MSFS 2020 Auto FPS App

[Reset XPDR 1,359]

It's me again, last time today I promise. I found a major bug with auto target FPS, which I have fixed in a new test build plus two other minor changes after a full afternoon of normal flying. The download link is the same one as usual here.

Changes in Test Version 14Mar241000Z are:

• Fixed major issue when starting the app with auto target FPS enabled and TLOD Min + being instantly activated because target FPS was being initialised after it was needed for a delta FPS calculation.
• Removed TLOD step scaling in VFR mode for the first 1000 ft as the step sizes aren't that large anyway and sometimes on final approach to the airport scenery load increases thus needing greater TLOD stepping to compensate.
• Added automatic cloud recovery TLOD increase to non-expert mode for cases when the app is constantly toggling between cloud quality decrease and recovery. If the recovery happens within 30 seconds at an altitude where TLOD changes can occur, each time an extra 20 TLOD is added to cloud recovery TLOD until this behaviour stops. Not added to expert mode as the user has full control over cloud recovery TLOD.

I know right now most are in bed or just getting up, so I hope this hasn't inconvenienced anyone too much.

Edited March 14 by Reset XPDR

[FalconAF 213]

☕

36 minutes ago, Reset XPDR said:

 

• Added automatic cloud recovery TLOD increase to non-expert mode for cases when the app is constantly toggling between cloud quality decrease and recovery. If the recovery happens within 30 seconds at an altitude where TLOD changes can occur, each time an extra 20 TLOD is added to cloud recovery TLOD until this behaviour stops. Not added to expert mode as the user has full control over cloud recovery TLOD.

I know right now most are in bed or just getting up, so I hope this hasn't inconvenienced anyone too much.

You beat me to reporting it. That's exactly what was happening to me on a flight I was doing and I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what setting I may have messed up.  I'll download and try the new version shortly.

And it's 3:45 AM.  I'm fully retired.  Sleep?  What's sleep?  ☕ 🍩

Edited March 14 by FalconAF

[abennett 177]

Awesome as always.

Just one little opinion of mine, I’m not massively keen on the nomenclature of IFR/VFR mode. I’ve always preferred settings to be named after what they actually do. I think it would be better if you could come up with a short, snappy name for the setting that actually describes what the application is targeting rather than naming the setting after a type of flight rule. I think it adds more confusion than simplicity.

Certainly not a complaint, just a personal opinion.

[FalconAF 213]

1 hour ago, abennett said:

...come up with a short, snappy name for the setting that actually describes what the application is targeting rather than naming the setting after a type of flight rule. I think it adds more confusion than simplicity.

Certainly not a complaint, just a personal opinion.

That won't work for a few reasons.  Mainly:

1.  This is a worldwide user forum and the app will be used by numerous people of different linguistic backgrounds.  Short and snappy words don't mean the same thing to people from different backgrounds and cultures.  On the other hand, for a pilot from just about anywhere in the world, they will ALL understand the difference between what VFR and IFR means. So...

2.  Because there is very limited space on the app's GUI to begin with, there isn't enough room to "actually describe" what each button will do.  They both change multiple ways the app will work in a given VFR or IFR environment.  So what is really needed is just a good Instruction Manual that lists all the buttons on the GUI with the EXACT name of the button (in this case either VFR or IFR) and an associated section of the Instruction Manual (indexed, hopefully) that WILL have room to go into a more in-depth description of what the 2 choices are designed to do. @Reset has already done an in-depth explanation of the 2 buttons several posts ago.  That just needs to be what is included in the Instruction Manual (or a variation of it if/as things change again).

Note: The above in another "teaching principle" learned from having Air Force classrooms with over 100+ students in them at the same time from all over different parts of the U.S.  Heck, explaining something to someone from New York may not work the same way to someone from California.  Start teaching people from multiple COUNTRIES at the same time (like a Red Flag Fighter Pilot training session at Nellis AFB) and you may have to explain the same concept in several different ways to make sure everyone in the class understands it (which is a really good idea before they all start buzzing around the training area at Mach speeds with loaded weapons).  The same principle applies to "teaching" users from all over the world who will be using MSFS and associated apps with it. 

Edited March 14 by FalconAF

[michdb8 46]

removed

Edited March 14 by michdb8
fixed

[LGKR 36]

Every time I open MSFS the AutoFPS app (on last 3 versions) turns down my cloud settings from ultra to high. I have turned target FPS down to 10 to avoid this, but still cloud setting is turned down from ultra to high on startup. AutoFPS starts automatically on MSFS startup.

Also I have unticked "DECREASE CLOUD QUALITY" so this should not happen no matter what target FPS I insert. But it still happens every time I start up

Why is this happening?

[Cpt_Piett 4,816]

Greetings from the Fenix flightdeck at FL110 en route to ENBR Bergen from EGPH Edinburgh. Got the latest test build before making myself a coffee 🙂

I like the new radio buttons. Intuitive, easy to understand. Mouse-over info is legible. Currently testing in IFR expert mode. 

