Clouds killing FPS

[33LIMA 972]

Normally in OFF my FPS are 25-50 and gameplay is smooth, but when the skies are grey and full of clouds it's a different matter.

 

Then, FPS go down the proverbial tubes (to about 8), but only whenever I can see only [my plane and] clouds (eg looking straight up). This makes combat impossible and has just cost me a promising pilot (that's my excuse anyway).

 

I have found a couple of references here to others having exactly the same problem but have been unable to solve it.

 

I have a marginal graphics card (Nvidia 9300GS, 256Mb DDR2 with the latest (275.33) drivers. Vista 64, Quad Core Q8200 @ 2.33 GHz. This does cope with (eg) First Eagles 2 on quite high settings and higher AA and AF, as well as stock CFS3 with sliders maxed out and again higher AA & AF.

 

I run at native res (1600x900), 4xAF, 2xAA. Have tried killing the AF, no difference. Have also tried various other CFS3config settings (normally use the set suggested by Olham, tho with sliders (starting at planes) at 5-3-3-3-1) eg changing the Clouds slider, reducing other sliders, disabling in Cockpit cloud effect, various texture limit settings for Cloud Scale in CFS3config, and the likes, to no avail. Turning clouds off completely in CFS3config does the trick but then I just get a uniform grey haze in bad weather, and I'm not going to kill the clouds universally just for the bad days nor turn them on and off as needed.

 

At the moment it's either do something about this or park OFF for a few months till I can get a new card. I generally fly campaigns so flying only fair weather QC, or a bit of bad weather stopping campaign play, are not options.Was contemplating getting HiTR but that's on hold now too.

 

I suspect the culprit may be the altocumullus, if only because there are lots of clouds and murk around when I have a c.50:50 land/cloud view (scenery, other planes and all) and the FPS dips a bit, but look straight up and it's instant slide show. I daresay that's not it.

 

So what I want to know is, what do I need to do, to replace the heavy overcast-type clouds, or the whole weather associated with them, with, say, the next best weather type? I've looked at various files and tried renaming a few, without effect. Presumably it's not simple as there are various factors at work but in the end the display of this particular set of clouds is gonna be implemented according to the content of a few xml files and what can be changed to produce them, can be changed again to replace them with something else, that doesn't kill my FPS.

 

Naturally if anyone can suggest anything else which works I'd be interested in that too but at the mo, it seems only some better weather will do the trick.

[Hasse Wind 46]

I think the biggest problem is your graphics card. It really isn't adequate for OFF, because OFF is much more demanding than CFS3. I'm no computer guru, but I think it would be much easier to get a new card (you don't need the latest and most expensive one for OFF) than to start fiddling around with the graphics files.

 

Rob a bank or something. They're evil institutions, and OFF is really worth it.

[xclusiv8 35]

Yep, its the graphics card.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

I agree LIMA, your graphics card is just not big enough nor fast enough to keep up with the demands of OFF. If the budget is tight you could go with the GeForce 9800 GTX+, which is the card I've been running for a good long time now and it does a fine job for a cheap price. You can find them on eBay starting at around $35 or so, and Buy It Now offers for around $60. This card also overclocks very nicely using RivaTuner, (a free program), and will definitely give you a vast improvement over what you are seeing now. I run the sliders at 5-4-4-5-5 with my current set-up.

 

CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0ghz Wolfdale 6mb 1333fsb 45nm with Arctic Cooler

Memory: 8gb DDR2 PC2-6400 800mhz

Mobo: ASUS P5QL Pro

Hard Drive: 2 Western Digital 640 GB Caviar Black SATA

Opti Drive: LG 22X DVD+/RW Dual Layer SATA Rewrite

Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512mb

PS: Diablo 900 Watt

Windows XP Pro 64-bit OS

LG W2240T 21.5" flat screen LCD monitor

 

.

[Olham 164]

The guys maybe right about the card. But you could try one thing:

 

set the slider "Scenery detail" to "2"; and then try the cloud slider on "4" or even "5".

It may sound paradox, but I have read from several people, that the performance improved,

when the clouds were pushed UP.

Worth a try, I think.

[Hasse Wind 46]

There doesn't seem to be any noticeable difference between cloud settings 3, 4 and 5. If you go below 3, it becomes noticeable. On 3, the sky appears to have just as many clouds as on higher settings.

