(NDU registry change) Increase performance immediately! AMAZING!

The MSFS SDK Documentation has a lot of information for developers to create objects with correct levels of detail. The dynamic LOD is based on distance. For example a tree should not have much detail at 40,000 ft compared to 100 ft. The documentation describes how developers should optimize LOD to prevent memory and performance impacts. There is no guarantee that developers have optimized their products except through user community feedback.

This helps to explain why some users see improvements with this “fix” and other “fixes” while others do not.

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I don’t know but I have a 3070 and i9-11900KF and use 400 with 30% CPU 90% GPU @400

In my case I’m running 400 terrain on 4k resolution with my i9 9900k and a RTX 2080ti on ultra graphics + slight Reshade with ~30fps in general. Anyway I tweaked many settings in my drivers directly (NV Control Panel) like:

  • disabled shader cache
  • enabled low latency mode (Ultra)
  • making use of DSR, increasing ai upscaled resolution by 1.5x (DL) while decreasing render scale in MSFS to 80 (so I’ll get my native display resolution)

thats not what I meant with a feature like:

The rules behind LOD should not changed ( may be can optimized ) .

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as mentiopned, the location is important…
You can check fps at EDDF versus FLHN. And these 30% looks just like the cpu-limit. We should of course also aware, that LOD is not the only option. There are other airplanes, ground personal/cars ( ground desity settings), etc… all comes into the render pipe…

Most users eyes needs at least >25fps as minimum…

Example

3840x1600 , i7-8700k, 2080Ti ( LOD = Terrain lod , others at ultra , dx11 , disabled vsync for the tests )
EDDF, Parking 604 , Twin Otter ( cold ) , sunny day

  • LOD: 400 → 17fps ( gpu 40% )
  • LOD: 200 → 26fps ( gpu 60% )

FLHN, Parking 14 , Twin Otter ( cold ) , sunny day

  • LOD: 400 → 47fps ( gpu 100% )
  • LOD: 200 → 48fps ( gpu 100% ) ( just gpu limited now )

quick compare with Full-HD to check the cpu limit theory
1920x1080 native setting
EDDF, Parking 604 , Twin Otter ( cold ) , sunny day

  • LOD: 400 → 19fps ( just same , gpu 37% )
    2303x959 with renderscaling setting 60 ( want to come near same amount of pixels )
  • LOD: 400 → 17fps ( just same , gpu 39% )

By the way , DX12-Beta makes no difference…
And more foucesd to the topic itself, you will also not see any difference with the NDU registry hack.

Screenshots with taskmanager core view I can add if necessary.

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That perfectly illustrates what I was saying. Right now you cannot run this sim with a TerrainLOD of 400 in any part of the world that has any sort of complex scenery (photogrammetry, 3rd party payware, AIG etc) as there isn’t a CPU in existence that can deal with it. Under those circumstances you’d be lucky to get much over 15fps which isn’t playable in my opinion.

A little while back it wasn’t the case that the game was held back by the CPU. I read a suggestion in another thread that it may be a Windows thing, and that in the latest beta build of Windows the game seems to be much less bound by the CPU. Let’s hope so!

This is the thread concerned…

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yep… therefore we gave allways the LOD hint for current situation and hope that developers can do “some thing” in future ( but I also not expect a magic wonder ). Currently I set LOD to 400 If I know that I fly in middle of nowhere, and if I plan a “big airport trip” I set 200-230 ( think 200 is also the value in ultra profile ) … Therefore I find the idea great for dynamic lod ( set min fps and min LOD and game do auto adjust ). But I fear we came a bit out of topic :grimacing:

Not sure what you mean by DX12 Beta making no difference, no difference to what?
I have not used NDU hack or any other hack,I only put my specs out because someone asked.
I plan to fly those those airports you mentioned and will report back.
I do not expect it to help because I only fly low and sort of slow with the Baron.
Lots things affect visuals as you know.

EDIT: I tried EDDF and FLHN

EDDF fps 35 inside cockpit and 25 outside [third person] @ 2500ft
CPU 40% GPU 78%

FLHN fps 37-40 in and out@2500 AGL
CPU 33% GPU 76%

Sorry about the photo I have not yet mastered screenshots and this is my phone.
Everything maxed out.

People tend to fundamentally misunderstand LOD and assume a great graphics card will just power through it.

Then, they get mad because the sim stutters. I have even had folks get upset at me for calling it what it is, “User error.”

And it is maddening, because SO many issues with this sim come down to running the LOD too high, or configuring the sim for smooth flight instead of smooth performance on the ground.

