Sharper shadows in X-Plane 11 Cockpit

[@panthros7395]

Fundamentally, this should be a setting in the game if it improves the graphics that much!

[@TheGadgetbadger]

not a game

[@bibendum452]

@@TheGadgetbadger shut up

[@khOitran-528]

@@TheGadgetbadgerits a game

[@Fishionista69]

@@khOitran-528its a sim

[@cjl76]

Your exasperation at those who know not what they do? Priceless. Thanks for the laughs!

[@VRFlightSim]

Hey @Michael thanks so much for the mention! Glad it worked for you too 👍 My PC is much lower spec than yours but happily I can report no change in FPS while using this. I agree that it needs to get into the GUI - hopefully something LR will consider. Thanks again, and for all your brilliantly informative videos :) Chris @vrflightsim

[@88azturbo]

This works wonderfully! Did this a few days ago with no impact on framerate. Looks awesome.

[@Mircea1997]

what pc specs do u have?

[@RacingProductions22]

@@Mircea1997 I didn't have a change in FPS either, here are my specs: 32GB DDR4 Memory - AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6 Core Processor - Radeon RX 580 GPU - 1.5TB HDD Hard Drive

[@f5dx]

You know the guys at Laminar, please tell them to do this immediately to the sim.

[@toadintheh0le]

They have left them low res in the beta for a reason

[@cbcdesign001]

@@toadintheh0le Its not just in the beta though, many say shadows are bad in the release versions too, they are in 11.41 for me .

[@toadintheh0le]

@@cbcdesign001 Its easy to fix the shadows in release versions with scripts, you cant do this in the beta

[@letsfly]

Yes it would be great to have that in the ui

[@f5dx]

@@letsfly Yeah, a slider for shadow quality, like they introduced the slider for anisotropic filtering. I think they removed too many sliders since X-plane 10, and have to bring some back. Changing the shadow resolution on my system does not change fps at all, neither does the anisotropic filtering maxed.

[@andygorman858]

I discovered this about a week ago and gave it a try, and it’s awesome! I have a lower end 1050ti and I think I dropped a frame, which is ok since I’m still sitting around mid 30’s to low 40’s with details set quite high. Thanks for sharing this....it’s a great workaround till Laminar sort it out. No more jaggy shadows for me!!

[@uadre]

Be careful with this option. Take a look into the VRAM profiler and check the the HUGE amount of VRAM that this 8192 configuration uses. I am in a RTX2080 Super with 8Gb and it is true that FPS might not be affected, but with the blurry textures issues that we are suffering during beta testing this will make thinks even worse. I honestly think that LR set this to lower values to avoid "eating" VRAM.

[@TheFlightLevel]

Excellent, easy modification to the settings. No issues! Thanks to you and VR FlightSim.

[@NGC008]

Thanks Michael, super useful as usual. Those jagged shadows drove me mad for years. Keep ‘em comin’. 😀😀

[@williammason9437]

Thank you for sharing this. It works beautifully and eliminates an annoyance. Oh by the way, the computer you built for me in 2015, is still running like a champ!

[@willembont4790]

Works on a 1080 with no problems at all. Thanks for sharing. Good tip.

[@ryu1940]

Thank you! I was just wondering about this on my last X Plane flight!

[@jetcat120]

I did this mod a few days ago. Even at 8192 the edges are still a bit jagged but a big improvement overall. This mod will have to be done with each beta release as it will be overwritten.

[@haykodjan]

Try 16384 😉

[@thegood9]

thank you for this...but this should be a REQUIRED available setting in the GUI. Talk to Austin about fixing that! I've ALWAYS hated those jaggy shadows. Glad you found the other channel...i will check his out too!

[@ezan3363]

I Really Love How He Says 'Stairs' Made Me Laugh Everytime !

[@raz3_r868]

Stare-zzzzz

[@boriskairat525]

THX for that video! It saved me from instaling useless plugins :-)

[@lilice013]

Amazing video thanks for sharing. And great explanation of abbreviations.

[@eddyvandenberghe9796]

My comment is the same as that of 88azturbo: great improvement ! Had no problems changing the settings file, and believe when I say I'm not a computer genius (understatement of the year) lol Thanks for sharing Michael !

[@Langschwert]

Works perfectly (11.41), looks great. Thank you! :)

[@MagnumMike44]

I had 11.50 beta 9 so I made the changes in the settings.txt file in mid May and it worked very well, however, I installed X-Plane 11.50, beta 10 about a week ago and when I started the simulator, it complained that the settings.txt file was corrupt and it quit, so I was forced to download another one by the XP Installer. Laminar Research also has warnings at the beginning of the file that warns about making changes in it, so maybe one of beta 10's "features" was to check for any changes in the file and cause the sim to think it's corrupt.

