Sight seeing in PNW and getting blurry ground textures...

[cvearl]

Example flight - Belingham to Isreals. 2500 feet.

If I fly this flight with the Ultralite, Cub, Scout, Decathalon, C172 and all the way up to the Cessna 182 at a cruise speed of 125kts, I get crystal clear ground textures. Truely a sight to behold. Framerates locked at 24 99% of the time. Fields are groomed. Roads are sharp.

Do that same flight in the Carenado Bonanza F33 or Mooney M20J at 150+ kts? Blurry like crazy. Autogen is struggling. Especially bad in the Lancair for obcious reasons. If I pause the flight, 10 or 15 seconds later the textures catch up with me and come into focus. So. I want to fix this without droping Autogen and Scenery settings to the point where I should not even bother. Here is my system...

Intel C2D E8400 3.0Ghz on an Intel P35D motherboard. Cannot overclock.

4GB PC2-6400 RAM. Stock.

ATI 4870 512MB RAM video.

Windows 7 64 bit.

I use the FSX settings straight out of ORBX manuals. I have Scenery Complexity at Very Dense and the Autgen at Dense. I lock my framerates at 24 and use vSync.

During the flight with the Bonanza F33 or Mooney M20J, monitoring RAM I never get more than 75% utilization. Almost a full GB Physical RAM still available in mid flight. So I don't think it's RAM. Both cores on the CPU are pinned at 100% so they are chugging away. What is more likely?

Too little RAM on the video card?

If I only had a 4Ghz overclock?

I have heard that overall system speed has something to do with it to a degree obviously but video RAM is sometimes the cause if you are scud running complex scenery at higher speeds. Oddly. I can fly in the default Maule at 140 KTS over the same area at 2500 feet and the flight is smooth and the textures are sharp on the ground at all times in all directions when I pan my view. Somewhere I have a weak link when I fly the Mooney M20J or Bonanza or now the Lancair. What is the most likely culprit?

Charles.

[John Lovell]

I can suggest the following that may help.

Try and run utilities like Game Booster and/or End it All, both freeware and can be found quite easy on google

1) These shut down programs you dont need, thus freeing up system RAM and CPU load.

2) Try putting FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.33 in your config under [MAIN]

This tells FSX how much time is spent rendering textures against frames. 0.33 being a goood starting point and works well on most.

A lower number will tell FSX to spend more time on frames against rendering

A higher number will tell FSX to spend more time on rendering than frames

Hope these help and let us know how you get on if you try these

[amentiba]

You should perhaps trying this tweak, working both for win vista or win 7...

At least, with this tweak "on" i've never had anymore a "memory error" in FSX...

1. Open a command prompt with Administration rights. You find the command prompt box under "Programs-Accessories-Command prompt" 

2. Right Click the command prompt and select "run as administrator".

3. Enter in the box at the prompt: (copy/paste if you wish)

bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 2560 

and press enter

4. Reboot

TO set that back to default in VISTA just start the command line prompt with Admin right again and type:

bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 2048

Hit enter and reboot"

[Nyxx]

My PC was like yours before my new one in my sig.

The truth is and I tryed the above ideas and they made no diffrence. What you have was just the same as I had.  All you can do is not go over LOD at 4.5 (max LOD in fsx) and a clean config is all you can do.

The minture you jump into something faster I got what you did, the bottom line is your PC cannot keep up just like my E8500 could not. Sorry but there really is nothing you can do.

To give you an idea what my new PC brings is I can fly the Lancair at 1800ft at 200 IAS and everything is like before flying a 152C, all fills in perfect. Its the i7 and the GTX480, sorry am not bragging I just know how you feel and it is frustrating. Keep to the slow aircraft and enjoy them and leave the fast stuff till you can upgrade.

GL to you.

[WAD3]

I'm running into the same issue around concrete and Israel's. It is mainly with the Carenado Caravan Cargo version. I have always been able to keep up with the latest hardware but for the next  2 years I am stuck. I know eventually I will not be able to fly until I get a new computer. In the tips and tricks forum John V says no amount of tweaking will help you just need a new and powerful computer. I just try to find a balance with the sliders and enjoy what I can. I also look at SS forum and drool. :'(

[cvearl]

My PC was like yours before my new one in my sig.