Folks just don’t want to admit to themselves that this sim, at its highest settings, is still too much for modern, consumer PC hardware. Especially the CPU driven tasks like TLOD.

Then they get mad at Asobo based upon the false assumption that their computer can run anything!

For now, the fix is simple for most folks. They just have to swallow their ego and configure the sim for smooth performance at a large airport in a photogrammetry city (that’s where the CPU is taxed the most). And that means lowering graphical fidelity more than many here are willing.

Perhaps DX12 will allow for better CPU optimization because that main thread really does a LOT of work in DX11, but I doubt it will entirely quell the problem.

Really, you need a CPU with the speed of an advanced Apple, and they just don’t exist in the world of consumer level PCs yet.

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Same with me and I have a 2060 too. I dont think that’s problem with our hardware. Every game runs super well then people come to say it’s hardware?? Enough of that, the problem is in the simulator that needs to make a thousand adjustments to get it to work

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This really has nothing to do with Xbox but your post does reflect the conspiratorial stubbornness of many users, unwilling to configure MSFS for smooth performance in spite of knowing exactly what needs to be done.

And it requires some mental gymnastics like pretending an Ultra TLOD of 200 is just terrible on the eyes and only 400 will do for simulated flight.

It is easier on the ego to blame Asobo than one’s own CPU. Even though the solution is already in the settings.

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Your PC isn’t fast enough to run at max settings without the occasional stutter. You aren’t alone. Nobody else can do this either. But we can configure our settings for smooth performance and gladly receive our monthly payment from Asobo. :smirk:

That said, this thread is about another issue entirely. A memory leak that leads to performance degradation over time. Unlike what happens when running the sim with the settings too high, this performance degradation is an issue that folks cannot easily fix on their own by changing their in game settings.

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I tried this last night after looking around for forum posts describing low frame rate, stutters, and audio crackling.

I made the registry change and reproduced my test flights. Live traffic, players, weather and then turning them off.

Having everything turned off didn’t seem to be that much better. So after trying the NDU value from 2-4, it seemed smoother yes (with live turned on). But the audio crackling, stutter, and frame drops still exist.

9900k/3080 Ti - I even reverted my settings back to High, played with resolution scale, and made some hard tweaks in Nvidia Control Panel. I read somewhere a person reported their problem being gone after removing Nvidia Geforce Experience, so I did that as well.

So even after all that, I still experience pretty rough performance. I’m going to go ahead and say it’s the way the game is coded. It’s just not optimized. I say that because I’m obviously not the only one with beefy hardware having issues, and other games run fine.

edit: Check out the audio crackling from this video I shot:
F’n 'round in NYC - H135 - YouTube

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Hi,

well I mentioned DX12Beta , because some users expect a better performance with these setting and NDU I mentioned just because it is the topic from the OP :slight_smile:

A comparable test would be ( therefore I mentioned it ):
stay with the (cold) airplane at ground and best at exact same parking position I mentioned.

I add example picture:

That we get higher/different fps in 2500ft we already know. A bit strang is the fps you get in FLHN in 2500ft :thinking:

The registry hack completely solved my “Lost Connection going off line” error!
Also the CPU Core 11 100% lockup has been solved as well.
All is good now

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This topic is too big to follow.
Do you recommend that I do what was initially described?
I’m a conventional user, I have a modest hardware, 2060 super, 32gb RAM, I’m the type that is happy with my average of 35/45fps…

Well, the try is for free :slight_smile: … ( try it only if you familiar with Registry Editor )

Some users reports it helped to make some thing smooth or fix connection errors, others reported it change nothing.

I mentioned what the very old thing with this NDU was and if you not see any kind of strange non-paged-pool usage, it might change nothing… but who knows , our OS is “windows” :laughing:

Also, this old issue was a memory leak. So the change in registry should not have a “immediately” effect, because the “leak” takes time to fill the memory.

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Grateful! I will try without compromise with successes.

Hello Everyone. I’m testing SU9 now, and the issues with stutters and memory leaks seem to be much less apparent with this build. Bad weather, PG cities, etc. cut performance a bit, but not nearly as much as they did prior to this. I’ll keep an eye on it, but so far so good…

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I do also recommend turning off Windows defender by installing another virus scanner software. Suddenly my gameplay started to feel like I was on a 1989 computer. Stutter and unresponsive game. When i installed Avast essential free. This turns Windows defender off. Suddenly much smoother gameplay. :+1:

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