FTX + NO AUTOGEN = BEAUTIFUL SMOOTH SIM

[petejohno]

In the never ending quest for a perfect sim, I have been experimenting with various settings again - its become a challenge within itself and I suspect many simmers are like me. When FTX was first announced, it was stated that FTX textures are so good that you could fly without autogen. Now, I have a good system - E6850/8800 ultra/1066 ram - and it runs fsx very well. Even on high settings it rarely dips below 20fps over cities. Regardless of high FPS, on the outside view you can still detect a slight stuttering of the terrain especially at low levels and some minor blurring away from the aircraft.

So I conducted a flight last night from YBCG over the hinterland to Casino and Ballina with no autogen for a change. Everyone knows that autogen is the NO.1 framerate killer in FSX. And what a revelation the flight was. The FTX textures are so clear and crisp with almost perfect smoothness. Framerates are around 80fps in the Realair spitfire and I discovered that above 2000ft it looked so much better than with autogen. In fact even at low level, I didn't miss the autogen and the sim was so fluid that it more than made up for it anyway. You can also dial in some really dirty weather now with virtually no effect on fps.

My point is that, even with a good system, these textures are so good that autogen is not really needed. This is especially so if you have an average system or a frame hogging aircraft. The detail is fantastic and IMO autogen actually detracts from the scenery. If you want to fly low level and slow in a beaver or chopper for instance, then autogen is fine. But for most normal flying over the countryside and cities above 2000ft, this is a much better sim without autogen. Just try it and and you'll see what I mean.

[Guest GaryVH-GJB]

Hi petejohno,

  No offense mate but "what are you smoking" I turned my autogen setting to none and took off from canberra for a fly around the city and mate...the scenery was crap, and my FPS were not much different. I turned  my autogen back to dense and got my houses and lovely scenery back.   

                      Gary VH-GJB

                        Canberra

[petejohno]

No offense taken Gaz. I agree that flying low level FTX autogen and trees are good especially around the snowy mountains. But the point I was trying to make was that when flying a fast and high flying  jet - such as the new Fokker 100 - There is not much chance to take in the autogen when taking off or on an ILS approach. Once over 2000' the scenery still looks great and the higher you go the less you need the autogen. And the sim is so much more fluid. Try framerate unlimited. It surprises me that you don't see a substantial  increase in framerates and fluidity without autogen. 

[brendanstacey]

It depends whether your near an airport with heaps of ai, which is also a massive FPS killer.

[Guest GaryVH-GJB]

No drama Pete...I shall give it a go, although I must tell ya I am a huge fan of eye candy when it comes to flying and if i take a Fps hit to get it...so be it...hehehehe

I shall hop into my F/15 a little later and go for a spin without the autogen and see what happens 

                        Gary VH-GJB

[Guest GaryVH-GJB]

Well mate I tried it....with my iris f/15 eagle....20,000ft 2D cockpit i was hitting the numbers in FPS you said...but not very stable unless you flew dead straight...lol  but I hit 79 FPS at times...I have a 8600 gts 512 card, amd 4600+ dual core with 2gig of ram....I turned the autogen back on and I was getting solid 30 fps in spot veiw....

                                Gary VH-GJB

[macca22au]

It's all a matter of taste, but for me autogen or 3D objects are essential.  Have you noticed how in a real aeroplane you can look down from 30000ft and still see objects on the ground as solid, 3D, and not just outlines.

In the end its all a compromise, but I can't enjoy the sim without autogen.  Indeed Horizon Sim applied autogen to a small part of their UK photoreal coverage and to my mind it improved the experience by a quantum leap.

[Turnip]

I did experiments a few weeks ago on getting rid of stutters. Autogen off and on. Result: Autogen has no effect on FPS with my system other than those freaking trees. The trees in FSX are the killer. I dont have a probelm with nuildings and maintain 35 FPS. When I get near a forest, the stutters really kick in so i lowered the tree count in FSX.CFG. While it still stutters, it's not as bad.

[petejohno]

I suppose you could compare Tileproxy to FTX without autogen. Anyone who has tried Tileproxy knows how good FSX can look with photoreal textures only and no autogen. Unfortunately loading times and blurred scenery at times make Tileproxy a bit of a compromise at the moment especially with high performance aircraft. FTX textures without autogen looks almost as photorealistic, gives a constant coverage of terrain and includes seasons as well. Both give great framerates and fluidity. I have my FSX set up with different configs depending on the type of flight I want to do. Flying heavies or instrument approaches with no autogen and when low and slow, I use autogen. Best performance for both types of flying. I do love FTX with trees and snow but as turnip said, the trees are a killer in a fast aircraft.

[brendanstacey]

What microsoft should do for fs11 is implement a new system where autogen only appears below a certain altitude. This would make a more realistic sim in my opinion as autogen is needed close to ground but it is not above a certain level, which it actually impeds on the scenery.