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A forgotten field.

solid

solid

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panama
I still do not understand why "effects" has been forgotten by most everyone. FSX is quite a set up and great things are happening but no effects....you see those fantastic scenery addons totally "static"...a world where everything is still, no movement, no life. Why?..is it because making action effects are "so dam hard!!!?" or is it that there is no interest at all, or too little?....Does anyone know where to find a good tutorial, the MS SDKS are just a birds eyeview written, I think, for the birds!!!! as most SDKS are........:eek::eek::eek::eek:
 
Hello Gera!

You are not the only one with a "Zero-Reply" situation on the issue of Effects-Tutorials. Have a look here:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6741

It is incredible.

I might take a shot at it to write one myself, but there are still so many unfinished projects on my shelf...

I'll keep an eye on your thread. Maybe you are more successful.

Helli
 
Hi guys,

I share your pain, and the only thing I can suggest is: Take the plethora of effects that come with the FS and disect, experiment and reverse-engineer. There is a default effect for just about any situation you can think of. The effect engine is pretty simple to understand and I have a pretty good grasp on them, but some of the features are just plain broken, and one of the ACES developers admitted that in one of the posts in this forum. This sometimes makes it challenging to bring them to that final stage of completion. I have used effects extensively in our TerraBuilder:Moon add-on with pretty good results, and the only way I got there was by re-starting the sim for about one billion times :D to see the minute changes I made in the fx files.

The SDK documentation, although very technical and sometimes cryptic, does cover the basics and is rather helpful once you get the grasp of the basics.

Misho
 
Hi Misho:

I hope this well-intended offering is not seen as off-topic here, but:

I share your pain on the multiple FS re-starts and associated waiting in spite of my having a faster 800 GB 4-drive RAID 0 drive! :banghead:


If you (and other time-conscious developers) have not already implemented this in your Windows registry, it is an AMAZING (and safe) tweak to achieve rapid re-starts of FS and other apps!


In REGEDIT navigate to:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management


In the right pane change the DWORD value for DisablePagingExecutive to "1" (same value in either Hex or Decimal edit mode)

This tells Windows to prioritize keeping its own core system files available via RAM caching and via the Paging File; the windfall is that this seems to benefit other apps as well! :D


NOTE: :teacher:

On a system with 1GB of RAM, within 2 or 3 sequential restarts of FS2004, the app restarts almost entirely out of virtual memory cache!


On a system with 2GB of RAM, within 2 or 3 sequential restarts of FSX, the app restarts almost entirely out of virtual memory cache!


This tweak works in the safer default "Programs" memory cache mode under:


Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > "Advanced" Tab > "Performance" Section > "Settings" Button > "Advanced" Tab > "Memory Usage" Section > "Programs" Radio Button Setting


NOTE: "Programs" is used instead of the infamous "System Cache" Radio Button Setting so risky to use with certain ATI video card and NForce motherboard drivers.

PS: Windows re-boots faster too, but I don't use power saving and always leave the computer running... so the RAM cache is only cleared/flooded if I do extensive web browsing or move a large amount of files around; however, the "FS cache" re-fills fairly quickly after one returns to that app! :wizard:

Also, I use this with a "Fixed Size" (same Initial and Maximum size) 126 MB Paging File on Drive C:, and a 3070 MB "Fixed Size" Paging File component on each of 2 other separate physical hard drives to optimize for heavy system demand under Windows XP Professional.

When I get my additional new 1 Terabyte drive set up, I'll be adding another 3070 MB "Fixed Size" Paging File component on it as well (since Windows has been shown to sometimes "map" memory into virtual memory Paging File addresses beyond 8 GB).

With that new "Fixed Size" Paging File component in place, I will then set the Paging File component on my RAID 0 to "System Managed" to accommodate those times when my system needs more virtual memory Paging File allocation than available via my current configuration; (for example, right now with FSX and 3 FireFox 3.x windows open, my "Commit Charge" seen in Windows Task Manager is 1277 MB / 14241 MB !)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commit_charge

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742598.aspx


Hope this helps with the re-starts; I'll watch out for Effects tutorials, and shall report back here as well! :)

GaryGB
 
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Hi Misho:

Thanks for the follow up! :)

As a followup on this end, I suspect that there is more "wiggle room" in the Windows physical and virtual addressing scheme for "RAM caching" when used with the "/3GB" switch (FS9.exe and/or RTM or SP1 FSX.EXE's must be marked for use with the "Large_Address_Aware" flag; FSX-SP2 is already marked for this). :rolleyes:

NOTE: Even if the safer default "Programs" memory cache mode under:

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > "Advanced" Tab > "Performance" Section > "Settings" Button > "Advanced" Tab > "Memory Usage" Section > "Programs" Radio Button Setting

...is used instead of the infamous "System Cache" Radio Button Setting so risky to use with certain ATI video card and NForce motherboard drivers, there may be a way to further increase the amount of usable RAM for the system cache.


Whereas there apparently are fixed parameters used when the safer default "Programs" memory cache mode is used through the above Windows GUI, some systems may be able to accommodate further tweaking of the System Cache between the approximately 72% to 90% zone of memory use without issues. :scratchch

I discovered this while tinkering with the options made available via a trial copy of "CacheBoost" by Systweak, which always commits the cache to disk on a write-through basis, and allows some user control of the system caching parameters. :idea:

http://www.systweak.com/CacheBoost/Default.asp?pName=CBP


On a practical basis, with CacheBoost version 5.x under "Advance Settings" on the Cache Size memory slider marked "Based On Available Memory", I was able to adjust System Cache beyond the base 76% on my 2GB RAM Windows XP Pro configuration to nearly 90% before FS9 locked up hard (in seconds) with a distorted stuttering sound loop playing. :eek:

I recovered via a system power-off reset, and backing off the settings before re-starting FS9, I expanded the System Cache allocation just over 80% and improved my performance (without crashes!). :D


Although CacheBoost seems like a useful payware utility, I believe one might be able to achieve the same system cacheing changes using the freeware "CacheSet" By Mark Russinovich of Windows Sysinternals. ;)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897561.aspx.


PS: I am also now testing a 15 GB fixed size multi-drive component paging file (NOT System Managed and thereby preventing fragmentation) in conjunction with my new 1 TB hard drive based on the implications of the larger "Commit Charge" numbers in the Windows Task Manager status bar when running FSX. :stirthepo


Hope this might help further! :cool:

GaryGB
 
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