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Hi everyone!

I'm trying to analyze my system and figure out the best way to optimize performance in P3D. Currently I usually have 15-30 FPS in an airport environment and about twice as much mid air which I personally believe is a bit low for my system. I recently installed a brand new GTX 1080 card which to be honest didn't make that much of a difference performance wise (from a GTX 960). 

I'm not really an expert on how different applications uses the system so I figured I might just ask here instead. What I've been able to understand so far is that by looking in the performance monitor the CPU cores are mostly maxed out and the graphics card is at about 30%. My old graphics card was always at 90%-100%. RAM and hard drives are also working on low levels. 

My questions are basically:
1: Is the performance reasonable for my system or should it be better?
2: What can I do to improve performance other than lowering the settings dramatically?

My specs are: 
OS: Windows 10
CPU: i7-6700 3,40GHz
Graphics: GTX1080
RAM: 16GB
Display: Samsung 34" curved - 3440x1440
Hard Drives: 500GB for system and 750GB for games (Neither are SSDs). 

P3D settings:
FXAA: Off
AA: 4xMSAA
Texture filtering: 2x
Texture resolution: Medium 1024x1024
Game resolution: 3440x1440x32
Vsync: On
Tripple Buffering: On
Target frame rate: 35
Mipmap panels: Off

Detail level: High
Tesselation factor: High
Mesh resolution: 5m
Texture resolution: 1m
High resolution terrain: Off
Scenery complexity: Extremely dense
Autogen draw distance: High
Vegetation density: Dense
Building density: Very dense
Dynamic autogen vegetation: Off
Water detail: Medium
Bathymetry: Off
Reflections: User vehicle
Special effects detail: Medium
Special effects distance: Medium

HDR: On
Dynamic reflections: Off
Dynamic lighting: On
Landing lights illuminate ground: On
Lens flare: Off
Shadow quality: Medium
Shadow draw distance: Low
Casting and recieving: Internal vehicle only

Weather is controlled by Active sky with standard settings. 

Some of my addons:
Many airport addons
ORBX: 
FTX Global
FTX Europe
FTX Trees HD
FTX Vector (with only Highways and Primary roads activated)
EU England

REX w soft clouds

AS for P3D v4

 

Kind regards

Jesper 

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  • Aerosoft

The load on the GPU depends a lot on the add-on. Those that are compiled with the latest compilers (and thus not backwards compatible) can access a lot more of the hardware.

 

Basically there is not a lot you can do, your hardware is fine, great even. But you are using a large screen (got the same monitor, love it), pretty high settings and a lot of demanding add-ons. You are simply pushing a lot of pixels around. 

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Hello Jesper!

 

The boss is correct regarding the processing.

 

I've helped to set up and manage about 12 systems for P3DV4.3 (each one of the different) and I've helped probably 6 or 7 times that for P3DV4, and looking at your system I have a few recommendations for you.

 

So the main issue here is (as Mathijs said) the amount of data needed to be processed. With your processor you have enough processing power to run P3Dv4.3 so long as everything remains constant. What is likely giving you issues, particularly with an aircraft tied directly to your frame rates, is that you don't have much EXTRA processing power in reserve for those times when a lot of additional data needs to be processed (such as when you fly within 16nm to 18nm of a payware airport, or a lot of cloud textures, etc.), and that is likely dropping your frame rates to very low numbers even if you don't see that reflected in the P3D frame rate.

 

The other thing that can affect P3D (and addons) is pulling the data off the hard drive.  I talk to people about this all the time and most are usually surprised at how much disk access speeds affect their frame rates.

 

A special note here about Windows 10:  Microsoft sends out Windows 10 updates on Tuesdays, and trying to fly a commercial airliner in P3Dv4 when a Windows update is processing (eating up read/write cycles on your hard drive) is, well, challenging!

