FSX Play - Latest Update 1.9.0.10

[jasonreg]

So as the weather gets cooler up here in the Ottawa Valley, my attention turns back to my sim. It has essentially been “parked” for the past 6 months as we enjoyed the all-too-short golf season. I generally start with the many windows updates and then update the software. As such, I had missed a few iterations of FSX Play along the way (though not that many he says tongue in cheek…). I also transferred my GS Pro license to the ‘authorized’ Foresight edition. I am curious about the results.

My PC is decent, but now far from cutting edge. 9^th Gen Intel i9-9900K, 32GB DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 16GB), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super 8GB are the major pertinent components. I have always been able to play on the highest graphics settings – I output to an Optoma ZU606TST-W at WUXGA (1920x1200) and 6,000 lumens – and have always been very pleased with the results. For the first time though with the latest version, I am seeing extreme stutter at the Ultra setting. I have to set Medium to get an acceptable play and I still have minor stutter noticeable at even the lowest settings. The graphics quality reduction is very noticeable bringing FSX Play back to the FSX2020 graphics feel (grass texture, trees, flags etc.).

I notice Foresight has bumped up the minimum specs to an RTX3060, but my RTX2080 Super is actually still faster by about 31% (UserBenchmark: Nvidia RTX 2080S (Super) vs 3060) I do acknowledge that the recommended min card for “Quality/Optimal Performance” is now an RTX 3070Ti and in this regard, I am lagging by about 21 % (UserBenchmark: Nvidia RTX 2080S (Super) vs 3070-Ti). What is more interesting though is that I have seamless and exceptional graphics quality in GS Pro with not a hint of stutter.

Has anyone else noticed this and/or are there any new graphics settings to optimize for FSX Play? I have followed the recommendations here: Optimizing Windows Graphic Settings for FSX Play – Foresight Sports.

No plans in the near term to go to 4K, but do I still need to think about a new PC? A quick look at upgrading Graphics card (and power supply) gets me almost, if not over, halfway to a new PC ……

Appreciate any and all thoughts. Thx

[siebo]

Yes, I have the same problem I was running a 3070ti video card which should have been more than enough. Since I want to update to 4K, i decided to spend the money for 4070ti. That didn't help either. However, not all courses sputtered, only the ones that were updated or came out after March of this year, which I find interesting,. Again, not all of them. I was running on high graphic setting but when I switched to medium all of the sputtering went away. I took a video and sent it to Tech support. To their credit, they could duplicate the sputtering on their end and were passing it on to the programmers. That has been done several weeks ago. Being feed up with FSX Play, I also went to GSPro and so far very happy with it. I do find the graphics on FSXPlay a little more realistic but not enough to cause any great concern. I would be interested in feedback from other FSXPlay users that have switch to GSPro.

[jasonreg]

ForesightMattyG, ForesightSports - Folks, any updates or words here?

[ForesightMattyG]

jasonreg & siebo - To assist you we would need to have you submit a support request - www.foresightsports.com/contact-support

We will need to connect with you to capture log files from the software. We will as need to collect information about the version of the software and version of the courses you are seeing these issues on.

With that information and documentation, we can then proceed to investigate with our software and course development teams. Thanks

[jasonreg]

ForesightMattyG - thanks for the quick reply. Trouble ticket initiated.

[OC_Mike]

Wow, a 4070ti wasn't enough power? I'm looking at purchasing a new desktop with that same card and figured that would be more than enough. There isn't much better without going way up in price like a 4080 or 4090 right??

[tkvaughn999]

I love good graphics as much as anyone however I love smooth gameplay more. I've always been ok with graphics on the middle setting as long as game runs smoothly. I don't really notice a huge difference and it still looks pretty good to me. Am I alone?

[jasonreg]

There is something definitely wrong here. One should not need Bleeding edge (in both capability but also in price) GPUs to run this software. As I mentioned, GS PRo runs flawlessly using Unity on my current 2080 Super. Help Desk is engaged and I will report back if and when it is fixed, but my comment stands. You should be able to comfortably exceed mins with a 4070ti......

[jasonreg]

I love good graphics as much as anyone however I love smooth gameplay more. I've always been ok with graphics on the middle setting as long as game runs smoothly. I don't really notice a huge difference and it still looks pretty good to me. Am I alone?

No, I actually fundamentally agree with you. That said, per my above post other software seems to run Unity very well. I don't know if this is programming in the course build, or in the software (FSX Play) build, but there is something over-taxing the GPU much more that it should. And while I currently have the settings dumbed down in FSX Play, when I compare between Low and Ultra in Play, and Ultra in GS Pro, there is (IMO) significant difference. As I said in my first post, FSX Play in Low graphics seems and feels a lot like FSX 2020 ......

