351 replies to this topic

[Mango]

Dear fellow pilots, here we want to collect all known Microsoft Flight Simulator X tweaks, tips and issues to improve our simulator experience.

This page will be updated frequently and you are very welcome helping us to extend this list.

The FSX.cfg file is located in \Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX\ and you can open it with Notepad. It's always a good idea to backup files before altering. BTW - don't forget to save the changes you made before closing Notepad.

Please remember - you make all changes on your own risk !





FSX.cfg Tweaks :


Autogen tweak that might help
Many of you have been frustrated that you can't control the density of autogen trees verses buildings because we only have one slider to cover both of them. Some have also been frustrated that our lowest autogen setting is more dense than FS2004 at max density.

If you add these two lines to the [TERRAIN] section of your FSX.CFG, you can define the max number of objects in a terrain cell for trees and buildings independently. The slider will scale down from the numbers you set as the slider is moved to the left. The max tree value in FSX as released is coded to default to 4500 and the building default is 3000 (as shown below) and the absolute max FSX will recognize at all is 6000. Of course if you raise the values beyond the defaults, you will obviously be increasing density and lowering fps (so don't complain if you do this...). The point in sharing this information is that with these settings you can specify what the values are yourself. I had to edit this post because of a bug. Be sure not to set either number to 0 as that will cause problems, but setting it to a very lower number will give you nearly 0 objects.

TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL=4500

TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL=3000


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For faster texture loading you might be able to change the TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT to a higher value. For example:

[DISPLAY]
TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=400


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You might add :

[Main]
FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.33

This variable determines the amount of CPU time given to loading scenery data as a fraction of the time spent rendering. For example, the default value of 0.33 means that for every 3 milliseconds spent rendering, FS will give 1 millisecond to the scenery loader. If necessary, you can use a larger value to devote more time to loading. Or, if you don't have a problem with the blurries and you want slightly higher frame rates, then you can use a smaller value.


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To turn off the red warning text messages, change these lines in FSX.cfg and change True to False

InfoBrakesEnable=False
InfoParkingBrakesEnable=False
InfoPauseEnable=False
InfoSlewEnable=False
InfoStallEnable=False
InfoOverspeedEnable=False


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Add the following Section to the FSX.CFG file

[BufferPools]
PoolSize=5000000

According to Brian at Aces this may help if you are getting stutters/pops during turns or when you pan your view around. The default is 1000000. Increasing it to 5000000 or 10000000 trades off some of your video memory against having to re-allocate these things all the time.

Attention ! On some systems this tweak can cause FPS drops and disoriented graphics. If you get in trouble, disable this entry.


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File Updates :


Matt Fox altered the AutogenDescriptions.spb, Materials.spb and RoofDescription.sbp files :

Quote

First backup AutogenDescriptions.spb located in your FSX\Autogen folder. Then unzip the file attached to this post in it's place.

What this does is dumb down your autogen trees so there are a lot fewer types of trees displayed. This is an extreme version meant as a proof of concept that basically sets one tree for each different tree category, whereas FSX default may have 10 or 20 different trees for each category. If it helps, I'm sure someone with more free time than me could come up with several different customized versions, each with a different level of complexity. It's pretty easy to adjust with the SDK.

I don't think this affects the total number of trees displayed. Just the number of different types and variations.

Quote

Just for kicks I tried same thing with autogen roofs. Replacing Materials.spb and RoofDescription.sbp with the ones in attached zip will decrease the variety of roofs that show on autogen buildings....I think.

You can find his complete Topic and downloads  here !. Thanks Matt !  


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Mike Kelly altered the autogen tree and the cloud textures :

Quote

Please try the attached autogen tree textures. They improved framerates for me but your mileage may vary - post your results here.

The textures have been reduced from the originals and the DXT1 format and alpha channels have been preserved. The dimensions have been reduced by 50%. This results in a reduction in total size of the textures from 10.7MB to 3.9MB. All seasons are included.

Found   here !. Thanks Mike !


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Useful Links :


FSInsider.com

FSX - FAQ

Microsoft Support


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Tips & Tricks :


How do you get an image of your add-on aircraft to appear with the others on the aircraft selection screen?


Changing the default FSX zoom level


To display your average framerates replace in the FSX.cfg 'LockedFrameRate=1,2' with 'AverageFrameRate=1,2'. Those with 'LockedFrameRate=2,2' can change to 'AverageFrameRate=2,2'.


The maximum, default ground texture resolution for FSX is 1 meter, the maximum default mesh resolution is 38 meter (LOD 10). To set  the values higher may cause performance loss due usage of more recourses and interpolation. The higher detailed settings are provided for future developments. Further you will barely notice a difference (if any) when you reduce the mesh complexity to 60 - 70 %.


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Always happy landings !  

Edited by Brad, 16 October 2008 - 10:33 PM.

[mollindz]

Hey Mango,

Thanks for sharing all this information.  One of the best things about flight simulation is the co-operative spirit of the community.

Rob

[cyvr]

Can someone upload DXT1 autogen textures?

