes, of course. Kael has already replied saying the 120 was wrong. 70-80 was the actual figure but that was with autogen off whereas mine was at max.

Ok, good.  I am about to start installing AI to my HF2 setup and I'll have a solid basis for comparison now.  Your hardware is so close to mine...down to the ram sticks close.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,927]

8 minutes ago, Mace said:

Ok, good.  I am about to start installing AI to my HF2 setup and I'll have a solid basis for comparison now.  Your hardware is so close to mine...down to the ram sticks close.

You chose well! 😁 Bear in mind my numbers are for P3D v4.5, not v5. And those numbers are with the Cub. More complex aircraft like the PMDG737 or XP Lear 25 eat more fps.

[KL Oo 695]

Just for the sake of clarity these are my results using the default Mooney at 27R looking at the gates/terminals here in V5HF2. No Autogen. Shadows for the internal vehicle only. Default Fair weather theme. VSYNC Off, frames set to unlimited in the SIM. All other graphics sliders to the right. 

SimWings EGLL and AIG Traffic. Using FSUIPC to limit traffic.

With 250 AI Aircraft - FPS: 33
With 200 AI Aircraft - FPS: 37 
With 150 AI Aircraft - FPS: 41
With 100 AI Aircraft - FPS: 48
With 50 AI Aircraft - FPS: 65
With 10 AI Aircraft - FPS: 70
Wtih 0 AI Aircraft (P3D Traffic Slider to 0% AI) - FPS: 75

Difference in VRAM from 250 to 0 AI aircraft was around 500MB (starting at 4.1GB with 0 AI and moving up to 4.6GB with 250AI)

What I've just found really odd is that if I disable SimWings EGLL and use the default EGLL, with no AI Traffic I'm still sitting at about 80FPS. (I'm sure when I did this test yesterday it was up over 100). If this is the case then SimWings EGLL is having about a 10 FPS effect on P3D V5 on my system.

 

Edited June 30, 2020 by KL Oo

[Mace 1,902]

2 hours ago, KL Oo said:

If this is the case then SimWings EGLL is having about a 10 FPS effect on P3D V5 on my system.

Similarly, tonight in P3Dv5HF2 I tested LatinVFR KMIA...on RWY 9 (facing downtown Miami)...unlimited/vsync off...middling sliders....clear weather...no AI...default F-35...
...and I got 70 fps. (measured using MSI Afterburner)

Take away LatinVFR KMIA, (switch to default KMIA) and went to 88 fps with identical config.

Then I turned LatinVFR back on, and loaded up AIG American Airlines (the only package I have installed):
0% AI:  70 fps
50% AI: 59 fps
100% AI: 55 fps

FPS probably doesn't tell us the entire story of AI impact on FS performance, but it is one useful metric at least, and I believe one which we can all fairly accurately measure with Unlimited/vsync off (standard raw fps testing scenario).   At 50% AI there were about 30 aircraft in the bubble as I recall.  I'm not (yet) using FSUIPC to limit traffic, but I will once I add more.   This is all with the default air traffic bgl disabled (extension changed to .OFF).

[Ray Proudfoot 8,927]

I don’t want to make anyone jealous but I managed to get 260fps at SimWings Heathrow today. How I hear you ask? 😁

Easy! Turn every option off and move all sliders to the left. No Ai obviously. I was curious to see how high the fps would go before we spoil it by adding buildings and other features. 😁

But in all seriousness I have improved performance by not sticking to a fixed number of aircraft. I read @Pete Dowson‘s post yesterday and used the target frame rate slider to ensure 30 is achieved. The minimum count of Ai was set to 90. It dropped to 90 when lined up on 27R but after takeoff enroute to Birmingham the number of Ai increased substantially to over 200.

So this is what I’ll be sticking to in future. Thanks Pete! 👏