Groovin_DC-10

If you're using real weather like ASE, I think you should be able to get better performance in heavy cloud situations if you're running HD clouds like REX.

If I set my clouds to HD and there is some serious weather, I get a lot of fps drop and I can hear the GPU fan work a lot harder. With DXT compressed 512x512 clouds, I don't have this problem at all. So I'm thinking the GPU handle clouds in FS9. Just a thought. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm using a GTX560

Have you tried to re-install or download a fresh one.  Maybe there's a possibility the download got corrupted or the installation didn't go 100%?

Hopefully someone who knows about scenery settings and cfg can help out.

Groovin, I wish to thank you for posting the four .cfg items above.  WOW...have they ever cranked up the quality of ground representation. I have never had these in place, and had had some outright bad blurries to the horizon. With your posted tweaks, I now have a very gradual 'soft focus' of textures, that in fact, emulates what you see with the human eye at 18,000 feet and higher. I suggest that all users (if you haven't already) add all the posted tweak settings to their FS9 .cfg file. The difference between not having these settings, and having, are huge.

 

Mitch

Hi Mitch,

So glad it worked out for you.  Like you, I also get horrible blurries with the default settings (I think it's 4). 

I started with FSX, and when I got FS9, I went back and forth a few times.  The thing that I really didn't like about FS9 before changing those 4 lines was the blurries.  After my initial climb I'd get horrible looking blurry textures.  Night time textures were really bad when blurred.  It was like flying with psychedelic vision.

Then I found those tweaks on a forum (can't remember which one), I applied them, and it's bye bye FSX.  I finally got sharp textures that extend farther out and it has that "soft focus" look you described.

Happy flying :smile:

I'm happy to see that a few other members got improvements with the tweaks.

This thread is great with a lot of information on tweaks and add ons.  There's got to be more.  Let's keep it going.

Try this...

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1
TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.000000
TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=9.900000
TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=4

I've seen many claim they don't have blurries in fs9. But I've never seen any screen shots to show that....

There will always be blurries far away from you, even in FSX.  But it shouldn't be as close as a few miles like you described.  The blurries should be far off in the distance after take off.  Using Anisotropic and editing the cfg won't eliminate blurries, it just pushes them way out.   

Lets be careful how we throw around the word "excellent"...

 

FSX can be frustrating to deal with.. I agree. The weather engine is just awful in comparison to FS9.. still the biggest thing that gets to me watching clouds pop in and out of thin air. But with the products PMDG are developing.. I couldn't go back to FS9.

Well I guess I was looking at it from an FS9er point of view.  It is considered one of the best airliner add on for FS9.  My mistake.

You set in-game filtering at Trilinear. Then go to your FS9 profile in Nvidia Inspector, set filtering to "user defined/off", Anisotropic Filtering Setting to "16X", Texture Filtering Negative LOD Bias to "Clamp" and Quality to "High Quality".

You can google or do a search on this forum for NI settings with screenshots. That should make it easier.

You'll also get superior AA if you disable it in FS9 and use NI instead.

You also want to make sure you have these settings in your FS9 cfg file under [Terrain]:

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1

TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.000000

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=9.900000

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=4

All that talk is making me want install FS9 again, I don't think I can manage without the NGX though..

There is an excellent alternative, the iFly. :smile:

 Only have to look a couple of miles at best - rwy length - away from any aircraft for the infamous fs9 blurries.

 

Do you have anisotropic filtering enabled on your video card?  What you described happens to me if I run it on Trilinear without anisotropic on the GPU.

There is also the three terrain extend settings in the cfg.

5. Zinertech's Airport Environment

 

 

Wow!  Just took a look at it on simmarket.  The buildings look fantastic, especially at night.  I will be getting this.  Thanks Dillon.

As for Zinertek water.. I have to agree.  It's way better than default and I much prefer it over REX water. 

FS9 water will pulsate when set to max, but Zinertek shows minimal pulsation compared to REX.  The reflections on REX water drives me nuts. Zinertek all the way!