The truth is and I tryed the above ideas and they made no diffrence. What you have was just the same as I had.  All you can do is not go over LOD at 4.5 (max LOD in fsx) and a clean config is all you can do.

The minture you jump into something faster I got what you did, the bottom line is your PC cannot keep up just like my E8500 could not. Sorry but there really is nothing you can do.

To give you an idea what my new PC brings is I can fly the Lancair at 1800ft at 200 IAS and everything is like before flying a 152C, all fills in perfect. Its the i7 and the GTX480, sorry am not bragging I just know how you feel and it is frustrating. Keep to the slow aircraft and enjoy them and leave the fast stuff till you can upgrade.

GL to you.

Could it be you have alot more video RAM now? I know I am not runing out of system RAM. I monitor it and there is still 1086 MB Physical listed as "free" and utilized says 75%. So I know I am not running out of RAM.

CPU wise I have seen a post about guy who had a 4.0Ghz E8500 and bought an i7 920 and clocked to 4Ghz and saw no increase in anything. But then again that was one guys opinion. Have you ever dropped your i7 back to 3Ghz to see if you get the blurrs in that Lancair 1800 foot flight?

I know the weakest sounding piece of my puzzle is 512MB video ram. One clue seems to be about textures. The Maule at full throttle can do about 140KTS (in the sim that is) and it does not blurr at all when I do that flight yet HD planes I get blurrs. Liike I am running out of texture utility. This is why I was curious. OK. Hoping that it is the video card out of desparation at this point. I have bought several hundred in planes and scenery in the last 6 months leaving little room for hardware.

I guess the only way I can confirm is to buy and test a new video card until I can get a new motherboard, RAM and CPU. If the video card solves it even a little, I can hold off another year on a rebuild.

Just got an idea. Scud run in the default mooney. If it is crystal clear at 170 kts 2500 feet up. Does that tell us anything?

Charles.

[JohnS7]

Another thing that is not helping is your system RAM, on the slow side for the sim. You really need to be on 1333 or faster RAM and a good CAS 7 or better is a plus. I don't think your CPU alone or Video card are holding you back.

I would just be happy with that system given it's limits, until you are ready to upgrade. To give you an idea, my I5-750 system runs FTX NA fine at the stock 2.8 ghz on a well setup and clean system. Of course with a little OC into the mid 3's, things get better. This is a very modest system but I am satisfied running Orbx add-ons.  Even better, components for an I7 based system are coming down to reasonable price levels as well.

You don"t have to break the bank. You do need to set up your system properly and pay attention to the details such as putting FSX on it's own dedicated drive. So I would start planning for that new rig and just enjoy the one you have now without dumping more cash into it. It won't pay off. One other thing, you may want to consider Nvidia for FSX.

[cvearl]

Another thing that is not helping is your system RAM, on the slow side for the sim. You really need to be on 1333 or faster RAM and a good CAS 7 or better is a plus. I don't think your CPU alone or Video card are holding you back.

I would just be happy with that system given it's limits, until you are ready to upgrade. To give you an idea, my I5-750 system runs FTX NA fine at the stock 2.8 ghz on a well setup and clean system. Of course with a little OC into the mid 3's, things get better. This is a very modest system but I am satisfied running Orbx add-ons.  Even better, components for an I7 based system are coming down to reasonable price levels as well.

You don"t have to break the bank. You do need to set up your system properly and pay attention to the details such as putting FSX on it's own dedicated drive. So I would start planning for that new rig and just enjoy the one you have now without dumping more cash into it. It won't pay off. One other thing, you may want to consider Nvidia for FSX.

What is the rest of your system? I have been eyeballing the 3.33 Ghz i5. Dirt cheap here.

Can you try something for me? Setup exactly as the PNW manual says and go to VERY DENSE Scenery complexity and DENSE for Autogen and fly 2000 feet above the ground from bellingham to Isreals in the Mooney M20J, Bonanza or Lancair at at least 160 KTS. Do your ground textures stay crisp the whole flight as you pan your view from left to right?

NOTE: I fly 1920x1080 resolution with AA and AF enabled in the sim. Vsync on.

Charles.

[RyanMlt1]

I have almost the exact same set up, except I run A  Geforce GTS250 same problem we need a faster processor and board just save up like me!

[cvearl]

I have almost the exact same set up, except I run A  Geforce GTS250 same problem we need a faster processor and board just save up like me!

How much RAM is on your card? 1GB right? If 1GB video card is not the anwer, then I can scratch that off my budget and focus on board, ram and CPU. So this is the answer?

Intel Coreâ„¢ i5 Processor 661 3.33GHz w/ 4MB Cache, HD Graphics  $229.99

Asus P7H55-M PRO w/ DualDDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, PCI-E x16, HDMI  $99.99

Corsair 6GB XMS3-1333 PC3-10666 Coreâ„¢ i7 Triple Channel DDR3 Kit (3 x 2GB)  $109.99

Sub Total  $439.97 

If I add $60 and it's an i7 950 @ 3.06Ghz instead.

That makes my bluries history? And I can keep my current card? 4870 512MB.

Charles.

[peterhayes]

cvearl

You say adding a i7 950 would cost $60 but don't forget you would need an X58 mobo (circa $350) ie 1366 socket not 1156 socket that the i5 series runs on.  You would need the triple channel RAM 3 x 2GB 1600Hx low CAS latency at least (you can't use that same RAM with an i5 cpu - for an i5, i3 and i7 8xxx series you need dual channel DDR3 RAM in multiples of 2, 4, 8, 16GB) and your ATI 4870 would totally throttle that system.

IMHO you need at least a GTX 470/480/580 with an i7 cpu.

Someone recommended a bcedit tweak - don't use that it is only intended for 32-bit systems and not 64-bit!

Fibre frame rate tweak does not work with multicore processors and is not needed with FSX SP2/Accel/Gold.

Do make sure that you match your components otherwise you will be disappointed.

Regards

PeterH

[Nyxx]

My PC was like yours before my new one in my sig.

The truth is and I tryed the above ideas and they made no diffrence. What you have was just the same as I had.  All you can do is not go over LOD at 4.5 (max LOD in fsx) and a clean config is all you can do.

The minture you jump into something faster I got what you did, the bottom line is your PC cannot keep up just like my E8500 could not. Sorry but there really is nothing you can do.

To give you an idea what my new PC brings is I can fly the Lancair at 1800ft at 200 IAS and everything is like before flying a 152C, all fills in perfect. Its the i7 and the GTX480, sorry am not bragging I just know how you feel and it is frustrating. Keep to the slow aircraft and enjoy them and leave the fast stuff till you can upgrade.

GL to you.

Could it be you have alot more video RAM now? I know I am not runing out of system RAM. I monitor it and there is still 1086 MB Physical listed as "free" and utilized says 75%. So I know I am not running out of RAM.

CPU wise I have seen a post about guy who had a 4.0Ghz E8500 and bought an i7 920 and clocked to 4Ghz and saw no increase in anything. But then again that was one guys opinion. Have you ever dropped your i7 back to 3Ghz to see if you get the blurrs in that Lancair 1800 foot flight?

I know the weakest sounding piece of my puzzle is 512MB video ram. One clue seems to be about textures. The Maule at full throttle can do about 140KTS (in the sim that is) and it does not blurr at all when I do that flight yet HD planes I get blurrs. Liike I am running out of texture utility. This is why I was curious. OK. Hoping that it is the video card out of desparation at this point. I have bought several hundred in planes and scenery in the last 6 months leaving little room for hardware.

I guess the only way I can confirm is to buy and test a new video card until I can get a new motherboard, RAM and CPU. If the video card solves it even a little, I can hold off another year on a rebuild.

Just got an idea. Scud run in the default mooney. If it is crystal clear at 170 kts 2500 feet up. Does that tell us anything?

Charles.

I had a GTX 280 with 1GB of RAM, so no its not that, Have I de-clocked my i7 ? , no i bought it OC, an i7 working with fast memory and  a good GFX is the answer, I hated having to buy this rig just for Fsx and it's still not the way i wish Fsx would run, so its going to be another 1-2 years before a PC owns Fsx for real, but this rig runs it OK.

Like I said, I feel your frustration, because I spent hours and hours trying to get what you seek.

One last thing, I easy on FPS aircraft helps you a lot, add a FPS hitting aircraft and that is adding to your problem. Sorry

[mrshanks]

I would say your video card is holding you back. But saying that, your results seem more than fine. I have a 1gb card and have accepted that if I want everything to be crisp and stutter free I can not fly every where at 500kts.

But its no hardship flying at under 200kts and enjoying FTX and REX2 etc...

Your 8400 will overclock.

http://techgage.com/article/intel_core_2_duo_e8400_30ghz_-_wolfdale_arrives/11

I use simple software to clock up my Q8300 from 2.5 to 3.0ghz (stable), only need to open the PC case once to make note of a number (very small printed number!) on a chip. But i'm not sure it would be really worth it with a 512mb card. My 1gb card retails for about £60 these days.

[JohnS7]

What is the rest of your system? I have been eyeballing the 3.33 Ghz i5. Dirt cheap here.

Can you try something for me? Setup exactly as the PNW manual says and go to VERY DENSE Scenery complexity and DENSE for Autogen and fly 2000 feet above the ground from bellingham to Isreals in the Mooney M20J, Bonanza or Lancair at at least 160 KTS. Do your ground textures stay crisp the whole flight as you pan your view from left to right?

NOTE: I fly 1920x1080 resolution with AA and AF enabled in the sim. Vsync on.

Charles.

[cvearl]

I would say your video card is holding you back. But saying that, your results seem more than fine. I have a 1gb card and have accepted that if I want everything to be crisp and stutter free I can not fly every where at 500kts.

But its no hardship flying at under 200kts and enjoying FTX and REX2 etc...

Your 8400 will overclock.

http://techgage.com/article/intel_core_2_duo_e8400_30ghz_-_wolfdale_arrives/11

I use simple software to clock up my Q8300 from 2.5 to 3.0ghz (stable), only need to open the PC case once to make note of a number (very small printed number!) on a chip. But i'm not sure it would be really worth it with a 512mb card. My 1gb card retails for about £60 these days.

Thanks for that but my motherboard is not overclockable. None of the settings needed for an overclock are available on this board. I know the chip will do it. I bought the chip having read about "how easy E8400 on air" is. Motherboard was on sale at the time. Should have paid a bit more for the right board a few years back.

My next step is probably board, chip and RAM.

Charles.

[cvearl]

Thanks everyone so much for your responses. I learned a ton here.

What I ended up doing was getting the video card as I could return it easily if it was not worthwhile. That and it would not require a rebuild like a motherboard would. I plan on a board, chip and RAM some time down the road. i7+board+PC1333 RAM. That is obviously the way to go. The i7's or i5 quads anyway.

In the mean time I picked up the 1GB ATI 6870. It was that or the nVidia 460. I picked up the ATI as I have had good luck but wanted to see what the improvements to AA were about. I was afraid I would be returning it for the 460.

What improved? Everything. Although I still cannot skim along from Skagit to Concrete at 160 KTS without some blur here or there. But the blurrs have been reduced. That is what I was after. Also more stable framerates. I lock at 24 and when it stays right there with vSync enabled I am happy. It stays right there now for the most part. Even locked at 30 it seems to stay glued to that number. But again. In the Bonanza in this scenario, I get a little blurring.

Two other problems I was out to solve were Image Quality related. With the 512MB 4870, I had issues with exterior views of many carenado paint schemes. Heck anything but default was a problem. When viewed using anything farther away than zoom .70, and an angle from above or below the plane, the stripes would get jaggies as if they were aliased. Little sawblades steps in the stripes or lines of the paint schemes (even though edges were AA'd right). All other things in the sim are Anti-Aliased as expected to be sure but the paint on the planes was not unless viewed close up like .80 or better. This always bothered the hell out of me. Sucked for external screensots. Secondly when viewing the VCf from inside and zoomed .60 out and panning my view right to look at the right hand the panel on an angle, some gauges or GPS units were hard to read. Almost like the fonts, airspace circles and all that and the writing on the bezels, edges of the radios and even the gauges were Aliased to some degree. Very bad in the Lanciar. This card solved it for me.

