tuning FFTF under DX10 and ORBX scenery?

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flyinion

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Hi guys, looking for a little advice on what kind of number to start with for tuning FFTF. I just got a new PC up and running with a 4790K and GTX780 and I'm doing pretty well, but I hope I can squeeze a bit more fps out in the KSEA area. Using the ORBX PNW addon I get down to 29-30fps (when testing unlocked and no 1/2 refresh rate) and down to mid-20's with the PMDG NGX. I'm not getting blurred ground textures though like I was on my old i7-860 and double the fps with the NGX with higher scenery settings so definitely happy there. I'm just not sure where to start at for tweaking FFTF. I never was able to use it in my old system since I was already getting blurred textures without changing from the default.

I have read in the DX10 guide the suggested example of .11 with the suggested range of .12-.22 and not going below .1. However I've also read on some other sites that going below .2 with ORBX regions is a recipe for blurries (and I'm using their Global products in the rest of the FSX world). I guess I'm wondering should I start with something like the .2 and see where I'm at, or go more aggressive to .15 for example?

My CPU runs at 4.4Ghz via speedstep and turbo modes when FSX is running (verified not just going off specs on the cpu) and I'm pretty sure it will easily overclock to 4.6 based on the temps I'm getting at 4.4. I know that will get me a few more fps and/or maybe some better performance at lower FFTF numbers. Just trying to figure out where to jump in at.
 
ncooper said:
Though your post appears to be rhetorical,
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Definitely wasn't my intent. I'm seriously wondering where to start. I guess it might sound like I should start at that .2 since I'm running ORBX scenery but the places suggesting that were talking about that number for over a year now and CPU's have changed since then so I didn't know if the numbers might have as well. That was also on DX9 tuning.
 
Well, I think I just got my answer. Looks like I need to either leave it at default or clock my CPU higher. Or just live with it right through the KSEA to KPAE corridor when I fly there. I get slight blurring that pops in pretty quickly when it's right under the plane. This is most noticeable in the stretch right between KSEA and KBFI just after takeoff. Even in the default A321 I'm hitting 28-35fps and get that slight blurring when low and fast (200kts). I guess at least my new system is still an improvement since I'm not getting progressively worse blurring as the flight goes on.
 
Before I got too fixated on FFTF I'd want to do much more with the system itself. If you're confident the system will clock up to 4.6 stable you should take it there first. Also consider investing time optimizing Windows itself... Nick's Bible is a pretty good place to start for that chore. I'd concentrate on getting the hardware/OS running at peak proficiency and then go after getting the best out of the sim.

For point of reference, I run FFTF at .12.

Good luck, and you've got a sweet system for this sim.

Greg
 
lownslo said:
Before I got too fixated on FFTF I'd want to do much more with the system itself. If you're confident the system will clock up to 4.6 stable you should take it there first. Also consider investing time optimizing Windows itself... Nick's Bible is a pretty good place to start for that chore. I'd concentrate on getting the hardware/OS running at peak proficiency and then go after getting the best out of the sim.

For point of reference, I run FFTF at .12.

Good luck, and you've got a sweet system for this sim.

Greg
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Thanks. I think I've figured out I just have to go with more conservative settings and expect the fps/performance hit over big cities like KSEA in the full ORBX regions. I'm also getting similar performance in the KLAX area with just their Global and Global Vector products. As best I can tell, except for the occasional odd tile that takes a little time to pop in fully clear, I'm doing good at .22 FFTF right now. I did follow Nick's Bible as a guide although I had to adapt it to me deciding to run Win8.1 in the end (went 8.1, then back to 7, and back to 8.1 in the end after rebuilding my system). For instance I used O&O Defrag to moved FSX and a few other games to the front of the partition using Zones and then name defragged that zone. Essentially it produces the result Nick was after, without having to name defrag the other 400GB of stuff on that partition that doesn't need it lol.

I'm definitely planning on doing some overclocking now that things are up and running. I felt I needed to get a good baseline of where the system was at first though so I can track the gains from overclocking. I took a step back this morning while thinking about my tweaking experiences last night (worked on it for about 4-5 hours) and seeing very little gains in the big cities and realized yes I may have to run unlocked to maintain 30fps about 98% of the time (occasionally it will drop to say 25 depending on the view direction), but once I get away from there the performance difference is massive compared to my old system (and I was forgetting that).

Using ORBX PNW as an example again, testing in the A321 I was at probably 12-14K feet and right along side KPAE about 35 miles north of Seattle and was able to lock at 30fps, and LOD 6.5 and not have any blurring or other performance issues. I guess I got so focused on trying to improve the dense big city spots that I forgot to realize the majority of the sim areas are great.
 
lownslo said:
For point of reference, I run FFTF at .12.
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Forgot to ask, are you using ORBX sceneries? If so which ones are you able to run with .12? I definitely can't do that even with just their Global and Global vector products in a dense area like KLAX.
 
flyinion said:
Using ORBX PNW as an example again, testing in the A321 I was at probably 12-14K feet and right along side KPAE about 35 miles north of Seattle and was able to lock at 30fps, and LOD 6.5 and not have any blurring or other performance issues.
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I usually don't fly the tubes, so my test was with the CRJ. 12K along the east side of KSEA on up past KPAE at 200 KIAS in a cloudless sky. I also lock at 30 fps with a LOD of 6.5, and I saw no blurring.

I have all the ORBX NA regions but none of their Global products. I use FS Genesis 10M mesh.

Greg
 
lownslo said:
I usually don't fly the tubes, so my test was with the CRJ. 12K along the east side of KSEA on up past KPAE at 200 KIAS in a cloudless sky. I also lock at 30 fps with a LOD of 6.5, and I saw no blurring.

I have all the ORBX NA regions but none of their Global products. I use FS Genesis 10M mesh.

Greg
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Thanks. I might experiment again with lower numbers. It wasn't really blurring like what I used to get on my old system, more like a tile would just randomly take longer to fully load.
 
Adamski_NZ said:
There's a lot of confusing/conflicting advice out there about FFTF. For a definitive answer, I'd look at Phil Taylor's blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ptaylor/archive/2007/05/11/tweak-of-the-week.aspx

Also - I always understood that it should take values of multiples of 0.11 so 0.70 (for example) would be wrong - and should be either 0.66 or 0.77.

That said, I must admit this particular tweak is black magic to me.

Adam.
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Yeah I've seen that info as well. Since FFTF tweaks showed up in the guide though I thought maybe there had been some benefit found for DX10 though so I was trying it out. I think the only setting I'm still stuck on what to use now is affinity mask. I tried some of the various settings like the 84 I used to use on my old system and the 254 and 255 suggested in the guide. 255 seemed to give me less fps. I didn't seem to notice a difference with none vs. 254. 84 seemed ok but the guide's info about DX10 possibly making use of HT "cores" makes me want to avoid 84 (and I think I had a few fps less with it).
 
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