Hidden Nvidia Control Panel Setting for Better X-Plane 12 Gameplay

In this X-Plane 12 video, I will show you how to enable Image Sharpening in the nvidia control panel to achieve much better visual quality in X-Plane 12 without FPS drop. This video is aimed at X-Plane flight simmers with less capable graphic cards, but can be used for any game or flight simulator.
NVIDIA SHARPENING:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
vlddmkm\FTS
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#xplane12 #nvidiacontrolpanel #xplane

[@MrImperativeoz]

The sharpening feature was always there until NVidia bundled sharpening into the Image scaling feature. Please note that if you change the value of enableGR535 it will also disable image scaling. Some people use image scaling others do not. If you are not using image scaling, re-enabling sharpening is a good idea. This applies to any games.

[@victorbranagan7808]

which airport is this?

[@PixelatedExistence]

Another great tweak and excellent well presented professional explanation. You are a credit to the flight sim community Q8! Thank you so much for the immense contribution you make!

[@khushpatel2564]

What a timing, I just got xplane 12 today on the steam sale and I was dying to find proper settings to make my sim look good, and here I am at the best xplane channel thank you...❤

[@MrGyngve]

Hey Q8! Once again you make our sim experience better. Thank you so much! Keep up the good work and happy flying to you!

[@TheFlyingDoktor]

I run XP12 on a ultrawide screen with a RTX3090Ti with most settings at max. I always got good fps but I've had issues with texts and images not looking sharp and having to zoom in a little every time to see better. I played with a lot of settings and even tried to change screens but it didn't make a difference. I have to say this 7 minute video made my simulator a hundred times nicer. All the textures look so much cleaner and sharp. I just wanted to take the time to say thank you for all your videos and hard work.

[@Q8Pilot]

I am very glad this has helped. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.

[@dragoclarke9497]

Brilliant. I've just bought a new monitor, once I've got that running (and I've had some sleep) I'll try this. Really appreciate these videos, Sir. Thanks.

[@user-ko8je6pu3g]

You Sir, are a steeley eyed missile man! Thanks Q8; a fantastic tweak that has improved my xp12 completely! Thank you very much for posting it. All the best!

[@ArtFlyer01]

Q8 thank you very much, this tweak helped significantly with visual sharpness in VR - wireless VRXD. Cheers.

[@SimFanatic]

I love these videos Q8! So valuable in helping all of us get the best performance and quality balance with our simulators! Thank you for this video and for what you do my friend. Cheers & Blue Skies!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your words of encouragement. This is truly what keeps me going. Appreciate it!

[@SimFanatic]

You are one in a million@@Q8Pilot !

[@bear6062]

Thanks for your video, love what you do for the community.

[@BobTheBucket]

Yes, I needed this SOOOO much!! Thank you, sir!

[@daviddavila7002]

Thank you for another educational video. I really apreciate what you do to improve the experience in the simulation world.

[@jcommtube]

Excellent Q8! Thanks a Bunch !!!

[@flylore7374]

Hi @Q8Pilot . Thank you for this video. It’s much appreciated. Would it be also possible to have a brief look at your other Nvidia Control panel settings? Did they change since your last video about X-Plane 12 setting? Thank you and keep posting about X-plane 😊

[@Q8Pilot]

Sure, I will make an updated video.

[@flylore7373]

Thank you so much!

[@anjinsanx44]

Just did this for my p3d v4=works !!! Thx looks much better plane and scenery crisper!

[@PaulFerniePAMRMastering]

Single best hack to date! Has improved my sim experience without impacting my FPS. Brilliant!!

[@RayongRay]

This works very well so thank you very much. One problem though is when the NV Drivers are updated you have to do all this again in Reg Edit and the X Plane NV settings. Wish there was a way for the registry entry to remain fixed as set to 0.

[@greglarUK]

Excellent, thank you so much, literally a game changer for me, very much appreciated 🙂

[@abdullah_q8171]

God bless you, excellent educational content 👍🏻

[@stevefisher1036]

This is great. for a guy running a 1070ti graphics card I need all the help I can get.

[@alejandromg3705]

Thanks very much Sir! great job!! from Las Palmas de G.C. Spain

[@jamalallmann579]

the best one thank you man much love

[@jean-christophemichel2051]

Many thanks for this video Q8pilot ! I asked myself the following question: Do you think that the higher the graphics settings in XP12, the less will be the gain in sharpness due to this new setting in NVIDIA control panel? For example, if one is lucky enough to own a 4090 with almost all the graphics settings from XP12 to max, will the gain brought by this new NVIDIA parameter setting be significant in your opinion ?

[@Q8Pilot]

I still use this option as it makes the sim sharper.

[@Simpilot53]

Thanks again for sharing your computer genius. much appreciated

[@Wolf-6567]

Always awesome content, very informative, useful and approachable Thank you.

[@khushpatel2564]

It will be really appreciated if you show all your settings in Nvidia control panel for Xplane

[@ralphconnell8163]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@TheHenkka65]

You are a genious! Thank you. 🙏

[@KT-ow1sz]

...From strength to strength !... Thank you, friend ! x.

