Nvidia Drivers 461.09 (7th Jan 2021) Observations.

[bobcat999 8,483]

Firstly, I had to download these for my 1080Ti, as it fixes a problem with the screen going black for a second or two (very occasionally, and mainly on the windows desktop and when browsing - never had it in the sim).

I am happy it was mentioned in the notes, as I never knew a previous driver had introduced this problem, and I thought my card was on it's way out! 

Anyway, I did my usual test run from Sedona to Flagstaff, and everything is still fine - no noticeable performance difference, silky smooth locked at 30 FPS on 4K 70% and high/ultra mix of settings.

Blog tree fix installed (Sedona area looks amazing with this), and looking out sideways at low level at all the trees going past, there was no judder at all.

So all good and silky smooth for me! 👍  If I was pushed, I would say these drivers might be slightly better/smoother, but I can't prove it.  But this is the first time I had the tree fix installed for my Sedona run, and it did seem silky smooth.  As you know though, anyone who expects significant FPS gains from older cards with a new driver is kidding themselves - it just doesn't happen ..anyway, slightly smoother or not, they don't seem to degrade performance in any way on the 1080Ti.

Some other things.  I installed Geforce Experience this time as I want to try the video recoding software.  I checked all my settings, it said it hadn't 'optimised' the game yet (good) and sure enough, not a single one of my settings in game or in Nvidia Control panel had changed (I know them off by heart now! 😁)

One thing I did notice on the optimisation page was that it wanted me to switch from TAA to FXAA - unbelievable!  Do Nvidia and Microsoft really coordinate on this?  It calls into question any driver released that they say is 'optimised' for MSFS.  A lot of the other settings it was suggesting were pure pants also. 

One last thing.  I had really bad stuttering on short final to Flagstaff, but this happened with my previous drivers. This isn't a driver/settings issue, it is a sim issue, and after doing a really stuttery touch and go, I flew back to Sedona, which has more complex scenery, and once again it was buttery smooth.

My observation on this is that it has been happening since the runway has been broken at Flagstaff, with the black lines / ruts / steps running through it, so I think this is a bit of a 'thing' in the sim, because I also get this bad stuttering at Sarasota-Bradenton as well now, and that also has the broken runway issue.  One of the steps there is that bad, it actually flipped my C152 on it's back!  

Anyway, it would be nice if someone else could confirm this for me.  So Flagstaff or Sarasota.  It is possible you may not see the stuttering on something like a 3080 if it simply brute-force blasts its way through the performance depredation.  Just to note, I don't get any stuttering anywhere else, even at complex airports - it is just the ones with the broken runways that seem to cause it, so I think this graphical glitch might be linked to this isolated performance issue somehow.  I note that after turning away from Flagstaff and flying for 20-30 seconds, performance comes back to silk smooth again, so I think when the runway ruts are visible (to you in the plane), this is what might be causing it.

I want to stress this isn't an issue of the new driver, I have had this issue going back some time since various runways got broken.

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by bobcat999

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

I presume you mean 2021 😄

[bobcat999 8,483]

Nice one Glenn!  Just changed it!  👍

[scotchegg 4,186]

2 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

One last thing.  I had really bad stuttering on short final to Flagstaff, but this happened with my previous drivers. This isn't a driver/settings issue, it is a sim issue

I get stuttering and poor frames at a lot of airports, even default with few buildings. Definitely a sim issue somewhere.

[RJC68 823]

2 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

Firstly, I had to download these for my 1080Ti, as it fixes a problem with the screen going black for a second or two (very occasionally, and mainly on the windows desktop and when browsing - never had it in the sim).

I am happy it was mentioned in the notes, as I never knew a previous driver had introduced this problem, and I thought my card was on it's way out! 

Anyway, I did my usual test run from Sedona to Flagstaff, and everything is still fine - no noticeable performance difference, silky smooth locked at 30 FPS on 4K 70% and high/ultra mix of settings.

Blog tree fix installed (Sedona area looks amazing with this), and looking out sideways at low level at all the trees going past, there was no judder at all.

