Xplane 12 Released

[blingthinger 648]

Multi-threading is a challenge regardless of the code. Given that they are still using a mere 2-3 CPU cores (2 on my linux box), there's plenty more optimizations to come in the 12 lifespan, not to mention the coming months of beta development. Looking at the microprofile dev window shows a lot of where they can and will shuffle compute jobs around. 

Based on what I'm seeing and reading, people with a 3070-class GPU on up and a CPU in the recent 2-3 generations, are able to max out sliders and still hang out in the smooth 30-40 FPS range even when things get complicated. One example being adding in all 19 AI aircraft. In v11 this is knee-capping FPS. Much less of a problem in 12.

Maybe it's because I've got an upper-middle class horsepower GPU, but the daytime lighting is spot on. There are some beta quirks w/ shadows and tree popping, but that's about it. 

V11 lighting was already fantastic (materials and reflections a bit lacking, sure). It's only gotten better. Level D better, no less.

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by blingthinger

[blingthinger 648]

2 minutes ago, mjrhealth said:

They stated early on they wont be doing any changes to ground textures.

Airport property grass and 2D foliage textures are definitely different. Looks a lot more procedural (mixing different layers of ground type). To my eye, they are good enough around KPDX that on short final, they could pass as ortho. 

[MrBitstFlyer 3,812]

2 hours ago, abrams_tank said:

because the performance is already so so

I was getting 40+ fps over a large city with all settings maxed. Outside of cities I saw 120fps!

[abrams_tank 7,387]

1 hour ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

I was getting 40+ fps over a large city with all settings maxed. Outside of cities I saw 120fps!

This streamer was getting 30 FPS in Portland.  He/she said MSFS gives more than 30 FPS in Portland at the exact same location: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1583223075?t=00h42m29s.  Oddly enough, this streamer also said that XP 11 with scenery, in this exact same location, also gives better FPS than XP 12. This streamer also showed frustration with the performance later in the stream, if you keep watching, especially during some drops in the FPS.

The streamer was running at 3070 Ti I think.  It wasn't just this one streamer though that I watched. I watched many streamers, and all of them had so so performance (here is another streamer, con7inuum getting 30 FPS off of an i9 12900K, 3090Ti, 32 GB RAM: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1583309897?t=02h08m00s)

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by abrams_tank

[abrams_tank 7,387]

1 hour ago, mjrhealth said:

Vulkan is not old, where did you get that from.

You're getting a graphics library/SDK confused with the engine.  Engine != graphics library/SDK. By "engine," I am referring to the architecture of a software/game.

Edited September 6, 2022 by abrams_tank

[Baber20 1,438]

I am getter better performance compared to MSFS.

[mjrhealth 820]

1 hour ago, abrams_tank said:

You're getting a graphics library/SDK confused with the engine.  Engine != graphics library/SDK. By "engine," I am referring to the architecture of a software/game.

And i think you missed the point, In XP12 a lot of stuff was moved to the GPU, which has reduced the load on the CPU and made for more efficiencies, which also means a lot of old code would have being removed from the base, and they have stated more optimisation  to come, so its a rebuild of an old engine and so far looks and performs rather well. And there is no other engine cept for the other flight sims that are  designed for Flight simming.

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

1 hour ago, abrams_tank said:

here is another streamer, con7inuum getting 30 FPS off of an i9 12900K, 3090Ti, 32 GB RAM:

I have similar system and I can confirm with all maxed out that is what I get. At large cities, with no AI. 

[scotchegg 4,158]

16 minutes ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

I have similar system and I can confirm with all maxed out that is what I get. At large cities, with no AI. 

Do the clouds have a big impact on fps?

[jcomm 5,882]

Show me a shot of the Moon phase tonight !

Presently more than 300 km away from my sim rig ...

Is it possible to set date by : YYYYMMDD ?

Edited September 6, 2022 by jcomm

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

33 minutes ago, scotchegg said:

Do the clouds have a big impact on fps?

I haven't really figured out yet what does and doesn't, I'll have a good play with it later. Someone has Orbx True earth GB working with it, so I am gonna try that around my home in Northumberland and compare it to MSFS. 

[Colonel X 1,428]

Performance seems to be all over the place for now, can't really tell impact of clouds. What's more worrying that the lighting model of the world and the clouds sometimes don't match, i.e. you get a yellowish fog on sunset on the scenery, but a blue hue on the clouds, a mismatch as stark or worse compared to earlier versions. That's a disappointment. Overall atmosphere lighting is pretty great though, fresh and saturated, not as dull as in XP11.

My main pain point is the horrible AA. We need a temporal solution and it's sad they didn't include that with the release. FSR only makes things worse, and I think unless you can push your displays maximum resolution without FSR and maximum AA, the image quality will be "bad" (if you're picky about it). With my 5K (Apple) display, this is impossible. 

Anyone knows how to lock to 30FPS (half VSYNC) on Mac OS?

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

1 minute ago, Colonel X said:

My main pain point is the horrible AA.

Is this is what is causing the awful shimmering of light objects? 

[scotchegg 4,158]

10 minutes ago, Colonel X said:

What's more worrying that the lighting model of the world and the clouds sometimes don't match

That’s interesting as in some of the streams I’ve seen it looks like the lighting in cockpit is different / inferior to the exterior lighting (which generally looks very good).

[Baber20 1,438]

The lighting looks better and more realistic with a higher dynamic range in colors as compared to MSFS. This in itself is a huge accomplishment from the Laminar team. They really mastered the photometric data.