8-10fps increase from just changing aspect ratio (good for 4K)

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
1

So, I have a decent system… but my 4K screen is a performance killer. I may have a “hack” to help improve performance and would like some thoughts.

First, my system is:

i7-7700k (clocked to 4.8)
GTX 1080ti FTW3 (11GB)
64GB 3200 RAM
m.2 SSD.
Dell 46" 4K 60hz display

Now, for the most part the system is sick… Even with the 4K screen. Call Of Duty Modern Warfare (about the only other game I play) I get insane performance at max settings etc. Understandably, ANY flight sim will not respond the same and I know that. I am a wedding photographer by trade, so this is why I have the larger 4K display for work. Otherwise I would consider a 1440p setup.

Anyway…

I got to thinking… “If I can reduce the amount of pixels being processed, maybe I can improve performance?”

So… I thought about running a custom resolution, just for the sim. (3840x1600) (close to a 21:9 aspect). This gives the black bars at top and bottom… BUT, also makes it a bit more viewable in terms of side to side viewing. Also, this is about what I would get if I got a nice 1440p ultra-wide anyway. So, I actually like this aspect for flying more vs. the stock 16:9 ratio.

So… the big question, is does it effect performance? The amount of pixels now being “driven” has been reduced.

UPDATE! So, after spending an entire day experimenting with this… I have come to some solid conclusions. First, running a custom aspect ratio for the sim is a REALLY great idea! The difference between a standard 16:9 and an ultra wide monitor is HUGE. You can see so much more like you would in real life on the sides. It more closely matches that of what your eyes would see. So, I think this alone makes the sim much more enjoyable. To make a custom resolution all you need to do is open NVIDIA control panel, and click on “resolutions”. I have a 4K display, and I went with 3840x1600 and this is perfect. It takes 2 seconds to switch from “normal” to the new one before you launch the game. Then, in game you can select the new res. from the menu. Its really easy, and well worth it… especially if you have a large monitor that you sit close too like me. (Dell 43").

Performance? So what happens when you drop 2-million pixels? Yeah, you get an increase. I am now seeing anywhere from 8-10fps on average improvement. This is great and REALLY makes a big difference. BEFORE this change, I was getting 35-37fps on HIGH preset on average. Sometimes a little lower / higher depending on place etc… but this was the benchmark. My ULTRA preset would give me 25-26fps on average. Playable in most salutations… but, not good for landings or some of the more complex planes. Depending on the place I would see a little better… but again this was the average.

So, after the new resolution I now get a solid 43-45fps on HIGH and 30-32fps on ULTRA. Personally, I really dont see any difference between the two… so, I will run on HIGH.

So, this “hack” has really worked well. NO quality loss at all. NO change of “settings” needed, and beyond the fps boost, you are also getting a MUCH improved aspect ratio for flying. So, I would strongly recommend people trying this. Obviously you should have a larger display for this to really have the best effect. Keep in mind, for me I am sitting at a desk with a 43" display right in front of me. So, it really makes great sense for me. The very top, and bottom of the screen is just not needed what-so-ever. and the Ultra wide is what I want anyway. In fact, I was even thinking of buying an ultra wide monitor… and I am so glad I did not. Because now I can “have my cake and eat it too!”. It really is great. When I am done the sim, I just put the res. back… and I now have a nice productive display for work. Really happy with this setup now.

Thoughts?

5 Likes
2

You have an FPS counter!
The one in nVidia Overlay.
And the one in the FS2020 SDK (need to activate the SDK, GIYF)

1 Like
3

Running things at a resolution not native to your display generally gives you a blurry picture, but I’d guess that this is less pronounced on a 4K display. The best picture other than the native resolution would be at exactly 1/4th, i.e. half the number of pixels horizontally and vertically but if you like the widescreen, that might also be a good option.

I’m afraid you’re just going to have to experiment. The good news is that you do have an FPS counter: In the settings at the very bottom there is a developer mode that can be turned on. This gives you a menu bar where you get an in-game FPS counter.

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4

If you set the scaling mode correctly, then it will work.

But there is also a render scaling option you can enable in graphics settings that resizes the whole image and “reconstructs” it to a higher native resolution.

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Sounds good! I will take a look tonight! No blurry results at all on my end. I was able to create a custom resolution in the NIVIDA Control Panel. It totally resets Windows for that res. Looks perfect, just adds the black bars.

This cuts about 2-million pixels… so, I am wondering if this is the key to getting better FPS. In terms of quality, it looks exactly the same as native.

1 Like
6

You can try run MSFS in window mode, I use lower half of my screen for flying, top half for everything else, you can change window size to fit your like and it will scale correctly, my running at 3800x1080 like 2 1080 screen glued together. try if that will improve your frame rate. (don’t look my frame rate, running on gtx 1050 :pensive:)

window mode
window mode3840×2160 1.12 MB

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7

Set render scaling to 80. Gave me an extra 10 fps and looks just as good to me as it was in 4k. It is still rendering at 3072. You can try setting it to 50, which will render it at 1080p but it won’t be as crisp. Still looks pretty good though. Just as good as a 1080p monitor would.

I use a 55 inch 4K oled tv for my display (LG C9).

And the sim has a built in fps counter. Just enable developer mode in the menu and look for it in the Dev bar at the top. I forget which option its under but it says FPS or something like that.

