103: fsx.CFG – SmallPartRejectRadius

Small objects with 1 pixel in size far in distance are normally hidden by FSX, until the aircraft is approaching close enough.   By expanding small objects with larger pixels to this hidden group could bring noticeable performance improvement.

SmallPartRejectRadius allows the specifying of pixel size of small objects to be included to the list.

This function does not appear in fsx.CFG by default.   To use the function,

102: Safely Switching Between Orbx Regions

Many months ago, I encountered errors a number of times when switching between Orbx’s NA and AU regions with FTX Central utility.    Since then, I started using the following approach:

Whenever switching from NA region to AU region or vice versa, I will switch to Default FSX region first as an intermediate step.

101: FSDiscover FTX AU POIs

Compared to NA regions, Orbx’s Australia doesn’t have much POIs to include, probably due to its early release dates.   Anyway, based on the FTX AU Landmarks post, three FSDiscover data files covering the whole country are compiled.   They are:

100: FSDiscover FTX NA POIs + 100th Post Note

FSDiscover by Flight1 is a navigation tool addon for FSX, which is very useful in locating airports and sightseeing spots for flightsimmers.

Orbx’s NA BLUE Pacific North West (PNW) comes with an FSDiscover data file for the region’s Points of Interest (don’t remember if it was created by Orbx officially or by some members from its forum).    However, the file contains airports information in the region as well, which causes unnecessary duplications when FSDiscover is showing airport names.

Moreover,

99: Figuring Out Your FlightSim Experience

FSX Loglook, written by Jean-Christophe Arnulfo, is quite a useful tool in displaying accumulated figures about one’s flightsimming experience.

It extracts following information: 

98: fsx.CFG – Shift-Z Parameters

Someone just asked if there is any way to change the font size and color of the Shift-Z text.   Unfortunately, there isn’t any as far as I know, although some people reported that the paid version of FSUIPC might be able to change the color of the text.   But still, font size seems to be hardcoded and can’t be changed.

Anyway, this reminds me that in addition to the AverageFrameRate previously discussed when Shift-Z is pressed, there are a few more parameters that can be applied to the Shift-Z display as well:

97: Double TPM Programmable Switches

Saitek’s TPM Control Unit comes with 9 programmable toggle switches.    However, FSX’s SETTINGS only recognizes their downward actions during BUTTONS/KEYS assignments.    In other words, only 50% of TPM’s programmability are used.

To fully utilize the TPM:

96: Standardize Panel Key Assignment

Many third-party aircrafts have their own set of keys assigned to different panels.

For example on default aircrafts, pressing SHIFT-3 will invoke the GPS panel.   But this key-combo is not necessarily able to call up the GPS panel on Carenado and Aerosoft aircrafts.

If one has assigned an external button, say button 3 on a Saitek FIP, for the GPS panel, the difference between the default and third-party aircraft panel key assignment therefore will be quite annoying when aircrafts are changed.

To standardize panel key assignments across different aircrafts:

95: fsx.CFG – Fiber Frame Fraction

Performance of FSX is greatly affected by the amount of time CPU spending between foreground operation and background data scenery loading.  The lower the framerate is set, the more CPU time is devoted to loading scenery and texture.

FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION is a direct command that helps tune the amount of time per frame that CPU runs fiber jobs.