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Posted

Similar to the other thing, but this is linked directly to Flow. Haven't tried it...looks interesting though.

Here's the link.

 

Intro

Terrain LOD and sometimes Object LOD are the main settings affecting performance on many systems and we know how hard it is to find a balance between good performance on the ground at complex scenery or dense cities while at the same time not losing quality when airborne when the stress on the system is far less.

This widget for Flow Pro adds an item on the wheel that solves this compromise.

Its main purpose is to switch Terrain LOD and Object LOD at a predefined altitude automatically.

Behavior/Display

The widget adds an item on your Flow wheel showing the current LOD settings and indicating the current state of the widget:

  • "ALOD" (dark green, default): Automatic mode, it is monitoring the current altitude (above ground AGL) against the setting "Auto LOD treshold":
    • If the altitude is higher than the treshold+500ft, the "Auto TLOD above" and "Auto OLOD above" are set
    • If the altitude is lower than the treshold-500ft, the "Auto TLOD above" and "Auto OLOD above" are set
  • "LOD" (gray): Widget is not active (note: in this state manual changes in the Graphics settings will not be reflected on the wheel!)
  • "HLOD" (bright green): A predefined "high" static LOD setting is active
  • "LLOD" (red): A predefined "low" static LOD setting is active

Installation/Usage

Unzip the download into your Community folder and restart the Sim. You will find the "LOD Updater" widget in your toolbox, drag it onto the Flow Pro wheel.

Default setup is to switch at 6000ft AGL which is a usable value since it avoids switching while on final approach.
Check/adjust the LOD values for Terrain and Object (Auto below, Auto above, Static high and Static low) to suit your system's performance.
If you don't want to have one of the LODs switched, just set the same value as "above" and "below".

The Static high preset LODs are intended so you can switch to them temporarily for instance to take screenshots with more details.
The Static low preset LODs are intended to quickly switch to them if you face performance issues and quickly need to gain performance in a critical situation. I recommend leaving those at 50/50.

Initial mode is the mode that the widget loads in when starting a flight - I recommend leaving it at "2" which is Auto so you usually don't have to touch the widget.

Switching mode:

  • Click the widget to switch between "Off" and your Initial Mode.
  • Use mousewheel scroll on the widget to switch between High - Auto - Low (scrolling up from "Auto" brings you to "High", scrolling down from "Auto" brings you to "Low"

Notes

- Whenever the widget actually switches LODs, the screen will briefly show a popup and the screen will get black for a fraction of a second but it happens very quickly so it is not too intrusive. This is the way MSFS changes the LODs as well if you do it via the Graphics Settings. Nothing I can do about it.

- The Auto mode checks the altitude every 30 seconds, so it will not immediately switch once you cross the altitude but rather a bit delayed. This is normal.

- When loading in and the current graphics settings do not match the values in your desired "Initial Mode", it will set the values of your initial mode after 30 seconds, so don't be surprised if they are not immediately matching.

- The Auto-switch happens at "above treshold+500ft" and "below treshold-500ft" to make sure if you level out at the treshold altitude or it deviates due to very uneven terrain there aren't constant changes performed. Also the 30s check interval avoids reoccurring switches in such a situation. In case you still face multiple switches especially flying low over various terrain, just click the widget to disable it temporarily.

- Changes to Terrain LOD are not immediate, the sim will load/reduce the Details once the switch is done gradually. Object LODs do not immediately free up the memory so the effect is delayed a bit too. Switching to higher LODs will shortly put more stress on the system and your internet connection to load the increased details.

  • Like 3

AMD 7950X3D | 64 GB RAM | RTX 4090

B737 Pilot

 

Posted
4 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

Whenever the widget actually switches LODs, the screen will briefly show a popup and the screen will get black for a fraction of a second but it happens very quickly so it is not too intrusive. This is the way MSFS changes the LODs as well if you do it via the Graphics Settings. Nothing I can do about it.

Interesting, haven’t seen this with the other dynamic LOD tool. Maybe that fraction of a second is just too short for me to see it. But that popup would really be a dealbreaker, even for a free tool

  • Like 1

Phil Leaven

i5 10600KF, 32 GB 3200 RAM, MSI 3060 12GB OC, Asus ROG Z490-H, 2 WD Black NVME for each Win11 (500GB) and MSFS (1TB), MSFS Cache and Photogrammetry always disabled, Live Weather and Live Traffic always on, Res 2560x1440 on 27"

Posted
4 minutes ago, DAD said:

Interesting, haven’t seen this with the other dynamic LOD tool. Maybe that fraction of a second is just too short for me to see it. But that popup would really be a dealbreaker, even for a free tool

Good point. Figured I'd try it out. It does what it says. Flow already can have the user change TLOD and OLOD on the fly, but there is a quick loading screen while the LOD changes. It's up for less than a second FYI. The only thing I worry about personally, is using reshade, going into the menu and changing something is a dice roll every time while in flight.

AMD 7950X3D | 64 GB RAM | RTX 4090

B737 Pilot

 

Posted
23 hours ago, V1ROTA7E said:

- Whenever the widget actually switches LODs, the screen will briefly show a popup and the screen will get black for a fraction of a second but it happens very quickly so it is not too intrusive.

Lol are they serious?

For transparency: I'm a community mentor at the BATC discord. However, I do not get paid for it in any way.

