FS9.cfg Tweaks
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Thread: FS9.cfg Tweaks

  1. #1

    FS9.cfg Tweaks

    This is a collection of FS9.cfg tweeks that I use in my config file.

    Feel free to add your config tweaks in this thread. Try and be detailed on what they affect if you can. If you can provide clarity to those I have posted that is welcomed as well.

    There are some modules that might get loaded with aircraft when you install them. These modules will cause FS9 to generate a message warning you the software is not compatible with FS9. Well that is wrong they still work you just need to add the modules to FS9.cfg file.

    Normally this section is added to the beginning cfg file.

    [OLDMODULES]
    FSSound.dll=1
    SOARRec.dll=1
    adf2mod.dll=1

    So you don't have any kind of head tracking installed and the Pan rate in the VC is just too slow. Good news you can change it here. In the controls section PAN_RATE=400 is the default. I change it to 800. 800 gives my system a good pan speed that prevents texture tearing most of the time. Can you go higher? I am not sure what the limit is.

    [CONTROLS]
    KBDAIL=64
    KBDELEV=64
    KBDRUD=64
    PAN_RATE=800

    There are a few tricks in this next section that I must attribute to Holger Sandman and a few others in posts that I have long since lost the links to.

    TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT= depending on your systems specs you can adjust this setting up to increase your system performance. This value you must adjust and test to fit your system.

    TextureMaxLoad=10 is one of the tips in the old posts I can no longer find. Now that systems are so much more powerful can we increase the load value and see any benefit? I don't know I just leave it at 10.

    TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=XX Where you set this value depends on the aftermarket mesh you have installed. For the default mesh use 19 that’s about all you need.

    For 38m meshes set this setting to 20

    For 19m meshes set this value to 21. Be aware that when you set this to 21 your 19m mesh will show up correctly but in the early morning hours or late in the day shawdows in mountainous regions do some strange things. This is unavoidable. Alternately you can set this value to 20 but your mesh will not show up as it was designed. Visually you may not be able to notice a difference. Myself I live with the strange shadows I rather like them.

    These next three values I can not explain why they should be set here. They were all in the old notes I have from posts that I can not find. I remember that the values that were stated to use were 4.0000 but I have found that with my system 9.0 works the first two entries. 4 is the place to start with then test to see which your system likes best.

    TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=4.000000
    TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=4.000000
    TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=4

    [DISPLAY]
    UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=25
    TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=100
    TextureMaxLoad=10

    [TERRAIN]
    TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=100.000000
    TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=0.000000
    TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=200.000000
    TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21
    TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=8
    TERRAIN_AUTOGEN_DENSITY=5
    TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1
    TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1
    TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.000000
    TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=9.000000
    TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=4

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  2. #2
    Change the appearance of runway/taxiway and approach lights; you know how these seem too bright out of the box..add these lines to the fs9.cfg in the 'Display' section; make the numbers larger (ie 1.1 > )for brighter lights; and smaller ( ie 0.9 <) for dimmer lights.

    Code:
    RUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=0.7
    RUNWAY_LIGHTS_VASI_SCALAR=0.7
    RUNWAY_LIGHTS_APPROACH_SCALAR=1.0
    RUNWAY_LIGHTS_STROBE_SCALAR=1.0
    ttfn

    Pete

  3. #3
    TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR at 100% is a drain on fps. Changing it to 90% eliminates that drain and you can't tell the difference. (This from Holger Sandmann)

  4. #4

    Lightbulb

    Hi,

    From pgaudet (Avsim)


    Hello all:

    I found this 'possible tweak' for FS2004 on flighsim.com posted by ZION in a thread called terrain.cfg and blurries.

    If you guys have already heard about it and/or tried it then my apologies.

    I've tried it and it looks promising for visuals anyways. I didn't notice any great improvement in FPS's but it definately didn't hurt them either.

    So here goes.

    First make a backup of your terrain.cfg file found in your main FS9 directory. The change isn't a big one so it shouldn't be hard to remember how to change it back but getting into the habit of making a backup of files before you change them is always a good one.

