1.15 What's the secret to creating scenery with good frame rates?

From FlightSim

Q:

WHAT'S THE SECRET TO CREATING SCENERY WITH GOOD FRAME RATES?

A:

I don't think there is any big secret here!. Simple fact is that most 3rd party sceneries are more complex than the default. That's the purpose of creating the scenery in the first place, to improve it! In my experience the most common problem with frame rates in add-on sceneries is what someone once called unclean programming. Remember, the FS graphic engine sees all!! You cannot simply apply new scenery over old and expect acceptable frame rates. You have to go back to square one and reconstruct the scenery from the ground up. You have to attempt to reduce the layers to an absolute minimum. Every layer represents a reduction of 1/2 in your frame rate (Start off with 50 fps, add synth tiles, now its 25, add polygon for airport surroundings, now it's 12, add airport property polygon, now it's 6, then add runway and you are left with 3 fps. The unfortunate problem of the "out of the box" scenery programs ( as good as they are!) is that by shielding the designer from the inner workings of FS it prevents one from understanding the complexities and the limitations!

Chris Wilkes