TL;DR: Nice work Reset! 👌 Now I'll go grab that ☕

Settings:

• 4K DLSS ultra quality, shadows 6K, all settings ultra/max
• FPS RTSS-locked at 80
• AI traffic: FSLTL w/ max 30 AI within 50km, maxed 30 parked aircraft
• highly detailed airport scenery at both ends

Some more detailed info after examining the log:

Departure:

• TLOD 50 on ground
• Started to increase above 1000ft
• 600 above 5400ft
• FPS 73-80 from ground to 10,000ft
• FPS 78-80 ground to 5300ft

Approach:

• TLOD started to decrease from 600 around 7500ft
• 260 at 2000ft
• 50 at 1000ft and locked below that
• FPS 72-81 from 10,000ft to ground
• FPS steady at 79-81 below AGL 2800ft

I didn't do any elaborate frame time testing this time - but experienced smoothness was absolutely acceptable in all stages of flight. Which IMO is the most important thing. 

Conclusion: Today's test build was able to maintain a steady 80 fps on the most critical stages of initial climbout and final approach with "sensible" dynamic TLOD and OLOD changes. 

ENBR ILS Rwy 17 CATII approach w/ auto landing:

Disclaimer: Again I’m recording using very high settings, hence the recording itself introduces microstutters. Hard stutters are due to something else, not sure what exactly…

Edited March 14 by Cpt_Piett

[FalconAF 213]

Just finished a flight EHAM to EGLC with the latest 14Mar241000Z.  The included "Added automatic cloud recovery TLOD increase to non-expert mode" fix by @Reset solved the "constantly toggling between cloud quality decrease and recovery" I experienced with the previous version.  Everything else seemed to work flawlessly also (but I'm not using super high settings...just the "default" ones shown in @Reset's GUI pics).  

[fppilot 4,391]

10 hours ago, Reset XPDR said:

BTW, tt is not RTSS, it is DLSSG

My bad, late at night just before bedtime.  Meant DLSSG

 

10 hours ago, Reset XPDR said:

FPS shows the FPS for the current graphics mode averaged over 5 seconds

What I was asking was what is indicated by the 0FPS number in the app?  I was seeing around 60 in the AutoFPS app but only around 30 from the indication in the MSFS Developer mode and it seemed to be locked.  I checked NV Control Panel again and found Vertical Sync in Global Settings was set to Use the 3D Application Setting.  Turned that Off and not seeing low 40's FPS from MSFS and still around 60 from the app.  Not understanding the difference yet.

[Corsten 77]

1 hour ago, fppilot said:

My bad, late at night just before bedtime.  Meant DLSSG

 

What I was asking was what is indicated by the 0FPS number in the app?  I was seeing around 60 in the AutoFPS app but only around 30 from the indication in the MSFS Developer mode and it seemed to be locked.  I checked NV Control Panel again and found Vertical Sync in Global Settings was set to Use the 3D Application Setting.  Turned that Off and not seeing low 40's FPS from MSFS and still around 60 from the app.  Not understanding the difference yet.

I had that 0fps also. Reboot of MSFS did the trick. Latest test version installed 3h ago.

[Cpt_Piett 4,816]

4 hours ago, FalconAF said:

Just finished a flight EHAM to EGLC with the latest 14Mar241000Z.  The included "Added automatic cloud recovery TLOD increase to non-expert mode" fix by @Reset solved the "constantly toggling between cloud quality decrease and recovery" I experienced with the previous version.  Everything else seemed to work flawlessly also (but I'm not using super high settings...just the "default" ones shown in @Reset's GUI pics).  

Great to hear! I'm thinking that default / reasonable settings is what Reset would recommend for most people. In fact I would not really recommend anyone to try my radical settings 🙂

I'll add that it's quite an accomplishment that Reset's app is able to cater for such various usage scenarios. Hope that makes sense. 

(I might take that job offer as a marketing consultant after all 😜 )

5 hours ago, LGKR said:

Every time I open MSFS the AutoFPS app (on last 3 versions) turns down my cloud settings from ultra to high. I have turned target FPS down to 10 to avoid this, but still cloud setting is turned down from ultra to high on startup. AutoFPS starts automatically on MSFS startup.

Also I have unticked "DECREASE CLOUD QUALITY" so this should not happen no matter what target FPS I insert. But it still happens every time I start up

Why is this happening?

The only thing I can think of is that somehow the app doesn't properly respect your default cloud setting. But I think I'll have to leave it to Reset to further elaborate on this. And that perhaps starting AutoFPS after you load the flight might alleviate this issue. Just a though. I always start AutoFPS this way. Before I load the flight I re-check my MSFS settings to make sure they're what I want them to be. 

 

3 hours ago, fppilot said:

What I was asking was what is indicated by the 0FPS number in the app?

Do you have a screenshot of the 0FPS situation? 

