MSFS 2020 Auto FPS App

[fppilot 4,378]

53 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

MSFS menu / usercfg.opt: TLOD 600 OLOD 200. I'm FPS-locked at 80 using RTSS. 

How are you setting TLOD 600?  The most I am offered is 400.  And what specific separate steps are you doing to get your displayed CPU utilization, GPU utilization. and memory utilizaton?  Seems way more balanced than anything I see.  My specs are in my msg footer.

[FalconAF 213]

9 minutes ago, fppilot said:

I honeltly believe the discussion among some members is along the line of create a new thread that pulls all of this now strungout development into a more concise or compact form, not delete this original.  Much like (but different from) the changelogs at TO. Like a user friendly feature/benefit summary for each step of development rather than the deeply technical summaries he has posted here and elsewhere. I still know little of what to do to optimize either app, playing my own "what-if".  Messages from others imply the same.  This much more than deserves the light of day, but the end of day layman's light bulb 🔆 needs to come on for many of us to get the best from it.

 

That is exactly what I was trying to say (imply) with my recommendation to start a new thread.  In retrospect now I do agree with vgbaron (and others) idea of still keeping this thread open for further "beta testing" type conversations (or for archival information).  There is no need to "kill" the thread.  But a consolidation of all the current information concerning the app will eventually be needed or some (many?) new users will just walk away from the app after experiencing frustration trying to understand how to use it.  Or using it incorrectly resulting in causing new "problems" (unexplained new stuttering, fluctuating FPS, etc) in there FS2020. So a new thread for that when the final release happens (like @Reset says will happen) will be beneficial also.

In any case, I was doing a flight yesterday with the latest test version using live weather and the Working Title CJ4.  Total overcast until the last 20-ish miles to the destination airport.  The app worked great.  It worked so well that when I broke out of the overcast the TLOD ground scenery was SOOOOO good that I was amazed at what I was seeing (and able to maintain using the app).  I was so caught up in the "WOW!" factor of it all while flying the ILS to the runway that when I flared to land I realized "Hmmm....something doesn't feel right.....".  Moments later...just before it happened...I realized, "(insert BAD word here)...I forgot to lower the landing gear!!!".  Which was immediately followed by that sickening sound of your multi-million dollar private jet scraping along the concrete runway on its belly.  THAT'S one of the ways I know an addon or app is great...when it gets my attention so well I'll forget to "Fly the airplane first!". 

I have to go to my Virtual Appointment with the Virtual FAA Examiner now.... 🥺

 

[Cpt_Piett 4,697]

41 minutes ago, fppilot said:

RE: Youtube videos.  Something that keeps it basic/generic = yes.  i.e. providing a baseline.  From there methinks our individual systems and the inherent nuances would only create more confusion.  If we go expert we will not all end up at the same place, leading to too much copycat and likely frustration.  Too much of that is in my own rear view mirror in this thread, and it did not work out for me.  I tried too many things from too many sources (actually only 3) at once and they ganged up on me.

I for one have been guilty of chasing too many tails at the same time. And I think you raise an important point (if I understand you correctly) - that comparing results, even with the exact same settings, will always be futile, as there's a myriad of variables that we don't tend to take into account. What complicates things further is how we perceive our simming experience. Some people don't mind a few stutters here and there, whereas others are on a neverending quest to achieve a completely stutterless, Nirvana-like, Holy Grail simming experience. 

Hence, when I'm posting screenshots of my own settings, that's not in any way to suggest others should run the same settings. I only do it in an attempt to give a point of reference in order to better explain what I'm doing. Not sure if that makes sense at all. It somehow made sense in my mind as I was typing it though 😅

Edited March 13 by Cpt_Piett

[Cpt_Piett 4,697]

25 minutes ago, Reset XPDR said:

Someone has already put up on the MSFS forum what I think is a great half-way compromise for this sort of mod to exist legitimately in future here, namely to give us devs a simconnect interface to make MSFS settings changes externally. This way Asobo doesn't have to code these features in MSFS themselves, although they could have a very basic implementation, and devs like me can come out of hiding and make apps like these even better.

I recommend everyone using this app and who are on the MSFS forum vote for this wishlist item, like I did.

What he says makes sense to me. Voted. 

