Frame rate problem persisting

[Guest enrico68]

Well, I've tried all these tweaks:reduced buildings, trees and clouds textures at 50% - used a reduced AutogenDescriptions.spb- used reduced Materials.spb, RoofDescriptions.spb- changed the value of TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL and TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL to various reduced values (es. 800 and 3000, 100 and 3000)- used various values of TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT (10, 40, 400)- used a PoolSize of 7500000but I've always the same problem: when I'm flying on big cities (Milan, Rome, Istanbul) the frame rate is below 10 and the images are not fluid (expecially when I turn the plane).I fly with these settings:-target frame rate: unlimited-filtering: trilinear and anisotropic activated on the video card-antialiasing: no (activated on the video card)-global texture resolution: very high-lens flare and light bloom: off-advanced animations: off-airplane 3d virutal cockpit: yes (with high details activated)-the only activated shadow is the plane's on on the ground-Level of Detail Radius: max-Mesh Complexity: 100%-Mesh Resolution: 38m-Texture Resolution: 1m-Water Effects: 2 low-Scenery Complexity: above dense-Autogen Density: above dense-Ground Scenery Shadows: off-Special Effects Detail: off-Clouds are in 3d but with the minimum details - Traffic is disabledSo I have some questions for the "forum":1) Which is the difference between scenery complexity and autogen density settings?2) What can you suggest to change in settings and tweks for getting a more fluid flying? Which are the most "consuming" aspects?Take care that I'd like to have terrain textures at the maximum level and lots of building in big cities (I don't like empty cities), 3 Since I'm not interested in haveing lots of trees (I prefer buildings ..), I've tried to put TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL = 0 but I got lot's of trees in the cities. Is there a way to have definitely no trees everywhere?4) If I reduce also the terrain mesh to 50% do you think I can gain in fluidity and FPS? How much ground details will be lost doing this reductions?Sorry for such a long mail ...Thanks a lot to everyone.My hardware configuration is Turion 64 with 1Gb ram and ATI x700 with 256Mb dedicated video ram

[Guest Redvan]

nice lappy :) I have one too :) I'm running demo2, so I cannot say what kind of proformance I'll be getting...

[Guest OneTinSoldier]

