The current economic situation of increasing power rates is massive and unaffordable. Running a long distance flight on Microsoft Flight Simulator on medium hardware is not an ideal option anymore as it uses way too much power usage while the user is in idle autopilot mode.
We need an option to select “Low Power Saving Mode” during flight which changes all the graphics of the cockpit, scenery, etc to the old Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0 graphics interface. This will provide low CPU and GPU usage and less power and heat.
simplest solution:
open nvidia control center ( assume you own an nvidia card ), set a max-background-fps value of 10 , and then while you leave MSFS , open simple another application ( e.g. windows file explorer ) and bring it in front
( additional a good idea to set also a suitable max-fps-value )
Much better:
allways stay in front of MSFS and enjoy the flight and the good graphics , and shutdown the pc if you not sit in front of it
PS: if your topic is not meant for discussion only, more like a real wish, then it might be better placed within
Please let MSFS proceed flight in the background. Disable GPU when the app window is minimized.
That would make everyone on long flights save energy… and also… when you just want to stop the cooling fan
Doesn’t work for me, NVidia settings are clipped at 20 FpS lower boundary, and I’ve got low end graphics, for me I don’t even get 20FpS on most locations in MSFS… and my fan makes a lot of noise at 20FpS.
you catched me yes, lowest is 20… but is still sufficent for saving a lot of energy. I use that, if I fly and write e.g in parallel some posts here.
For me there is a decision: use the flightsim and simulate to be a pilot, which costs energy, or dont use msfs and then is the application off. I’am not a user which e.g. going to bed and waste lots of energy over night as only one reason: let the AP do a 12hours flight Therefore are the small tricks for me sufficent.
Also, for me the simualtion of long flights exist with: “jump to”. If users are not intressted to ‘enjoy’ the whole flight, they can jump to the end , or speed up the flight ( ps. I never used that ).
PS: also not forget: I meant the setting which is called “Background Application Max Frame Rate”
Ah so actually, your good advise is “don’t fly”… That is not an answer to the question. People want to know how they could save energy while still doing long flights.
The energy consumption (=fan noise !) of MSFS goes to ZERO when I press Escape and click “Load”, then choose load from PC. This opens the Windows file dialog to load a flight plan. When I leave it up for a while, my fan goes down in 20 seconds. However… when I do that, my flight cannot proceed. I am sure proceeding of the flight simulation model can be arranged, without CPU+GPU going more than 10 percent. That is the request and I fully support that.
I would make an addin for it if I knew where to start.
no … I mentioned ENJOY the flight, and that is with MSFS in foreground
I gave a hint… more I can’t do
yep… thats an old trick we know in forum. And because all processing is stopped, also the flight will not futuremore computed. I can not say what all is necessary to reach 10% system load only. Thats just a very low value, simple scrolling in browser or steam list can consume 30% or more ( depend on page ).
Also: to be sure… I wrote nothing agains saving energy ( I’am the people which wrote that new GPUs/CPUs are hardware wise worst, all power comes on cost of energy and there is no real new designs ) … I wrote only, how I personaly save energy and that I enjoy MSFS directly, and not while I’am sleep ( as example )
Ow I share your joy… I also do short flights, always.
But see above, read… some people fancy loggedflying hours, or they just want to cross the Atlantic ocean. You don’t sit behind screen watching cloud layers for 7-8 hours, unless you get payed for it.
And indeed, my 10% CPU wish is very tight… maybe it would be a challenge for MS/Asobo to do a full flying simulation in 10% CPU, I am not sure…
The scrolling you mention also has to do with screen I/O. My request is to drastically reduce CPU and GPU while having no screen I/O at all: the MSFS window is Minimized. No GPU, no scenery downloads.
Well it sure beats 600fps in the menus. My post wasn’t aimed at your desire to have MSFS running in the background, just folk like me that don’t like to cap at 30fps.
PS. 850 watt PSU but that’s with plenty of overhead included.
Today it costs me for electricity about $0.39 USD per 1 kw each hour. If my PC uses about 500 watts, the cost per hour flying would be about $0.20 USD. If I could lower my energy consumption by 20%, I would save about $0.04 USD each hour or about $0.40 USD for a 10 hour flight.
I consider my flying as a hobby or entertainment. Compared to my other hobbies and entertainment, the cost of running the computer is probably my least expensive item.
I know that power costs vary wildly around the globe and may climb significantly. My PC uses only a fraction of my electrical use so using a “low power mode” even for long flights would not be noticeable.
Time acceleration is an option here - it does increase CPU demand, but seems to decrease GPU demand (in long hauls you’re often over the ocean anyway where there’s not much to draw), and it dramatically shortens the amount of time the flight takes (and thus time the computer is running.)
Quite seriously folks (and I am NOT insulting anyone here), if you can’t afford something, don’t use it. If MSFS costs too much operate, don’t turn it on. Food is more important than play.
yes, lowest is 20… but is still sufficent for saving a lot of energy. I use that, if I fly and write e.g in parallel some posts here.
… I mentioned ENJOY the flight, and that is with MSFS in foreground 
