Every time a new driver comes out, some wally gets in this forum and says that his frame rates have greatly improved. Yeah, right, thinks I, moving on.But now I'm the wally. I've just upgraded my dinosaur from 52.16 to 56.72 and I'm getting double the FPS. Yes, double. No other changes to settings, just the new driver.Should I open the box or take the money?Anyway, am I the only one? The pal who pointed me in the direction of this new driver says no, as he claims to have tripled his own FPS ... but I'll be interested to hear what others have to say.Meanwhile .... YIPPEE!Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

Yes, I used to be like you - the `why change` mentality served me well enough. But a friend pointed out that with Windows XP if you don't like what you see when changing drivers its simplicity itself to go back, and if you don't try you'll never know. Since then I have experimented with all sorts of drivers, modified drivers and beta drivers and find the experimentation process rewarding in itself. It has certainly improved my flying skills in FS as I fly a consistent pattern to test in a like-for-like manner!You ought to try the 60.72 betas and the Starstorm variations on the 56.72 theme! - www.guru3d.comAllcott

I used the 56.72 for a long time and was quite satisfied with it. Now, I upgraded to the 60.72 betas, and I am even more happy. As a matter of fact, when Nvidia officially releases the 60.72s I may skip their "official" version and keep my beta version. I'm that happy with it. Runs better than the 56.72s.

I knew I'd be behind the curve on this as I like to wait for official versions; I've had too many betas cause problems, which is probably my own fault but there ya go. Anyway, I'll keep an eye out for those 60.72s, thanks.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

Hi Mark. I followed your lead and am happy to report that the 56.72 drivers not only perform well, but have also fixed the last problem I had with FS9, namely that the kneeboard would not scroll properly with 2XAA engaged. It now works!

Hi Mark,And another satisfied user, thanks for the heads up! These new drivers have cured some issues with my G4 5600 Ultra, not the least of which are increased frame rates and an overall increase in smoothness. I used to get around 8-10 on the ground at KATL with 70% traffic and most sliders not maxed. Today I maxed everything out except Autogen and Scenery, which are 1 below max, and I'm getting frames of 18-20, even with PMDG's 737-700. Great!Thanks again for the great tip.Best,

Well, to be perfectly honest, as a rule, I never install Beta drivers. I only install official Nvidia drivers. However, I really can't tell you why I decided to try these drivers. I think I did it on a whim, after 4 or 5 beers and at least three bumps about halfway up the runway at KLAS in the PMDG737.......got it to stop before the threshold though......which reminds me....never try to land when you're drunk....put yourself into a hold, and sleep off the "headache". Then come back in to land. Of course running out of fuel or bumping into AI can also be even more disasterous. Notice how you turn off "crash when hitting AI" but when you do actually hit one, your speed drops to zero and you crash anyway?But I digress. THe point is that I think I had a few and installed these beta drivers on a whim. After that, I read some of the threads in the hardware sub forum above.....(I found the link to the 60.xx here as well) and most were favourable. I am not going back to the 56s. If you can still find them, go for it.

well well...could this be the day?might even i get into the heaven of flightsimmers,known as FS2004?i'm reluctant....i'm hesitating....i'm sweating....AGAIN!i'm off to pursue true happiness,brought to me by the 56.72 drivers.still...a little nagging voice in my head:"it'll only work for those with a powerful gpu....you and your trusty GF4 TI4200 don't stand a chance against the monster called FS2004,and i'm not even going to talk about your AMD1800,or prehistoric WIN98SE...you amateur you....MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!"(boy,did that become a LOUD voice towards the end!)but me being me....i'm off to try...i want nice clouds....i want the new environment...ah heck,stuff all that...i'm gonna fly.fs2002 ;-)cheers

Tom, I've got a Ti4200 and FS2004 is a lot smoother than FS2002 ever was.. I would not consider going back.

Hiya all,Would all of these drivers WORK with Graphic Card GForce3 64mb!!!???Am using WindowsXP Pro.Any help or guidiance?Cheers and thanks.

>Tom, I've got a Ti4200 and FS2004 is a lot smoother than>FS2002 ever was.. I would not consider going back.Hi Bert,i'm not blaming the card,but my total setup:fs2004 just won't run good enough for me ;-),i can't get performance on the level fs2k2 was,so i finally quit and went flying :-)i've tried all tweaks known to man,every driver i could download,but it just won't work.it is however still an amazing piece of software,and one day i'll get it to work too ;-)cheers

hmm, thats odd. It sounds like we have pretty similar systems and I get very good performance in FS2004. I've got a P4 1.8 w/768megs of PC2100 DDR and a GF4Ti4200. I use fairly nice gfx settings in the game (mesh @ 90%, textures maxed, normal scnery density and autogen, plane gfx maxed) at 1152x864x32 with 2xfsaa and 2xAniso and with the frame lock at unlimited I get over 40fps in most planes with the 2D cockpits, and in the VC's my framerates are usually between 20-30fps. I use the simple clouds (100% 3D actually as I find that works just as well as lower %) and I don't run alot of AI. I also usually use the custom weather and set the visibility to 40mph but overall, FS2004 still looks much nicer than 2k2 did and runs at least as well for me...

TomYou think you're in the Stone Age?! I have a P4 1.8GHZ with 512MB RAM and two GeForce 2 MX cards, one 100/200 64MB for the main monitor which I run 1024/768/32 mostly and one 400 32MB which I run 1024/768/16 for FSNav, VATSIM stuff etc. on the second.These drivers took me from 4-5FPS in the average add-on airport to 9-10FPS, and 8-9FPS cruising in cloud to 16-18FPS. In clear weather, I'm humming along. I have most sliders well up although I disable Aircraft shadows (I'm never on the ground enough) and don't wind up Water Effects as my cards don't support DX9. That said, I run clouds at 60% and AI traffic 100%.Try again! FS2002 is smoother for you and I, yes, but I couldn't abandon the FS2004 weather and my lovely DC-3 now.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

Well, thats jiggered it. Just installed the 56.72 drivers, fs9 would'nt start,error. I've reinstalled 3 times but it just quits about 3 seconds into the start up. Any ideas would be more than welcome.Russell.

Assuming everything else works OK, you can try to rename your fs9.cfg file to something like "oldfs9.cfg" and try again. FS9 will rebuild this file from scratch if it does not find it.You'll then have to reselect your display settings, but at least you are up and running.. if this does not help, rename your file back to its original name.