Frame Rates

[CaptainKeith]

Does the new FSUIPC module have any effect on framerates in fs9? I have the limited version from a payware plane but wanted to know if the full version would impact frames? I wonder if the full version would enhance frames over the limited version as it seems i lost a few when the module got installed with my plane.

[Pete Dowson]

Does the new FSUIPC module have any effect on framerates in fs9? I have the limited version from a payware plane but wanted to know if the full version would impact frames? I wonder if the full version would enhance frames over the limited version as it seems i lost a few when the module got installed with my plane.

There should be no measurable effect on FS performance whatsoever. If you noticed any with your aircraft using FSUIPC it will either be because it is actually doing more (as with any sophisticated panels, you don't expect them to perform as well as the simple ones), or because it is not registering its access correctly and causing multiple module searches in memory to identify it -- the FSUIPC Log may indicate if that is happening. In the latter case, yes, user registration will stop that happening -- but the aircraft's programming should really be fixed in any case.

Registering FSUIPC as a user gives you access to many options, but doesn't in itself make FSUIPC do any more work, or any less. Obviously, if you enable options they will become active, but they are almost all event driven actions, not continual processes.

The only continual processes in FSUIPC are those for populating values for applications to read which are otherwise not made available in FS's globals DLL. Even then they are actions triggered by events -- in this case a new frame, or the "nth" new frame, where the value of "n" varies according to the priority of the variable type -- primary flight indications like AI, VSI and ASI are refreshed every frame whereas many of the engine indications like vibration and hydraulic fluid pressure and temperature are refreshed far less often.

But, in any case, all those actions are being performed whether or not you user-register the program. They have to be in case any application needs to read them.

A lot of thought goes into the design, to ensure minimal impact on performance, and it is written in a mixture of tight C code and Assembler for best performance too. I've never managed to measure an impact or more than about half a frame per second, and just enabling, say, the visibility limits, gives you back a lot more than that straight away (though I must admit the view distances have less effect in FS2004 than they did in FS2002 and FS2000).

Regards,

Pete

[CaptainKeith]

Thanks Pete. Well I have the PMDG 737NG and noticed the slow down after it was installed. The slowdown is not just when using the plane (hardly ever use it) but all the time thereafter.

I will go ahead and just buy your full package anyway. As you say enabling the visibility limits may help more then anything. I honestly think something is not registering correctly but I can be sure. I also have the AOG weather reather radar but hardly ever use it either and it as well relies on your module. I liked the module in FS2002 so I see no reason why I would not like it in FS9 :)

I didnt require it on my Garmin GNSv4 release however I may need it for the Apollo MX20 as it will have built in weather radar and skywatch. Will get with you on that when the time comes.

[Pete Dowson]

Thanks Pete. Well I have the PMDG 737NG and noticed the slow down after it was installed. The slowdown is not just when using the plane (hardly ever use it) but all the time thereafter.

PMDG installs a DLL into the FS Modules folder, which is always running. Try removing that and re-check your frame rates without their aircraft.

I honestly think something is not registering correctly but I can be sure.

Check the FSUIPC Log file, as I suggested. Also make sure you are using FSUIPC version 3.30. If not, please update.

I also have the AOG weather reather radar but hardly ever use it either and it as well relies on your module. I liked the module in FS2002 so I see no reason why I would not like it in FS9 :)

Is that an external EXE or a DLL or Gauge? If the latter, then that's more activity to affect frame rates.

Regards,

Pete

[ronzie]

If the Apollo MX20 is a Reality-XP product, they will use their own interface to FS.

If FSUIPC provides more activity from various applications, then that of course from the apps themselves can further load down the CPU.

The more demanding the environment (such as FS9 with its 3D cloud modeling and local weather writes) or the demand of aircraft model detail and function, plus any additional demands placed on the system by weather add-ons such as AS2004 and its use of more weather writes (local), the more taxing on the CPU and the closer you are to the performance limitations of your particular system.

What Pete is saying (if I am correct) that for the most part, the activity of FSUIPC itself is very efficient in monitoring the FS environment and remains a stable load in that area. If an app is using it as its control interface, than it must do a little more as requested, but the additional application activity now made available by the presence of FSUIPC creates the much heavier portion of the CPU load, not FSUIPC itself.

[CaptainKeith]

Well I will most definetly check out those PMDG modules. Ever since i installed the 737mg i seem to get the stutter and sometimes low frames and i have a 3GH htperthreading PC with Serial ata hdd and ATI 9800 video card so everything is fin on the hardware end. I will bet its that 737. I always get an fmc disconnect in flight as well. Very dissapointed in it because they never answer my support questions. Oh well we live and learn.

[CaptainKeith]

Pete,

I ordered your registered copy over at simmarket this evening. Hope to get it soon. Thanks for the tip. I removed the pmdg options module and even though the pmdg menu dissapeared from the menu bar the plane still loads and things seem to have picked back up again. I am looking forward to using the new features in the module. I havent used it since FS2002 but loved it than and am sure I will love it now as well.

Thanks again!