[@MagnumMike44]

I get those jagged lines on shadows even when the Antialiasing's slider is set all the way to the right, so you're right, LR needs to address this.

[@timtetiva1747]

Thanks Mike, this fix works like a champ. Slight FPS impact on my system (i7 3ghz, 16g RAM, GTX1070 16g VRAM). Hope LR adds a field to Settings, Graphics, maybe a slider like "Shadow cam resolution".

[@Mrgabrielgmachado]

* Bad things include: X-Plane crashing, X-Plane hanging, X-Plane failing to start, rendering artifacts, your whole computer hanging, your computer catching fire, and highly trained monkeys stealing all of your underwear.

[@PartiBuoy]

Cloud shadows too. Flickering. Twitching shadows. I think with that it fixes those too. But i use Lua

[@GunniesLetsFlyVFR]

Great tip thanks Michael.

[@DC3Refom]

very informative Michael i did this myself about week or so ago couldn't put up with the wank jagged shadows , I saw barely any performance difference on xp11.50 beta 6 in vulkan with 4790k @ 4.4ghz ,gtx 1080. vulkan has been amazing for my cpu im running ultra density settings ,2x saa hdr high , texture high and im getting 47 fps at DD seattle , with orbx washington in the Kodiak Quest with rep , in open gl I was getting about 15 max 18 then after while it would crash and be most of the time on high density setting in that area as well as LAX

[@jefbretschneider1607]

Michael, Thanks for laying us onto this impressive tweek. I see a Noticeable difference with my rig ( 9600k @ 4.9 1080 ti 32gb)

[@fabiena1787]

This tweak has existed for a long time. Laminar hasn’t done anything about that for a long time. On top of that, why isn’t it simply possible to apply some anti aliasing to these textures specifically?

[@vincentdufour9572]

Thanks a lot Michael!!! Looks really great..., cheers

[@paoloperfini7462]

Very good, I hate the shadows quality in XPlane too. You lost only 30 fps inside the aircraft and almost nothing outside, I don't know if it works well only in high end system. Now I have the same setup in a 4K monitor and it looks so good, no more jaggy shadows for me! Thanks for sharing this.....

[@vin340600]

I use a lua script to control shadow cam size.. That way won't have to bother if the xp update overrides the setting.txt.. I also have a script to have global scenery shadows enabled but limited to just a radius of 500 instead of the default 6000.. This way I can have global scenery shadows with a much smaller fps impact..

[@jaffa335]

i think this is mainly for Vulkan as the lua scripts dont work currently in 11.50 so this is the only way

[@RaspySquares]

So what does the future of XP look like now that fs2020 has basically blown laminar to pieces?

[@PySnek]

dark

[@juanfernandosanchez6077]

Wow! This was freaking useful! I was dying to improve that shitty shadow in the cockpit! Thanks man!

[@leominella]

I have an RTX 2060 and did have a performance hit. Going back to default.

[@gertjanvandermeij4265]

Try 4096

[@capitanbob7143]

This works very well, but could I try to make the shadows even more precise?

[@msrtincollins8233]

Mike just seen your knobster video of four months ago. I just had the knobster but it never come with g1000 presets So I can't use it in VR at least not to use g1000 panels. I don't have Air Manager because I only use Xplane 11 in VR. It would be nice to see a video of how you can make the mode presets using the json file format for the g1000 functions. At the moment I have a knobster but I'm unable to use it, that is until I can find a download of the presets or a instructional video of the json file. Thanks.

[@DC3Refom]

Hey Michael will you be testing the 3300x in Xp 11 as having a single |CCX might make a good bit of difference on framerate , It would be interesting to see

[@nicol8282]

Does this work for exterior shadows, as well?

[@sgetchius81]

Is there a set minimum and maximum number one can use before X-Plane refuses to load?

[@PartiBuoy]

Building draw distance is only 4Km that is also increcible.

[@fede_dale]

Hi! Sorry for the off-topic. I flown +100hours in VR, but now don't work. When I start Xplane11 in VR, it loads the menu in 2D (there is no longer the room in VR inside the hangar with the lectern etc. etc ...). Therefore I select "enable VR" in the graphics menu, it tries to load but return to 2D. (sorry for my bad English) I have already uninstalled Xplane and installed a clean version, but nothing change. My Xplane 11 is the Steam version. If you want I can send my log.txt file. Thanks for help.

