Top Spec PC - Terrible Frame Rates

[Guest moose_VUSN]

i am also getting terrible frame rates.my specs are:P4 3.8GHz 800MHz FSB HTASUS P4P800 Intel 82865PE2GB DDR400 Dual Channel [4x 512 DIMMs with heat sinks]120GB SATA ATA-150 8MB CACHE 12000rpm [FS2002, FS2004 drive]80GB IDE HD [Windows XP pro SP1, system drive]GF FX5950 ULTRA 256MBbut i SHOULD NOT be getting terrible frame rates. but i do with the PMDG panel.using any other aircraft & EVERYTHING on maximum & flying on VATSIM (& no fps limit set) i get from 50-200fps normally!!!FS2004 is tweaked quite a bit (& it looks gorgeous).when i load up the PMDG 737NG 2D panel (i don't use the VC) it drops to ~7-10fps & after ~1/2 hour crashes FS2004, giving a "run out of memory error." but i clearly have enough & a HUGE page file.i've tried all the drivers that support the graphics card, but the 600/700 v1.3 runs fine in FS2002 (flies along at ~50fps).any thoughts???

[Guest zip]

Suggestions:1) go to the main FS simulator forum and one of the stickies deals with frame rate optimization.2) there is a bug in FS9 with dynamically generated scenery where it does not purge objects that are no longer visible from memory. The net effect is over time the simulator had to draw more and more polygons, even if they are not seen, and it also eventually causes you to crash to desktop when you run out of resources. The more memory you have, the longer it takes, but the FPS impact is progressive and very significant especially if you have complex scenery to start with. On my top box, I've gone from 50FPS down to 6 because of this. Turn off dynamic scenery and that should clear that up.3) I haven't seen a perceptible change in FPS between a stock plane and the PMDG (even RFPV2). I would recommend though that you peg the frame rate to something like 24, which allows the gauges and other processing in the background to work.4) some people have reported huge problems with hyperthreading on the P4 with FS9 and all kinds of odd behavior from crash to desktop to losing sound to drops in FPS. Depends on the system. You may want to turn it off in the BIOS and see if it helps.Cheers,my specs: AMD FX64, ATI9800XP

[Guest moose_VUSN]

1, 2 & 3 i have done/do (keep it locked at 24, i just check how fast its capable of now & then...:-)i will try it without HT.seems strange that it only does it with the PMDG doesn't it??? cos in FS2002 its no different to a stock aircraft, but when i go to PMDG off it goes...but when i press W twice (no gauges) its back to normal.

[Guest zip]

Other suggestions:Did you try to lower the resolution to 1024x768x32 or 1280x960x32?I did have an issue with the PSS on very high resolution where the gages would have problems past 1280.Try the VC version and see how you do with that (you don't have to use the VC, just load the version of the plane with VC).I assumed you have the latest video drivers and the latest FSUIPC?Make a backup of the FS9 CFG file and yank it. Restart FS9. That's usually the first thing I do when odd things happen.Good luck.

[Guest moose_VUSN]

only running 1024x768x32 anyway (gotta get a bigger screen - running a DVI 15", about to buy a DVI 17").latest of every driver too...

[Guest rellehenk]

I had the same problemsVery bad framerates, Virtual memmory errorP4 2,8 GHZ HT Disabled512 MB PC3200ATI 9800120 GB SATA 7200 rpm 8 mb cacheOn my other computer it runs fineP4 1,7 GHZ512 MB RDRAMGeforce 4 Ti 420040 GB 7200 rpm

[lefteris 70]

Gents-also make sure that Norton Antivirus (or your equivalent other-company antivirus program) isn't constantly checking:a) Your pagefile:( Your FS drivec) Can you think of other files? :-)

[Guest zip]

The rule of thumb is that your virtual memory should be 2.5x the amount of total physical memory you have, and if possible, on a separate partition / disk (this for speed).I'm not sure what else to tell you if you've tried all the obvious, aside from perhaps trying to run a graphics benchmark on your system to make sure you get numbers consistent with what you should be getting (MadOnion is a good benchmark). Also check your Direct3D settings in your video card control panel and manually change it to mid-range between quality and performance, and try different AA and mip mapping levels.Check that you have mipmapping to trilinear, AA off (set this in the DirectX menu in control panel), and add the texture options to the CFG file as stated in the other post on frame rates (if you have an ATI card).I am getting very good frame rates and a system such as yours should be stellar. FS9 is challenging in wonderous ways.

