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Topic: SETTING UP FSX and HOW TO TUNE IT( Topic Closed) |
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NickN
Certified Professional 
Joined: 21 November 2007 Posts: 5242 |
 Topic: SETTING UP FSX and HOW TO TUNE ITPosted: 05 January 2009 at 1:16pm |
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IF I DID NOT POST A TWEAK IN THIS THREAD THEN MORE THAN LIKELY THE TWEAK IS FALSE, PRESENTS PLACEBO RESULTS OR MAY RESULT IN POORER VISUAL QUALITY and PERFORMANCE. THERE ARE TWEAKS THAT ARE ONLY GOOD FOR THE DVD RELEASE VERSION OF FSX AND WITH SP1/SP2 THOSE TWEAKS ARE USELESS.. THOSE OLD TWEAKS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS LIST.
There is a change/edit log at the bottom of this thread which will show the date and subject of change. Please refer to it when you may revist this list to be sure you have the most up to date infomation.
This thread includes more than FSX installing/tuning information. You will find information about hardware choices and installing/servicing the OS as well.
What I have posted in FSX tuning is to get people in the RIGHT ballpark so they can tune their system in with a good methodology in starting off. There can be differences and there can be some variations but for the most part what I posted should get most systems tuned correctly. Your Mileage May Vary
SETTING UP FSX and HOW TO TUNE IT
This information is a complete guide to installing, setting up and tuning FSX. It will cover everything you need to know about how to get the most out of your simulator. DO NOTE: The results good or bad depend on the type and condition of your hardware, your ability to run a clean, spyware, virus free system, a reasonable amount of boot programs in your OS, and, your ability to maintain good maintenance on your system
And please excuse typos in this.. I put this together very fast Anyone is welcome to use (without duplication) the information in this thread and supporting links however like anything else you read, you use this information at your own risk.
F1 nor myself is responsible for anything that may go wrong.
FSX INSTALLATION It is VERY important that you heed this install method. You can not install FSX patches back to back without first booting FSX and its default flight, then close the sim, reboot the computer and install the next patch. To install FSX from the DVD and not follow this list may result in performace issues, scenery issues and errors
NOTE: If you are not having any problems with FSX you can not seem to lock down and did not follow the correct method of install you do not need to reinstall FSX however DO keep this list in mind should you ever find yourself in a position where you are reinstalling the software and use it.
1. Install form the DVD, fire up the sim and let it complete the install and then boot the default flight. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB961894/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2067 You want to download and install:
ENU (vcredist_x86.exe) NOTE: Or the one which is right for your OS language ENU= ENGLISH
The C++ Library update is needed for some 3rd party support and is installed with Acceleration. The link above is to the LATEST update which did not ship with Accel I suggest you install the update regardless of what version of FSX you run to be sure you are covered as you may add items to your sim over time.
It will NOT change performance
Acceleration takes care of both SP1 and SP2 in one shot After you complete STEP 1, 2 and 3 above, replace STEP 4 with: Install SP1, boot the sim default flight, close and reboot the computer Install SP2, boot the sim default flight, close and reboot the computer
USING MORE/LESS or EQUAL to 2GIGS OF SYSTEM MEMORY IN WINDOWS XP x32 OR VISTA X32 with OOM -OR- HOW TO PROPERLY TUNE VIRTUAL ADDRESS SPACE IN WINDOWS (x32) FOR OUT OF MEMORY ERRORS x64 operating systems do not need the following changes
BE ADVISED OUT OF MEMORY ERRORS CAN ALSO DISPLAY GRAPHIC ERRORS IN FSX ON THE SCREEN WITHOUT ANY SYSTEM ERROR MESSAGE. SEE THIS THREAD FOR DETAILS: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1233114601 YOU MAY NEED TO TUNE THE AMOUNT SET FOR ADDRESS SPACE AS DESCRIBED BELOW IF THE PROBLEM PERSISTS WITH THE SETTING OF 2560
PLEASE NOTE: This section is for anyone who sees out of memory error while using FSX. It applies to ALL circumstances. To clear up confusion about this change.. the amount reserved for the cache is NOT and DOES NOT have anything to do with the amount of memory in the system or how much memory you are allowing access to the system!! This change only tweaks the address space, relieving the OOM error. The 32bit system will use the physical memory installed up to 4GB regardless! ONLY FSX SP2 HAS THE ABILITY TO ADDRESS MORE THAN 2GB OF SYSTEM MEMORY. THE DVD AND SP1 VERSIONS CAN ADDRESS MORE THAN 2GB HOWEVER IT REQUIRES MANUAL EDITING OF THE DVD OR SP1 FSX.EXE FILE USING SPECIAL SOFTWARE WHICH WILL ALLOW >2GB SUPPORT. The method of removing out of memory and other errors on a 32bit Operating system and allow fsx access to memory amounts greater than 2GB is listed here:
EXAMPLE LINE EDIT:
NOTE: It is possible you may need to TUNE this value if out of memory errors still display, especially with large video memory video cards (640mb and above) If you sill see OOM errors, do the following: Depending on your OS follow the directions above about editing the system for the cache value. What you will do is LOWER the value edited to the system originally. The amount should be DROPPED in lots of 64.
EXAMPLE: Original Edit = 2560 LOWER this to 2496, reboot and retest. If OOM still appears LOWER the edit to 2432, reboot and retest.
If OOM still appears LOWER the edit to 2368, reboot and retest.
If OOM still appears LOWER the edit to 2304, reboot and retest.
If OOM still appears, one of 2 problems are possible 1. There is a addon in FSX which is not made correctly or has an error in it forcing the OOM. 2. Your system (motherboard) simply does not play well with this edit and possibly more than 2GB in the system.
The solution to #1 is to locate the addon causing the error through a process of elimination. See if you can ID what addon be it aircraft or scenery may be in use with the error appears and eliminate them as possibilites.
The solution to #2 when the memory and the motherboard memory slots are confirmed as correct in use is switch to a 64bit (x64) OS (Vista or XP) which I suggest eveyone use anyway for FSX
ABOUT ADDING MEMORY TO A SYSTEM FSX will run better on greater than 2gigs of memory in a 32 or 64bit OS and you should select the right memory to do the job based on your system Do note that some motherboards do not play well with more than 2GB of system memory and a 32bit OS. As for adding memory.. this is one you MUST be careful with Typically when you add memory your motherboard will automatically try to DOWNCLOCK the memory and RAISE its timing. This is true of going from one stick to two, two sticks to three, etc HOWEVER There is such a thing a DUAL CHANNEL memory operation which kicks in when you installed a MATCH SET of memory sticks. (2 or 4) When ever you consider a memory upgrade you should try to follow this guideline: NOTE: This is NOT for the new i7 systems or newer DDR3! 1. NEVER install more than 2 sticks of memory, be them 512, 1024, 2048, 4096 unless you need the system for engineering purposes and are running a 64bit OS (you will lose performace for >4GB) 2. Always check to be sure you are running the highest memory SPEED your system will allow with the clock and processor you are using. This means if you motherboard will support and run higher memory speeds with the processor clocked, or not clocked such as Nvidia, the highest speed with the lowest timing is the best choice. If you do not wish to overclock the system at all, or, your motherboard will not support faster memory speeds then you do not need memory that exceeds FSB/2 of the processor. In example, if your processor is a 1333 QDR FSB processor then your un-clocked memory speed should be 1333/2 or DDR2-667 which has a dram frequency of 333.5MHz
Make sure you understand how your motherboard works and if it supports higher memory speeds, use them. CPU and memory clocking in FSX is practically a prerequisite if you wish to obtain high scenery and visual goals 3. Always purchase the LOWEST timing memory possible for the memory speed you wish to purchase in the amount you wish to purchase 4. Always purchase the memory in SETS and never singles
OVERCLOCKERS: When you purchase memory you should follow the same basic guidelines however you MUST calculate the memory speed you need to purchase based on your clock. That calculation is based on the CPU speed you will run, what FSB it will take to run it, the CPU STRAP setting and finally what the BIOS will allow in memory speed at clocked settings. In example, if you wish to clock a Q9650 to 3.6-4GHz you want your memory to run as fast as possible. In the case of DDR2 that would be DDR2 1066 (or higher). The same guideline for purchasing memory is followed. The LOWEST timing at the speed you wish to run is how it is selected but you should always purchase 2x1 or 2x2GB product. With 1st Generation DDR3 (not i7) an example of a good CPU and memory system for FSX would be a Q9650 running a 400MHz FSB (3.6GHz) @ DDR3 1600 (2x2GB) and 7-7-7 timing. That processor can run 4GHz if the user runs FSB at 450 but the memory must then be DDR3 1800 to match the speed in relation to FSB/STRAP. In a overclock one must know how to calculate their memory for clock needs. If a system is to be used for engineering or other which requires higher memory amounts than 4GB you MUST be using a 64bit (x64) OS. Windows (XP or VISTA) x32 CAN NOT USE more than 4GB. When purchasing more than 4GB, the same guidelines apply from above however you will need to purchase MORE than 2 sticks. Be aware that WILL MEAN timing and speed will most likely be affected and you do want to purchase 4 matched sticks (4x2GB) not 2x2GB + 2x1GB for dual channel operation. Some motherboards will allow dual channel operation with mismached memory installed, some will not. Some motherboards will run lower timing and higher speeds with all 4 memory slots populated however many will NOT. You must research your motherboard and memory to decide what is best for your needs when running >2 or >4GB However., If you are building or upgrading a gaming rig DO NOT RUN more than 4GB for best performance in x32 OR x64! (i7 excluded)
Intel i7 - YOU CAN run more than 4GB without the performance loss and the same applies to the timing/speed as I posted above except you are working with TRI CHANNEL instead of DUAL. With i7 unclocked you want 3x1 or (prefered)3x2 DDR3 1333 memory on the LOWEST timing possible. When clocking - 3x2GB DDR3 1600 to DDR3 2000 NOTE: WITH i7 YOU MUST PURCHASE MEMORY DESIGNED FOR i7 IN TRI-CHANNEL KITS RATED AT NO MORE THAN 1.65V
FSX is a 32bit application and as such even when run in a 64bit operating system memory amounts greater than 4GB will be of little use to FSX directly, however, when applied with a 64bit OS and i7 FSX SP2 (or RTM/SP1 with edited fsx.exe files) will be allowed access to a full 4GB with other processes and applications running along side having access to more (over and above). Therefore 6GB (3x2GB) i7 systems as addons and aircraft become more complicated will benefit FSX on a 64bit OS. If you switch to i7 you are far better off on 3x2GB than 3x1GB in system memory.
