P3D v5 - how is VRAM handling now?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

I have been happy to stay with P3D v4.5 for the forseeable because it's been so stable for me and the reports about VRAM handling in v5 were somewhat off-putting.

But having had a reply from FS Labs this morning they have confirmed there are advantages in v5 over v4 for the forthcoming 64-bit Concorde specifically with advanced PBR effects as well as improved frame rates.

Dynamic Lighting problems in v4 seem fixed in v5 and performance is widely reported as being much better. With my 1080Ti card can I expect it to handle v5 VRAM without any issues now? Any other issues with weather I need to know? Is the new weather engine better than Active Sky which I am loath to stop using?

[micstatic 4,316]

Ray.  I previously had a 1080Ti running 4k.  For the most part no issues at all.  A few payware sceneries like FLL,ORD,MIA would push me to the limit.  Like you I run at 30 frames so I suspect that is part of the reason I never had problems.  If you fly with EA on it does weird things at night/dusk/dawn and also I don't think looks good with rain/snow and even fog sometimes.  Though there are times it looks amazing.  But because I want realism.  I mostly will just use active sky with EA off and ASCA.  Performance is clearly better in V5.  Especially with DL being heavily used like night ops.  

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

@micstatic, thanks for that, very helpful. I see you have moved onto a substantially better card which is not really an option for me given the market but it's reassuring the 1080Ti was fine for you. I'll happily reduce settings to maintain 30fps but mostly reducing AIG Ai traffic via Ai Companion sorts that out except at the very busiest airports.

I never fly at night and only rarely around sunrise / sunset so that won't be a problem. Good to know I can turn EA off and continue to use AS/ASCA.

One flight I do want to do is taking off from Heathrow after sunset and watching the sun rise in the western sky as Concorde flies faster than the Earth rotates.

[David Vega 348]

@Ray Proudfoot, would be interested in knowing your experience with v5 if you proceed with the switch.  Like you, I've also opted to stay with v4 because I left FSX only when the CTDs due to running out of memory became unbearable.  Why would I go to that again?  With v4, I haven't thought about memory of any kind at all.  Not having to keep watching remaining memory numbers or being worried that the sim would crash just as I was about to land after a long flight has been a blessing.  Like you, I also fly complex tubeliners and have a 1080Ti 11Gb card.  

[micstatic 4,316]

i think the issues people have had going from V4 to V5 have been a loud minority.  With a stable system, realistic settings, locked frames it is very easy to not have the CTD issues that have plagued so many.  Now I say that with the recommendation of no less than 11gb VRAM with 4k settings.  But with that CTD's were so rare for me they aren't even worth mentioning.  To be honest the vast majority of the ones I did have were before V5 fixed the in sim menu.  I would be triggering GSX commands and it would crash the system periodically.  But I haven't seen one of the since the latest hotfix addressed the issue.  

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

@SAX702, it won’t be this week or even this month. I already have P3Dv3 and v4 installed.  Try running v3 with its 4Gb limit and on top of that having to downscale my 4K monitor to 1920*1080 to avoid running out of VAS. Concorde virtual cockpit looks grim even with a quality monitor.

But the Dynamic Lighting issue in v4 is a pain making flights after sunset a pain. L-M don’t release new versions because they need the money. It’s done because they feel decent improvements can be made.

No doubt you’ll hear from me once I’ve made the switch.

[shermank 166]

I have been running v5.1 for several months. It did not take too long to find the sweet spot so that now I hardly ever use more than 4.1 vram with my GTX 1660ti and its 5.1gig available memory. I never have stutters and images are crystal clear, as in this screen shot as I am ready for my first flight of the day

Sherm

 

[kevinfirth 1,392]

@Ray Proudfoot I wouldn't be hesitant about a switch to v5. 11Gb of vRAM on my 2080ti has proven more than adequate as long as you don't push the limit to stupid levels, even with very vRAM hungry add-ons.