 

Given that both processing and disk access speeds are the main challenge to running FSX/P3D, and the amount of data is what drives both of these, our first step is to do whatever possible to reduce that amount of data.  Below are a few ideas on accomplishing that as well as tuning your system up a bit:

 

1. Reduce the size of any addons weather textures.

2. Turn off "extras" at payware airports.

3. Reduce airport and vehicle traffic in P3D.

4. Try setting the resolution on P3D to 1920x1080 to see if this helps.

5. Try running your P3D Frame Rates at unlimited.  If you absolutely have to manage frame rates, try using NVIDIA Inspector to accomplish this.  Note however that some people have reported problems trying this, but I haven't noticed any issues.

6. If you're running anything else while flying, try flying without the extra applications (all about the data, right?).

7. Change Mesh Res to 10. Note that installing some scenery will automatically change this (and other) settings, sometimes without notifying you of the change.

8. Scenery complexity: to Normal (Extremely dense is hammering your system)
9. Autogen draw distance: Normal (at HIGH this is really hammering your system)
10. Vegetation density: Normal (Dense is likely adding to the problem).
11.  Building density: Normal (Very dense is contributing to the problem).

12.  HDR is simply not needed, I have it off on all the system I help manage.

13.  If it's not already off, then turn Hyperthreading off in your BIOS.

 

 

I hope this helps you my friend, please let us know how you made out?

 

 

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26 minutes ago, DaveCT2003 said:

Hello Jesper!

 

The boss is correct regarding the processing.

 

I've helped to set up and manage about 12 systems for P3DV4.3 (each one of the different) and I've helped probably 6 or 7 times that for P3DV4, and looking at your system I have a few recommendations for you.

 

So the main issue here is (as Mathijs said) the amount of data needed to be processed. With your processor you have enough processing power to run P3Dv4.3 so long as everything remains constant. What is likely giving you issues, particularly with an aircraft tied directly to your frame rates, is that you don't have much EXTRA processing power in reserve for those times when a lot of additional data needs to be processed (such as when you fly within 16nm to 18nm of a payware airport, or a lot of cloud textures, etc.), and that is likely dropping your frame rates to very low numbers even if you don't see that reflected in the P3D frame rate.

 

The other thing that can affect P3D (and addons) is pulling the data off the hard drive.  I talk to people about this all the time and most are usually surprised at how much disk access speeds affect their frame rates.

 

A special note here about Windows 10:  Microsoft sends out Windows 10 updates on Tuesdays, and trying to fly a commercial airliner in P3Dv4 when a Windows update is processing (eating up read/write cycles on your hard drive) is, well, challenging!

 

Given that both processing and disk access speeds are the main challenge to running FSX/P3D, and the amount of data is what drives both of these, our first step is to do whatever possible to reduce that amount of data.  Below are a few ideas on accomplishing that as well as tuning your system up a bit:

 

1. Reduce the size of any addons weather textures.

2. Turn off "extras" at payware airports.

3. Reduce airport and vehicle traffic in P3D.

4. Try setting the resolution on P3D to 1920x1080 to see if this helps.

5. Try running your P3D Frame Rates at unlimited.  If you absolutely have to manage frame rates, try using NVIDIA Inspector to accomplish this.  Note however that some people have reported problems trying this, but I haven't noticed any issues.

6. If you're running anything else while flying, try flying without the extra applications (all about the data, right?).

7. Change Mesh Res to 10. Note that installing some scenery will automatically change this (and other) settings, sometimes without notifying you of the change.

8. Scenery complexity: to Normal (Extremely dense is hammering your system)
9. Autogen draw distance: Normal (at HIGH this is really hammering your system)
10. Vegetation density: Normal (Dense is likely adding to the problem).
11.  Building density: Normal (Very dense is contributing to the problem).

12.  HDR is simply not needed, I have it off on all the system I help manage.

13.  If it's not already off, then turn Hyperthreading off in your BIOS.

 

 

I hope this helps you my friend, please let us know how you made out?

 

 

Many thanks for this my friend! I will do some experimenting later tonight. In regards to the disk processing speed, would a SSD make much of a difference? Both my disks have quite a few years behind them so a new disk is the next planned upgrade for me. 