[CAT19_Hitman]

Mango, on Oct 12 2006, 10:13 PM, said:

Mike Kelly altered the autogen tree and the cloud textures :

Quote

Please try the attached autogen tree textures. They improved framerates for me but your mileage may vary - post your results here.

The textures have been reduced from the originals and the DXT1 format and alpha channels have been preserved. The dimensions have been reduced by 50%. This results in a reduction in total size of the textures from 10.7MB to 3.9MB. All seasons are included.

Found   here !. Thanks Mike !


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This one works really well!!

Added about 10FPS to an airport where I was only getting about 6FPS before installing the fix! Thanks for posting it Mango and thanks to Mike for developing it!

Edited by CAT19_Hitman, 13 October 2006 - 06:11 AM.

[thesurfer]

Thanks for keeping the hints together Mango . Although for me it isnt to succesfull. Tree/building thing is helping me a little though.
I'll check hitmans file next .

One thing thats make a difference with me, is turning off anti-aliasing, and deal with that seperated in my video card panel. So i locked anisotropic on 2x and interference at 2x.

If i don't do it that way fsx isnt running at all at some places.

Edited by thesurfer, 13 October 2006 - 06:19 AM.

[gtirsmiley]

what settings should b using in the SETTINGS under FSX with all these tweaks?

[Flying_Scotsman]

gtirsmiley, on Oct 13 2006, 06:54 AM, said:

what settings should b using in the SETTINGS under FSX with all these tweaks?

None, you change the numbers in the .cfg file.

You are changing these numbers because there are no settings/sliders in the game to alter these variables.

[Andydigital]

Actually in the first post in the thread it says the Autogen sliders do scale down whatever setting you have set in your config file. I just leave my "Scenery Complexity" on "Dense", and "Autogen Density" on sparse.

[Mango]

Well, those trees give me a bigger impact than the houses. I like to see many houses, but reduced the trees to 800. With Autogen at maximum it still looks awesome and i gained frames.

[Chris]

Hmmmm... I've tried all these tweaks but still I get horrible performance.
I've dumbed down my setting past medium and still I get bad performance at kboi.

[Chaos81]

Thanks in advance for the thread Mango. Can't wait for the 17th to try it out. Although, it's going to be tough, as I'll also be playing BF2142. Ahhh....choices, choices.

[kewlceo]

Thanks for doing this and sharing the results, Heiko.

[RoniisH]

Awesome stuff Mango!

[gtirsmiley]

Mango, on Oct 13 2006, 10:13 AM, said:

Well, those trees give me a bigger impact than the houses. I like to see many houses, but reduced the trees to 800. With Autogen at maximum it still looks awesome and i gained frames.

Can you tell me what your scenary settings are and such? like this:



And all the other settings u changed under "customize"

[Granulf]

I really need help tweaking. I tried everything you listed, Mango, but I still get horrible blurred textures! I thought they fixed this problem? I've tried just about all settings, and I'm lost now... ###### after more than 3 years they couldn't fix something that basic??? God, I'm pissed now... Just spent my money on it...

[Katahu]

Granulf, on Oct 13 2006, 05:58 PM, said:

I really need help tweaking. I tried everything you listed, Mango, but I still get horrible blurred textures! I thought they fixed this problem? I've tried just about all settings, and I'm lost now... ###### after more than 3 years they couldn't fix something that basic??? God, I'm pissed now... Just spent my money on it...

Spending $70 on FSX is nothing compared to Microsoft spending millions to try to produce it for you.

As for the blurries, what are EXACTLY your system specs?

[Chris]

Mango, I think you should add this link to your thread.

[link broken]

I used all these tweaks and now my FSX runs and looks like a dream.

[Mango]

chris627, on Oct 14 2006, 11:36 AM, said:

Mango, I think you should add this link to your thread.

[link broken]

I used all these tweaks and now my FSX runs and looks like a dream.

Thanks Chris ! I added the site under 'Useful Links'.  

[Granulf]

Katahu, on Oct 14 2006, 02:37 AM, said:

Spending $70 on FSX is nothing compared to Microsoft spending millions to try to produce it for you.

As for the blurries, what are EXACTLY your system specs?

It's a lot more than 70$ in Norway.

x2 3800+, normally overclocked to 2.8ghz(but stock now)
2gb ram
7800gtx 512mb(which barely seem to be stressed at all)

Btw, I'm playing at 1680x1050

Edited by Granulf, 14 October 2006 - 05:22 AM.

[Mango]

Granulf, on Oct 14 2006, 05:21 PM, said:

Katahu, on Oct 14 2006, 02:37 AM, said:

Spending $70 on FSX is nothing compared to Microsoft spending millions to try to produce it for you.

As for the blurries, what are EXACTLY your system specs?

It's a lot more than 70$ in Norway.

x2 3800+, normally overclocked to 2.8ghz(but stock now)
2gb ram
7800gtx 512mb(which barely seem to be stressed at all)

Btw, I'm playing at 1680x1050

How mach and which RAM do you have installed ?