Finally Smooth Flying with these Graphic Settings

[toby23]

(Edit 10.07.09 - After more testing, I have improved the gameplay experience and updated this post)

 

After searching for months for settings that give me smooth flight with DCS Black Shark, I've finally found the following set-up which is giving me smooth gameplay in pretty much any situation.

 

I do not care how many FPS I get, for me smooth gameplay is what matters, but I now get between 30 and 60fps with these settings, depending on how much is going on on screen.

I can now fly low, fast and smoothly through built up cities without any problems with a butter smooth framerate that does not go below 30fps and, for example, around Gelendzhik a constant 60fps.

 

My set up:

CPU - Q9650

GPU - BFG GTX 260 216 cores

4gb DDR2 800mhz Ram

Win XP Pro SP3

P5Q motherboard

TrackIR 4 Pro

X52 controller

30" Monitor at 2560x1600.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I made the following change to \Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\Config\graphics.cfg

 

MaxFPS = 60;

 

I have always been taught to set to MaxFPS 30 but after experimenting, I get the smoothest results with MaxFPS 60. It makes a huge difference with TrackIR and my high screen resolution.

 

and the following changes to \Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\BlackShark\data\scripts\options.lua

 

["water"] = "1", (Optional - removes cloud reflections but does not affect FPS as much as in FSX, it's up to you)

["shadows"] = "0",

["effects"] = 2,

["terrPrld"] = "100",

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Below are my in-game settings.

Shadows are the biggest FPS killer for me, so they're forced off in the graphics.cfg file.

 

Textures - High

Scenes - High

Civ Traffic - Yes

Water - Normal

Visib Range - Medium

Heat Blur - Off

Shadows - None (See above)

Resolution - 2560x1600

Res. of Cockpit Displays - 1024

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

My Nvidia Control panel is set up as follows:

 

Anisotropic Filtering - 16x

AA Gamma Correction - On

AA Mode - Override Application

AA Transparency - Off

AA Setting - 4x

Triple Buffering - Off

Extension limit - Off

Error Reporting - Off

Maximum pre-rendered frames - 3

Force Mipmaps - None

Multi Display - Single

Negative LOD Bias - Clamp

Texture Filtering Quality - High Quality

Threaded Optimisation - Auto

Vertical Sync - Automatically On

(The final option - I don't know the translation) Übereinstimmende Texture-Clamp Off

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Thanks to the team at ED for making Black Shark.

 

Happy flying,

 

Toby

 

:pilotfly:

Edited July 10, 2009 by toby23
New ideas after testing

[btaft]

I fretted with this a bit too, what worked best for me was just switching to Vista and being able to use DCS Max and the affinity tool. It has really made a world of difference...absolutley no stuttering on my end. My system specs are not as good as yours but then I am using a smaller monitor as well (23"). Might be worth switching to Vista and you may even get better results

[slug88]

I agree with btaft. Switch to Vista or W7 RC, and you should be able to fly with all the in-game settings at maximum. That's what I do, and I'm using a meager 8800GTS.

[Fakum]

Whats W7 RC ? I have a thread in here that shows benchmarking results using Vista and Win7 and the FPS was much lower in win7 compared to Vista

[r-unit]

I agree with btaft. Switch to Vista or W7 RC, and you should be able to fly with all the in-game settings at maximum. That's what I do, and I'm using a meager 8800GTS.

 

 

 

I can confirme this as well, Windows7 64 bit offers pretty smooth gameplay and there are ATI and Nvidea drivers out there.

[Fakum]

Thats interesting news, have you actually compared frame rates?

I started tghis thread some time ago, and the results were clear that Vista out performed Win7 64 substantially. I would be very interested in information that would improve upon my results at this thread.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=39823

[KLaFaille]

On a whim I tried changing the max framerate to 60 and the effects to 2, and I can confirm that it made a large difference in my frame rate. I'm not running a high end system by today's standards at all, 2.66ghz core 2, 8800gtx, win xp, and 1920x1200, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the increase. I was running avg 25 fps, down to 15-18 when the shkval was uncaged, now it's steady at around 45 to 50 and 25-30 with the shkval going.

