P3D v5 - how is VRAM handling now?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

@Reader and @Chapstick, thank you both for your posts.

So it’s not improved visuals as such but more efficient processing of graphics which results in higher fps compared to v4.

The things that eat VRAM are the new weather visuals and texture resolution. Switch to Active Sky / ASCA and keep texture resolution reasonable and you get better performance and plenty of VRAM left. I don’t mind buying v5 for that but it does involve a large effort to get my addon scenery and especially some aircraft integrated.

[Reader 2,009]

...and of course, with that comes the need for a graphics card with more than 8 GB of VRAM. This has two major disadvantages, one they are very expensive and two, they are and will be for some considerable time, virtually unobtainable. 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Reader

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

1 minute ago, Reader said:

...and of course, with that comes the need for a graphics card with more than 8 GB of VRAM. This has two major disadvantages, one they are very expensive and two, they are and will for some considerable time, virtually unobtainable. 

I’m not sure I could contain my anger were someone to tell me how much money he’s making from mining with his 3090. 😡

[kevinfirth 1,392]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I'm well aware of that but what are the major benefits of DX12? The lack of  it doesn't seem to have stopped people buying MSFS which is still DX11.

So other than eating more VRAM what makes DX12 so much better than DX11?

One word - performance.  50fps in the Ngxu anyone? 🥳🥳

Edited February 25, 2021 by kevinfirth

[JoeFackel 760]

54 minutes ago, Reader said:

It seems that the only way to avoid running out is to carefully manage the amount used, but that means reducing settings below those that can be successfully used in P3D v4.5.

As v5 uses an different slider range in the background your settings of v4 are obsolete anyway. That is one of the big mistakes many are doing.

[kevinfirth 1,392]

25 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

 a large effort to get my addon scenery and especially some aircraft integrated.

C'mon Ray, you're a smart guy, most sceneries are perfectly portable, I just copied my add-on.xml's straight into v5 😎. Ok so a few aircraft needed fresh installs, but that took only a few minutes....

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

3 minutes ago, kevinfirth said:

One word - performance

Yes, others have said the same. Did you setup a scenario in v4.5 so you could compare fps? Substantial improvement I trust. 20%?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

1 minute ago, kevinfirth said:

C'mon Ray, you're a smart guy, most sceneries are perfectly portable, I just copied my add-on.xml's straight into v5 😎. Ok so a few aircraft needed fresh installs, but that took only a few minutes....

The add-on ones are not the problem. I have a significant number installed into scenery.cfg.

[kevinfirth 1,392]

 

4 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Yes, others have said the same. Did you setup a scenario in v4.5 so you could compare fps? Substantial improvement I trust. 20%?

I never bothered with wasting time on a side by side comparison Ray, first flight in v5 it was clear the performance benefit was so obvious I never flew 4.5 again.  Granted the fiddling around up to 5.1HF was a bit bumpy, but you won't have those problems.  

Edited February 25, 2021 by kevinfirth

[kevinfirth 1,392]

Just now, Ray Proudfoot said:

The add-on ones are not the problem. I have a significant number installed into scenery.cfg.

So just copy that across as well and manage with LorbySI....  The worst you'll find is you may need to reinstall any available v5 updates, but you can do that over time, you can't fly to them all at the same time 😁

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

@kevinfirth, but I lock fps to monitor refresh rate so effectively the only places I could see improvements would be at heavy airports like Heathrow where even lowering Ai to no lower than 30 still doesn’t give me my target of 30fps.

v5.1 would give me 30fps hopefully plus a higher number of Ai.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

2 minutes ago, kevinfirth said:

So just copy that across as well and manage with LorbySI....  The worst you'll find is you may need to reinstall any available v5 updates, but you can do that over time, you can't fly to them all at the same time 😁

Yep, I know as I did that for v3 to v4.

[kevinfirth 1,392]

3 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@kevinfirth, but I lock fps to monitor refresh rate so effectively the only places I could see improvements would be at heavy airports like Heathrow where even lowering Ai to no lower than 30 still doesn’t give me my target of 30fps.

v5.1 would give me 30fps hopefully plus a higher number of Ai.

And a better platform to indulge your hardware fantasies with in the future 😉

I used to aim for 30fps vsynced, but in light weather or simpler aircraft I can now hit 50fps vsynced as I deliberately bought a TV display capable of 25,30,50 and 60hz a couple of years ago.  (That is following a hardware upgrade as well though, after my PC suffered the equivalent of a coronary..)  I find 50fps much smoother using headtracking as I do.  

Edited February 25, 2021 by kevinfirth

[kevinfirth 1,392]

In fact the only 2 aircraft I fly with 30hz vsync is the Ngxu in medium to heavy weather and the Milviz KA350i.  That would not have been possible in v4.5.

Edited February 25, 2021 by kevinfirth

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

1 minute ago, kevinfirth said:

And a better platform to indulge your hardware fantasies with in the future 😉

I used to aim for 30fps vsynced, but in light weather or simpler aircraft I can now hit 50fps vsynced.  (That is following a hardware upgrade as well though, after my PC suffered the equivalent of a coronary..)  I find 50fps much smoother using headtracking as I do.  

Bear in mind the only reason I’m investigating v5 now is because of FS Labs saying Concorde with full PBR will be able to take advantage of v5. Otherwise I would be staying with v4.

If I can’t get 50fps at heavy airports I don’t think I’d appreciate 50 in the air. I’m sure 50 over 30 is much better for VR and head-scanning but for normal monitor use 30 is fine for me.

Sadly, until such time as a 3000 11Gb+ card is available I’m stuck with my 1080Ti hoping it doesn’t develop a fault.