MSFS 2020 Auto FPS App v0.4.2

[hvw 418]

40 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

OK, I just tried downloading it again, and the window popped up and it was from Chrome. This was blocking the download, and I could check download anyway. 

Finally success 🙂 It was indeed Chrome itself that blocked the download, but the window popped up and disappeared faster than a lightning. (Or I am getting old and slow 🙂 Anyhoo, got the app now and will try it out later. Thanks a lot Rick and Bob for getting me into the right direction.

[Bobsk8 12,907]

Just now, hvw said:

Finally success 🙂 It was indeed Chrome itself that blocked the download, but the window popped up and disappeared faster than a lightning. (Or I am getting old and slow 🙂 Anyhoo, got the app now and will try it out later. Thanks a lot Rick and Bob for getting me into the right direction.

Yeah, I think I tried it two or three times yesterday before I saw that window pop up. 

[Bobsk8 12,907]

In playing with t his new version, I turned of Auto FPS, It was giving me a really low target FPS of like 16, which I am usually around 28 at the lowest and averaging in the mid 30's to mid 40s... I just set it for 25, like I did with the previous version. 

[El Diablito 332]

A most enjoyable flight there from EGLL down to LIMC, steady turbulence all the way down from FL200 to about 2000ft, the app worked great. Not sure about the textures done at Malpensa by Deimos Inc though, how did they get away with this? I must've been drunk when I bought this!

https://imgur.com/a/y00kfNI

 

[Cpt_Piett 4,848]

I've spent some hours experimenting with different TLOD settings. As an example I will demonstrate something that I think will matter to a lot of people: runway viisibility. I suggest clicking on one of the photos, then use the arrow keys to change between them. 

TLOD50:

TLOD400:

I'm going to make a dedicated thread in the screenshot forum to avoid flooding this thread with images. I've got a lot of comparison images which I think will clearly demonstrate the significance of different TLODs in different situations: 

• Final approach
• Overflying a photogrammetry city at low altitude
• Looking at mountains from low altitude
• Looking at mountains from high altitude

IMPORTANT REMINDER:

Please remember NOT to MENTION AutoFPS in the MSFS forum!!

Notice the wording in the above screenshot: "using mods or apps" and "participated in such actions". Hence it seems that there's a risk of being banned if Microsoft figures out that a person is guilty of these "crimes" (i.e. not only mentioning Reset's apps).

Which reminds me of the completely opposite attitude of other game developers (e.g. Civilization and Cities Skylines) which have a thriving modding community, with literally thousands of mods on the Steam workshop.  

I fear that Microsoft's could possibly even monitor discussions outside their own forums (including here on Avsim). Perhaps I should not have the same username and avatar on the official forum...

I suspect that they're getting extra vigilant (paranoid?) nowadays as Reset's apps are getting an increasing amount of attention. Earlier today one of my posts (which didn't even mention AutoFPS), had to be moderator approved. Which has resulted in me being very hesitant to even discuss the concept of dynamic LOD on their forum. 

From AutoFPS readme:

Quote

Do not even mention, let alone try to discuss, this app on the MSFS official forums, even in personal messages, as they have taken the view that this app modifies licenced data, regardless of how harmless the way in which the app does it, and is therefore a violation of their Terms of Service and Code of Conduct for that website. If you do so, your post/personal message will be flagged by moderators and you may get banned from the MSFS official forums. You have been warned!

I have to admit that I didn't manage to refrain from venting my frustration at Microsobo's attitude in a different thread here on Avsim a few days ago. Not one of my proudest moments as it turned into quite the rant, I'm afraid. 

But I digress. Perhaps this discussion could be continued in another thread?

IMHO we should all be very grateful to Avsim for letting us discuss Reset's game-changing apps here. 

Several forum admins have shown a very positive attitude as well as expressed their support for discussing the apps here on Avsim:

On 3/13/2024 at 11:17 AM, Ray Proudfoot said:

Are you aware this is how FSUIPC was created many years ago? It takes a very clever person to disassemble a executable and analyse the contents. The original UIPC was created by Adam Zofran and then Pete Dowson developed his version from the work Adam had done.

He asked Microsoft for help but none was forthcoming. He battled on because with every new version variables were broken so work had to start again. Eventually after many years the Aces team decided to cooperate and Pete's life became a lot easier.

Without that effort flight sim 25+ years ago wouldn't have become what it is today. The development work passed to Pete's son John. These are very clever people whom we should all be very grateful to whatever sim you fly.

 

Edited March 16 by Cpt_Piett

[TheFamilyMan 281]

It's well overdue that I express my appreciation for such a fine tool that makes the MSFS 2020 experience so much more enjoyable:  THANK YOU and a job well done.  I don't know how many man-hours you've put into your fine tool, but it goes to show that it can be done thanks to you and of course all the others devs who paved the way.  It's sad to think that such useful and needed functionality was overlooked by Asobo (heck, and I've wanted and dreamed of AutoFPS functionality for years now).  BRAVO 🍻!!!

