Flightengine.ini

[xclusiv8 35]

Ive been searching in the KB after some explinations but without any success.

 

Can someone plz explaine to me what all the entries in the flightengine.ini do

 

For example:

 

The MaxTextureRes values uses to be: 128, 256, 512 and -1 on the unlimited. I set them all to 0 and i dont se a difference ingame but i gained around 10fps.

 

Edit: I tried raising all of em to 1024 instead and it gave the same results. FPS boost. I find that weird since the lower stock settings give me much lower fps.

 

 

[GraphicsSettings]

ZBufferDepth=24

MaxVertexCount=16384

MaxIndexCount=32768

MaxTextureCount=8192

MaxModelType=2048

MaxMeshPerScene=4096

MaxModelPerScene=4096

MaxLightPerScene=256

AspectRatio=1.333333

MinPixelSize=0.0

 

[FarSceneClip]

FarClipDistance=80000.0

NearClipDistance=3000.0

 

[NormalSceneClip]

FarClipDistance=25000.0

NearClipDistance=249.9

 

[NearSceneClip]

FarClipDistance=250.0

NearClipDistance=1.2

 

[LowDetailOption]

HorizonDistance=45000.0

DetailMeshSize=3

DetailLevel=0

WaterEffect=0

NoiseTexture=0

MaxTextureRes=0

 

[MedDetailOption]

HorizonDistance=50000.0

DetailMeshSize=4

DetailLevel=0

WaterEffect=1

NoiseTexture=0

MaxTextureRes=0

 

[HighDetailOption]

HorizonDistance=60000.0

DetailMeshSize=5

DetailLevel=1

WaterEffect=2

NoiseTexture=1

MaxTextureRes=0

 

[unlimitedDetailOption]

HorizonDistance=75000.0

DetailMeshSize=6

DetailLevel=1

WaterEffect=2

NoiseTexture=1

MaxTextureRes=0

 

Thank you

Edited November 18, 2009 by xclusiv8

[stingray77 4]

And WHERE do you find the flightengine?

[xclusiv8 35]

And WHERE do you find the flightengine?

 

You have to use the cat extractor and extract the file called Flightdata in C:\Program files\ThirdWire\Strike Fighters 2\Flight\

Then when modified you put it in the Flight folder in your mod folder.

[stingray77 4]

Ah - okay; I already figured it would be somewhere in there... Thanks.

[+daddyairplanes 9,902]

xclusiv8 how much FPS boost? with advance shaders and d3dx9_31.dll in my flight folder i get avg 12-15 graphics and 30-45 game. always on the lookout for more.

[xclusiv8 35]

xclusiv8 how much FPS boost? with advance shaders and d3dx9_31.dll in my flight folder i get avg 12-15 graphics and 30-45 game. always on the lookout for more.

 

On the most heavy missions i used to get around 18 fps on the runway. Now on the same mission i get 28fps. That was the graphics fps. The game fps are now on 60 while on the runway.

 

What bothers me is that i do not understand what causes this and why. Of course its something with the maxtextureres value but why i get the same results on 0 and 1024 i do not know. Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain this to me.

Edited November 18, 2009 by xclusiv8

[+hgbn 91]

what settings do you normaly play in?? Low, Medium, High or Unlimmited?? Normaly the max TextureRes change any bitmaps automatic to the current number entered in those settings.

[xclusiv8 35]

what settings do you normaly play in?? Low, Medium, High or Unlimmited?? Normaly the max TextureRes change any bitmaps automatic to the current number entered in those settings.

 

I dont play on any particular setting. I have it set to customized. I run some things on unlimited and most others on high except water wich is on medium.

 

The stock setting for unlimited is set to -1, what does that mean? I assume that on high the 512 means the textures are set to a maximum of 512px resolution. But how come i get higher fps if i set it to 1024?

