[TonyD]

I tested this update as previous; running the Black Death track as recommended to obtain frame rates, then free flying over Dover and London and observing average frame rates. The BD track definitely has additional detail to what it had previously, and is ‘de-magnified’ to produce a more wide-angled view. For this reason results are not comparable to those obtained prior to the update, as the amount of detail being rendered is currently greater.

Settings, processor and gpu usage are as shown in the attached images, driver version 11.5, CCC settings at default, cpu and graphics clocks at default, VSYNC off for the benchmark and on for the free flight, frame rates measured using the in-game display, second run results shown:

14413 (avg, max, min): 37, 81, 14
14550: (avg, max, min): 29, 70, 10

Flying over Dover at 1000 feet the frame rate varies around 42 – 45 fps, dropping to 35 at roof-top height (previously closer to 50 and 40 fps respectively). Although it is a bit slower than previous, it seems a lot more fluid, and the frame rate doesn’t drop as much when looking at the burning fuel depot. Over London at 2000 feet the frame rate is around 37 (previously 45), and at roof-top height around 32 (previously 36), but again seems smoother than before with less variation.

IMO it seems as if the graphics pipeline has been optimised further, which is currently allowing more detail to be rendered than previous, which is also resulting in a lower frame rate, but is more consistent. Cpu loading is a bit greater on one of the cores (previous ~75%, now ~80%), although the rest seem the same. Gpu load was 100% (both screen shots are after completing the BD track).

I haven’t had the time to do any further testing, but assume that I probably need to tinker with the settings again to find a nice balance between frame rate and appearance. And those bloody blue lines … meh!