[ARL67]

My Sim went live a few weeks ago and I splurged for an RTX 4080 GPU and a 4K Optoma uhd35stx , running FSX Play.
I run 3840x2160 with Ultra settings and no stuttering.
Though once in a while I get "black flashes".
These flashes ( drops ? ) can happen at lower resolutions too, and appears to be course dependent.
Methinks it is the course design ( inefficient ? ) causing this.

Regardless of whether I run 1920x1080 or 3840x2160 to my projector, the GPU shows 100% when I run Task Manager and go the Performance Tab. Does anyone know what that 100% refers too > is it GPU RAM utilization ? My GPU runs quite cool, so not really under and load like in a first-person shooter game.

Also when running at 3820x2160, my mouse pointer has odd placement behavior.
In FSX Play, when scrolling through my list of courses, my pointer will be over to a course but I cannot click to select it. I kinda' have to scroll up/down repeatedly and hope the highlight stops on the course so I can then click it. Also when clicking on the mini-map to alter my line of play gives bizarre results, never lands on where you click it, so is unusable. I use the left-right arrows on my keyboard instead. The previous version 1.8.4.2 does not have this behaviour.

[ENadeau]

Solid setup. One thing to note is GPU's typically run at 100% utilization when gaming by design. As long as there are no bottlenecks somewhere, especially at the CPU level, running at max is normal and desired. If your CPU is going to 100% as well, you'll want to dig into that but it doesn't sound like there's an issue as you mentioned temps are fine.

The GPU percentage is based off output/power, and I believe memory contributes to that percentage but could be wrong. There are a bunch of tools out there but you can utilize NVIDA GeForce Experience to monitor your graphics card at a more granular level (screenshot) if you really want to get into.

The black flashes are odd, and something I haven't experienced but may be a rendering issue, maybe even related to your network connection. Does your cursor issue happen outside of FSX Play as well, as in when you're clicking on icons on the desktop? Are you running with just a projector, a projector and a monitor setup to mirror/duplicate or extend, etc.? If you have a projector and a monitor in a mirror display, does the mouse appear to work fine when looking at your monitor but appear to be in the wrong spot on the projector?

[jasonreg]

There are a bunch of tools out there but you can utilize NVIDA GeForce Experience to monitor your graphics card at a more granular level (screenshot) if you really want to get into.

ENadeau - I tried to use the Experience Monitor but cannot seem to find the screenshot display you noted. Are you able to give me a point-out as to where to find it?

[ENadeau]

I'm not currently in front of my PC but I believe it's something like this,

- Open NVIDA GeForce Experience
- Click on the "Settings" icon (small gear in the upper right)
- There should be a tab or box titled "In-Game Overlay". Verify it's switched on and then click the "Settings" within that tab/box.
- You should see an option for "HUD Layout", select this
- You should see an option titled "Performance", select this. You should see a handful of options for what you want to display. If there is one titled something along the lines of "Advanced", select this as it will show you the most metrics.

[jasonreg]

OK - many thanks - found it. Any idea why the FPS section is listed as N/A?

[ENadeau]

Hmmm not entirely sure. Based off some of your other posts it sounds like you're fully updated regrading gpu driver and I'm assuming you're updated to the latest version of GeForce Experience. If you launch the Nvidia control panel as opposed to GeForce experience do you see Foresight listed under the games for "Manage 3D Settings"? Grasping at straws as that seems odd it wouldn't be showing.

Here's a link to Foresights Nvidia optimization settings which has instructions for adding FSX to the list if you don't see it as referenced above.

https://support.foresightsports.com/sites/default/files/NVIDIA_setup_07182016_0.pdf

[DirkDigglr]

I got the same thing today when I launched the Nvidia GEForce Experience. GSPro shows NA for the FPS when I am using that program but when I run FSX Play, I can see FPS when playing (the FPS will vary depending on the graphics setting I have selected in FSX Play). see my other recent post today on that in a different thread.

[siebo]

As much as I want to stay with FSXPlay, it is because of all the issues it still has that I have switched most of my simulator golf to GSPro. So far, zero issues when playing.

[ENadeau]

I've been contemplating trying GSPro but am a bit concerned that it's a community driven course library and, at any given time, official courses can request their replicas be taken offline. From what I read, they had a large amount of TPC courses removed 6 months ago. Granted a course can choose to not renew with Foresight, but that's a bit different and I'd much be using something officially licensed versus what appears to be in a "gray area". Other than that, everything I've read/seen on GSPro looks solid.