Hello Enrico,I too stuggle with getting good performance along with some eye-candy on my system, and I don't think we're alone! ;) You, like me, do not have the most powerful PC available, so we will have to make some compromises, some that we probably don't want to make. And since FSX is not made in such a way to run comfortably with everything at full settings on even the most powerful PC's available, we would still have to make some compromises even if we had such systems. I ma just trying to make the point that we may have to cut back on some items that we really do not want to! I am coming to the conclusion that if I want to fly in the cockpit of a motorized aircraft that I will need to turn 'Autogen' off in order to get the kinds of FPS I want while anywhere in the vicinity of a city, while leaving 'Scenery Complexity' at normal, which gives you some city buildings and terminals/towers/buildings at airports. I have found that if I use the Glider however, I get pretty darn good performance, in or out of the cockpit. If I use the Cessna 172 or King Air 350 there is a noticable performance drop while in the cockpit(performance improves if I go into spot view). I guess the panels and gauges of those default motorized aircrafts take up a fair amount of resources! Therefore, I will turn Autogen 'off' for those birds. And I have applied tweaks very similar to what you have too. One difference that has, of course, impacted my performance since installing it is, MyTraffic X. I had no problem with it in FS9, but since FSX takes up more CPU sycles than FS9 and MyTraffic X takes up some CPU to track/process flights, the impact is definitely noticable. It's yet another reason I need to turn off autogen(if I want some AI traffic anyway). Whaaaa! I need the latest and greatest computer system to have some of both! ;(1) Which is the difference between scenery complexity and autogen density settings?Stuff quoted below is from the Learning Center..."Scenery complexity affects the density of non-autogen buildings and scenery objects like monuments, custom buildings in cities and airports, or any object that requires non-generic models or non-generic textures.""Autogen creates generic scenery objects, such as trees and buildings. The objects appear in the distance as you approach them." I think these are the smaller to medium sized office buildings, warehouses, homes, gas stations, and probably radio towers, silos, barns, ect."Higher settings may affect simulator performance on some computers."/sarcasm onYeah, ok... and higher scenery complexity and autogen settings will have NO EFFECT on the other computers. :-lol/sarcasm off2) What can you suggest to change in settings and tweaks for getting a more fluid flying? Which are the most "consuming" aspects?Take care that I'd like to have terrain textures at the maximum level and lots of building in big cities (I don't like empty cities)The above explanation on Autogen describes one of the most consuming apsects of the sim. But, you don't get something for nothing, so naturally everything has an impact, even if it's a very small impact.One thing you might want to turn down is the 'Terrain Mesh Complexity'..."Higher settings include more points; lower settings drop less-significant points. Mesh complexity settings above 80 may affect your computer's performance.You can pull up the Learning Center in your web browser and see the difference on the following page(note: I have FSX installed on my D: drive, my brower is Firefox)...file:///D:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20Games/Microsoft%20Flight%20Simulator%20X/FSWeb/LearningCenter/Options/ChangingScenerySettings.htmThe Index with clickable pictures is here...file:///D:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20Games/Microsoft%20Flight%20Simulator%20X/FSWeb/LearningCenter/lc_index_KeyTopicsTabs.htmAnother thing you might want to try turning down is water, to 1.x High and see if that helps. I think that water setting looks better while flying in continental areas anyway, the waves in 2.x low look more like ocean waves to me.If I leave Autogen at the 'Normal' setting rather than turn it off, I get 10 FPS around cities too while in the cockpit of a motorized aircraft. My tweaks are...----------------------------------------------Matt Fox's(Forkboy2) batch and other files:Trees 50% reductionAutogen Buildings 50% reductionBump and Specular(.dds textures) blank replacementsTree Variety reduction file(AutogenDescriptions.spb)FS9 Flight Enviroment Clouds(I reduced them to DXT3 format for FSX)FS9 Flight Enviroment Sky texturesfsx.CFG tweaks:{Display}TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=90{TERRAIN}TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL=3000TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL=500ATI Control Panel:Application Control: Unchecked(off)2x AA8x AFAdapative Anti-Aliasing: Checked(on)If you(or anyone else) is curious about my settings I posted screenshots of them below. With Autogen 'off' :( I can get around 15 FPS in cities and large airports in the cockpit of a motorized aircraft, 24 FPS(my lock setting) outside of urban areas. In the Glider I get better performance than that with Autogen turned back up to 'Normal'. Remember, I have MyTraffic X installed, which has caused a drop in FPS, but more than that, has made my FPS fluctuate. I think I'm pretty close to quiting with trying different settings and tweak values, and therefore, about ready to quit using the FPS counter anymore... becuase I think I've about got my performance with compromises in eye-candy about where I want it given my over 2 year old mid-range rig.System Specs:Intel P4 3.4C(C = Northwood Core with Hyperthreading) on Asus P4C800-E Deluxe(Intel 875P + ICH5R Chipset), Zalman 7000a-Cu HS/Fan, Enermax EG651P-VE 550W PSU, 2 GB Mushkin eXtreme Performance(2-2-2) Dual Channel PC3200 RAM, Samsung 214T MultiSync 21" Digital LCD Monitor, Sapphire Radeon X800 XT PE Videocard with Catalyst v6.9 Driver, DirectX 9.0c, Creative Audigy2 Platinum Soundcard with Driver version 02.09.0016, Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers, Western Digital 250 GB w/8 MB Cache 7200 RPM Parallel ATA HDD, WinXP Pro SP2, Norton SystemWorks and Personal Firewall 2006Cheers

[NM5K 1]

