MSFS 2020 Auto FPS App

[vgbaron 3,632]

Took a longitude flight from VNKT to VELP in heavy weather. Other than a quick test with the original version several days ago, I haven't played with this until the AurtoFGPS was imlemented.

I ran app, selected AutoFPS, started MSFS and set up and flew my flightplan. The app selected 28fps as aut (probably because I have an older system - m7700 at 5ghz and 3090 rtx card. ) Through the flight the fps at 30, the TLOD was mostly at 600 and the OLOD remained at 30.

No stutters, no issues and this with heavy TS clouds etc. - The graphics on takeoff and landing were very good. When cloud cover broke flying over the mountains of Nepal, they were really stunning.

edit: DX12 and using DLSS at 5760 on a 40" 4k monitor

All in all I was very pleased with the experience.

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

10 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Not seeing this with GPU_Z open. EDIT: It did work a bit later 🙂

GPU-Z needs to be already running before this app starts for it to be detected and used.

 

9 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Hence if I interpret correctly what I've seen so far with auto target FPS, I might turn it off in the future and tweak my settings so that TLOD will be higher (rather than having ridiculously high FPS. 

This is really good feedback. As recently mentioned, I will fix this soon so that you will still be getting max TLOD at these higher altitudes, so don't give up on Auto Target FPS too soon.

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

7 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Auto Target FPS mode on final approach. Again, TLOD is bit too low for me on approach, as the RWY could be a bit hard to see clearly, especially at smaller airports. 

You've raised an important new issue here that I've experienced recently too that doesn't have anything to do with Auto Target FPS mode, but non-expert mode itself. The issue comes from MSFS not shutting down correctly, mostly when you get a CTD in MSFS, and the app doesn't get to restore your default settings, leaving MSFS set to whatever the app had your TLOD, OLOD and clouds settings set to when it CTDed. As a result, when MSFS and this app starts up again, the app thinks these are your default settings and non-expert mode goes on do halve and tripple your default TLOD settings and that is why you are seeing different TLOD min and max, and possibly other settings, than you should.

As an example, if MSFS and the app start normally and you have TLOD 100 in MSFS, the app will set TLOD Min on ground to be 50. If MSFS CTDs right then, when MSFS and the app start up again, MSFS's TLOD is 50, because that's what the app last set it to and didn't get a chance to restore it to 100 because of the CTD, and the app then halves your TLOD 50 to be TLOD Min 25, and that is exactly what I think happened to you at some point recently.

In any case, I think I can fix it by getting the app to write the initial default settings it reads in to the config file and delete them again when everything shuts down normally. The app can fairly safely assume if it finds the initial default settings still there on next start up that MSFS probably CTDed and that it should use the default settings from the config file, not from MSFS as its settings are potentially tainted. Does that make sense?

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

6 hours ago, RALF9636 said:

@Reset XPDR, I haven't been able to thoroughly follow this thread any more lately (I'm still happily using your DynamicLOD app.). I just wanted to ask if you still see the chance to make this AutoFPS app compatible with systems that need to keep a fixed steady framerate (like with a monitor that is not G-Sync capable.).

I use a tool called CoreTemp which measures and shows the Temps and Loads of all CPU cores. I just came to think if you could adapt your new AutoTargetFPS feature to a AutoTargetTemp or AutoTargetLoad feature, by reading the temps resp. loads of the CPU cores (averaged over all cores and over several seconds) from a tool like CoreTemp and thus adjust LODs to keep that target even with a fixed framerate.

 

I haven't forgotten about this and it is on my wish list, but TBH it is hardest thing to incorporate such a feature, especially having only an external look at MSFS's CPU and GPU thread workings, and I am winding down development operations so it is unlikely I will ever get to this sorry.

Edited March 10 by Reset XPDR

[vgbaron 3,632]

I was wondering about that, glad you are looking at it. Your proposed solution makes sense to me.

[Cpt_Piett 4,694]

7 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

Took a longitude flight from VNKT to VELP in heavy weather.

Off topic, I know: I've been to Kathmandu many times, both in real life and in the sim. The RNP RWY 02 approach in an airliner is quite the thrill, descending from 8700ft to 4320ft in a valley with tall mountains at either side. It's an approach where I would aim for as high a TLOD as possible to be able to appreciate the mountains. 

I've also been a passenger on many flights from Kathmandu to Pokhara which can be a bit scary for the faint-hearted (the view of the Himalayas is spectacular though). But not as scary as the bus ride!

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

5 hours ago, LGKR said:

When I am in big clouds the fps counter takes a hit, and fps may momentarily drop as low as 15 or 17 before climbing  back after a while. In these circumstances the TLOD does not reduce, nor does the cloud settings reduce.  I have set target FPS at 22.

How long is momentarily? The app averages FPS over 5 second so it doesn't overreact to stutters and spikes, but if much longer than this you should be seeing TLOD and/or cloud quality change.

 

5 hours ago, LGKR said:

Would it be possible to have the option to choose between fps TLOD reduction and/or fps cloud reduction setting?

I would prefer an option that cloud settings reduce in air, rather than have to wait until TLOD has counted down before clouds settings change.

In my opinion, in air, fps cloud reduction makes most sense, whereas on approach TLOD reduction makes most sense.

Right off the bat the code is currently written around doing it the one original way, TLOD first and clouds second, so I have a feeling that there is too much complex logic to change and retest to do this with any ease and without breaking existing functionality, but I will take a look and see if on the off chance it is possible without major surgery. Don't get your hopes up!

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

8 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

I was wondering about that, glad you are looking at it. Your proposed solution makes sense to me.

