On 2/4/2025 at 12:44 PM, Reset XPDR said:

I saw your messages and yes, you had GPU-Z up and running properly for your last flight.

Per the readme, GPU-Z is best set up as follows:

• Recommended GPU-Z settings are to minimise on close, load at windows startup (minimised), and to minimise to the system tray on the general tab, and refresh sensors while GPU-Z is in the background on the sensors tab.
• Ensure the GPU shown on the GPU-Z GPU dropdown list is the same as the GPU being used for MSFS.

This should work for any of the latest AutoFPS updates.

Yes, I confirmed GPU-Z is running fine.  I see it in the app and it says: 

FGActive ATLOD Day 70-100 GPU 98% (varies) VRAM+ 93% (varies)

AutoMeth Auto TLOD LOD Step 5

LOD Base + (unchecked) 70 LOD Top + (unchecked) - (checked)

Running at 60-120 FPS mostly at 100 and 60 landing at JFK or SFO... comments appreciated.

Great work!  MS should hire you... their developer talk was pretty lame... seemed to give up on how to control VRAM usage. 

Edited February 6, 20251 yr by Jerryyyyy

I continue to fine tune my setting and wanted to do a little sanity check here... very happy with the software and a shame cannot be mentioned in the MSFS Forum as there are tons of people there that could benefit... I am getting better results with a minimal care than many are with high end cards. 

My current settings are:

General: 

Target FG Active FPS 60

Shows: FG Active | ATLOD Day 80-400

Expert Options:

Auto TLOD LOD Step 5

TLOD Base (checked) 80 TLOD Top + (unchecked) 400 - (checked)

Alt TLOD Base  500  alt TLOD Top 5000

(checked) decrease Cloud Density 98/90

(checked) Auto OLOD

OLD @ Base 100 OLOD @ Top 20

Alt OLOD Base 2000 Alt OLOD Top 10000

I test this on a flight between Reno and San Francisco using LNAV and VNAV and shoot a coupled approach so data are very good. 

I run at 120 to 70 FPS with the 70 being on the runway in Reno or SFO.... this I like as it gives me a lot of headroom and a smooth immersive experience, however, the detail is low.  At altitude in cruise the TLOD goes up to 400 and the OLOD down to 20 and the view is fine. 

I would like to crank up the detail a bit to optimize the image.  I think I will try first to Increase the TLOD Base to 100.  I have most of the objects turned off except the airplanes at low.  I do not understand why it shows TLOD orange at 25 with a lock on the runway at takeoff with a FPS of 102?  I would think it should show higher than that?

Anyway, fine product and like to master the details. 

Jerry Y

 

PS  Tried to change the TLOD to 100 and got stutters on the runways both at Reno and SFO, so this look like the limit of my system.  Backedoff to 80 and no stutters. 

PPS I noticed also that at altitude my TLOD has gone all the way up to 750, which seems overkill.

PPPS And I cannot seem to change the Clound Cover Quality Recover value, which seems fixed at 80.. change and it goes back... 90 might work best for me.

 

 

Edited February 9, 20251 yr by Jerryyyyy
More data

1 hour ago, Jerryyyyy said:

I do not understand why it shows TLOD orange at 25 with a lock on the runway at takeoff with a FPS of 102?  I would think it should show higher than that?

It's got nothing to do with your current FPS and everything to do with MSFS having used >= 96% VRAM, so the app is locking your TLOD with a view to not making it any worse. In fact, if TLOD is 25 it means your VRAM use exceeded 98% and has auto reduced to the lowest level it can then locked.

This is basically telling you that your MSFS settings are too high for the amount of VRAM your GPU has, so you should be turning them down.

From the readme:

• Uses two thresholds for VRAM usage, both changeable in the app root directory config file (not the one in the bin subdirectory) after running the app once after updating:
  • VRAMOverflowHoldTLOD threshold, defaults to > 96% VRAM in use and will cap TLOD to its current value, even if favourable performance conditions exist.
  • VRAMOverflowReduceTLOD threshold, defaults to > 98% VRAM in use and will progressively reduce TLOD down until the Hold threshold is achieved, but no lower than the default low-end setting in MSFS of 25.
• When VRAM use drops back below the Hold threshold and favourable performance conditions exist, TLOD will progressively increase up to TLOD Min/Base and the feature will disengage.
• If you are continually experiencing auto TLOD limiting activating, consider reducing your app TLOD settings and/or reducing other MSFS graphics settings.

Edited February 9, 20251 yr by Reset XPDR

Things have been pretty quiet with AutoFPS issues since the 0.4.4.5 formal release, so I have had a bit of time to look at a bit of polish to existing functionality. 

One thing I have never been game to tackle is auto app updates, so today I decided to take it on and see where it went. After a few colourful discussions with CoPilot about how it was misdirecting me on a few things, I managed to stumble on by myself and now have a working prototype that can detect a new update, auto download it, auto run the installer as a quick hands-off installation then restart the new app version and be up and running again, all without the user touching anything and within 30 seconds.

It is still a bit too green and prototypical to release as a test version, but I am pleased that I have the basic functionality in hand and hope to have a test version out in the next few days if anyone wants to help try it out with a few dummy test release updates. Stay tuned!

 

21 hours ago, Reset XPDR said:

It's got nothing to do with your current FPS and everything to do with MSFS having used >= 96% VRAM, so the app is locking your TLOD with a view to not making it any worse. In fact, if TLOD is 25 it means your VRAM use exceeded 98% and has auto reduced to the lowest level it can then locked.

This is basically telling you that your MSFS settings are too high for the amount of VRAM your GPU has, so you should be turning them down.

From the readme:

• Uses two thresholds for VRAM usage, both changeable in the app root directory config file (not the one in the bin subdirectory) after running the app once after updating:
  • VRAMOverflowHoldTLOD threshold, defaults to > 96% VRAM in use and will cap TLOD to its current value, even if favourable performance conditions exist.
  • VRAMOverflowReduceTLOD threshold, defaults to > 98% VRAM in use and will progressively reduce TLOD down until the Hold threshold is achieved, but no lower than the default low-end setting in MSFS of 25.
• When VRAM use drops back below the Hold threshold and favourable performance conditions exist, TLOD will progressively increase up to TLOD Min/Base and the feature will disengage.
• If you are continually experiencing auto TLOD limiting activating, consider reducing your app TLOD settings and/or reducing other MSFS graphics settings.

Thanks, what you say about the lock now makes perfect sense. 

I went back to Reno and could see the lock interacting with the VRAM and the detail of the image.  I had cranked things up a touch and that was enough to break the VRAM bank for my 3070ti.  It seems to be pretty good now that I have backed off a touch.. can get away with low settings on Aircraft, traffic but wanted medium on buildings... one aircraft moving into the scene was enough to crank up the VRAM over the threshold....

AT SFO the landing was smooth and the TLOD eventually stabilized at 80 at 500' which is the limit I set.  I notice that on the runway it went to 25 and then slowly recovered.  The FPS ran between 70-100 was set to 60. 

All in all this is probably optimal for my poor old graphics card.  I could fine tune it but your defaults on VRAM seem to be fine... kinda circulates around 96% on the runway... watched it for a bit.

I think the airports plays a big roles here... how well it is rendered... Reno a small airport runs slower in effect than SFO a huge place... but probably carefully optimized by MS/ASCOBO because of its popularity... the community paid version runs slow with lots more details....

I have now advanced the Auto Update functionality to a state where I can release it, along with a few other minor changes, as test version 0.4.4.6-test1, available here.

For those wanting to help out, the aim of this initial test version is to do nothing other than work as it always has, with the exception that you will have to reset your app window position and visibility as these settings have now moved to an app common config file where they are more appropriately placed.

Let me know if anything is not working as expected for existing functionality with this initial test release.

The app should default to Auto Update with + Test enabled (and locked) and I request that testers leave it this way at least until I release a test2 update, likely tomorrow, so they can experience the auto update experience and let me know how it goes.

If I've done it right, you initial startup screen should look like this:

When you start the app after I have released test2 (either an actual update or just test1 re-badged as test2) tomorrow, it should look like this:

Which if you click yes will automatically download the new installer, close the app, run the installer with no user interaction required, open the Release Notes in notepad and restart the updated app. Example screenshots follow:

Then (except will show test2)

And finally (also except will show test2)

Feedback on any of the new features, especially the appropriateness of the app settings I have moved to the common config file, will be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

Hi Reset, thanks again for this great app.

Now that 2024 has thicker clouds and better low-visibility depictions, what do you think about reducing TLOD to the user-defined minimum when visibility is below something like 3 or 5 miles? 

Tonight I flew out of Nagasaki, which was IFR, and I had TLOD Min + checked as normal. My frame rate target is 40 fps, capped at 60 fps, so the app respected the 40 number but had TLOD at 600 or so (I keep it at 1000). In that particular situation, there was no reason for the extra TLOD because the visibility was poor. I can appreciate the difference between 40 and 60 fps.

Unchecking TLOD Min + restored 60 fps, but I wonder if that's something that can be automated when there isn't anything to display anyway because of clouds. 