 

Thanks for the tip :)

[Fakum]

Ahhh,, we are talking Vista compared to Win7 with affinity tool, not xp vs Win7. But any feedback is appreciated.

By the way, I still have an unanswered question, what is "W7 RC"??

[MisterY]

By the way, I still have an unanswered question, what is "W7 RC"??

 

Windows 7 Release Candidate

[PhoenixBvo]

Windows 7 Release Candidate: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

[PhoenixBvo]

LOL, just too late... :)

[Fakum]

Cool,,, many thanks! I have the Beta version currently on a tripple boot OS (WinXPPro 32, Vista Ultimate 64 & Win 7 64 Ultimate beta) I will start bench marking W7 RC as soon as this weekend I hope.

[Buznee]

I started with XP Pro 32 bit averaging about 30 fps in the instant action mission, switched to Win7 RC 32 bit and gained 10 fps with the ability to set my affinity for my core2duo. I then installed Win7 RC 64 bit and gained yet another 10 fps, averaging now at 50 fps. I finally did an overclock from 2.4 to 3.4 (with an aftermarket cooler ofcourse) and gained another 10 fps!

 

So now I am at 60 fps on the instant action mission. So I pretty much doubled my frame rates with the only piece of hardware purchased being a high quality cooler for my cpu.

[Fakum]

Good for you, glad you got that increase. I got the same increase benchmarking XP Pro 32 and Vista 64, using the affinity tool. So yeah, its not unusual to basically double your frame rates between the 2. I want to see the diff between Vista 64 and W7 64 now. Thought I would get a chance to do it this weekend, but no luck

[Fish]

Just updated from an E6850@3.0 to a Q9650@3.6, and XP to Vista 32.

 

Game now looks and feels amazing. 1920x1200, with full cockpit textures.

[MTFDarkEagle]

Upgraded from a athlon x2 7750+ to a phenom 2 955 recently, made a BIGBIG difference!

[vortex360]

Upgraded from a athlon x2 7750+ to a phenom 2 955 recently, made a BIGBIG difference!

 

Why not take out a full page advertisement in the Tribune?

[MTFDarkEagle]

Why not take out a full page advertisement in the Tribune?

Lol :P

 

Im just stating that a better CPU will make a big difference since black shark is mostly cpu focussed

[jctrnacty]

Well this game is runnig smoothly with good CPU (above 3GHz). I love its smoothnes, something i am missing in FSX.

 

I hope A-10 will be smooth too , because stutter is really annoying in flight sims.

 

Any info about A-10 would be welcome, too bad that we will have to wait till december.

 

(Too much od smoothnes in this article :-))

[159th_Viper]

 

Any info about A-10 would be welcome.......

 

 

No Doubt Smooooth Sailin' atm.......:P

[sobek]

Any info about A-10 would be welcome, too bad that we will have to wait till december.

 

According to Wags, they're pre alpha ATM, or alpha at the most, so from their point of view, it would be highly unprofessional to come out with any system requirements. Also, what's the difference? Think of it like that: by the time some requirements seep through, the needed hardware will be way cheaper than it is now ;):D

[plane00]

I hope graphic option in which texture is not expressed, the number of polygons is reduced .(visual pleasure is abandoned)

because I cannot afford to buy high-end computer just for one game. :cry:

[sweinhart3]

What if you found 2 games? Could you afford one then? :megalol:

[Frederf]

I think I found your problem. Vertical Sync + MaxFPS30 means that only 30 or lesser FPS can be shown. When you increased it to FaxFPS60 then there were more options for fractional FPSs below 60 than there were before 30.

 

You might have the smoothest gameplay with V. Sync off and MaxFPS30.

[mobias]

I hope graphic option in which texture is not expressed, the number of polygons is reduced .(visual pleasure is abandoned)

because I cannot afford to buy high-end computer just for one game. :cry:

Ahh..but you still can by that high-end pc...just by another game dude! :megalol:

I think literally, I have over a hundred games now...i'm not rich, just started a long time ago...a game here, a game there....on sale, amazon, STEAM specials...you can do it to! Comon....go get the Orange box or somethin'.

 

:thumbup: