Special Aircraft Service

The SAS Factory - Tech Help, Ancient Mods etc. => Community Universal Patch (C.U.P.) => The Keepsake: Old Mod Packs, Game Versions and Guest Mods => C.U.P. Lounge => Topic started by: Chupacabras84 on April 26, 2015, 03:28:01 AM

Title: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module pt08! (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on April 26, 2015, 03:28:01 AM
World at War module introduced large number of new aircraft which unfortunately caused performance issues for some people.
Above mentioned performance issues happens when number of active planes in air.ini passes certain threshold.
A tell tale of this, is a situation in which your fps is severely reduced across the board regardless of your graphics settings and scene complexity.

This mod is an attempt at fixing this situation by reducing number of aircraft enabled in air.ini at any time.
Instead of mindlessly removing random planes I tried to create theatres of war so, despite missing half of planes in game, you wont miss on anything as long as you stick to particular theatre.

This mod is only for World at War module part 08!

To use this mod, just drop it into jsgmemods folder and enable/disable via jsgme

Sometimes in QMB, you will get "mission loading null" or you will spawn in a plane you didnt chose.
Click "Chose side: Allies /Axis" button at the top right corner of the screen, it will fix the issue.

If you enable particular air.ini and then try mission or track which requires plane that is not in currently enabled air.ini, you will end up with errors, freezes and most likely CTD.
For example, enabling Soviets_vs_Axis_air.ini and then trying to play Kamikaze track or playing Battle of Midway.

It wont work with any other mod that needs its own air.ini. "Tooslow adders" for example (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,45858.0.html)
Adding planes manually its an option but not a good one because... (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,45993.msg515229.html#msg515229)

If your game hungs up when you press QMB, you need to delete 'last.quick' from 'Quicks" folder, you can do it manually or use Last.quick_cleaner (http://www.filedropper.com/lastquickcleaner) to do it via JSGME.
Lightened _up_air.ini already contains last.quick_cleaner, above solution is just in case you would like to have it as a standalone.
You have to delete last.quick whenever you switch between modules (DoF/WaW/TJA) for reasons not related to Lightened up air.ini

As a bonus I added water extracted from stock game, while water=2 looks good, I think water=0 look rather weird in C.U.P (too fast and jerky).
So, if you are looking for additional 10fps and would rather use water=0, you might find this useful.

Download Lightened_up_air.ini V.09 (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=45993.0;attach=11444)

Water extracted from stock game (http://www.filedropper.com/cupstockwater)
Last.quick_cleaner (http://www.filedropper.com/lastquickcleaner)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on April 27, 2015, 01:53:42 PM
Moved down to make first post more readable:
Apparently there are people like me who get really low fps with CUP WaW module, not everyone suffer from those framerate losses but those few that do, find it really hard to enjoy the game.
After jumping (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,45797.0.html) trough (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,45822.msg512893.html#msg512893) hoops (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,45822.msg512900.html#msg512900) trying to figure out why World at War kills my framerate, I gave up on finding the cause but, I did find a way to bring back fps into more playable range.

After tons of googling and troubleshooting I wanted to try something (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,28809.msg385706.html#msg385706), and decided to lighten up air.ini hoping it would improve my framerate.
Surprisingly, I think I managed to do just that, my fps went back to what it once was on stock/unmodded game.
Its hard to tell whether everyone experience same increase in framerate I did but hey, try it and see for yourself.
If it helps, give me a sign so I know whether it worth tweaking further, if it doesnt, do tell as well, poll would be nice here.

Small update, now you don't have to delete last.quick file every time you switch air.ini.
As a bonus I added water extracted from stock game, while water=2 looks good, I think water=0 look rather weird in C.U.P (too fast and jerky).
So, if you are looking for additional 10fps and would rather use water=0, you might find this useful.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: dsmith71 on April 28, 2015, 12:36:11 AM
I would really like to hear some feedback on this.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Zoran395 on May 04, 2015, 07:23:55 AM
Brilliant idea! thank you!

I did the same while I was toying with homemade FMB Swiss missions, just load the planes/maps/objects you need.
With the vastness of WAW, a theater switcher seems like a good idea.

For example, right now I don't care much about air craft carriers and the Pacific theater so with a slow rig like mine it makes a difference (the game just loads faster which is why I did it initially).
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 04, 2015, 08:37:10 AM
Glad it is useful to someone, what is your framerate gain with it?
For me its aprox 20-30 fps, depending on scenario, curious how it is for other people.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: stevie13 on May 04, 2015, 11:27:20 AM
Thanks a lot for this very clever and usesful mod, Chupacabras!

I installed van ofterdingen's great "Battle of Hankow" DGC campaign - and got a frustrating 1 to 7 FPS  :(

With the lightened "Pacific_Theater" air.ini the FPS rose to 30+!!!!
That's an amazing increase  :D
That really brought new life to CUP for me, before I stayed with HSFX 7 with which I got also playable framerates (30+).
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 04, 2015, 11:50:11 AM
Thanks for giving me a heads up, seeing how there was no replies for a long time I wasn't sure if it works for other people.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Zoran395 on May 05, 2015, 06:57:44 AM
Glad it is useful to someone, what is your framerate gain with it?

I tested your Soviet-v-Axis combo and got a 100% gain... I went up from 10 to 20-21 FPS  :D

I also tried a bare minimum approach, leaving in the air.ini with just the four planes I needed for the current DGEN mission I was playing (makes for a very skinny air.ini), no difference still +100%, 20-21 FPS.
I would love to spend some more time testing, in particular with the ships and the maps, I wonder if it would make a difference (not too many cruisers or destroyers in the Gulf of Finland around Leningrad in 1942 ...)

Thank you again, great stuff and very well packaged !
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: PO_MAK_249RIP on May 05, 2015, 07:36:02 AM
Hi Chupa I keep getting a 'file does not exist' message when trying to download?
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Griffon_301 on May 05, 2015, 07:43:56 AM
try downloading in Google Chrome for example; with Firefox and IDM I got that file does not exist message too, with Chrome it was working :)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 05, 2015, 08:19:10 AM
I also tried a bare minimum approach, leaving in the air.ini with just the four planes I needed for the current DGEN mission I was playing (makes for a very skinny air.ini), no difference still +100%, 20-21 FPS.
Yeah, there is point past which every additional aircraft reduces fps,  I tried my best to include all planes that should be a part of the conflict and tested it to make sure the performance is optimal.
It is especially noticeable in 'UK & USA vs Germany' air.ini where I "scrapped bottom of the barrel" and even had to remove two or three planes from navy.
Just adding one additional plane will result in lower fps but until reaching that point, you can have 5 or 10 or 50 planes and it wont make a difference.

If you find air.ini in which removing planes still increases framerate, give me a heads up, I tried my best to make sure performance is optimal but if something can be improved I would like to hear.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: GEORGES44 on May 05, 2015, 10:32:42 AM
Downloaded and tested the 1936-1943 on a dozen missions and.....

... it's worth a new rig for me :) :) :)!

I went from a slide show to a decent framerate on my "furball" missions.
My CPU (Q6600 2.4Ghz) might not need a replacement with your "magic" air.ini

There was a few bugs, but nothing serious:
- air start with engine stopped on some missions
- missions loading at 100%, but I got a "blank" screen (without plane) or a see-through plane
I didn't have time to go through these missions to find where exactly the bug was;due to RL, I will not be able to continue the testing for some time  :(. As soon as possible, I'll try to give you more detailed feedback.

