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Author Topic: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?  (Read 6470 times)

twizzstyle

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Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« on: December 21, 2013, 11:21:28 pm »

I am using Anteworld with cylindrical projection.  I have a 180 deg wrap-around cylindrical screen with three projectors.  It's breathtaking with Outerra.

The issue I have is that I use it mostly to fly the airplanes.  The cockpit views do not work with cylindrical projection turned on, unless I set sim_mode to "true" in the eng.cfg file.  When I do this my frame rate plummets though!  My computer is fairly powerful, and with sim_mode set to false I have buttery smooth frame rates.

Any idea why sim_mode would cause such a degradation in performance?  Is there any other way to fly in the cockpit view with the interior view somehow disabled or hidden?

It might be useful to have two different cockpit view options: cockpit with interior view, and cockpit with no interior view.

As an aside: I think sim_mode also turns sound off?  Any way to get around that?
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cameni

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Re: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2013, 02:12:46 am »

Hmm, the sim_mode is pretty old feature, and I think we haven't tested it in a while. Not sure why it would cause a performance problem though - will have to check. AFAIK it just moves the camera in front of the plane.
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twizzstyle

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Re: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2013, 01:54:12 pm »

Thanks.  I figure there probably aren't a ton of people using this mode.

I think I read on here somewhere there is a way to display FPS?  I'll try to find that, and actually get some numbers.  At a very rough wag I'd guess with sim_mode false, flying around in an external view my FPS is 25-30 range.  With sim_mode true my FPS is probably in the 10-15 range (these numbers are purely guesses).  There's got to be a more hacky way to get in there and just get rid of the interior cockpit (or maybe it's the whole airplane model altogether?)  I need to do some more digging.
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M7

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Re: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2013, 02:49:36 pm »

It's ctrl F12 for viewing FPS
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twizzstyle

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Re: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2013, 03:15:13 pm »

Thanks.  Tried that:

With sim_mode false, I'm getting 30-40fps flying in and around the himalayas... breathtaking (but I'm forced to fly in exterior views)

With sim_mode true, I'm getting 17-18fps, and its very inconsistent.  To my eye it seems like it bounces between 10-20fps.
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twizzstyle

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Re: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2013, 04:21:22 pm »

To get an idea of what I'm seeing, I took a few videos.

First is a photo just to show off my screen - it is a 180 deg cylindrical screen with a 54" radius.  About 180" of screen width.  Three infocus SP5000 projectors, using FlyElise ImmersiveDisplayPro to warp/blend the three images.  Total screen resolution is 3840x720.  Also keep in mind that this photo was taken with a fisheye lense, as that's the only way to fit the whole screen in one shot :)



These videos are very short, only a few seconds, but are just to illustrate what I am seeing.

This first video shows how it is with sim_mode = false, flying around in exterior view.  FPS is about 30, nice and smooth.



The next video shows how it is with sim_mode = true, flying in the cockpit view.  FPS is about 17, and is inconsistent.  You can see it jerk every once in a while.

(sorry for the quality of this video, I'm not sure what I did to make it so crappy)

« Last Edit: December 22, 2013, 04:23:26 pm by twizzstyle »
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PytonPago

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Re: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2013, 04:55:53 pm »

Wow ! ... nice set-up there !
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twizzstyle

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Re: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2013, 01:01:08 am »

Now what I'm trying to do is see if I can somehow manually set the position of the pilot's eyes in the cockpit view.  If I could just move that forward, to say the nose of the aircraft, I think I'd be set.

Digging around in some of the XML files, I found some parameters for "eyepoint" but reading some FlightGear and JSBSim stuff online, sounds like that is more for the aero model and how the pilot's view is effected by accelerations.  Changing those values does not change the view point.

The really frustrating part is if I am outside the aircraft, I can walk right up to the canopy and see the entire cockpit inside with no issues.  But as soon as I pass through the canopy glass, it all goes crazy.  It's like it's teasing me!

I've gone through pretty much everything I can edit easily, with no luck.  Seems the mig29.pkg file is the only file left in there that might give me a chance, but I have no clue how to dig into this file... any ideas?
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twizzstyle

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Re: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2013, 01:32:45 am »

Success!!!

The camera position is defined in the mig29.js file.  I moved the viewpoint to just forward of the stinger out the front of the nose, and now I have a perfect forward-facing view with no anomalies, and flying around some pretty epic mountain terrain I've got a lovely ~50fps right now :)  This is beyond cool.

Also - I still have sound now, which is something you lose with sim_mode=true.

A cool side note is that you can place this view anywhere you want, then aim it with the mouse to look back at the airplane, and get some REALLY amazing views when flying around.  I'll try to get some videos in the next few days.  As for now, I've got some flying to do.
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twizzstyle

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Re: Frame rate loss with "sim_mode"?
« Reply #9 on: December 28, 2013, 01:39:54 am »

this.set_fps_camera_pos({x:0.0,y:11,z:1.5});

sets the camera where you want it
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