1.18.15.0 Graphics - RAM & VRAM Usage - Ultra vs Highend - Object & Terrain LODs 1 vs 9

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Edit 2:
New numbers generated.
Ran all configurations again checking Global Rendering Quality and UserCfg.opt LODs after a Restart each time.
See new Table below.

The numbers jump around and are confusing.
I have not studied the numbers a lot because I want to Post this update.

Looks like ULTRA and OBj & Terrain LODs each = 9 is still the winner

Also verified that:

  • Online Functionalilty = on
  • Bing Data World Graphics = on
  • Photogrammetry = on
    Traffic = off
    Weather = off
    Multiplayer = off

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
I just discovered today that FS2020 will change your Graphics Settings when the App starts.
I set the Global Rendering Quality to “Ultra”.
If I crash or just “Restart” the setting is not changed.

I end the App and return to the desktop.
When I run FS2020 again, the Global Rendering Quality is changed to “Highend”.

This is the only setting that is changed on the General Options "Graphics or “Data” tabs

I need and will check my numbers below to see if that happened then.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Using my system: i9-9900K CPU, 64GB RAM, GTX 1660TI GPU, M.2 NVMe SSD
. . .4K Screen Resolution on a HDMI 4K Native Display

8 Configurations of Global Rendering Quality:

2 Screenshots follow this chart of Memory Usage.
(Memory usage from Task Manager)

RAM & VRAM Usage

  • 1.18.15.0 - Graphics Memory Usage
  • Full Screen Resolution = 4K , 3840x2160
  • 4K
  • Render Scaling = 100 , 3840x1973
  • Frame Rate Limit = 30

RAM & VRAM Usage Table

  • Global Rendering Quality = Highend or Ultra
In-use Available Commited Cached
Highend Memory LODs=1 10.3 GB 53.4 GB 16.2/73.4 GB 9.7 GB
Highend Memory LODs=9 9.6 GB 54.2 GB 15.8/73.4 GB 12.3 GB
Ultra Memory LODs=1 12.9 GB 50.7 GB 18.6/73.4 GB 9.7 GB
Ultra Memory LODs=9 11.7 GB 51.6 GB 18.0/73.4 GB 11.7 GB
Utilization Ded GPU Mem GPU Memory Shared GPU Mem
Highend GPU LODs=1 100 4.8/6.0 GB 5.1/38.0 GB 0.2/32.9 GB
Highend GPU LODs=9 100 5.2/6.0 GB 5.4/38.0 GB 0.2/32.0 GB
Ultra GPU LODs=1 100 5.5/6.0 GB 6.4/38.0 GB 0.9/32.0 GB
Ultra GPU LODs=9 100 5.0/6.0 GB 5.6/38.0 GB 0.5/32.0 GB
File Size
Highend Screenshot LODs=1 1.61 MB
Highend Screenshot LODs=9 1.34 MB
Ultra Screenshot LODs=1 1.17 MB
Ultra Screenshot LODs=9 1.42 MB

4 Screenshots
Highend LODs = 1

new KJFK - 4K - Highend - OBJ & Terrain LODs = 1 - GTX 1660 TI, i9-9900K, 64 GB
new KJFK - 4K - Highend - OBJ & Terrain LODs = 1 - GTX 1660 TI, i9-9900K, 64 GB3840Ă—2160 1.59 MB

Highend LODs = 9

new KJFK - 4K - Highend - OBJ & Terrain LODs = 9 - GTX 1660 TI, i9-9900K, 64 GB
new KJFK - 4K - Highend - OBJ & Terrain LODs = 9 - GTX 1660 TI, i9-9900K, 64 GB3840Ă—2160 1.33 MB

Ultra LODs = 1

new KJFK - 4K - Ultra - OBJ & Terrain LODs = 1 - GTX 1660 TI, i9-9900K, 64 GB
new KJFK - 4K - Ultra - OBJ & Terrain LODs = 1 - GTX 1660 TI, i9-9900K, 64 GB3840Ă—2160 1.16 MB

Ultra LODs = 9

new KJFK - 4K - Ultra - OBJ & Terrain LODs = 9 - GTX 1660 TI, i9-9900K, 64 GB
new KJFK - 4K - Ultra - OBJ & Terrain LODs = 9 - GTX 1660 TI, i9-9900K, 64 GB3840Ă—2160 1.4 MB

SUMMARY
Looks like the RAM and VRAM usage is not much different.
FPS only changes very little.
Flight smoothness and handling of the WT CJ4 is identical to all.

Pure 4K Ultra and Object & Terrain LODs each = 9 is the winner.

I can only come to one conclusion. Which @Ess0ess has previously stated.

Asobo is doing the grunt work in the “Cloud”.

Copy to @MrTonySM. Who inspired the thought of LODs to me.
Which I now can have gorgeous Graphics because of his advice and contribution.

9 Likes
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Too kind sir!!!

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is this a good thing or bad? Am I correct in saying your internet connection and speed will determine graphic fidelity now?

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Thanks for this. It’s refreshing to see people not complaining like children and helping the sim grow.

13 Likes
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I have my cache set at 32 GB instead of the standard 8 GB. I have not been seeing the “popping in” like before, but this may have to do with Hotfix 2 rather than anything I did.

