Intro

Terrain LOD and sometimes Object LOD are the main settings affecting performance on many systems and we know how hard it is to find a balance between good performance on the ground at complex scenery or dense cities while at the same time not losing quality when airborne when the stress on the system is far less.

This widget for Flow Pro adds an item on the wheel that solves this compromise.

Its main purpose is to switch Terrain LOD and Object LOD at a predefined altitude automatically.

Behavior/Display

The widget adds an item on your Flow wheel showing the current LOD settings and indicating the current state of the widget:

• "ALOD" (dark green, default): Automatic mode, it is monitoring the current altitude (above ground AGL) against the setting "Auto LOD tresholds" and switches the LODs with a gap of 500ft above/below the treshold(s), see Usage.
• "LOD" (gray): Widget is not active (note: in this state manual changes in the Graphics settings will not be reflected on the wheel!)
• "HLOD" (bright green): A predefined "high" static LOD setting is active
• "LLOD" (red): A predefined "low" static LOD setting is active

If the widget is in "VR Mode" (checkbox in the settings), it will show "_VR" instead of "LOD" (e.g. "A_VR", "L_VR"...).

Installation/Usage

Unzip the download into your Community folder and restart the Sim. You will find the "LOD Updater" widget in your toolbox, drag it onto the Flow Pro wheel.

Auto:

Default setup is to switch at 6000ft AGL which is a usable value since it avoids switching while on final approach.
Check/adjust the LOD values for Terrain and Object (Auto, Static high and Static low) to suit your system's performance.
If you don't want to have one of the LODs switched, just set the same value as "above" and "below".

The default is to have one treshold altitude and have a definition of TLOD below+above and OLOD below+above that altitude which you can set to your needs.
If you want to have multiple switching altitudes, add an altitude and additional TLOD and OLOD values by appending them with comma (see diagram picture in the screenshots for an example).

Static:

The Static high preset LODs are intended so you can switch to them temporarily for instance to take screenshots with more details.
The Static low preset LODs are intended to quickly switch to them if you face performance issues and quickly need to gain performance in a critical situation. I recommend leaving those at 50/50.

Initial mode is the mode that the widget loads in when starting a flight - I recommend leaving it at "2" which is Auto so you usually don't have to touch the widget.

Switching mode:

• Click the widget to switch between "Off" and your Initial Mode.
• Use mousewheel scroll on the widget to switch between High - Auto - Low (scrolling up from "Auto" brings you to "High", scrolling down from "Auto" brings you to "Low"

VR Users:

You can add the widget two times into your wheel, one with "VR Mode" enabled and one with disabled - with different LODs for VR and for regular PC mode.
Depending on if you are currently using VR or not, one of the widgets will show "Inact" indicating that it is currently inactive and the other will do the automation based on its LOD configuration.

Since I can't test VR myself, Please provide feedback if something behaves unexpectedly or if the usage is unclear or confusing.

Notes

- Whenever the widget actually switches LODs, the screen will briefly show a popup and the screen will get black for a fraction of a second but it happens very quickly so it is not too intrusive. This is the way MSFS changes the LODs as well if you do it via the Graphics Settings. Nothing I can do about it.

- The Auto mode checks the altitude every 30 seconds, so it will not immediately switch once you cross the altitude but rather a bit delayed. This is normal.

- When loading in and the current graphics settings do not match the values in your desired "Initial Mode", it will set the values of your initial mode after 30 seconds, so don't be surprised if they are not immediately matching.

- The Auto-switch happens at "above treshold+500ft" and "below treshold-500ft" to make sure if you level out at the treshold altitude or it deviates due to very uneven terrain there aren't constant changes performed. Also the 30s check interval avoids reoccurring switches in such a situation. In case you still face multiple switches especially flying low over various terrain, just click the widget to disable it temporarily.

- Changes to Terrain LOD are not immediate, the sim will load/reduce the Details once the switch is done gradually. Object LODs do not immediately free up the memory so the effect is delayed a bit too. Switching to higher LODs will shortly put more stress on the system and your internet connection to load the increased details.