FrameRate PSX visual

[NDBDME]

Hi Hardy,

just out of curiosity,at what frame rate will the native PSX outside visual (I mean, if you don't link it PSX to another simulator for enhanced visual surroundings) run?

Have you set a fix frame rate for the visual (provided the hardware can sustain it)?

Have a nice day,

Oliver

[Hardy Heinlin]

Hi Oliver,

the frame rate is a value that is not only important for the outside view. For a training system like PSX the frame rate is particularly important for the flight instruments.

In typical "scenery generators" you have a big outside view that has to run at high frame rates, and a little PFD in the lower left corner, as small as a matchbox, probably running at a lower frame rate than the scenery. In PSX, the priority is reversed; there you have a big real-size PFD in the middle running at the max possible frame rate (the outside view, however, although it hasn't the highest priority in PSX, also runs at max frame rate).

Typical fps values for instruments, mechanical flight deck animations, and outside view:

iMac 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, screen 1920 x 1200: 35 - 71 fps
iMac 3.20 GHz Intel Core i5, screen size 2560 x 1440: 45 - 68 fps

The frame rate can be limited to 48, 60, 72 fps with a switch in PSX. On the new Mac OSX, however, the limit seems to be 68 anyway. On some older Windows systems the limit was 64.


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[NDBDME]

Hi Hardy,


thank you very much for the fast and detailed reply to my question. Sounds very good to me, especially the putting of emphasis on very smooth flight instruments/displays, while still running the outside visual at max frame rate.

Very nice.Thank you again for answering my question .

Have a nice day,

Oliver

[Phil Bunch]

Interesting frame rate information.

Is it possible for PSX to run in a stable manner if one's (Windows) PC has twin GPU cards, operating in "SLI" mode (a Windows term, I believe)?  I'm not sure this question is at all relevant, but I have the understanding that some video games must be specifically written to benefit from such hardware with respect to their frame rates.  Similar questions apply to having multiple CPUs/cores in PSX.  

With such high frame rates in PSX, these questions are mostly related to hardware compatibility, and are not related to needing higher frame rates.

it is unfortunate in some ways that FSX was abandoned by Microsoft.  At least it provided a common platform for generating scenery, supporting scenery add-ons, etc.  I have the impression that it doesn't benefit much if any from multiple CPUs or cores.  I *think* it benefits from higher performance GPUs and/or multiple GPUs.

If anyone can clarify any of these CPU and GPU issues, I would be very grateful.

[Hardy Heinlin]

Hi Phil,

if you're thinking of graphic cards like the Matrox triplehead2go, this is no problem with PSX.

Also, PSX uses multiple CPU cores. All that hardware is directly accessed by Java.


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[Phil Bunch]

Hardy,

Just to be sure - it's the "SLI" multiple GPU (ie multiple video cards in one PC) technology I'm interested in, as described here:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro-sli-technology.html

By various historical accidents, I have dual Nvidia 560Ti video cards in my PC, and I can optionally operate them as a pair of simultaneous video cards in Nvidia's "SLI" configuration.  As an aside, some video games are specifically optimized to take advantage of such configurations.  I can't think of any reason why this would help PSX since it has excellent frame rates without SLI.  FSX may be another story, if used as a scenery generator.

Similarly, AMD has their "Crossfire" multiple GPU components:

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/technology/Pages/crossfirex.aspx

Based on general principles, I'm guessing using multiple video cards for performance enhancement isn't an issue, but thought it best to ask and be 100% sure.  I personally see no reason to care if SLI does or does not help PSX frame rates since they are so high, but it would be distressing if having an SLI configuration were incompatible with using PSX.  Even in that extreme worst case situation, I believe all I would have to do is to use the Nvidia setup software to disable SLI via software and thus only use one of the video cards.  The other video card then is effectively absent or simply mirrors what the primary card is doing.  Sometimes I let one video card feed one monitor and let the other one feed another monitor, for example, but I don't need SLI to do this (each video card has two video outputs and can separately feed two monitors).

I hope I haven't accidentally injected too much irrelevant technical detail into this thread!

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Notice that PSX has a unique architecture that allows you to run multiple PSX instances on the same computer.

If you physically break up your video system into two graphical units, each driving its own monitor, you probably want to run two PSX programs. Each then has the full power of a complete graphical subsystem.

External hardware such as the Matrix 2GO series essentially multiplexes a very high number or pixels produced by one graphic card over three monitors; PSX won't notice you use multiple monitors and hence does not need to be run twice.

PSX cannot produce many individual windows, a few exceptions excepted, but it does allow a single rectangular window to be subdivided into four panes that are largely individually sizeable, pannable, and zoomable. This allows for very flexible image distribution over multiple monitors, video cards, computers, etc.


Hoppie

[Phil Bunch]

Notice that PSX has a unique architecture that allows you to run multiple PSX instances on the same computer.

If you physically break up your video system into two graphical units, each driving its own monitor, you probably want to run two PSX programs. Each then has the full power of a complete graphical subsystem.

External hardware such as the Matrix 2GO series essentially multiplexes a very high number or pixels produced by one graphic card over three monitors; PSX won't notice you use multiple monitors and hence does not need to be run twice.

PSX cannot produce many individual windows, a few exceptions excepted, but it does allow a single rectangular window to be subdivided into four panes that are largely individually sizeable, pannable, and zoomable. This allows for very flexible image distribution over multiple monitors, video cards, computers, etc.


Hoppie

Thanks.

This makes me think I might enjoy having at least 4 video cards!  Of course the higher end PC workstations have 12 cores as well as multiple video cards.  There must be some way to use such hardware for PSX!  (insert friendly grins here).

Another interesting new PC design for Macs is the new Mac Pro:

http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/

I personally think it's aesthetically pleasing but otherwise I don't see any substantial *hardware* advantages compared to a similarly configured rectangular box Windows PC.  Hmmm...maybe PSX can be a good excuse to justify buying a new PC with my significant other?!?!  In such a context, reality and technical accuracy aren't very relevant.

[JP59]

I plan to use PSX on multiple computers network with one computer for one display (1 for PFD/ND Captain, 1 for Upper EICAS, etc...). This is my actual configuration with Project Magenta. I understood I will have to launch a new session of PSX on every "Client PC's". Will PSX need very high end computers for these Client computers or is it possible to display only what I'll need (only 2D displays of PFD, ND and EICAS) in order to save ressources ?

[Hardy Heinlin]

You can display only what you need.

The panels can be scaled and panned.

If you get good frame rates with MSFS stuff, you get good frame rates with PSX as well.

[John Golin]

If you hunt out Hardy's screenshots on this forum and some of my videos you can see examples of different zoom and layouts in one instance of PSX.

It's worth noting PSX cockpit is 2D - there isn't a 'virtual cockpit' like MSFS.

[JP59]

Thank you. I hope my old AMD Sempron 2300+ will be enough for 2D PFD/ND and EICAS (1 computer per real cockpit LCD)