[@KenB1963]

Nice difference. Thanks!

[@charliew2908]

Good Afternoon… quick question.. what would you recommend the monitor sharpening to be set at for xplane 12 with using this Nvidia sharpening. I know too much sharpening can be bad … my current monitor sharpening in the monitor itself is set to 75 out of 100 and my monitor is the Sceptra 35 inch ultra wide monitor

[@Elbownian]

I recommend over sharpening till you can see almost a halo around obvious high contrast areas, then lower it till the halo disappears, as a rough method of finding a good balance.

[@jarosawwenta2261]

Very handy tutorial. Though one who use orthos should be aware that lowering texture quality will be very noticeable on these orthos.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@wycliffeb]

as an ortho4xp user I havent noticed any degradation of quality applying this tweak and lowering the texture quality as in Q8's video. I have a 4080 Nvidia card

[@michaelwilliamson6061]

Thanks so much!

[@flyingmusicnature]

This is the best trick for me so far in X-Plane 12.

[@stngrayl]

I'm a big fan of yours and your channel. I just recently purchased a high end computer. Cam you provide a list of add on thar you use?

[@Q8Pilot]

For X-Plane 12, I use: X-Camera X-ATC Chatter Active Sky XP12 Living Scenery Technology Better PushBack XPRealistic TerrainRadar AviTab

[@hickmoura]

Very good!

[@droge192]

That Image Sharpening option has been at the top of my Nvidia Control Panel for some time - and I've never done this mod. Strange!

[@TheOfficialSethos]

You can also just head into "Adjust desktop size and position" and switch scaling to "Integer Scaling", then it changes Image Scaling to Image Sharpening. No need to mess around in the registry. That is basically what you're doing with that tweak in a roundabout way.

[@Q8Pilot]

I don't recommend your approach as it will apply to all games and applications. Your approach will be problematic for MSFS as it will cause grain on clouds. No not round about just considering others who might be using MSFS too.

[@TheOfficialSethos]

@@Q8Pilot Think you misunderstand, It will open up "Image Sharpening" on a per-application level, just like in your video.

[@hermankramer9723]

Where do I find "Adjust size and position" I have a dedicated machine and only fly X-Plane if I understand the comment not screwing around with the registry should be a plus for me. Thanks

[@MrPelzi91]

I actually did as you said and changed to Integer scaling.

[@MrPelzi91]

@@hermankramer9723 there is an option called "Adjust size and position" in NVIDIA control panel so you need to have an NVIDIA GPU

[@hermankramer9723]

Thanks Q8 You always make these tweaks sound so simple. As an 88 yr old dummy who flys only xp with a pretty decent machine I find flight simulation requires much more computer knowledge than 15 yrs ago. To make the adjustments and than to have the knowledge to correct something after I have screwed it up. I enjoy your wealth of knowledge and help and input. Even thought some of it I don't understand.

[@ehss192]

I think it's awesome that you're 88 years old and plugging away on here. Don't think you're a dummy. Technology changes faster these days than it did 15 years ago. Good luck!

[@hermankramer9723]

Thanks for the reply I have always been thankful for XP at least I have a fighting chance gave up on MSFS20/20 which I found too overwhelming many years ago.

[@tarick46]

Yes in radeon just turn on image sharpening on too, no need to regedit, also morphological AA on, also texture ultra or high same quality, thanks.

[@philippike6686]

how do you enable image sharpening in Radeon?

[@tarick46]

@@philippike6686 you can see on radeon adrenalin

[@joeyjjjjj]

Thanks for this. I have 2 copies of XP12 on my system (one is a test for beta's). Will the tweek apply to both copies? Thanks again.

[@n8033fox]

Yes, the Nvidia control panel simply recognizes xplane.exe. It does not matter which instance you are running at the time. Regards.

[@joeyjjjjj]

Many thanks@@n8033fox

[@stephengale7177]

I hope this comment finds you and your loved ones safe and well. This tweak makes the whole thing like calk and cheese. It is brilliant and it has made the XPlane so much better. Thanks for all your hard work throughout the year. I could not imagine XPlane without you. It works well in XPane 11 and in Prepar3D v4 and v5. Absolutely brilliant. I hope you and family have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy and safe New Year Yours Faithfully Kindness Regards Steve

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your support, and endless kindnesses. Wish you the same my friend.

[@trizue5353]

Thank you!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@davidshahin9753]

I just bought x-plane 12, cockpits R dark and I am not the only 1 with this problem. Your cockpit is as bright as x-plane 11's. Any suggestions? Thanks

[@joselt2433]

Hello, thank you very much for the great video. Is there a similar configuration in MacOS?

[@Q8Pilot]

I don't own a MacOS so I am sorry I can't help there.

[@joselt2433]

ok, don't worry, thank you very much for your videos

[@mamahayes9721]

Hi any chance you could make a tutorial on how to install marshes in x plane 12 I moved the software’s from 11 to 12 but it’s not working could show us that please I know lots of simmers out there will appreciate it thanks for your good works

[@tombulva]

Thx. Before I start changing the settings: will this also be helpful in VR ???

