Graphic flashing when using tow bar

[joediamond]

I don't get any flashing with the tow bar, but the frame rate absolutely plummets when I use it.

I have the same issue. No flashing but the FPS drops to 5-7 when using the tow bar. Remove the tow bar and everything returns to normal.

[Molly - A2A]

Screenshots to demonstrate. Tow bar off, framerate at my external cap of 45:



Tow bar on, frame goes down to 11:



edit: Also just tried running FSX in fullscreen (with alt-enter.. normally I just run it windowed) and I also get the screen flashing everyone's talking about.

[Lewis - A2A]

Hey Guys,

do you notice the frame drop or is this more watching the red counter? I only ask as you are towing the aircraft at walking pace from the front of the aircraft so it must be hard to notice?

thanks,
Lewis

[joediamond]

Hey Guys,

do you notice the frame drop or is this more watching the red counter? I only ask as you are towing the aircraft at walking pace from the front of the aircraft so it must be hard to notice?

thanks,
Lewis

It's very noticeable. The actual movement is jerky.

[Molly - A2A]

Yes, it's definitely the actual framerate going down, and it's very jerky. Granted you don't need super high FPS just to push it around a few feet, but it's still odd.

[tomvaillencourt]

several of us online (DTP) are having the same issue.

I too have noticed this, but only when calling up the ATC window while using the tow feature.

[Lewis - A2A]

Noted

cheers,
Lewis

[lownslo]

It's very noticeable. The actual movement is jerky.

+1 My frames drop from locked at 30 to 7.5. A very consistent and jerky 7.5.

HTH

Greg

[Nick - A2A]

Hi all,

I think I've worked out what's causing this graphic corruption when using the towing feature on my system: it's forcing vertical sync in the sim.

I've always used FSX with v-sync enabled as the graphic 'tearing' is too distracting otherwise. However, I've noticed that with v-sync turned-off, I can use the tow bar feature without the graphical anomalies described in this thread.

If v-sync is enabled (either through the Nvidia video driver, or the ForceFullScreenVSync=1 line in [GRAPHICS] section of the fsx.cfg file) I get this behaviour every time. Just wondering if anyone else is running FSX (or P3D) with v-sync enabled and not seeing this effect? (Especially those with Nvidia hardware.)

Thanks,
Nick

[Lewis - A2A]

Hey Nick,

what happens if you run in windowed mode?

thanks,
Lewis

[Nick - A2A]

Hi Lewis - in windowed mode the feature seems to work fine - and that's with v-sync forced on in the video driver and/or fsx.cfg (ForceWindowedVSync=1).

Cheers,
Nick

P.S. Not sure why I'd bothered with the latter fsx.cfg setting, as I never really use FSX in windowed mode.

[lonewulf47]

Hi all,

I think I've worked out what's causing this graphic corruption when using the towing feature on my system: it's forcing vertical sync in the sim.

I've always used FSX with v-sync enabled as the graphic 'tearing' is too distracting otherwise. However, I've noticed that with v-sync turned-off, I can use the tow bar feature without the graphical anomalies described in this thread.

If v-sync is enabled (either through the Nvidia video driver, or the ForceFullScreenVSync=1 line in [GRAPHICS] section of the fsx.cfg file) I get this behaviour every time. Just wondering if anyone else is running FSX (or P3D) with v-sync enabled and not seeing this effect? (Especially those with Nvidia hardware.)

As mentioned earlier I do not have any framerate drops in neither P3D nor FSX using NVIDIA GTX 570 and 780 on two different computers. However some graphics guru once told me that V-Sync should NEVER be used if not specified by the application (no idea though what the technical background for this is). Nevertheless I never used it so far and never ran into specific problems doing so...

[Nick - A2A]

Oskar - talking of P3D, does it have the option to enable v-sync in the sim? I did use it (P3D) for a month with the temporary developer licence, but can't remember seeing this setting.

Personally, I'd rather not use the towing feature than disable v-sync...

Cheers,
Nick

[lonewulf47]

Oskar - talking of P3D, does it have the option to enable v-sync in the sim? I did use it (P3D) for a month with the temporary developer licence, but can't remember seeing this setting.Personally, I'd rather not use the towing feature than disable v-sync...

Yes, I know, Prepar3D has this option in the menu. Why would you not disable it? What is the benefit? I have used it for some trials and found the frames more jerky than without. Seems really to be very much dependend on the Graphics Hardware. But as already pointed out, I'm by far not the expert, I can just forward my personal experience which is: just no frame drops and no flashing when using this setup in P3D V2.4 and FSX

[Nick - A2A]

On my set-up, the image 'tearing' that I see without v-sync enabled is a bit of an immersion-killer Oskar - it's most noticeable when I pan around in the virtual cockpit.

Even when v-sync is disabled in FSX, the towing feature seems to cause slightly jerkier panning when using the spot view camera. However, the graphical stuttering and ghosting that I see otherwise is eliminated.

The issue itself doesn't bother me too much, as I suspect I won't use the towing feature terribly often. However, I'd like to be able to use it with v-sync in an ideal world...

Cheers,
Nick