Dedicated FXO and Metashaders folders by map

[Mr_sukebe]

Not sure about others, but I still go out and empty my FXO and Metashaders folders following any DCS patch update.

There "appeared" to be performance issues resultant from having too many "aged" metashaders in the folder.

I'm working on the following assumptions:

 - The above issue still exists

 - FXO and Metashaders are "first populated" when you first attempt to run a mission on a map and those folders will include visual data

 - The different maps that we have don't use all of the same core textures, i.e. I'm expecting that newer maps are likely to introduce new textures

 - The performance issue once loaded is a result of the speed to look through all of the metashaders in the folder (or possibly even in RAM, if the whole folder is loaded)

"If" the above are true, doesn't that mean that:

1. As we get more maps, the performance will be further impaired

2. Couldn't we have a "common" folder of shaders for the aircraft and and the shared textures by map, and then have DEDICATED folders by map for the new textures?

If the above is the case, could the use of dedicated folders actually enhance the performance right now?

Just a thought

[5ephir0th]

But how a dedicated folder for every map shaders would increase the performance? DCS engine doesnt have to search where the compiled shaders are, he already knows where they are and their name, he just load on RAM or VRAM when he is loading the mission.

Its not "search for the file and load it to the VRAM" its "Load the xxx.fxo file that its in fxo folder"

Edited September 4, 2022 by 5ephir0th

[Mr_sukebe]

2 hours ago, 5ephir0th said:

But how a dedicated folder for every map shaders would increase the performance? DCS engine doesnt have to search where the compiled shaders are, he already knows where they are and their name, he just load on RAM or VRAM when he is loading the mission.

Its not "search for the file and load it to the VRAM" its "Load the xxx.fxo file that its in fxo folder"

 

I understand your question.  If the DCS engine was happily able to load the correct file if there are 100s of metadata files, then why is performance improved if we ensure that we clean up post any new patch install?

That suggests to me that the amount of metashader files that a sequential read looking for files, is impacting upon performance, yes?

If the some of the files were split out by map, then that would reduce the number of files that would need to be ignored, whilst searching for the right file.

It's only a guess, but that "might" help.  Would be an interesting one for one of the developers to sanity check.

[Nick_17]

its more about the content of the shader files than the amount of them. To clean them up after a new patch ensures a clean rebuild of the shaders with any changes that have been made to the graphics.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Nick_17

[5ephir0th]

6 minutes ago, Mr_sukebe said:

I understand your question.  If the DCS engine was happily able to load the correct file if there are 100s of metadata files, then why is performance improved if we ensure that we clean up post any new patch install?

Because they change something about how the shader work.

The problem is that DCS should redo the shaders if anything change but it looks its not, thats why you have to manually delete, but i think since months ago the updater do it automatically, but looks like sometimes it fails

[maxTRX]

Slightly off theme question:  Is there any reason to also wipe out DX shaders in Windows after major config changes?  Any effect on DCS shaders?