Low specs experience

Good afternoon everyone, this is my first post in forum and hopefully I’m writing this in the correct section.
I’ve managed to run this new MSFS 2020 and having a really decent experience since it’s release (even more than I expected due to my pc specs).
Which are the following:

Intel(R) Core™ i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB
RAM 16 GB

Even though I’m runing it at the minimums (between low and medium settings) if you check at the minimum requirements my specs are barely enough on the borderline, still my gameplay is great and can’t complain.
I would like to know if someone with similar specs as mine could share me your in-game settings or whatever you’d like so I can improve my gameplay in terms of performance / quality. Maybe I’m missing something so I can add or remove some features to have even a better experience.
I would really appreciate your help.

Cheers.-

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I have a system similar to yours, I increased my RAM to 32 GB (made a big difference), have my Nvidia GTX980Ti as follows:
image
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But I’ve locked my FPS with Riva Tuner at 28, this leaves a little headroom on mu GPU loading for most of my type of flying. I still get hammered in heavy/complex scenarios, final approach to complex airports seems to be my main consistent bad spots, but I fly the FBW A320, working title CJ4 and the Aerosoft CRJ a fair bit and I’m happy enough with what I get. Once I’m above about 22 FPS I dont complain. This latest update has settled a lot of inconsistent performance for me, - hope it stays that way :slight_smile: Most of my in game settings are at High, clouds at Ultra are a big hitter for me so thats at High. Vsync ingame is off. I’ll try post my ingame settings a little later.

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image

Lens Flare ON, Glass cockpit refresh rate Medium.

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I’m using driver version 457.51, which is going back a bit but I found some of the later driver versions did not help at all, so I reverted, and dont plan on changing that unless I get a good reason.

My system is also low-end, and I have found that the best way to optimize the flying experience is first to decide what minimum FPS you can live with. A system like yours will likely be somewhere between 20-30FPS. To do this:
1.) Turn of VSYNC in MSFS
2.) Set all your Nvidia Control Panel settings to “default”, with following exceptions.
3.) Under Global Settings, Turn on VSYNC
4.) Under Global Settings, Select your desired FPS
5.) Under Global Settings, Power Mgt. Mode, Select Prefer Maximum Performance
6.) In MSFS adjust and test the graphics settings to what you like the best in flight, but NEVER allow your FPS to deviate at all from your selected, achievable target FPS at any time during your flight. Your FPS should be locked horizontally in a solid, straight line. This will prevent the dreaded “stutters”!

I have found that the easiest way to do this is by activating the “Performance Monitor” in the Xbox Game Bar and pinning it to the desktop during flight.

This works well for me. Perhaps it might for you, as well?

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Thanks for your help mate.
Unfortunately, I’ve found this issue while trying to open the settings for the MSFS 2020 in the NVIDIA Control Panel as you mentioned.
Flightsimulator.exe will not open from the Windowsapp folder. Permission error

I don’t know if you downloaded it through Steam or the MS Store, but in my case I got it from the MS Store and there are is a “permission” problem as you can see in the previous link when it comes to adding the .exe in the NVIDIA control panel.
Anyways, I will compare and try your in-game settings if it works for me.

Thanks for your reply! I will definitely try it but there is an issue going on:

I will appreciate any further help. :pray:

There have been lots of folks with that permission problem, I’m sure if you search the forum here, or Avsim, you’ll get some guidance on that one. There are 9 Flight sim options in my pulldown selection menu to choose from, the correct one, I’m sure you know, is just named:
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Microsoft Flight Simulator).

Another thing that I did was to install the sim on an M.2 drive, while I dont think it has a massive impact on performance it does help, and it all adds up. I also tried to optimise settings in my motherboard BIOS to get as much as I can out of my RAM and CPU (core i7 4790), its not overclocked (locked CPU, but more stable than an unlocked version I have and well in control of the temperatures) but it runs up to max capacity , as far as I am able to set it anyway, runs up to ~ 4 GHz.
And I forgot to emphasise, I usually get 28 FPS fairly consistently, until I hit the trouble conditions, complex airports, wierd MSFS FPS black hole zones etc. I am very pleased with this out of such a “slow” system.