[Guest zip]

Yes! Anything Norton or A/V on your system is great for system health, and very bad for any 3D stuff.In particular, Norton smart delete (replaces the recycling bin) and the "system monitor" can be hazardous to your directX gaming.If you visit www.tweakxp.com you will find a number of good resources on what to eliminate (safely and sometimes, not so safely) from your system while playing.

[Guest moose_VUSN]

After much fiddling, disabling Norton Auto-protect (don't need it when i'm flying do i!), i managed a slightly longer flight (flew at 4x to test stuff).pulled scenery complexity back to "Very Dense" & put clouds on basic. few edits in the FS9.cfg. still running HT though.flying KIAD - KJFK (both simflyers), the 900 flew it nicely & did a great autoland at 18-24fps all the way into JFK, so extremely pleasing (when it works!).about to try an online flight incase thats something to do with it...it really is a gorgeous aircraft!p.s. how do you open the other doors & stairs etc.i have managed to open the doors (but never the stairs) when i load the aircraft in the outside view, but once i go to the 2D cockpit it will only allow the main door to work???

[drdickie 2]

Try flying the 737NG under "clean boot" conditions and see if the frame rate get better. Perhaps something is interfering. The clean boot method can be found in Micrsoft Knowledge Base Article 331796.Also, I don't think FS9 actually makes use of hyperthreading.My system is kind of similar and I have had no problems at all.Good luck.

[drdickie 2]

Where did you get a 3.8 GHz processor? From what I can tell from the Intel website, 3.4 is the fastest available.

[Guest moose_VUSN]

the 3.4 overclocks brilliantly, its running at 36'C in my case (Coolermaster Jet-4 fan & 5 other case fans lol!!!).i've pushed it up to 4.1GHz but that i doubt is wise, so i never exceed 3.8GHz.using an ASUS motherboard with Intel chipset is the way to go, because they have their AI overclocker on the mobo that decided the best settings for a desired CPU speed.also ASUS have a utility for their graphics cards that vary's the GPU &/or DDR clock of the card as needed, you can set it to change it according to main CPU load, temperature or to max whenever a 3D game is running. i've found i don't need to overclock my GF FX5950ULTRA though, it does the job fine as it is.

[drdickie 2]

Another thought.Get the remove tool from the download section of PMDG. Remove the 600-700 series. Then go to the aircraft folder and manually remove the 800-900 series. Go to the FS9 main folder and delete the FMCWP file (flight computer). Then go to the folder containing the fs9.cfg file (always forget the path), and then inside the aircraft folder there, delete the PMDG files (contain state info). Then do a reinstall of the PMDG aircraft. Before actually running FS2004, delete the fs9.cfg file, then start FS2004 build a new fs9.cfg file.Maybe you have tried this already.

[Guest moose_VUSN]

just yesterday i loaded FS2004 comnpletely from scratch on my new HD (120GB SATA ATA-150) i didn't even run it until i had loaded everything in that needed loading, so that it started up the first time with everything correctly loaded. so its all had a fresh install. also PMDG is the only addon aircraft right now...so far all is looking good....i'm starting a nice 4hr flight & no frame rate degrading. looks like i've solved it.thanks for all those who have helped, few things that made a difference!i'll post a shot of how nice this plane looks!But how do you get the doors & stairs to open loL! (only Shift+E is working, not Shift+E+2,3,4 etc!!??)