What was different from the ATI 4870 to this 6870 is that it has a few more settings in the IQ options. The main one that I think changed this up was Super Sampling AA could be turned on and off. With the 4870 it was not even an option. With it off on this 6870, things were as before. With it on though... My jaw dropped. The panel at all zoom levels and angles is razor sharp and legible. The external paint schemes are sharp as can be from all distances and angles. With Super Sampling on or off seems to make no difference in perfomance! At least not so far. I am in love.

In busy urban sprawl areas with lots of houses and trees (Seattle and Vancouver), I still have to go to Normal for Autogen. The manual called it. It is true. So this card is not the silver bullet for me but it was a huge piece of the puzzle for so many other things. Having DENSE as my setting in heavy autogen areas will need a fast i7 or i5 quad and decent RAM.

Gained by going to the 6870 ($249)...

- less blurrs less often

- steadier framerates with stutters far less often not that that was that bad before.

- Anti-Aliased everywhere thanks to the Super Sample setting and no performance hit even in clouds at this setting.

- track ir is smoother that it was before. Have no idea why. Still not perfect for the entire flight. In complex areas it gets a little jittery but smoothens out later.

My video card WAS a weak link. Now it's the rest of the system.

Charles.

[mrshanks]

Thanks for that but my motherboard is not overclockable. None of the settings needed for an overclock are available on this board. I know the chip will do it. I bought the chip having read about "how easy E8400 on air" is. Motherboard was on sale at the time. Should have paid a bit more for the right board a few years back.

My next step is probably board, chip and RAM.

Charles.

I'm sure you can overclock, you don't need to change any bios settings, or more importantly any voltages. I overclock using software and nothing you change has a lasting effect. Infact, the settings revert back to normal after shutting down your pc. I only run overclocked when I feel the need (de-fragging- video editing, flying in Tongass etc...) As you are not changing any voltages, it is quite safe.

You just need the PLL chip number, which is printed on the PLL chip. I have great eye sight and i needed a magnifying glass to read the damn thing its that small. I run a +20% clock at 3.0ghz and the difference is noticable. I'm guessing you would see about 3.6ghz or slightly more.

[cvearl]

Thanks for that but my motherboard is not overclockable. None of the settings needed for an overclock are available on this board. I know the chip will do it. I bought the chip having read about "how easy E8400 on air" is. Motherboard was on sale at the time. Should have paid a bit more for the right board a few years back.

My next step is probably board, chip and RAM.

Charles.

I'm sure you can overclock, you don't need to change any bios settings, or more importantly any voltages. I overclock using software and nothing you change has a lasting effect. Infact, the settings revert back to normal after shutting down your pc. I only run overclocked when I feel the need (de-fragging- video editing, flying in Tongass etc...) As you are not changing any voltages, it is quite safe.

You just need the PLL chip number, which is printed on the PLL chip. I have great eye sight and i needed a magnifying glass to read the damn thing its that small. I run a +20% clock at 3.0ghz and the difference is noticable. I'm guessing you would see about 3.6ghz or slightly more.

Where does one get this software? That sounds interresting.

I know this chip almost aways gets to 3.6Ghz without further tweaking voltages. Via BIOs all you usually do is up the FSB.

Charles.

[cvearl]

I can suggest the following that may help.

Try and run utilities like Game Booster and/or End it All, both freeware and can be found quite easy on google

1) These shut down programs you dont need, thus freeing up system RAM and CPU load.

2) Try putting FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.33 in your config under [MAIN]

This tells FSX how much time is spent rendering textures against frames. 0.33 being a goood starting point and works well on most.

