Datarefs & Win 10 tweaks, more frames, boosts for X-Plane 11

[harryorlsen]

For all pilots a collection for more joy and smoothness in XP.

Coming over to WIN10 it was time for tweaking. Next to hardware overclocking, we can also tweak our operating system for more frames.

X-Plane settings: Switch to Windows mode and use Borderless-Gaming[github.com]

Who knows more tweaks and useful dataref boosts?

- Gamemode on + DVR off
https://www.x-plane.com/kb/frame-rate-issues-windows-10/

- Superfetch off

- System restore off
https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/122559-stutter-every-20-secs-or-so/&do=findComment&comment=1180500

- Threaded optimization off

- Power Management max performance GPU

- Real time virus protection off or try your AV gaming mode or pull the plug

- Win 10 power performance @max

- Hardware acceleration @ high performance

- Screen resolution: Lower your GPU usage through lowering your resolution. Experiment with your resolution for better achievements.

- You might try Process Lasso (I had no improvements with my i5):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2pcl2pj5gc


Windows 10 Service Configurations:

http://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/black-vipers-windows-10-service-configurations/


Bios mode UEFI - Partition style GPT :

Who still runs the operating system old school @MBR, I have moved over to UEFI with some improvements:

Who does not know which bios mode is running: Press "Win+r" and type "msinfo32".

New loading times (RWD Spitfire):
1:09 min (1:20 old @MBR) SSD - default scenery
2:29 min (2:35) SSD - same scenery customized
3:12 min (4:23 MBR&GPT) SSD&HDD (both now @GPT) - heavy mixed custom scenery

0:36 min SSD@GPT - light default scenery Kent, ICAO KGGF (Used aircraft: RWD Spitfire)

How to convert a MBR disk to GPT and avoid a fresh OS installation:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-convert-mbr-disk-gpt-move-bios-uefi-windows-10

The conversion seems only possible with one partition. I had to delete one partion for the operation.

In case you have problems:
"Open Disk Management and try to shrink C drive about 2GB and leave it unallocated, if failed then that means your C drive is fragmented. Defrag the disk and shrink again. Once done, try MBR2GPT." ( https://www.tenforums.com/drivers-hardware/109535-need-help-mbr2gpt.html )



Dataref boosts:

Just to complete the posibilities to trim XP: More fine "tuning" is possible with DataRefs and scripts or manual over the DataRefEditor.

Pick out what you need:

--Draw Aurora Borealis. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_aurora", 0)

--Draw aircraft carriers and frigates. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_boats", 0)

--Draw birds and deer in nice weather. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_deer_birds", 0)

--Draw fires and baloons. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_fire_ball", 1)

--Road traffic density. 0 (off) to 5 (very dense)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_cars_05", 0)

--Road Density. 0 (None) to 3 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_vecs_03", 1)

--Distance at which road traffic is visible. Default is 20000 meters. Recommend 7500.
set("sim/private/controls/cars/lod_min", 2400.00)

--Distance at which static plans are visible. Default is 9260 meters. Recommend 3000.
set("sim/private/controls/park/static_plane_build_dis", 2370.00)

--Runways follow terrain contours. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/sloped_runways", 0)

--Atmospheric scattering. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_scattering", 1)

--Draw volumetric fog. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_volume_fog01", 1)

--Default 1 - 0 gives more frames. minus: bad gfx + unwelcome artefacts
set("sim/private/controls/caps/use_multilayer_fog", 0)

--set the fog density
set("sim/private/controls/fog/fog_be_gone", 0.5)

--Draw per pixel lighting. 0 (off) or 1 (on). Change both of the settings below to be the same.
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_per_pix_liting", 1)

--3D Object Density. 0 (None) to 6 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_objs_06", 2)

--Runway and taxiway line smoothness and 3D runway/taxiway lighting. 0 (Low) to 3 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_detail_apt_03", 1)

--Forest density. 0 (Low) to 5 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_for_05", 1)

--Forest inner ring density. 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
set("sim/private/controls/forest/inn_ring_density", 1.00)

--Forest mid ring density. 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
set("sim/private/controls/forest/mid_ring_density", 0.25)