There are so many messages flying around at the moment. Which issue are you referring to?

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

4 hours ago, FalconAF said:

Not if the frame rate is being automatically increased beyond what frame rate the user is happy with...an "acceptable" FPS rate.  And that is the issue I am experiencing when using the "auto FPS" option.

For instance, I made a flight at FL410 with a full overcast below me.  Could not see any ground anywhere all the way to the horizon even if I wanted to.  With the "auto FPS" activated the app chose to increase my FPS rate to a rate I would never choose (or NEED) myself.  And in order to maintain that artificially inflated frame rate, it automatically DECREASES the cloud setting, in my case from High to Medium, just to have that unneeded higher FPS.  It made the overcast cloud layer below me look lousy at the expense of giving an increased FPS that served absolutely no purpose whatsoever.  

The above is similar to what Cap-Piett is reporting in his posts above.  The "auto-FPS" seems to be "Priority" increasing the frame rate to a higher number that really isn't needed to begin with, at the expense of reducing a higher cloud setting (High to Medium or similar) AND reducing the TLOD also when neither one needs to be reduced to maintain an "acceptable" FPS rate that is already fine with the user. 

The app shouldn't force higher-than-necessary FPS rates at the expense of reducing higher cloud settings or TLOD just to have higher THAN NECESSARY ("user acceptable") frame rates.  In this regard, even though the "auto FPS" setting is designed for a "non-computer savvy" (ie - "I don't know what settings to select to begin with") user, when it does what is described above it really isn't helping the simulator run at it's "best graphics settings".

Already acknowledged and thanks for putting it so enthusiastically. 😄

I guarantee I will not put this feature out behaving like that. It will either be fixed or removed.

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

3 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

If I recall corretly, Vsync set in-sim will limit FPS. So you should set target FPS in AutoFPS about 5% lower than your Vsync FPS. 

I recommend 10% lower, per the readme, for better auto logic working range.

[Cpt_Piett 4,694]

9 minutes ago, Reset XPDR said:

You've raised an important new issue here that I've experienced recently too that doesn't have anything to do with Auto Target FPS mode, but non-expert mode itself. The issue comes from MSFS not shutting down correctly, mostly when you get a CTD in MSFS, and the app doesn't get to restore your default settings, leaving MSFS set to whatever the app had your TLOD, OLOD and clouds settings set to when it CTDed. As a result, when MSFS and this app starts up again, the app thinks these are your default settings and non-expert mode goes on do halve and tripple your default TLOD settings and that is why you are seeing different TLOD min and max, and possibly other settings, than you should.

As an example, if MSFS and the app start normally and you have TLOD 100 in MSFS, the app will set TLOD Min on ground to be 50. If MSFS CTDs right then, when MSFS and the app start up again, MSFS's TLOD is 50, because that's what the app last set it to and didn't get a chance to restore it to 100 because of the CTD, and the app then halves your TLOD 50 to be TLOD Min 25, and that is exactly what I think happened to you at some point recently.

In any case, I think I can fix it by getting the app to write the initial default settings it reads in to the config file and delete them again when everything shuts down normally. The app can fairly safely assume if it finds the initial default settings still there on next start up that MSFS probably CTDed and that it should use the default settings from the config file, not from MSFS as its settings are potentially tainted. Does that make sense?

It certainly does, thanks for explaining. And I think I finally understand the TLOD min logic of non-expert mode. Sadly, many Bothans had to die for me to understand the logic fully.

How does non-expert non-auto-target-FPS mode calculate TLOD max though? 

Btw, if I'm in non-expert mode and it reduces cloud quality, I have to reset to ultra in MSFS menu if I want to then use expert mode with no cloud quality reduction. 

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

32 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

Took a longitude flight from VNKT to VELP in heavy weather. Other than a quick test with the original version several days ago, I haven't played with this until the AurtoFGPS was imlemented.

I ran app, selected AutoFPS, started MSFS and set up and flew my flightplan. The app selected 28fps as aut (probably because I have an older system - m7700 at 5ghz and 3090 rtx card. ) Through the flight the fps at 30, the TLOD was mostly at 600 and the OLOD remained at 30.

No stutters, no issues and this with heavy TS clouds etc. - The graphics on takeoff and landing were very good. When cloud cover broke flying over the mountains of Nepal, they were really stunning.

edit: DX12 and using DLSS at 5760 on a 40" 4k monitor

All in all I was very pleased with the experience.

Thanks for the feedback. This is exactly how I intended Auto Target FPS to be used ie. enable it on the ground and forget it for the rest of your flight. I have done about 20 flights this way, in VFR, IFR, complex and simple scenery and complex and simple aircraft and it has worked very well on all of them.

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

4 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

How does non-expert non-auto-target-FPS mode calculate TLOD max though? 

It is 300% (ie. 3x) your default TLOD.

 

5 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

 Sadly, many Bothans had to die for me to understand the logic fully.

😄

5 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Btw, if I'm in non-expert mode and it reduces cloud quality, I have to reset to ultra in MSFS menu if I want to then use expert mode with no cloud quality reduction. 

I'll take a look at that as it should restore all setting when mode switching like that. 👍

[Cpt_Piett 4,694]

27 minutes ago, Reset XPDR said:

It is 300% (ie. 3x) your default TLOD.

Thanks! Unlimited poooower 🤪

Edited March 10 by Cpt_Piett

[vgbaron 3,632]

46 minutes ago, Reset XPDR said:

There are so many messages flying around at the moment. Which issue are you referring to?

MSFS ctding leaving changed values that then get read vas defaults.