Asking Better Questions at 30,000 Feet (and 40 FPS) - Part Two of Two

In the last post, I discussed how I came to ask for help from my trusty assistant, ChatGPT.  For background details, I refer you to  Asking Better Questions at 30,000 Feet (and 40 FPS) - Part One of Two.

In this post, I am presenting Chat's response.

Warning!  

• A.) Like Part One, this is going to be a long post — sorry!  
• B.) One should not take this information as gospel.  Young Chat has made mistakes before.  
• C.) At this point, I've yet to make the recommended changes - but intend to perform the experiment in the near future. 

Now that I've covered my backside, let's move on.

The information presented below is cut-and-paste from ChatGPT's screen.

"My Question: "I have an Alianware laptop running FS2024. Hardware Details: 13th Gen i7-13700HX 2.10 GHz, 16 GB Ram, Windows 11 Pro, 8GB Graphics Flight Sim. Software: TrackIR5, Air Manager 5, FS2024 Flight Sim. Hardware: Saitek Pro Yoke and Rudder Pedals 4K TV as monitor Type of Flying: VFR Cross Country - Under FAA VFR Rules ChatGPT: Go into the FS2024 settings and provide me with the best settings for the simulator and type of flying as described above. Note: Frame rates do not have to high because - no more than 40 FPS."

Note: ChatGPT actually provided the sources for this response so you can double-check. 

Flight Simulation Showcase, MSFS/Addons, PC Optimized Settings, Crosswind, Pimax, Yandex and Sportskeeda.

🎯Your Mission Profile (What We Optimize For)

• VFR / low altitude / traffic pattern work
• 4K TV
• TrackIR (head movement = extra CPU load)
• Air Manager (external instruments = CPU hit)
• Target: 30–40 FPS, smooth

👉 Translation: prioritize terrain clarity + cockpit readability, sacrifice heavy eye candy (clouds, shadows, traffic)

🛠️ Baseline Strategy (Important)

Start from:

• Preset: HIGH-END → then tune DOWN
• NOT Ultra (too heavy at 4K on 8GB VRAM)

⚙️ Graphics Settings (Dial These In)

Display

• Display Mode: Fullscreen
• Resolution: 3840x2160 (4K)
• V-Sync: Off
• Frame Limit: 30 or 40 FPS (lock it) ← critical for smoothness

👉 Locking FPS stabilizes frame pacing and eliminates stutters.

Upscaling (Critical for Your GPU)

• Anti-Aliasing: DLSS Super Resolution
• DLSS Mode: BALANCED (or PERFORMANCE if needed)
• Sharpening: 80–100

👉 At 4K, DLSS is mandatory for performance.

Level of Detail (Most Important for VFR)

• Terrain LOD: 100–130
• Object LOD: 100

👉 These are the #1 performance killers—especially near airports and cities.

For VFR:

• Don’t go below 100 (you’ll lose visual cues)
• Don’t go above 150 (waste of FPS)

Textures (Good News — Cheap FPS-WISW)

• Texture Resolution: HIGH or ULTRA
• Anisotropic Filtering: 16x

👉 Texture quality has minimal FPS impact if VRAM isn’t exceeded.

Clouds (Big FPS Hit)

• Volumetric Clouds: MEDIUM

👉 Clouds can cost ~25% FPS on higher settings.

For VFR, Medium still looks excellent, 

Shadows (Heavy — Cut These)

• Shadow Maps: 1024 or 1536
• Terrain Shadows: LOW
• Contact Shadows: OFF
• Ray-Traced Shadows: OFF

👉 Shadows are “silent killers” of performance.

Environment Detail

• Trees: MEDIUM
• Grass: LOW
• Bushes/Plants: LOW

👉 Trees alone can massively impact CPU performance.

Traffic (Turn Mostly Off)

• AI Traffic: OFF
• Ground Aircraft: LOW or OFF
• Airport Vehicles: LOW
• Multiplayer: ON (optional)

👉 Traffic = CPU spikes → stutters on approach.

Glass Cockpit

• Refresh Rate: MEDIUM or LOW

👉 Huge CPU saver—especially with Air Manager already running.

Misc (Important)

• Motion Blur: OFF
• Depth of Field: OFF
• Lens Effects: LOW
• Ambient Occlusion: LOW or MEDIUM
• Reflections: LOW

🧠 Your “Real-World" Profile (This Is Key)

Given your setup:

What will bottleneck you:

• CPU → TrackIR + Air Manager + traffic + glass cockpit
• VRAM (8GB) → 4K + Ultra textures + clouds

What fixes that:

• Lower:
  • Clouds
  • Shadows
  • Traffic
• Keep:
  • Terrain LOD ~100–130 (for VFR realism)

🧩 Final “Sweet Spot” Config (Copy This)

Best Practical Setup for YOU:

• DLSS: Balanced
• Terrain LOD: 120
• Object LOD: 100
• Textures: High
• Clouds: Medium
• Shadows: Low
• Trees: Medium
• Traffic: Off
• Glass cockpit: Medium
• FPS Lock: 30 or 40

✈️ Why This Works (For Your Type of Flying)

For VFR cross-country, what matters is:

• Ground clarity ✔
• Stable motion ✔
• Pattern work smoothness ✔

Not:

• Ultra clouds
• Ultra shadows
• AI traffic

And most importantly:

👉 A locked 30–40 FPS will feel smoother than unstable 60 FPS in this sim.

🧭 Final Thought

You’re not building a benchmark machine—you’re building a training environment.

What you want is:

• Predictable performance
• Repeatable behavior
• Visual consistency

That’s what translates from simulator → cockpit.

If you want, next step we can do:

👉 Tune this specifically for traffic pattern / short field work (slightly different priorities)

👉 Or optimize for night flying / weather scenarios

Both require small but important tweaks."

Well, that's it!

Your thoughts,

Kenneth (Ken) Butterly, Founder