A thousand thanks for your contribution Chupacabras84! It's a worthy one  8).
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 05, 2015, 12:41:45 PM
There was a few bugs, but nothing serious:
Lets see.
- air start with engine stopped on some missions
I cant be sure but I dont think this particular bug have anything to do with lightened up air.ini.
Does playing without lightened air.ini cures the issue?
- missions loading at 100%, but I got a "blank" screen (without plane) or a see-through plane
Sometimes when I am using QMB, I am getting "mission loading null", I am guessing it might have something to do with "Mission Pro  Combo".
In any case, click Chose side: Allies /Axis button in the top right corner of the screen, it will fix the issue.
Currently I am not well and if I feel better, I will look into it.
Here are some other causes I can think of:

Those air.ini reduce number of aircraft loaded to boost fps, instead of mindlessly removing random aircrafts I tried to create theatres of war so, despite missing half of planes in game, you wouldn't miss on anything as long as you stick to particular theatre.

Now, it is possible you chose Pacific theatre and then tried to play mission/track which included German or Russian planes, in this case you would get a missing plane.

If you load 1936-1943_air.ini or 1942-1945_air.ini and play campaign, you will get only some planes on both side because while it includes all planes from those years, it doesn't include planes from 1944 and forth in first case and 1936-1941 in second.
For original campaign I included Stock_air.ini, it doesn't include any of the new planes but it offers all of the old one, unless you are trying to play campaign that does include new, WAW specific planes.
A thousand thanks for your contribution Chupacabras84! It's a worthy one  8).
Thanks dude, I am glad it is working for you.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: PO_MAK_249RIP on May 05, 2015, 12:53:04 PM
Hi Griffon I disabled my IDM in Firefox and it downloaded straight away !!
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: dsmith71 on May 09, 2015, 10:49:55 PM
G'day Chupacabras84 looks like you are getting some results here. When i have finished with the game i am playing ATM i will reinstall CUP and see how your Air.ini mod works for me. Well done.  ;)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: pilotpimpf on May 10, 2015, 02:25:04 AM
Standard CUP is like a slide show for me ,converting to "stock aircraft" makes it playable so it works for me.... thanks  :)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Raven Morpheus on May 10, 2015, 02:40:25 AM
Going to give this a try as I've noticed a significant framerate drop (as much as half) in anything TFM/CUP related compared to the stock game.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: namhee on May 10, 2015, 10:14:10 AM
when I enable #WAW_air ini 1936-1943 in the jsgmemod my game Crash by 60% , can some one help me please?
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Gerax on May 10, 2015, 10:22:41 AM
when I enable #WAW_air ini 1936-1943 in the jsgmemod my game Crash by 60% , can some one help me please?

when having a xx% CTD we should know your log.

Read how to do this here:
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,13457.0.html (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,13457.0.html)

For a instant log File read here:
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,19308.0.html (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,19308.0.html)

Important: what to post and how to post it (code option):
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?topic=39780.0 (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?topic=39780.0)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Griffon_301 on May 10, 2015, 10:38:24 AM
Did you by chance add any of tooslows adders?
If so it's clear why you crash at 60%
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: PO_MAK_249RIP on May 11, 2015, 12:58:29 AM
Thanks for the heads up Griffon I didnt realise this wouldnt work with tooslows adders installed! Might be worth adding to the first page?
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 11, 2015, 02:09:07 AM
Might be worth adding to the first page?
Added a note.

It wont work with any other mod that needs it own air.ini. "Tooslow adders" for example (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,45858.0.html)
Adding planes manually its an option but not a good one because, there seems to be a limit to number of airplanes you can have in air.ini without performance drop.
The moment you reach that threshold every additional aircraft will reduce your fps and framerate loss is exponential.
In some instances lightened air.ini is packed to the limit and even few additional aircrafts more will kill your performance (USA and UK vs Axis for example).
It might be only a few frames in light scenes and as much as 20 frames in heavy, because of that, adding any planes manually to lightened air.ini might kill all the performance benefits it offers.

If you gonna do it, do it at your own discretion.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: PO_MAK_249RIP on May 12, 2015, 12:40:07 AM
Well done Chupa that should stop any confusion in future - have you added tooslows adders to your install yet? Your missing out if not, if you have could you adapt your lightened air.ini to include tooslows stuff?
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 12, 2015, 02:02:53 AM
have you added tooslows adders to your install yet? You're missing out if not
No, I haven't added it, I mean, C.U.P already have so many aircrafts I had to cut them in more digestible portions to even make it playable, adding more on a plate when I am already chocking doesn't look like a good idea to me :)
Could you adapt your lightened air.ini to include tooslows stuff?
Hard to tell yet, as for now I have no idea how many people actually use lightened air.ini, what kind of fps gain it provides and whether it even worth tweaking further.
Then its a question of how many people who use lightened air.ini actually want to use tooslow's adders with it, for all I know you are the only person.
 
I am not really interested in them personally because as stated above, in C.U.P. there is already more than my PC can handle and as mentioned earlier, some air.ini already packed so tight that adding even one more plane takes away a few frames, adding 4 more planes cuts framerate in half.
I think you can manually add them to stock air.ini without causing performance drop, maybe Pacific_theatre if you delete VVS planes, but thats about it.

Trying to push them into already existing air.ini  is a time consuming process, add few dozens of aircrafts, load the game, check fps, if its even one frame bellow what I am normally getting at that scene in stock game, exit the game and delete a few planes then go back and check again.
Repeat till framerate is exactly the same as with stock game at the same time aiming at, at least somewhat balanced planeset.
It takes time and because of that, if there is no interest I dont really want doing it.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Griffon_301 on May 12, 2015, 02:13:31 AM
I tend to disagree 249RIP; the logic behind those lightened air.ini files is to reduce the workload for the sim by reducing the number of planes for a given air.ini;
so why remove planes and then add some other again later?
for example, which Jap planes would you leave out to maybe include the new Irving or the Ki-48 instead;
if you want to include certain planes from tooslow´s adders, I would rather add them manually to a given planeset, see how the FPS situation looks like afterwards and then add some more or leave them out entirely;
and when Simon adds some more stuff in the future planewise, the newbies here will again start to report their usual 60% crashes because by then, there will be at least 3 versions of air.ini files in circulation - Simons stock one, tooslow´s one and the lightened ones from here...exactely the situation Simon did not want to create;
so I think merging two alternative air.ini files is only for the more advanced modders and only if you really want to have that specific aircraft included in your install;
and even then, it might be more simple to just add that plane manually...

btw, from what i have read, those lightened air.ini files might create problems in campaigns too; these mission load null errors seem to me like there might be some planes missing that are referenced by planes that are in the lightened air.ini files;
I only have experienced that with the Me-109Z and PBY-5 Catalinas on DBW and could never resolve these issues in DBW, so I left both out finally.
might be that these lightened air.ini files also suffer from such a problem; only more experience in using them might show the problems...
other than that, well done Chupa :)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 12, 2015, 03:03:49 AM
btw, from what i have read, those lightened air.ini files might create problems in campaigns too; these mission load null errors seem to me like there might be some planes missing that are referenced by planes that are in the lightened air.ini files;
About that null error, as for now I encountered it only in QMB and it was easily fixed by clicking "Chose side: Allies /Axis" button in the top right corner of the screen.
Of course if anyone experience any bugs in actual campaign then do tell but only after trying 'stock air.in' which I included for campaigns just to prevent those kinds of issues.
other than that, well done Chupa :)
Thanks, any word on performance gains?
I am trying to figure out whether it affects only weaker PC's or stronger as well and what is average performance boost.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Griffon_301 on May 12, 2015, 04:36:45 AM
I did not test them as I have good performance across the whole sim and whole CUP...
what I have gathered so far is that RAM settings in the Selector as well as your actual CPU and graphic card may have an influence, but you can also gain some fps with good conf.ini settings;
it is really fiddling around and trying everything with settings, so there might me more things that affect actual fps;
for example, if a mission is heavy on static objects, this will also have an effect, no matter how light the air.ini is;
or the effects for example....
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Zoran395 on May 12, 2015, 07:34:04 AM
What about if Chupa taught us to fish instead of giving us the fish?