--Forest outer ring density. 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
set("sim/private/controls/forest/out_ring_density", 1.00)

--Fade start rate. 0.75 (low setting) to 0.6 (high setting)
set("sim/private/controls/terrain/fade_start_rat", 0.41)

--Tile LOD bias. 0.72 (low setting) to 1.0 (high setting)
set("sim/private/controls/ag/tile_lod_bias", 0.72)

--Composite far distance bias. 0.72 (low setting) to 1.0 (high setting)
set("sim/private/controls/terrain/composite_far_dist_bias", 0.72)

--Compress textures to save VRAM. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/comp_texes", 1)

--Use bump map textures. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/use_bump_maps", 0.00)

--Use detail (aka gritty) textures or decals. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/use_detail_textures", 0)

--Static plane density. 1 (low) to 6 (high). Note this does not affect static planes manually placed by scenery designer, just the ones that automatically appear and start areas.
set("sim/private/controls/park/static_plane_density", 1)

--Cascading Shadow Maps Exterior Quality (Higher numbers reduce jagged edges of shadows). Known valid values are 1 or 2 for XP11. XP10 used values of 0-5.
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/csm_split_exterior", 0)

--Shadow fade distance. XP11 uses values ranging from 500 to 1500. XP10 used values ranging from 500 to 6000.
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/csm/far_limit", 0.00)

--Shadow texture size. Lower quality has jagged edges. 2048 (low quality), 4096 (medium quality), 8192 (high quality)
set("sim/private/controls/fbo/shadow_cam_size", 2048.00)

--The following values adjust the maximum distance ground scenery is visible. Default is 10000. Larger values seem to have no affect, but you might try lower values if you have a low end system.
set("sim/private/controls/skyc/max_dsf_vis_ever", 100000)

Manual adjustment for the scenery draw distance, a little script - add desired keys in your settings.:

require("graphics")

DataRef("Max_dsf_vis_akt", "sim/private/controls/skyc/max_dsf_vis_ever", "writable")

create_command("FlyWithLua/Max_dsf/DSF_up", "DSF up", "Max_dsf_vis_akt = Max_dsf_vis_akt +5000", "", "")

create_command("FlyWithLua/Max_dsf/DSF_down", "DSF down", "Max_dsf_vis_akt = Max_dsf_vis_akt -5000", "", "")


--The following values adjust fading of ground textures in the distance. Default is 0.90 in XP10 (0.75 in XP 11). Higher values have no effect. But you might try lower values (0.10 for example) if you want the ground scenery to fade to brown more gradually in the distance.
set("sim/private/controls/skyc/dsf_fade_ratio", 0.75)

-- Draw waves
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_fft_water", 0)

-- The following enables reflective water. Default is 1.00 (on)
set( "sim/private/controls/caps/use_reflective_water", 1.00)

--Water reflection detail. 0 (None) to 5 (Complete)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_reflect_water05", 0)

-- Cockpit near Proxy
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/cockpit_near_proxy", 1)

-- Cockpit near adjust
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/cockpit_near_adjust", 1.00, true)

-- Controls how much cloud puffs are depicted (lower numbers produce more cloud puffs).
set("sim/private/controls/clouds/overdraw_control", 0.1)

-- Increase clouds radius
set("sim/private/controls/clouds/plot_radius", 2.2)

-- Draw distance (replace X.XX with a number). Turn up to 3 or 4 or higher for a closer cutoff point, or 0.5 or lower to turn your PC into an oven that you could cook your dinner in.
set("sim/private/controls/reno/LOD_bias_rat", X.XX)

--Ambient Occlusion. 0 (off) or 1 (on) | On= GPU heavy
set("sim/private/controls/ssao/enable", 0)

--HDR. 0 (off) or 1 (on) | On= GPU heavy
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_HDR", 1)

XP Knowledge Base:

https://www.x-plane.com/kb/


Finding your hardware balance

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/915800878328168695/472A6DC4DD3F3393BBE2DF97AED4CF0E1E8BE54C/

Activate your Frame Rate Data Output and monitor your CPU and GPU timing. The numbers show you the rendering times. The timers are variable and a higher time reveals you the "struggling" hardware. To reach frames above 30 frames per second (fps) the timers should stay under 0.0330. Lower timer values bring you the best performance. The right balance out of your settings, your hardware, your installed custom sceneries, aircrafts, even clouds & plugins is the key for your smooth flying & happiness with a working X-plane version. The hardware balance is achieved when CPU and GPU timer have simiiar values.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/915800878328170916/FE9A94254631A99BED12D308678EB5EDDFE73806/

An example: CPU timer 0.0195 and the GPU timer 0.0240.

