SU5 graphics quality

This is also what I’m thinking of in a certain way:

3 Likes

Did a flight above Grenoble earlier, big autogen city… Worst shimmering I’ve seen, really really bad, downright ugly. Tried to record it with my phone but didn’t really work.

What’s the easiest way of recording in such a way that it appears as if it would in VR?

What I did for the above videos is to take a video in 4K at 60Hz with my iPhone of the VR view displaying on the monitor.

Back again, day after day, with the same ridiculous, disproven (many times) theory.

You seem unable to grasp that the sim NEEDS less memory to do the same thing (OPTIMISATION) - it WILL (and does) use more if required. XBox specs are completely and utterly irrelevant to how much your system uses.

You have been shown how to resolve the ONLY issue you have demonstrated with a simple setting change, so clearly less memory is not causing you any problems.

If Asobo add a routine which simply increases the amount of RAM your system uses (and does absolutely nothing else) would that make you happy? :thinking:

Please bear in mind you’re comparing a DX11 implementation with a DX12 implementation, both of which are really but really not managing VRAM nor assets the same way at all.

As it has been discussed in the past, the more VRAM your video card, the more RAM the game will use ONLY because DX11 maintains a RAM copy of every single buffer and textures you’re hosting in VRAM (well not all but it is just to keep it simple enough here).

It is also the reason why many (maybe not all though) have reported having better fps with 64GB+3090 vs 32GB+3090 because of the 3090 24GB VRAM…

[HOW-TO] Graphics Settings and Performance Guide - Discussion Thread - #62 by CptLucky8


PS: last but not least, the DX12 model is meant for the app managing the backing store, the DX11 is all handling this for you. This also come with additional benefits, such as DX12 being more capable to support streaming assets than with DX11 (hence as an extension of this capability the added DX12U Direct Storage feature).


PPS: in my opinion all the discussion about SU5 limited on PC because of Xbox is moot until they deliver the DX12 version on PC. However it is not moot in the sense they’ve probably tuned the engine for Xbox limits, which is in any way positively impacting the PC experience by the mere fact they’ve had to further optimize their structures and algorithms to make it fit.

However, tuning for the Xbox hardware is not good for the PC for a simple reason at least: 100% of Xbox is using AMD GPU, 85% of simmers are using NVidia GPU (at least in the Navigraph survey). And this is a factor which you can’t ignore if the most demanding part of the code is tuned specifically for the AMD GPU. It doesn’t sound like something evident at first, but here is an article showing how this matters in practice. For example if the game is optmized with the following in mind because of the Xbox, this might not translate to any particular gain for Nvidia/PC…

https://gpuopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/gdc_2018_sponsored_engine_optimization_hot_lap.pptx

etc… all these papers are about optimizations based on the actual AMD hardware specific architecture.

5 Likes

I’m fully aware of what I am comparing. This is purely to refute (once again) the repeated and ridiculous claims that the PC version of the sim cannot exceed the specifications of the Xbox - in this case 16GB RAM. The image posted (along with multiple others) categorically proves this claim is a fallacy, but some will continue to say it - one in particular, almost daily.

P.S. I was also being generous as to the XBox’s memory availability, as it’s not only the sim that has to reside in that 16GB.

However what I’m saying is that we can’t refute, or confirm, because of the major differences in DX## versions, their handling of VRAM and RAM, and the game handling of VRAM and RAM due to these differences in API…

In other words, it is in my opinion too early to debate this subject, and even if there is a difference in RAM use, or a limit of RAM use, this concerns only a few of the SU5 graphics quality problems which this topic is about.

I am not commenting on how or why there may be a difference in RAM utilisation on XBox. Nor am I referencing the fact that the XBox version using the DX12 API would seem to be more evidence AGAINST the theories that a combined code base is responsible for the issues - since a fully combined code base is not even possible until the PC version is on DX12. I am not even speculating about the affects Direct Storage may be having.

I am simply stating that the PC version CAN and DOES use more RAM than is available to the XBox. This fallacy was first dished out just after SU5 and continues to be believed. It is not a point of view, it is not a question of perspective, it isn’t debatable, dubious or undecided - it is a fact: The PC version of the sim CAN and DOES use more RAM than is available to the XBox.

This I agree100% with you.

However most people saying it can’t aren’t saying it from a technical standpoint of measuring in Task Manager (or whatever) how much RAM the game is using, they are saying this on the controversial standpoint that the PC version is limited because it runs the code which is tuned for a resources limited Xbox.

I’m trying to keep a balanced view on this question, in other words, even if we can measure it can consume more RAM on PC, this doesn’t mean we can’t try to understand whether it does because it is meant for, or whether it is only a byproduct of the API the game is using for example.