If you are brave enough to tweak it yourself, go for it.
You only need to know how to read a log, edit a text file and put a JSGME mod together.

In the case of Chupa's pre-sets, the Axis-Soviet pack did not have Hurricanes so it was up to me to add them and away we go... one more custom air.ini floating around.

I would tend to think that when dealing only with text files (air.ini and logs) and not java classes or sfs, we could teach people to fish.... maybe I am just a dreamer !   

Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: dsmith71 on May 18, 2015, 03:53:54 AM
I did not test them as I have good performance across the whole sim and whole CUP...
what I have gathered so far is that RAM settings in the Selector as well as your actual CPU and graphic card may have an influence, but you can also gain some fps with good conf.ini settings;
it is really fiddling around and trying everything with settings, so there might me more things that affect actual fps;
for example, if a mission is heavy on static objects, this will also have an effect, no matter how light the air.ini is;
or the effects for example....

Yes the never ending conf.ini tweak. I tried all that - the different RAM settings too and the only thing that made a difference was setting visibility distance to low it did not matter how high or low the other graphics settings were. Soon i will have CUP back on my puter and will be able to give the lightened air.ini a go.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Monty27 on May 19, 2015, 02:45:10 AM
Thanks for a brilliant idea!  I have not yet noticed slowdowns but will test this carefully.  The beauty of the CUP setup is that with all the aircraft in SFS format, and a clean mod folder, we can play about with the air.ini in this way.

These air.inis are packed, by date, as JSGME Options for ease of use. - Excellent!
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 19, 2015, 04:29:59 AM
What about if Chupa taught us to fish instead of giving us the fish?
These air.inis are packed, by date, as JSGME Options for ease of use. - Excellent!
Glad you like it, there are some points I would like to highlight though.
Lets take for example, 1942-1945 and how I come up with it.

I searched plane.properties for planes that have 1942-1945 in description and copied only those entries.
It was done using automated tools in Notepad++ so it took seconds.

He-111H-12      He 111 H-12, 1942
Bf-109G-6_Mid   Bf-109G-6 Tall Tail, 1943
P-51D-5NT       P-51D-5NT, 1944
SpitfireF22     Spitfire F.Mk 22, 1945
...

For example.
This step gave me planes for particular time period.

After this I used other tools to separate first entry of every plane Bf-109G-6_Mid from not needed now, second part Bf-109G-6 Tall Tail, 1943
Of course it was done automatically and not manually so, again, it took me mere seconds.
I had to do this step because I needed a list, only one plane per line and without additional spaces, tabs and everything else.

In the next step I used entries I got and added them to spelling dictionary word list in notepad++
I did this because there were tools to find differences but I couldn't find tools to find similarities so I used spell-checker.

After this I opened up air.ini and enabled spell checker.
As a result it highlighted only those planes that weren't in the entries added which means everything 1936-1941 and 1946-1955.
Which I had to delete manually but since it was already highlighted it was easy and fast.
Here is an example how it looks to me, (http://s23.postimg.cc/hhyb95cuz/howitlooks2me.jpg) just delete everything in red and you good to go.

Looks like a lot but in practice, it takes minutes to set up what ever age period you want.

With this solution you have planes released to service in 42-45 but, it doesnt contain planes from 40 or 41 which would need to be here if I was making a war theatre.
So, if you are looking for actual theatres, its better to use US&UK/Soviets vs Axis, Pacific Theatre and Stock game air.ini.
Air.ini segregated by year is just for more diverse planeset in QMB and for people who like to play on-line with friends on private servers.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: messeranck on May 21, 2015, 12:10:35 AM
Thanks a lot Chupacabras ! This mod improve my fps.
Now it will be interessant to see the limit of planes that don't affect the fps.
Anyway with the stock water mod it's a keeper! :)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 21, 2015, 12:40:12 AM
Now it will be interessant to see the limit of planes that don't affect the fps.
From what I gather, it depends on planes themselves as well.
For example, Pacific_theatre_air.ini have 576 planes and UK_&_USA_vs_Aixs only 465 and yet, I can add few planes to Pacific_Theatre_air.ini and I can barely fit UK and USA (I even had to drop a few planes to keep framerate).
I think German planes are more 'heavy' than others but I have no idea why that is.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Monty27 on May 21, 2015, 04:39:18 PM
What about if Chupa taught us to fish instead of giving us the fish?

If you are brave enough to tweak it yourself, go for it.
You only need to know how to read a log, edit a text file and put a JSGME mod together.

In the case of Chupa's pre-sets, the Axis-Soviet pack did not have Hurricanes so it was up to me to add them and away we go... one more custom air.ini floating around.

I would tend to think that when dealing only with text files (air.ini and logs) and not java classes or sfs, we could teach people to fish.... maybe I am just a dreamer !

Personally, I think we need new campaigns and missions now and its nice to see some coming through now.   The Air.INI could easily be associated with theatres or campaigns as desired and the whole package updated if necessary.  The principle is good though.  Using JSGME to swap out a small file is quick and safe.

Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: messeranck on May 22, 2015, 12:57:29 AM
I have tweak my air.ini to remove planes i don't want.
Is it necessary to remove the entire line or just put "//" in front of the name? Are result the same? Thanks
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Gerax on May 22, 2015, 05:23:54 AM
Are result the same?

yes. But I would use // as its easier to restore the entries
when you change your mind.  ;)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 22, 2015, 06:13:36 AM
Actually thats what I am doing at the moment.
I decided to walk over theatres once again and enable those planes I missed on my first run, for example American and British aircrafts that were lend-leased to VVS.
And it so happens that I decided to use forward slashes so people have easier time figuring out what was disabled and just with future in mind.
I am yet to test it though but I think its not the size of air.ini that give slowdown but number of planes and specific planes attributes.

Keep your fingers crossed  ;)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Griffon_301 on May 22, 2015, 07:54:03 AM
and that leads me to a maybe stupid question;
if we rem out certain planes using // in front of their air.ini entries, does this have the same effect as deleting the entry completely?
because if so, I might be tempted to create my own "lightened" air.inis for certain theatres....
I did use a lot of // already in my SCW era module but did not notice better performance (my install performed quite nicely already before), but it might be a little bit different in WAW where I have added quite a lot additional aircraft by now...

maybe we could use a certain resource heavy mission and use different ini files to see what this really brings for our sim versions....
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 22, 2015, 08:19:34 AM
if we rem out certain planes using // in front of their air.ini entries, does this have the same effect as deleting the entry completely?
From what I can tell, yes.
I did use a lot of // already in my SCW era module but did not notice better performance
Here is the thing if you try to disable planes in stock game or just some mod pack that is not too heavy on planes, you wont see a single frame of performance increase.
In WaW though, to get same framerate I had in stock game, for Soviet vs Axis air.ini, I had to disable UK/US and all JPN planes.
With WaW to see framerate improvement, you have to disable almost half of the air.ini to get framerate back into playable range, disabling 20-50 aircrafts simply wont cut it.