>Well, Comments are under the questions...>>but I've always the same problem: when I'm flying on big>cities (Milan, Rome, Istanbul) the frame rate is below 10 and>the images are not fluid (expecially when I turn the plane).>>I fly with these settings:>>-target frame rate: unlimited-- Don't run unlimited. Set for 20-30-40 fps max..>-filtering: trilinear and anisotropic activated on the video>card --Don't run trilinear filtering. That gives the greatesthit I think. I run Anisotropic filtering only. I get the bestfps, but also, roads, etc at a distance look sharper to me,than with bi or trilinear filtering.. MPG may vary...>-antialiasing: no (activated on the video card)>-global texture resolution: very high>-lens flare and light bloom: off>-advanced animations: offThese should be ok...>>-airplane 3d virutal cockpit: yes (with high details>activated)>-the only activated shadow is the plane's on on the ground>-Level of Detail Radius: maxLower that Level of Detail Radius!!!I run mine at medium so far..>>-Mesh Complexity: 100% -do you really need it that high?But...Probably has a minimal effect on fps..>-Mesh Resolution: 38mThis is ok. I actually run mine at 19m..>-Texture Resolution: 1m- You can crank that one full blastwith any decent vid card..>-Water Effects: 2 low 0 I use 1 low...>-Scenery Complexity: above denseThis is ok. I actually run mine full blast to get max buildingsin the cities.. That will reduce fps in cities though..>-Autogen Density: above denseThis one will kill you in some areas..>-Ground Scenery Shadows: offok..>-Special Effects Detail: offok too, I use "med"...>>-Clouds are in 3d but with the minimum details >- Traffic is disabled>>So I have some questions for the "forum":>>1) Which is the difference between scenery complexity and>autogen density settings?Scenery complexity is for the non autogen buildings , etc..Skyscrapers in cities, etc... In most cases, cranking that uphigh won't kill you.. I run mine at max most the time. Autogen density is controlling the autogen.. Which can be the #1 fps killer. >>2) What can you suggest to change in settings and tweks for>getting a more fluid flying? Which are the most "consuming">aspects?Autogen is the #1 killer that I see. I use it very carefully..>Take care that I'd like to have terrain textures at the>maximum level and lots of building in big cities (I don't like>empty cities), This one is fairly easy.. Try swapping your old FS9 "default.xml"file in place of the FSX version. What this will do is placemany more buildings in the cities, vs buildings and trees. But.. You will usually actually have a 2-3 fps better frame rate. You will see more buildings across the cities, but fewtrees. But you will still have trees out in the boonies, alongwith the power lines, etc...>>3 Since I'm not interested in haveing lots of trees (I prefer>buildings ..), I've tried to put>TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL = 0 but I got lot's of>trees in the cities. Is there a way to have definitely no>trees everywhere?Yep, again swap the FS9 default.xml in place of the FSX version..>>4) If I reduce also the terrain mesh to 50% do you think I can>gain in fluidity and FPS? How much ground details will be lost>doing this reductions?Not sure.. I haven't really tested that. In my case, I run:LOD =mediumMesh complexity = 65mesh resolution = 19texture resolution = 7 cmwater fx = low 1xscenery complexity =extremely denseautogen density = varys to type of flying. sparce or medium for low flying. None for smooth jet flying, or aerobatics...special fx= medI use detailed clouds at med..I use all the "traffics" but keep at low numbers..IE: 15-20% range..Aircraft I use ultra high global settings.High res 3d panel, and all shadows..MK

[Guest enrico68]

Anyone can post the original FS2004 default.xml file??Thanks

[Guest 11111111111]

where is the fsx.cfg

[robert young 2,897]

Hi Enrico,Your PoolSize is quite high. Have you tried around 20,000? That certainly helped here. Also FIBER FRAME between 0.01 and 0.2 should help but if you get blurries you might have to increase it towards the default 0.33.I got rid of ALL autogen trees by using Mat Fox's autogen tweaks then setting them to zero in the cfg. I didn't much like the look of the trees anyway and with higher res ground textures you get a reasonable impression of foliage. This one tweak has enormously boosted my frame rates.Rob Young

[Mace 1,896]

I'm not sure how fast your Turion is, nor do I know how fast the ATI x700 is, but if you're getting stuttering then some things are set too high. 1) frame lock to 251a) set water to 1.x high2) set global texture resolution to "Medium"3) turn off hi-res 3d virtual cockpitThen see what you get fluidity-wise.With the above, my computer can:4) special effects maxxed5) autogen maxxed6) terrain complexity maxxed7) 38m terrain res8) 1m textures9) cloud density maxxed10) aircraft ground shadows onIf you must have water 2.x low, then you are going to have to compromise somewhere else. For me, I like 1.x high water. For you, maybe you like 2.x low. To do that you need to make compromises at this point in time.If you must have hi-res 3d virtual cockpits enabled, then you are going to have to compromise somewhere else. For me, I am not much of a VC-guy so I leave it unchecked.If you must have "High" global texture resolution, then you are going to have to compromise somewhere else. For my 256 meg vid card, "Medium" works the best...so far. Still experimenting with this.The ultimate fluidity-getter is to turn off the default.xml file. But the downside is you lose a lot of city trees and city gas stations, restaurants, etc. So it's not a good option. But it DOES just about double the frame rates and smoothness of the sim. We're talkin a smooth 40 fps in cities on my computer.Hope this rambling discussion helps you...every config is different and nothing works for all people, so experimentation is required...RhettAMD 3700+ (@2.5 ghz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (94.47), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian