17 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

I've noticed that TLOD goes higher than TLOD Top. E.g. currently at AGL 8000ft, TLOD Top set to 800, and actual TLOD is 950. Not sure if this is intended or not. 

TLOD goes higher than TLOD Top - is this intended?

EDIT: I changed TLOD Top to 200 then hit reset. Now I'm getting FPSCap+ Day 200-300 and a TLOD of 220 which is perfect. 

Unrelated: Last night I flew the DA42 from NY to Boston and could not have TLOD higher than 200 at 2000ft, even in less populated areas (not enough headroom). Today I get a TLOD of 465 above a densely populated area in the Netherlands. It could be one of the quirks of MSFS2024... 🤷‍♂️

 

Edited January 12, 20251 yr by Cpt_Piett

1 hour ago, Cpt_Piett said:

TLOD goes higher than TLOD Top - is this intended?

EDIT: I changed TLOD Top to 200 then hit reset. Now I'm getting FPSCap+ Day 200-300 and a TLOD of 220 which is perfect. 

Unrelated: Last night I flew the DA42 from NY to Boston and could not have TLOD higher than 200 at 2000ft, even in less populated areas (not enough headroom). Today I get a TLOD of 465 above a densely populated area in the Netherlands. It could be one of the quirks of MSFS2024... 🤷‍♂️

 

I answered your question on TLOD going above TLOD Top before here.

13 hours ago, Reset XPDR said:

Unlike the other automation modes, TLOD Base + gets added across the entire altitude schedule, so you can still achieve a higher TLOD top than what you set if conditions are favourable so don't feel like you are missing out by setting TLOD Top lower than what you are used to.

21 minutes ago, Reset XPDR said:

I answered your question on TLOD going above TLOD Top before here.

Apologies, I need to pay more attention then. 

26 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Apologies, I need to pay more attention then. 

No worries. It was a bit buried in a longer response I made to you so I can see how you might have missed it.

So given the clarification I gave yesterday of what the new FPS Cap automation mode is meant to achieve and how to set it up for best results, here and here in particular, is there any more feedback testers can give me on this new mode, either in expert or non-expert mode? Be blunt if you need to be as I will otherwise be releasing it as is soon with a few minor tweaks I made today. Is it actually useful and is forcing it upon non-expert mode users in a more docile mode acceptable?

Edited January 12, 20251 yr by Reset XPDR

23 minutes ago, Reset XPDR said:

So given the clarification I gave yesterday of what the new FPS Cap automation mode is meant to achieve and how to set it up for best results, here and here in particular, is there any more feedback testers can give me on this new mode, either in expert or non-expert mode? Be blunt if you need to be as I will otherwise be releasing it as is soon with a few minor tweaks I made today. Is it actually useful and is forcing it upon non-expert mode users in a more docile mode acceptable?

Ok, so expert mode is working really well most of the time. Been flying a lot today over Europe, densely populated areas, PG-cities. I think the issue I had last night over the US could have been server related. FPS Cap is very useful IMO. 

34 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Ok, so expert mode is working really well most of the time. Been flying a lot today over Europe, densely populated areas, PG-cities. I think the issue I had last night over the US could have been server related. FPS Cap is very useful IMO. 

I am tweaking it a little more today for non-expert mode by limiting the amount TLOD Base + can add to be no more than 50% of the adjusted TLOD Base Top and also to that it always backs off by one seek step at the end to ensure good margin.  I'll see if I can extend this latter backing off to expert mode if it hits TLOD Top when seeking to ensure similar margin in that mode.

Otherwise, I believe that with suitable guidance in the readme for FPS Cap that it will be useful to users with an FPS cap in either 2D or VR, namely:

• Be very conservative and make sure the TLOD Base and TLOD Top are ALWAYS achievable within your FPS cap with how you fly. TLOD Base + can work up from these values with favourable performance conditions but does not go below them.
• Unlike the other automation modes, TLOD Base + gets added across the entire altitude schedule, so you can still achieve a higher TLOD top than what you set if conditions are favourable so don't feel like you are missing out by setting TLOD Top lower than what you are used to.
• When the initial seeking process is active, do not expect smooth panning or stable FPS around your FPS cap until it has finished. The seek process is hunting for where the performance boundary is, so it is intentionally trying to breach the FPS cap to find where that point is. Once it finds it, it backs off the TLOD slightly to give you some margin.
• Even when the seek process is finished, you may get stuttering when you first pan the view in external view as MSFS scenery to the side and behind you may not have loaded in for your higher than usual TLOD, which is simply because of the way MSFS caches scenery in to memory. ie. it would still happen with high TLODs manually set by you without AutoFPS controlling them.

