Information is courtesy of aviationwb.com
● Jan 23rd 2017
○ Section III – Audio Drivers
● Jan 17th 2017
○ Section VII – Delete Shaders folder
○ Section VI.E – Edit LOD_RADIUS
● Jan 16th 2017
○ Section V – Monitor refresh rate fix
Read First:
● *OP* means optional and you should test your sim with it & without it, then decide if to apply it.
● All tweaks / settings (apart from “After P3D launch”) should be done while P3D is NOT running.
● My test environment is windows 10 64 bit, P3D V3.4.
● If you have a GPU & monitor with G-Sync support, skip any VSync & FPS related tweak / setting below, just use G-Sync.
● Some may not agree with part of the tweaks / settings, however, I strongly suggest to keep an open mind and try, if you found it helpful, great, if not, nothing happened.
● It is recommended to overclock your CPU, GPU, and Memory in order to get the most out of your hardware. However, if you do not have the required knowledge / experience, do not try overclocking, otherwise your hardware will be at risk. I found that a proper overclocking can increase P3D performance by ~5% to 25% depends on how aggressive the overclocking is.
● Differences between 30 FPS and 60 FPS
○ http://testufo.com/#test=framerates
● What are stutters and micro stutters
○ http://testufo.com/#test=stutter
Follow Instructions:
Used Acronyms: HE – High end PC, ME – Medium end PC, LE – Low end PC
I. BIOS
A. Disable Hyper Threading (i7 processors only)
B. Enable XMP (Advanced users, set true memory speed)
II. Windows
A. Unpark CPU cores (multi cores CPUs only)
1. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kh6XzPDxacZmr0H1N57RZ0fsZ9lpGPEZiHhM1lsbvU4/edit?usp=sharing
B. Open Power Options
1. Set power plan to High Performance
2. Press on Change Advanced Power Settings
a) Expand PCI Express
b) Set Link State Power management to off
c) Reboot
III. Audio Drivers
A. If you don’t remember the last time you updated your audio drivers, then this is for you – this tweak is specifically for fixing stutters.
B. The following info is only for users that their sound system is managed by Realtek.
1. Right click on the sound icon on the bottom right-hand toolbar on your screen.
2. Click playback devices
3. Locate “Speakers” and double click it
4. Ensure that when the ensuing dialogue box opens, that your speakers are being managed by RealTek (You should see the word RealTek somewhere).
5. Click properties, then driver. If your drivers aren’t from 2017, continue to the next step…
6. Go to http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/
7. Click “High Definition Audio Codecs (Software)”
8. Locate the latest corresponding driver for your operating system and download it.
9. Run it (expect few reboots during installation)
10. Once done, right click on the sound icon again
11. Click the “Enhancements” tab, then check the “Disable all enhancements” feature.
12. Click the “Advanced” tab, and reduce your audio quality to 16 bit 48000Hz (DVD Quality). You won’t notice any difference in your audio.
13. Reboot.
IV. NVCP – NVIDIA Control Panel (or NVIDIA Inspector)
A. Go to Manage 3D Settings
1. Select Program Settings (P3D profile)
a) Turn off Shader Cache
b) *OP* Turn on VSync Adaptive
c) *OP* Turn on Triple Buffering
d) Apply
V. *OP* FPS limiter (if you use NVIDIA Inspector, skip first bullet)
A. Download RivaTuner
1. http://www.guru3d.com/files-get/rtss-rivatuner-statistics-server-download,12.html
B. Set FPS limiter (P3D profile)
1. The limit should be equal to your monitor refresh rate. For example, someone with 60hz monitor, should set FPS limit to 60 FPS.
2. Start by setting FPS limit to equal your monitor refresh rate and check results.
3. If your PC is not capable of reaching FPS equal to your monitor refresh rate, then you should set FPS limit to half of your monitor refresh rate (if monitor is 60hz then set 30 FPS)
a) In that case use VSync “half refresh rate” option in NVCP.
(1) Yes, I know many says half refresh rate does not work with P3D, however, I tried and did see changes. Try and see for yourself.
4. For some, applying FPS limiter worsen the experience, try the options above and see for yourself what is better for your PC.