I think a solid connection and fast internet are “ must haves “ to get optimal performance.

1 Like
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Thanks for the question.
I’m kind of out here shaking the trees hoping something will fall or
whatever that saying is.

@MrTonySM started me thinkin about this LOD for Objects and LOD for Terrain.

Before 1.18.15.0, my LODs were set to 2 by default.
After 1.18.15.0, my LODs were set to 1 by default.
Asobo did something and changed it with the update.

And that is fine.
My Graphics were looking good. I could have kept that setting
and been happy.

But I saw one setting in the Options, General and saw it was
set to “Highend” also. So I changed it to “Ultra” and FS2020 was
okay with that.

So, I decided to run those settings listed to see where my Graphics
or PC would crash.

I’m now at max settings on my GTX 1660 TI.
FS2020 run great.

Low FPS but, my WT CJ4 flies great. Smooth. Great Graphics.
Running right now at CPU temp = 47 and GPU temp = 74.
With 9.3 GB of RAM with 5.8 GB VRAM (MSI Afterburner).

I don’t know.
But I can’t come to any conclusion except that Asobo FS2020
Programmers wrote some fabulous code or it is being
performed in the “cloud”.

3 Likes
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When I’m using 4K 100% render scale, ultra settings, and everything maxed, dev mode turned on, and stats showing, I’m rarely over 7GB system RAM and 6GB VRAM. Afterburner numbers are completely different.

Ryzen 5800x
Gskill 64GB DDR4 @3600MHz
EVGA 3080
Gigabit Internet speeds

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Because Afterburner numbers refer to the total resources occupied, including those used by Windows and apps running in the background.

1 Like
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I am now in my holidays place running in a MSI Leopard GP76 laptop with a 3070 in HD, Internet from my mobile in 4G up to 50 Mbits/s and it is quite OK. What I do not fully understand is that GPU memory usage for msfs seems to be around 5 Gbytes for all the post that I have seen independent of the resolution, HD, 2K or 4K. I will try in Septemer in 4K with a 3090, for the figures that are presented here it will be very similar. I see some pop ins in some landscapes, not many, when turning the head with trackir.

Apparently Asobo has indicated that there will be a slider to control de amount of memory to be used. I do not whant to complain much about it and try to see the positive side that is that Asobo seems to have the software now better under control after the SU5 (hopefully CTDs fixed soon) and hopefully we will see the results in the next updates. I have seen some CTDs but solved reinstalling the community folder planes.

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That was my point.

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I did try out a few flights with hotfix 2 last night. Overall, smooth as butter in LOD 9 Ultra except when camera views are changed, both interior and exterior views. Once changed though it did smooth right out. I noticed, as you’ve described that my RAM usage was not even close to what I used to use. I didn’t notice any popping in flight, but taxiing to parking after landing I noticed a shimmering in trees and bushes that were in close distance, like they we’re quickly appearing and disappearing. None of this is a game breaker by any means as I’m hopeful for more things fixed with WU6. I don’t have the fastest net connection 45Gb/s. But not the worst either

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There is a slight difference in draw distance, nothing to justify going from 1.0 to 9.0. Maybe it’s capped somewhere. I also don’t really notice any difference anymore between 100 and 200 in the settings.

All the pictures are too bright, I wish there was a calibration option in FS2020. It was already on the bright side before, only got worse.

1 Like
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4K is 8 MPixel. Regardless how many bytes per pixel are used, this will not add much to the VRAM usage. Texture sizes also don’t make much of a difference because the mipmap levels are used depending on the distance of the camera to the object.

What Asobo has done for SU5 is to keep in memory objects and textures in the viewing frustrum only, everything that falls out at the left, righ, bottom or top is discarded from memory. And has to be reloaded when looking left or right. That’s why panning creates stutters.

Asobo did a really great job here. Once we have sliders to control this we will have an even better sim as we have now.

6 Likes
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This is the problem right here people trying to play the game on 1660s on ultra at 4k .. :joy:. When it’s at best a 1080p graphics card.

You’re going to have issues if you push your card pass its limits.

Bet if you use the card the ways its meant to be used. You’d have better performance and you could enjoy the Sim more

Not every card was designed for 4k.

5 Likes
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Well, if he’s ok with the fps he gets I wouldn’t want to tell him how to adjust the sim options.

5 Likes
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Yeah true. I’m saying in general. I bet a lot of people are doing this and are having issues with crashes and stuff.

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You can tell afterburner/ rivatuner to show used ram from application

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I checked my CFG file where I edited the LODs in the previous update and they were not overwritten, I can see the LOD 4 for terrain and objections I entered before…

This 2nd Hotfix seems Ok here. But I think the upcoming settings Asobo will introduce to increase the LOD will be the ideal option. This way users will need to decide how to balance performance vs visible details.

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These screenshots look great, much better than what I can see on my 1440p screen.

What is LOD? Where can I see the setting? Looking forward to much sharper pictures.

Thanks.

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Thanks, good bit of detective work.
I did something today ive never done in the last few decades
Flew an approach into heathrow at 40-60FPS with LOD 5, in 4k.
The performance jump with this version is astounding and now we have the OAT bug killed it’s great.