It takes 0.0240 sec to your GPU to render a frame, so it can produce (1/0.0240) 41.6 fps. The CPU is faster and takes 0.0195 sec to render a frame, so it can produce (1/0.0195) 51.3 fps. The difference means that your CPU is waiting for your GPU during execution, making you loose about 10 frames per second. By experimenting with your settings (you can move some up or down slowly and test), your system will be somewhat balanced once both speeds are closer to each other and therefore maximize the possible framerate. (Example explained by KarL).

Mostly we choose beauty - eye candy - over balance and smoothness.



Once more: Who knows more tweaks and useful dataref boosts?


So long happy flying pilots!

Harry :)


https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/150274-win-10-tweaks-more-frames-boosts-for-xp/


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=897182305

[🐉 Ðŗąçø 🐉]

Ah, no wonder X-Plane lags around EDDF. I have, with no exaggeration, about 25,000 trees being rendered at once, which is stupid, funny and looks great. Add in the objects dataref is on 06, the draw distance dataref is on 1.5 (very high), and road density is on 10 and more ridiculous dataref settings, and I think that explains why I'm not getting very good frame rates around Frankfurt...! Looks like I'm going to need to do another day of fine-tuning X-Plane.

In other words, it's definitely worth fiddling around with some of those datarefs to increase performance.

set("sim/private/controls/reno/LOD_bias_rat", X.XX) is the draw distance LOD dataref (replace X.XX with a number). Turn up to 3 or 4 or higher for a closer cutoff point, or 0.5 or lower to turn your PC into an oven that you could cook your dinner in.

[harryorlsen]

Nice one more and yep, worth it to invest a bit of time.

Thx harry876:

--Water reflection detail. 0 (None) to 5 (Complete)
set( "sim/private/controls/reno/draw_reflect_water05", 0.00)

--Ambient Occlusion. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set( "sim/private/controls/ssao/enable", 0.00)

--Shadow fade distance. XP11 uses values ranging from 500 to 1500. XP10 used values ranging from 500 to 6000.
set( "sim/private/controls/shadow/csm/far_limit", 800.00)

--The following enables reflective water. Default is 1.00 (on)
set( "sim/private/controls/caps/use_reflective_water", 1.00)

[harryorlsen]

PS: Topic system restore @org-forum:

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/122559-stutter-every-20-secs-or-so/&do=findComment&comment=1180500

[harryorlsen]

An alternative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=278&v=M5ygXe9fWR4

[Phase3]

HarryO
No mention of the new Windows Graphics settings - it can prioritise XP?
GSync Monitors
Process Lasso which sets the affinity mask to whatever priority that you want. I run Core 0 Windows OS, Cores 1, 2, 3 for XP.
.M2 SSD and PCIe & SATA SSD versions
Intel Optane memory
Black Viper - a wee bit outdated
Most AV programs have a gaming mode which makes sure they don't interfere with the game, but still protect your PC.

The hardware changes especially the SSD's make many of your "tweaks" not necessary. Your disk management tips are a wee bit outdated when using a SSD of any kind.

[harryorlsen]

Sorry Phase.

We are a community, so thats why I was asking above: "Who knows more tweaks and useful dataref boosts?" I cannot know everything.

"New Windows Graphics settings?"

What do you mean? I have no g-sync screen and I am using here Win 10 Pro: Version 10.0.17134 

This?

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/916926408777632531/BCC726F79F66378A8FBA270A6AE44E48E08F7C53/

Mentioned: Hardware acceleration @ high performance

"Process Lasso"

I have tried Lasso with my i5 and see here no benefits.

Guessing I am not the only one who is so well informed and with "no bundled infos" about this topic I have started this collection.

