New York Scenery Addon causes serious FPS drops!

[parhelia_0000]

Hardware I'm using:
RTX 3060
32GB (4x8GB) 3200MHz G.Skill Ripjaws V RAM
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Samsung 860 EVO SATA SSD

Guys, everything was running great with FlightGear until someone suggested that I try out the New York scenery addon. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=38041
As soon as I start FlightGear, the frame rate seriously drops. I used to have perfect 60FPS before this happened. I'm honestly starting to have regrets on installing custom scenery because of this.
Tried switching over to NVidia Game Ready Driver, nothing. Tried optimizing the graphics card settings for best gaming performance, nothing. Tried lowering the shader cache, nothing. This is clearly a case of custom scenery dragging my computer's performance down.

1. Is it safe for me to delete the custom scenery folders that I saved in My Documents? 'Cause the scenery addon came with FGData that I overrode in the Program Files and in case I want to delete the NY folder, I don't want FlightGear to start glitching out on me once I delete the scenery folders and then FGData suddenly goes haywire because of the missing files.
2. If the scenery is salvageable, can someone please guide me through on how to get the best FPS performance without compromising on graphics quality? In other words, is there a way to make my current setup work with the New York scenery addon?

[V12]

You are not alone, on my machine with 3700X, 32GB RAM and GTX1060 is New York custom scenery unusable, fps drop under 10. I complained some months ago.
FG has ancient single threaded and inefficient core that can't fully utilize modern multicore CPUs and this is result.
You have only one solution - disable and delete Your custom scenery for better fps.

On very similar machine I tested Prepar3D v5 and insane complex Drzewiecki's N.Y. City scenery with FSLabs A320 and fps did not drop under 20. With default F35 not under 30. All CPU cores worked on 100%, in FG only 13-20%.

[parhelia_0000]

You are not alone, on my machine with 3700X, 32GB RAM and GTX1060 is New York custom scenery unusable, fps drop under 10. I complained some months ago.
FG has ancient single threaded and inefficient core that can't fully utilize modern multicore CPUs and this is result.
You have only one solution - disable and delete Your custom scenery for better fps.

On very similar machine I tested Prepar3D v5 and insane complex Drzewiecki's N.Y. City scenery with FSLabs A320 and fps did not drop under 20. With default F35 not under 30. All CPU cores worked on 100%, in FG only 13-20%.

Yeah, very unfortunate that custom scenery would cause problems. I just hope that the FGData files still lingering in the FlightGear Program Files doesn't cause any long-term problems.

At the very least the FG-navaiddata still works so there is that.

I am really hoping that the X-Plane 12 delivers, although the mounting costs of addons are quite scary for someone like me who's working minimum wage. FSX and MSFS has great graphics but their aircraft addons suck (The 787 and 777 from FSX Steam Edition were anything but usable. The 787 would constantly pitch down -3 degrees during cruise and the 777 keeps on stalling whenever I try to do long-haul flights. WTF?!), and P3D is starting to lose its race when it comes to high-quality flight sims.

[V12]

For quality You need payware addons. In the P3D world for exame :
- 737 / 747 / 777 - PMDG
- 787 - QualityWings
- A319 / A320 / A321 - FS Labs

Yes, I know, these addons are really expensive, for example FSL A320 has price around 160 EUR But in the cockpit almost all buttons and switches are operation, MCDUs are almost fully developed, there are not missing autopilot modes or features.

For many unsolved problems in FG I moved to P3D 4 years ago and I'm very satisfied and do not use FG anymore.

[parhelia_0000]

For quality You need payware addons. In the P3D world for exame :
- 737 / 747 / 777 - PMDG
- 787 - QualityWings
- A319 / A320 / A321 - FS Labs

Yes, I know, these addons are really expensive, for example FSL A320 has price around 160 EUR But in the cockpit almost all buttons and switches are working, MCDUs are almost fully developed, there are not missing autopilot modes or features.

I'm currently eyeing the XP12. I remember having tried the FSX Steam Edition and trying to get even payware add-ons to remain in sync in multiplayer while I switched screens was just abysmal.

