MSFS performance tips and tricks + useful apps

[Cpt_Piett 4,963]

Greetings fellow simmers!

I've put together a collection of various tips that might come in handy. Most of my flying is in airliners, so I've also included some recommendations for various websites and apps that might be useful for IFR flying. You can find these at the bottom of this rather lengthy post. In fact I think I might have surpassed Mr. Randazzo himself here 😉  

Flight simmers seem to be an opinionated bunch, which is one of the reasons I enjoy hanging out here on AVSIM. And some of these tips are certainly prone to spark some debate. I'd love to hear your opinions. Do you do things differently? Do you have other tips and tricks that you want to share? Is it just a load of snake-oil? Both praise and criticism is of course welcomed. I can take a few punches, but please keep things civil. Then again, I might have unrealistic expectations - after all we're on VATSIM...

Graphics settings

Of course this depends highly on your hardware. I'm running at 4K resolution with a powerful GPU. Still, most of the time I'm limited by main thread. Even more so in the Fenix A320. Hence I've tuned my system for this scenario. I don't use a "set-and-forget" method, as performance is highly dependent on scenery, aircraft, weather, AI aircraft etc.

Anyway, here are some general "rules": 

Terrain LOD: Probably the graphics setting that has the biggest influence on performance. This would be the first one to reduce if you struggle with fps or smoothness. I find it necessary to reduce this when flying into or departing from airports with heavy scenery (yes I'm looking at you iniBuilds Heathrow) and in particular, nearby photogrammetry. In places like EGLL and KJFK I have to turn the T-LOD down to 100 to get acceptable performance. Even then I get fps in the low twenties and stutters. 

Clouds: In some situations it might be a good idea to reduce the quality from ultra to high.

Traffic: Aircraft traffic in particular does require some CPU processing power. But also airport vehicles, boats and cars can have an effect. In tight situations - turn these settings down.

Most of the other settings don't have that big of an influence on performance. But of course, YMMV. 

Vertical sync, frame rate limiter and monitor refresh rate

V-sync: I've done a lot of experimenting on this. What I've ended up with is to let Nvidia control panel handle V-sync. I find the "fast" option gives the best results. Hence I have V-sync turned off in MSFS. 

Frame rate limiter: There's a lot of debate here, and it probably comes down to personal preference. I find that locking fps to 30 gives the most smooth, fluid and stutter-free experience. Also there's extra headroom for both CPU and GPU in most situations. And as an added benefit, CPU and GPU temperatures will be lower.

To limit fps, I use the freeware app "RTSS" - Riva Tuner Statistics Server. An advantage with this vs. Nvidia control panel is that you can turn the fps limiter on/off "on the fly", finding what works best for you. If you decide not to lock fps, it's probably a good idea to enable G-sync or Freesync. 

How to proceed: Install RTSS then enter a fps value in "framerate limit" on the main window.

Then enable framerate limiter in the setup menu.

RTSS also has a useful overlay for displaying things like fps (both text and graph), CPU and GPU specs, RAM and VRAM and so on.

With the addition of MSI afterburner, you have access to endless overlay information, like frametime, framerate min, 1% low, 0.1% low etc. You can even do a benchmark to get average values over time. 

For even more in-depth information like CPU and GPU usage and temps, I highly recommend HWiNFO. 

Monitor refresh rate: There's some advice that running a refresh rate that is close to the sim fps gives the best results. I use an OLED TV with a native refresh rate of 120Hz, but I've reduced it to 50Hz. To change the refresh rate, search for "display" from the Windows start button, then select "advanced display".

Nvidia control panel settings

Ah, the topic of so much debate and endless opinions! And the settings here probably don't even influence performance all that much.

To change the settings, go to "manage 3D settings" then the "program settings" tab. Then select Microsoft Flight Simulator in the pull-down menu. And remember - these are just my settings for my system that might not be relevant for your system (or preferences).

Power management mode: Probably the most important setting. Set it to "prefer maximum performance".

Antialiasing - FXAA: Off

Antialiasing - Gamma correction: On

Antialiasing - Mode: Application-controlled

Antialiasing - Transparency: Off

Background Application Max Frame Rate: Off (set this to off if you're in a tight spot, performance-wise)

Low Latency Mode: Ultra (or On)

Max Frame Rate: Off

Preferred refresh rate: Application-controlled

Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization: Off

Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias: Clamp

Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization: On

Threaded optimization: Off

Triple buffering: Off

Vertical sync: Fast

Other tweaks:

I'll start off with a disclaimer that the following tweaks might not have an influence either way. There's a lot of speculation. But I will say that they have had no negative influence on my system, and it's unlikely that they'll influence either the sim or Windows in a negative way. Either way, all these can of course easily be reversed. 

HAGS - hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling

There's a lot of reports that points to a positive effect when leaving this to off, especially on higher-end GPUs. To change it, go to System>Display>Graphics>Default graphics settings.

