I'm hoping to keep this thread confined to one specific question, which is, well, in the title:  has there been any indication anywhere that LM intends to improve the VRAM management for P3Dv5.x?  I jumped back on the P3D train with v5 and have been suffering mightily from bumping my head on VRAM issues.  I've installed each dot release and hotfix, but I haven't really seen those particular problem improve much, so I'm left wondering does LM intend for user's to essentially handle VRAM management indirectly themselves through settings management or what products we use, or have they (or will they) be introducing actual memory management into P3D itself, as is the case with most other DX12 titles?

I clearly have an opinion on which of these routes I'd prefer, but that's not the point.  For me, at this point, I'd just like to know whether I should just stop bothering chasing updates and move on to greener, non-crashing pastures ...

-Jeff

I’m surprised you aren’t seeing an improvement with the latest hot fix, because it’s significantly better at VRAM management than before. It’s still a flawed system though in how it absolutely punishes the user via CTDs if they take their eyes off the VRAM counter. I can’t think of any other DX12 title where that’s an accepted practice. Anyway, I don’t think anyone knows if or how LM plans to solve this issue. Or if they even see it as an issue.

@Rob_Ainscough you forgot to mention EA - that also uses up VRAM unless I am mistaken.

You can also shave some VRAM by using 2X or 4X MSAA instead of 8x. The biggest factor is texture resolution. You can set it to 1024 and pretty much never have VRAM issues but your sim will look like word not allowed. 

17 minutes ago, Chapstick said:

You can also shave some VRAM by using 2X or 4X MSAA instead of 8x. The biggest factor is texture resolution. You can set it to 1024 and pretty much never have VRAM issues but your sim will look like word not allowed. 

I gotta say, I run on 1024 and I don't think it's all that bad...

Ooof, I sure hope buying a 3080 isn't going to cause me remorse in lieu for another $800+ for a 3090.

Since HF1 the VRAM has dropped down and i untick the Dynamic Texture Streaming, but i don`t use addons unless they are V5 compatible and now will only buy V5 compatible products. 

LM suggestion: If you have VRAM problems in P3Dv5, use P3Dv4

11 hours ago, Benjamin J said:

I gotta say, I run on 1024 and I don't think it's all that bad...

I agree however the 717 looks terrible in and out in 1024 and that's a pity since it is necessary when flying it

13 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

How do you know your "crashing" is related to VRAM usage?  In P3D, Shift+Z will show you VRAM usage.

LM have addressed VRAM usage via these two options:

  

Some (not all) other common cause for CTDs or DXGI_DEVICE_HUNG are:

• 3rd party product that hasn't been updated to support P3D V5.1 HF1
• Aircraft using TrueGlass.DLL and RealLight.DLL
• A possible bug in P3D, disable Bathymetry and Vegetation shadows cast/receive
• Having a SimConnect.cfg file in your "My Documents" folder

Using tweaks like:

• TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=10
• RS_MIN_OBJECT_PIXEL_RADIUS=1.000000
• MAX_TEXTURE_REQUEST_DISTANCE=320000.000000
• OPAQUE_SHADOW_TEXTURE_SIZE=4096 or 8192
• TRANSLUCENT_SHADOW_TEXTURE_SIZE=1024 or 2048
• OPAQUE_SHADOW_DRAW_DISTANCE=8000 or higher
• TRANSLUCENT_SHADOW_DRAW_DISTANCE=8000 or higher

Will use up a lot more VRAM.

Cheers, Rob.

 

 

@Rob_Ainscough is the recommendation to have dynamic texture streaming on or off?

22 minutes ago, Shomron said:

@Rob_Ainscough is the recommendation to have dynamic texture streaming on or off?

IMO it depends on your GPU and texture settings. If you’re on an 8gb card and use 2048, I would turn it on. 

10 hours ago, G-RFRY said:

Since HF1 the VRAM has dropped down and i untick the Dynamic Texture Streaming, but i don`t use addons unless they are V5 compatible and now will only buy V5 compatible products. 

I think the use of P3Dv5 is incredibly important actually. I have loaded some P3Dv4 scenery as well but have noticed that they are quite stutters in P3Dv5. I’ll try to convert them use ModelConverterX but if that doesn’t solve the issues, I might have to get rid of them.

14 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

?  Per my image, IF you are indeed running out of VRAM use those settings ... have you confirmed you are running out of VRAM (Shift+Z) values in upper left corner?

Cheers, Rob.

I do only in rare cases = TFDI 717 or LatinVFR airports.

I'll rephrase - what is the disadvantage of using it? Any reason not to have it checked default on every flight?

The biggest issue I've seen with DTS is that it might drop the texture of an AI right in front of you to a really low level. Kind of immersion breaking but not the worst.

35 minutes ago, Chapstick said:

The biggest issue I've seen with DTS is that it might drop the texture of an AI right in front of you to a really low level. Kind of immersion breaking but not the worst.

Bingo! That explains why I see sometimes jetways getting blurry right in front of me.