08.03.2024 - Terrain Development Report

[Graphics]

 
08 March 2024

 

Dear Fighter Pilots, Partners and Friends, 

[Tom Kazansky]

1 hour ago, BIGNEWY said:

Our task was to create a flexible system focused on utilizing and saturating an increasing number of compute cores in modern GPUs.

The new scenery compute system achieved our ambitious goals of:

• increased GPU performance
• improved VRAM management
• increased CPU performance
• improved streaming from storage disk to VRAM with optimised CPU usage

Well done indeed! Thanks a lot! Feels great so far!

[sthompson]

While I'm a big fan of the User File section of the website, I wish Eagle Dynamics would make it easier to navigate. The big problem is that the user files are dominated by skins. For example, if you filter to files related to the hornet there are 2276 hits (as of a few minutes ago), but more than half of those are skins. Overall, as of this morning there were 21,076 items, and over half -- 12,126 -- are skins. That's more than 4 times the number of single missions, which is the next largest category.

This makes it hard to find other content. When I search I'm not interested in skins typically, but would really like to know what else there is. I realize I can filter by Type, but if I want to see everything except skins that requires 12 separate searches for each of the other types that appear related to the Hornet. Some more flexible filtering would be very welcome.

[BIGNEWY]

29 minutes ago, sthompson said:

While I'm a big fan of the User File section of the website, I wish Eagle Dynamics would make it easier to navigate. The big problem is that the user files are dominated by skins. For example, if you filter to files related to the hornet there are 2276 hits (as of a few minutes ago), but more than half of those are skins. Overall, as of this morning there were 21,076 items, and over half -- 12,126 -- are skins. That's more than 4 times the number of single missions, which is the next largest category.

This makes it hard to find other content. When I search I'm not interested in skins typically, but would really like to know what else there is. I realize I can filter by Type, but if I want to see everything except skins that requires 12 separate searches for each of the other types that appear related to the Hornet. Some more flexible filtering would be very welcome.

We have added new filters over the years, but it also means some older files may not be tagged correctly or be missing tags that would help sort them. Owners of the files can edit the files and update them if they wish to, which will help with searches. 

thanks

[sthompson]

6 minutes ago, BIGNEWY said:

We have added new filters over the years, but it also means some older files may not be tagged correctly or be missing tags that would help sort them. Owners of the files can edit the files and update them if they wish to, which will help with searches. 

thanks

The reply suggests that I wasn't clear, so let me be more specific about what I was wishing for. Right now I can display all file types, or just one file type, but I cannot filter to any subset in between those two extremes. That's what I'm looking for. Seems like coding this would be a trivial exercise. One approach would be to have a set of check boxes for desired file types instead of a drop down "choose one" list.

[Hiob]

Basically he asks for an exclude function.

An idea that I absolutely agree on!

[MAXsenna]

Basically he asks for an exclude function.
An idea that I absolutely agree on!

Yes! And please let us exclude fictional liveries!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[Hiob]

Just now, MAXsenna said:

Yes! And please let us exclude fictional liveries!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

That will be difficult I assume, unless the creator flags it as such……

[MAXsenna]

That will be difficult I assume, unless the creator flags it as such……

Wrong wording by me. I meant, let's have a separate category for fictional liveries, (which we can exclude).

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[hreich]

Sorry I don't get the "The new scenery compute system" / Terrain Scenery Development Report  part - is this now live in DCS , or should i update (but there is no update for me available) or is it going to be available in a couple of weeks? 

Edited March 8, 2024 by hreich

[BIGNEWY]

13 minutes ago, hreich said:

Sorry I don't get the "The new scenery compute system" / Terrain Scenery Development Report  part - is this now live in DCS , or should i update (but there is no update for me available) or is it going to be available in a couple of weeks? 

