Fenix and performance

[rick celik 1,243]

16 minutes ago, fogboundturtle said:

I am getting skeptic that says I am lying about running on Ultra. I am flying over the Vancouver area so it was not the middle of nowhere so I guess, I will have to do a YT video as apparently, no one can post anything without having 5 millions skeptics around that are jealous

They are jealous because you have some frames in a flight sim on a pc? Highly doubt it. To be fair up so high in the air and 67.5 frames isn't much to brag about...

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

38 minutes ago, Ridvan Celik said:

They are jealous because you have some frames in a flight sim on a pc? Highly doubt it. To be fair up so high in the air and 67.5 frames isn't much to brag about...

Apparently, in the Fenix it's impossible. It's a bit heavier when you taxi or takeoff. For some reason, there is a heavy cpu cost during that operation but once you are in the air, it's pretty good. 

 

YT video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64rnMb06Ddw&t=5s

Edited May 28, 2022 by fogboundturtle

[Cpt_Piett 4,648]

5 hours ago, odourboy said:

Question for you performance gurus 😆... With the Fenix, I'm CPU bound at certain points (taxiing around large airports and during and just after takeoff, the last being the worst). What setting reduction would reduce CPU load most effectively? 

Terrain LOD. 

At some airports I have to reduce TLOD down to 100-120 to get acceptable fps. In other situations I can have it at max 400. It's the settings that has the greatest effect on performance (incl. CPU). 

[Fiorentoni 4,225]

10 hours ago, odourboy said:

Question for you performance gurus 😆... With the Fenix, I'm CPU bound at certain points (taxiing around large airports and during and just after takeoff, the last being the worst). What setting reduction would reduce CPU load most effectively? 

Terrain lod and AI traffic. By a large margin. Ignore any other graphics setting in MSFS, they have only slight impact on the FPS when you are CPU bound. Not worth the hassle. Since 2021 I only change terrain LOD if necessary.

[odourboy 1,289]

Thanks guys! Exactly the kind of responses I was hoping to get.

[DAD 2,650]

15 hours ago, V1ROTA7E said:

Whatever this is/was is gone now. What was it supposed to be/do?

 

AFAIK they are/were tweaking the Fenix app with more other options to improve fps by giving users more options to tweak performance. From what I learned at their discord they succeeded and thus the download was pulled and the new app will be available in the next update v1.0.2 - whenever that will be. Unless I misunderstood the dev Alexx999, he said this and possibly means the new app:

„basically, right now for _every_ display in the cockpit you can set the quality levels, texture filtering, max FPS, min FPS, render type, threading, resolution and whatsnot. even _what exact CPU core to use for rendering_. ah, render priority too„ (Source: https://discord.com/channels/736572376967282769/978821979710832750/980083835146494004)

Alexx999 also said „I don't want to hype it but there are FPS improvements“

we‘ll see

[Cpt_Piett 4,648]

Just started using RTSS (again) for FPS lock. Highly recommended. It also gives a nice overlay with various variables like CPU, GPU, RAM usage and temps (and much more, it’s highly customizable). 

I don’t personally see that much difference between FPS locked to 30 or 40 though. And by the way the most “hard-working” core is the same whether I’ve got FPS locked or free. Making sure the Fenix apps are not using the most hard working core does make a lot of sense. It does take some fiddling with core affinity though. 

In terms of AI traffic, that’s another thing that will put a load on the CPU, as @Fiorentoni mentioned. Running Asobo Live traffic that’s an either on or off situation. But with offline traffic there’s a slider. So this could also be something to consider if you’re CPU bound. There’s also other traffic settings like ground traffic and ships that could have an impact.

[Nyxx 6,993]

11 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

I don’t personally see that much difference between FPS locked to 30 or 40 though.

Drop your FPS lock down to 10 and your MSFS hard working cores will goto sleep..sort off. The lower your locked FPS the more Head room you should see.

Tip if you change the affinity of the Fenix bootstrap when MSFS is on its default loaded screen, then all other Fenix apps will mirror the bootstrap affinity when you load into a flight, apart from the displays app. That needs doing once your loaded into a flight.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Nyxx

[Cpt_Piett 4,648]

1 hour ago, Nyxx said:

Tip if you change the affinity of the Fenix bootstrap when MSFS is on its default loaded screen, then all other Fenix apps will mirror the bootstrap affinity when you load into a flight, apart from the displays app. That needs doing once your loaded into a flight.