I think maybe later today, I will post updated version of the lightened air.ini and you will be able to see for yourself how many planes are disabled.

I wonder what exactly causes for some people fps drop with really heavy air.ini.
I noticed my CPU is always at 50%, even in menu so maybe IL2 does some really bad resource management, no idea.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Zoran395 on May 23, 2015, 04:03:44 AM
I noticed my CPU is always at 50%, even in menu so maybe IL2 does some really bad resource management, no idea.
Hi Chupa,
To add to the debate, I just upgraded my CPU, form a Celeron Dual Core to a Quad Core 9300, no difference in FPS, like described at the end of https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,32417.24.html (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,32417.24.html).
I get a much faster loading time, to start the game itself and loading campaigns and missions. I would say it takes half the time it used to, which is very nice, but I am still sitting on the same (improved) FPS rates.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 23, 2015, 06:35:49 AM
Personally I prefer 50% equal load spread across all cores than one core pulling 100% just for a couple of extra frames.
There is a few tricks to IL2 and multi-core CPU's tho.
Disabling threaded optimisation in nvidia control panel doubled performance for me (its AMD thing) I wonder if your CPU have some multi-threading optimisation you could try and disable.

its weird though, q9300 is not a weak cpu according to benchmarks, I would expect it to handle Il2 better.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on May 23, 2015, 07:56:02 PM
Update.
Added planes I missed on my first run, I used fairly automated process of editing air.ini and as a result, I missed some planes.
Now when I improved this process, I think I've got them all.

As Zoran395 previously mentioned, Soviets missed Hurricanes (and every other not soviet aircraft).
Now Soviets have access to planes that were shared with them thanks to lend-lease act (Hope I got the models right).

Instead of removing planes from air.ini, now they are only commented out.
Easier to see whats left out and customize it to your liking, just a warning, most air.ini's are tightly packed and enabling even a couple of planes will decrease fps.
Try to edit "UK and USA vs Axis" and see how many planes you can enable without fps drop.
Make sure you have well thought out process of measuring performance to a single frame of difference so you can monitor your changes.

Fixed some grammar mistakes and added readme.

That's about it for the moment, if you have any suggestions, share them.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: decipher on May 29, 2015, 05:26:34 AM
hey there!

my CUP installation was pretty stable and stutter free around 60FPS with vsync and everything prettied up until recently, out of nowhere (i cannot figure out what i did before it started) i started noticing stuttering and lower FPS, even in the FMB when you go into 3d view on an EMPTY map the performance was visibly more sluggish than before... i almost went insane, trying to find out what was going wrong... checked for rootkits, virus, trojans, adware... all squeaky clean, i built this computer myself and my win7 installation is pretty clean and streamlined for performance, no useless services etc... i did not install anything new in the last weeks... spent hours changing nvidia inspector settings, messing with conf.ini... i have CUP and my old SAS mod in the same il-2 installation, so they share the same config etc... i compared the two and noticed the SAME QMB with the SAME AI, same MAP, same everything... has 20fps less on my CUP now.. crazy!... i could not figure out what was going on....

long story short (haha sorry guys, i love to write long detailed descriptions :D ) ... i remembered seeing this topic around, so i thought, what the heck.. can't hurt to try... removed all german, italian, aces, and most of the soviet planes from my air.ini (i play mostly pacific JP/US/GB). compared the exact same QMB again in CUP and SAS modact... and boom... performance basically the same!

so to you Chupacabras84 i salute! thanks!

now i am still worried though, because my CUP was running smooth before, even with the long air.ini. i did not change anything in that air.ini before.. my installation might became sluggish because of something else i did... and freeing up the air.ini might gave me back enough new performance to "even out" the loss... its really confusing... but at least it seem to work ok for now.

s!
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: messeranck on June 02, 2015, 04:38:21 AM

It ll be interresting to have a MTO modified air ini with german us french italian and UK planes with the WAW 9 update, and why not specific wallpapers.
It reminds me the first mods of EAW for specific theaters...
 :P
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: stugumby on June 23, 2015, 12:43:08 PM
is there another link for the ini, i get the drop box page but no download tab etc?
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on June 23, 2015, 12:58:04 PM
Re-uploaded (first post).
Just mind its for WaW 08 module, it should still work without issues even with WaW part 11 but it will have only planes from WaW part 8.
If you get better fps just make sure to post what kind of performance boost you've got and how it compares with stock game (should be no performance difference).
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Griffon_301 on June 23, 2015, 01:08:54 PM
as these lightened air.ini files seem to be quite popular and they are quite useful as well, I have made this topic a sticky for the time being...

thanks to chupa for his ongoing support...
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on June 23, 2015, 02:38:23 PM
I intend to make a new version for WaW 11 (should be fast and easy) when/if I finish my other project which still need a bit more time but its almost done (hopefully)  :o
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Panzerfaust60 on July 17, 2015, 01:38:54 PM
Hey,
Could you possibly reupload this again, I quite desperately need some more FPS for my WAW  :)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 19, 2015, 03:46:42 AM
Reuploaded, if you use it with latest waw update it should still work, it just wont have new planes, I really need to find some free time to have a sit and finally do it  :-\
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Panzerfaust60 on July 19, 2015, 11:06:32 AM
Thanks, unfortunately I'm getting 60% CTD
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 19, 2015, 02:00:29 PM
What part of WaW, does it work with stock air.ini (the one included in pack), log.lst, does it work correctly without lightened air.ini ?
Assuming we are talking about WaW 12, maybe something was removed, in this case I would need to figure out what and probably still make a new air ini.
Maybe in a hour I'll sit and try to make an update version for WaW part 12 if nothing stands in my way (we have quite turbulent weather here atm)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Griffon_301 on July 19, 2015, 02:49:07 PM
Panzerfaust you can rem out the aircraft you dont need yourself too to lighten up your air.ini....easily DIY project and very individual too :)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Panzerfaust60 on July 19, 2015, 04:10:02 PM
Sorry to bother you, I'm an idiot, this was all my noobish fault.

Thanks a lot for the extra FPS though, my game really wasn't playable without them :)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 20, 2015, 12:41:29 AM
Yeah, I just tested and noticed it worked ok with latest WaW so I figured problem must have been on your side (adders maybe?)
Anyway, I noticed that somehow I got lower fps with latest WaW and lightened air.ini than I had before so I must look into it anyway.

Edit:
Could use someone's help.
Is it me or does fps went down with WaW part 12 even with old lightened air.ini?
Not sure is it something on my PC or WaW got heavier.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 20, 2015, 06:59:44 AM
Ok, from what i gather I am getting weak performance in WaW 12 even with my old lightened air.ini
When I made Pacific Theatre for WaW part 12 I disabled German and Russian planes and still got a slideshow.
At this point I feel there is nothing I can do at the moment so from the look of it, lightened air.ini for WaW part 8 will be the last of it unless I figure out a way to boost performance   :-\
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: pilotpimpf on July 20, 2015, 01:41:37 PM
Well thanks for looking into this, it has been much appreciated all the work that you have done.
Must admit CUP is becoming more of a slideshow for me now sadly.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Panzerfaust60 on July 20, 2015, 02:29:58 PM
That's a shame, I guess I'll just stick with WAW 8 then, since that's just barely playable for me.

