Sim Update 13 Beta Release Notes [1.34.14.0] - September 5,

[bobcat999 8,484]

Just a note to everyone.  I am still seeing very good performance (in terms of good stable FPS and lack of stuttering) in this latest beta (1.34.14.0).   
I did a 70 minute flight last night (which is long for me) but all was good right through to the end. 
It feels silky smooth, and not even choppy when panning my head from side to side quickly when using my Tobii head tracker.  Loading times also seem good.

I noticed in the notes it states memory usage has been optimised, which might account for some of it.  (They have meant VRAM in the past when using this phrase).

So the note is, if you are not seeing the good performance, just remember to download all of the (optional) world update updates (for where you fly at least), because I think they may have optimised them which can bring some of the performance increase no doubt.  Every single world scenery pack has had an update during this beta.   

It may be a shock to users when the full non-beta release goes live, because along with all of the world scenery updates, a lot of the default aircraft have also had updates, so there will be a lot of Gigglebits to download at some stage!   If it turns out like this, it will be well worth it though.

I have three wishes which won't make it to this update unfortunately: -  1. Attend to the tile issues in both DX11 and DX12  (although I have not seen any recently in this beta in DX11 recently, but it might just be where I am flying).  2.  Get the new sky colours in! .  3.  Increase the drawing distance of the runway / taxiway turn off signs, because with all of the rest of the scenery looking so good, the pop-in on these is ridiculous.  Hopefully they can work on this for Sim Update 14 if not before.

Anyway, it's all looking promising for this update in general.  If we don't get the usual Tuesday update tomorrow, I think it won't be long before it goes live.

Edited September 11, 2023 by bobcat999

[Barnes 192]

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

  1. Attend to the tile issues in both DX11 and DX12  (although I have not seen any recently in this beta in DX11 recently, but it might just be where I am flying). 

Just wondering if you are referring to the DX12 issue with missing airport/runway/taxiway textures here. I don’t want to jinx anything but I haven’t seen this problem since the latest beta dropped and I cleared my DX cache.
 

Has anyone else noticed the same?

Edited September 11, 2023 by Barnes

[bobcat999 8,484]

49 minutes ago, Barnes said:

Just wondering if you are referring to the DX12 issue with missing airport/runway/taxiway textures here. I don’t want to jinx anything but I haven’t seen this problem since the latest beta dropped and I cleared my DX cache.
 

Has anyone else noticed the same?

Yes, I meant both.  They are slightly different - swapping tiles around the aircraft in DX11, and tiles missing at the end of runways etc. in DX12.

I haven't seen the issue in DX11 for a while but I have been trying a lot of different routes from my normal ones. 
Last night I was flying all around the Telluride / Montrose area of Colorado and I didn't see it once.

I haven't flown in DX12 for a while, but to continue testing the beta, I will clear the DX caches, switch to DX12 in the user config file (quickest way to switch between the two) and give it a good test in the same area.  I always clear the rolling cache now as well before a flight, because even though I don't use it, some people think, from their experience, it may still be caching some data. 

Also, I know some airports / airfields around the Big Bear Lake / San Bernardino area used to show this issue in DX12, so I will check them.
Note that this hasn't specifically been mentioned as a bug fix for the beta, but there is some belief that this is a server side issue anyway, which they could be working on without us knowing.  Personally I think it could be down to a bit of both, with some core sim code or LOD settings causing a problem (not the ones we can adjust).

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by bobcat999

[F737MAX 5,613]

3 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

 I am still seeing very good performance (in terms of good stable FPS and lack of stuttering) in this latest beta (1.34.14.0). 
[...]
1. Attend to the tile issues in both DX11 and DX12  (although I have not seen any recently in this beta in DX11 recently, but it might just be where I am flying).  2.  Get the new sky colours in! .  3.  Increase the drawing distance of the runway / taxiway turn off signs, because with all of the rest of the scenery looking so good, the pop-in on these is ridiculous.  Hopefully they can work on this for Sim Update 14 if not before.

Good to hear about performance being very good.
Early SU13 beta reports were not positive, not forgetting there have been SUs that have harmed the overall experience, requiring us to have a long wait for the problems to be addressed.

As for your wishlist, I just have the feeling that these will not appear until MSFS2024.
The current sim feels in a holding pattern with regards to interesting development. Anything that can make MSFS2024 look better (especially relatively easy items such as sky colour and Object LOD draw distance) will be held over for a razzmatazz launch of the new sim in 12 months' time. [/speculation]

[btacon 1,808]

1 hour ago, F737MAX said:

Early SU13 beta reports were not positive, not forgetting there have been SUs that have harmed the overall experience, requiring us to have a long wait for the problems to be addressed.

As one who has been in beta 13 since the start I agree that performance was degraded for much of the beta but has returned back to as good as before and perhaps better.

My guess, and just a guess is the perf improvement come from the removal of bug telemetry code which collects and reports errors back to the mother ship. Again, just a guess but a reasonable one.

-B

[Keirtt 574]

I’m still curious about long haul performance. Asobo finally acknowledged the bug in SU12 that allowed the sim to regress. With SU12, it’s been documented over and over the slow performance degradation with a long haul. Some folks like myself have enough overhead with their system that it’s not the end of the world, but impacts others greatly. Is anyone able to test long haul performance with the beta update?

[mryan75 281]

18 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

Only slightly fuzzy panels - as is known when using DLSS.  I use DLSS Quality with a bit of extra sharpening in the sim to get around it.  Easily usable at 4k.   

Make sure you have Anisotropic filtering off in Nvidia control panel, but set at maximum in the sim (16), as that made it better for someone else.

If it's still no good, it is probably time to go back to TAA unfortunately.

So even with your suggestion, which improved the fuzzy screens quite a bit, I only say 2-5 fps better on DLSS Quality than TAA. Not worth it for me (GTX3080TI). 

[bobcat999 8,484]

23 minutes ago, mryan75 said:

So even with your suggestion, which improved the fuzzy screens quite a bit, I only say 2-5 fps better on DLSS Quality than TAA. Not worth it for me (GTX3080TI). 

TAA has better imagery without a doubt.  I also tried FSR under DX12 and that seemed very good as well (probably the best on the runway lights etc.), but it is about the same performance as TAA.

Strange how you are only getting a few extra frames with DLSS.  Before my 4080 I had the 3080Ti (still an excellent card), and I was seeing gains of about 30%.  Enough to nearly get me 60FPS at 4k ultra settings (but not quite).

Before using DLSS with the 3080Ti, I could achieve around 40FPS at TAA, but held it at 30FPS anyway to avoid Vsync problems. 
I moved towards 60FPS (when I got the chance of buying a 4080) because it is much smoother when using a head tracker when looking around. 
Although I have a Freesync monitor (cheap version of Gsync) I have to stick to either 30 or 60 as I get bad frame skipping. 

The minimum frames for Freesync is supposed to be about 45, but I found it was a poor solution, especially with the slight brightness flickering effect it sometimes gives.

I would use the sim more in DX12 and maybe use frame generation if it wasn't for the DX12 tile issue, which seemed to follow me to every airport at one stage!  

Seems like we are still looking for that balance between image quality and performance. 
I do think this SU13 Beta is good on performance, but roll on MSFS2024 - Until they introduce ray tracing to bring us back down to earth again!  

Edited September 11, 2023 by bobcat999