[Fubar512 1,350]

I dont play on any particular setting. I have it set to customized. I run some things on unlimited and most others on high except water wich is on medium.

 

The stock setting for unlimited is set to -1, what does that mean? I assume that on high the 512 means the textures are set to a maximum of 512px resolution. But how come i get higher fps if i set it to 1024?

 

Because you've limited the maximum resolution size of textures (bitmaps) to 1024 bytes....this is old news, this tweak's been around since 2003 (Courtesy of VF-2 John Banks), or back when the average graphics card maxed out at 128 or 248 mb of texture memory. Today, with cards sporting 1024 - 2048 mb of memory, it's almost a non-issue.

 

BTW, a value of "=-1" represents an unlimited texture size value, as stated.

 

Here's the original post by VF-2 john Banks...note the date

 

Just thumbled around with the extractor, to look for a file where i can manualy set the detail settings for various parts of the game. In the flightengine.ini (in the flightdata.cat) i have found something interesting!

Under the section for:

[HighDetailOption]

HorizonDistance=75000.0

DetailMeshSize=6

DetailLevel=1

WaterEffect=1

NoiseTexture=1

MaxTextureRes=0 (you will read -1 here)

 

The last line is the texture resolution aka mipmap LOD setting in the graphic card control panel or any tweak tool. The thing i wondered about is that the stock setting there is -1. That means that the game uses it's own mipmap setting rather than the one i set in RivaTuner. I have set the mipmap LOD to 0, cause a negative value will automaticly decreae the fps rate quite a bit.

 

I had to find that out the hard way in IL2! Even -0,5 is too tought. Whe nyou know fly with the max detail settings in SF, you will automaticly forced to fly with a mipmap detail of -1. That's a heavy load on the CPU cause the standard setting is always 0! On the ground i had around 25fps, now i have 38 with the mipmap distance to 0 and Vsync on. That's how i also fly in IL2 and every other game. You can set the mipmap distance in OpenGL but not under D3D, so you need a tweaker. Always wondered, why the fps is so low in the cockpit, now i know why. I would have the same fps rates in IL2 if i'd fly around with a mipmap distance of -1.

 

It only affects the highest detail settings cause for the lower detail, there are numbers around 265 which is pretty low.

Set it to 0 and you can turn on the cockpit mirrors while the game stays smooth and you can use the highest detail in the game!

 

It runs so much smoother now. Don't know why TK decided to use -1 cause there really is almost no viewable difference in the terrain quality.

Hope i could help some of you who had notoriously low fps rates. You can even try a positive value like 0,5 which wouldn't look much different either. So there is no need to drop the detail.

 

[This message has been edited by VF-2 John Banks (edited 01-23-2003).

Edited November 18, 2009 by Fubar512

[xclusiv8 35]

Because you've limited the maximum resolution size of textures (bitmaps) to 1024 bytes....this is old news, this tweak's been around since 2003 (Courtesy of VF-2 John Banks), or back when the average graphics card maxed out at 128 or 248 mb of texture memory. Today, with cards sporting 1024 - 2048 mb of memory, it's almost a non-issue.

 

BTW, a value of "=-1" represents an unlimited texture size value, as stated.

 

Here's the original post by VF-2 john Banks...note the date

 

Just thumbled around with the extractor, to look for a file where i can manualy set the detail settings for various parts of the game. In the flightengine.ini (in the flightdata.cat) i have found something interesting!

Under the section for:

[HighDetailOption]

HorizonDistance=75000.0

DetailMeshSize=6

DetailLevel=1

WaterEffect=1

NoiseTexture=1

MaxTextureRes=0 (you will read -1 here)

 

The last line is the texture resolution aka mipmap LOD setting in the graphic card control panel or any tweak tool. The thing i wondered about is that the stock setting there is -1. That means that the game uses it's own mipmap setting rather than the one i set in RivaTuner. I have set the mipmap LOD to 0, cause a negative value will automaticly decreae the fps rate quite a bit.