H2O water looks pretty interesting.  I may give that one a shot too.

Thanks Peter.  I will check out your guide.  I also have instructions from a few members a while back on doing this.  I'll give them a try.

Thanks again.

It should work automatically as soon as you start FS9.  You have to put all the files into your FS9 folder.  One of them is a d3d9.dll file which you shouldn't have one in your FS9 folder to begin with, unless you already have it from ENB.  There is no d3d9.dll in default FS9 folder.  This file is added with ENB and SweetFX.

Maybe there is a chance that all settings on your version of SweetFX are disabled by default?  Did you check the SweetFX_settings txt file to see if any effect is enabled by default?

If I remember correctly, the only thing enabled by default is the Technicolor feature.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the new look.  I still prefer their older 80's to early 90's bare metal livery.  I didn't like the grey they added on the tail later on.  Only time will tell if the new livery will grow on me.

I tried to update my Ultimate Traffic but it's not working.  I left it for an hour a few weeks ago and when I came back it still said searching for updates, please wait.

I'm still running the basic install with no updates so there is no American Airlines.  I heard the update gives you AA but the updater is not working.

Anybody else having problems updating UT?

I agree.  FS9 is incredible when flying heavies.  100% ai aircrafts at Barajas and other major hubs and waiting in line for take off is really something.  Same thing with arrivals.  All this with silky smooth fps.

I even find myself using FS9 now for vfr with the default Cessna Skyline.

I also have FSX with REX, UT2, GEX, UTX, etc and I rarely touch it anymore.  I don't get crashes and ctd's on FSX.  My installation is stable.  I've managed to find the settings that give me good results because I want the Just Flight L-1011, but everytime I fire up FS9, I no longer feel the need to go back to FSX.

Wow!  Very nice settings.  The sharpening feature is new to me and looks great.  The dusk/night times look amazing with these settings and UT night lights enabled.  Thanks for sharing.

Dillon's ENB setting is great too.  I've been using it off and on since Dec.  I like to rotate between ENB, SweetFX and FXAA.

No. Yes.    :lol:

Excellent! B)  I'm looking forward to trying this out.  Thanks again.

Jon,

I think they're the same but the later versions have better resolution that you probably won't be able to take advantage of unless you're running it on FSX.

 Did you check monitor refresh rate? From what i know so far, this tweak will fail for sure if you don't have monitor refresh rate of 60Hz 

 

Interesting.  I do have monitor refresh rate set to 60 on Nvidia control panel, but I'm running on a plasma which is rated at 500Hz.  I think that's why.

Thanks guys.  I was worried that FS9 mesh can't look any better.  That's good to know. 

Appliance,

Is there an fps hit by increasing the terrain max vertex level?  Is this also recommended for the 2010 version? 

I was just browsing aerosoft and I see that there is a newer mesh add on called FS Global Ultimate.  It will be about double the price for a global coverage compared to FS Global 2010.  Hmmmmm.  Any thoughts on this one?

***EDIT***  I think I'll just get FS Global 2010.  I was reading the description of Ultimate and found this...  Important information: The Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 unfortunately can not display such high resolutions. Hence from this package FS2004 useres can install AFM only. You should consider upgrading to FSX to use FS Global Ultimate as well.

I'm thinking about buying this in the near future but still not sure.  I'm able to find before/after shots and videos for it on FSX but not on FS9.

Does it provide a big improvement for FS9?  I also have FSX and I notice that the default mesh on FSX is better than FS9.  Will this bring mesh resolution for FS9 to that of default FSX?  Also, will the improvements be visible on mountains, hills, etc far off in the distance or do you only notice it when you're up close?  I fly airliners 99% of the time, that's why I'm still unsure.  

Anybody using this with FS9? 

Thanks Zeljko. The only things I've changed in my FS9 cfg file since I got it last year is the pan rate to 999 and the following which was mentioned on the link you provided:

TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.5

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=9.0

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=4

I may try the others listed on the link as well.