Thanks for your consideration.

 

 

Edited February 12, 20251 yr by prolixindec

11 minutes ago, prolixindec said:

Hi Reset, thanks again for this great app.

Now that 2024 has thicker clouds and better low-visibility depictions, what do you think about reducing TLOD to the user-defined minimum when visibility is below something like 3 or 5 miles? 

Tonight I flew out of Nagasaki, which was IFR, and I had TLOD Min + checked as normal. My frame rate target is 40 fps, capped at 60 fps, so the app respected the 40 number but had TLOD at 600 or so (I keep it at 1000). In that particular situation, there was no reason for the extra TLOD because the visibility was poor. I can appreciate the difference between 40 and 60 fps.

Unchecking TLOD Min + restored 60 fps, but I wonder if that's something that can be automated when there isn't anything to display anyway because of clouds. 

Thanks for your consideration.

It is certainly possible to read the current MSFS visibility into the app using simconnect, and to restrict TLOD accordingly. I was struggling with the logic of wanting to do that when you are already hitting your target FPS but I note that the app already does a similar thing when TLOD halving at night is enabled where visibility is similarly restricted.

Since I currently have the app on the operating table with the auto update feature, I'll have a tinker and see what I can come up with, but no promises.

No promises expected, thanks for having a look.

 

3 hours ago, prolixindec said:

No promises expected, thanks for having a look.

 

I'm not having much luck getting the AMBIENT VISIBILITY variable to change when manually setting the weather. As you can see from this screenshot, I can set the clouds to 100% coverage and max density so I can barely see in front of the aircraft but ambient visibility reads as 138.6 kms, which is clearly not right.  Any suggestions on how to set the weather up properly to test this?

 

Edit: After further research it seems the only way to lower visibility it to do like I did. Since the lower visibility is not represented correctly in the only simvar relating to visibility, I'm afraid this requested capability is currently unachievable. If this changes in a future SU, I will look at it again.

Edited February 12, 20251 yr by Reset XPDR

57 minutes ago, Reset XPDR said:

I'm not having much luck getting the AMBIENT VISIBILITY variable to change when manually setting the weather. As you can see from this screenshot, I can set the clouds to 100% coverage and max density so I can barely see in front of the aircraft but ambient visibility reads as 138.6 kms, which is clearly not right.  Any suggestions on how to set the weather up properly to test this?

 

Edit: After further research it seems the only way to lower visibility it to do like I did. Since the lower visibility is not represented correctly in the only simvar relating to visibility, I'm afraid this requested capability is currently unachievable. If this changes in a future SU, I will look at it again.

This could actually be a very interesting feature.

I note that the biggest fps hit on my system, giving stutter, is when the aircraft is engulfed in clouds/haze.

If it is not possible to measure a lower visibility, Is there any way to measure the level of clouds around the aircraft on screen?

Eg, when cloud levels are above a certain treshold, cloud quality is automtically reduced.

When there are a lot of clouds, there is really no need for high quality clouds or high TLOD - bacause the visibility is low anyway.

40 minutes ago, LGKR said:

This could actually be a very interesting feature.

I note that the biggest fps hit on my system, giving stutter, is when the aircraft is engulfed in clouds/haze.

If it is not possible to measure a lower visibility, Is there any way to measure the level of clouds around the aircraft on screen?

Eg, when cloud levels are above a certain treshold, cloud quality is automtically reduced.

When there are a lot of clouds, there is really no need for high quality clouds or high TLOD - bacause the visibility is low anyway.

These are the only simvars I have found that could be used for this purpose, but they are still somewhat lacking.

eg. Ambient In Cloud is binary - your aircraft is either in cloud or not. What cloud density defines in? Also, what about when your aircraft is not in cloud but everywhere below you is like when you punch through a cloud base?

Ambient Precip State just means whether you are in none, rain or snow, so no much help there either. Ambient Precip Rate could be useful when rain is the cause of poor visibility, but what about haze, smog, fog, and dust?

Unfortunately what is plain to see when you are in the sim is not very evident at all in any of the data variables relating to such conditions from the sim.

Thank you for the auto update feature!

AutoFPS doesn't work with new MSFS24 beta released today.

 

EDIT: After reboot the sim, AutoFPS back to normal.

Edited February 12, 20251 yr by rutrA

1 hour ago, rutrA said:

AutoFPS doesn't work with new MSFS24 beta released today.

 

EDIT: After reboot the sim, AutoFPS back to normal.

Yes, there is a new memory offset with the new beta but the app should have found it by itself. It fired up fine on my Steam install.