Can I get a quote on the XP12 add-ons other than the Navigraph subscription I'll have to deal with? In terms of aircraft I'm thinking of specializing on dual-engine aircraft only, such as:
-737/777/787 (757 and 767 for multiplayer AI traffic if anyone still uses them but if not, I won't need it.)
-Airbus A320, A220, A330 and A350

[wkitty42]

1. Is it safe for me to delete the custom scenery folders that I saved in My Documents? 'Cause the scenery addon came with FGData that I overrode in the Program Files and in case I want to delete the NY folder, I don't want FlightGear to start glitching out on me once I delete the scenery folders and then FGData suddenly goes haywire because of the missing files.

i just took a look and it appears that there was maybe one line added to materials.xml... the problem is the one in the custom scenery is from 2020 and there have been a few changes made to it since then... hopefully you saved your original materials.xml file before replacing it with the modified older one... if not, you should be able replace it pretty easily... you just need the one that matches your FG install... if you tell us what your full FG version is, we can point you to the proper file to download or at least point you to what lines need to be added or commented out to get you back to where you started...

aside from the other changes made to the file since 2020, it appears the one main line added is

Code: Select all

<region include="Materials/regions/eastern-us.xml"/>

which points to the one new file added to the Materials/regions directory... commenting out that line should stop your install from using those new terrain textures... then you can remove them and the eastern-us.xml file...

i've only checked the changes made to FGData... the rest should be able to be removed if you followed the normal recommended method of adding custom scenery via defining a private dedicated directory to hold it and keep it separate... if you did this, then simply disabling and removing it from the launcher should be fine... i would disable it first, test, and then remove it if there are no major errors...

[parhelia_0000]

1. Is it safe for me to delete the custom scenery folders that I saved in My Documents? 'Cause the scenery addon came with FGData that I overrode in the Program Files and in case I want to delete the NY folder, I don't want FlightGear to start glitching out on me once I delete the scenery folders and then FGData suddenly goes haywire because of the missing files.

i just took a look and it appears that there was maybe one line added to materials.xml... the problem is the one in the custom scenery is from 2020 and there have been a few changes made to it since then... hopefully you saved your original materials.xml file before replacing it with the modified older one... if not, you should be able replace it pretty easily... you just need the one that matches your FG install... if you tell us what your full FG version is, we can point you to the proper file to download or at least point you to what lines need to be added or commented out to get you back to where you started...

aside from the other changes made to the file since 2020, it appears the one main line added is

Code: Select all

<region include="Materials/regions/eastern-us.xml"/>

which points to the one new file added to the Materials/regions directory... commenting out that line should stop your install from using those new terrain textures... then you can remove them and the eastern-us.xml file...

i've only checked the changes made to FGData... the rest should be able to be removed if you followed the normal recommended method of adding custom scenery via defining a private dedicated directory to hold it and keep it separate... if you did this, then simply disabling and removing it from the launcher should be fine... i would disable it first, test, and then remove it if there are no major errors...

I should've known that the FGData overwrite would completely screw up my FlightGear install, no!!!!!

Alright, so I'm basically using FG version 2020.3. I don't want to risk screwing any more of my files up just to reset the damn FGData, so please just tell me which materials.xml file to download, and which FGData files I can safely delete, or if I should just make it easy on myself and start over with a fresh FG reinstall.

While I'm at it I should also mention the fact that I used to have the Virginia/Delaware scenery installed as well. I'm gonna need instructions on how to remove FGData for that scenery add-on as well.

[TheEagle]

2020.3 is a whole family of versions, we need the full version which is three numbers, not two !

[wkitty42]

I should've known that the FGData overwrite would completely screw up my FlightGear install, no!!!!!

but it didn't... it is only one file and easily recovered... all the rest of the files were additions...

Alright, so I'm basically using FG version 2020.3.

what are the rest of the numbers in that version?

I don't want to risk screwing any more of my files up just to reset the damn FGData, so please just tell me which materials.xml file to download, and which FGData files I can safely delete, or if I should just make it easy on myself and start over with a fresh FG reinstall.

there's no need in getting all worked up... once we know exactly which FG version you have, replacing that one file is easy... then it is a simple matter of looking at the install instructions to locate the other files and remove them...