SAMPLES OF MEMORY SPEED/TIMING
Here is a list of MAX memory timing per speed a user should strive for.. lower than posted is better and there are memory product out there that run lower timing than posted.. they are typically expensive and that is what you pay for DDR2 1066 5-5-5 DDR3 1333 6-6-6 (1st or 2nd Generation) DDR3 1600 7-7-7 (1st or 2nd Generation) DDR3 1800/1866 8-8-8 (1st or 2nd Generation) DDR3 2000 (and up) 9-9-9 (1st or 2nd Generation)
That being said here are the values a user SHOULD look for in order to obtain highest FSX performance with respect to CPU/Memory communication DDR2 800 3-3-3 DDR2 1066 4-4-4 DDR3 1333 5-5-5 (1st or 2nd Generation) DDR3 1600 6-6-6 (1st or 2nd Generation) DDR3 1800/1866 7-7-7 (1st or 2nd Generation) Note: 1800/1866 is really useless compared to 1600 with respect to the right memory timing. If a user wishes to run very high memory speed, opt for 2000 with tighter timing especially running i7. 1st generation DDR3 has issues with the northbridge running large amounts of memory (2x2GB or more). i7 D0 stepping processors and the x58 chipset do not have those issues but still typically requires a higher QPI/DRAM (over 1.37v) to accomplish which can be dangerous to the life of a processor. DDR3 2000 7-7-7 (1st or 2nd Generation) 8-8-8 can be used however 7-7-7 is FAR better.
=======================
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL YOUR CRITICAL WINDOWS UPDATES AS SEVERAL OF THEM DO ADDRESS MEMORY AND PERFORMANCE ISSUES
You are now ready to make your FSX.cfg edits and TUNE FSX
What I have posted in FSX tuning is to get people in the RIGHT ballpark so they can tune their system in with a good methodology in starting off. There can be differences and there can be some variations but for the most part what I posted should get most systems tuned correctly. Your Mileage May Vary But do try to follow along without adding in any tweaks off the net. Try this and then after should you find what you had ran better, simply restore your FSX.cfg file
PLEASE BACK UP YOUR CURRENT FSX.CFG SO YOU MAY RESTORE QUICKLY
The FSX.cfg file and how I set up a system If you do not know where the FSX.cfg file is: NOTE: You must have HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS disabled in Windows XP C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR ACCOUNT NAME\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX\fsx.cfg VISTA C:\Users\YOUR ACCOUNT NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\fsx.CFG
Right click the FSX.cfg file, select OPEN WITH and in the box that appears select NOTEPAD. You may opt to 'ALWAYS USE THIS PROGRAM TO OPEN THIS FILE TYPE From that point on it will open by double clicking the file. NOTE: IN VISTA editing the file may require ADMIN RIGHTS. Right click the file and select RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR or DISABLE UAC in VISTA to get rid of such nags.
As for FSX.cfg edits.. these are the only ones I use: TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=XX I use 70 to 80 depending on the system NOTE: I have never set up a system that I did not use either 70 or 80 for TBM. This setting is always changed before I tune the system however I may drop or raise it while tuning to find which one works better (70 or 80) IMPORTANT: This setting IS NOT THE SAME AS FS9! The amount of data being tasked is MASSIVE compared to FS9. DO NOT SET THIS TO 400! SETTING THIS TO 400 IS A MYTH IN FSX! Even the best quads and cards should only run between 70 and 90 If you set that to 400 you will NOT be able to tune the system correctly as I have specified below. 70 to 80 should get you in the ballpark and most will run 70
NOTE: THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THE 70-80 LIMIT POSTED ABOVE IS WHEN USING PHOTOSCENERY WITHOUT ANY TEXTURES INVOLVED. IT IS POSSIBLE TO OBTAIN A CLEARER RESULT WITH PHOTOSCENERY USING HIGHER TBM VALUES BUT THE SUCCESS IN DOING THAT DEPENDS ON THE INSTALLED HARDWARE AND THE SPEED OF THE STORAGE SYSTEM. IF YOU DO NOT USE TEXTURES AT ALL AND ONLY USE PHOTOSCENERY THEN A VALUE OF BETWEEN 250 AND 400 MAY PRESENT A CLEARER IMAGE. IF YOU HAVE SOME PHOTOSCENERY AND STILL FLY TEXTURES FROM TIME TO TIME YOU CAN MAKE A CUSTOM FSX.CFG FILE AND LOAD IT FOR PHOTSCENERY FLYING USING A HIGHER 'TESTED TO WORK' TBM VALUE REMEBER THAT INCREASING TBM WITH PHOTSCENERY REQUIRES A TRIAL AND ERROR TEST TO FIND THE VALUE THAT WORKS BEST. THERE IS NO VALUE SET IN STONE FOR THIS
DO NOT INCREASE TBM WITH TEXTURES. THE HARDWARE MATH DOES NOT SUPPORT USING HIGHER THAN 100 TBM AND TEXTURES http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?s=&showtopic=254672&view=findpost&p=1605085
FOR THOSE WHO USE PHOTOSCENERY WHICH COVERS A LARGE AREA AND ALSO USE THE STANDARD TEXTURE SYSTEM FOR OTHER AREAS TO MAKE THINGS MORE SIMPLISTIC YOU SHOULD CREATE DIFFERENT FSX.CFG FILES (ONE FOR FOR PHOTO SCENERY AND ONE FOR TEXTURE SCENERY) AND LOAD THEM DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF SCENERY YOU INTEND TO FLY. YOU CAN NOT USE A HIGH TBM WHERE ONLY SPOTS OF PHOTOSCENERY SHOW WITH TEXTURE/LANCLASS IN THE SAME SCENE. HIGH TBM CAN ONLY BE USED WHERE THE PHOTOSCENERY COVERS THE ENTIRE AREA. ---------------------------------------
If you do not use a widescreen monitor that should be set to FALSE
Unless you fly the same extact flight over and over every time you boot the sim (DAY-DATE-TIME-WEATHER-HUB all the same), setting this to 1 offloads the memory from preloading that flight when FSX boots. Many find leaving this edit out of the config is the best way to run. You must experiment with this setting to see if it will or will not help. 640MB and above cards CAN take advantage of Bufferpools however do be careful with this edit. Bufferpools added to the fsx.cfg file can cause scenery 'spikes' even if the card has enough video memory. This edit to the configuration file works for some and does not work for others. If you see strange graphics errors that do not clear up by visually panning around the outside of the aircraft then you should REMOVE the bufferpool entry from your config file. Do note that with SP2 for FSX running high sliders depending on the drivers may bring on visual graphic 'spikes' from autogen when a flight is first loaded. If visually panning around the aircraft does not clear them, the bufferpool entry should be reduced or removed completely.
