Black Clouds kill frame rate

[simnut]

Hello all!

New to X-Plane (11) and yes, new to Skymaxx (Ver 4).    I love what Skymaxx does EXCEPT when I get into the storm clouds.  My frame rate dies!  I mean I go from 40 FPS to 8 or 9.  This doesn't happen with X-plane's default cloud set up and am wondering what I am doing wrong...if anything.  I have a support ticket in but have not yet received a response. 

Anyone have any ideas?  I have an I7-4790 @ 3.6GH, 16G ram and an Nvidia geForce GTX950 video card.  I run X-plane 11 quite nicely at medium to high settings...just those dang storm clouds in Skymaxx!

[sundog]

Show us a screenshot of your SMP settings while you're experiencing this, and we can offer some advice on things to tweak for your system. Attaching your log.txt would help too.

[simnut]

I have uninstalled SMP at the moment.  I will reinstall it and provide what you are asking. 

[simnut]

4 hours ago, sundog said:

Show us a screenshot of your SMP settings while you're experiencing this, and we can offer some advice on things to tweak for your system. Attaching your log.txt would help too.

This is with no weather......

http://imgur.com/a/MR0eQ

This is with SMP and stormy but not looking up at clouds.

http://imgur.com/a/Wi12a

This is the FPS when looking up at black clouds.

http://imgur.com/a/ilPlE

 

I drop about 25 FPS by panning up to look at the storm clouds.  This doesn't happen with default weather setup.

Here are my graphic settings in X-plane

http://imgur.com/a/WOLdb

Edited to add:  Notice the 2300mb of texture loaded in the screenshot above (SMP loaded).  Now look at the one below where I am back to default weather setup with identical weather settings.  The texture loading is just over 1900mb. 

http://imgur.com/a/B8urw

Would this lead us to the problem perhaps?

 

 

Also, see below for my log.txt.  I hope this generates some help!!!  I would love to  continue to use SMP but not if I can only fly in nice weather!  Kind of defeats the purpose!!

 

 

Log.txt

Edited January 5, 2017 by simnut

[sundog]

What I need is a shot of your SkyMaxx Pro settings, not your rendering settings. The texture memory reported in X-Plane's rendering settings doesn't include SMP's usage at all. The VRAM and RAM usage reported in SMP's configuration screen is much more accurate, and it will also let us know what changes you've made (if any) to our default settings that may be impacting performance.

You should however expect some framerate hit when flying in an area with lots of cumulonimbus clouds. These are large clouds that X-Plane's default weather doesn't represent at all, so there will be some performance hit to them - you can't get something for nothing!

 

[simnut]

Dang it, forgot the SMP settings screen shot!! I had it ready......(slap forehead)

 

Here it is:

http://imgur.com/a/OTSuS

[simnut]

Ok....did some more playing around with this.   Here are my settings for SMP now, that makes this playable in severe weather.  This is at KSEA so there is lots of detail on the ground also.

http://imgur.com/a/rV3Ee

I've come to realize that the biggest hit on my computer is the cloud coverage setting.  I have it now set at 2000 sq. km. WHEN flying in this most severe weather.  I also have my weather settings in Xplane set to severe to.  This means I'm hitting this with the hardest weather possible and will get about 28 FPS.  I can live with that!!! 

Of course, as the weather improves...I can up the settings in SMP also.  Would be awesome if a person could select some profiles with in SMP for different weather scenarios....hint hint. 

One question I have.....does SMP take it's real time weather from X-plane if a person doesn't have RWC?  Will SMP work with  XPGFS NOAA Weather from Joan PC as real time weather info?   I guess that's two questions LOL.

 

So, at this point...I am again stoked to use SMP!!!!  Took some playing around with it....reduced some of it's settings but like what it gives me within X-plane without me reducing X-plane settings.  I guess a little persistence pays off. 

I still look forward to any ideas you have Sundog on what I am doing.

[Defiance_co]

Simnut,

Create your own configs

Maybe along the lines of a High Medium Low set of configs, it's there in smp to use

Tony

[simnut]

16 minutes ago, Defiance_co said:

Simnut,

Create your own configs

Maybe along the lines of a High Medium Low set of configs, it's there in smp to use

Tony

Oh, really?  I'll have to check 'er out!  Now that I have things working nicely.....I can't wait to use SMP properly!  I only have problems with the black storm clouds so I will have to only have two configs.  One for severe storm and one for "other".  Thanks for the heads up!

 

Edited to add:

You're right!!!!  It's as simple as saving and loading settings!!!!  Thank you very much for the heads up!!!! I owe ya!

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by simnut

[sundog]

Well, I love it when problems get worked out while I'm not looking! It does look like you were starting to run low on video memory there, so some trade-offs on cloud coverage or rendering settings would be necessary.

To answer your other questions, though - if you don't have RWC, SMP will honor X-Plane's real world weather or whatever other plugins may be sending in, but it will be limited to 3 layers of uniform cloud conditions surrounding you at all times. RWC is the only way for SMP to represent distinct weather systems that you can fly into and out of. Without RWC, all the clouds around you will change at once when you enter new weather conditions. If you like flying in real-world weather, it's worth it.

 

[simnut]

A question Sundog!

Because I have to have my cloud coverage settings so low...would it not be a waste to get RWC as SMP won't "draw" the weather at a distance?  Would it still be effective in a 1000 sq. km. setup?

No worries.....I found the answer in an other thread.   RWC would not be real effective in the smaller "cloud cover" distance I use. 

Edited January 8, 2017 by simnut