In my opinion for now from what I can see and measure (and also because I’m vested in these technologies enough to understand this from the same perspective as an Asobo engine developer), the game is tuned for a certain resource budget which matches closely what the Xbox is capable of, but it is also having some leeway in the PC version to go beyond. Most of the “go beyond” you’re measuring though is not, in my opinion, because it is meant specifically for, it is only because it consumes more on the PC for two reasons: DX11 vs DX12, and LOD management which let’s PC rendering more objects farther. The core though is the same and tuned with a specific and same “threshold” in mind for both, and for now. This doesn’t mean it can’t change in the future either.

I understand what you are saying, but I am referring to the usage reported directly by the sim, in dev tools - so, directly from the horses mouth, so to speak.:grin:

I also understand your point about utilisation (though it is separate from my very specific point) and agree there will inevitably be differences in this area. However, at the same settings, and assuming a merged code base (where possible) there would still be the same amount of textures loaded at the same time, on each platform - and, while the Xbox architecture, along with DX 12, addresses memory differently, the actual number of Bits needed to store that data will still be the same (aside from a few tweaks and optimisations).

The BIG difference, depending on how (or even if) it is used, would be due to Direct Storage, as this allows access to objects and textures without loading into RAM at all.

However, if the code bases were the same, this would give the Xbox a big performance advantage, and would make reducing the amount of RAM the PC version can use, even less likely.

1 Like

I agree that graphics have been toned down. But to say that the sim is not recommended to PC players and recommend XP or P3D is just absurd.

Even as ■■■■■■ as MSFS looks right now, it still looks 1000x better then any other sim.

We have to be patient. When the sim gets enough time to be optimized, it will be the most glorious sim ever.

2 Likes

Ram is cheap come on adobo give us our ram back

I, for one of many, have NEVER claimed anything about RAM on either system. I have always simply stated that the fact that they optimized the code for the Xbox (which I totally get, they had to) has had a detrimental effect on the PC version of the simulator. Period. And THAT is a fact that can’t be discredited as their own forum leader has stated it in comments she has made on the forums. The hotfixes are 100% proof, especially how fast they were released. They knew they were screwing up the pc side and yet, they did it anyway. In some instances, this is a crime. Apparently because it’s MS they can do that. No one will fight them as they have, literally, unlimited resources. Does that sound extreme? Well, it is. And that is exactly how MANY feel about it. But just because it sounds extreme or ridiculous doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

One person that I Have ever seen talks about RAM and the already disproven theory. No one else is, that I have seen or at least remember. We are simply stating the fact that since the xbox release the sim for MANY (NOT ALL) PC simmers FS2020 is broken. To some it’s not a big deal. To others, it’s a huge deal.

That’s just my own personal .03c on the matter.

4 Likes

This part was in fact the only reason for that conversation :wink:. There have been users saying the pc won’t go over xbox limit. DX11/12 is irrelevant in that regards (but very interesting though! :smiley:).

Also even when tailored (which is not disputed by anyone as far as i have seen), but goes beyond explains there is no hard limit. Even when loading normally i see the used space go beyond 17. Hence, if it was a hard limit, there would never be more then 13.5 comitted as absolute max as the sim would never “virtualalloc” for more, the controller would just refuse if it did. But, i know you already know all of this :sweat_smile:

Even when showed and explained earlier to the same users (hence the ‘omg again?’ kind of response) in the most simple language possible are still holding on this disproven “fact”.

3 Likes

I wonder why some people here have so much RAM usage. I use approximately 11-12GB of my 32

I’ve seen it while loading, and after a whikee it settles back to around from 6 to 16 depending in where i fly and how quick unused items still in memory are cleaned up by the sim. I don’t know if there is long lasting ‘to be cleaned up’ memory or not by the way. I guess they try to clean up asap because of these improvements they made.

Is the next WU going to give us a bigger draw distance? My sim is all blurry in the distance and buildings don’t load until I get closer.

1 Like

I fear it will never be what it was graphically. At least before we had the graphics even if so much about flight and the physical environment was a mess. Now we don’t even have that. Given this game is completely reliant on streaming of data, which is quite an experiment, and it just doesn’t seem to work, we might have a major problem and I imagine there’s some very worried people at Asobo because the ever-increasing number of bugs must feel like it’s spiralling way out of control.

I really do worry something has been done in trying to create a common base for xbox and PC that has broken so much it’s going to be impossible to fix. The number of unintended new problems suggests they’ve lost control of the branches in the code and just don’t know what the knock-on implications of changing some things will be, so really bizarre new bugs show up every time they ‘improve’ something.

6 Likes

Let’s assume all the problematic updates happened before is caused by the parallel workload for both PC and Xbox release, so tomorrow’s WU will be their last chance to prove themself

You mean the SU?

The WU is a World Update, allthough it has some fixes (probably) for the sim. I would expect the sim (not the world) mainly to be corrected with SU, which is the Sim Update.