1 Like
8

The best performance “hack” for 4k is - right now - to buy a used 2080 Ti. Their prices went down like 50% last week. People are getting rid of them. Did that myself a few days ago, swapped my 2080 for a 2080 Ti. The difference is enormous. I can now play super smooth 4k in ultra settings. Previously it was medium / high.

This is of course assuming the rest of your hardware is already up to date. I have a Ryzen 3900x, 64 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 RAM and the game on a 1TB NVMe drive.

From what I read the availability of the new Nvidia cards will be very very low in 2020, so this is a good temporary solution for a few months.

9

How many fsp are you getting with Ultra Settings, 4K on a busy Airport and an Airliner?

10

I could use some help in this area. I have 3 75" 4k screens. Currently xplane11 works well in this but I have not come up with a solution for MS 2020. I have 2080ti which runs 1 screen. I could turn the 3 into one using nvidia, but now the other programs would require lots of transformation. Huge delima. I train on the Xplane 11 Daily and use the MS 2020 until we get all the bugs worked out. Open for suggestions. Looking at the new 3090 and a new i9 gaming setup. I must say graphics are awesome, but at the airport we are on a SLOW internet(7MBs) so still having a few challenges making it real yet. I brought computer home to 100MBs to load the 500gb cache hoping this will help the data loading. I use the UFO Roswell airport and the graphics need some help, not anywhere close to us folage wise. I know it is just time till all is the same.

11

I can check if you’re interested. Not really interested in airliners. I don’t have the time to master them.

12

Haha, yeah I thought about that too. That is a good point! But personally would not want to buy any used hardware, or spend the time or money on something like that right now. For me, I am now running some good performance from doing this simple setup. Details in my last post from the testing. Then, in time will buy the new 30 series card when it comes out and be set for a long time to come.

So, after much testing last night… my “hack” has turned out to be a really great thing. First, I was able to take my normal 16:9 aspect ratio monitor and turn it into a ultra wide. It makes flying, and looking out of the plane SO much more realistic. And now, I have added about 8-10fps in doing so. I really love it. I am going to update the start of this thread with more details…

13

UPDATE! So, after spending an entire day experimenting with this… I have come to some solid conclusions. First, running a custom aspect ratio for the sim is a REALLY great idea! The difference between a standard 16:9 and an ultra wide monitor is HUGE. You can see so much more like you would in real life on the sides. It more closely matches that of what your eyes would see. So, I think this alone makes the sim much more enjoyable. To make a custom resolution all you need to do is open NVIDIA control panel, and click on “resolutions”. I have a 4K display, and I went with 3840x1600 and this is perfect. It takes 2 seconds to switch from “normal” to the new one before you launch the game. Then, in game you can select the new res. from the menu. Its really easy, and well worth it… especially if you have a large monitor that you sit close too like me. (Dell 43").

Performance? So what happens when you drop 2-million pixels? Yeah, you get an increase. I am now seeing anywhere from 8-10fps on average improvement. This is great and REALLY makes a big difference. BEFORE this change, I was getting 35-37fps on HIGH preset on average. Sometimes a little lower / higher depending on place etc… but this was the benchmark. My ULTRA preset would give me 25-26fps on average. Playable in most salutations… but, not good for landings or some of the more complex planes. Depending on the place I would see a little better… but again this was the average.

So, after the new resolution I now get a solid 43-45fps on HIGH and 30-32fps on ULTRA. Personally, I really dont see any difference between the two… so, I will run on HIGH.

So, this “hack” has really worked well. NO quality loss at all. NO change of “settings” needed, and beyond the fps boost, you are also getting a MUCH improved aspect ratio for flying. So, I would strongly recommend people trying this. Obviously you should have a larger display for this to really have the best effect. Keep in mind, for me I am sitting at a desk with a 43" display right in front of me. So, it really makes great sense for me. The very top, and bottom of the screen is just not needed what-so-ever. and the Ultra wide is what I want anyway. In fact, I was even thinking of buying an ultra wide monitor… and I am so glad I did not. Because now I can “have my cake and eat it too!”. It really is great. When I am done the sim, I just put the res. back… and I now have a nice productive display for work. Really happy with this setup now.

2 Likes
14

Thank you! Yes, I see it now in DEV. Mode. Excellent.

15

Landing challenge 747 on JFK - around 25 to 40 fps according to the developer mode FPS counter. But everything feels super smooth.
4k @ Ultra.

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I also have a 4k screen and a 1080 gtx. I created a resolution of 2400x1400 in the nvidia panel which allows me to have good image quality and good fluidity. This Nvidia option allows good quality upscaling unlike the Windows control panel. You have to put your desktop and FS2020 with the resolution you created. Try it is great!

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Humm… you must not have a 4k display? I just tried this and it looked horrible. 4k is 3840x2160. So, keeping the 3840 is important, I just reduced the top and bottom for a wide view and worked perfect. If you reduce the other aspect… it looks really bad and all blurry.

1 Like
18

I run 1440p on my LG OLED TV and it looks mighty fine. This is how I get constant 60 fps with super smooth panning with TrackIR (9900K/2080Ti) with small planes.

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Yes, it should at 1440p lol. For me, I was speaking of this solution for 4k. Its a way to really speed up performance if someone has a 16:9 4k panel.

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I have this screen https://www.lg.com/fr/moniteurs/lg-43UD79-moniteur-4k-43-pouces, of course I no longer display in 4k so necessarily there is a loss of quality but it remains pleasant and the gain of FPS is clearly appreciable.