Game mode: disabled

Disable any background recording functions in XBOX game bar and Geforce Experience overlay. For the former, press Start button+G to open the XBOX game bar, then settings>capturing>record in the background: off. For the latter, open Geforce Experience overlay with Alt+Z then settings>highlights>capture via Shadowplay: off.

Disable NDU - Network Diagnostic Usage

This is a Windows in-built feature that basically monitors the network data usage. Turning it off should be harmless, but it involves editing the registry. I guess everything that involves registry changes deserves a "proceed with caution" warning.

The goal: to get rid of the performance degradation over time, especially on longer flights. There are many positive user reports, but some refer to this simply as "snake oil".

If you want to give it a try: Use the start button to search for "Regedit". Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Ndu. Find and right-click the "start" option and click on "Modify". Change the value from 2 to 4. Click ok and reboot the system.

Disable SysMain

Previously referred to as "Superfetch", this is a Windows service that aims to analyze your computer usage and improve it by using the collected data. For example, it's able to speed up app launch times and performance. Unfortunately, having SysMain enabled may cause more harm than good. But again, there's a lot of debate on this, and even some recent advice that advices against turning it off. Again, proceed with some caution and revert to the default setting if you don't notice a performance gain (or even the contrary). If you want to go ahead, this is how to do it:

Start Menu > Command prompt (admin).

Enable - sc config "SysMain" start=auto & sc start "SysMain"

Disable - sc stop "SysMain" & sc config "SysMain" start=disabled

Change core affinites

With recent addons like the Fenix A320 being relatively CPU-intensive, as well as running other external programs whilst simming, it might help to change the core affinities, so that MSFS's most used core is not overloaded by other running programs.

First, turn fps limiter off. Go to Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), select CPU from the left side menu. Right click on the graphs, select "change graphs to: logical processors". Maximize the window for a better view, then look for the core that is used the most over time when MSFS is running. For my system it's the last core ("CPU9" when counting from CPU0). It's even easier to see this in HWiNFO as you get average % values over time for each core. Do a flight, then come back and check which core was used the most. 

Again, it's worthwhile to proceed with some caution, as changing core affinities may mess things up. It has done for me on some occasions, and I proceed very carefully when making changes here.

How I do this: I let MSFS "run freely" i.e. it's up to Windows to decide core affinity. For the Fenix apps, I assign these to all the cores except the busiest MSFS core. Like I said, the most hard-working core for my system when running MSFS is "CPU9", or core 10 on my 10-core CPU (I have disabled hyperthreading in BIOS settings). Hence I let the Fenix apps (there should be 5 of them) use cores 0 to 8. To change core affinities, in Task Manager select the "Details tab". Here you can sort the various running applications in different ways - CPU, memory, name etc. Right-click on the app you want to make the changes to, then select "Set affinity". Then select the core(s) you want it to use. There might be other programs that you run alongside MSFS that you might want to make changes to (Navigraph, FS2Crew command center, web browsers etc). Thanks to @Nyxx for pointing this out for us! It's a bit complex, but I hope I've explained it reasonably well.  

Stop using toolbar pushback

Unfortunately this has caused performance degradation over time for many users. I've decided to stop using it for now.

Useful apps and websites

Navigraph

This is by far the most useful payware app that I use for MSFS. It's use during flight planning is for me invaluable. Having the access to IFR charts worldwide at the "tip of your fingers" can be of immense value if you do a lot of IFR flying. Its seamless integration with Simbrief is excellent. For anything other than VFR flights, the first app that I load up just after starting MSFS is the Navigraph Charts app. I then hit Flights > New flight > From Simbrief. Then I bookmark/favorite all the charts I need for the flight - airport charts, SID, STAR, approach and transitions. Before subscribing to Navigraph many years ago, I spent endless time searching around the web for relevant charts.

A Navigraph subscription will set you back €8.30 each month, or €74.90 annually. But in addition to charts, you get monthly navdata updates for MSFS and any addons that use navdata (Fenix, PMDG etc). And in addition to this you can access charts on your desktop, your tablet and even in-sim, both from the MSFS toolbar, and in the EFB of several addons. I know it's a bit costly, but for me it's a no-brainer. 

Simbrief

I do almost all my flight planning here. It’s free to use and will auto-generate IFR flight plans around the world, using airways and waypoints. It has aircraft profiles for most commonly used airliners. These profiles include things like fuel burn, weights, passenger and cargo capacity. It can automatically make a copy of your flightplan to MSFS so that you can load it up when you setup your flight. I do this every time as I use default ATC. 

Flightsim.to

Don't like the default scenery for your local airport? There's a good chance you'll find it on flightsim.to for free. As well as freeware aircraft, aircraft mods and liveries. You can even get some payware addons here.

Windy.com

My go-to website for all things weather related in MSFS. Type in the name or ICAO code of an airport, and get the most current METAR, both in raw format and full text. It’s also extremely useful for looking at the weather over a large area, with overlays such as weather radar (storms, precipitation), cloud coverage and more. Flying into an airport without a current METAR? Click on the map next to the airport and select an item in the right hand menu; pressure, temperature, wind etc. You can also download Windy as an app for iOs and Android.