Quote

For instance, of course setting TLOD to 800 at an airport is unreasonable but up at FL200+, with capable hardware, it’s glorious. But in order to achieve that in a semi-acceptable way, I have to manually tweak the Usercfg.opt file. It’s out of slider range in the user interface. But I’ve done it and it’s awesome! Similarly, if I set TLOD to 100 and OLOD to 600 on the ground at an airport, it’s similarly awesome. That too is out of range on the user interface.

Don't think I could have said this much better myself. In a way, it sort of sums up my appreciation of Reset's work: to have an app (ideally set and forget for most users) that manages TLODs/OLODs and such in the background to ensure that the user gets the best experience possible with his/her own hardware. 

In fact back in my XP11 days, there existed an app that I think did something similar to what Reset's is doing, namely adjusting LODs and such on the fly to maintain a steady frame rate. The app IIRC was much praised and widely used in the .org community at the time. 

[FalconAF 213]

8 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Hence, when I'm posting screenshots of my own settings, that's not in any way to suggest others should run the same settings. I only do it in an attempt to demonstrate what I experiences, using my settings, with my hardware. Not sure if that makes sense at all. It somehow made sense in my mind as I was typing it though 😅

It makes perfect sense.  And I've always thought something similar to it should be included as "The Disclaimer" statement at the top of EVERY kind of graphics intensive software simulation product (it applies to things like iRacing auto racing simulations too, and even the First Person "Shoot 'Em Ups!" fantasy and war fighting sims).

[fppilot 4,378]

13 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

And I think you raise an important point (if I understand you correctly) - that comparing results, even with the exact same settings, will always be futile, as there's a myriad of variables that we don't tend to take into account.

Perflect reflected!

[Cpt_Piett 4,697]

Excellent!

Well, as I'm finally up to date on Avsim, I think I've earned myself a nice relaxing flight in Black Square's King Air from SEGU Jose Joaquin de Olmedo to SEQM Mariscal Sucre Intl Quito, Ecuador.

[FalconAF 213]

3 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Excellent!

Well, as I'm finally up to date on Avsim, I think I've earned myself a nice relaxing flight in Black Square's King Air from SEGU Jose Joaquin de Olmedo to SEQM Mariscal Sucre Intl Quito, Ecuador.

I travelled all over the world in my 26 years in the Air Force.  But I still have to Google the locations for that flight plan.  😄

[javelina 56]

1 hour ago, Reset XPDR said:

Someone has already put up on the MSFS forum what I think is a great half-way compromise for this sort of mod to exist legitimately in future here, namely to give us devs a simconnect interface to make MSFS settings changes externally. This way Asobo doesn't have to code these features in MSFS themselves, although they could have a very basic implementation, and devs like me can come out of hiding and make apps like these even better.

I recommend everyone using this app and who are on the MSFS forum vote for this wishlist item, like I did.

 

Indeed, just voted for it!

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

1 hour ago, fppilot said:

Can you explain better the last line in the app?  "DSX12 | FG Active | FPS Settling 3s"?   Using RTX 3080.  Tried the RTX 3-series Frame Generation hack. Totally clensed it from my system and reestablished prior settings.  So why is the app today showing me "FG Active"?  I no longer have a setting for that.  And what is the meaning of "FPS Settling 3s"?

 

FG Active is because even though you think you cleaned out that FG mod totally, you did not. From the 0.4.1 readme:

• If FG is being incorrectly reported as enabled by the app, the likely reason is that either the FG mod had been installed and removed or you have disabled Hardware Accelerated Graphics Scheduling under Windows settings and the now the now greyed out MSFS FG setting may show that it is off but it is still set to on internally to MSFS. To fix, change the DLSSG line in your UserCfg.opt file to be DLSSG 0.

FPS Settling, dare I say it, is also covered in the 0.4.1 readme:

• The FPS settling timer runs for 6 seconds to allow FPS to settle between pausing/unpausing and VR/PC/FG mode transitions. This allows the FPS to stabilise before engaging automatic functions and should lead to much smaller TLOD changes when seeking the target FPS on such transitions.

The only change to these two items in 0.4.2-test is that the settling timer is nominally 10 seconds, sometimes 20 seconds, not 6 seconds like it was previously.

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

Now, off to code the VFR and IFR terminology automation connecting logic. I hope to have a test build up today with it in it. Along with a few minor bug fixes, this will be it scope-wise for 0.4.2, pending the VFR/IFR changes being deemed to work OK.