NEW: SOUND CRACKING AND DISTORTION – SMOOTHER FLIGHT
Based on research done by Sargeski on sound crackle issues and latency, he discovered raising bufferpools on a 1GB single core Nvidia card will eliminate such sound problems. They are related to high autogen slider and latency on buss. To resolve the issue the user MUST have a 1GB SINGLE CORE Nvidia card such as the GTX 280 or GTX 285: [Bufferpools] NOTE: A side effect to this discover is that larger VM cards which DO NOT display the sound crackle issue may RAISE bufferpools for a smoother flight result. For larger VM memory cards (1GB) this value can be anywhere from 100000000 (100MB) to 400000000 (400MB) It is a ‘trial and error” setting. Most find 200000000 (200MB) works very well.
NOTE: THE HIGH BUFFERPOOL SETTINGS MENTIONED ABOVE ARE NOT TYPICAL. IN MANY CASES SUCH HIGH SETTINGS (ABOVE 100MB EVEN WITH LARGE VM CARDS) CAN CAUSE VISUAL GRAPHIC ERRORS IN FSX. NOT EVERYONE WILL SEE SUCCESS WITH TRYING BUFFERPOOLS ABOVE 100MB YMMV! ---------------------------------
Here are how the edits are used in the FSX.cfg file as you scroll down the file: NOTE: SOME YOU EDIT THE VALUE AND SOME YOU ADD THE ENTIRE LINE AS SHOWN BELOW UNDER EACH HEADING
[Main]
[Display] WideViewAspect=True //If widescreen monitor in use otherwise False TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=xx //Most will use 70 to 80 RUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=1.2 //adjust values to suit your scale
[BUFFERPOOLS]
NOTE: Please remember! BUFFERPOOLS only helps with smoothness in banks/turns when flying low over urban autogen and flying low in bush over large amounts of autogen trees. I highly suggest on a 512MB card you LEAVE BUFFERPOOLS out of the config file and after everything else is tuned, then try adding it in. For higher memory cards you can use the scale I posted however DO be aware this setting can be LOWER than the MAX values I posted. In some cases adding this to the config file causes stutters however I have yet to find that the case on any 640-1GB video memory card.
And do remember... Your Mileage May Vary with Bufferpools! Some cards simply do not like the edit in the config file no matter how much video memory they have and I have seen this vary from driver to driver as well.
AFFINITY MASK: This is ONLY for quad core processors. I have never seen a dual core make use of this tweak i7.. Do not bother setting more than a 4 core affinity mask Please reserve using this tweak until you have completed all other tuning. Once you have your sim running the best you can, then you may try this. It tends to not work well with Intel i7 and DO NOTE, Hyperthread is USELESS to FSX and therefore trying to set a high affinity mask for 8 cores is USELESS. 4 of the 8 i7 cores are virtual and FSX will not use them, at all, regardless of what you see on the CPU monitor. In the FSX.cfg add the following if it is not already there n=7 Here is how it works.. the setting converts 1s and 0s representing you processor cores. 4 cores active are 'binary' 1111, two cores 11 With a setting of 14 that means we convert 14 to binary or 1110 The LAST value is the FIRST core.. its backwards! Therefore a setting of 7 or binary 0111 means the LAST core is disabled to FSX and with 14 1110 the FIRST core is disabled to FSX I have never needed this tweak in any system I have tuned however with all the different hardware out there the tweak does have merit and it is a 'try and see' tweak for smoothness. However please DO reserve this test for last after all other tuning is complete.
FIBER FRAME TIME FRACTION - With ANY multicore processor AFTER SP1 USELESS WITH TEXTURES However this can be used with systems that run TILE PROXY http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=27540&PID=170479#170479 [SCENERY]
Save and close the FSX.cfg file
Nvidia Cards and the Tool Nhancer
Nvidia users should use this tool.. you do NOT have control of FSX with the Nvidia 3D control panel. This tool will correct that! NOTE: New NHancer on its way which is a must for Nvidia driver 182.xx or above NOTE: If you are using Nvidia driver 182.xx or HIGHER you must use Nhancer 2.5.1 or above. If you are a using Nvidia driver LOWER than 182.xx you MUST USE Nhancer version 2.4.5 The 190 drivers have issues with 2.5.1 and require the latest Nhancer beta to correct. You can get older versions of Nhancer here: (scroll down) http://www.nhancer.com/?dat=downloads Nhancer is used to increase FSX visual quality result and reduce autogen shimmering as much as possible. It can also help with performance but Nhancer's primary function is for image quality Driver Installs or upgrades REQUIRE Nhancer be set back up correctly after each driver change! NOTE: XP USERS You must have .nET Framework 2.0 or above installed to use Nhancer 2.4.5. The new version (2.5.1) requires NET 3.5. If you have 3.5 installed it will run any version of Nhancer. and DO check for Nhancer updates periodically as new drivers may need updated support. VISTA USERS MUST INSTALL THE NHANCER SERVICE DURING THE SETUP PROCESS. XP USERS DO NOT VISTA Does not require .NET 2.0 for Nhancer to work. Make sure you have Net 3.5 Nhancer is an important part of gaining the best image and with many systems it does help with performance. Nhancer use MUST BE FOLLOWED as I posted here:
Nhancer overrides the Nv control panel and GAME profiles. Install it and set it up as I specified in that link above. You make the SAME settings for the FSX PROFILE and GLOBAL in Nhancer and the NV control panel no longer has control Driver Installs or upgrades REQUIRE Nhancer be set back up correctly after each driver change!
IMPORTANT!! In the OPTIONS menu.. make sure to select “ALLOW OVERRIDE OF PREDEFINED PROFILES” is selected
NOTE: NEVER check the Enhance in-game AA setting as that WILL OVERRIDE Nhancer AA control in the game
NOTE: Just so you understand.. Multicore support is for the DRIVERS and not the GAME. Setting this to ON for Windows XP will not in any way make a difference in FSX.
THE SETTINGS IN THE NEW NHANCER THAT MAY LOOK DIFFERENT THAN THE OLD:
POWER MANAGEMENT: MAX PERFORMANCE AMBIENT OCCLUSION: MSFS does not support AO
But please note that OGL settings will have no effect in MSFS. You can leave the FSX/FS9 "PROFILE" settings for OGL at default or unchanged. The GLOBAL settings for OGL are ONLY suggestions.. those can be changed for your OGL application and should not be considered 'defined' from the settings suggestions made above. There is NO "APPLY" or "SAVE" button. Once you make a setting in Nhancer, its changed and thats it Do not make any changes in the Nv Control panel for AA and AF after this... you can use the NV control panel for other settings such as color, etc but NOT 3D control.