I still haven't tried the 1/2 refresh rate because for some reason my FS9 runs a lot smoother when locked @ 60fps. Since I don't have any image tear, I figure activating 1/2 refresh rate will only add unnecessary processing on the GPU. I will still keep this in mind next time I want to fiddle with FS9 settings.

However, I recently spent some time doing this very tweak in FSX, but 1/2 refresh doesn't work as well as "Force On" in FSX for me.

Thanks again

Too bad about the video.  I've gotten that a few times.  I thought it would be interesting sharing it because the audio portion of the video was recorded nicely.  It's very rare to find 727 cockpit vids with good audio.

You noticed the loud engines in the cockpit too, eh?  I still don't know why they did that with the MD-80 and 727.  The other ones I have are definitely louder but not unrealistic loud like their rear engine t-tails.

LIke you, I'm also able to ignore unrealistic outside sound.  It's been a looong time since I've seen a 727 in action, but the DF external sound is OK.  

I'm also looking forward to the SSJ100 once the VC is complete.  It sure is a pretty looking plane. 

I keep forgetting you're not an airliner guy lol.  Your avatar should make that loud and clear for me everytime, so I'll remember that from now on :smile: .

Interesting.  I'll give 1/2 refresh rate a try.  So far I have it set to use 3d application and fps locked @ 60 in FS9.

Hi Maurice,

 

I'm not sure what you mean - i have vsync set to 1/2 refresh rate, and before that it was on "use the 3d application setting". I never had vsync turned off. Both settings works for me, but vsync to 1/2 + target of 30fps is a little bit better...

Sorry about that.  What I meant was, do you get image tearing when Inspector is set to "use the 3d application setting"?

Hi Harald,
I'm a huge fan of Turbine Sound Studios. I use their sound packs on all my add on airliners. However, I'm still not sure about trying their 727 sound pack yet because of my experience with their MD-80 sound pack for FSX.

If you've never tried TSS sound before, you will hear a huge difference and the quality shows on all their products.
One thing about TSS is that the engine sound you hear in the cockpit is different. It sounds more like from the passenger's perspective. Many people have complained about this.
I personally like it on 99% of the TSS sounds I have. It sounds a lot more powerful in the VC and gets the adrenaline pumping. Someone looking for 100% authenticity won't like it. It doesn't sound fake or anything. TSS record from the actual engines.

The exterior sound are amazing too. You can check out the different sound packs on youtube.

Now, back to the issue with their MD-80 sound pack I mentioned above..... You can clearly hear the engines in the VC. Flying a T-tail with rear engines and being able to hear them that loud in the VC is a bit of a turn off. Out of all the TSS sounds I own, this is the only one I'm not 100% satisfied with.
I have cockpit DVD of MD-80 and it's very quiet in the cockpit.

I also own a cockpit DVD of the Iran Air 727 and I find the DF 727 VC sound to be very accurate compared to what was captured on the video...  You might find this interesting since you dig the 727...

I'm also enjoying the DF 727 A LOT. So much manual work in the cockpit when flying old school. I love it.

Hi Zeljko,

Are you getting image tearing with vsync turned off?

I thought FS9 doesn't suffer from this.  I've never had tearing running FS9 on two different video cards and displays without vsync.  I only use vsync for fsx.

Ok I could give a try. But then how to configure GE Pro in the way that these textures are depicted only in Spain instead of the whole world?

It will do the entire world.  If you want to go back to your regular colors, you have to re-install the previous textures.

An easier way would be to use FXAA or SweetFX and adjust the Sepia for a yellowish color.  It will make the entire sim have a yellow tint and you can adjust the intensity and saturation.  FXAA is easier to adjust Sepia.  Both FXAA and SweetFX are similar to ENB.  You can change sepia settings while you're using FS9, so once you leave Spain, you can adjust for another look.