Your earlier thoughts re use of EA and times of flights etc are well founded, with reasonable settings you should be fine.  Performance improvements will be very noticeable I should think.  As others have said 5.1HF1 is more than stable enough now with add-ons.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

@kevinfirth, thanks Kevin. Having found the sweet spot with settings both within P3D v4 and amounts of Ai traffic it's always a wrench to have to start again with a new sim. My greatest concern with v5 was the VRAM problems and how weather would be handled with this new EA feature. I've always thought Hi-Fi produce the best weather products but given EA can be toggled off that side of things is no longer a concern.

Hotfix 1 seems to have fixed the VRAM problem and you and others have cnfirmed as much. The timing of the switch is tricky. No indication from FS Labs when Concorde will be released and I suppose I'm secretly hoping I might be invited to test it which could come at any time.

[neilhewitt 493]

Hi @Ray Proudfoot, similar story here. I still run a 1080Ti in my main image generator PC which handles two outside views @ 1920x1080 (not 4K, of course, but still a decent amount of pixels) and I have never gotten close to the VRAM limit. That's with EA on as well. On the 2080 SUPER in my host PC I have occasionally come close to running out of VRAM. I think 11GB+ is the sweet spot, and the 1080Ti is still a good card for flight simming, perhaps more so than 'regular' gaming.

I deleted v4 about 2 weeks after installing v5. Wouldn't go back now.

[kevinfirth 1,392]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

My greatest concern with v5 was the VRAM problems

I've had just a few DXGI errors possibly caused by vRAM exhaustion, but that's with heavy aircraft pushing maximum settings in heavy weather with EA on, at 4k 50fps.  My rig will permit me to get 50fps vsynced at 50Hz with all my fave aircraft, but heavy weather taxes the GPU over its limits with that sometimes, and I find it easiest to run the PMDG ngxu and Milviz KA350i vsynced at 30hz for smoothest flight.

[spilok 1,132]

I too, Ray, have the 1080Ti and I'm running V5 pretty successfully.  I'm also using a 4K monitor and generally run it at 60hz (even though I can step down to 30hz).  I have gradually and eventually worked out all the annoyances I had with stuttering, pauses, and crashes.  Working with the settings, I found that the farther to the right most of my settings were, the better the sim operated. I am not sure of the reason for this, but after reading it on this forum, I tried it and it seems to work well 95% of the time. I delete my shaders from time to time and restart my computer before going on a long flight, but for the most part, V5 is working well. I don't use EA because in my opinion it doesn't show clouds and correct weather (even with Active Sky activated) realistically.  Additionally EA creates ultra darkness in the VC and overall.  It is rare to have a crash related to VRAM...but it occasionally happens.  It happens to simmers using the latest 3090 cards, according to some of the posts on this forum.

I wouldn't hesitate to move to V5 because it does depict airports and scenery so much better that 4.5.  I still have 4.5 on my computer but I'll soon delete it because I haven't used it in months.  I keep it there because it used UTLive and V5 didn't.  I now use UTLive in V5 because I moved the necessary file from V4 over to V5.  UTLive also is used on all my flights, so that adds an extra burden to the 1080Ti.  

Just my $.02 worth.

Stan

 

[SteveW 1,792]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I'm secretly hoping I might be invited to test it which could come at any time.

You're the man for the job Ray!

By the way, shadows in P3Dv5 eat a lot of VRAM. Any issues - try reducing shadows.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

Gents, thank you all for your feedback on v5. It's appreciated. I'm also using FTX Global, UTX Europe, Nth America and the Carribean. I take it those can be integrated seamlessly and still enhance the core product.

And adding AIG Ai aircraft shouldn't be an issue given it's installed outside of v4. I've plenty of FSDT, Flightbeam, UK2000 and other airports but I don't anticipate any issues.

@SteveW, here's the beauty of Concorde. Barbados to Houston in 2h 45m and no supersonic boom over populated areas. Just the 69 tonnes of fuel but who's paying for that? Not me. 😁

[micstatic 4,316]

Ray it's flights like these that make me want to get concorde and more importantly learn it