    Now at the very top of the file you will see a line under the [General] section that reads DefaultTextureCount=238

    Now to determine what to change this number to, keep scrolling down your terrain.cfg file and you see headings of [Texture.####] where #### is numbers used to represent textures used in the sim and they usually start at 1024 for the first one.

    So keep scrolling down the file to find the section with the highest number. Mine was 1261. It should be right before the sections for autogen.

    So now take that number, again in my case 1261, and replace the default 238 in the line I mentioned at the top that read DefaultTextureCount=238 to read DefaultTextureCount=#### (your highest number).

    Then save it and then go fly around a bit and report back on the success or no change or worse results that you find.

    Like I said it was NOT me that found this possible 'tweak' so remember don't kill the messenger. That's why i asked you to make a backup

    So let us know if this works out as we could possibly have a bunch of happy simmers if it does help us out.

    Again this is for FS9 / FS2004 and the terrain.cfg file found in the main FS9 directory.

    Thanks and waiting to hear your results.

    GaryGB (Avsim)

    NOTE: Do NOT 'add' commas to long numbers, and always keep same number of trailing zeroes in decimal places of parameter numbers


    The "3 Test Tweaks": (FS9.cfg)

    [GRAPHICS]
    DETAIL_TEXTURE=2 // 1 <-- Tweak #1
    TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=262144 // 256 <-- Tweak #2 (may vary with video card VRAM size in MB)

    [DISPLAY]
    TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=25600 // 400 <-- Tweak #3 (may vary with computer hardware speed / configuration)

    NOTE: For "Tweak #2", try multiplying size of VRAM on video card (ex: 256 MB) x 1024 to get this "test" parameter value

    Source:
    http://forum.avsim.net/topic/329728-...tweak-for-fs9/

  5. #5
    SOH-CM-2013 rdaniell's Avatar
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    Before my computer crash, I had changed something in the config file that made rivers and streams to have some banks on them rather than just being completely flat. Anybody have any idea what this tweak is?

    RD

  6. #6
    The first two sections in the Terrain.cfg (root installation folder) contain an "offset=" entry. By default, the values are both set to -10, which puts them into small valleys. If yours are flat, you may have added some terrain package that altered those entries.
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  7. #7
    SOH-CM-2013 rdaniell's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Clayton View Post
    The first two sections in the Terrain.cfg (root installation folder) contain an "offset=" entry. By default, the values are both set to -10, which puts them into small valleys. If yours are flat, you may have added some terrain package that altered those entries.
    Found it and made a small adjustment. I'm happy with the results.

    Thanks very much Tom.

    RD

  8. #8
    SOH Staff Devildog73's Avatar
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    I cannot find an FS9.cfg in any of my installs.

    Is it named something else?

    I have: devices.cfg/display.cfg/fs2000.cfg/NewScenery.cfg/OldScenery.cfg/scenery.cfg/scenery_ifsd110.cfg/scenery_ifsd111.cfg/Setup.cfg/suneffect.cfg and terrain.cfg
    There is no fs9.cfg I have searched my entire HDs.
    What am I missing?
    Devildog73

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  9. #9
    I have Win XP and for me the path is: C:\Documents and Settings\rob\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9. Yours may be similar.

    T.

  10. #10
    SOH-CM-2013 rdaniell's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devildog73 View Post
    I cannot find an FS9.cfg in any of my installs.

    Is it named something else?

    I have: devices.cfg/display.cfg/fs2000.cfg/NewScenery.cfg/OldScenery.cfg/scenery.cfg/scenery_ifsd110.cfg/scenery_ifsd111.cfg/Setup.cfg/suneffect.cfg and terrain.cfg
    There is no fs9.cfg I have searched my entire HDs.
    What am I missing?
    I did a file search for FS9.cfg. Mine is in a hidden file. Once I found it, I just put a short-cut to it on my desktop.

    Romeo-Delta

  11. #11
    In W7, the path is C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FS9 - I think it's the same in Vista, but I'm not sure. Either way, you'll need to enable hidden files and folders in Control Panel > Folder Options before you go browsing.
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