While I'm at it I should also mention the fact that I used to have the Virginia/Delaware scenery installed as well. I'm gonna need instructions on how to remove FGData for that scenery add-on as well.

hunh?? you're not removing FGData from any scenery... not sure what you mean when you say "used to have"... it should still be there unless you deleted it... if you did, there's nothing left to do, AFAIK...

[parhelia_0000]

I should've known that the FGData overwrite would completely screw up my FlightGear install, no!!!!!

but it didn't... it is only one file and easily recovered... all the rest of the files were additions...

Alright, so I'm basically using FG version 2020.3.

what are the rest of the numbers in that version?

I don't want to risk screwing any more of my files up just to reset the damn FGData, so please just tell me which materials.xml file to download, and which FGData files I can safely delete, or if I should just make it easy on myself and start over with a fresh FG reinstall.

there's no need in getting all worked up... once we know exactly which FG version you have, replacing that one file is easy... then it is a simple matter of looking at the install instructions to locate the other files and remove them...

While I'm at it I should also mention the fact that I used to have the Virginia/Delaware scenery installed as well. I'm gonna need instructions on how to remove FGData for that scenery add-on as well.

hunh?? you're not removing FGData from any scenery... not sure what you mean when you say "used to have"... it should still be there unless you deleted it... if you did, there's nothing left to do, AFAIK...

I'm using FlightGear version 2020.3.13. When I installed the New York scenery I also installed the Virginia scenery as well...and given how the addon scenery screwed up the FPS on my FlightGear I'm seriously concerned that I may have caused myself even bigger of a headache than before...

[wkitty42]

I'm using FlightGear version 2020.3.13.

thank you... you can download the latest 2020.3.13 materials.xml file from the official FGData mirror over at gitlab... this link should do it for you: https://gitlab.com/flightgear/fgdata/-/raw/release/2020.3/Materials/regions/materials.xml?inline=false
then just copy it into your Materials directory and overwrite the one you overwrote the original one with...
if you prefer to go to the site to find and view the file first, just go here: https://gitlab.com/flightgear/fgdata/-/tree/release/2020.3/Materials/regions... then you can download it with the down arrow on the far right... this should return you to the default state of materials.xml in 2020.3.13...

When I installed the New York scenery I also installed the Virginia scenery as well...

ok... you've not given us the URL you got it from and it is kinda hard to look over your shoulder from here to see exactly what you have... if this virginia scenery also needed an updated materials.xml file, it may have been overwritten if you installed the NY scenery after it... i don't know without looking at what you downloaded from whatever link you got it from...

and given how the addon scenery screwed up the FPS on my FlightGear I'm seriously concerned that I may have caused myself even bigger of a headache than before...

TBF nothing was "screwed up"... simply your GPU or CPU were overwhelmed with the large quantity of data from all the additional objects used to try to make the scenery as real to life as is currently possible... it may simply have been the shear numbers of buildings, or power pylons, or even trees... we see it all the time when folks turn on OSM buildings and other data while having large LOD ranges set... that causes a lot of buildings and other items too far away to be seen clearly to be rendered in high detail when they should be rendered in low or bare detail... basically it is just too much data for the system and it slows down trying to render it all...

the thing is, also, there is no one size fits all for this... on one of my machines, i have a 2Gig NVIDIA GT730... i flew everywhere at 10-15FPS when below 3000AGL... on my newer system with a NVIDIA RTX2060 (which has 6GB of memory on it) things are much nicer but there are still times when the FPS falls below 15... i don't use custom scenery any more... i just use what is available via terrasync and i do use the OSM settings... if i flew something besides the UFO, i might see more problems like others see... especially if i'm using highly detailed craft which can slow things down on their own simple because they are quite detailed...

[MariuszXC]

And, just to address the comments about multiple cpu core utilisation, you might try to play with the settings in fgdata/defaults.xml.
Around line 240 you will find a section

Code: Select all

<!--
          <multithreading-mode>AutomaticSelection</multithreading-mode>


Just move the line with " <!-- " below the line containing the <multithreading-mode> tag and see if it improves performance.

[wkitty42]

or better than editing the default settings file, just add "--prop:/sim/rendering/multithreading-mode=AutomaticSelection" without the quotes to the launcher's additional settings box OR to one's command line...

it is always best to NOT edit the default settings... this way you can easily return to the defaults...