[33LIMA 972]

Thanks guys. Well I'll give Olham's suggestion as try first. Have just backed out a driver update which seemed to make it worse. Failing that it'll have to wait for a new card, the 9800GTX is a fair bit more expensive in the UK but will bear that one in mind.

[Olham 164]

Hasse Wind, the higher settings don't add clouds. They make the bitmaps (or whatever format the clouds are made of)

simply finer/higher resolution. I have mine on 5, and they appear more soft; not so pixelated.

The Anti-Aliasing of my ATI card may also help there.

Yesterday I switched over to "high resolution skins" to test some, and I could swear, the clouds appeared even more soft.

But that maybe a trick of the mind.

Edited June 19, 2011 by Olham

[+Polovski 460]

Unfortunately these days your system is fairly low end, in video card, GPU memory,and CPU speed. Beefing one or more of those will help some and playing with the settings (see FAQ dfor NVidia and ATI tweaks, also close down all programs running in taskbar where possible etc.

[33LIMA 972]

Unfortunately these days your system is fairly low end, in video card, GPU memory,and CPU speed. Beefing one or more of those will help some and playing with the settings (see FAQ dfor NVidia and ATI tweaks, also close down all programs running in taskbar where possible etc.

 

The irritating thing is, the system copes perfectly well with OFF, except when those grey skies arrive. Yes they are very impressive and atmospheric but for now, I need to find a way to 'turn the dark clouds inside out', if not 'till the boys come home' , then at least until I can afford a new card. I'll fiddle about with the .xml files and see what I can do.

[Lewie 7]

The only time I notice any frame rate slowdown is when I'm in "spot view" on the OFF airfield waiting to take off with 7 or more aircraft. Panning around from the outside does reveal that the high-res trees with shadows seem to be the biggest FPS killers. I've played with clouds slider quite a bit and I see little effect on my FPS. Interestingly enough, my CFS3 install that I still run OFF planes in, the frame rates never dip below the max, ever. Even my CFS3-BoB install has little problem with lots of background objects and plenty of aircraft.

 

There's a CFS3-BoB invasion Mission on my computer with over 75 HE111's attacking London that I run occasionally, that also has little effect on FPS's.. These are "Ground Crew" modded aircraft in the invasion scenario and they are pretty detailed.

[Rugbyfan1972 1]

33Lima,

 

You may have to do some reading up on it, if you have not already done it, but try limiting your FPS in one of the xml files. Sorry I can't remember off the top of my head the file name, but I remember it is on the C:\OBD folder and is set to 0 when BHAH is installed which basically means unlimited frame rates, when you alter it it will make that number the maximum fps that you will see.. I have mine set to 60, but you will have to experiment with it.

[Olham 164]

LIMA, since I recently updated my rig I don't have any stutters anymore.

But I didn't upgrade the graphics - I still use the same HD4870 card.

What really brought the improvement must have been the faster Intel i5 QuadCore CPU.

[33LIMA 972]

Well, I dunno whether it was changing the Workshop weather settings, or whether it was backing up then replacing all the 'bad-weather-sounding' OFF weather files with what sounded like the nearest equivalent 'not-so-bad-weather-sounding' OFF weather file (mostly I used a clone of 'OFFHeavyCumulus.xml'), but the grey skies have gone, replaced with sometimes quite cloudy but more blue skies. Or maybe the OFF weather has improved of its own accord, in which case I'm due an unwelcome let-down, if the grey skies return, after all; but a variety of campaign missions from a variety of months produces the same, very pleasing result; so far, so good.

 

I can now have planes and clouds on 5 (and wonderful both look) with the rest on 3, 1600x900 and a little AA and AF, and OFF now looks and runs great. Don't really miss the crap weather, I see enough of that in real life.

 

[turns around and skips off in his best Morecambe and Wise impression, singing inanely 'Bring me sunshine...']

[DukeIronHand 8]

I am hardly a graphics or hardware expert but your system is similar to mine and any cloud formation (and I am set at 5) has minimal impact for me.

 

I do use Olhams recommended slider settings - from his old system.

 

I have found that there are many, many, many settings in OFF, in your video card, and on your CP that can have effects - both positive and negative - I'd play around some more.

[Olham 164]

Don't really miss the crap weather, I see enough of that in real life.