Microsoft Flight Simulator map

This is a great overview of all available hand crafted airports, POIs and photogrammetry cities neatly laid out on Google Maps. It's updated continuously. 

Volanta

I just started to use this recently for keeping track of my MSFS flights. Don't fancy the MSFS logbook? This is like an online logbook, giving you useful overviews of previous flights, total flight time and distance, fuel burned and even landing rates in feet per minutes. Also it's useful for VATSIM ATC coverage as well as seeing other users online via Volanta, VATSIM, IVAO, PilotEdge.

https://fsxmap.com/

Looking for places to go for your next flight? On this site you can find any airport in MSFS!

https://e6bx.com/

Feeling a bit drowsy (or drunk lol)? Doing math in your head is not your strongest trait? This website has lots of useful calculators, like reciprocal heading converter, various converters (temperature, fuel, distance, speed, pressure etc). It also comes as an app for your phone/tablet.

https://descent.vercel.app/

Enter your start and end altitude, start and end speed and get your TOD - top of descent - in nautical miles.

https://runway.airportdb.io/

Which runway to choose? Pretty self-explanatory. Enter an airport ICAO code and get the preferred runway depending on wind direction, with headwind/tailwind/crosswind components.

https://metar-taf.com/

A very useful site for airport weather info, neatly displayed on either your desktop or tablet/phone. Add your most used airports as favorites. Get a notification on your phone when it's raining in London 😉

Finally I'd like to apologize to @Steve Dra for yet another thread where the Fenix is mentioned 😉 Several times IIRC. But hey - at least it's not in the title! 🎉

 

PS: I thought I'd have time to write up this post during a flight from Cologne to Skiathos. I was wrong, it took a bit longer than that. If anything I'll have a place here on VATSIM to look up my settings 😉

Edited June 4, 2022 by Cpt_Piett

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

Awesome info thanks 

[JYW 2,992]

Well Admiral (sorry, I can't call you Captain, as that promotion was f'real!,

I just wanted to feed back that, although I generally feel quite confident with tweaks and the like, I learned about 3 extremely useful things from your post here, that I wasn't aware of;-

1. The DisableSysMain - hadn't heard of this one, so now giving it a try!

2. //runway.airportdb.io/   - Always wanted something this easy and accessibly for quickly getting preferred runway!

3. FSXMap - again, was not aware of this one and very handy for quickly checking airports, their runways, etc. I tend to use LittleNavMap for this type of need, but this is a little faster.

So, really glad you took the time to create this, and thanks for these 3 leads!

Yours,

General Veers

[Wildblue 267]

Thanks a lot for all this information.

But just today i was wondering whether there is any consensus among flight-simmers on important settings in msfs2020. So, sort of an undisputed best settings standard.

[Bob Scott 7,795]

I've moved this post back from the MSFS Tip & Tricks subforum at the OP's request, as he wants it to be open as a discussion thread.

[Pochi 69]

Hi,

Thanks for that, very useful.

I wonder about pre-rendered frame. I saw mine was at 1, can’t remember if I changed it or if it is the default setting.

What is your thought about it ?

 

Pierre

[SuperKaro2014 283]

Thanks for this comprehensive list!

I noticed that you have your FPS locked at 30 and the TV is running at 50 Hz. Do you then get any screen tearing when panning around? I thought it was better to have the screen refresh rate at a whole multiple of the FPS... if possible of course.

 

[Nyxx 6,996]

This should help lots of people, great work.

[Sethos 4,729]

Not sure why that Nvidia CP "Ultra Low Latency" tweak is so prevalent. I've only seen a negative performance impact and it stops your GPU from rendering multiple frames ahead to provide a smoother, more stable experience? It's meant to fast paced shooters and stuff where latency is important, not frame stability. 

[Avi8tor 30]

Thank you for this outstanding and comprehensive summary of performance tweaks!

 

[cianpars 1,241]

Thanks for posting this.  Whilst I am aware of or am using most of your tweaks, it is a good reminder of which ones I use amd why I am using them.  This would be a great post for anyone relatively new to MSFS to read or anyone who wants to get the best out of it.

[SiliconSoldier 5]

Thanks for the info. Always looking for that one setting that maximizes performance best.

[Paul K 1,432]

Loads of info here for me to go through. Thanks for taking the time to post all this @Cpt_Piett

[mattn 45]

Bookmarked. Won't use all of the tweaks but there's lots here to try. Thank you for this compilation!

[Cpt_Piett 4,963]

5 hours ago, Pochi said:

I wonder about pre-rendered frame. I saw mine was at 1, can’t remember if I changed it or if it is the default setting.

What is your thought about it ?

It’s 1 at default. Basically it’s a setting for VR users that controls the number of frames the CPU can prepare before the frames are processed by the GPU. Higher numbers can result in a smoother experience in VR at the cost of increased input latency.