Automated Tweaking and Tuning tool for FSX

[Cruachan 705]

Hi *******,

If you want to get rid of the stutters while using UsePools=1 you need a faster card (and AT LEAST a 4.0 Ghz CPU)

I was afraid you would say that :(Isn't it funny; how long has this sim been out? There were no i7's, Q9's, nVidia GTXxxx's, ATI HDxxxxx's during those early days and the now humble nVidia 8800 GTS 640MB along with my AMD Athlon 64X2 6400+ were considered to be pretty good performers back then. UsePools=1 did not appear in fsx.cfg but was enabled by default with a buffer of 4MB. Now we know that the sim, at its inception and for a good while thereafter, just wasn't fit for purpose performance-wise and its survival became dependent on individuals like your good self and Nick Neadham who have shown a preparedness and generosity of spirit to invest considerable time and effort on behalf of the community to make FSX work for us all. For that we thank you :)

If you Don't want the stutters, probably your only choice is UsePools=0, if this proves being unstable then set LOD_RADIUS to 3.5, mesh res to 10m and autogen to normal/dense

Will do, and thank you once again.Regards,Mike

[Larry_R 0]

Wow Hey-Sus, this marvelous tool, expecially for someone like me with minimal understanding. A little feedback should it be of help: On first use using your 'conservative' settings, and using recommended Orbix PNW settings, general experience flying over Seattle went from jerky - almost impossible to smooth with frame rates 15 to 20. The only issue was delayed fill in various triangular areas, say every 10 seconds or so. Annoying. Next, just upgraded my ATI 4850 card to a 6850. The white flashing (if that's what it's called) was much reduced, and they filled almost instantly, but still present. Went through my new cfg file, comparing it with the old one, line by line. Found a dozen or so duplicate Display.device sections from the old video card.I assume these were non-functional, but I removed them out nonetheless.I also found a new entry, but it was repeated:Like this:SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=1693458432SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=1693458432 // this was the original entry, SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=1693458432 I removed the duplicate. Maybe more importantly, although RejectThreshold=131072 was added, there was no UsePools=1 entry, which if I read one of your posts correctly, is needed for the RejectThreshold to work. Added the usepools entry, and the delayed fill problem is almost gone. A *tremendous* improvment over what I started with. Only remaining puzzle with my new 6850 card is that changing the filter settings in FSX seems not to have any significant effect (with CCC set to 'let application decide'). I'll play around more trying just using the CCC settings and the filters in FSX turned off. But even as is, jaggies which had been quite noticable with the old card are much reduced.

[Perry333 7]

Hi *******, I tried what you said above and my computer does not like Usepools=0, alot of graphic spikes and the graphic problem I mentioned before also came back. So I tried using the formula you provided. using STALE_BUFFER_THRESHOLD as 60 because I could not find it in my cfg. any where. (22 FPS x RejectThreshold=131072) times (STALE_BUFFER_THRESHOLD defaults to 60 divided by 22 FPS) =78641088 . I changed it a little so it would divide by 32. I tried a flight with this from friday harbor to KSEA. Things were pretty good while I was in more rural areas but as I got closer to KSEA my computer started to struggle with some minor stuttering and frame rate dropping to 16 FPS. But as I started to land I got that graphic problem I told you about, which is all of my instruments get corrupted, lines and pixals flashing in them. Eventually the computer will crash and I have to reboot. So I am not sure if I did something wrong, but I was not having this happen as far as I can tell when I first ran your tweek and my Poolsize was 90000000, which you thought was to big. This graphic problem seems to only happen with my addon planes that are more complicated. Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks Perry.CPU Q9450 quad oc to 3.24 GB memoryGTS 250 1GB video cardVista home premium 64 bitNhancer[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250.0]Mode=1680x1050x16TriLinear=1HIGHMEMFIX=1ALLOW_SHADER_30=1TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024[bUFFERPOOLS]PoolSize=90000000RejectThreshold=131072UsePools=1TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=70TextureMaxLoad=9TransitionTime=4.000000UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=22AffinityMask=14[TERRAIN]AUTOGEN_DENSITY=3DETAIL_TEXTURE=1LOD_RADIUS=4.500000MESH_COMPLEXITY=100MESH_RESOLUTION=23SWAP_WAIT_TIMEOUT=2TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL=700TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL=600TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=29WATER_EFFECTS=5

Hi *******, I think you missed this post last time, hope you don't mined me reposting this. I still had a question from above and a update here. I got FPS_Limiter working and things are better, but I still having trouble with that graphic problem showing up. Especially with the Orbyx Lancair plane, graphics for the instrument get corrupted every time at some point and then crash of system. I did take same flight as above with Real air beech duke and no problems?? One more question I have FPS_Limiter set to 30, but my computer has a hard time getting there sometimes would it be better to set it to 20. Thanks Perry. P.S. I will be making donation thanks again for all your contributions.