That's why I mostly start my new campaigns at the beginning of May. I like good weather!

Edited June 19, 2011 by Olham

[Creaghorn 10]

you might try an older driver.

 

from own experience i know that the newest drivers are not always the best. better to say, my driver is now 3 years old and every newer driver i tried gave problems with clouds or shimmering and made it worse instead of better.

 

i have a nvidia gtx260 oc, and since you also have nvidia i would suggest for you to try older drivers.

no need to lower clouds from 5 because they usually have no impact.

 

@uncleal

 

it's not a known fact because it's not true that only on 5 AI can't see through clouds. the difference between clouds on 5 and lower is not the beauty but just the sheer amount of clouds. also on 3 AI can not see through clouds. but the clouds are more rare, or at least the layers responsible for their blindness, that's why the chance for them to not seeing you is less often.

[33LIMA 972]

I'll keep on trying - good to know there is may well be a solution out there; it's definitely rather odd that my budget card can cope pretty well with everything except those darn grey clouds (bit like me).

 

I'll keep two sets of weather folders, one with my 'silver lining' mod , one stock, and see what I can do to get the stock one working. I had briefly rolled back the driver to 196.xx to see if that helped but bl**dy Windows Update rolled it forward again and has now been made to stand in a corner on its own and only to update what and when it's told. I'm off now to set up the folders and hunt down a 3-year-old driver....no wait it's heading for midnight, enough settings-related fun for one day, I'm off to get my head down, 'After all, tomorrow is another day!'

[Olham 164]

For my ATI 4870, I can say, that the new driver 11.5 works fine.

[vonOben 55]

Hi 33LIMA

 

Here's something you perhaps want to test:

 

Quote from Sim-Outhouse posted by rouge34rtw:

 

"I pulled my cloud scale slider down from 10 to 6 in the configuration utility>texture info page (cloud slider still set to 5 for image quality) and it gained me about 15 to 20 FPS."

Good luck!

 

 

Cheers

 

vonOben

[33LIMA 972]

Hi 33LIMA

 

Here's something you perhaps want to test:

 

Quote from Sim-Outhouse posted by rouge34rtw:

 

"I pulled my cloud scale slider down from 10 to 6 in the configuration utility>texture info page (cloud slider still set to 5 for image quality) and it gained me about 15 to 20 FPS."

Good luck!

 

 

Cheers

 

vonOben

 

Thanks - will give that a whirl. Just finished about 5 hours painting walls so I'm in the mood to shoot down something! I had played about with that slider a little but will try the settings recommended above.

[33LIMA 972]

Well, von Oben's suggestion seems to have worked! Thank you Sir!

 

I had rolled back my driver to 175.19 (2008!) but that seemed to produce little or no improvement in FPS in good weather, anyway. So I 'restored' the OFF bad weather files, set my CFS3config/Custom settings/ Texture info/Cloud Scale slider to 6 (had tried 10 and 1) but kept my main Custom settings/Clouds slider at 5. Flew a campaign mission in the Roland CII, weather awful, had left 'rain' on in over-rides too, yet the serious FPS drop, when looking at clouds only, has completely disappeared, lowest FPS was an entirely playable 20-25 FPS and that's with planes 5, scenery & terrain 3, effects & clouds 5, 1600x900, 2xAA, 2xAF, shadows at stock setting but not disabled.

 

As DukeIronHand said, there's a lot of settings out there to play with, and sure enough one of them seems to have done the trick. I'm off to fly another mission now, to prove it wasn't a fluke!

 

Hesitate to say it's good to have the bad weather back but it is. OFF's good weather cloudscapes are truly beautiful to behold but those ominous grey skies are hugely atmospheric and add a lot to the sim, too.

 

Thanks for the help chaps!

[hood 2]

My ATI5770 is runnung very well with the 11.6 drivers, also my TrackIR4 is now running the ATI software.which it never did previously.

[33LIMA 972]

Well, that was short-lived, the FPS hit is back. There is definitely a particular kind of cloud (or fog) effect that is causing the problem, as not all bad weather does it. Not rain. Chief suspect is the altocumulus layers (or whatever cloud type it is) that forms a widespread, sort of 'corrugated' or rippled layer high up. So far I can't isolate and remove or substitute the .xml or .dds file that's responsible. Am concentrating on eliminating the altocumulus and seeing if that helps.