Latest update

[Zimmerbz 153]

Does anyone else feel that since the latest release the performance and visual graphics have gotten worse?  In the FBW A320, I have 25-30 fps, but looking out the window it stutters the whole time, there seem to be way more of those triangular elevation abnormalities, the roads and highways seem blurry and jagged and the textures don't seem nearly as crisp.  This doesn't intend to be a complaint thread but just wanted to see if anyone else feels the same or if it is just me.  And if it is just me, what should I keep an eye one to fix?  Most settings are on high.  

[Greg073 46]

You are not alone.  But the graphics and the performance got worse for me and I changed nothing on my computer.

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

I have been lucky, the only issue I am seeing is blurry unaliased runway centre lines that eventually improve if you hold short long enough, even on ultra.

However other people are reporting all sorts of issues.

[neil0311 366]

Have not seen a decrease in performance or quality but I have things at 4K on High with no 3rd party add ons.

If anything, there’s been less fluctuation in FPS. 

Edited December 1, 2020 by neil0311

[Little Jenny 315]

I feel that my performance has actually increased recently.  I flew into KORD the other day and it was stutter free (previous flights were definitely a challenge with stuttering).  I have nearly everything on ultra (1080p). I no longer chase the FPS so just look for stutters or choppiness.

[Denwagg 191]

I smoothed my stutters out almost completely by increasing my render scale in Ultra Settings until my GPU stays in the 95 to100 percent range.
I ended up at 160 for render scaling.

Frame rates are smooth but slower. At KATL in the 320 I get between 18-25 taxing and takeoff. In the air 25-30. No stutters at all 

[bobcat999 8,444]

1 hour ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

I have been lucky, the only issue I am seeing is blurry unaliased runway centre lines that eventually improve if you hold short long enough, even on ultra.

However other people are reporting all sorts of issues.

Glenn, it seems that super sampling is working now.  If you have AF at x16, and SS at x6, or x8, it fixed the runway lines and a few other things for me.  x8 gives me a small performance hit over x6, so it is down to what you can afford to sacrifice in terms of frames per second.

Also. I haven't used the sim for a while, but after the last update, does anyone else have ai aircraft at airports with static and spinning props at the same time?  Looks weird.  I wonder if it was just a one off as I haven't 'flown' since.

Edited December 1, 2020 by bobcat999

[flyingjafo 16]

20 minutes ago, Denwagg said:

I smoothed my stutters out almost completely by increasing my render scale in Ultra Settings until my GPU stays in the 95 to100 percent range.
I ended up at 160 for render scaling.

Frame rates are smooth but slower. At KATL in the 320 I get between 18-25 taxing and takeoff. In the air 25-30. No stutters at all 

So would you say that it is still a nice flight experience even if fps are in the low 20's? I haven't bought FS2020 yet but was wondering if it is still enjoyable with what you just described?

[Denwagg 191]

As long as its smooth and frame rates do not deviate much say 17-22 it great for landing and takeoff. In the air frames increase to 23-30 but gpu is still chugging along at 90-100 percent.

Try it up your render scale until task manager shows gpu nearly 100% at a large airport and see if it smooths things out.

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

13 minutes ago, flyingjafo said:

So would you say that it is still a nice flight experience even if fps are in the low 20's? I haven't bought FS2020 yet but was wondering if it is still enjoyable with what you just described?

I agree with Denwagg,  personally I find 20-25  fps in taxi and 30+ in the air perfectly fine.  I can get 60+ fps by winding the graphics back and could force it even lower by winding the settings up past ultra (ultra is not maximum graphics)  but for me the 25 to 35 fps point is the best compromise.

Flying a flight sim is always going to be this sort of compromise between graphics settings, FPS/stutters and how much money you want to spend on hardware. There is no rule that says you have to sacrifice FPS to get ultra settings or visa versa.   It is a personal choice partly governed by the level of hardware you are prepared to pay for.

Also the FPS that people find acceptable versus disturbing can vary from one individual to the next and it also depends on the scenario where 20 fps may be fine in a cold start and slow taxi while looking at scenery in a flight sim but be unplayable in a fast action first person shooter.

What everyone agrees on is that really low fps (say 8 or 10) is unplayable but otherwise eliminating stutters is far more important that high FPS.

Note that people often quote figures of 30 fps (or sometimes 60 fps) for frame limiting but those numbers date back to a time when all monitors were 60hz and of course 30 fps is exactly half.  It is not as if our eyes have an innate natural preference for 30 fps, it is just 30 fps is smoother on a 60 hz screen than other settings.  On a 75hz monitor 25 fps may make more sense whereas on a 144hz sceen you might go for 36 fps .

