While Puttering Around Today...

[sc7500]

... I found something hitherto unknown to me ~ and so I share !

SC
__________________________________________________ ____

Steve Greenwood
http://home.earthlink.net/~smgreenwood/welcome.shtml

Simulator Configuration
Finally, something the sim user can control.

Microsoft has balanced the default settings in the software so a user with hardware meeting it's minimum requirements will have a satisfactory sim experience with a standard installation. They have also made it possible to enhance this experience in many ways. Most of these enhancements impose additional processing requirements, and compromises usually have to be made; adjustments to default settings allow us to allocate resources to those aspects of the sim that interest us most.

Using higher resolution terrain mesh is no exception. There is an undocumented parameter in the fs2002.cfg and fs9.cfg [AND CFS2.cfg] files under the [TERRAIN] section: TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL. The default setting is 19 and this is adequate for the default mesh supplied with the sim. There is not much data to display. High resolution mesh (especially 30m source data or better) improves the realism of the sim, but not all of the data seems to be utilized with this default setting.

By increasing this setting to 20 or 21, we can see a noticeable increase in detail; both sharper peaks and smoother curves. There is a performance cost for this additional detail, however....

[simonu]

Very interesting site, well found sc7500. cheers.

[Jagdflieger]

FS 9 originally was less detailed than CFS 2 or FS 2002 when it came to mesh resolution. One of the improvements to it was to do just this. I had no idea that it would work with CFS 2 also. I'm going to give it a try tonight.

[bobhegf]

I am still running win98se and tried it. It sure made things look better and there isn`t that much of a frame hit.:d

[dog1]

can we see some scenery images before and after with some PC specs please.
dog1

[PSULLYKEYS]

Thanks forthe HU SC..

[Wulf190]

how do I find the FS9 config?

[simonu]

how do I find the FS9 config?

Its in
C:\Documents and Settings\"UserName"\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9

be sure to identify which user account you are on, especially if you share your machine with others.

[dvslats]

Gave this a try today. The Airstrip is Tsili Tsili and the mesh is stock. First pic is a setting of 18, second is 21. Had a loss of four fps on my rig. I used this strip in New Guinea because it's a pretty messhy area. :mixedsmi: The biggest difference in these shots is the foreground. My max distance in setting = 25 miles. Also a sidenote, Flying this area before at the default 18, always had flickering in the screen when flying close to the ground. Figured it had something to do with these newer graphics cards. But with a setting of 21 in the cfg, the fkickering is gone. Go figure :ques:

[Jaxon]

Just in best Tim Tailor manner "roar" I increased the value a bit more - to 25, just for effect.
And guess what? It was useless. Fortunately noone was hurt :costumes:

Found this in the meantime:

"DEM" is just a term for the resoloution of the mesh being used, or the distance between the "points" that make up the mesh. This value is set in "TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL" where the values are:

18 = 150m DEM
19 = 79m DEM
20 = 37m DEM
21 = 19m DEM

19m DEM is currently the highest supported.

Whatever, a nice find!

Thanks for sharing!!

[Corsair Freak]

I have known about this tweak for awhile. I thought it was known globally, my bad. :costumes:

In fact, it might be in Gary Burns' UK mesh readme? Not sure. All I know is I read it in someone's readme file.

CF

[Rami]

I tried this, it makes the mountains of Albania look a lot better. :d

[sc7500]

No thanks are necessary, folks ~ even a Blind Squirrel like ME can find a nut on occasion !!!

SC

[OBIO]

I also gave this tweak a try...bumped the setting up to 21, fired up the sim with Kahili as my base and fly around for a while (a bit hard to do as I do not have a joy stick hooked up to the old system and had to use mouse and number pad keys)...very very very noticable increase in detail of the mountains, the peaks were sharper and more defined, with only a very slight loss of frame rates (was flying the OH P-39....pre-update version).

Can't wait to get the new system de-bugged and running again so I see how much better the scenery looks on that power house.

OBIO

[Jagdflieger]

I gave it try as soon as I got home and tonight.

I'm not sure that I see a great deal of difference, but either way it doesn't hurt and I didn't see any drop in frame rates.

[Talon]

I've notice a difference while flying over N.G.


Talon

[Jagdflieger]

Good enough for me. I think I'll convert all my installations to 21.

Vive la difference!

[Wulf190]

I tired it on my rig, maybe saw a hit of 2-3FPS, not a huge deal and the biggest hit I got was with Malta giving me 25-23FPS on some occasions (no surprise).

Not a bad thing. I did this to my FS9 install of which all of the scenery is Stock, and it helped out a lot. Not perfect, but an improvement.

[Jaxon]

Jagd, Make sure your terrain-setting slider is placed right.
This made the difference for me.

[Jagdflieger]

Thanks Jaxon. They're all set to max. I'm sure that there is a difference and tonight, I'll confirm it by flying at the same location, but in two different ETO installations with 19 and 21 settings.

[OBIO]

I love the increased detail offered by setting the Terrain Max to 21. Even stock scenery and mesh looks much better. Thanks for the tip SC7500...once again it's like having a brand new sim!

OBIO