FSX graphics settings: AA UNCHECKED FILTERING: Trilinear Global texture resolution 100% You can use MULTISAMPLE 4x instead of COMBINED 8xS however the COMBINED setting reduces tree and AG shimmer. I run 8xS. Users can try 2xS and 4xS as well The 4x MULTISAMPLE setting will allow better performance at a cost to visuals as it will not stop shimmer. When ever you make a change like that it must be done in BOTH profile (Flight Simulator X) AND Global in Nhancer.. not just the profile
Do be aware you can make profile settings changes 'on the fly' by dropping to the desktop, opening Nhancer.. editing a setting.. close Nhancer and continue the flight Another thing to be aware of is the ONLY item in Nhancer anyone needs to 'work' (AFTER MAKING THE INITIAL SETTINGS I POSTED) is the "top box" AA setting. Shimmering is significantly reduced by using the COMBINED 4xS and 8xS options but that can come with a price in heavy weather
GLOBAL and PROFILE - BOTH must be changed for a reason. If you run another game then EDIT or MAKE a profile for that game which will override GLOBAL.... but ALWAYS keep GLOBAL the same settings for FSX as the FSX PROFILE
NOTE: THESE IMAGES ARE FROM NHANCER 2.5.7 There are some new settings involved and the images I posted above are from the older Nhancer version and although the settings listed and that the user will make will be exactly the same now as they were then there are additional settings in the newer versions and with Vista/W7 that are covered under the images posted above
The only DIFFERENCE is for Vista/W7, set the CPU MULTICORE support to MULTICORE instead of SINGLE That has NOTHING to do with the GAME using multicore.. its how the DRIVER uses multicore ONLY and with XP (no matter how many cores) the setting should be: SINGLE core Vista/W7: MULTI core (if your processor has more than 1 core)
OpenGL is not used for MSFS.. MSFS is a D3D game, not OGL. You do not needs to change/add anything on that tab. Just make sure the same settings above are used for both the FSX Profile and the Global settings
THERE IS NO NEED TO RUN NHANCER AT WINDOWS BOOT OR RUN IT IN THE TRAY
ATI Video Cards in FSX
UPDATE: Most of you are aware of my warnings about using ATi for MSFS and up until the release of the 5870 card from ATi that has remained my suggestion. ATi in the past has had issues for different reasons with MSFS since their x800xt model. With the release of the 5780, those issues appear to be resolved. Right now, I am still in a test phase with this card and will continue to work with it as time presents, however at this point in time I can say this: 1. The card will perform as well as a 285 and on lighter scenery and aircraft it will in fact run FSX faster/better than a 285. Depending on the scenery packages in use the card at the very least matches the GTX285 for performance and can exceed the 285 for performance in FSX as well. 2. On payware aircraft it matches the 285 for performance but I did see some minor perf drops in my testing which could be driver related since the card is new. 3. In order to obtain the SAME IMAGE QUALITY, without shimmer, the ATI card will suffer in performance and it will equal or be less performant than the 285. 4. The 5870 has better high res support for MM. This can make a difference for many when it comes to MM display. Therefore the 5870 is what I would call EQUAL to the 285. Where the 285 lacks the ATi does better and where the 5870 lacks (especially in shimmer control) the 285 does better. BE AWARE than if you already have a 285 and use payware aircraft the performance difference between the 2 cards is very slim. So spending the money if you already use a 285 is not going to provide anything major in a switch. And when it comes to IQ and shimmer control the 5870 is close to the 285 but still lags behind Nvidia in the same perf with high IQ
If you already have a 285 and have the money to burn and want to play, I can at this point suggest the ATI 5870.
ATi cards older than than the 5870 I suggest you use Nvidia unless you need the shader support for other moder shader render engine games such as Crysis ======================================
FSX TUNING The Primary Performance Killers in FSX and How to work them for your system 1. SET UP FSX EXACTLY AS I POSTED BY THE IMAGES BELOW 2. USING THE INFORMATION ABOVE, and, BELOW THE IMAGES TUNE YOUR SYSTEM BASED ON THE SUGGESTIONS FOR LOW-MED-HI PERF COMPUTER 3. BE AWARE THAT THE SUGGESTED SETTINGS AND YOUR SYSTEM MAY STILL NEED A BIT OF TWEAKING. FSX TUNING IS ALL ABOUT RESOURCES AND EVERY SYSTEM (EVEN THOSE WHICH HAVE AN EXACT MATCH FOR HARDWARE) WILL DISPLAY DIFFERENT RESULTS 4. THERE IS A FLIGHT I USE FOR TUNING THE SIM.. IT IS LISTED BELOW THE NEXT SECTION UNDER: FLIGHT CHECK DURING TUNINGThese are listed in the order of performance loss from the highest performance loss to the lowest depending on how high your sliders are set and which checkboxes are enabled Window mode is problematical in FSX. I always run full screen however tuning should be done full screen first to make sure you have properly set up the application... after that if Window Mode presents issues you will know what the problem is
DX9 and BLOOM/ shader passes #1 We all know that bloom is a 800lb gorilla for DX9. That is just the way it is however all the shader passes involved add up. Water has 4 primary shader passes involved. Keeping water at 2XLow is the best way to gain looks and perf. Boosting that to 3/4 in bush flying is possible on better system however forget bloom and high water in just about any other situation. Those on older systems (very old without the reflection/shader support) should keep water at 1xHigh and there are replacement water maps for 1x I posted here: http://www.fswaterconfigurator.com/downloads.htm Nick's edited ENV Water Reflection maps They will not change the color just help get rid of the digital look. They are ONLY for 1x water. Ground Scenery Shadows (Checkbox on the SCENERY TAB) should be disabled on everyone’s system Aircraft shadows are discussed further down and equate to another shader pass DX10 will allow much greater use of these features without the cost in performance however we all know DX10 has its own issues and primary are the lack of AA control. In DX10 Nhancer will not help and AA must be set VIA the FSX graphics tab along with filtering. I personally do not run DX10, only DX9 in Windows XP x64
GLOBAL TEXTURE RESOLUTION in the FSX GRAPHICS settings is ALWAYS 100% ... no exceptions! Advanced Animations is required for many animated functions.. very slow hardware may DISABLE this however you may not like the visual result
Set your MONITOR RESOLUTION up correctly. This should be the same as the Windows Desktop. Forcing higher will result in perf loss. You should always run the NATIVE resolution of your monitor in Windows and in FSX Clarification/Example: If your monitor is designed for 1920x1200x32 from the factory and you are 'down-sizing' it in Windows for your visual needs, thats fine and it will work, my point was to say that you should not force the monitor to run higher than the factory designed it to run by default in FSX. Forcing higher than the native resolution can be done but it may come with a performance cost. Unless running DX10 leave AA UNCHECKED and Set Filtering to Trilinear. (DX10 requires AA be checked in FSX) These settings are made so NHANCER (Nvidia cards only) can take control and deliver a better image on the screen. NOTE TO SLI USERS: THAT SLI DOES VERY LITTLE WITH RESPECT TO RAISING FSX FRAME RATE PERFORMANCE. IT DOES ALLOWS 16-32AA ON HIGHER THAN 2xxxx RESOLUTIONS AND IN THOSE RESOLUTIONS ASSISTS TO MAINTAIN A GREATER FRAME RATE THAN A SINGLE CARD. OTHERWISE DISABLE SLI BEFORE USING FSX NOTE: Nvidia has released SLI drivers which may help you muilti-monitor SLi users... the 181.xx drivers introduced that support SLi is primarily in the driver and not the application however the application itself can drive success with its use. FSX is not very SLi friendly in that respect due to how CPU bound the application is designed as Phil Taylor explained in his blog. You may find with newer drivers that SLi could provide a 'small' FPS increase however if you are building a system specifically for FSX and will not be running massive resolutions then purchasing two very expensive video cards in the hopes of seeing 10+ more FPS in FSX, that WONT happen. For systems that will be dedicated to FSX in which the user does not need massive resolution support, my advice is to run a SINGLE video adapter in FSX and save your money. Dual core video cards are going to provide little or no benefit to FSX.
FRAME LOCK:
The suggestions about frame lock have nothing to do with what the human eye can or can not see they are about how you push your hardware to place priority on keeping things smooth while the PCIe buss is saturated by FSX especially with autogen. The scene and your sliders will make that call. In the same flight on the same settings you can go from a partially saturated PCIe buss to a completely saturated buss as the scenery changes and you fly from one place to another. In that the frame lock may need to be changed IN MID-FLIGHT In most systems I have usually found 2 frame options that work best (switched to as needed in-flight) especially with LCD monitors Locked 30 - outside of large airports and cities (Note: may need to be trimmed to between 24 and 30 depending on the system) Unlimited - usually best around airports and large cities but may ALSO be of benefit in heavy weather in areas with a large amount of autogen trees that is a 'try and see' setting and success with it depends on the system In FSX there were changes to the rendering engine and unlike FS9 a lower frame rate can be used and still maintain a smooth visual result. FSX and FS9 are different in that respect. In FS9 many claimed you had to see at least 35-45FPS for smooth flight and the reason for that was simple they were robbing Peter to pay Paul and were losing elsewhere for that high frame lock. Its the same with FSX but unlike FS9, with FSX UNLIMITED frame lock sometimes works to smooth out the image when the buss is saturated in large urban areas depending on the system You can be running 35-45FPS and stutter or 24-30 and run smooth and with FSX and the changes to the rendering engine even UNLIMIED FPS can present a smooth solution when certain criteria are being rendered to a scene.
Driver Setting, Vertical Sync in FSX: MYTH: Turning Vsync OFF will increase frame rates FALSE Turning Vsync off creates image tears and microstutters in FSX and DOES NOT increase performance. If you are correctly set up in your drivers with Vsync enabled your frame rate will never go over the refresh rate of the monitor. With LCD that refresh rate is typically 60 (meaning 60FPS is the highest FSX will run) and that is the correct way to run FSX, with Vsync always ENABLED. Vsync locks the image and keeps it from jittering and tearing in FSX.
