Finally i get the right setting..I hope...

[stefano]

Hi to all!
I want to give to all of you what is my experience with FSX after almost two months of reading and trial to get a fine performance on my rig.
I will tell all the modifiations i have done to the sim, so other user can start from here and see if this can help, always remember that what is ok on one PC could not be good for other..
I wil start with little tweeks on Windows, and that about thr cfg file.
Wndows:
Three things has been done to performe Windows in the best way:
1) Defragment and defragment.
I have downloaded Disktrix Ultimate defrag 7 days trial and tried to defrag the HDD to have the best performance with Windows and FSX, means that the soft will put these files in the rim of the disk to get th e best performance.
The result is ok, but i want to give a chance also to O&O before buy one of them, i don0t know yet what is the best among them.

BTW, after only 2 days from the defragment, and using almost only FSX, the percent of the fragmentation of the HDD was over 3.50%... means that i have to defrag at least once a week....

2)Set the Virtual Memory to :Let Windows choose the best.
Seems that has improved the performance of my pc ( with 1 G of ram)
I want to try also to set the VM at 1024 or desable, even i am afraid that if i desable VM, with only 1 Gig, i could have some problem with FSX.


3) I have tried also System Booster trial version always from Disktrix, well i think that also this has given a little boost to the system,of course is not the solution to all the problem, but i think is worth to try, 14 days free trial...

These are the only tweeks applied to Windows, now i will give you the setting in the sim and in the cfg file.

I have no add ons installed, just the default installation.

I have applied the follow tweeks:

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40
I have left the default value because seems that with my rig i have the best performance, i am still changing the value, but not going over 100/200, but i think that 40 is the best for me

UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=19
With this seems i have found the right setting, anyway i don't go over 25.

FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.21

Probably this is the most important tweek to apply.
Is dependig 100% from your hardware, ram, Video Card..
The more you go up, i think the the higher for middle end PC is 0.33, but in this case you wil have to set the slider almost all to the left to have more or less a smooth flight.
With me, i jump from 0.21 to 0. 12, always step of 0.03, because seems to be sensible to be devided for 3..
With these setting the texture are quiet fine for me.


[BufferPools]
PoolSize=1000000
Well this could open a lot of post about if is usefull or not.
Wth me, i have take notice that when i delete it, stutters are almost gone, anyway is depending as usual from the pc we have, so it is a question to try and try.

I have setted in my Video Card( an ATI Sapphire X 1600 XT) AA and AF at 4X both,i am trying to rise them, and see the results. or set them in the game, as it's said from MS people, and if setted ingame, the performance is a little better, anyway with the driver AA and AF the image is better, but costing a little in performance.

With all this job, now i get 17/19 fps, in the Virtual Cockpit almost fixed and in the 2d cockpit they go down tp 14/15.. i don't know why.
In FS9 was the opposite way....
The setting in the game are almost on the mid way, except for:
Level of detail radius= large
Texture resolution= 7cm ( seems that give the best performance)
Scenery complexity= extremly dense.
No Autogen, even is renemed
This is really a killing frames....
Global Texture resolution= very high.

Well of course all of these setting can be changed and verified, but with my rig, seems i have reached the top performance for my needs, hoping that the patch will improve everything..


I post a screen with these setting.

I am using mostly GA ( Cessna, Baron or Beechcraft of default) and i am not flying over big cities or complex sceneries, so maybe these setting are not good for heavy piolts or pilots going to big airport


Hope this will help, anyway for all question, just replay
Stefano

[alrot]

Great!! I'm copying and see how it runs for me

Of course ,I made a BACKUP of the Cfg File wich is located in document and setting/your name/data progrem/Microsoft/FSx/fsx.cfg..

[stefano]

Well i really hope this can help!
I have right now lower a little the scenery setting,

Now: Level of detail radius= large , i have set to medium
and

Scenery complexity= extremly dense to very dense and i have gained a little more performance...

But as i have said before is the Fiber frame to look at..
Unfortunatly is a question of compromise graphic and smoothness in the game.

Stutters are still tehre once in a while, but i have only 1 Gig of ram and i can not ugrade because of an issue in the mobo, seems Asus can not tell how to solve....  >:(

Let me know how is going!

Cheers

[alrot]

I couln't find the line

FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.21

neither [BufferPools]


Maybe its because its a different AGP video card Nvidia chip must be recognize by FSX software and build a diferent CFG ,without meesing with the cfg I got 17 FPS in a medium high & medium low..

[stefano]

WellI have the sence that the Nvidia performe better than ATI, for what i have read in all the forum, to me seems that are more ATI users complaining about performance, even with higher card than mine.
Anyway i am still experimenting various setting both in cfg and ingame.
About Buffer Pool, well i think is a little hard to balance this with the other setting, actually i have erased it, but i want to try with different values.

I think that i will build dfferent setting, one for each plane i will fly and scenery, maybe will be a good idea....
I wish i could tweek the card with the latency tool, unfrtunatly the PCIxpress can not performe this tweek...
But, and i repeat myself, for me Nvidia is better than ATI and am sure help a lot in performance.
What kind of card you have?

[alrot]

I bought it three weeks ago its right below my avatar an nvidia xFX6200 256mb 8x ,I really set in a medium (Not too many buildings) and I have 17 FRPS and what I love most The water full

[stefano]

This confirm my thoughts about ATI and Nvidia, as for other games, maybe also FSX has been implemented with Nvidia in mind...
Probably Shader 3 is rendered better with Nvidia, water at high setting is in this way...
Have you tried also to set the boom feature? ( the halo around lights and reflection)

[alrot]

But wait Stefano!!, you shouldn't make a fast conclusion, maybe its because this model its new(I think) and your ATI its older,this ones comes with new DDR2 and belong to this new serie of 64 bits  HERE, I also heard ATI cards are better than Nvidia..

I haven't notice that the halo around lights and reflection yet (I don't know even, where is that setting)I'm going to check  ;)