[@fsprimo]

It doesn't , tried in Quest3, no changes. Only in 2D

[@tombulva]

@@fsprimo Thx

[@MisiekBaer]

Cool, wouldn't it be great to achieve something similar on a mac?

[@jcpancha]

Great video. Would this be suitable for VR too?

[@Q8Pilot]

I haven't tried this in VR, but if you do try it, please do let me know if it brings any improvements.

[@fsprimo]

It doesn't , tried in Quest3, no changes. Only in 2D

[@5cG001]

I know this is something related to X-Plane's new VRAM optimization, but I have 4GB rtx 3050, and my xplane runs pretty well except for the fact that the textures on the exterior of my plane are terrible. it looks more like FSX. Is there anything I can do to at least make it marginally better so I can fly?

[@rafapiloto195]

Anyway to have something like this for AMD GPU's?

[@Mumtazg13]

Any fix and idea for amd?

[@anjinsanx44]

Will try this trick in my p3dv4

[@anjinsanx44]

Is version 12 xplane still backward compatible? I wanna use my tu154 xplane 10 version and my other planes n scene ry in xplane12 I'm not buying all those add ons again worst case=I'll buy xplane 11

[@psour33]

Nice work ! Thank's a lot. If you find some good settings for AMD users, I'm in 🤣

[@CaptainAbir]

Hello sir, do see the absurd shadows in cockpit with 8x Anti aliasing? I too have a 4090 any fixes ?

[@Q8Pilot]

Check out my video on how to improve cockpit shadows in XPlane 12

[@shalveenkumar2142]

is there anyway to do this on MAC?

[@fsprimo]

I was really hopping that it works in VR , but it doesn't 😥

[@alexgorider411]

heyy i don´t have the services folder on my registry , you know why?

[@Q8Pilot]

What do you mean by services folder?

[@alexgorider411]

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services this last folder called services @@Q8Pilot

[@f.p.vanoudtshoorn859]

At what resolution are you running X-Plane 12?

[@Q8Pilot]

I used to run 4K, but many have requested lower resolution for videos and streams. So I run 2K for videos, and 1080p for streams.

[@f.p.vanoudtshoorn859]

Thanks @@Q8Pilot

[@SimonGiorgi73]

as usual, thanks so much!

[@TheDonny2014thedonny2014]

would this work with an rtx 3080? thanks

[@Q8Pilot]

Yes

[@TheDonny2014thedonny2014]

@@Q8Pilot thank you

[@wycliffeb]

Yes in the Video q8 explains that it will work with high end machines as we have and lower spec machines also

[@jetcat120]

Its a shame that Nvidia Geforce Experience does not work with XP12 as that would make a difference too.

[@stevefisher1036]

nice difference.

[@tarick46]

How to reduce cpu bottlenecks in big city, that's the biggest problem i think.

[@hakanr339b]

3050 Gaming Laptop with 4GB VRAM and I suffer because X-Plane blurrs texture quality due to my low VRAM, I'm helpless 😂

[@fairlines9654]

Does this work also in Xplane11?

[@Q8Pilot]

Yes

[@user-uq4so7vd5b]

Super I'll give it a try. Thanks for your swift reply!@@Q8Pilot

[@BobC250]

I personally could not see any difference between the before and after videos.

[@Q8Pilot]

That's probably due to the compression in youtube. Try it out in the sim.

[@TomKnudsen]

But you got a lot of micro stutters.. That is the tradeoff

[@Q8Pilot]

No micro stutters whatsoever in game play. It could be from the recording software or KZbin. Not in game.

[@TomKnudsen]

@@Q8Pilot Tested and it worked perfectly. Thanks

[@piloto_loco]

your landscape colours look kind of not vivid, not sure is it x-plane's monotonism tending into somewhat brownish and dark touch, or your settings, just doesn't feel like real. seems there has been no progress to this at all. i don't see a reason to upgrade yet.

[@Q8Pilot]

If you are after nice graphics then wait a while. If you are looking for realistic flight model, it does not get any better than this.

[@patrickrichardson4892]

This isn't a hidden setting for me. That setting has always been available and my reg value is set at 1. GeForce GTX 1660Ti Must be card specific.

[@Q8Pilot]

It could be card specific yes. It does work very well with X-Plane 12 and any game really. But It brings that sharpness to XP12 with lower texture quality which many seem to be seeking.

[@MrImperativeoz]

I think it might be more that you have not updated your drivers or Nvidia stop creating drivers for your card. Sharpening feature was always there until NVidia bundled sharpening into the Image scaling feature via a driver update.

[@Max-cw7dn]

But I don't understand these things, why don't those at Laminar make these improvements directly without waiting for some external developer to do the job that those at Laminar should do? It's all so weird with this X-Plane, really weird.

[@DC3Refom]

If you read the dev blog on upcoming updates for 12.0 it is coming

[@davidshahin9753]

Your cockpit is much much brighter than mine, how did U do it? Thanks