[@satyabudi]

hi, how much memory usage (System RAM) after implement this method? @1080p thank you

[@garrethshaw9305]

Can you go higher than 8192 if hardware permits it?

[@mechan1c333]

Excellent video thank you, cured my shadow problem. Do you know how to solve "X Plane is not responding" , so you have to close it using Task manager !

[@steved2623]

Laminar should fix this. How have they not looked at the problem?

[@planedude91]

A++ results!!! Amazing tip!! Thank you!!!

[@herbertweiss-ravn8125]

It´s so great!!! Work perfect!! Thank you!!!!

[@LightWaterRecords]

Thanks! There are also a lot of lua scripts on the forums that do this too.

[@jaffa335]

the shadow lua scripts dont work on 11.50 currently

[@06L]

Thanks Michael! Great video as usual but it didn't change anything for me (and i have put all numbers up to 8000) probably because it's Ultra Weather XP that taking care of those shadows settings (it makes a huge difference in UWXP sliding the shadow resolution cursor from 0 to 8000). Other question for you (and i hope i am not entering in a religion zone here) : By the end of 2020 (i hope), i will, like many other flight sim lovers, have 2 flight simulators on my PC. Do you will also cover the "new kid on the block" or you will be exclusively dedicated to X-Plane community ???

[@Coastingonlife]

What if I double it instead of 8192 I put 16384?

[@gertjanvandermeij4265]

Try it , if it doesn't work, you can always go back , but i think 8192 is the max ?!

[@Coastingonlife]

@@gertjanvandermeij4265 I just did that and is worth doing it .

[@Troutman003]

Hey there Michael! I’ve got a question about multiple monitors. I’ve just recently purchased two additional monitors to have a 3 monitor setup. My problem is when I select full screen monitor for my other two monitors. X-Plane will freeze up and crash. I am running the latest version of Vulkan. Ryzen 3600, Radeon 5700, 16gb RAM, HDD. If you could answer me, I would greatly appreciate it, or even an updated video with multiple monitors and Vulkan? Thanks!

[@tiziankeiffer375]

i tryed that but hab very bad performance in Vulkan, in openGL everything was alright. I just changed the 8192 in the settings.txt to 4096, just 2 FPS less than with the normal shadows, but better shadows. This problem was just with Vulkan, do you also have a performance problem in Vulkan with this shadow trick?

[@Titanium_fighter]

Hi Michael Brown! Does that trick work in stable .41 version or Vulkan only? Thanks.

[@MartinO-CBA]

Thanks Michael. I fixed the problem.

[@sgetchius81]

I believe the X-Plane store has a program that costs money, for those who don’t wanna risk breaking anything.

[@rsantosfernandez]

You can improve a lot that if you add some datarefs to that lines. You can change the angle of the sun for perfect sunrises and sunsets. It's the same but with more options and more quality. Replace the following lines (the same lines that the video) in settings.txt (/X-Plane/Resources/settings.txt) SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 0 renopt_effects_04 0 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90 SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 0 renopt_effects_04 1 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90 SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 0 renopt_effects_04 2 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90 SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 0 renopt_effects_04 3 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90 SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 0 renopt_effects_04 4 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90 SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 1 renopt_effects_04 0 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90 SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 1 renopt_effects_04 1 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90 SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 1 renopt_effects_04 2 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90 SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 1 renopt_effects_04 3 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90 SETTING_2 renopt_scenery_shadows 1 renopt_effects_04 4 shadow/csm_split_exterior 4 shadow/csm_split_interior 4 shadow/last_3d_pass 2 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_interior 80 fbo/shadow_cam_size 8192 shadow/cockpit_near_adjust 2 shadow/cockpit_near_proxy 1.5 skyc/max_shadow_angle -89 skyc/min_shadow_angle -90

[@rsantosfernandez]

@@KPTKleist Try my lines and enjoy a wonderful sunset from your cockpit.

[@pigeonflyingx9377]

were did you changed it?

[@rsantosfernandez]

@@pigeonflyingx9377 Same place that the video of Michael Brown

[@mcsstudios101]

Worked great! Thank you.

[@omarsmak]

I think may affect the vRam usage, isn't?

[@LitoralGames]

Hello, is this working with xplane 12 also?

[@johnwingold8815]

This works great on my machine which is not the greatest. i7-4700 (no K) 16GB RAM, and GTX 1070. No framerate drop, in fact, it seems better. Thanks

[@weswood151]

Michael, did you happen to run this in VR? The Beta’s shadows have been atrocious in VR. A side note, I’m thinking about creating a log of every change I make to X-PLANE just so I can go back to figure out where I “broke” it.