So all good and silky smooth for me! 👍  If I was pushed, I would say these drivers might be slightly better/smoother, but I can't prove it.  But this is the first time I had the tree fix installed for my Sedona run, and it did seem silky smooth.  As you know though, anyone who expects significant FPS gains from older cards with a new driver is kidding themselves - it just doesn't happen ..anyway, slightly smoother or not, they don't seem to degrade performance in any way on the 1080Ti.

Some other things.  I installed Geforce Experience this time as I want to try the video recoding software.  I checked all my settings, it said it hadn't 'optimised' the game yet (good) and sure enough, not a single one of my settings in game or in Nvidia Control panel had changed (I know them off by heart now! 😁)

One thing I did notice on the optimisation page was that it wanted me to switch from TAA to FXAA - unbelievable!  Do Nvidia and Microsoft really coordinate on this?  It calls into question any driver released that they say is 'optimised' for MSFS.  A lot of the other settings it was suggesting were pure pants also. 

One last thing.  I had really bad stuttering on short final to Flagstaff, but this happened with my previous drivers. This isn't a driver/settings issue, it is a sim issue, and after doing a really stuttery touch and go, I flew back to Sedona, which has more complex scenery, and once again it was buttery smooth.

My observation on this is that it has been happening since the runway has been broken at Flagstaff, with the black lines / ruts / steps running through it, so I think this is a bit of a 'thing' in the sim, because I also get this bad stuttering at Sarasota-Bradenton as well now, and that also has the broken runway issue.  One of the steps there is that bad, it actually flipped my C152 on it's back!  

Anyway, it would be nice if someone else could confirm this for me.  So Flagstaff or Sarasota.  It is possible you may not see the stuttering on something like a 3080 if it simply brute-force blasts its way through the performance depredation.  Just to note, I don't get any stuttering anywhere else, even at complex airports - it is just the ones with the broken runways that seem to cause it, so I think this graphical glitch might be linked to this isolated performance issue somehow.  I note that after turning away from Flagstaff and flying for 20-30 seconds, performance comes back to silk smooth again, so I think when the runway ruts are visible (to you in the plane), this is what might be causing it.

I want to stress this isn't an issue of the new driver, I have had this issue going back some time since various runways got broken.

 

Nice to hear that,

I have been on 452.06 for the longest time.

Would you mind posting your settings, I have a 1080TI and have been considering a 4K TV (currently have a 42" 1080P LED) I am nervous at what sort of results I'd get with the 1080TI. It is still a great card and performs beautifully in MSFS 2020 & X-Plane 11. Currently in the TBM I can get pretty much 60FPS with decent settings at 1920 X 1080. I do not normally fly any of the big jets, performance is just too crappy for me. I love the TBM & Longitude and flying to smaller airports I do not end up with a slide show during departure or final.

Will be interested to see how your settings compare to mine bar the resolution difference

Edited January 8, 2021 by Richdem

[Snuffleupagus 327]

8 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

Blog tree fix installed (Sedona area looks amazing with this)

What fix is this?

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

1 hour ago, pvupilot said:

What fix is this?

There are two similar fixes for the tree LOD issues.

 

The first one is at flightsim.to

https://flightsim.to/file/5318/vegetation-draw-distance-fix

The other alternative mod (usually called "the blog fix")  is at 

https://www.flightsimulator.blog/2020/12/29/increase-trees-draw-distance/

 

You choose one or the other not both. They also conflict with the tree height fix hence the reason these mods now offer reduced tree heights as well as increased LOD.

 

If you want more info here is a thread about it:

 

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Glenn Fitzpatrick

[bobcat999 8,483]

10 hours ago, Richdem said:

Nice to hear that,

I have been on 452.06 for the longest time.

Would you mind posting your settings, I have a 1080TI and have been considering a 4K TV (currently have a 42" 1080P LED) I am nervous at what sort of results I'd get with the 1080TI. It is still a great card and performs beautifully in MSFS 2020 & X-Plane 11. Currently in the TBM I can get pretty much 60FPS with decent settings at 1920 X 1080. I do not normally fly any of the big jets, performance is just too crappy for me. I love the TBM & Longitude and flying to smaller airports I do not end up with a slide show during departure or final.

