FSX SP1: The blog posts

Phil Taylor — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:52:00 GMT

We have collected the set of blog posts I created on release of SP1, and turned them into an article on FSInsider, here http://www.fsinsider.com/tips/Pages/SP1HowtoPrepareforSP1andWhatYouGetWhenYouInstallIt.aspx, that makes for a little easier reading.

SP1 Tips

Phil Taylor — Thu, 24 May 2007 01:33:00 GMT

Here are some general suggestions and a few tips I have gleaned from the forums.

General Performance

The goal of SP1 was:

· to increase performance 20-40%

· to enable FSX to take advantage of multi-core machines

· fix some other bugs

There was not a goal to make FSX playable with all sliders to maximum. Those settings likely aren’t going to be possible in all cases with current hw.

Ok, so what is possible? That is dependent on your specific config and your specific flying profile.

A technique to determine what is possible is as follows:

· Decide on a minimum frame rate, like 20.

· Lock FPS to that rate.

· Start with all sliders left, and slowly turn them up until you find a setting that makes you dip below your rate.

· Then back off and you are at the level of what your machine can handle.

In general, even with SP1, it’s still true that at max settings FSX throws more at the CPU and GPU than the hw can handle. As I said last November, that is the way we designed FSX. SP1 helps some yes. And the Penryn 45-nm processors this fall will give us another boost. The DX10 update might help a bit, as will 2^nd generation DX10 cards. So more help is on the way. But, just as with FS9, in the 1^st year expecting to run on max settings is still going to be problematic.

I would also suggest saving a couple of different settings, one for dense urban, one for mixed coastal urban, one for mostly flat rural, and one for mountainous rural. That lets you have settings that bias towards what is most important in what region instead of a "one size fits all approach".

Specific Issues

I can’t claim to have a suggestion for all the specific problems I have seen so far, but here are a couple of good ones for specific issues. Note - I can only claim that multiple users state these work, I haven’t tried all of them myself:

Crashes in atiumdag.dll on ATI?

Reports indicate that disabling Catalyst AI fixes this.

Stutters on nVidia

dg on avsim reports indicate the following procedure greatly helps:

1. Update DirectX to the April 2007 release. The link is below.

April 2007 DirectX Link
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&DisplayLang=en

2. Install updated drivers ( nVidia recently released the 158.22 nVidia Forceware drivers ) and we hear that a release in 2-3 weeks will fix the texture locking issue that the glass panel tweak addresses.

3. Delete your fsx.cfg and let FSX generate a new one.

Blurries

Gary Summons reports that adding

[DISPLAY.Device.xxx.0]
MipBias=6

To your fsx.cfg file reduces or eliminates the blurries especially with photo-scenery

Note: xxx is whatever your fsx.cfg shows for your graphics config.

Edit1:

I have seen people try values of 4-7 with varying success as well.

Edit2:

Thanks to weeniemcween on avsim.com, if this tweak induces shimmer in the trees, there are 2 things to try:

1) nhancer nvidia control panel, turn supersampling on ( ati must have an equivalent, I just dont know it )

2) if the 4x4 overdraw from 1 is killing your perf, try setting "Negative LOD BIAS" to "Clamp" rather than "Allow"

FSX Progress Update - SP1 and DX10

Phil Taylor — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:52:00 GMT

Its time for another update on FSX Progress. This is largely similar to what I posted on Avsim.com.

SP1

We are working thru the set of tasks we identified for SP1, are getting closer to closure and a final test pass, and should have more to say as far as details in the next couple of weeks.

The only things I can say is:
a)we are not toning down the experience and
b)we are aiming at a targetted set of perf and content fixes.

DX10

In terms of DX10, we have continued to make progress albeit slow. So DX10 will be after SP1. How far after SP1 remains to be seen, but its not a matter of weeks after since we still have serious feature work to do. Once SP1 ships and we get fully into DX10 development and a sense of velocity then I can start to talk to DX10 timeframes. One thing I will commit to doing soon after SP1 ships is walking the community thru the FSX "magic screenies" for DX10 and explaing what features Aces sees in those. If anyone saw the FSX presentation at the nVidia 8800 launch, I did just that so repeating it here is a good thing. Its just a matter of time, as in when I find the time :-).

Fair enough?

PTaylor's WebLog : fsx sp1

FSX SP1: The blog posts

SP1 Tips

FSX Progress Update - SP1 and DX10