Posted
23 hours ago, DAD said:

Interesting, haven’t seen this with the other dynamic LOD tool. Maybe that fraction of a second is just too short for me to see it. But that popup would really be a dealbreaker, even for a free tool

Beacuse the dynamic LOD tool does not use the MSFS options menu but writes directly into the memory. Therefore no need for any popups or blackscreens. It just works on the fly.

  • Like 2

For transparency: I'm a community mentor at the BATC discord. However, I do not get paid for it in any way.

Posted

To me, this one is very useful too, as it offers the possibility of updating the LOD as you wish, at any time:

https://flightsim.to/file/65928/terrain-lod-quickset

 

Cheers, Ed

MSFS2020 Steam - Win10 Home x64 // Rig: Corsair Graphite 760T Full Tower - ASUS MBoard Maximus XII Hero Z490 - CPU Intel i9-10900K - 64GB RAM - MSI RTX2080 Super 8GB - [1xNVMe M.2 1TB + 1xNVMe M.2 2TB (Samsung)] + [1xSSD 1TB + 1xSSD 2TB (Crucial)] + [1xSSD 1TB (Samsung)] + 1 HDD Seagate 2TB + 1 HDD Seagate External 4TB - Monitor LG 29UC97C UWHD Curved - PSU Corsair RM1000x - VR Oculus Rift // Thrustmaster FCS & MS XBOX Controllers

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

I just installed The Flow widget today and will see how it works. The concept is pretty cool theoretically. Now we need one of these for the frame generation mod.

Edited by ricka47

Rick Abshier

5900X | RTX3080 | 32 GB@3600 | India Pale Ale

 

 

Posted

I’ve thought about buying flow but I don’t know if I have much need for it but does look neat. 

Ron Hamilton

 

"95% is half the truth, but most of it is lies, but if you read half of what is written, you'll be okay." __ Honey Boo Boo's Mom

Posted

Flow Pro is pretty handy. Once you have it, you discover lots of uses for it. I use if every flight.

Rick Abshier

5900X | RTX3080 | 32 GB@3600 | India Pale Ale

 

 

Posted
1 hour ago, fakeflyer737 said:

I’ve thought about buying flow but I don’t know if I have much need for it but does look neat. 

I'm the same.  It's been on radar for a year, but I've just never quite been pushed to spend the £30 (quite a lot for a menu utility IMHO) and buy it.  I've now found a definite use I'd get from it - there's a script to toggle the headphone simulation, which I use a lot.  But I still find myself sitting on the fence, not quite convinced to go for it! The truth is, I just don't use the menus or change settings a lot once in a flight.  (Perhaps I would more, if I have Flow Pro).

As for this usage of Flow Pro with dynamic LOD, I'd personally prefer to use the main, 'direct' tool, as there are no popups when it changes the LOD.   A black box popping up - even for <1 second - doesn't sound good, immersion-wise.   But yes, I wonder if I'll ever buy Flow Pro, or whether I'll die an old 98 year old man, never having quite bought it. 😄

Bill

UK LAPL-A (Formerly NPPL-A and -M)

Posted
1 hour ago, fakeflyer737 said:

I’ve thought about buying flow but I don’t know if I have much need for it but does look neat. 

 

17 minutes ago, JYW said:

I'm the same.  It's been on radar for a year, but I've just never quite been pushed to spend the £30 (quite a lot for a menu utility IMHO) and buy it.  

I was in the same position. Christmas sales brought it down to a price I liked.

Main uses of Flow Pro for me are:

  • the simple airfield METAR reporter
  • quick camera changes between aircraft view presets
  • clock widget with visual display of dawn, day, dusk and night at current location and date
  • portal widget allowing you to teleport to anywhere in the sim
  • custom community-created widgets, such as the one that turns removes/reinstates the PMDG 737 tablet from the cockpit side window frame.

Perhaps hold off until Valentine's Day or (more likely) Easter sales periods to see if there's a price reduction?

  • Like 1

AMD Ryzen 5800X3D; MSI RTX 3080 Ti ; 32GB Corsair 3200 MHz; ASUS VG35VQ 35" (3440 x 1440)
Fulcrum One yoke; Thrustmaster TCA Captain Pack Airbus edition; MFG Crosswind rudder pedals; miniCockpit FCU; CPFlight MCP 737; Logitech FIP x3; TrackIR

MSFS; Fenix A320; A2A PA-24; HPG H145; PMDG 737-600; AIG; RealTraffic; PSXTraffic; FSiPanel; REX AccuSeason Adv; FSDT GSX Pro; FS2Crew RAAS Pro; FS-ATC Chatter

Posted (edited)

I tried this widget and like it.  I wanted to try this adaptive-LOD thing that all the kids are talking about these days but didn't want to go through a setup/configure process and then have to back it out if I saw any negative side effects, so this makes it really easy.  Yes, there is a popup window that shows for a fraction of a second as you transition through the configured altitude but it's no more immersion-killing than other things like the occasional micro-pause or having Mrs. Stoopy wait until I'm struggling with a crosswind on final so she can ask me questions about yardwork projects or finances...

Edited by Stoopy

"That's what" - She

For a good time, download my repaints for the RealAir Scout/Citabria/Decathlon in the AvSim library by clicking here!

Posted
9 minutes ago, Stoopy said:

but didn't want to go through a setup/configure process

There's none. You literally install it with the installer and forget. There are also no negative side effects, it just works.
And *if* you ever wanted to back out (no one wants, it's *that* good), you uninstall and it's gone.

  • Like 3

For transparency: I'm a community mentor at the BATC discord. However, I do not get paid for it in any way.

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