SHUT DOWN TOOTIPS: KNOWN BUG When switching from VC to 2D this fixes the 'hang' and white 'flash' that can occur Aircraft Shadows are another shader pass. Aircraft casting shadows on itself are very hard on the system. Casting shadows on the ground produces much less of an impact and a good trade for those setting. Those on slower systems should disable all aircaft shadow features
WEATHER (clouds) #2 There is no such thing as a FREE LUNCH and this is especially true of weather in FSX. Clouds in FSX are much more complicated than they were in FS9 but they did make some changes in that area in which cloud rendering is much better optimzed than it was in FS9. Cloud cover and weather is a primary performace killer. Increasing anything in this area is going to result in a loss. Addons that install 2048 and 4096 cloud textures come with a perf price. How much depends on your installed hardware, possibly drivers in some cases, level of AA in use (I refuse to use less than Combined 8xS to control shimmer) and, how low you are willing to reduce other settings, and, where you typically fly. If you are running 2048-4096 cloud textures you are going to pay the price of running them and large hubs in heavy weather on high scenery settings will definitely prove what I said about them is true. They are beautiful in many scenes and impressive but like most perks in life, they do cost. Be aware of that when tuning. I use 1024 textures when tuning but you may do as you like. If you wish to run hi res clouds (2048-4096) all the time I suggest you tune your system with them installed to be sure your tuning includes higher resolution texture use around your favorite hubs in weather conditions. While tuning the system please make sure the edit: [GRAPHICS] That edit will change BACK to 1024 while you are testing and making changes in sliders which sometimes makes it difficult to tune a system and maintain the correct resolution in real time It is my undestanding FEX will automatically re-edit that line when the FEX Interface is booted and run... Since we do not usually launch FSX from our addons I would verify it in the config file before restarting a test flight the correct resolution for TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD= is in place since you may be making changes in-flight that could alter the setting.
WEATHER TAB - Leave the distance slider at 0 or 60 Miles THERMAL EFFECTS can hit slower systems HARD. I run NATURAL however this can be set to OFF The best perf change you can make on that tab is the CLOUD COVERAGE DENSITY. Setting it down to HIGH can deliver a nice boost in weather and not remove the visual impact however better systems can run 100%
Another trick: you can reduce this setting in the FSX.cfg file [Weather] CLOUD_DRAW_DISTANCE=x X= 1 or 2 (40-50mi) instead of 3 (60mi) 1 = 40mi 2 = 50mi 3 = 60mi <----------------- ZERO SLIDER 4 = 70mi 5 = 80mi 6 = 90mi 7 = 100mi 8 = 110mi <----------------100% SLIDER DO BE AWARE that any change made in the FSX SETTINGS in ANY area will revert this back to 3 (60mi) or ZERO slider and the setting must be made again manually
I DONT USE THAT TWEAK.. its only for VERY OLD SYSTEMS
POPPING or ANNOYING CLOUDS APPEARING IN/OUT OF THE SCENE AS YOU FLY HOW TO FIX: http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=24830
FSX is strange when it comes to autogen simply because they have changed how it works 3 time now, from RTM to SP2
I can relay this advice:
One of the biggest mistakes people make is the thought that lower sliders = better perfomance. FSX is NOT a game, its a simulator and requires thinking a bit outside the box to tickle the hardware by the software settings and get it to run sweet 1. DO NOT use the autogen restriction lines in the configuration file for buildings and trees if you are using SP1/SP2. In most cases those lines will throw off the priority system and make the sim run/stutter worse. 2. Believe it or not, ZERO autogen slider can make frames drop, how? Same reason as above. Try to maintain at least 50+% (DENSE) however very slow systems may need to limit that to NORMAL/SPARCE or even OFF (off = rare must be very slow hardware) Keeping the autogen slider at DENSE or greater actually tends to raise frames. Going too high for the installed hardware and Scenery Complexity/weather is where perf starts to really drop Many can run a 3/4 (very Dense) Scenery Complexity with a 3/4 (very dense) autogen silder however your mileage may vary. The important part about this slider is if your hardware is not very slow, keep it at a minimum of DENSE This slider can also be changed mid-flight as well. There are times when you may fly out of a scenery friendly hub, into a very large urban area hub which may require this slider to be dropped a notch
Good systems can run 3/4 to 100% depending on the scenery involved and GEX USCAN can go a long way in helping with that performance. Autogen was laid out in a optimal way to reduce CPU overhead.
TRAFFIC #4: Default AI hits a system hard. Replacing the AI with friendly models that do not use the gate 'jetway' calls and are much easier on the system can go a long way in perf I do not use replacement AI simply because I must develop GEX for everyone and not just myself The Scenery Complexity slider is tied DIRECTLY to traffic, how? If the SCENERY COMPLEXITY slider is set to 3/4 or higher the sim will automatically scan a radius around the aircraft for all gates at every airport around you and not only calculate the jetways but update that information constantly. The gate/jetway calculations are based on the EXIT section of the aircraft configuration files. If the EXITS for AI aircraft are not in their configuration files the sim will skip those calculations and therefore replacement AI such as WOAI will not hit a system like the default. Yes, the models are also less complex but a primary perf issue with default AI is not only the models, its the calculations going on behind the scenes in FSX to make it 'as real as it gets' with higer scenery complexity. With default AI and very slow systems... 15-20, typical systems 25-35 and better systems 40-59 (MAX) NOTE: If you do replace AI with another package make sure the DEFAULT AI is disabled correctly. Most professional packages do this automatically however freeware may not and if you do not disable the default AI you are simply compounding the problem. LEAVE aircraft labels OFF. Unless you absolutely must have them on, that is another source of 'strange' stutters and perf changes that varies with the scene. Its best to disable those labels
AIRPORT VEHICLES #5: These little buggers when you add in the AI and the complexity around a hub will also nail a system. The primary problem is if you wish to have 'services' such as fuel and baggage you must be set to MEDIUM which will add another hit to perf. These items can also be a reason why when you enter a final for a hub the perf may start to drop, be aware of that. LOW is a give and take setting however you can not use any services at that setting The slower the system, the LOWER that slider should be set with MEDIUM being the MAX on most high end hardware right now.
CARS BOATS AND SHIPS #6: Cars are the primary perf killer. Ships and boats do present more for the system to deal with but most can run ships and boats between 15-25% without any problems. Cars on the other hand will create micro stutters in some areas depending on the hardware and addons like UTX must be used with caution due to how they can change car traffic behavior with their updates. Their UTX USA 1.2 update added cars to all side roads and in order to make that work they had to deal with a bug in FSX which removed the ability of FSX to take the footprint of cars off the system with the slider set to ZERO, therefore with UTX USA/CAN you must DISABLE ALL moving traffic in the UTX configuration tool to check or eliminate the source of micro stutters related to car traffic. If you find your sim smooth with it DISABLED in UTX then you need to evaluate CAR traffic use with your hardware. Typically I suggest a MAX of 2-5 for slower systems (or OFF/ZERO), 5-8 for medium systems and 8-12 for very high end systems. This is a TEST AND SEE setting. I would not run it any higher than 12 until next gen clocked hardware is in your tower
PLEASE SEE THE UTX SECTION AT THE VERY END OF THIS LIST FOR SPECIFIC UTX SETTINGS I USE FOR BEST PERFORMANCE
WATER SLIDER: As I mentioned above keeping water at 2XLow is the best way to gain looks and perf. Boosting that to 3/4 in bush flying is possible on better system however forget bloom and high water in just about any other situation. Those on older systems (very old without the reflection/shader support) should keep water at 1xHigh
SCENERY COMPLEXITY #7: Scenery Complexity is actually a cross between large city and airport scenery and AI traffic. Lowering this below 50% tends to display erratic perf behavior and at ¾ and above it affects default AI or any AI traffic that uses the jetways and EXIT data. Most should be able to run ½ to ¾ with exceptions for those who are running clocked hardware in the 3.6-4GHz range and/or clocked i7’s who can stretch that to 100% depending on the scene and hub. IF you run replacement AI traffic most on modern Core2 and quads should be able to run 3/4 to 100% but this may need to be tweaked in flight a bit. Do not set this slider to less than 50%.. most can run at least 50% with autogen at 50% as well.