You are welcome to add proper words to improve our all performance.

[harryorlsen]

Datarefs updated:

--Draw Aurora Borealis. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_aurora", 0)

--Draw aircraft carriers and frigates. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_boats", 0)

--Draw birds and deer in nice weather. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_deer_birds", 0)

--Draw fires and baloons. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_fire_ball", 1)

--Road traffic density. 0 (off) to 5 (very dense)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_cars_05", 0)

--Road Density. 0 (None) to 3 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_vecs_03", 1)

--Distance at which road traffic is visible. Default is 20000 meters. Recommend 7500.
set("sim/private/controls/cars/lod_min", 2400.00)

--Distance at which static plans are visible. Default is 9260 meters. Recommend 3000.
set("sim/private/controls/park/static_plane_build_dis", 2370.00)

--Runways follow terrain contours. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/sloped_runways", 0)

--Atmospheric scattering. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_scattering", 1)

--Draw volumetric fog. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_volume_fog01", 1)

--Default 1 - 0 gives more frames. minus: bad gfx + unwelcome artefacts
set("sim/private/controls/caps/use_multilayer_fog", 0)

--set the fog density
set("sim/private/controls/fog/fog_be_gone", 0.5)

--Draw per pixel lighting. 0 (off) or 1 (on). Change both of the settings below to be the same.
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_per_pix_liting", 1)

--3D Object Density. 0 (None) to 6 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_objs_06", 2)

--Runway and taxiway line smoothness and 3D runway/taxiway lighting. 0 (Low) to 3 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_detail_apt_03", 1)

--Forest density. 0 (Low) to 5 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_for_05", 1)

--Forest inner ring density. 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
set("sim/private/controls/forest/inn_ring_density", 1.00)

--Forest mid ring density. 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
set("sim/private/controls/forest/mid_ring_density", 0.25)

--Forest outer ring density. 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
set("sim/private/controls/forest/out_ring_density", 1.00)

--Fade start rate. 0.75 (low setting) to 0.6 (high setting)
set("sim/private/controls/terrain/fade_start_rat", 0.41)

--Tile LOD bias. 0.72 (low setting) to 1.0 (high setting)
set("sim/private/controls/ag/tile_lod_bias", 0.72)

--Composite far distance bias. 0.72 (low setting) to 1.0 (high setting)
set("sim/private/controls/terrain/composite_far_dist_bias", 0.72)

--Compress textures to save VRAM. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/comp_texes", 1)

--Use bump map textures. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/use_bump_maps", 0.00)

--Use detail (aka gritty) textures or decals. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/use_detail_textures", 0)

--Static plane density. 1 (low) to 6 (high). Note this does not affect static planes manually placed by scenery designer, just the ones that automatically appear and start areas.
set("sim/private/controls/park/static_plane_density", 1)

--Cascading Shadow Maps Exterior Quality (Higher numbers reduce jagged edges of shadows). Known valid values are 1 or 2 for XP11. XP10 used values of 0-5.
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/csm_split_exterior", 0)

--Shadow fade distance. XP11 uses values ranging from 500 to 1500. XP10 used values ranging from 500 to 6000.
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/csm/far_limit", 0.00)

--Shadow texture size. Lower quality has jagged edges. 2048 (low quality), 4096 (medium quality), 8192 (high quality)
set("sim/private/controls/fbo/shadow_cam_size", 2048.00)

--The following values adjust the maximum distance ground scenery is visible. Default is 10000. Larger values seem to have no affect, but you might try lower values if you have a low end system.
set("sim/private/controls/skyc/max_dsf_vis_ever", 10000)

--The following values adjust fading of ground textures in the distance. Default is 0.90 in XP10 (0.75 in XP 11). Higher values have no effect. But you might try lower values (0.10 for example) if you want the ground scenery to fade to brown more gradually in the distance.
set("sim/private/controls/skyc/dsf_fade_ratio", 0.75)

-- Draw waves
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_fft_water", 0)

-- The following enables reflective water. Default is 1.00 (on)
set( "sim/private/controls/caps/use_reflective_water", 1.00)

--Water reflection detail. 0 (None) to 5 (Complete)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_reflect_water05", 0)