[Zimmerbz 153]

1 hour ago, Denwagg said:

I smoothed my stutters out almost completely by increasing my render scale in Ultra Settings until my GPU stays in the 95 to100 percent range.
I ended up at 160 for render scaling.

Frame rates are smooth but slower. At KATL in the 320 I get between 18-25 taxing and takeoff. In the air 25-30. No stutters at all 

I have mine set at 100 and get stutters.  Not being technical, is it safe to assume lowering that number would help?  What would I lose by lowering it?  Still not 100% sure that that setting does.  

 

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

Glenn, it seems that super sampling is working now.  If you have AF at x16, and SS at x6, or x8, it fixed the runway lines and a few other things for me.  x8 gives me a small performance hit over x6, so it is down to what you can afford to sacrifice in terms of frames per second.

Also. I haven't used the sim for a while, but after the last update, does anyone else have ai aircraft at airports with static and spinning props at the same time?  Looks weird.  I wonder if it was just a one off as I haven't 'flown' since.

Based on my specs, what would you recommend in terms of AF and SS settings?  Should these be set in the sim or in my Nvidia settings?  Are there any must do's or don't in terms of settings I should be looking out for?   

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

54 minutes ago, Zimmerbz said:

I have mine set at 100 and get stutters.  Not being technical, is it safe to assume lowering that number would help?  What would I lose by lowering it?  Still not 100% sure that that setting does.  

 

Render scaling is the ratio between what the game renders at and what it displays.

If you are set at 100% you are rendering at the same resolution as your display.

If you are set below 100% you are rendering at lower resolution and upscaling to match your display. There may be a quality drop but there is also less GPU load.

If you are set over 100% you are rendering at a higher resolution then you need and then downscaling it match your display. There may be a slight quality improvement at the expense of GPU load.

 

I believe the logic behind rendering at greater than 100% with a good GPU that is handling the game fine - at least in terms of avoiding STUTTERS - is more to do with loading up the GPU so it never goes idle, if the GPU is kept busy rendering at more than 100%  it never gets a chance to go idle and shut down which can  cause stutters each time it tries to ramp back up again.

Edited December 2, 2020 by Glenn Fitzpatrick

[bobcat999 8,444]

8 hours ago, Zimmerbz said:

I have mine set at 100 and get stutters.  Not being technical, is it safe to assume lowering that number would help?  What would I lose by lowering it?  Still not 100% sure that that setting does.  

 

Based on my specs, what would you recommend in terms of AF and SS settings?  Should these be set in the sim or in my Nvidia settings?  Are there any must do's or don't in terms of settings I should be looking out for?   

I see you have a 2070 Super. I have a 1080Ti.  These cards are fairly close in capability.  CPU speed will have negligible impact on this subject.

First of all, turn off all settings relating to AF, AA and AA Super Sampling in any Nvidia settings program that you use, or set as application controlled.  Definitely check that FXAA is disabled or this will clash. The setting adjustments will be in the sim only.

I run at AF x16, and SS x6.  I can use SS x8 if I chose to fly islands or countryside rather than cities or busy areas.  I lock at  30 frames per second for smoothness using Riva Tuna SS (which is great and can be adjusted on the fly).  This works, as it shows I get 36-37 FPS in general when unlocked (just for testing of course, to prove I can lock at 30 and it shouldn't dip below that).  

Also, this is at 1440 at 120% scaling (I have a 4k monitor), and of course TAA, which is the only anti-aliasing system that works well in MSFS really.    I run with a roughly 50-50 mix between high and ultra settings, but with minimal AI traffic.  Just a personal preference, but I run with clouds at high rather than ultra, as they look better on my system like that.  They look a bit too 'lumpy' on ultra on my system.  

These have been the most successful settings I have found in terms of smoothness and visual quality on my system, and I was really happy with them.  Unfortunately, the last update has introduced a bit of stuttering/juddering that I never had before.  It is mainly when looking sideways as the scenery goes past.  I hope they can fix this at the next update.  I believe it may be due to Asobo trying the new optimisations, which haven't worked for everybody it seems.

PS.  Just a side note on render scaling and resolution.  I can either run at 4k 80%, or 1440 120%.  It is very close on performance.  I found this is because the amount of actual pixels is the same for both when I did the calculation.  However, 4k gives very slightly less performance.  I believe this is because it is easier for the GPU to generate at 1440 and then upscale slightly, rather than generate at 4k then downscale slightly.  I may be misunderstanding this, but it is definitely a thing, and something I can measure.

Edited December 2, 2020 by bobcat999

[tonywob 4,768]

You're not alone.. This is the first update for me since the alpha that messed things up and causes performance issues and random CTDs.. I get stutters, freezes etc.. Hopefully it will be resolved and it will get back to normal again