Thanks. By the way I’ve started using Process Lasso to change core affinity. It’s also possible to change CPU priority (high, normal etc) for various apps. It’s been dormant on my system for years but with the rise of the Fenix it’s become relevant again. It’s free to download at their website. It also has a feature that’s supposed to “restore system responsiveness during a high CPU load”, but I have not looked into that in depth.

And let’s hope for more performance improvements in the next update! I couldn’t find anything about it on their discord last night, but then again I’m not a “pro” discord user..

Edited May 28, 2022 by Cpt_Piett

[Fiorentoni 4,225]

1 hour ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Thanks. By the way I’ve started using Process Lasso to change core affinity. It’s also possible to change CPU priority (high, normal etc) for various apps. It’s been dormant on my system for years but with the rise of the Fenix it’s become relevant again. It’s free to download at their website. It also has a feature that’s supposed to “restore system responsiveness during a high CPU load”, but I have not looked into that in depth.

And let’s hope for more performance improvements in the next update! I couldn’t find anything about it on their discord last night, but then again I’m not a “pro” discord user..

I suggest you don't go back down that path of tweaking every little thing like in P3D. It's just not really worth the time and effort on MSFS. It works without it.

[molleh 451]

absolutely it's terrain LOD setting and AI traffic that are the key performance factors, as long as your GPU is strong enough for your resolution that is. unless your CPU is 2022 top-of-the-line, it's going to be your limiting factor on the ground at a large airport with a lot of AI/traffic moving around.

i tend to keep terrain LOD at 100 even though at most small to medium sized airports my PC is capable of running 200+ LOD, just for consistency at the "heaviest" airports. even then (such as KORD with a few dozen AI) my FPS will tank from my set 40fps cap to 30 or less, but my 9900k is definitely starting to show its age and is the limiting factor when paired with my 3080 ti.

can't wait for the 13th gen Intel CPUs (raptor lake, IIRC?), should be a significant upgrade for situations like that!

as a side note, i do wish there was a way to force the longer range higher ortho resolution that high terrain LOD brings, without the extra CPU hit from the mesh detail increase...

Edited May 28, 2022 by molleh

[Mike S KPDX 597]

well... I finally pulled the trigger and bought the plane.  Actually works a little better then I expected but also as expected, it takes a big hit.  Overall I am happy but will be using it sparingly.  I have turned down some sim settings and used the usual suggestions for this specific plane.  Its ok, but I just have to upgrade this summer to a new PC (was thinking that anyway).

I do find it odd that my CPU is slammed between 95-100% but my GPU is always around 15% utilized.  I was hoping moving the plane displays to 'GPU' via the Fenix app would really balance that, but it only makes about a 3% difference in the GPU use.  Again, all is ok and I am satisfied overall.

[FlyingGoose 405]

3 minutes ago, Mike S KPDX said:

well... I finally pulled the trigger and bought the plane.  Actually works a little better then I expected but also as expected, it takes a big hit.  Overall I am happy but will be using it sparingly.  I have turned down some sim settings and used the usual suggestions for this specific plane.  Its ok, but I just have to upgrade this summer to a new PC (was thinking that anyway).

I do find it odd that my CPU is slammed between 95-100% but my GPU is always around 15% utilized.  I was hoping moving the plane displays to 'GPU' via the Fenix app would really balance that, but it only makes about a 3% difference in the GPU use.  Again, all is ok and I am satisfied overall.

Interesting to read this report - that's a pretty old CPU (2015 release), so the fact that its working "OK" on a 7-year old CPU and a 1070 is quite encouraging. 

[captain420 3,099]

12 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Terrain LOD. 

At some airports I have to reduce TLOD down to 100-120 to get acceptable fps. In other situations I can have it at max 400. It's the settings that has the greatest effect on performance (incl. CPU). 

I really wish they can introduce a DYNAMIC LOD system so that we don't have to constantly fuss with this setting.

[Mike S KPDX 597]

56 minutes ago, FlyingGoose said:

Interesting to read this report - that's a pretty old CPU (2015 release), so the fact that its working "OK" on a 7-year old CPU and a 1070 is quite encouraging. 

Yeah,  I don't dare bring up the FPS counter.  Just did a flight with real wx (rain and clouds), Pilot2ATC, jfk to boston some minor issues but doable and I will use this plane fairly often.  Does make me wonder about the PMG stuff, I could maybe actually use that too.

BTW, no AIG running in these early test, that is for later today set at 70%

Edited May 28, 2022 by Mike S KPDX