-- Cockpit near Proxy
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/cockpit_near_proxy", 1)

-- Cockpit near adjust
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/cockpit_near_adjust", 1.00, true)

-- Controls how much cloud puffs are depicted (lower numbers produce more cloud puffs).
set("sim/private/controls/clouds/overdraw_control", 0.1)

-- Increase clouds radius
set("sim/private/controls/clouds/plot_radius", 2.2)

-- Draw distance (replace X.XX with a number). Turn up to 3 or 4 or higher for a closer cutoff point, or 0.5 or lower to turn your PC into an oven that you could cook your dinner in.
set("sim/private/controls/reno/LOD_bias_rat", X.XX)

--Ambient Occlusion. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/ssao/enable", 1)

--HDR. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_HDR", 1)


Who knows more for improvements?

[Kosmozuikis]

Originally posted by John W:

I know, they've made changes to windows 10 so I am giving game mode a try again. It definitely makes things worse for FSX SE. I'll have to try it on XP11 and other games. I also get the feeling that it realy only works if you are using full screen mode. I play my flight simulators in windowed mode. We shall see.

It doesn't work at all. And there are no tweaks(which doesn't downgrade anything) to make it run better except for better optmization or better hardware.
This whole thread is so 1998 when people were using "software" found on the internet to speed up and clean their PC's. Maybe some still using it now
Turn off windows defender, turn of threaded optimization and you're set to go, no need to do anything else.

[harryorlsen]

Helpful words Kosmo. C´mon, start again your crusade with your attitude versus XP, but do it not in this fred.

[harryorlsen]

Finding your hardware balance

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/915800878328168695/472A6DC4DD3F3393BBE2DF97AED4CF0E1E8BE54C/

Activate your Frame Rate Data Output and monitor your CPU and GPU timing. The numbers show you the rendering times. The timers are variable and a higher time reveals you the "struggling" hardware. To reach frames above 30 frames per second (fps) the timers should stay under 0.0330. Lower timer values bring you the best performance. The right balance out of your settings, your hardware, your installed custom sceneries, aircrafts, even clouds & plugins is the key for your smooth flying & happiness with a working X-plane version. The hardware balance is achieved when CPU and GPU timer have simiiar values.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/915800878328170916/FE9A94254631A99BED12D308678EB5EDDFE73806/

An example: CPU timer 0.0195 and the GPU timer 0.0240.

It takes 0.0240 sec to your GPU to render a frame, so it can produce (1/0.0240) 41.6 fps. The CPU is faster and takes 0.0195 sec to render a frame, so it can produce (1/0.0195) 51.3 fps. The difference means that your CPU is waiting for your GPU during execution, making you loose about 10 frames per second. By experimenting with your settings (you can move some up or down slowly and test), your system will be somewhat balanced once both speeds are closer to each other and therefore maximize the possible framerate. (Example explained by KarL).

Mostly we choose beauty - eye candy - over balance and smoothness.

[harryorlsen]

I do not use this plugin. You could try to delete the "problem" lines in 3jFPS-wizard11.lua.

My choppiness fix: V-sync 1/2 Refresh Rate controlled via Nvidia Profile Inspector (60Hz screen).

[harryorlsen]

KJFK in the night made me looking again through my tweaking with 20fps over NY + Extended Night Lighting and there is one thing I have to add to this list. I have never before experienced it to work, but there is always a first time: Windows mode with Borderless-Gaming[github.com]. Bit smoother with no drops under 26 in my test run. ;)

EDIT: This has worked for my struggling gpu.

[harryorlsen]

Dolomiti 3d made me this. Manual adjustment for the scenery draw distance, a little script - add desired keys in your settings.:

require("graphics")

DataRef("Max_dsf_vis_akt", "sim/private/controls/skyc/max_dsf_vis_ever", "writable")

create_command("FlyWithLua/Max_dsf/DSF_up", "DSF up", "Max_dsf_vis_akt = Max_dsf_vis_akt +5000", "", "")

create_command("FlyWithLua/Max_dsf/DSF_down", "DSF down", "Max_dsf_vis_akt = Max_dsf_vis_akt -5000", "", "")