[abennett 172]

@Cpt_Piett

What are the latest settings you are running for the app? I have similar hardware 5800X3D and 4090, mainly fly the Fenix into pretty dense airports with VATSIM traffic. I would like to have a stable 80 or 90 FPS with FG On. 

[Cpt_Piett 4,697]

37 minutes ago, Reset XPDR said:

Now, off to code the VFR and IFR terminology automation connecting logic. I hope to have a test build up today with it in it. Along with a few minor bug fixes, this will be it scope-wise for 0.4.2, pending the VFR/IFR changes being deemed to work OK.

Happy coding!

Meanwhile, at FL200 in the King Air somewhere over Ecuador (carrying some Gungan rebels), I had a chance to look through the log from todays Manhattan flight. Remember I've been using non-expert mode with TLOD min ground/landing off. "Cruise" altitude: 1500ft. 

I was particularly interested to see how big the TLOD changes were, as I've been discussing with @mmcmah (in a secret encrypted forum) whether too big TLOD changes could account for some of the stutters us radicals are seeing. Well, I should only really be speaking for myself and not drag others perception into this 🙂 

Whilst established in the holding pattern over lower Manhattan, the average TLOD difference was perhaps only around 50. For most of the flight FPS was maintained within the very small range of 78-80. 

So basically, like I've already alluded to, I think this is as good as it gets (or, like someone would put it - as real as it gets), and again I have to emphasize that those micro-stutters I'm getting are miniscule and in no way do they detract from my overall simming experience. 

19 minutes ago, abennett said:

What are the latest settings you are running for the app? I have similar hardware 5800X3D and 4090, mainly fly the Fenix into pretty dense airports with VATSIM traffic. I would like to have a stable 80 or 90 FPS with FG On. 

Well this should certainly be achievable with the right settings. I've pretty much had stable FPS 80 from gate to gate recently in the Fenix, whilst using FSLTL AI traffic. 

This (screenshot below) is what I've been running for the last 24 hrs pretty much, however it's been mostly GA. When flying the Fenix, you may consider enabling TLOD Min on ground/landing and consider using TLOD Min of 100. Basically what TLOD Min on Ground/landing does is to ensure TLOD reaches Min value at 1000ft then stays locked below that. 

If you want to try the new TLOD Min extra feature, click the + checkbox next to TLOD Min to activate it. 

Edited March 13 by Cpt_Piett

[abennett 172]

24 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

If you want to try the new TLOD Min extra feature, click the + checkbox next to TLOD Min to activate it.

Awesome thanks, and just to confirm, this is basically it will target you TLOD Min, but give you more LOD if there is headroom? I have been using TLOD Min 50 which has proven very smooth with it enabled on Ground/Landing.

I have just been leaving the OLOD at sim default of 200 with nothing enabled in this application to change it. Do you see a noticeable difference in either performance/graphical quality by using your settings? (I presume you do or you wouldn't use them... but interested to hear what.

 

Many thanks.

[Cpt_Piett 4,697]

38 minutes ago, abennett said:

Awesome thanks, and just to confirm, this is basically it will target you TLOD Min, but give you more LOD if there is headroom? I have been using TLOD Min 50 which has proven very smooth with it enabled on Ground/Landing.

Yes, that's the way I understand it. I think Min 50 is probably a more sensible value, especially for those ridiculously demanding scenarios (yes, I'm looking at you iniBuilds KJFK). 

38 minutes ago, abennett said:

I have just been leaving the OLOD at sim default of 200 with nothing enabled in this application to change it. Do you see a noticeable difference in either performance/graphical quality by using your settings? (I presume you do or you wouldn't use them... but interested to hear what.

Well, I've been using auto-OLOD pretty much the whole time. Having a high OLOD value near ground certainly increases the object draw distance, making more buildings visible. During my testing over Manhattan, it was quite jaw-dropping having auto-OLOD adjust to 1000 at 3000ft (I had the headroom for it). Virtually every single building as far as my eye could see was rendered!

My take on this is - if your rig can handle it, I don't see why not. If you get more stutters with it, just disable it and set 200 in sim. 

EDIT: As I'm writing this, I'm doing a preflight in the Fenix at Quito Intl. AutoFPS is giving me TLOD 400 and OLOD 1000. FPS RTSS-locked at 80 in edge sync and with G-sync panning around the cockpit is butter-smooth 😁

Edited March 14 by Cpt_Piett