SCENERY RADIUS #8: This one is a combination of just about all of the above however unless you are on a VERY slow system and refuse to drop a slider mentioned above to compensate, leave it at 100%! SOME systems MAY benefit by editing the FSX.cfg file to 5.5000000 instead of 4.5000000. You must experiment to see if this may or may not work for you. In some cases increasing this in the config file may help with distance scenery however I would use it in combination with the TEXTURE BANDWITH MULTIPLER being 70 or 80 (MAX) NOTE that if you enter the FSX settings this will REVERT to 4.5000000 automatically and must be manually re-edited into the FSX.cfg file. And do remember.. there is NO SUCH THING as a free lunch. To increase this radius manually in the config will increase the terrain and autogen load on a system I do not run extended past 100% slider
To be quite honest.. unless you are really running slow hardware, leave it at 100%. 85 would be the lowest I would set it and even with very slow systems, 70 is rock bottom. I have rarely set this to less than 100 on any system I have tuned in the last 2 years
MYTH: The texture and mesh resolution sliders above 36m/1m will hit perf FALSE unless you are on hardware even FS9 would have trouble with in performance You can run 7cm texture and 10m mesh resolution unless you are on hardware better suited for FS9 You will NEVER see a performace hit at 10m mesh resolution if the installed mesh is the default 38m, why? Because if the mesh resolution does not exist.. there are NO calculation taking place. So why change it without 10m mesh? Because the rendering engine changes priority with the Texture Resolution slider at 7cm and automatically sets the Mesh Resolution at 10m. Visually, 7cm makes vector road surfaces clearer along with taxiways and a few other surfaces in FSX since they DO have a basis in that resolution. The minimums on this for all systems are 76m and 38m Mesh Res and 1m Texture Res based on the FSX installed meshs (note: Acceleration mesh for Mt. St. Helens is 3m) and majority of the textures and you can run any resolution you like however I have always found the settings 10M / 7cm to help with clarity in the high LOD radius when flying over textures @ airspeed. Your Milage May Vary - ! FSGenesis USA mesh is 10m.. other products can vary
Mine is set to 10m/7cm and remains there for any area/scene
This is a by choice setting. I would always run 100% but even the slowest system should not have any problem with 50%
FLIGHT CHECK DURING TUNING
I use KSEA (SEATTLE) s the benchmark flight when I use the list above to tune a system, and, I DO NOT use any payware aircraft to tune... I use either the default Cessna, Baron or the default 747 for initial setup. I fly strait out runway 34 past Seattle, maintain 340 and 3000ft all the way down to the water past the next airport, then turn around to the east and land back as KSEA , RNY 16 3 areas I work the sliders and in that are I DO run UNLIMITED frame lock (your mileage may vary) a. On the runway at KSEA b. Just before the city of Seattle over the highways (just before the port around Boeing Field) c. Aprox 5 more miles north just past Lake Washington where massive scenery boundary files load up I REPEAT the above flight with 2 weather settings; 1. Fair Weather 2. Building Storms I use those 2 'constant' weather themes to establish the sim settings with the 3 aircraft I mentioned and I do reboot the system between test flights Once I have that smooth and a clear as I can get it.. I then try payware aircraft and remember you may still need to trim a bit on scenery complexity or autogen if your hardware is not clocked with payware products due to how complex they can be.
FRAME RATES DURING TUNING: If you are going to sit there and stare at the frame counter using it to judge performance.. you will be beating your head against the desk forever. Yes, you can use that number when the frame lock is set to UNLIMITED ONLY to get a feel for performance after making a change ASSUMING Unlimited frame lock does not cause microstutters in the area you are flying/testing but DO NOT use the number as a primary target goal LOCKED or UNLOCKED! In FSX its about SMOOTH flight with CLEAR terrain. If you are seeing that on the screen it does not matter WHAT the frame rate number displays! You can be set to UNLIMITED and have perfect results and the frame counter showing 18-24.. forget the counter, TUNE BY SMOOTH FLIGHT AND SHARP/CLEAR SCENERY If you are correctly set up in your drivers with Vsync enabled your frame rate will never go over the refresh rate of the monitor. With LCD that refresh rate is typically 60 (meaning 60FPS is the highest FSX will run) and that is the correct way to run FSX, with Vsync always ENABLED.
When I test for tuning I try both locked and UNLIMITED. With the Seattle flight I listed above I always use 'unlimited' Locked 30 - outside of large airports and cities (Note: may need to be trimmed to between 24 and 30 depending on the system) Unlimited - usually best around airports and large cities but may ALSO be of benefit in heavy weather in areas with a large amount of autogen trees that is a 'try and see' setting and success with it depends on the system
SYSTEM OS/DRIVER INSTALL and TUNING
ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES users make is SLAMMING a system together software/driver wise and NOT respecting REBOOTS and INSTALL ORDER. The list below outlines a good methodology when installing a OS, updates and drivers Driver installs after Windows is installed... On Windows first boot to the desktop, wait 5 minutes and reboot.. then off the Motherboard CD NOTE: Sometimes it is best to confirm you have the LATEST DRIVERS for your system BEFORE staring this process. If your motherboard has been on the market for a while the CD may NOT have the latest drivers/BIOS for your system. Be sure to check before continuing and obtain the latest drivers which are usually found at the motherboard website. CHIPSET DRIVERS ONLY: There can be updates for chipsets at Intel and AMD. I would suggest users install the chipest drivers that come with the motherboard CD or the latest ones posted at the motherboard website first, then upgrade from Intel or AMD if a update is available. This procedure ensures all components are correctly configured PRIOR to updating
1. Motherboard Intel Chipset driver, reboot 2. Sound Drivers, reboot NOTE: With XP users should wait to install sound drivers AFTER the system has been FULLY updated from Windows Update. Windows XP has a surround sound upgrade that MUST BE INSTALLED BEFORE the sound driver goes in. 3. NIC drivers, reboot 4. SATA drivers, reboot 5. Any other hardware you have which needs drivers installed, reboot between hardware driver installs 6. Video driver.. Install, reboot.. wait 2 minutes and REBOOT AGAIN before continuing 7. The lateat DirectX Update http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2DA43D38-DB71-4C1B-BC6A-9B6652CD92A3&displaylang=en 8. Install the latest C++ Library update http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB961894/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2067 You want to download and install:
ENU (vcredist_x86.exe)
ENU = ENGLISH.. you must select your version for the language of the OS 9. Go to Windows Update and make sure to install any and all Windows Critical Updates. You will need to repeat that process over and over rebooting as the system requests between installs of updates. There may be some non critical updates WU requests. You will need to decide what you need and do not need from the list presented NOTE: WHEN A SERVICE PACK INSTALLS IT IS BEST TO REBOOT TWICE AFTER SUCH A LARGE UPDATE. BE SURE TO GIVE THE SYSTEM A FEW MINUTES AFTER THE FIRST REBOOT FROM A SP UPDATE TO FINISH ITS UPGRADE PROCESS. 10. Install all your software (correctly: See the FSX tuning thread for FSX install) and verify it is working 11. Optimize the OS by removing the unneeded program startups and setting the OS up for performance, then flush all the temp files and maintenance the system with defrag of all drives This covers the process with links to Vista elements http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1208959973 12. Tune FSX via this FSX tuning thread
REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT AND GIVE WINDOWS TIME TO CONFIGURE ITSELF AFTER A REBOOT BEFORE STARTING THE NEXT DRIVER OR UPDATE PATCH INSTALL. A GOOD MINUTE OR SO SHOULD DO THE JOB. THE #1 USER ERROR IN INSTALLING A NEW SYSTEM IS BEING IMPATIENT AND NOT RESPECTING THE REBOOT OR THE TAKING THE TIME TO ALLOW UPDATES TO COMPLETE BEFORE STARTING THE NEXT INSTALL. THAT CAN LEAD PROBLEMS WHICH CAN SURFACE IN THE FORM OF EVERYTHING FROM POOR PERFORMANCE TO APPLICATION CRASHES. Slow Down The slower you go in the beginning.. the faster/smoother you will end up running in the end Expect a solid DAY of installing, updating and maintenance to get a system up to speed correctly. Do it right the first time!
