jbroadwa Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 All, I recently upgraded my computer and I am in the process of installing FSX and all of my addons. To start, I made a clean installation of FSX and Acceleration with only the HIGHMEMFIX change in the fsx.cfg file. I then benchmarked the system using FSMark11 and got an average frame rate of 51.003. I adjusted the settings to recommendations from ORBX and my personal taste (e.g. lowered autogen, lowered airport vehicles, lowered traffic, added ground shadows, etc.) and my new benchmark was at 63.360. It looked great and was very, very smooth. I then added FTX Global. My benchmark fell to 49.703. That is a pretty serious drop in frame rate, but still flyable (except minor stutters now were occuring). I proceeded and added AI from World of AI and EnbSeries, My benchmark fell to 40.567, but worse my minimum frame rate was now in the 20s and the stutters were far worse. I installed the latest ORBX Libraries, but this did not help. What am I doing wrong? I thought a texture replacement program should not affect frame rates so dramatically and it only gets worse as I add other software. If I take FTX Global off and leave the other software intact, my benchmark rises to 58.280 and smooth again. Thanks, Joshua P.S. Here is a table of my findings using FSMark11 and Fraps: Temp: Min: Max: Avg: Settings: 54C 44 83 63.360 Base 54C 45 83 64.037 Base+Ground Shadows 54C 38 75 58.577 Base+Ground Shadows+AI 55C 36 73 58.280 Base+Ground Shadows+AI+EnbSeries 61C 29 70 49.703 Base+Ground Shadows+FTXG 55C 25 55 40.567 Base+Ground Shadows+AI+EnbSeries+FTXG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 start with killing the ground shadows they are a FPS hog, and cause of mayor headaicks, no one uses them as it is a known "issue" with fsX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbroadwa Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Wolter, Thank you, but I tried that. It does not help. Plus, in the base configuration having them on didn't cause any issues with frame rates as you can see in my table. Anything else I might have missed? Thanks again! Joshua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipdriver Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 It looks to me like FTX Global was quite a minor frame hit: 51-49= 2 fps drop WOAI and ENB: 49-40= 9 fps drop ---> that is a significant frame hit Also, how steady are those frame rates? 40 fps if steady is generally silky smooth. When you added WOAI, did you change the AI traffic settings? AI is a known fps killer (even worse is the fact that you never see most of the AI). What is your CPU Core 0 load and what is your GPU load? Try looking for bottlenecks. Have you tried locking frame rate to, say, 40 fps? What is the impact on stutters? Generally, if you are getting stutters at such high fps like 40, the GPU is being overdriven, so try lowering your frame limit to alleviate the burden. I second killing ground scenery shadows- complete and utter waste of CPU resources in DX9. Your the first person I've seen who insists on using them in FSX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbroadwa Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Rob, I'm sorry you must have misread my table. Adding FTXG dropped my frame rate from 63.360 to 48.423 (and that's with ground shadows on). That's nearly 15 frames per second less. AI only drops it 6 frames per second which I expect given the hundreds of airplanes generated in the Boston area. Also, I'm apologize for not posting what happened when I turned ground shadows off. Here is the new table with ground shadows on and off: Temp: Min: Max: Avg: Settings: 54C 44 83 63.360 Base 56C 27 68 48.423 Base+FTXG 54C 45 83 64.037 Base+Ground Shadows 54C 38 75 58.577 Base+Ground Shadows+AI 55C 36 73 58.280 Base+Ground Shadows+AI+EnbSeries 55C 25 55 40.567 Base+Ground Shadows+AI+EnbSeries+FTXG 61C 29 70 49.703 Base+Ground Shadows+FTXG So, I'm really interested in why I am seeing such a significant drop in fps when adding FTXG. It doesn't make sense to me; so, I keep thinking I might have something off in my configuration or an issue with the install. I'm worried that once I install the PMDG planes and a busy addon airport like Brisbane, I'll be in the teens when I could be in the upper 20's where things make a big difference. Thanks, Joshua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbroadwa Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Oops! I'm sorry. Those frame rates I quoted are with ground shadows off. Sorry for the typo. Thanks, Joshua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbroadwa Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Rob, I've had some time to try some of your suggestions. Just to be clear, a clean installation of FSX with Acceleration and reasonable settings achieves 63.360 fps. Adding FTXG only, it falls to 48.423 and stutters. So, I figured I might be overdriving the GPU as you suggested and limited fps to 30. For FSX with Acceleration and FTXG only (no AI, no ground shadows, no EnbSeries, no fsx.cfg "tweaks" besides HIGHMEMFIX), fraps gives me the following: Min: 12 Max: 31 Avg: 29.717 So, it is in the ballpark of 30, but you really notice those 12 fps frames as stutters. I remove FTXG and the system is silky smooth again. It's quite vexing. Is there anything else that FTXG is adding besides new textures? Thanks, Joshua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 FRAPS is not a reliable tool as its way of calculating FPS is sometimes wrong with some programs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbroadwa Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Richard, Thank you for your response. Can you compare FRAPS measurements with FTXG and without FTXG though? While it may not be entirely accurate FPS measures, should the relative measurements still be good? I've done this test multiple times and keep finding the same average measurments +/- 1 fps. The FRAPS measurements also seem to follow the internal FPS monitor in FSX. I have done a few more tests, did a full reinstall of FSX, Acceleration, and FTXG just in case I made an installation mistake and got the following measurements. So, its better than the original 48 fps I was getting by quite a lot, but it seems that turning on the global lights are really doing a number on my rig. Could it be I'm running in Windows 8.1 and I have an installation issue? Min: Max: Avg: Notes: 44 83 63.360 Base install of FSX with Acceleration on FSMark11 41 82 62.407 Base install of FSX with FTX Global, Trees on, Lights off 36 72 54.533 Base install of FSX with FTX Global, Trees on, Lights on Thanks, Joshua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbroadwa Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 All, So, I've done more testing always starting from a clean install of FSX. I've tested FTXG1.1, FTXG1.2, and FTXG1.3 separately with no other addon software whatsoever (no AI, no FTX Vector, no EnbSeries, no FTX regions, and no addon airports). In all cases, clicking add vector lights drops my fps on average by 8. I know I've seen that the lights are supposed to have no effect on FPS, but I am not seeing that on my computer (no matter how many times I do a clean install or what version of FTXG I use). Can someone please tell me how to get the lights without any impact on frame rates? Thanks, Joshua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 The 3D lights we use are actually autogen 'tree' objects made to appear as lights, so there will be a FPS hit in the same way as cranking up your autogen settings will impact frames. By activating vector road lights you are in effect adding many thousands of 'trees' to each scene which will of course impact FPS. Try pulling back the autogen slider one notch to lessen the impact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbroadwa Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 JV, Thank you for the explanation. That makes perfect sense. I took your advice and measured the impact. If I back off one on the autogen slider while I have lights enabled, there is no dip in my FPS. So, I'll turn off lights during the day to enjoy the autogen, and back autogen off at night and enable lights to enjoy the night views. This works well for me. I appreciate all the help from everyone!! Thanks again, Joshua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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