FSX SP1:Performance work

FSX Service Pack 1 LIVE!!!!!! « SwitchFX

FSX Service Pack 1 LIVE!!!!!! « SwitchFX — Wed, 16 May 2007 05:30:44 GMT

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re: FSX SP1:Performance work

panos95 — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:54:07 GMT

Hey now I can't reactivate 'cos I have already installed it at 2 PCs!!

Why you did this???? I am furious!!

re: FSX SP1:Performance work

Bikedude — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:53:24 GMT

You mentioned that you do your own thread scheduling. Does this give you much of a boost compared to simply handing that task to the OS?

One of your previous comments also seem to indicate that FSX can struggle with a 2GB address space. How about a 64-bit version? ;) You also mentioned that DX has issues with the /3GB switch; But it should work nicely under 64-bit Windows, right? (which would grant FSX a 4GB address space in case the FSX executable has been tagged as large memory aware)

re: FSX SP1:Performance work

Phil Taylor — Thu, 17 May 2007 09:34:18 GMT

Bikedude:

we found that unless we explicity used SetThreadAffinityMask that the OS would move thread and generate extra collisions.

if we could get more address space, we would use it, we are just trying to do too much more than struggling. and all 32-bit processes have a 2g process address space. if there was D3D9 fix we would work with the /3G switch but it squeezes the kernel so much it can cause problems elsewhere. but without that fix on D3D9 we cannot go above 2G.

re: FSX SP1:Performance work

nikez2k4 — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:52:56 GMT

I just wanted to say THANK YOU!

You mentioned in your post that you expected a 20-40% performance increase with the 40% probably on higher end PCs. I am more of a web dev guy so I don't really understand technically what you have done to improve performance, but my god did it work?!

I was previously running FSX with everything on medium-high and it was running at a nice (for me!) 15-25 FPS. After the SP1 update I have noticed a 50-100% (thats not a type-o!!!!) increase in performance at the same settings! I am now running FSX at 30-50 FPS and it is amazing. Everything just seems so much smoother now.

I have also cranked everything up I can find in the settings panel and the game still runs at 5-10 FPS.....although it is playable I think I am willing to sacrifice a little quality in order to get a lovely 30 FPS.

Thank you again for this update it has really made a huge improvement to the game.

If you are interested I am running an Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 with 2GB RAM and a BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC. It's also a clean install of Windows Vista so I guess that will make a little difference - you know how much Windows can get bogged down!

Thanks again for your steller work guys!

James

re: FSX SP1:Performance work

panos95 — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:19:38 GMT

OK. Prob solved.

You guys have done an EXCEllent JOB!

Thanks a lot

re: FSX SP1:Performance work

JCM_GDL — Tue, 29 May 2007 05:58:24 GMT

Maybe this is the right place to post it:

Hi Phil!

I just installed SPI in my FSX installation and I am very glade with the increase of performance obtained. But I found something annoying in this update: In the RTM version, the mesh at medium and so far distance was rendered really nice (I am using a FsGenesis LOD 10, 38m mesh). Now, with the SP1, only the closer terrain (4 to 5 nautical miles from the point of view) is propelly render in all detail, but far than that distance the mesh becomes as the FSX default (maybe LOD 6 or so), with weird artifacts in the transition points. I tried to solve modifying the fsx.cfg file on the LOD_RADIUS setting to a higher value (9) but the gained performance with SP1 gone away and the scenery load time increase in three times. Maybe this is one of the tradeoffs of the SP1 in order to achieve more performance, but the lost of detailed terrain render is IMHO a big cost for obtaining a better performance. Im. using my own prepared photorealistic scenery created in FSX SDK

What can I do to arrive a balanced setting with good performance and a nice mesh rendering at medium distance (up to 50 nautical miles, as before SP1)?

Thanks in advance

re: FSX SP1:Performance work

Phil Taylor — Wed, 30 May 2007 08:40:46 GMT

JCM:

does the default mesh act the same way?

if not, thats a clue its something with FSGenesis.

there is nothing that stands out in my mind that could cause this from the SP1 work, btw.

re: FSX SP1:Performance work

JCM_GDL — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:52:19 GMT

Thanks Phil.

That's a good observation. I've running some tests with a 76m third party scenery and the mesh resolution seems to appear a little far than in the case of the FsGenesis. 38m mesh I use for Mexico area, and in the case of default scenery I test Phoenix area and it looks perfect and doesn’t seems to have this issue. Maybe SP1 has introduced something in its code that has some kind of compatibility with meshes developed with previous versions of SDK packages. I’m going to look for FsGenesis if they have addressed this issue up to now.

Thanks again.

re: FSX SP1:Performance work

c152flyboy — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:20:40 GMT

though this may seem obvious to some, i am confused one one thing. i have seen other postings where someone had mentioned changing the affinity setting on FSX to give it a boost in performance. didn't SP1 already take care of that, if not how did it change the way multi cores work, and should both things be done?