On a side note, I seem to periodically get like 5-30 sec bursts of extremely low FPS every so often, but otherwise relatively fine, could that be because I've got insufficient hardware, or does it sound like an issue with the game (I never used to get it on HSFX, even though I had all the graphics setting on max)?
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 20, 2015, 03:01:07 PM
Similar problems here. I guess it's not only the air.ini that makes the difference. Effects and the number and quality of loaded terrain and object textures have their part too, so it seems. The very same track with the very same air.ini and the very same graphic settings becomes a slide show for me in WAW, while my fps never ever drops below 25 in 4.13 or in HSFX.

I suggest we should start a dedicated perfomance issue thread for WAW. The air.ini is only one part of problem, not the full one.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 20, 2015, 04:55:33 PM
Well, its weird, air.ini which gave me 70 fps in WaW 8 now give me only 30 fps in WaW 12 in same place.
I really have no idea what to make of this, the thing worked so well before so why now?
Also, I perform all my test under repeatable condition and from what I can tell its not new textures or anything that causing it.

For tests I just load empty Berlin map with 10 cams spread trough the city, since the map is empty and cameras always pointing in the exact same place, switching trough them with ctrl+f2 always provide exact same framerate down to a single fps.
Stock game, Jet Age and DoF both have 69 fps on particular cam and if I use stock air.ini in WaW12 it also hit 69 fps on same cam.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 20, 2015, 06:19:52 PM
My point is that WAW is somehow defective regarding performance. My rig is worse than yours, so I'm more perceptive to such problems. I made my (repeatable) tests on WAW 8 with your 4.12 air.ini. Result is simple: what is playable in 4.13 or HSFX, is unplayable in WAW/CUP. Effects/weather kill my framerate, flying close to the ground kills my framerate, flying close to ground units kills my framerate.

To the point: what if not only number of loaded airplanes affects game speed, but also number of loaded textures of maps and ground units? What if you reduce the number of maps/ground units? What if you reduce texture quality for ground units/terrains? These are blind guesses, for sure, but until you find out how many (or: which) planes you have to rem out to get back your FPS, these are a valid option.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 20, 2015, 06:45:43 PM
what if not only number of loaded airplanes affects game speed, but also number of loaded textures of maps and ground units? What if you reduce the number of maps/ground units? What if you reduce texture quality for ground units/terrains? These are blind guesses, for sure
Well, dropping visuals never had any effects on WaW, that was also the very first thing I reported that my performance drop is weird like this.
Since many people does not have any issues with WaW I wonder what exactly is the bottleneck.
Seeing how I have 4GB.RAM (bought 2 just for WaW hoping it would help) 2GB.VRAM, I think it might be my Athlon 64x2 4000+ that cant handle all this but its still weird that WaW hit my CPU so hard.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 21, 2015, 04:05:48 AM
Well, dropping visuals never had any effects on WaW, that was also the very first thing I reported that my performance drop is weird like this.
Yep, unlike in 4.13 or HSFX, reducing video quality does not considerably increase performance in WAW. WAW was probably made for maxed out settings on a high-end PC and has never been tested on, and optimized for, compromised settings on a low-end or medium PC.

Since many people does not have any issues with WaW I wonder what exactly is the bottleneck.

Well, this thread has 3593 reads at the moment of writing this...
Possibly WAW, with its sheer number of retextured planes, maps and objects, went beyond the limits of the game engine, so that only a high-end PC can cope with this oversized bunch of data. Anyway, I wonder how WAW would perform with only the stock 4.12 planes, maps and objects loaded. Such a 'barebone' WAW would tell which is the culprit: sheer numbers or the lack of optimization.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 21, 2015, 04:47:49 AM
Philosophy of CUP is to gather the best mods there are and thats it, if guys who make CUP dont have performance issues its hard to expect them to adjust CUP for those few who do, especially if it means dropping half the package somewhere down the road, that would go against idea of what CUP is suppose to be.
The fact there are people who have good fps in WaW without any additional manipulations leave me with hope that if I get a better PC I will finally be able to play it.

I wonder how WAW would perform with only the stock 4.12 planes, maps and objects loaded. Such a 'barebone' WAW would tell which is the culprit: sheer numbers or the lack of optimization.
Well, in WaW part 8 just limiting number of planes was enough to bring performance back to the level of a stock game, now its not enough, only stock air.ini brings fps back to normal level.

I want to give it another go later and see what I can do but for now cant promise a thing.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 21, 2015, 07:30:12 AM
I think I can tell you that the bottleneck is your CPU, Athlon 64x2 4000+, having a single core benchmark of 759 only. Mine is slightly better (894), but I have less video memory (1 GB) and less RAM (2 GB). I think it's simply that our rigs don't meet the minimum system requirements for WAW (which, in turn, have not been specified and announced so far).

It seems that CUP/WAW requires at least 4 gigs of RAM, 2 gigs of video memory, and a decent CPU with a single core performance of X to run smoothly. X is clearly higher than 1000, but exactly how much is still to be investigated. Anyone below these specs should forget about CUP/WAW.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 21, 2015, 08:07:25 AM
Funny thing is, for years I wanted to get a new PC, I even had the money for a build to run DCS smooth but being in the middle of house renovation I decided to wait till the work is done since I didnt want my brand new PC to be full of sand, big mistake.
Money went out of the window because you constantly need something and from the look of it I am stuck with my current PC for unspecified time.

Still, kinda wonder why the hell WaW kills my CPU like this.
I would expect it to eat up memory or send my GPU into spasms but instead it decided to take a piss on my CPU  :P
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: edc1 on July 21, 2015, 09:45:10 AM
Hi Guys,
Have just been reading these posts and from what I can understand it seems that if you
need better frame rates you will need a more powerful unit to handle CUP.
I am getting 60fps (80+ aircraft all airborne on their way to engage in a fighting mission)
my monitor limits me to 60fps.
My system is self built:-
     Intel I7 4790 processor @4.0GHz
     Memory = 8Gb
     Graphics card GTX760 -2GB memory
     Motherboard  Gigabyte Z97X-gaming 7
     Windows 7 home
    IL2 1946 CUP modded  and up to date
The only problem I have is - when testing a mission I speed up the program by X4 or X8 times
then the frame rate drops to between 6 or 4, but returns to normal as soon as the seed is normal. (don't know why that happens).
Windows has a performance information and tools program I am getting a 7.9 score on all items except the hard drive which is given as 5.9
This program might give some clues as to why you cannot get better frame rates ie processor speed etc
Ps I am about to upload some missions for CUP but I think the might not be playable for those who have frame rate problems,
and put some user's off so I may wait a while
Just my thoughts hope they may help
Cheers edc1 (stan)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 21, 2015, 10:38:24 AM
Hi Stan, your CPU's single core performance is benchmarked @ 2532, and still you have problems when speeding up the game. Now compare that 2532 to Chupa's 759 or to my 894, which are 4 to 5 years old average-speed CPUs, completely fitted to run Il-2 in all its major versions (stock, DBW, HSFX) except WAW. Now the problem is that if modding goes in this direction, many old Il-2 fans who cannot afford or don't want to have a state-of-the-art gaming rig will have no other choice than to revert to older versions of the game or completely abandon it.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: edc1 on July 21, 2015, 11:30:06 AM
Hi sniperton,
Yes , it will be a problem (CUP) for those who cannot upgrade there system to improve FPS,( not everybody
can afford an upgrade).
 Perhaps we should all try and help  support those versions (stock, DBW and HSFX) that allow older systems to carry on
using and improving IL2 to ensure we keep all fans of the game into the future .
Cheers edc1 (stan)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: pilotpimpf on July 21, 2015, 05:07:21 PM
Well Im no computer expert, all I know is how to turn it on .....