[@paulphibbs5362]

If the higher numbers don't cause a performance hit, why don't Laminar change the default values to the highter number to support better shadows. This way we don't have to modify the file each time an update comes out. Good tip though. Thanks.

[@jorn-jorenjorenson5028]

It only does not cause a noticable performance hit, if you have a very good GPU like a GTX1080, RTX2080 etc. With mid class or low end graphics cards, it probably kills your frame rate. (I've tried once with a 1050ti.)

[@paulphibbs5362]

@@jorn-jorenjorenson5028 Thanks. I have great performance, particularly with Vulkan but I have a 1060 6gb card, which is very low to mid range, so maybe I shouldn't attempt it. I like to fly in VR also, so need good performance.

[@Argaeus]

@@paulphibbs5362 I have the exact same Video card with you, tested it right now and I found out that I loose 15 fps (65 to 50) at initial start (cold & dark default B738) at a remote airport, no FWL scripts running in the background. Might be worth to check with payware addons at a large custom airport.

[@jorn-jorenjorenson5028]

@@paulphibbs5362 I wouldn't call a 1060 6GB low, but yes, mid range. : ) Anyway, maybe just try it. (Make a copy of the settings file as Michael supposes, so you can go back easily.)

[@paulphibbs5362]

@@jorn-jorenjorenson5028 Just tried this out and went from 52 fps to 41 fps. If I wasn't flying in VR, it would probably be OK but 10fps is quite a safety margin.

[@DonNesqobar]

Thanks Michael

[@julianlockwood3040]

Thanks Michael !

[@juliusmomberg7313]

Hey, could you recommend a Pc with a Ryzen 5 3600 and a 1660super for playing XPlane11 at medium settings on one to two screens?

[@jcsk8]

With 1080p will work well. For higher res two monitor are heavy. I´m currently running one single monitor at 4k, same ryzen 3600 and an old gtx 1070ti.

[@joaocavalcanti7721]

My question is : Why dont Laminar do that already into the XPlane ?

[@xforcepc]

It is on the to do list.

[@Coastingonlife]

I just doubled these settings and this is crazy ,16384 I lost 5 FPS (48-50 with zibo JFK) and settings 8192 was (55-60 zibo JFK )

[@DC3Refom]

What gpu are you using though

[@flyboy5736]

Doesn't work for me because when I try to run the edited file X-plane tells me the file is corrupted. Anyone else had this issue?

[@mitsoswu]

Hmmm.... Interesting 🤔

[@willemp6432]

It worked wonders.Thanks..

[@tjollarna]

Wow thank you!

[@haykodjan]

I set my values to 16384 Omg crispy shadows

[@DavidMudge]

Michael, sorry to hijack this video but one of your older videos features a remote power switch for PC I am trying to find to buy but you didnt mention what is the brand. And also is it Infrared or RF? As Im trying to get an IR one to use with my IR Blaster so I can tell Google to power on my pc. Thanks video is at: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWOpenZtdrOde5Y and it wouldnt let me add comments to that vid! Hence why I am here :) Thanks!

[@MsAlan52]

Hi Michael, I'm building a pc for Xplane 11. I don't have much of a budget, in Argentina the dollar went to the clouds. I was looking at the following options. Intel i5 9400F Nvidia 1660ti Corsair Venegance 2x16 gb DDR4 3000mhz SSD Disk m.2 vs RAYZEN 2600x Nvidia 1660ti Corsair Venegance 2x16 gb DDR4 3000mhz SSD Disk m.2 Which one could you recommend, and how much FPS do you think I can get from these settings? Will it support some Addons? I just need an opinion. Thank you so much!

[@ryantttt]

Can u do a fps comparison of the 10900k vs 3900k thanks

[@SlipperySpelunky]

Haha, you say "gooey" instead of G-U-I!

[@squidboii]

saves time

[@SlipperySpelunky]

@@squidboii Fair point

[@A5tr0101]

Yeah that's a normal term

[@CTTechGaming]

I don't know how I feel about it being cooled the gooey 😂 GUI is mentioned as letters G U I. Gooey I was like what's that haha

[@kianhill901]

can someone here in the comments help me?

[@kelvinTran55]

drop fps alot

[@kelvinTran55]

Hope Xplane 12 is better and smoother, have full seasons, perfect with everythings in game

[@hobanagerik]

This will cause lots of “X-Plane just stopped working, and I didn’t change anything” posts on forums.x-plane.org. 😂