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System Tuning and making sure your Windows environment is performance oriented is another story There are more myths and nonsense in forums and on the internet about how to properly tweak Windows and hardware than there was in the financial markets in the last 8 years. One of the biggest problems I have seen since FS2004 is going through someones system after they visited BLACK VIPER. I cant even count the number of people I have watched in awe after fixing the mess they made screwing with the wrong services and arguing about how they KNOW better to make a system run clean. A simple methodology to OS tuning and system prep for performance can be found here: http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1208959973 READ THE WARNINGS: THOSE ON OLDER DELLS OR SYSTEMS WHICH UPGRADED TO WINDOWS XP SP2 VIA THE SP2 WEB PATCH SHOULD NOT PERFORM THOSE TWEAKS. ONLY SYSTEMS THAT INSTALLED WINDOWS XP SP2 CLEAN FROM A WINDOWS XP SP2 DISK ARE SAFE TO USE THAT LIST. THE ISSUE IS NOTED IN THE LINK TO MICROSOFT Those on the mentioned systems only have once choice and that is to SLIPSTREAM SP2 (or SP3) and make a WindowsXP SP2/3 install disk, then wipe the system clean and reinstall Windows from that new disk. From that point on you are no longer affected by the Microsoft issue.
BOTH O&O DEFRAG VERSIONS 8.6 AND 11 ARE FINE TO USE. DO NOT USE VERSION 10 AND IF YOU DO PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS ABOUT USING THE SPACE DEFRAG MORE THAT ONCE.
PLEASE NOTE: CLEANING OUT YOUR STARTUP SYSTEM IS SOMETHING I CAN NOT LIST HERE BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OUT THERE IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO POST A 'SAFE-LIST' THIS IS AN AREA THAT IS VERY CRITICAL TO SYSTEM PERFORMANCE AND ONE YOU SHOULD RESEARCH AND DISCOVER WHAT YOU NEED TO BOOT YOUR COMPUTER WITH HARDWARE/SECURITY SUPPORT AND WHAT YOU DO NOT NEED Go through your start registry (START - RUN - Type: MSCONFIG - STARTUP TAB) and make sure nothing is booting not needed... like Real player, MS messenger, Adobe Reader, etc.. those do not need to start with Windows and can be launched from a shortcut on the desktop if desired. Many software packages install unneeded startup keys. Adobe Acrobat is one, useless startup that does not need to be there.. and many software packages have "automatic monthly updating' features that are also not necessary and clog up the works. You should always enter the settings for newly installed software and check to see if it has 'auto update' and 'start with windows' enabled.. if so, kill those features.
A note about texture and autogen 'hacks' Using texture reduction and autogen 'hacks' with decent hardware one of the worse things you can do to FSX. There are reasons for that and they are tied back to what the engine expects and does not see. Those 'hacks' may help hardware that would be mediocre or slow in FS9 but I would not use them otherwise.
ABOUT STORAGE PERFORMANCE Read this post about how to gain the most out of the drive(s) you have in your system regardless of a professional SATA card or motherboard SATA ports in use: http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=30507&PID=174413#174413 The storage system presents one of the greatest perf reductions to FSX simply because of the latency and CPU time they consume
About RAID0 in FSX MOTHERBOARD BASED SATA RAID0 CAN KILL FSX PERF and CREATE SCENERY LOAD STUTTERS in FSX Due too the file size increases from FS9 to FSX the use of motherboard based software solutions actually REDUCE the number of CPU cycles available to FSX and increases latency in calling file chunks from such arrays. When you set up a RAID array you set up the STRIPE or BLOCK during the array creation process. That STRIPE or BLOCK size will set the performance of the array based on the average file size of the application to be used. With FS9 the average file size was small and therefore a 64 to 128K STRIPE or BLOCK was fine however with FSX the average file size is 4-5 times that of FS9 and therefore the typical motherboard RAID BLOCK size is FAR too small for the application. A minimum of 256K is required for FSX or the files will be broken into so many small chunks what you are effectively doing is increasing the number of access EACH drive must make to recall a single file, effectively removing and even LOWERING the performance of the storage system... add to that, each time a chuck in called the CPU is polled... double whammy The best hard drive solution on the market for FSX is the Western Digial VelociRaptor. Its design allows users to enjoy stoage performance only available in the past on professional hardware SATA cards. Here is some information about those drives and how to judge what is right for your budget and your needs.
2 Velociraptors in RAID0 (256K STRIPE) on the right card are very close to SCSI performance HOWEVER UNLESSYOU ARE USING IT FOR A LARGE PHOTSCENERY DATABASE IT IS NOT NEEDED AS A SINGLE VRAP WILL PROVIDE ALL THE PERFORMANCE YOU NEED WITH A TYPICAL FSX INSTALL 2 Velociraptors in RAID0 (or SCSI/SAS) on the right card are overkill for todays processors and memory subsystems in conjunction with the video adapter in FSX and will deliver very large amounts of data faster than the system can process/render it The best (top of the line) solution(s) for FSX with a Professional SATAII PCIe 256-512MB card based on highest to lowest perf are: a. 2 VelociRaptors on RAID0 b. A single VelociRapor c. 2 32MB Cache SATAII HDD in RAID0 d. A single 1st Generation 150GB Raptor e. A single 32MB cache SATAII
The OS drive should be on another single drive connected to the same card.. does not have to be RAID0 and does not have to be a VRap but should be a decent spec cache SATAII drive
a. A single VelociRapor on Motherboard SATAII b. 2 VelociRapor in RAID0 on Motherboard RAID ... NOTE: Due to the Vrap design the single and RAID version of motherboard based storage is about equal c. A single 1st Generation Raptor on Motherboard SATAII d. A single 32MB cache large platter hard drive on SATAII NOTE: If the 32MB cache drive has a very large platter the performance can be equal to and greater than the 1st gen Raptor if the Raptor has less than 30% free space after all addons are installed to it. This drive will not exceed the 2nd generation VelociRaptor in a single or RAID drive motherboard SATA setup e. 2 1st Generation Raptors in RAID0 on motherboard RAID f. 2 of any other drive in RAID0 on motherboard RAID
Notice where RAID0 sits on that list for Motherboard SATA RAID controllers and do note 2 VRaps in RAID are not going to do anything for you over a single drive due to the resources consumed by the motherboard software RAID system.
I wish to make something perfectly clear: What the better card and drive solutions provide is help remove the CPU and latency issues from high scenery file reads and that translates to the screen. You do not 'absolutely' need to use a SATA PCIe controller card.. a single VelociRaptor will do a very good job on motherboard ports.. the 2nd choice is the 32MB cache large platter drive which will also work but depending on the workload being requested, amount of data on the drive and the condition of the data in terms of defrag that drive can show scenery load issues under certain criteria. They do a good job for the most part and are a good trade off if money is very tight You do not 'ABSOLUTELY' need the controller card do get good results in FSX but I would suggest the 300GB VelociRaptor on motherboard SATA as it will provide the best support for the least amount spent. The card will make ANY SATA drive run better in a system and allow CPU 'free' RAID to function. Every CPU cycle freed up goes back to FSX for other things.
http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=28350
You must have a motherboard with a 2nd PCIe x8 or x16 slot to use those cards Standard PCI RAID cards are NO BETTER than Motherboard RAID
RULES WHEN SETTING UP STORAGE: DO NOT PARTITION A DRIVE AND PLACE A OS OR FSX ON A PARTITION OTHER THAN THE FIRST PHYSICAL PARITION OF THE DRIVE ALWAYS MAKE SURE THERE IS A MINIMUM OF 40-50% FREESPACE ON ANY PERFORMANCE DRIVE OR PARTITION (OS or FSX) NEVER PARTITION A RAID ARRAY - EVER! BEST SETUP IS TO PLACE FSX ON ITS OWN DEDICATED DRIVE WITH NO 2ND PARTITION
MYTH: NCQ and advanced BIOS SATA functions such as AHCI increase FSX performance TRUTH: TRUE for network servers and workstations, UTTERLY FALSE for high performance drives such as the Rap, Vrap and gaming system use.
