I’m seeing a bit of a mixed bag for the .8-build so far, but overall I would say it is an improvement over the .7 build.
I’ve been conducting some repro tests over Japan, which you can read here and here, as well as some other tests in the Boeing 737 Max between mostly large, highly detailed airports.
PC & MSFS settings remained the same as previous SU3 Beta flights. Only the departure & arrival airports, live weather, live AI traffic & multiplayer traffic (though I saw none) were different.
v1.5.8.0 Performance Part 1
What I’m finding is that live weather can have a significant performance impact on my PC.
At altitude (i.e. during the cruise portion of a flight), a drop in framerate caused by Live Weather does not affect the smoothness of the flight, as the “base” framerate is well above 35. However, if the framerate is low due to other factors - e.g. the complexity of the scenery being rendered - then the additional drop in framerate caused by complex Live Weather is enough to cause stuttering. This usually occurs during landings & taxiing to the gate at major airports, and occurred in the .7-build as reported in the previous post.
Preset weather settings do not appear to have the same effect. For example:
| Flight | Weather | Median Framerate |
|---|---|---|
| VHHH to RCSS Taxi (v1.5.7.0) | Live Weather, Thunderstorm Activity | 48.5 |
| VHHH Boeing Taxi Test (v1.5.7.0) | Live Weather, Cumulus Clouds | 50.5 |
| VHHH Boeing Taxi Test (v1.5.8.0) | Custom Thunderstorm Preset | 52.9 (+9.1%) |
I repeated the landing at Songshan (RCSS) in the .8-build. The build appears to have improved the performance during landing & taxi with a 14.5% improvement in framerates. The Live weather between the two builds was similar (though no thunderstorms in the .8-build). Unlike the .7-build, there were no stutters in the .8-build flight.
| Flight | Weather | Median Framerate |
|---|---|---|
| VHHH to RCSS Landing (v1.5.7.0) | Live Weather, Thunderstorm Activity | 44.3 |
| VHHH to RCSS Landing (v1.5.8.0) | Live Weather, Broken Cumulus Clouds | 50.7 (+14.5%) |
Another example - a quick 17-minute flight in the Boeing 737 Max from Gotemba (RJGO) to Tokyo Haneda (RJTT). This illustrates the performance difference between live & preset weather::
| Flight | Weather | Median Framerate |
|---|---|---|
| RJGO to RJTT Landing (v1.5.8.0) | Live weather, Cloud Cover | 34.0 |
| RJGO to RJTT Landing (v1.5.8.0) | Broken Clouds Preset | 49.1 (+44.4%)\ |
Part 2 to follow…