Less than 20 FPS=Unplayable?

Question

According to the developer blog X-Plane 11 Version 11.1 will only run in real time speed at 20 FPS or higher. I have not installed 11.1 and I am still running 11.05, I do not know if 11.05 uses this behavior as well. I routinely get 12-20 frames depending on where I am in the sim, levels I consider usable if only just. Have I just not noticed the sim slowing down in 11.05? Honestly, running the settings any lower than I have them makes for a cartoon experience, and it doesn't seem to matter even if I lower the setting all the way down I cant always maintain 20 FPS. My system isn't the greatest, but it isn't that bad either.

System Specs:

AMD 8320E 8 core @4.5ghz/Gigabyte G1 Gaming 990FX motherboard/AMD RX480 4GB GPU/8GB DDR3 1600 RAM/Windows 10 Home/XP11 on Dedicated 7200RPM HDD. EVGA BQ850 PSU.

 TLDR: Is the only way to get XP11 11.1 to run in real time to have 20 FPS or more, and why do I get such poor frames even on low settings?

Answer 1

Hi, yes, your computer is not bad, except that x-plane does not work very well with AMD GPUs. You should expect improvements with the coming updates during the next year.

That 20fps limitation has always been there, because it's bound to the way x-plane has been working for years (at least since x-plane 9).

In the meanwhile, make sure all your drivers are up to date, and delete (or rename or move for backup) your ...\x-plane 11\Output\Preferences folder. Your settings will be re-initialised but you might observe framerate improvements. If no change, you could restore your backup.

Best regards,
Guillaume AMELINE (not affiliated with Laminar Research)

Answer 2

Yes. It's unplayable below 20fps. To get better fps you need to upgrade your cpu and gpu.

Answer 3

Have you tried deleting or moving your preferences folder? https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/56971-reset-x-plane-how-do-i-delete-the-preferences/  I'd do a backup first.

 I used to play with a AMD R9 290X and a i7 4790k with more fps than that. A friend uses RX470 and a i5 also without problem.