 

Kind regards

Jesper

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SSDs make all the difference, however even with the advancements in SDD technology, they are still have a limited number of read/write cycles and speaking for myself I build systems for the long haul.  That said, many people love them, and it's easy to see why!

 

Below is a great link if you're looking for increased hard drive performance without moving to an SDD.  My all around pick is the Seagate Firecuda Desktop

https://www.techradar.com/news/10-best-internal-desktop-and-laptop-hard-disk-drives-2016

 

Mathijs said he'd buy me two of them (as one has to have a clone to ensure flight simming is never interrupted by a down disk!  Mathijs... I'm still waiting!  LOL!!!!

 

Seriously, I'm going to order two of them today.

 

Best wishes.

 

 

 

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My first advice would be an SSD, that's absolutely essential. The speed difference between HDD and SSD is far bigger than the difference between GTX960 and GTX1080. HDDs are fine for storage of large volumes of data that are hardly being used and therefor don't require much speed (backups and such), but anything that demands even the slightest bit of speed (and P3D v4 does) is best run from an SSD.

 

Personally I got two SSDs in my system. One is my system drive and contains Windows and the rest of the software like Office and such, the other one contains P3D and my add-ons. Then I got a HDD for storage of data (installers, documents, music, movies, etc). I got to say that, except for the data drive, the system is bloody fast. Allright, I got to admit, one of my SSDs is a Kingston KC1000, one of the fastest SSDs out there. This does make a difference.

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I can assure you that the REX w Soft clouds ADDON uses many CPU/GPU resources, and if your configuration uses high or denser resources use.

For me the 16GB installed RAM is short, for the installed addons that I read you have, and the GPU I imagine you will have the 8GB or more.

And as you've been told I recommend SSD

By a casual, in the Prepar3D. CFG you will have the entry, AffinityMask to a correct value

 

http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv4/prepar3d/getting_help/advanced_configuration.html

 

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17 minutes ago, Miguel_V said:

By a casual, in the Prepar3D. CFG you will have the entry, AffinityMask to a correct value

 

Which for 90% of people running airliners on P3Dv4 and running at least a 4th generation CPU, AffinityMask should not be used.

 

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3 hours ago, DaveCT2003 said:

 

Which for 90% of people running airliners on P3Dv4 and running at least a 4th generation CPU, AffinityMask should not be used.

  

My CPU is already very old, is a i5 4690K, so I have to put the value AffinityMask = 14

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3 hours ago, Miguel_V said:

My CPU is already very old, is a i5 4690K, so I have to put the value AffinityMask = 14

 

I'm running an i7-4770K (purchased about 2 months after the Haswell was released) and I would never, not ever, NOT EVER think of using AF unless I had a very important and very specific reason to do so.  Think of it this way, by using an AF setting, you are overriding they way that Windows and your processor believes it's best - and with 4th generation and later processor, that's rarely a good idea.  The only reason to us AF in such a situation would be because of OTHER, heavy hitting software you need to run in concert with FSX/P3D.

 

Anyway, that's the opinion of a computer hardware engineer (me) and all the extremely experienced flight simmers I know and work with.

 

For the systems I'm called in to groom, one of the first things I check and alter is Affinity Mask and I've never had anyone complain that it wasn't being used on their system.  If you're using it, then I'd recommend trying it without using it.  The very worst thing you'll likely experience is a lower processor heat signature.

 

Best wishes my friend.

 

 

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On ‎9‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 1:58 AM, DaveCT2003 said:

 

I'm running an i7-4770K (purchased about 2 months after the Haswell was released) and I would never, not ever, NOT EVER think of using AF unless I had a very important and very specific reason to do so.  Think of it this way, by using an AF setting, you are overriding they way that Windows and your processor believes it's best - and with 4th generation and later processor, that's rarely a good idea.  The only reason to us AF in such a situation would be because of OTHER, heavy hitting software you need to run in concert with FSX/P3D.

