Smooth Motion for RTX 40XX/50XX - worth it for MSFS? Testing and impressions

User Support Hub Install, Performance & Graphics
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With NVIDIA driver version 581.08, the NVIDIA app added support for Smooth Motion for RTX 40XX series GPUs. Previously, Smooth Motion was only available for the 50XX series. I’m creating this thread at the request of user @Nikita

You might be wondering: what is Smooth Motion?

Enabling Smooth Motion in NVIDIA App

NVIDIA Smooth Motion is a new driver-based AI model that delivers smoother gameplay by inferring an additional frame between two rendered frames. For games without DLSS Frame Generation, NVIDIA Smooth Motion is a new option for enhancing your experience on GeForce RTX 40/50 Series GPUs.

To enable NVIDIA Smooth Motion, select a compatible DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 game in Graphics > Program settings. Scroll down the list of options on the right to reach “Driver Settings”, and switch Smooth Motion on.

NVIDIA Smooth Motion can be applied to games running at native resolution, with super resolution technologies, or with other scaling techniques, typically doubling the perceived frame rate.

Source https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5621

So - generally, Smooth Motion is useful if you have low FPS in games that don’t support DLSS and/or Frame Generation. Since MSFS already has those, it’s up to you whether you prefer to use Smooth Motion or stick with DLSS and Frame Generation in MSFS settings.

Smooth Motion generates fake frames, so it’s not really for me. If my eyes can spot fake frames in MSFS with FG enabled, they’ll probably spot them in Smooth Motion too, right? :smiley:

To be sure, I’ll need to test it myself. I also encourage you all to try it out and share your results, as it might turn out that Smooth Motion performs better than the built-in Frame Generation in MSFS 2020/24.

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It’s funny… my experience/impression is completely different… my frames are clearly higher with Smooth Motion and it feels smoother to me.

And on the point of fake frames… Frame Generation and Smooth Motion generate fake frames… but the FG has to be supported by a game, and SM runs via the graphics card/driver.

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I tried Smooth Motion with my RTX4070. Once starting a free flight my screen starts blinking pink color. De-activating Smooth Motion no more pink blinking.

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yup - same (msfs 2020). Blinking pink already during loadingscreens…

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Thanks for creating this thread @TenPatrol.

My questions are;

  1. Can this be turned on/off from the NVIDIA Control Panel (or Inspector) for those that don’t like the NVIDIA App?

  2. For those running multi monitor (multi render window) setups does Smooth Motion get applied to each render window? With FSR Frame Generation this does occur, however with NVIDIA Frame Generation it does not, with only the main/primary display receiving fake frames.

  3. Anybody able to comment on how much artifacting Smooth Motion induces versus FSR or DLSS Frame Generation? For me with FSR FG, my aircraft shadow when taxiing stutters a lot as does the landing gear when on the ground. I understand this is a product of FG, just wondering if Smooth Motion reduces this in anyway.

  4. VR. Can this be applied to VR noting Frame Generation via FSR or DLSS does not function on VR.

Cheers!

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You need to disable FG in sim… Otherwise you get theese effects… it’s conflicting…

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  1. Regarding Smooth Motion: if I enable it in the NVIDIA APP, it doubles the frames (equivalent to Frame Generation x 2), but if Frame Generation and Smooth Motion are enabled at the same time, I experience very pronounced flickering. So I’m not sure what’s best: go back to FG x 2 (which was what I had previously) or leave Smooth Motion enabled.

Same experience here on MFS20 and 4090. I did test SM and FG separately at a demanding airport in the Ini A350 and my conclusion is that my performance in terms of smoothness is much better with FG than SM.

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Thank you, SaffaJake812,

I reached the same conclusion as you did.

Better with FG.

Thank you,

Regards

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Some findings here. I have an RTX 4070ti running on an i9 13900K. I’m currently using DLSS and FSR Frame Gen. For some reason I can’t explain, the experience with FSR is far superior to that of DLSS Frame Gen, both visually and in terms of stability and VRAM consumption.

I ran the test yesterday enabling Smooth Motion directly via NPI and disabling FSR on sim for the test. In practice, the results weren’t bad, but I didn’t notice a frame rate increase. On the other hand, screen transitions and rotations seemed quite smooth. However, the artifacts are clearly noticeable, much more so than using Frame Gen, which, in my case, significantly compromises immersion. I believe that, as Ten Patrol mentioned, this may be an option for those who don’t have Frame Gen natively or have some kind of limitation.

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thanx for the great service, mate !

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Smooth Motion doesnt use motion vectors like FG does so it is simply not going to be as good. It also has the same performance hit to the base frame rate that Lossless Scaling has and native FG doesnt.

The main benefit Smooth Motion is for games that don’t have FG built into them

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I have a 5070 card and find that DLSS4/FG is the better option for me.

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Did you try turning off frame gen in game while using smooth motion?

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I have to correct myself… after several flights in different areas, I have now come to the conclusion that Frame Generation in MSFS24 offers me better performance than smooth motion.

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I tried frame gen off and smooth on its working no pink blinking. I have take little bir fps increrase

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seems to work ok (fs2020) in VR. none of the dlss glass panel blurriness, works with taa.

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Also works in msfs24 in VR no problems I use it with TAA locked frames at 40fps and get a solid 80fps with smooth motion.

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So guys; what’s better in your opinion: Smooth Motion or DLSS and FG?

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With my 4090 and Vsync/gsync on, DLSS + DLAA I get tearing if smooth motion is on

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I’d say you probably shouldn’t use DLSS if you have Smooth Motion on. Better to use one or the other.