Will be interested to see how your settings compare to mine bar the resolution difference

Sure.  When I get in tonight I will Jump in to my settings and list them for you. 

With a 1080Ti is entirely possible to run 4k at 30fps fixed and smooth, at 70% scaling and sensible settings.

I have a 4k monitor and wouldn't go back.  It is so sharp on things such as the instrument dials, and being able to pick out runways in the distance.

Until I found the sweet spot with 4k settings, I was having to run at 1440 and I was gutted! 

No matter how much you tweak the settings and over scaling etc, there is no substitute for having that higher pixel count on the screen in front of you. 

[MarcG 2,978]

461 still a mess for me in VR, low FPS and inconsistent FPS drops when at a standstill, very choppy performance overall.

 

Gone back to 457 and it's nice and smooth with consistently higher FPS at a steady level.

 

Edit: 2070Super

 

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by MarcG

[AnkH 2,266]

58 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

to run 4k at 30fps fixed and smooth, at 70% scaling and sensible settings.

Running "4K resolution at 70% rendering scale" is not 4K... 

[altenae 171]

29 minutes ago, MarcG said:

461 still a mess for me in VR, low FPS and inconsistent FPS drops when at a standstill, very choppy performance overall.

 

Gone back to 457 and it's nice and smooth with consistently higher FPS at a steady level.

 

Edit: 2070Super

457.?? (which version exactly ?)

 

 

[MarcG 2,978]

25 minutes ago, altenae said:

 

457.30

[bobcat999 8,483]

1 hour ago, AnkH said:

Running "4K resolution at 70% rendering scale" is not 4K... 

Yes I know AnkH.  That's why I said 4k at 70% scaling.  

You could say that about anyone who runs at a scaling factor, whether it it is 1440 at 130%, or even 4K at 120%.

What I meant was my monitor is 4k.  I tried using 1440 and upscaling instead to roughly the same pixel count, but there was quite a difference in visual quality.
So for me, 4k and downscaling until you get a solid 30FPS is the way to go.  It uses all if the screen pixels, and TAA can do wonders at sensible scaling factors. 👍

[pmb 5,137]

2 hours ago, MarcG said:

461 still a mess for me in VR, low FPS and inconsistent FPS drops when at a standstill, very choppy performance overall.

Did anyone out there try 461.09 with VR yet? I'm mostly flying with my Reverb (1) those days, so this would matter. Still on 457.30 so far.

Thanks and kind regards, Michael

[bobcat999 8,483]

17 minutes ago, pmb said:

Did anyone out there try 461.09 with VR yet? I'm mostly flying with my Reverb (1) those days, so this would matter. Still on 457.30 so far.

Thanks and kind regards, Michael

I wouldn't bother unless you have a 1080Ti Michael, as I don't think there is anything specific in the release notes in that area. 
I got it mainly for 1080Ti fixes, which had a couple of blackout / freezing issues introduced by a previous driver.

Fixed Issues in this Release:

[GeForce Experience]: The FPS counter is activated and the overlay appears on Windows Mail and Calendar applications.[200682565]

[GeForce GTX 750 Ti]: Blue-screen crash (UNEXPECTED KERNEL MODE TRAP) may occur. [3196164]

[GeForce GTX 1080 Ti]: The desktop screen may flicker. [3200599]

[GeForce GTX 1080 Ti]: The system may freeze with the screen displaying as solid color. [3203038]

[HDR]: With HDR enabled, black levels are incorrect, notably on LG OLED TVs. [200682795/ 3201305]

[Notebook][Lenovo Y740]: The notebook displays corruption after waking from sleep. [3178279]

Blue-screen crash (0x116) may occur upon resuming from sleep mode when three 4k monitors are connected. [3054239/3195884]

Edited January 8, 2021 by bobcat999