Reducing VRAM

[Republic3D 1,231]

On 3/16/2023 at 9:29 PM, Noel said:

Someone here I posed the question in a thread and you may have been in the thread as I think we talked about this w/ respect to youru 16Gb now.  

Asked ChatGPT:

When the VRAM is exceeded in DirectX 11 mode in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, the game will likely experience a drop in performance or even crash.

This is because when the VRAM is exceeded, the graphics card needs to start swapping data in and out of the system memory (RAM), which is much slower than the VRAM. This can result in noticeable stuttering or freezing in the game, as well as reduced frame rates and lower overall graphical fidelity.

Additionally, if the VRAM usage continues to increase, it can cause the game to crash due to running out of memory. This is because the game engine needs a certain amount of VRAM to store all the textures, geometry, and other data needed to render the game world, and if this exceeds the available VRAM, the game may become unstable and crash.

To avoid these issues, it's recommended to monitor VRAM usage while playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and adjust the graphics settings accordingly to stay within the VRAM limits of your graphics card.

Then asked the same question vis a vis DX12:

In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, if VRAM is exceeded in DirectX 12 mode, the performance may be impacted but the game is less likely to crash compared to when VRAM is exceeded in DirectX 11 mode.

This is because DirectX 12 has a feature called "Resource Binding Tier 2" which allows the graphics card to manage its own memory more efficiently. When the VRAM is exceeded in DirectX 12, the graphics card can dynamically allocate memory between VRAM and system memory to maintain optimal performance, without the need for the game engine to handle it.

However, even with this feature, if the VRAM usage continues to increase beyond the available VRAM capacity, the performance may still be impacted due to the need for data swapping between VRAM and system memory, which can result in lower frame rates and reduced graphical fidelity.

It's still recommended to monitor VRAM usage in DirectX 12 mode and adjust the graphics settings accordingly to avoid exceeding the VRAM limits of your graphics card and maintain optimal performance.

 

 

 

Interesting answer about DX12, I don't notice any stutters when VRAM is maxed out, and I do use DX12. But to be able to have enough VRAM for MSFS; you're going to need a 4090. 

[Sky_Pilot071 580]

52 minutes ago, Republic3D said:

Interesting answer about DX12, I don't notice any stutters when VRAM is maxed out, and I do use DX12. But to be able to have enough VRAM for MSFS; you're going to need a 4090. 

16 gig like the AMD GPUs.

Probably still not enough. 🙄

sp

[Nemo 1,305]

On 3/15/2023 at 8:20 PM, Waldo Pepper said:

If your system starts chugging try reducing terrain level of detail.     You might find better overall performance in DX11 as well.

 

Thanks for that video link. But one should note that it is older than two years. The visual outcome and/or performance hit of some specific settings can now be very different (e.g. Terrain LOD (!), TAA vs DLSS, DX12 vs 11).

[Brandon01110 407]

9 hours ago, Republic3D said:

But to be able to have enough VRAM for MSFS; you're going to need a 4090.

i dont believe this is an accurate answer.  I would say 16GB or higher.

[Noel 4,494]

Well for 3440x1440 there is no need for any more VRAM than 12Gb that is with any plane, full Ultra, etc.  Just because you see the max being approached all that really matters is ultra smooth, stutter-free animation and I already have that.

[RJC68 823]

I have never seen my VRAM higher than around 12GB on my 3090, I run mainly ultra settings with shadow maps set to 8192 manually in config file and the other shadow settings in the sim knocked down a notch. Even with everything set on Ultra and the LOD's maxed out I never hit super high levels of VRAM. I wonder what causes others to see 14GB usage of VRAM and higher

[Noel 4,494]

30 minutes ago, RJC68 said:

I have never seen my VRAM higher than around 12GB on my 3090, I run mainly ultra settings with shadow maps set to 8192 manually in config file and the other shadow settings in the sim knocked down a notch. Even with everything set on Ultra and the LOD's maxed out I never hit super high levels of VRAM. I wonder what causes others to see 14GB usage of VRAM and higher

I remember RobA saying he saw as high as 19Gb in use in MSFS.  Very thankfully for the bulk of users it doesn't seem to be critical, at all.  I hope Asobo puts more into the sim (mainly cloud detail) to nudge me to upgrade and that's what it will take at this point in time as there is just way too little point to upgrade at this time or in the foreseeable, unless as I say Asobo ups the ante.

[Nemo 1,305]

2 hours ago, Noel said:

Well for 3440x1440 there is no need for any more VRAM than 12Gb that is with any plane, full Ultra, etc.  Just because you see the max being approached all that really matters is ultra smooth, stutter-free animation and I already have that.

Thats right in most scenarios, but when flying in congested areas with lots of add-ons, I'm reaching 16-17 GB VRAM in some places (e.g. Vancouver area with Van+ SamScene, FSDT CYCR, GAIST, FSTraffic and some smaller ones ...) I'm with 3440x1440 and a 3090.

[Greggy_D 935]

43 minutes ago, Nemo said:

I'm reaching 16-17 GB VRAM

DX12?

[Noel 4,494]

1 hour ago, Nemo said:

Thats right in most scenarios, but when flying in congested areas with lots of add-ons, I'm reaching 16-17 GB VRAM in some places (e.g. Vancouver area with Van+ SamScene, FSDT CYCR, GAIST, FSTraffic and some smaller ones ...) I'm with 3440x1440 and a 3090.

Right--but it doesn't matter that's the point.  Put another way, if you didn't look, you'd never know.  I fly in the most complex areas frequently, in the most demanding planes, and have no stutters, just liquid smooth performance and that's all that matters.  And that's in DX12 and DX11.  Because FBW 320NX doesn't like DX12 I'm using DX11 currently, but used DX12 for 85% of my time in MSFS.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Noel

[Nemo 1,305]

18 minutes ago, Greggy_D said:

DX12?

yes

[Republic3D 1,231]

5 hours ago, Brandon01110 said:

i dont believe this is an accurate answer.  I would say 16GB or higher.

I have 16 GB, and it maxes out VRAM with complex airports and aircraft.
But I don't really notice any stutter or lag from it. 🤔

[sonny147 579]

try turning off photogrammerty its a killer and reset MSFS cache if you have turned on also clear C drive Directx cache , wont hurt

[Ricardo41 5,949]

I just bought a new system with a 3060ti. At everything "high", with DX11, I'm getting around 30 fps in heavy duty sceneries and 40-60 in average scenery. This is on a 1440p monitor. 

I rarely look at vram and fps. Waste of time. I prefer flying not staring at mostly meaningless numbers. 

Btw, I tried the sim out at ultra settings and didn't see much difference  compared to high. Then, again, I didn't count every leaf of grass. 

[Sky_Pilot071 580]

A point often missed is that not everybody needs an uber GPU in MSFS.  The biggest airports I fly into are PAKT or PAJN with an LOD of 150.

My 8gig VRAM 3060TI always has VRAM to spare.

sp

Edited March 18, 2023 by Sky_Pilot071