 

Anyway, that's the opinion of a computer hardware engineer (me) and all the extremely experienced flight simmers I know and work with.

 

For the systems I'm called in to groom, one of the first things I check and alter is Affinity Mask and I've never had anyone complain that it wasn't being used on their system.  If you're using it, then I'd recommend trying it without using it.  The very worst thing you'll likely experience is a lower processor heat signature.

 

Best wishes my friend. 

 

 

Thanks, I'll prove it.

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On ‎9‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 1:58 AM, DaveCT2003 said:

 

I'm running an i7-4770K (purchased about 2 months after the Haswell was released) and I would never, not ever, NOT EVER think of using AF unless I had a very important and very specific reason to do so.  Think of it this way, by using an AF setting, you are overriding they way that Windows and your processor believes it's best - and with 4th generation and later processor, that's rarely a good idea.  The only reason to us AF in such a situation would be because of OTHER, heavy hitting software you need to run in concert with FSX/P3D.

 

Anyway, that's the opinion of a computer hardware engineer (me) and all the extremely experienced flight simmers I know and work with.

 

For the systems I'm called in to groom, one of the first things I check and alter is Affinity Mask and I've never had anyone complain that it wasn't being used on their system.  If you're using it, then I'd recommend trying it without using it.  The very worst thing you'll likely experience is a lower processor heat signature.

 

Best wishes my friend.

 

 

I created another Prepar3D. CFG by default and then adjusting the options in Prepar3D graphics etc..... without applying the tweaks of Prepar3D that I put in the link days ago, and I found that the simulator works in dense scenarios ' finer '

 

 

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1 hour ago, Miguel_V said:

I created another Prepar3D. CFG by default and then adjusting the options in Prepar3D graphics etc..... without applying the tweaks of Prepar3D that I put in the link days ago, and I found that the simulator works in dense scenarios ' finer '

 

 

 

Absolutely!  Good call on that one!

 

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On 9/19/2018 at 10:16 AM, Jespersson said:

Many thanks for this my friend! I will do some experimenting later tonight. In regards to the disk processing speed, would a SSD make much of a difference? Both my disks have quite a few years behind them so a new disk is the next planned upgrade for me. 

 

Kind regards

Jesper

 

Your autogen settings are pretty high -- I mean, they are higher than what I normally run, and I have an 8700K overclocked to 5.0 ghz, along with a 1080ti and 32GB mem.

 

Now, if I am flying in a rural area, I might tick up the autogen.  But if I'm landing the Aerosoft Airbus Pro into Mega Airport Heathrow, with heavy weather and AI traffic -- I run Normal on the autogen sliders.  Anything more cuts into my frames when I need them most.  I run a 60 mhz refresh monitor and with P3Dv4.3 I run the in-sim framelock at 31 fps.  Your lock of 35 seems high, and it is not half your refresh rate (unless your screen refreshes at 70 mhz), which I've found seems to help with smoothness, at least on my setup.

 

Running unlimited with vsync was the ticket in P3D 4.1 and 4.2 on my rig, but now -- 4.3 doesn't like that on my machine.  I get smoother results with the in-sim lock.  You should test these things with your setup, because there are so many variations configging PC's for our sim.

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I've done all the changes that Dave brought up and it has dramatically improved performance to around 30-70 fps depending on scenery, aircraft etc... I'm really happy with the result and all the advice given in this thread. Thank you all! 

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1 hour ago, Jespersson said:

I've done all the changes that Dave brought up and it has dramatically improved performance to around 30-70 fps depending on scenery, aircraft etc... I'm really happy with the result and all the advice given in this thread. Thank you all! 

 

Very nice, and thanks for the kind words!  Sounds like you're going to have a terrific flight sim weekend my friend!

 

Okay, here is something that if you don't have it, you'll LOVE.  Just for you guys in this thread (lol)!!!  And it's free!!!.

 

Make Thunderstorms Great Again

 

 

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