[Vineguy 26]

*******. As per your request I have moved my reply here. My original config file would be history since you had me download several new config files a while back. As I fly, I can see my ground textures go from blurry in front of me and then fill out as I fly over them. I also have the same problem when flying at more than 1x speed. The textures do not load and the ground looks like a big blur. My UTX now has jagged highways and rivers also. Thanks. Bob G.

[bojote 20]

Hi *******, I think you missed this post last time, hope you don't mined me reposting this. I still had a question from above and a update here. I got FPS_Limiter working and things are better, but I still having trouble with that graphic problem showing up. Especially with the Orbyx Lancair plane, graphics for the instrument get corrupted every time at some point and then crash of system. I did take same flight as above with Real air beech duke and no problems?? One more question I have FPS_Limiter set to 30, but my computer has a hard time getting there sometimes would it be better to set it to 20. Thanks Perry. P.S. I will be making donation thanks again for all your contributions.

Perry, if the tweaks are making it crash, remove the tweaks! they WILL stress you computer CPU/GPU and it appears your computer is not 100% stable. I suggest you check NickN tweaks, ensure your PC *IS* stable before applying *ANY* tweak specially if you are overclocking.I would also start with a FRESH fsx.cfg file and test.

[Jim Padgett 11]

Anyone interested in a side by side compare of two FSX.CFG files? I have written one for myself but will post itif there is any interest. It allows you to select a 'Section and view the differences where a section is any partof the .cfg file with [ ] .

[whitav8 98]

All you DOS BAT file knowledgeable folks out there - any idea how to edit the BAT file for the fps_limiter so I can add an argument ("-dev") for use with ESP? I am helping some folks who use ESP and I wanted them to see if their performance can be improved with external frame rate limiting. I have tried using just quotes, but it still doesn't seem to pass the argument which is required so as to get standard UI access to all the FSX features from ESP. Also, @Jim P. - I think a side by side compare (similar to WinMerge) of cfg would be great - especially if it could handle files that had the [xxx] sections in different orders and even if the individual line elements were in different orders. (Asking too much??). I have taken to putting a lot of comments in the fsx.cfg file so as to call attention to the "tweaks" and the values that can be tried along with info about which direction to change them in for a specific effect.Thanks much!Dave

[bojote 20]

I can add an argument ("-dev") for use with ESP?

Not sure what you want to do, but I use this VB Script with the FPS_Limiter.exe file in the root FSX directory. you'll have to update the path to FSXSample fsx.vbs file:

Dim wShell, FSXPath, FSXExecSet wShell = CreateObject ("WSCript.shell")FSXPath = wShell.RegRead("HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator\10.0\AppPath")wShell.CurrentDirectory = FSXPathFSXExec = "FPS_Limiter.exe /r:D3D9 /f:30 /x:OFF /l:OFF " & """E:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\fsx.exe"""wShell.run FSXExecSet wShell = Nothing

[lykon 0]

Hi bojote. First of all i would like to say thaks because your automated tweaking tool for fsx has made my fsx running like a dream. Now i need your advise about two things i have. My hardware is :

• Cpu : IE7 930 overclocked to 3.80
• Mobo : Gigabyte EX58 UD5
• Memory : Three dimm's DDR 3 corsair dominator 2 gig's each 1600mz
• Hard disks : Two solid state X25 postvile one for OS one for FSX and a regular sata just for back up's
• GPU : Two gigabyte GTX480 in sli mode
• SOUND : A creative X-Fi Xtreme audio
• OS : Win 7 ultimate x64
• Matrox triple head to go which i use it with three displays for wide vie x

I have write down my specifications just for information. I have set up my desktop in native resolution of 3840 x 1024 at 60hz.My fsx i have set this up to 3840 x 1024 and i have lock the frames to 30 ( half of the refresh of the screen ).In my system i have only apply the automated tool for fsx after a format and a clean install of everithing and i didn't use the " Win XP64 and Windows7 optimization " of Nick from simforums beacause i really don't need it.My problem is when i use only the one gpu everything woks perfect a really smooth flight without any problems at all but when i install the second gpu and running the fsx in sli mode i get really bad stuttering.What do you think about it ? I am writing to you beacause in my opinion you are one of the people that they transform the fsx to really fly. I am not using the fps limiter because it is also creates stuttering and also i am not using the vSync FIX because i don't have any tearingat all. One sugestion. Can you also post a automated tool for fs9 or even for tile proxy? Thats all. Thanks in advance.