A lower number will tell FSX to spend more time on frames against rendering

A higher number will tell FSX to spend more time on rendering than frames

Hope these help and let us know how you get on if you try these

I do use Gamebooster. IT's a great little tool. I am guessing more improtantly for getting rid of little processes (lowering CPU load) more than RAM because I am not using all my RAM as it is and it only frees about 133MB or so when I go to game mode (I run a somewhat clean OS).

That Fiberframe thing looks interresting. Will give it a try. Since going to the 6870, most of my issues are all but gone except at higher speeds like anything over 150 KTS at 2000 feet AGL with Autogen set to Dense. I still get some blurring there but nothing like before. Before it was everything in all directions was a blur. Now it is random patches or strips here and there.

Charles.

[mrshanks]

Where does one get this software? That sounds interresting.

I know this chip almost aways gets to 3.6Ghz without further tweaking voltages. Via BIOs all you usually do is up the FSB.

Charles.

Thats all the software does, up the FSB but with out actually going into the BIOS, and having it revert to standard at power down is a usefull feature I think.

Maybe I will put a little guide together, based on my experience. There are guides out there, but some are less than usefull.

[cvearl]

Where does one get this software? That sounds interresting.

I know this chip almost aways gets to 3.6Ghz without further tweaking voltages. Via BIOs all you usually do is up the FSB.

Charles.

Thats all the software does, up the FSB but with out actually going into the BIOS, and having it revert to standard at power down is a usefull feature I think.

Maybe I will put a little guide together, based on my experience. There are guides out there, but some are less than usefull.

link to the software somewhere?

[cvearl]

Where does one get this software? That sounds interresting.

I know this chip almost aways gets to 3.6Ghz without further tweaking voltages. Via BIOs all you usually do is up the FSB.

Charles.

Thats all the software does, up the FSB but with out actually going into the BIOS, and having it revert to standard at power down is a usefull feature I think.

Maybe I will put a little guide together, based on my experience. There are guides out there, but some are less than usefull.

link to the software somewhere?

Actually I found it. SETFSB

However. My board does not have the ICS chip.

Ah well. Like I said before it seems to be rocking along just fine now.

Charles.

[mrshanks]

Did I not post that any where  sorry,

shame you cant use it.

[cvearl]

I have to amend my comments about the new card helping.

It did help. But all my testing was in that flight around Concrete.

I did some further testing and I agree. I need more CPU!

Flying around places like Concrete or Tillamook where there are not alot of houses, smooth for sure now. TongassX great. Most areas in PFJ are smooth too.

Still with Very Dense scenery complexity and Dense Autogen, areas where the population is larger than that are not so smooth and more likely to blur at 140+ KTS close to the ground. Areas like Salem or Corvalis those around it. And obviously Vancouver and Seattle.

So saving up! Thanks for all the tips everyone. i7 jar has $5 in it now. It will make a good addition to my 6870. I hate waiting.

Charles.

[Heiko Glatthorn]

Without reading the whole topic - all who experience texture load issues, are you using Affinity Mask 14 ? Just give it a try without excluding one core for terrain processing !

The only thing which can produce unfocused terrain texture tiles on my system is Affinity Mask 14 (or other experimental values)... If you experience stutters you should try the BP threshold tweak (not BP 0).

[cvearl]

Without reading the whole topic - all who experience texture load issues, are you using Affinity Mask 14 ? Just give it a try without excluding one core for terrain processing !

The only thing which can produce unfocused terrain texture tiles on my system is Affinity Mask 14 (or other experimental values)... If you experience stutters you should try the BP threshold tweak (not BP 0).

Only dual core here...

I am testing 2 things right now. The fiber_frame_time_fraction 0.33 thing (I am getting less bluring for sure) but I also lowered autogen to Normal.

Secondly I am playing with a small overclock. 3.0 to 3.2 with a basic FSB bump.

Results look good so far but I know I need a quad core with as much GHZ as I can muster to fix this for real.

Charles.

[falconluan]

Just read your post today and noticed your sig has changed to 2600, supposed you have upgraded to i7, right?

If not, I think you can give AffinityMask=2 a try, yes, I know there are only 2 cores, but, the blurries is the sign of lack of CPU power used to process the terrain rending, I think. Applying that will cause you some fps, always a trade off, isn't it?