Airac load times changed after new graphics card

[tunnelcat 1]

I just replaced my aging Radeon 9800XT with a XFX Nvidia 7950GT (that's the highest I could go with an AGP motherboard and Molex connector equipped P/S). FS9 works fantastic now except for one little bug.When I load any PMDG aircraft, the AIRAC loading times have tripled and the rotating aircraft in the menu is no longer antiailised (it used to be) and rotates a lot slower. This is probably a driver issue, I know, but why the longer load times for the AIRAC database? Antiailising works fine when flying in the sim itself, so I haven't had to use the third party program 'nhancer' to solve the notorious nVidia driver profiles problem.Kim

[Tabs 2,790]

Kim,I don't really see any way changing graphics cards could cause an issue with AIRAC loading - that's a totally CPU based process and has nothing to do with video.As for the AA issue, the nHancer method will probably fix it - all of the new drivers default to the "Enhance only" mode, and FS probably tells the card not to AA the aircraft selection preview... I do get AA on that screen with my nHancer profile though, so I'm sure that's it.

[tunnelcat 1]

This problem definitely cropped up with the video card change. All the aircraft (default and payware) do seem to be antiailised in the load screen. The only time the AA disappears is when the AIRAC is loading, eg. the little window pops up, the aircraft then gets the zig zags really bad, rotates slower than it used to with a frame rate of about 1 fps and the AIRAC load time is WAY longer. AA is fine while in FS and my frame rates are keeping around 30 fps.The driver I'm using does not have profiles for either FS9 or FSX listed in the Nvidia control panel profiles section, but I don't have the rev on hand at the moment. The CPU is a 3.4 Extreme Edition Intel, with 2 gigs of RAM, so it should be up to the task.The other user of my XP computer refuses to get netframe 2.0, so the nHancer is out, but I've read others using the Riva Tuner for the same purpose, to create a new profile. If there is no other fix, then I will have to resort to the Riva Tuner to see if that fixes the problem.I just thought I would inquire to see if anybody else had this same issue.Kim

[Tabs 2,790]

I will never understand people refusing to install things like the .NET framework - this has been going on for years now. It is seriously like refusing to install the C++ or Visual Basic runtime libraries or refusing to install DirectX. These are the application support files that allow programs to run - there's absolutely nothing harmful about them.Riva Tuner doesn't really have the same capability for editing profiles that nHancer does. nHancer is built expressly for that.I will ask about the AIRAC load thing, but I'm highly doubtful it could actually be related to changing video cards.

[tunnelcat 1]

If the problem becomes worse, i.e. CTD's, then I might try to convince my spouse to install .NET 2.0 and get nHancer. For now, it works and seems to be stable, so I will put up with this little quirk. It definitely showed up with the video card install. No other changes were made to the system or FS. If you find out anything, let me know.Kim

[miguelpp 25]

Ryan ,here goes my own experience:ATI X1950XT (4X AA, 8XAF), about 20 sec loading.NVIDIA GF8800GTX (8Q AA, 16X AF), about 7-10 or less sec loading.My rig:Intel Dual Core Duo E67002 GB DDR2 800Creative X-FI NVIDIA ZOTAC 8800GTX 2 320 SATA, no RAID, only AHCI.ASUS COmmando 965 chipsetViewsonic VP2030bWindows XP Pro SP2.Finally I sold the ATI X1950XT , last week.Weird, isn

[McCrash 3]

>If the problem becomes worse, i.e. CTD's, then I might try to>convince my spouse to install .NET 2.0 and get nHancer. For>now, it works and seems to be stable, so I will put up with>this little quirk. It definitely showed up with the video card>install. No other changes were made to the system or FS. If>you find out anything, let me know.>>KimI have .Net v3 installed and experience no problems.

[tunnelcat 1]

Tabs,I've done some more sleuthing on the AIRAC database loading quirk with my Nvidia 7950GT (ForceWare version 93.82) card. I tried three situations out to see what would happen.1) Turned off all AA (anti-aliasing setting) and anisotropic filtering on the card and in FS9. No AA in load screen or in the sim. AIRAC load times and plane rotation work normally.2) Turned on AA and anisotropic filtering on the card as application controlled and then set AA within FS9. This time, the load screen aircraft was not anti-aliased and the AIRAC loading time was normal. However, within the sim, all aircraft were anti-aliased. But I don't know how high AA was set by FS9.3) Turned AA on to 4X on the card and unchecked AA within FS9. This time, the AIRAC load time was WAY longer and the aircraft rotates at about 2 sec/frame. The aircraft was anti-aliased within the load screen until you started the load process, when AA vanished. As soon as loading completed, AA returned. AA also worked OK within the sim. (Anisotropic was also set to 4X on the card).So far I haven't had any problems or CTD's yet. I'm going to run FS9 in configuration 3 above. Hopefully this is just a minor quirk and not a serious bug, but it does seem to be related to the Nvidia driver. The ATI 9800XT did not have this quirk.Kim

[tunnelcat 1]

Gaaaaah! I've decided that the AIRAC load times are toooooo long with AA set on my card, so I'm going to disable AA at the card and set it as "application controlled", then set the AA within FS9. It seems to work fine that way without any frame rate hit that I can tell.Kim

[Tabs 2,790]

Kim,This is an extremely strange finding... I haven't had a chance to talk to Lefteris about it, but I will soon. Thanks for doing the extra testing there...

[Guest D17S]

I've had the same AIRAC load time problems. Once the flight finally loads, all's well. But the initial AIRAC load times are just unbearable. Like watching grass grow. "Come on 150,000. Yea! Now 155,000 . . . ". I couldn't even figure something to try. Thanks for the tips, this has happened on several occasions. Just to get it over with, I deinstalled, then reinstalled the airplane. That fixed it.

[miguelpp 25]

Well, I don

[tunnelcat 1]

I did some more SW QA and I found settings that will give me a BLACK aircraft load screen, but with a quicker AIRAC load time.CASE 1.) FS9 AA unchecked within application and trilinear filtering turned onXFX GeForce 7950GT ForceWare driver 93.82 AA set to 4X Anisotropic set to 8X on cardAircraft is anti-aliased within load screen until you start loading the AIRAC data at which point AA disappears and then returns when loading is done.AIRAC load time is 2:05 m:sCASE 2.) FS9 AA unchecked within application and trilinear filtering turned onXFX GeForce 7950GT ForceWare driver 93.82 AA set to 8xS Anisotropic set to 8X on cardBLACK picture (no aircraft) in load screen until you start loading the AIRAC data then the aircraft appears and rotates with AA while the AIRAC load window is showing and then when complete, the aircraft is still there but no longer rotating.AIRAC load time is faster at 0:25 m:sNOTE: No obvious difference in frame rates between the two, but better image quality in case 2. When FS was in control of AA and the card was set to 'application controlled' the AIRAC load time was the same as in case 2, but ground textures were much more blurry close-in than when the card was controlling the AA. The dreaded blurries, Even the logo on the outside of the aircraft was blurry at an angle.I've decided to leave my settings as case 2 because it is a nicer looking simulation and a quicker AIRAC load time. I'll just have to live with the black screen when loading the aircraft.Kim

[miguelpp 25]

If you try any Forceware of 1XX.XX series, there

[tunnelcat 1]

Has anybody tried the ForceWare 1XX.XX driver with the 7900 series and has Nvidia finally fixed their driver for FS9? I may just get the nHancer to tweak this thing anyway.Kim