A Note on Locking Your FPS

[kc10]

I read all the time statements like "locked at 30 and I get upper 20's all the time". If you lock your fps above what you normally achieve in fps,you're defeating the purpose. The FPS cap is there to allow resources to be applied to other things besides reaching X number of fps. If you're locked at 30, and always get 25 to 29, maybe you should lock it at 25 or 26.
If you say it's locked at 30 so that you won't get 40 or 50 when you don't need it, well when do you get 40 or 50? At higher altitudes right? Less resources needed there anyway, so the fps lock is more usefull at low alt or on the ground (back to the 20 - 30 fps range).

[jasho]

Good explanation kc10.

[ant_1984]

Just to clarify with you kc10, locking the FPS does not allow resources to be alocated to other things, it simply stops it jumping rapidly and making the sim appear jerky. For example, I lock my FPS at 30fps because I constantly get thatin most situations and with it unlocked the FPS can jump up to 50 for example and then drop back making it not smooth. Image quality and what have you remains the same no matter what.

Anthony

[Zevious Zoquis]

Actually, for the longest time I kept fps locked at 25. Lately however, I've just left it unlocked and I find that while it does jump around a bit, I don't notice any stutters or anything and my lows are the same but I have the benefit that when I've moved away from dense/high traffic areas, I can enjoy framerates above 40fps or more. In other words, I don't note any negative from leaving it unlocked and once I'm up and away those higher framerates make for really nice smooth flying. :)

Something else I've noticed is that if I use fraps to measure the framerates, the readouts don't jump around nearly as much which leads me to wonder if the built in framecounter isn't perhaps a bit over sensitive to changes...

[kc10]

:-)
>>locking the FPS does not allow resources to be alocated to other things<<

"By limiting the upper end of the frame rate, the computer doesn't spend any more resources than it requires to render the selected frame rate. Resources not used to increase the frame rate beyond that setting can be used for other tasks like rendering clouds or drawing scenery in the distance."
Taken from FS9 Docs
FS9\FSWeb\LearningCenter\Options\
ChangingDisplaySettings
______________________________________
>>it simply stops it jumping rapidly and making the sim appear jerky<<

Yes,you're right on that one, it has that effect as well,and it is in fact more noticeable than the subtle,accumulated benefits I was refering to,which are explained in the quote I provided.

[kc10]

Now, on a side note, to be perfectly honest I see no difference in performance by changing the FPS slider, or by changing the AGP aparture, screen resolution, pagefile settings, texture_bandwidth_multi=??, and many others. But those with lower specs probably would.
I do see some improvements(I think) with the FSW clouds, and by limiting certain sliders.

[zoynyne]

I used the FPS limiter religiously in FS2002.

It seemed to work just as the 2004 one is claimed to.

But in FS2004 I've (after an extensive amount of experimentation) discovered that the FPS limiter does only one thing. (on the 3 computers I've experimented with anyway)

It limits the FPS.

It will SLOW texture rendering down.

It will NOT help with stutter.

Only proper setting of the graphics sliders accomplishes that over here...

In FS2002 I never EVER flew without an FPS cap in place.

The exact number would change for different types of flying, but it was always in use.

In FS2004 I finally learned to do the exact opposite.

It stays at unlimited, as there are no gains in ANYTHING to be had by limiting it, and plenty of FPS to lose.

This has been my experience with a 1.4ghz rig, a 2ghz rig, and a 3.8 (not a typo) rig.

Each rig had components of similar class to the processor installed.

Now start talking real low end rigs - no experience there so no comment.

[kc10]

that's the wrong way to use the cap.
So to clarify, either unlock the fps, or set it properly and hope it's doing some good. :-lol

[Bigshot]

Mine runs better with unlocked framerates. Just the opposite of FS2k2.