A Western Digital VelociRaptor is the best investment you can make for a FSX system. Even without an expensive controller card those drives will deliver the goods where others can fall short under very high LOD scenery file calls. Here is a chart which shows how the WD VelociRaptor fairs against SAS drives and typical SATA drives... the RED is the winner but note the READ/WRITE RANDOM ACCESS time... its equal to SAS, AND... FSX is a RANDOM READ application, not SEQUENTIAL READ which is what most benchmark programs such as HDTUNE and HDTACH use to test HDD speed and performance. Those mentioned benchmark speed tests are NOT indicative of what MSFS needs from the storage solution.. I/O meter results, are:
UTX SETTINGS FOR BEST PERFORMANCE vs BEST VISUALS
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Installing UTX can be a bit confusing because of all the patches.. below I have posted how to install UTX. I posted instructions when a user desires all three versions but the methodology is the same for a single version. Please read the instructions carefully
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NOTE: ALL FILES must be decompressed from their zip format before attempting to install 1.2(b) Patch: http://66.135.39.111/ultterrain/UtxUsaV12Patch.exe 1.3 Patch: http://66.135.39.111/ultterrain/UtxUsaV13.zip 1.31 Patch: http://66.135.39.111/ultterrain/UtxUsaV131Patch.exe NOTES: 1. After the base install of2. The 1.2 patch DOES NOT come with a automatic patching tool. You MUST OPEN the 3. All other patches past 1.2 for the 4. USA Patch 1.31 does NOT require any prep and can simply be run 5. Reboots are only required when the patch or install says you must reboot, or, when you complete an entire thats it for 1.1b Patch: http://66.135.39.111/ultterrain/UtxCanV11b.zip
1.1 Patch: http://66.135.39.111/ultterrain/UtxEurV11.zip 1.2 Patch: http://66.135.39.111/ultterrain/UtxEurV12.zip 1.3 Patch: http://66.135.39.111/ultterrain/UtxEurV13.zip Last Patch, Acceleration: The patches posted below ASSUME you have installed, updated and are using all 3 Patch1: http://66.135.39.111/Ultterrain/Patch/UtxUsaAccel.exe Patch2: http://66.135.39.111/Ultterrain/UtxEurAccel.exe Make sure to OPEN the USA/Canada and then EU config tool after installing the Accel patches open/then close. let it do its configurations.. then open the sim and close
Next Step... confirm installs and REPAIR issues. You will do this for EACH version to run its self diagnostic to ensure no duplicates of files are found. 1. Open a interface. 2. Once the interface runs through its initial checks, on the keyboard hit: CTRL -SHIFT - R (three finger salute) The tool will ask if you wish to run a cleanup, select YES. A message will appear at then end.. close Close the tool and open the next.. repeat for each version of UTX.
NOTE: A problem was found with UTX Europe and ROAD SURFACES in the USA and other areas covered by UTX after the install of the Europe product. After you have installed all versions of UTX the quick fix is to OPEN THE UTX USA TOOL and use the ULTITAME TERRAIN - CHANGE ROAD SURFACE COLOR menu feature to repair the problem for all versions of UTX automatically Simply make selections in this area and click OK
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You may wish to set it up differently
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Once all installs are complete, I open the USA Config tool and make the following changes: Menu: ULTIMATE TERRAIN – Change Road Surface colors Uncheck ALL the “add auto imprint options” Make the first 5 options CONCRETE Click OK NOTE: The above is done to correct a problem found when UTX Europe is installed with other UTX products.. after you have changed the items above in the USA tool you can select what ever road surface you like but DO IT IN THE USA TOOL, not the Europe tool!
If you wish to make changes to the default wave effects.. Open: Change FS9 style Wave Effects
You have 3 columns… I have noted them as 1-2-3 below NOTE: There is a bug in FSX whereby if a user changes the FS9 wave effect in UTX, then later selects NO WAVES frame rates can DROP and stutters can ensue.. The list I posted below sets SMALL WAVES for some areas that may not be best to display any wave effect to make sure this issue will not effect any area. If you do not make any changes to the wave effects after UTX is installed the issue will not present itself. If you do happen to make changes in the wave settings, do not set any of the wave options to NO WAVES.. set to SMALL WAVES instead as I listed below.
YOU CAN SKIP this section if you do not wish to make any changes and the performance issue will NOT effect you. However if you set any default 'NO WAVES" area to use waves, you can not turn those waves OFF without manually editing the FSX terrain.cfg file The UTX devs are working on a fix for this.
Going down the list from top to bottom, set the bullet in the following column 2 Click OK
Open: Change Lighting Effect Brightness. Set to 25% Click OK ADVANCED MENU MODIFY FLATTENING CAPABILITY – Bullet in Streams Set the following from top to bottom using the same method for each.. click on each of the 4 items. At the bottom of the tool make sure OFFSET is in the dropdown, make the following changes in the order they appear in the list clicking SAVE after each change: -3 Click DONE
Set the following from top to bottom using the same method for each.. click on each of the 37 items (skip the tracks). At the bottom of the tool you will see LINE WIDTH, make the following changes in the order they appear in the list clicking SAVE after each change: 16 Do not change the tracks, stop at the track options Click DONE
WHY DO THE ABOVE with road width? Please see this post.. you will understand why very quickly.. http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=26352&PID=180350#180350
NOTE: All changes with respect to lighting scale, waves, flattening and width are finished for ALL three versions. The ONLY items you need to address in each tool now are the FEATURE TREE dropdown items.
DISABLE Major Road Night Lighting. OPTIONAL: Leave Intersection lighting ENABLED. For highest performance disable both however the intersection lighting works well with GEX so if you have the hardware ability it is up to you which to leave enabled/disabled.
These are up to you. This is what I set with UTX In the OTHER TERRAIN FEATURES: DISABLE the following Highway Interchanges
RD4 Minor Urban Roads Close the USA setup tool. Open the Canada tool REPEAT the same settings made for USA above. Open the Europe Tool, REPEAT the same settings made for USA above EXCEPT under the ROAD SURFACE dropdown, DISABLE the following. (some may already be disabled) BR4 and BR5 Bridge objects for minor Urban and Rural roads
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I hope this information has been helpful
Good Luck!
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NickN
Certified Professional
Joined: 21 November 2007 Posts: 5242 |
Posted: 05 January 2009 at 4:05pm |
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I will edit and update this document as I get time and any new information may come along
1/5/09 ADDED: Weather Cloud Draw Distance FSX.cfg edit 1/5/09 ADDED: Information on memory upgrades 1/7/09 ADDED: Links to C++ Library Update 1/8/09 ADDED: Out of memory errors and how to tune Windows virtual address space 1/10/09 ADDED: Out of memory errors explanation of the edit VS physical memory 1/11/09 ADDED: Clarifications in Storage system solutions about the use of a card and motherboard SATA 1/13/09 ADDED: Bufferpool use and how to tell when and when not to use it by visual result (FSX.cfg) 1/14/09 ADDED: Better explaination and clarification about ATI card use in FSX (Nhancer section) 1/15/09 ADDED: Clarifications around autogen slider settings (Autogen section) 1/17/09 CHANGED: Item #2 in how to select memory.. expanded on the selection process for those who may not understand memory and clocking (Memory Upgrade Considerations Section) 1/26/09 ADDED: Driver Installs or upgrades REQUIRE Nhancer be set back up correctly. (Nhancer section) 1/28/09 ADDED: Out of Memory Errors: Can be visual graphic errors on the screen and not just a OOM Message with example thread (Out of Memory Error Section) 2/12/09 ADDED: Better explanation of why motherboard RAID hinders FSX performance (Storage Solution Section) 4/02/09 ADDED: BUFFERPOOLS for SOUND CRACKLE issues and smoother performance. (FSX.cfg section) 4/02/09 ADDED: AFFINITY MASK tweak Includes i7 and HYPERTHREAD (FSX.cfg section) 4/18/09 ADDED: Nhancer 2.5.1 updated for 182.xx drivers or higher (Nhancer section) 4/27/09 Added: UTX settings: How to get Perf vs Visuals (Last Entry) 5/07/09 MOVED: Nhancer visual instruction tutorial to this thread (nhancer section) 5/07/09 ADDED: Nhancer 2.4.5 required for drivers under 182.xxx, 2.5.1 for drivers 182.xx and higher and added NEW 2.5.1 settings information (nhancer section) 5/18/09 ADDED Link to Popping Cloud Issues (weather tab section) 5/27/09 ADDED Link to STORAGE PERFORMANCE consideration.. how to get the most out of what you have - Storage Performance section 6/4/09 ADDED Memory Speed/Timing list for user to find the best memory product and performance value - Memory Section 7/17/09 ADDED A higher that normal Texture Bandwidth Multiplier can be used with full Photoscenery packages (FSX.cfg Section) 8/25/09 ADDED A methodology for installing Windows, drivers and updates which ensures a correctly updated and prepared system is ready for stable, high performance use (SYSTEM OS/DRIVER INSTALL and TUNING section) 9/3/09 ADDED UTX, how to install it correctly and how to set it up for best results (UTX Section, end of post) 10/10/09 ADDED ATi 5870 Testing shows equal with some better performance results over the Nvidia 285 in FSX. The 5870 can be used for FSX (ATi Section) 11/26/09 ADDED Nhancer 2.5.7 settings images |
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