 

I had to find that out the hard way in IL2! Even -0,5 is too tought. Whe nyou know fly with the max detail settings in SF, you will automaticly forced to fly with a mipmap detail of -1. That's a heavy load on the CPU cause the standard setting is always 0! On the ground i had around 25fps, now i have 38 with the mipmap distance to 0 and Vsync on. That's how i also fly in IL2 and every other game. You can set the mipmap distance in OpenGL but not under D3D, so you need a tweaker. Always wondered, why the fps is so low in the cockpit, now i know why. I would have the same fps rates in IL2 if i'd fly around with a mipmap distance of -1.

 

It only affects the highest detail settings cause for the lower detail, there are numbers around 265 which is pretty low.

Set it to 0 and you can turn on the cockpit mirrors while the game stays smooth and you can use the highest detail in the game!

 

It runs so much smoother now. Don't know why TK decided to use -1 cause there really is almost no viewable difference in the terrain quality.

Hope i could help some of you who had notoriously low fps rates. You can even try a positive value like 0,5 which wouldn't look much different either. So there is no need to drop the detail.

 

[This message has been edited by VF-2 John Banks (edited 01-23-2003).

 

Ahh! Thank you so much. I even tryed to search for something similar but my searching skills are weak

 

So lets see if i understand this. Because i took it up to 1024 the game can cache in more textures into vram?

If -1 is unlimited then what is 0. Cause if 1024 limits to 1024mb what does 0 do?

[Fubar512 1,350]

 

 

So lets see if i understand this. Because i took it up to 1024 the game can cache in more textures into vram?

If -1 is unlimited then what is 0. Cause if 1024 limits to 1024mb what does 0 do?

 

No. 1024 limits the maximum size (resolution) of any single texture to 1024 kilobytes (sorry, I wrote mb at first, when I really meant "kb")...there are aircraft skins "larger" than that. -1 removes the max size cap on textures, so textures large than 1024 will be displayed at full resolution. IIRC, according to TK, "0" is interperted as 1024 by the game engine.

[xclusiv8 35]

No. 1024 limits the maximum size (resolution) of any single texture to 1024 kilobytes (sorry, I wrote mb at first, when I really meant "kb")...there are aircraft skins "larger" than that. -1 removes the max size cap on textures, so textures large than 1024 will be displayed at full resolution. IIRC, according to TK, "0" is interperted as 1024 by the game engine.

 

Oh okey. Well that explains that :drinks:Thank you so much

 

Another question, hehe sorry if im a pain in the butt.

 

The farsceneclip, normalsceneclip and nearsceneclip. Are those setting that are used when horizon is set to near, normal, and far ingame. I have set horizon to far on the graphicsettings ingame. I tried boosting the values in the farsceneclip entries but i get some kind of bug. Clouds start "clipping". Basicly it looks like they get stuck on the ground in a blocky manner. This happens with or without the better widesky mod. Ill try to post a screenshot as soon as i have time.

Edited November 18, 2009 by xclusiv8

[Icarus999 70]

Oh okey. Well that explains that :drinks:Thank you so much

 

Another question, hehe sorry if im a pain in the butt.

 

The farsceneclip, normalsceneclip and nearsceneclip. Are those setting that are used when horizon is set to near, normal, and far ingame. I have set horizon to far on the graphicsettings ingame. I tried boosting the values in the farsceneclip entries but i get some kind of bug. Clouds start "clipping". Basicly it looks like they get stuck on the ground in a blocky manner. This happens with or without the better widesky mod. Ill try to post a screenshot as soon as i have time.

 

I get the same problem, even with stock settings when I increase the "Detailmeshsize". This was recomended to render terrain objects so that they are viable at distance. I started a thread on the subject and got no response... such a bummer as the "detailmeshsize" increase makes a huge improvement in terrain immersion quality.

Edited November 21, 2009 by Icarus999