Edited March 16 by TheFamilyMan

[Cpt_Piett 4,848]

I posted a topic in the screenshot forum demonstrating the significance of TLOD. I'll share it here in case someone might find it useful, and I believe it is relevant to AutoFPS:

 

[Cpt_Piett 4,848]

6 hours ago, Fiorentoni said:

Help my memory out - what would the potential problem be with VSYNC? From what I understand VSYNC just caps the FPS to 30. So if I set AutoFPS to 30, wouldn't AutoFPS just do what it's supposed to do and stop changing anything as soon as 30 is reached?

Possibly your question has already been answered by Reset (I'm behind on this thread). The readme explains it quite well:

Quote

Nonetheless, the automation algorithm does require FPS headroom to function correctly, so can conflict in cases where an FPS cap is being used, such as with Vsync or motion reprojection in VR. Additionally, AutoFPS tends to make constant small changes to TLOD, much more than DynamicLOD does, and this can induce stuttering on older hardware as it struggles to manage even small scenery changes. In these cases, the user would be better off using DynamicLOD in a more manually tuned approach.

 

[Cpt_Piett 4,848]

6 hours ago, RJC68 said:

And now you can see Mos Eisley, Tatooine clearly from the flight deck of the Fenix at FL 360🤣

Currently putting a Special Forces Coalition Team together to free your PC from the tyranny that is CPT_Piett LOL

🤣

5 hours ago, FalconAF said:

ROFL!  Actually, a good beta tester WILL have a tyrannical approach to beta testing sometimes.  It can be the things the developer never considered a user might try to do with the app that might be discovered then.  So once in a while the beta tester may..."I'll bet ya the developer never thought anybody would try THIS!  Let's see if it breaks the program!!!"  😆

Note:  It's better to have a good relationship with the developer before you try that, though. 😀

What's funny is that over the last couple of weeks, even though I've done my very best to "break" Reset's test builds, I was never able to. Granted, I had to set target FPS to 5 when I was testing out TLOD 5000 at 500ft 😉 

One of the joys of collaborating on this project has been that Reset has been so easy to work with. Never in the 100 pages or something we've discussed his apps has he in any way came across as arrogant or disrespectful. Even when occasionally being subjected to some quite out of the line comments/accusations. 

Edited March 16 by Cpt_Piett

[FalconAF 213]

1 minute ago, Cpt_Piett said:

🤣

What's funny is that even though I did my very best to "break" Reset's test builds, I was never able to. Granted, I had to set target FPS to 5 when I was testing out TLOD 5000 at 500ft 😉 

Now THAT'S just BEYOND tyrannical.  Somebody should spank you.  

[JWvdH 19]

6 hours ago, Fiorentoni said:

Help my memory out - what would the potential problem be with VSYNC? From what I understand VSYNC just caps the FPS to 30. So if I set AutoFPS to 30, wouldn't AutoFPS just do what it's supposed to do and stop changing anything as soon as 30 is reached?

I have my max framerate set to 30, VSYNC on, and the AutoFPS framerate set to 29. Working fine so far.

[Cpt_Piett 4,848]

4 hours ago, motishow said:

Why buildings in photorealistic cities are loaded few to few?.

I'll suggest checking out my thread that I linked to above where I show an example from a PG-city (Milan). If my observations are correct, PG is highly influenced by TLOD. At very low TLODs the buildings won't be rendered fully until they're almost right under the aircraft. 

3 hours ago, El Diablito said:

A most enjoyable flight there from EGLL down to LIMC, steady turbulence all the way down from FL200 to about 2000ft, the app worked great. Not sure about the textures done at Malpensa by Deimos Inc though, how did they get away with this? I must've been drunk when I bought this!

https://imgur.com/a/y00kfNI

My lord, that looks terrible! Been waiting for a decent LIMC for many years. At least I know which one not to get 🙂 

5 minutes ago, JWvdH said:

I have my max framerate set to 30, VSYNC on, and the AutoFPS framerate set to 29. Working fine so far.

Got my target set to 2 FPS below the lock - works fine. 

Edited March 16 by Cpt_Piett

[jarmstro 2,405]

I doubt that I will install the latest build. Because, well, the one I am using is working just great!

[Bobsk8 12,907]

6 minutes ago, jarmstro said:

I doubt that I will install the latest build. Because, well, the one I am using is working just great!

I had the same experience, my original was working great. Not sure the latest one is just as good. I had stutters today on two flights which I never had before. Might go back to test version, if that continues.

[Vali 85]

I had more stutters with the latest, no idea why, was not quite from the start, I reverted to MSFS_AutoFPS-installer-v0.4.2-test_12Mar240940Z, this is the sweet spot for me (and I changed the Texture Resolution from Ultra to High too)