NVIDIA Drivers V546.33 & FSX Play

[jasonreg]

So something strange happened today. I played 9 holes on Spanish Bay and 9 holes at Harbour Town on Ultra game settings and had a seamless experience. No stuttering or issues with frame-rates, even during the fly throughs (which I often see stutter a bit). The only change (other than the latest FSX Play v1.9.3.3) was me updating the new NVIDIA drivers from GeForce Experience V546.33 released yesterday the other day.

Not sure if it is related but figured I'd see if anyone else has noticed a change. Certainly this is a one-data point observation and needs further testing but it was quite encouraging.

Let me know if you have noticed a change.

PC Specs: i9-9900K, RTX4080 16GB VRAM, 64GB DDR4 3200 System RAM, 1TB SSD, FSX Play 1.9.3.3 - Ultra Graphics settings
PC Performance: 15% CPU, 28-30 GB RAM, 75-80% GPU, 80% VRAM (14GB) used
Displays: 1. Projector: Optoma ZU606TST-W WUXGA running 1920 x 1200, 2. 60" Panasonic TV Monitor at 1080P, and 3. Dell - P2418HT 23.8" Touch Monitor at 1920X1080

[ENadeau]

Pleasant surprise. While Nvidia doesn't make updates/tweaks specifically for Foresight FSX Play like they do major AAA title games, there's a strong possibility one of the gpu updates positively impacted FSX. I haven't seen the patch notes on the driver update yet but sounds like whatever was done is helping render and smooth things out at higher graphic settings.

Foresight does have "Improve FSX Play Performance" as In Progress and Planned on their Roadmap board. Hopefully they get around to that sooner rather than later since it's more of a resource hog than it should be even at lower levels.

[DirkDigglr]

I did the Nvida update today and have the most current version of Play installed. I have a 4080 card and dual 4k displays (TV and projector). I ran hole 7 flyover at Pebble on Ultra graphics setting and I still saw juddering. I dropped back to high and the juddering was gone. my Lenovo Legion PC specs:

Processor：13th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-13700KF Processor (E-cores up to 4.20 GHz P-cores up to 5.30 GHz)

Graphic Card：NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4080 16GB GDDR6X

Memory：32 GB DDR5-5600MHz (UDIMM) - (2 x 16 GB)

Storage：1 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Performance TLC

[jasonreg]

ENadeau - there is an article here: THE FINALS GeForce Game Ready Driver Released - Install Now To Optimize The Fast-Paced Shooter, Which Features DLSS 3, DLAA, Reflex & RTXGI Ray Tracing | GeForce News | NVIDIA - but I do not really see how any of this may (or may not) have impacted GSX Play. And yes, I have been following the "Improve FSX Play Performance" effort on the Roadmap but it seems to be a back-burner to "Pin Seeker Functionality".

DirkDigglr - Should be a very capable system. A couple of questions if I may:

1. What refresh rates do you have set on your PC? Does it match all displays? One of the most frequent issues which is easily overlooked as better and better gaming monitors become avail is trying to send a refresh rate to the projector which it is not capable of using. A lot of 4K projectors advertise as 120Hz capable, but when you dig down you find out it is only 120Hz @ 1920x1080 (1080P), but @4K it is limited to 60Hz (or even lower for some lower end projectors). For me, my Optoma ZU606TST-W maxes out at 60Hz @ 1920x1200 so I limit the output of my GPU to 60Hz.
2. Have you looked at how much RAM you are using during game-play? 32GB "should" be more than enough but if you look at my earlier post, I am using between 28 and 30GB with FSX Play as the only active program (apart from any background programs and processes). If possible, a RAM upgrade may be something to look at. Lots of ways to check how much your system is using, I just use the Performance tab on Windows Task Manager.
3. I assume you have run through the myriad of FSX Play computer optimization tasks? There are at least three settings to look at all listed on the FSX Play page.

Anyway, will look at Pebble specifically this am and continue testing. It really should not be this hard!

[ENadeau]

jasonreg I'd be curious to see how much play Pin Seeker gets. I did ask to see all patch notes but Foresight Support deems them confidential...

Super good advice on point 1. Definitely an overlooked setting that can cause a handful of issues including flickering and stuttering.

[jasonreg]

So I had a chance to play 18 holes on Pebble this am. In general I found the course less resource intensive than Harbour Town.

• Harbour Town: PC Performance: 15% CPU, 28-30 GB RAM, 75-80% GPU, 80% VRAM (14GB) used
• Pebble Beach: PC Performance: 12% CPU, 13-14 GB RAM, 45% GPU, 72% VRAM (11.5GB) used

I saw no stuttering or issues at all including during the flyovers. Game play was smooth and no issues observed.

Can anyone chime in with their opinion on the most GPU/RAM intensive courses on FSX Play? I will try a couple of the newly added Freebies later today or in the am. Honestly, this is the smoothest I have ever seen FSX Play perform. Encouraging (though I am a bit of an optimist....).

[DirkDigglr]

jasonreg, In response to your questions:
1. both displays are set to 4k, 60hz and they match
2. the RAM usage is ~45% on High graphics settings and ~50% on Ultra settings
3. yes, I have followed the Foresight recos on graphics card set up. I do find it funny that Foresights Nvida settings pdf was made in 2016....you think they could have updated it....or are is there another setting page you are referring to?
4. my CPU resource seems to be ~10% in any of the settings I choose.
5. I dont know where to find GPU or VRAM usage that you refer to.

I tested the 7th hole flyover today and still find juddering when in dual display mode. HOWEVER, when I took dual display mode off (within FSX Play options), the juddering seemed to be gone. which is good. Interesting to note that the RAM resource use was the same under single display and dual display.

I tested some other Pebble holes on Ultra settings and found the same result - juddering when dual screen mode enabled and no/limited juddering when just using a single screen option in FSX Play. Definitely looks playable in 4k, Ultra under single display. not under dual display. if you want dual display, you need to drop down to High setting - for Pebble Beach. I have not run this test on other courses.

[jasonreg]

jasonreg I do find it funny that Foresights NVidia settings pdf was made in 2016....you think they could have updated it....or are is there another setting page you are referring to?

There are a few scattered around - takes some hunting and pecking for sure. Have you seen this one: Optimizing Windows Graphic Settings for FSX Play – Foresight Sports You can also read through this as well: Optimizing PC and Software for Performance – Foresight Sports And somewhere along the line there was a recommendation to ensure you had the latest .net loaded (which I did not). You can check here: Download .NET (Linux, macOS, and Windows) (microsoft.com). A few others you have likely seen:

• Updating the Geforce Nvidia Graphics Driver – Foresight Sports
• NVIDIA_setup_07182016.indd (foresightsports.com)
• Tips and Tricks for Golf Simulator Software Graphics - Carl's Place (carlofet.com)
• 🔧 How to Optimize Nvidia Control Panel For GAMING & Performance The Ultimate GUIDE 2020 Update - YouTube

I don't know where to find GPU or VRAM usage that you refer to.

Press 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete' to get to Task Manager. On left side, select the performance tab. Each of the metrics (CPU, Memory, Disks etc.) are selectable to click on GPU for details about GPU usage and FRAM usage.

I tested the 7th hole flyover today and still find juddering when in dual display mode. HOWEVER, when I took dual display mode off (within FSX Play options), the juddering seemed to be gone. which is good. Interesting to note that the RAM resource use was the same under single display and dual display.

I am running three displays all at 60 Hz off an extended desktop with Projector at 1920x1200 and the other two at 1920 x 1080 and Dual Display selected within the software.