436: My PD3v4 Setting Up #02 – FSX Aircraft Migration

This post is originally the first aritcle in the “My P3Dv4 Setting Up” series.   However, since I do normally perform the configuration back up mentioned in the second article first, I therefore rename this post to #02 and the second post #1.   Publishing time adjusted as well to reflect the proper order.

As stated in the About FSX Times of this blog, my goal is to achieve a stable flight simulation system performance with a minimum 30 fps in average.   Luckily, I’ve been able to achieve that goal with some compromises.   But unluckily, that 30-something fps level also acts like a barrier that stops me from passing.

I am not sure yet whether the 64-bit P3Dv4 and my new hardware would help break this spell for good.   But the 120 to 210 fps initially gained from the new system without any tuning seems like a promising start.

As the hardware side of my new cockpit is still not ready, I’ll take it slowly to install addons and to finetune the system.

394: My Newest nVidia Settings

A friend who asked me what my nVidia 3D Settings were for P3D.   I told him that I simply used the default values coming with the driver in the last few years.

In response to his question, I re-examined and tested the impact of each value to my system last week.   Here’s the settings I am satisfied with:

340: My P3Dv3.2 Settings

Since somebody asks and it’s for my own personal record as well, followings are the settings of my Prepar3D settings for version 3.2 system.

Anyone interested to see the details of my Prepar3D.cfg could click on the Realism Image at the bottom.   All changes I made are highlighted in red.   And manually changed items are further bolded.

263: Nvidia 344.65 – A Positive One

Graphics driver is one of the components I habitually pay extra attention to since NEW doesn’t necessarily mean GOOD at the same time in this sector in particular.  After upgrading to P3Dv2.4, I’ve been using the 344.11 driver as it offers a noticeable improvement over older and even newer versions under the P3D platform.

Today, I just have it replaced by the newest 344.65 after testing the new driver for a few days.  Frankly, I might not see measurable improvement accordingly, but overall smoothness enhancement is observable.

There are people reporting that the new driver resolved the SLI compatibility issue.   Unfortunately, it is not the case in my setup.

BTW, during the earlier installation of the P3Dv2.4, I found most induced stutters turning out to be caused by the many additional Orbx addons rather than by the simulator itself.

Sadly, the world isn’t perfect.  Neither does the virtual world.

 

244: P3D v2.2 – System Settings Updated

Followings are updates to my earlier P3D system settings shown in Post 239.   Major changes are made to Scenery and Lighting, where the former improves Water Reflections and the latter enhances Shadows performance.

 

In addition,

241: P3D v2.2 Part 5 – Hardware

My 4770K CPU was stably overclocked to 4.6 GHz before I moved on to the current 3-monitor setup with dual GTX 780 in SLI connection.   Since the system crashed a few times due to overheated CPU problem while running P3D (that’s right, P3D, not FSX), I have no choice but to lower the clock speed to 4.2 GHz.

Obviously, even though P3D is said to have shifted many processing works to the GPU, it is still a CPU-intensive program.   With lowered clock speed, my system’s CPU temperature lingers around 55°C, and adds another 5 to 10 degrees in general while flying over high density areas.   No more crash has encountered since.

239: P3D v2.2 Part 4 – Settings

As known, the more complex and demanding the settings are, the more impacts will be on the simulator.  Followings are my current choices and preferences:

♦  Disable FXAA improves image sharpness
♦  Found very slight difference among 2, 4 and 8 Samples in MSAA
♦  Texture Filtering=8 gives the best balance
♦  Similarly, found no obvious difference in higer texture resolution

238: P3D v2.2 Part 3 – Prepar3D.cfg

The current performance of my P3D platform as shown in post 237 can’t be said flawless.   There are still occasional stutters especially while the plane is in steep turns.  And the range of crystal clear texture rendering is limited to a not so big area surrounding the aircraft.

Nevertheless, I am quite happy with what it so far achieved.  And in many ways, I think P3D v2.2 now has excelled FSX in my setup.   Followings talk about changes I made to the configuration file.

237: P3D v2.2 Part 2 – Video Preview

Regarding the autogen and texture problems reported in last post, the issues actually had been solved.   I was just splitting the story into 2 or 3 episodes to arouse sharings and suggestions, from which I might possible push the result further for the sweet spot.

Unexpectedly, I have some priorities to deal with in the next few weeks.   So I made the following movie clip as a Preview to Part 2 (or to be Part 2 itself).

It is also my first attempt to include video in FSX Times.  The clip was taken by iPhone over Vancouver with most autogens