1 hour ago, Corsten said:

I was seeing around 60 in the AutoFPS app but only around 30 from the indication in the MSFS Developer mode and it seemed to be locked.  I checked NV Control Panel again and found Vertical Sync in Global Settings was set to Use the 3D Application Setting.  Turned that Off and not seeing low 40's FPS from MSFS and still around 60 from the app.  Not understanding the difference yet.

Are you using the FG mod? Dev mode will only show native FPS - FG-FPS (as reported by AutoFPS as long as "on top" is ticked and MSFS is in focus) is usually twice that. Do you have any other setting in NCP that could explain locked FPS? I'd suggest double-checking "max frame rate" and "preferred refresh rate". 

Edited March 14 by Cpt_Piett

[Reset XPDR 1,359]

5 hours ago, fppilot said:

My bad, late at night just before bedtime.  Meant DLSSG

 

What I was asking was what is indicated by the 0FPS number in the app?  I was seeing around 60 in the AutoFPS app but only around 30 from the indication in the MSFS Developer mode and it seemed to be locked.  I checked NV Control Panel again and found Vertical Sync in Global Settings was set to Use the 3D Application Setting.  Turned that Off and not seeing low 40's FPS from MSFS and still around 60 from the app.  Not understanding the difference yet.

Was DLSSG changed to 0 in the usercfg.opt file when you saw this? Can you post a full screen shot of the app overlaying MSFS showing what you are saying.

[Reset XPDR 1,359]

8 hours ago, FalconAF said:

That won't work for a few reasons.  Mainly:

1.  This is a worldwide user forum and the app will be used by numerous people of different linguistic backgrounds.  Short and snappy words don't mean the same thing to people from different backgrounds and cultures.  On the other hand, for a pilot from just about anywhere in the world, they will ALL understand the difference between what VFR and IFR means. So...

2.  Because there is very limited space on the app's GUI to begin with, there isn't enough room to "actually describe" what each button will do.  They both change multiple ways the app will work in a given VFR or IFR environment.  So what is really needed is just a good Instruction Manual that lists all the buttons on the GUI with the EXACT name of the button (in this case either VFR or IFR) and an associated section of the Instruction Manual (indexed, hopefully) that WILL have room to go into a more in-depth description of what the 2 choices are designed to do. @Reset has already done an in-depth explanation of the 2 buttons several posts ago.  That just needs to be what is included in the Instruction Manual (or a variation of it if/as things change again).

Note: The above in another "teaching principle" learned from having Air Force classrooms with over 100+ students in them at the same time from all over different parts of the U.S.  Heck, explaining something to someone from New York may not work the same way to someone from California.  Start teaching people from multiple COUNTRIES at the same time (like a Red Flag Fighter Pilot training session at Nellis AFB) and you may have to explain the same concept in several different ways to make sure everyone in the class understands it (which is a really good idea before they all start buzzing around the training area at Mach speeds with loaded weapons).  The same principle applies to "teaching" users from all over the world who will be using MSFS and associated apps with it. 

Besides this new terminology being my personal preference, I agree with the above and will keep it as it is.

[Reset XPDR 1,359]

7 hours ago, LGKR said:

Every time I open MSFS the AutoFPS app (on last 3 versions) turns down my cloud settings from ultra to high. I have turned target FPS down to 10 to avoid this, but still cloud setting is turned down from ultra to high on startup. AutoFPS starts automatically on MSFS startup.

Also I have unticked "DECREASE CLOUD QUALITY" so this should not happen no matter what target FPS I insert. But it still happens every time I start up

Why is this happening?

That should not be happening, especially with decrease cloud quality being unticked as the very first thing this decrease functionality looks for is if that is set or not and if not it goes no further. If you understand coding, this is why it is not possible from a logic perspective:

if (DecCloudQ && !Model.DecCloudQActive && Model.tlod == MinTLOD && deltaFPS <= -Model.TargetFPS * FPSTolerance / 100)

and in the main window module (serviceModel is the same as Model BTW):

 chkDecCloudQ.IsChecked = serviceModel.DecCloudQ;

Is the cloud sim value showing in black or red, because if black it has not turned down quality at all and that is what your default cloud quality was set to before running the app. If so, exit the app, set your clouds to ultra in MSFS settings then restart the app and you should be good to go.

 

Edited March 14 by Reset XPDR

[fppilot 4,391]

3 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Do you have a screenshot of the 0FPS situation? 

My bad I guess.  I am not having an issue that I know of with the 0FPS being displayed.  my question is simple.  In AutoFPS I am seeing routinely 0FPS of 60-ish.  The display of FPS from MSFS Developer mode is showing me 40-ish FPS.  The two are different.  Why?  If they are different then what is 0FPS (defination).

See how one is 62 and the other 30.1?  So they appear to be two different types of measure.  This running AutoFPS with no changes in settings.  Out of the box so to speak.

 

Edited March 14 by fppilot