[FlyAndFight 37]

Another thing to take into consideration regarding the tuning tool is that the tool is not checking screen resolution. That can definitely be a factor particularly for the medium and/or lower end systems.I recently picked up a new 23in monitor and set FSX to 1920 x 1080 and the frame rates were definitely impacted. (previously running on 20in CRT at 1280x1024.)Just something to think about.

[TheFamilyMan 280]

I spent the last two weeks giving this "auto tweak" a try with my system. Overall there was barely any improvement, if any, over my nearly 'vanilla' cfg file (custom BP size, TBM value, HighMemFix) which the auto-tweak editor bled all over. I run with 100% density/autogen/terrain sliders and high cloud range/water settings was pretty happy with my performance, so it would have been pretty impressive if things could be better. (I use 35% traffic and no cars; the tweaks didn't give me any headroom there either.) My FSX motto is "eyecandy is life", such that a modest performace hit once is a while is worth the gorgeous view. But alas, no silver bullet for me, so I'm back to where I was and am still happy (and not motivated to further persue in depth tweaking). Thanks ******* for your hard work and for all that it has helped.

[Larry_R 0]

Anyone interested in a side by side compare of two FSX.CFG files? I have written one for myself but will post itif there is any interest. It allows you to select a 'Section and view the differences where a section is any partof the .cfg file with [ ] .

As a new guy, I think this is a great idea. I had fiddled with my .cfg file quite some time ago, but largely forgotten what I'd done and why. After the amazing increase in performace I got using Hey-sus's tweaking tool, I started wondering if there were things I had done that need reconsidering. So as a start, and with the caveat Hey-sus mentions regarding misapplying his personal .cfg file, I've made an excel spreadsheet with each [xxx] section in a separate column, with my current equivelent side by side, and then everything sorted a to z, and adusted so similar entries are on the same line. I'm finding that it really helps me see the bigger picture. For someone eager, I think there could be a lot of potential; a macro could be made to automatically sort a copy of a .cfg file into the proper place. Cell notes could be added for people like me who forget exactly what an entry does, and cells could be hyperlinked to specific entries in this forum where more detail is given. At least you would have a better idea of where you are. And thank you again Hey-sus!

[Tabs 2,790]

I think the best person to ask about this things is Ryan, I don't even use nVidia Inspector ;)I will however, make some tests trying to override the AA settings to see if it makes a difference. I'm away from home this week, so no way to test on my desktop.

For what it's worth I never see the problem with Transparency AA that ******* does - he was unable to replicate it with PMDG aircraft either. Seems to be specific to the LDS763 that he flies exclusively.

[Jim Padgett 11]

I posted a compare utilitiy on avsim :-)FSCONF.zip

As a new guy, I think this is a great idea. I had fiddled with my .cfg file quite some time ago, but largely forgotten what I'd done and why. After the amazing increase in performace I got using Hey-sus's tweaking tool, I started wondering if there were things I had done that need reconsidering. So as a start, and with the caveat Hey-sus mentions regarding misapplying his personal .cfg file, I've made an excel spreadsheet with each [xxx] section in a separate column, with my current equivelent side by side, and then everything sorted a to z, and adusted so similar entries are on the same line. I'm finding that it really helps me see the bigger picture. For someone eager, I think there could be a lot of potential; a macro could be made to automatically sort a copy of a .cfg file into the proper place. Cell notes could be added for people like me who forget exactly what an entry does, and cells could be hyperlinked to specific entries in this forum where more detail is given. At least you would have a better idea of where you are. And thank you again Hey-sus!

[FAR 0]

*******, many thanks for the Tweak :( But i do got one problem: My fps is jumping up and down when approching an Airport like Frankfurt. It goes from around 30 to 9! This makes FSX going really slow and begins to stutter real bad. Any idea?