VI. *OP* Monitor refresh rate fix
A. The following section will benefit you the most only if last section (FPS limiter) is also applied.
B. Check your current monitor refresh rate
1. https://www.vsynctester.com/detect.html
C. As you might find, the refresh rate is not as accurate as what the manufacturer suggest. For example, 60Hz monitors will probably show ~59.888Hz. In that case, we want to force monitor refresh rate to be exactly 60.000Hz or at least closer to 60.000Hz than 59.888Hz. In order to do that, please follow the next steps:
1. Know your current monitor resolution and refresh rate
2. Download CRU (Custom Resolution Utility)
a) https://www.monitortests.com/cru-1.3.zip
3. Run CRU.exe
4. Open the following screenshot and use it as referece
a) https://docs.google.com/document/d/16bIw3RuBlV3MpgktnJsJlDPbVMjw2HDAJmxa_CWRlW0/edit?usp=sharing
5. Select your active monitor from the drop down list
6. Delete all under Detailed Resolutions section
7. Add new under Detailed Resolution section
8. Select in timing drop down list, Automatic – LCD reduced
9. Set your monitor resolution (should be set already)
a) For example 1920×1080
(1) Active horizental 1920
(2) Active vertical 1080
10. Edit Refresh Rate to your monitor refresh rate (as manufacturer suggest) – DO NOT ENTER HIGHER REFRESH RATE THAN WHAT YOUR SCREEN ACTUALLY SUPPORT – THIS WILL RESULT IN MONITOR OVERCLOCKING AND MIGHT CAUSE DAMAGE.
a) If 240hz, write 240.000 Hz
b) If 120hz, write 120.000 Hz
c) If 60hz, write 60.000 Hz
d) if 30hz, write 30.000 Hz
11. Press OK
12. Press OK
13. Reboot
14. Check your current monitor refresh rate
a) https://www.vsynctester.com/detect.html
15. Your monitor refresh rate should be more accurate at this point.
VII. P3D cfg file
A. My recommendation is not to mess with this file, however, doing the following does improve performance.
B. Open Prepar3D.cfg file
1. C:\Users\
C. Add AffinityMask under [JOBSCHEDULER]
1. Calculate your affinity mask value
a) http://www.gatwick-fsg.org.uk/affinitymask.aspx?SubMenuItem=hardware
b) Leave “Hyper-threading Enabled” unchecked
2. Add the following (replace X with the value you got in the calculator)
a) [JOBSCHEDULER]
b) AffinityMask=X
D. Add FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION under [MAIN]
1. Pick and test a value between 0.1 and 0.33 (do not use 0.01), keep in mind, the faster CPU and Hard Drive, the lower the value. I am using 0.15.
a) High value will use more resources for loading scenery
b) Low value will use less resources for loading scenery
E. Edit LOD_RADIUS
1. Pick and test a value between 4.500000 and 6.500000. I am using 5.500000.
a) High value will load bigger terrain radius ring equal less performence.
b) Low value will load less terrain radius ring equal better performence.
c) Note, P3D has an internal limiter of 6.500000, hence, setting a value bigger than 6.500000 won’t have any affect.
F. Save Prepar3D.cfg and close
VIII. Delete Shaders folder
A. Apply this step only if you have updated your graphics card driver since you installed P3D.
B. After applying this step, first load of scenery might take a while, this is normal.
1. Delete the following folder
a) C:\Users\
2. Run P3D, let scenery fully load once and exit P3D.
a) P3D will re-create this folder for you.
IX. P3D Settings
A. Graphics
1. Turn off VSync
2. Uncheck Triple Buffering
3. Set frame limiter to Unlimited
4. Wide screen users
a) Check Wide-view Aspect Ratio
B. Lighting
1. Do not go over High for Shadows
C. Scenery
1. Do not go over High for Water and Bathymetry
2. Autogen vegeration / buildings density
a) HE set Extremely Dense
b) ME set Very Dense
c) LE set Normal
D. Traffic
1. HE set sliders low to mid position
2. ME set All off
3. LE set All off
X. After P3D launch (repeat on every launch or use a proper software to do that for you)
A. Open Task Manager
B. Right click on P3D
C. Select Go to details
D. Right click on P3D
E. Set priority to High
F. Do Not Touch Set Affinity
G. *OP* Run RivaTuner OR NVIDIAinspector (only if FPS limit was set)