The more the details, the faster the frames!?

Skybird · 06-04-09, 10:23 AM

This is a welcomed, but strange surprise.

I have FS9 installed. The system is a 3 GHz P-4 with XP and 2 GB, with an AGP-mainboard.

Until beginning this year, I was running a CRT monitor, a 19" 4:3. Graphics were done by an AGP board, a 7800GS with 256 MB.

I have plenty of addons for FS9. Back then I ran it at detail levels with their sliders in the upper third of the scales. I had frames which were okay, and operational at 1280x960.

I then had problems with the monitor, and the gfx-board broke down, too. I got a TFT 22" WS, and an AGP board 7950 with 512 MB. Meanwhile, I also did a new installation of the system, completely.

I was not sure what to expect, since the native resolution of the new screen is much higher than the one I used for FS9 before, on the other hand I have a better gfx-board now. But FS is known to be more CPU- than gfx-dependant, so... I started with settings already scaled down to their lower thirds, to be safe.

Frames were horrible.

I reduced gfx details even more, and viewing ranges, and replaced cloud and aircraft textures with DXT3-textures, did some tweaks and minor changes, trying to improve things. Frames became managable, but it was no real joy. I started to stray away from FS9.

These days I had another flight, at night, and since I noticed some ground lights of the scenery were blinking, I searched for the cause, and experimented with the settings again. I found the solution to be switching off some certain night scenery effects from an external pexture package, and the blinking was gone.

I also noticed some better frames, not much, but it got my attention.

To cut a long story short, I noticed that the frames became the better the higher I set the visual details, and the higher I set the distances for viewing range, cloud and ground details being painted.

I don't understand what is going on, but I like it, obviously. I now ran the sim at 1680x1050, with traffic and weather addons, complex airport sceneries and some of the most complex planes and cockpit modules on the market, with all settings and ranges even in the top quarter of the scales, and I have totally fluid frames, better than with the old gfx-board and monitor. Now, this maybe is because the gfx-board really makes such a difference (I did not expect the difference between a 256-7800GS and a 512-7960 to be so great). But when I start to decrease these settings, frames do not become better, but worse!

Does this make sense for anybody?

Needless to say, I'm in heaven, no matter the how and why.

06-04-09, 10:23 AM	#1
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,612 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	The more the details, the faster the frames!? This is a welcomed, but strange surprise. I have FS9 installed. The system is a 3 GHz P-4 with XP and 2 GB, with an AGP-mainboard. Until beginning this year, I was running a CRT monitor, a 19" 4:3. Graphics were done by an AGP board, a 7800GS with 256 MB. I have plenty of addons for FS9. Back then I ran it at detail levels with their sliders in the upper third of the scales. I had frames which were okay, and operational at 1280x960. I then had problems with the monitor, and the gfx-board broke down, too. I got a TFT 22" WS, and an AGP board 7950 with 512 MB. Meanwhile, I also did a new installation of the system, completely. I was not sure what to expect, since the native resolution of the new screen is much higher than the one I used for FS9 before, on the other hand I have a better gfx-board now. But FS is known to be more CPU- than gfx-dependant, so... I started with settings already scaled down to their lower thirds, to be safe. Frames were horrible. I reduced gfx details even more, and viewing ranges, and replaced cloud and aircraft textures with DXT3-textures, did some tweaks and minor changes, trying to improve things. Frames became managable, but it was no real joy. I started to stray away from FS9. These days I had another flight, at night, and since I noticed some ground lights of the scenery were blinking, I searched for the cause, and experimented with the settings again. I found the solution to be switching off some certain night scenery effects from an external pexture package, and the blinking was gone. I also noticed some better frames, not much, but it got my attention. To cut a long story short, I noticed that the frames became the better the higher I set the visual details, and the higher I set the distances for viewing range, cloud and ground details being painted. I don't understand what is going on, but I like it, obviously. I now ran the sim at 1680x1050, with traffic and weather addons, complex airport sceneries and some of the most complex planes and cockpit modules on the market, with all settings and ranges even in the top quarter of the scales, and I have totally fluid frames, better than with the old gfx-board and monitor. Now, this maybe is because the gfx-board really makes such a difference (I did not expect the difference between a 256-7800GS and a 512-7960 to be so great). But *when I start to decrease these settings, frames do not become better, but worse!* Does this make sense for anybody? Needless to say, I'm in heaven, no matter the how and why. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.