Edited January 12, 20251 yr by Reset XPDR

0.4.4.3-test4 is now available for download here. The changes are:

• Revised FPS Cap logic to be more conservative:
  • In non-expert mode limiting the amount TLOD Base + can add to be no more than 50% of the adjusted TLOD Base Top.
  • In very favourable conditions, allowing the seek process to go two TLOD increments above the intended maximum to ensure the FPS cap is maintained then backing off those two TLOD increments to give a healthy initial performance margin.
  • In slightly favourable conditions, allowing the initial seek process to back off by two TLOD increments once the FPS cap has been breached to again give a healthy initial performance margin.

In combination with BATC, would it be better to start AUTOFPS before or after BATC has generated the traffic?

38 minutes ago, flieger28 said:

In combination with BATC, would it be better to start AUTOFPS before or after BATC has generated the traffic?

It depends how long it takes for BATC to load in the traffic. If it loads in less than 20 seconds, then the AutoFPS settle counter will automatically wait that long before it acts on anything. If longer, yes you could load AutoFPS later but it is just as easy to already have it running then to hit the AutoFPS reset button once everything is loaded if needed and it all gets reset.

Edited January 13, 20251 yr by Reset XPDR

Just completed KPSP-KLAX and back to KPSP, piston Duke. Probably the most dense PG-area in the sim. 

FPS Cap non-expert mode worked extremely well - I think I might prefer it to expert mode because of how easy it is to use. Well done! 👌

Edited January 14, 20251 yr by Cpt_Piett

42 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Just completed KPSP-KLAX and back to KPSP, piston Duke. Probably the most dense PG-area in the sim. 

FPS Cap non-expert mode worked extremely well - I think I might prefer it to expert mode because of how easy it is to use. Well done! 👌

System testy area agreed. What altitude?  What did you take most note of?

4 minutes ago, fppilot said:

System testy area agreed. What altitude?  What did you take most note of?

Altitude max 6000ft, sometimes down to 2000ft over the LA metro area. It just worked really well in non-expert mode, very easy and hassle-free. Can't think of anything in particular that I noticed. 

0.4.4.3-test5 is now available for download here. It is a minor refinement of test4 to allow the new conservative headroom settings introduced there to be user selectable with the default being enabled as that will give the best experience for most users. If no major issues are identified, this should be the last test version before formal release.

Changes are:

• Revised FPS Cap automation mode logic:
  • Removed TLOD Base + and TLOD Top + checkboxes these features are hard coded in this mode hence are unnecessary to display.
  • Added Headroom+ (Hr+) checkbox for expert mode (feature is hard coded enabled in non-expert mode):
    • Enabled by default and allows the conservative initial double TLOD decrements when the FPS cap is breached introduced in Test4 in expert mode to reduce potential stuttering and FPS cap breaches at the expense of an otherwise higher achievable TLOD.
    • When unchecked, allows only a single initial TLOD decrement when the FPS cap is breached and a slightly looser tolerance on when the FPS cap is considered to have been breached for situations where higher TLOD is preferred over potential slight stuttering and small temporary FPS cap breaches.

Edited January 14, 20251 yr by Reset XPDR

I've been testing FPS Cap a lot over the last few days. Like I've mentioned, I really like it, as I prefer to lock FPS (even though I don't use VR). My main reason for locking FPS (with RTSS) is that the sim runs a lot smoother. 

I'm still trying to get a good understanding of the logic though, even after reading the changelogs several times 🙂 I know it's probably not necessary to understand it fully - but hey, that's just me - I like to understand how things work. 

So I guess I'm asking for some general advice on how to use FPS Cap. I've set TLOD in the sim menu to 200, which for my PC seems to work well in non-expert mode, at least for GA flights. I'm aware of this advice:

Quote

Special note to those trying out FPS Cap expert mode is be very conservative and make sure the TLOD Base and TLOD Top are ALWAYS achievable within your FPS cap with how you fly. TLOD Base + can work up from these values with favourable performance conditions but does not go below them.

Some questions:

• in non-expert mode, if I fly from a sparsely to a densely populated area, what default TLOD should I aim for to ensure I get a smooth approach?
• is it unwise to change settings whilst airborne (e.g. I started in VFR mode but want to change to IFR)?
• @Reset XPDR, do you have some general advice on how to use FPS Cap mode, apart from what's written in the changelog?

I'll do more test flights today, both in GA and airliners, and hopefully I'll understand more over time 🙂

 

Edited January 14, 20251 yr by Cpt_Piett