 

already live in 2.9.3

thank you

[Shrimp]

3 hours ago, sthompson said:

The reply suggests that I wasn't clear, so let me be more specific about what I was wishing for. Right now I can display all file types, or just one file type, but I cannot filter to any subset in between those two extremes. That's what I'm looking for. Seems like coding this would be a trivial exercise. One approach would be to have a set of check boxes for desired file types instead of a drop down "choose one" list.

Also, some way of finding updated files.

Previously any updated file would appear again at the current date (on top).

Now the reference date is always the original and we must dig into the whole file list (usually I search the user) to find if any file has been updated.

[MAXsenna]

Also, some way of finding updated files.
Previously any updated file would appear again at the current date (on top).
Now the reference date is always the original and we must dig into the whole file list (usually I search the user) to find if any file has been updated.

I use DCS Livery manager to handle my liveries. It actually has a feature to check for updated liveries.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[SDsc0rch]

6 hours ago, hreich said:

Sorry I don't get the "The new scenery compute system" / Terrain Scenery Development Report  part - is this now live in DCS , or should i update (but there is no update for me available) or is it going to be available in a couple of weeks? 

 

 

yeah, same here ---- the newsletter was confusing 

i've spent the last half hour trying to get DCS to update 

[av8orDave]

Not only confusing, but I can’t say that I’ve seen a meaningful improvement in framerates since the last update. The newsletter suggests scenery rendering improvements in orders of magnitude, yet I’ve seen no real difference. What am I missing?

system: Ryzen 7950x, RTX 4090, 64GB DDR 5, 1TB SSD

[Nevyn]

15 minutes ago, davidrbarnette said:

but I can’t say that I’ve seen a meaningful improvement in framerates since the last update.

Yeah me neither.

[Tom Kazansky]

3 hours ago, davidrbarnette said:

Not only confusing, but I can’t say that I’ve seen a meaningful improvement in framerates since the last update. The newsletter suggests scenery rendering improvements in orders of magnitude, yet I’ve seen no real difference. What am I missing?

system: Ryzen 7950x, RTX 4090, 64GB DDR 5, 1TB SSD

I see/measure improvements in smoothness with maps and high settings that I couldn't even play before those changes, e.g. Apache over Marianas in VR.

[Hiob]

Regarding Performance:

I didn't make a proper A/B-testing, because I missed to make a reliable baseline test before the update.

However, I just flew around a bit over Gizeh/Cairo in the worst possible conditions (dawn, all the city lights still on, clouds, helicopter close to the ground) - a setting that would bring my 4090 to its knees beforehand with avg fps dropping to around 50-60 at times and 1% lows all over the place.

This time, with every gfx settings set to the max (DLAA, no DLSS), I got very consistent avg fps around 100-110 and 1% low between 90-95. Needless to say that that gives very smooth frame times.

I would say, that is a very noticeable improvement! (to put it mildly) 

[Bucic]

On 3/8/2024 at 6:54 PM, BIGNEWY said:

We have added new filters over the years, but it also means some older files may not be tagged correctly or be missing tags that would help sort them. Owners of the files can edit the files and update them if they wish to, which will help with searches. 

thanks

To me the biggest problem is the outdated filter entries, dating back to probably DCS 1.x. The version-related filtering in general needs to be reviewed completely. It makes very little sense to have a version filter while having a user file being visible only after the filter is set to the version the uploader set specifically at the time of uploading.

 

Edited March 10, 2024 by Bucic

[Hotdognz]

I think some of the gain in smoothness and it certainly is much smoother, has been at the sacrifice of longer distance views, I'm getting a lot more pop in now on grass at low level and power lines, also wire fences moving from low LOD to higher LOD even with extreme view distance set and LOD at 2 when in an Apache, its down low in a heli you really notice it and when in a plane ships and other city objects grow as you get near them.

I'm finding the settings from High to Extreme and the LOD slider don't make much difference at all to what im seeing in game, this is with a 4090, Pimax Crystal (Quad views), this is how I think they have been able to increased smoothness in the game by introducing lower levels of view distance across all the settings.