I have not measured my frame rates but I begin to wonder if its down to the make of the CPU or the make of graphics card, I have always read that NVidia is the card for the sim.
Could that be part of the reasons ?

Heres what my computer is ; AMD AthlonIIx4645 3.10GHz
Installed memory 8.00 GB
Windows 7
ATI Radeon 3000 graphics card.

Like you said all my money goes on a house renovation at the moment but I would of thought that the above spec should of been OK.

Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: ol' Navy on July 21, 2015, 06:15:28 PM
This topic really interests me.  I have heard for years you folks mentioning your PC's and their relationship to how well the game runs.  My boys have always kept my PC in pretty good shape I think.  Over the years, they always give me their hand me downs after they upgrade.  At present, my PC is as follows - CPU is AMD FX-6300, video card is MSI Radeon 7850, HD is Samsung 256gb SSD, PSU is Corsair 650w, case is Corsair 600T, memory is 8gb Corsair.  Asus motherboard.  Windows 8.1 (gonna upgrade to  Win 10 when it's out since I never turn down anything that is free).  Good size monitor but a sorry joystick.  What do you think of my system and should it do well with CUP?  Just interested in what you guys are saying.  And, with fewer frame rates it takes me longer to get shot down or just run into something.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 21, 2015, 06:51:24 PM
Yes , it will be a problem (CUP) for those who cannot upgrade there system to improve FPS,( not everybody
can afford an upgrade).

Well, I have one PC, which serves me well, and I don't want to invest in a second one only for the sake of WAW. A new rig, similar to yours, would cost me more than my one month's income (and I'm relatively well paid according to Eastern European standards). I could afford it, but the extra cost would be simply too much for a hobby.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: DougW60 on July 21, 2015, 07:07:05 PM
I have a Radeon 7970, 27in Monitor (2048x1152 resolution), 12xgig 1600 RAM and a I7 960 CPU.  The CPU, RAM and monitor are all 6 years old.  I have the same problem as identified by edc1 with FPS at approximately 60 plus at altitude but when I accelerate time speed to 4x and 8x my framerates dropped dramatically.  The point is, edc1 is using an nVidia GPU and I'm a AMD GPU, so I feel confident that the problems described are not tied to the GPU. We have a bottleneck in our system, no big deal, I am upgrading to a new CPU/motherboard/RAM within the next couple of months (I7 6700K) and once AMD and nVidia bring a single GPU that can handle 4k resolution, I'll upgrade to 4k.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 22, 2015, 03:36:42 AM
I have the same problem ... when I accelerate time speed to 4x and 8x my framerates dropped dramatically. ... I feel confident that the problems described are not tied to the GPU.

You can make it sure by reducing screen resolution. If you still have a dramatic FPS drop then it's clearly not related to your GPU.

We have a bottleneck in our system

Sure we have, but the problem seems to be originating in some unoptimized (or conflicting) program code overburdening the CPU. In contrast, in HSFX there's no significant FPS drop when I accelerate time. (BTW, I've read somewhere that enabling the WAW_FLAME mod via JSGME might eliminate the problem.)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 22, 2015, 08:21:59 AM
Curious thing I noticed.
It needs further testing but for quite a while I felt that certain aircraft limit available air.ini size more than the others.
For quite a while I suspected that duplicates are the ones that doing it for example J7W1a and J7W1b.
I am currently making pacific theatre and I hit fps block, I am deleting 4 random planes and I am not gaining a single fps but its enough to disable either of those planes and fps goes up 10 frames.
Earlier I've got the feeling that different version of Me 262 did that or different variation of corsair.
You can disable 10 other planes but fps wont change but its enough to delete just one or two dupes and framerate goes up.

Maybe different planes accessing same FM somehow causing it or there is conflict of some other kind.
Unfortunately I cant look into it deeper than just scratching the surface  :-X
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: edc1 on July 22, 2015, 08:59:02 AM
Hi all,
just started playing Hawaii 41 campaign, and increased the speed x8 (to see if the FPS drop was the same)
But it only went from 60 to 58! Not 60 to 4.
So the drop must be down to either :- 1 the map                                                         
                                                                   2 the aircraft or number of aircraft (which I do not belive in my instant)
                                                                   3 I am asking the program to do too much in my mission building
The map used in Hawaii 41is not as detailed as the map (ItalyAfricaGreece which gives me this massive FPS
drop down to 4 from 60.
I now think the only people to throw some light on the problem of FPS drop when speeding up a mission  are those who know and understand programming.
I know this won't help but maybe it's another piece to the jigsaw.
Cheers edc1 (stan)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 22, 2015, 06:12:54 PM
I am deleting 4 random planes and I am not gaining a single fps but its enough to disable either of those planes and fps goes up 10 frames.
...
Unfortunately I cant look into it deeper than just scratching the surface.

Great find. I suggest you should make it a new thread and ask for help from modders who know how various models are crosslinked in-game.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 22, 2015, 09:56:51 PM
I might try and ask someone later when I finish figuring this out a bit more, for example F4U-5 with N variant also have similar effect but even if I remove all of them with full WaW air.ini my fps wont go up very high, framerate needs to be already in the ballpark but yeah, certain planes weight much more.

Its hard to say whether there is conflict or FM for those planes is just too heavy, I have no idea how FM's are but I would imagine its a table of some kind, maybe there is something about those FM's that causing it, maybe modders went overboard with resolution.
Assuming its the FM if there is anything unusual about it maybe it would allow to find other planes like this in WaW and optimise them for performance but as you can see, thats a lot of 'maybe'  :P
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: decipher on July 22, 2015, 10:10:08 PM
in another thread about stuttering i found this reply from wolfiz that fits to the discussion perfectly and sheds at least some more more light on this topic:

The number of air.ini entries does affect performance significantly. as every plane's .emd is loading into memory on game start, regardless of whether it is used or not.

Apparently memory reserved for terrain generation is affected past a certain number in air.ini, causing a lot of memory swapping and stuttering, especially when zooming in toward the horizon, my fps was dropping to 1-2 fps on full zoom using FOV mod.

The other issue, performance when viewing dense city .msh, is simply a matter of raw CPU power, MB bus speed and MB memory speed. I have been working a little on a simple workaround that replaces some of the static building msh with the smallest static object msh in IL2, which now renders invisible, some of the buildings are gone, but factory areas are complete with a longer range LOD, and FPS is much better.