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I’m using a 2nd generation i7 2600K processor, 16GB RAM and GTX970 2GB with a rendering scale 80 and a mix of MEDIUM and HIGH in the graphic settings. Stable 30fps in most situations. Overall performance is better on the FS2020 than on the FSX.

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You mention the Rendering Scale, which is a good point, I found it to be a key player in my setup. I started out on a 3440x1440 widescreen which at 100% Rendering Scale was running my GPU flat out and panting, so I had to knock it back to 80% which helped the load/FPS situation but then the cockpit instrument numbers/texts were kinda too blurry for my eye, so I had the opportunity to switch to a 2560x1440 screen and now I can set the Render Scale back to 100, looks much better in the cockpit and the FPS is acceptable. I do prefer the wider screen aspect, but that’s not to be for now.

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I find that the Rendering Scale does have a big impact on the overall sustainable FPS rate for my low-ender. BUT I too, don’t care for the poorer legibility of the cockpit instruments that results. FPS vs. realisim is a real battle for our low-end machines, but I’ve GOT to be able to read the instruments!
:persevere:

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Thanks! Can you please share with me your exact in-game settings? I would be very grateful.

Anyone have found something related to this issue? I only need to add the “.exe” to the NVIDIA Control Panel. Since I’ve downloaded it through the MS Store it seems that this is one of the many annoying things Microsoft Store has. It wasn’t that easy to find the files route

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.9.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
(Which is obviously different and easier to find if you got it from Steam)

… and when I tried to open the “WindowsApps” folder the permission problem appeared. Somehow, I was able to open the folder but when trying to run or trying to add the “.exe” file, unfortunately I had to stop and leave the NVIDIA settings for the moment.

I cant access the WindowsApps folder from the File Explorer, but I can from within the Nvidia control panel via the ADD/BROWSE buttons, cant you?

If you’re looking for performance optimization, have a look at [FIXED] Random CTDs due to internet and hardware issues . The title might sound like it’s only related to crashing issues, but overall the steps depicted in that thread are helping to increase performance.

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Well, I thought perhaps someone else might benefit from my many hours of testing and optimizing my low-end HW.

So, I made a little video of my present MSFS Graphics and NVidia Control Panel settings.

My specs:
Lenovo Legion Y520
I7-7700HQ 2.8GHZ
GTX 1050ti, driver V. 465.89
16GB RAM
Windows 10 Home (V. 20H2)
Dell 27", 1080P, 74.9Hz Vertical Refresh Rate

My latest findings:

  1. NVidia Control Panel - Set everything to default. No need to change anything in the GPU control panel since MSFS meets my system’s 25FPS “sweet-spot” with the following settings.

  2. MSFS - Vsync-On, FPS-20 (Nevertheless the Xbox Game Bar “Performance” tab displays a rock-solid 25FPS!)

  3. Photogrammetry either on or off - has no effect on my jitter-free 25 FPS, even at London City Airport.

  4. HAG-On, Game Mode-On

Some might have issues with my TLOD=10 and OLOD=10. Try it, you just might be surprised!
Tweak any or all of my MSFS Graphics settings to taste, keeping in mind that these are just what gives ME the smoothest, stutter free, no-CTDs experience with the current MSFS release (1.14.6.0).

FYI, I have zero tolerance for stutters! Others might not mind them… I actually see videos on this forum and on YouTube, where folks don’t seem too concerned, if at all. I HATE stutters, just as badly as many in this forum rightfully HATE CTD’s.

So, this set-up of mine creates a happy, albeit compromised, stutter-free experience for me!

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I’ve tried today and somehow, the ‘Microsoft Flight Simulator’ finally appeared in the tab list! Thanks mate. Now I’m going to start testing the different settings you all shared, if anyone else would like to share theirs, that would be great too.

Wonderful, thanks a lot mate!!

I’ve added your post to my list of useful performance related posts ([FIXED] Random CTDs due to internet and hardware issues - #4 by AmbitiousPilots).

Nice that you’ve got FS running well on your PC :+1:

One question, did you overclock your monitor to achieve that ~74Hz refresh rate?

Another important thing for people to know would be which Nvidia driver version you’re running on.

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