I plan to work on that a little more the next few weeks, and see if it is practical to eventually put together a small upload package.

link to original posting: https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,45822.msg521710.html#msg521710

if one could eventually "hack" the actual il-2 (java?) engine core and for example fix mod it to only load specifically those EMD files (FM files?) for aircraft that are actually used in the playing mission... freeing up resources for the map and ground objects etc... *dreaming*
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 22, 2015, 11:09:05 PM
Well, after finally unpacking buttons after all those years of mystery and looking at what we have here, everything looks simpler than I expected it to.
Just parameters and a value, the only thing that looks like it has any resolution is calculations of either lift surface or drag (at least I am guessing thats what that is).
In any case, I doubt IL2 would touch those values when aircraft is not in use so I guess maybe its not heavy FM after all.
I noticed some emd files pack quite a few of engine types, maybe planes that load emd in which there are many engine types are heavier than those that point to one engine type onle.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Storebror on July 22, 2015, 11:44:37 PM
The number of air.ini entries does affect performance significantly.
Yes and no.
Up to a specific point, you can load as many aircraft in parallel as you wish.
When that point is reached, the next loaded aircraft will kill your FPS.
The problem is: It depends on the user system where or when this happens. A number "x" of aircraft might still run fine on system "A" while it already freaks out FPS on system "B".

as every plane's .emd is loading into memory on game start, regardless of whether it is used or not.
Ah... no. It's not related to planes' flight- or engine models at all, it's a pure java issue.

Well, after finally unpacking buttons after all those years of mystery
Mystery? What?

maybe planes that load emd in which there are many engine types are heavier than those that point to one engine type only.
No. As stated above, it's not related to fmd or emd files at all.

Best regards - Mike
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 23, 2015, 02:15:24 AM
Mystery? What?
For years discussion on how to unpack buttons file and play with FM was banned on pretty much every IL2 forum I ever visited.
Even this forum had a note that discussion is not allowed.

Well, from the look of it, the solution is beyond my reach.
Thanks for clarification Mike.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 23, 2015, 04:19:41 AM
Many thanks to everyone who took the pain to investigate, comment on, and clarify this issue. Please correct me if I'm wrong:

Number of aircraft in the package (here: WAW) only affects initial loading speed of the game.
Game performance is affected by the number of activated aircraft only. Those which are remed out in the air.ini do not count, as they are not loaded.
Each aircraft entry counts only once, contrary to what Chupa hypothesised, and it doesn't matter whether it's a duplicate or something of the kind. I understand that it's a pure Java issue which affects all game versions.
Up to an N number of loaded/activated aircraft the game performance is not affected. N depends on the individual PC, being lower on weaker rigs and higher on stronger rigs. Motherboard speed and CPU power are the main factors which limit how many planes one can have without FPS loss.
Based on HSFX, I can say that 580 entries in the air.ini are still okay for a weak PC with a single thread performance benchmark of 890. Chupa's solution with reduced 'period' and 'theatre' air.inis should theoretically make WAW playable for all.

What I still don't understand:

I have a weak GPU, so that I have to reduce screen resolution to be able to play the stock game and HSFX with maxed-out graphic settings. I have decent framerates there, never dropping below 25.
The same trick doesn't work for WAW. Tuning down the graphics further on doesn't help considerably, even with an air.ini reduced to 520 entries. Behind the air.ini issue there seems to be another one, possibly related to particle effects, maps, textures, and objects.

Is there any theoretic chance that reming out maps and objects would bring back FPS the same way as it does with aircraft?


Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Mick on July 23, 2015, 04:39:18 AM
... Behind the air.ini issue there seems to be another one, possibly related to particle effects, maps, textures, and objects.

... then a little tweaking in the conf.ini may help ...

... like :

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=3
TexCompress=2
TexFlags.UseDither=0
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=1
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=0
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=1
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=0
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=1
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=0
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=1
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=1
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Storebror on July 23, 2015, 06:43:52 AM
Thanks for pointing this out Mick.
I recently had to re-enable the S3TC texture compression when I took 8K screenshots with LOD bias set to -3 on my GTX 970, it's never too late to remember the old GPU tricks ;)

Besides that, I've read complaints about the effects on CUP a couple of times now.
How about trying one of the other effects mods which are floating around at SAS?
There's as many effects mods available as there are rats under the red square.
Just pick one of your choice and try if it helps. If you don't know what I'm talking about, the "light effects" pack from DBW (can be found in the JSGME mods which ship with DBW) might be a good starting point.

Now let me add a little bit to the confusion ;)
Number of aircraft in the package (here: WAW) only affects initial loading speed of the game.
Game performance is affected by the number of activated aircraft only. Those which are remed out in the air.ini do not count, as they are not loaded.
No, no and no :D
There's three reasons in total which might trigger the loading process of an aircraft:

Best regards - Mike
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 23, 2015, 06:54:58 AM
@ Mick: I have all of them as given by you, but with no avail.
@ Mike: Thanks again ('let's look to the bottom of the thing', as Sherlock liked to put), but is there any theoretic chance that commenting out maps and ground units would bring back FPS the same way as it does with aircraft?
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Storebror on July 25, 2015, 07:29:00 AM
Just to let you know, I did a short test with modified classes in order to prohibit the initial class loading from the magic "allc" file and in order to bypass the initial aircraft class loading from "air.ini".
Turns out that unfortunately the game relies on a fully loaded set of classes in many places of the stock game code.
While getting rid of the "allc" class preloading was comparably easy and brought little side effects (mostly it makes all crt checks impossible, but that's no big deal for C.U.P.), skipping the pre-parsing of "air.ini" needs a lot of sidework in other stock game classes.

I doubt we will have a quick solution here and if at all, it's still uncertain whether this really solves the issue we're trying to fight, the "imaginary air classes limit".

Nevertheless, it's something worth wasting a couple more coffee breaks on...

Best regards - Mike
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 25, 2015, 07:48:04 AM
Thank you Mike for all your efforts and coffee breaks!  :)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 25, 2015, 08:09:01 AM
@Storebror
Is it known what causes the issue exactly?
Are those classes are exceeding allowable memory or something?
I mean from the looks of it its closely tied to CPU but what does CPU has to do with all those classes being loaded?

In any case, sorry guys I tried to make air.ini for part 12 but I couldn't do it, I could get old performance disabling many aircraft but at this point it was unusable since no theatre of operation could be made even divided by time periods it was too fragmented to be of much fun.
From previous set only stock air.ini provided good fps but its not like you have WaW because you want to use stock planes.
WaW part 9 and 10 had better fps than part 12 but again, to match performance of a stock game too much planes had to be disabled.
So yeah, I am rolling back to WaW part 8 and staying there till I get a better PC.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Storebror on July 25, 2015, 08:15:32 AM
Is it known what causes the issue exactly?
Not exactly.
We know that there's an imaginary "wall" being hit when the number of loaded classes exceeds a specific limit which, despite being in the same range, isn't quite the same for every PC.
We also know that aircraft classes matter most in this case, other classes like ships, cars, weapons and "general" stuff don't seem to matter much.
This seems to be an issue within the Java Virtual Machine and we seem to be the first to face it, which makes sense because projects of the dimension like a modded IL-2 were simply unthinkable in the times where Java 1.3 was up to date.

Best regards - Mike
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 25, 2015, 08:37:11 AM
We know that there's an imaginary "wall" being hit when the number of loaded classes exceeds a specific limit which, despite being in
Sounds like memory limit decided by max available memory percentage or something like that.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: decipher on July 25, 2015, 08:45:17 AM
if we are already discussing this (very interesting) topic i have a question:

does the il-2 selector memory setting have any influence on il-2 related to this specific problem? the amount of memory we can choose and also the
type of memory allocation strategy (balanced, conservative, heap only).

does that have any influence on the "imaginary wall" you mentioned, or anything else related?

Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: edc1 on July 25, 2015, 09:14:00 AM
Hi sniperton and DougW60,
Re replys #66 and 72,
I have just completed flying an increased number of aircraft on one map (nothing added except aircraft)
to see if the number of aircraft flying drops the FPS here are the results:-
 Up to 28 aircraft no change in 60 FPS even when speeding up x8
  No of aircraft........FPS normal Speed .....(.X8 ..outside......cockpit)
        40         .........      60     ................  15 FPS   .......   34FPS
        44                        60                        12                    27
        48                        60                        10                    13
        52                        60                          9                    12
        56                        60                          9                    11
Increasing the speed x2 or 4 in all cases FPS remained at 60.
So in the missions  I am building I have over 80 aircraft flying and my FPS are 60, this drops to 4 FPS when I speed up X8.
Still not sure if its my CPU,or Graphics card or the program itself that can not handle the x8 increased speed as when using in normal speed the frame rate is 60.
I only use x8 when testing a mission I feel quite lucky with my 60 FPS display, but still unsure if I should up load my missions
in case I get bad reviews about frame rates making the missions unplayable.
Cheers edc1 (stan)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Storebror on July 25, 2015, 09:36:21 AM
Sounds like memory limit decided by max available memory percentage or something like that.
No, it's not memory, it's something else.
Something's exceeding it's limits, e.g. the properties, weapon hashes etc. (all of these aircraft have plenty of, in contrast to other IL-2 objects, and that's the key).
These things are stored in "ArrayLists" and they seem to be the path to the problem's root. Seem. Nothing's for sure yet.

does the il-2 selector memory setting have any influence on il-2 related to this specific problem? the amount of memory we can choose and also the
type of memory allocation strategy (balanced, conservative, heap only).
No, unfortunately not, as the inner cause for the trouble isn't memory related.

I have over 80 aircraft flying
Absolutely unrelated.
When you have many aircraft flying, even if they're of the same type, then you will always face FPS drops, in particular when raising the game speed.
It's simply that your CPU can't perform all the plane's calculations (flight model, AI pilot manoeuvres etc.) in time anymore.
That happens on Stock IL-2 in the very same way.

What we're talking about isn't the number of aircraft flying, but the number of distinctive aircraft being available when the game is running, i.e. the number of aircraft available in the aircraft dropdown list in your QMB.

Best regards - Mike
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: edc1 on July 25, 2015, 12:16:40 PM
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the info on my speed problem. 
 I can now put that one to bed and not worry about it, and start to save up for a better CPU then my I7 4790 @4GHz.
Cheers edc1 (stan)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 25, 2015, 03:07:59 PM
... and start to save up for a better CPU then my I7 4790 @4GHz.

LOL  ;D Don't kill me with such jokes!  ;)

My problem is still that even with Chupa's 4.12 air.ini I get very bad framerates, while considerably more aircraft in my air.ini doesn't cause such performance drop in HSFX. If it could be sorted out somehow it would be possible to create three theatre air.inis:

Eastern Front: no trainers, no prototypes or futuristic designs, no Japanese, no Western Allies (except Land-Lease);
Western Front: no trainers, no prototypes or futuristic designs, no Japanese, no Soviet
Pacific: no trainers, no prototypes or futuristic designs, no Soviet, no German or European Axis

In many cases there are several subtypes for one aircraft, but I would be happy with a few major types running smoothly as well. I simply don't need all the 109s, 190s, and Spitfires.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Storebror on July 26, 2015, 01:20:27 AM
start to save up for a better CPU then my I7 4790 @4GHz.
Hi stan,

You just have to accept this (old) games limits.
It's tied to a single core of your CPU and that one just can handle as much as it can.
In particular, your CPU is as much as you can get for IL-2 (despite lacking the "K", it's among the fastest single core performers available).

even with Chupa's 4.12 air.ini I get very bad framerates, while considerably more aircraft in my air.ini doesn't cause such performance drop in HSFX.
We start turning in circles.
Your FPS issue seems to be effects related, not class limit related.
You could strip down your air.ini to three or four aircraft and still it would happen.

Best regards - Mike
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on July 26, 2015, 01:28:01 AM
Hey Snipperton, try my conf.ini (http://pastebin.com/BVxe01tr) Do not open configure wizard or use in game options since some things were changed manually and will be overridden if you do so and tell me whats your PC specs, especially your CPU.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: sniperton on July 26, 2015, 05:24:43 PM
Your FPS issue seems to be effects related, not class limit related.

Amen. You're right (as always), I'm pretty sure that the bottleneck of my system is there. Thank to you Mike and Chupa, I figured out a config which makes WAW#8 playable for me provided I don't ground attack. I can live with it until I can buy a new PC.  :)
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: EHood on August 20, 2015, 09:06:12 AM
It's been two or three weeks since I constructed my 4.12.2/CUP installation, and although the frame rate for DOF and TJA have always been fine, that for WAW was terrible. I've been trying to get a stock career started, as a Russian fighter pilot on the Central and South fronts. The first mission works great in the Stock Game option, but not so well in WAW. Much tweaking of my stock (Radeon) graphics card and various conf.ini settings made no apparent difference. But then I discovered this thread, and I'm happy to report that Lighten_Up has made a substantial improvement in my WAW frame rate. It still tends to hesitate during large explosions and lightning storms; I'm hoping that a new graphics card, perhaps by NVidia, may obviate those stutters as well.

Many thanks, Chupacabras. I can now actually fly missions in WAW.  ;D
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Paul Saunders on August 22, 2015, 01:55:38 AM
These modded air.ini files work for me. In the stock game I get between 45-60 FPS all settings maxxed out at 1920x1200, rarely dropping below 60FPS except when taking off. The modded files help enormously, although using anything other than stock I do experience lower frame rates. Unmodded my rate can drop to single figures and that's with an Nvidia 980 card....

Great work!
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Chupacabras84 on August 22, 2015, 04:22:33 AM
although using anything other than stock I do experience lower frame rates
You are using WaW part 12 right?
This mod was tested on a rather weak PC with WaW part 8 and I managed to bring fps back to the level of a stock game, unfortunately I couldn't do the same with anything past WaW part 8.
If you want top fps, just stick with WaW 08.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module (should improve fps)
Post by: Paul Saunders on August 22, 2015, 02:16:13 PM
although using anything other than stock I do experience lower frame rates
You are using WaW part 12 right?
This mod was tested on a rather weak PC with WaW part 8 and I managed to bring fps back to the level of a stock game, unfortunately I couldn't do the same with anything past WaW part 8.
If you want top fps, just stick with WaW 08.
Yes, I was using pat 12. The mods do make  difference, but on average I'm still down on the stock FPS. I'm going back to 8 and will let you know the outcome.

Cheers

Paul

Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module pt08! (should improve fps)
Post by: Paul Saunders on September 08, 2015, 03:26:28 PM
No significant difference in frame rate using Mod 8, to be honest. I can happily live with the stock ini  option though, and enjoy consistently smooth frames rates coupled with the additional improvements that CUP brings to the original game.

Cheers

Paul

Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module pt08! (should improve fps)
Post by: Bidius on December 19, 2015, 02:42:08 PM
Does anyone have the lightened air.ini file?

The links in this thread are all dead.
Title: Re: Lightened up air.ini for World at War module pt08! (should improve fps)
Post by: SAS~Gerax on December 21, 2015, 01:06:45 AM
Does anyone have the lightened air.ini file?

Uploaded again as attachment of first post.

Do not forget: this air.ini is only for World at War module part 08!