Greetings.First I would like to state that I have minimum to moderate computer knowledge/skills though I spend anywhere from 3 to 10 hours a day on sim flying/forums(lurking as they say)/websites. After about 4 years of this(first year was CFS2&CFS3 exclusively) one might question my limited progress. However---I recently purchased a high end Dell XPS(stand alone, fly only)system. I have many addon aircraft, but have not loaded any scenery or mesh yet. I have tried every conceiveable combination of settings for all sliders and have basically decided that the best results are, more or less, with most maxed out (autogen dense). Sight distance is at 100mi & clouds(3d) at 60mi. Mip Mapping is 5 and Hardware Accellerated lights at 8. I have Ground Scenery shadows, lens flare and sun glare turned off. Land Only Detail, Water Effects-none, Addon Dynamic Scenery - off. VC Gauge Quality - Low. I have the video card set for AA-4X and AF-16X. Resolution is set at 1600x1200x32 all around. My FPS rarely dips below 30 and generally is 45-70. Most addon aircraft, and in particular the Hawker Hurricane and the Wings of Power planes, are really tough on frame rates.Before I get to my real concern I would like to say that this new rig is not really the do all, end all, fix all, power house I thought it would be. It's only marginally better than my middle of the road Gateway 2.4GHz, 512MB Ram, Nvida 128MB GE Force TI-4600. So I'm somewhat disappointed. Had I known this I would not have spent the money! (It does play CFS3 much better though)Okay, my real concern/question is about what I call texture lag. When switching views there is a fraction of a second where the airplane has no color, and then it colors up in sections, and often times sections of the terrain do likewise. To me this is maddening and really detracts from the overall effect. I was advised by the moderator on the Shockwave/Firepower/Wings Of Power Forum, before I bought this new Dell, that I needed a better video card and more ram to fix this problem (which I had already deducted from other research). So I got that and a whole lot more! However, there is no difference between the two systems as far as this texture lag is concerned! This really shocked me!I have looked through a lot of threads in several forums and have tried a couple things to no avail. Can anyone enlighten me on how to tweak this thing to fix the 'texture lag' thing? Or can it be fixed at all?I'll say one more thing. I would gladly pay $250-$500 for a FS program that could do it ALL and had superb scenery and graphics without spending countless hours researching, tweaking trying to make it right. Having said that I must add that MS has given me more pleasure and fun than I ever had a right to expect for a measely fifty bucks!Thanks for any responses!!B. ScottMY New Hotshot Dell System -Dell XPS Gen 4 3.46Ghz Intel P-4 Extreme Edition2GB DDR2 SDRAM @533MHz74 GB Serial ATA 10,000rpm Hard Drive (+ 80GB 7200rpm HD)256 MB ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition PCIESB Audigy 2ZS sound cardXP Media Center 2005Viewsonic P225f Monitor + Samsung SyncMaster 712n LCD

Hi Bruce,Slow loading textures can be caused by a number of issues. Dell is usually pretty good about shipping their systems with the latest motherboard chipset drivers, but it might be a good idea to check their site for any updates for your motherboard. Also, look for a BIOS upgrade for your motherboard.We'll get the bad news out of the way first... DDR2 shows great promise with regard to bandwidth capabilties. But the reality today is that the memory runs at such slow latencies that it offers little if anything over some of the Low Latency DDR product out there. And since texture loading has alot to do with FSB speed (and the associated memory throughput) this may be part of your problem.What can you do? A couple of important things are quite easy. If you're not using our own Ken Salter's FSAutostart it can be downloaded from the Avsim library. Ken's support forums can be found . FSAutostart will allow you to shut down all unneeded services and background apps that Dell insists on running on their systems whan they install the OS. All gamers should use FSAutostart, but especially those who buy "store bought" systems. All manufacturers have way too much happening in the background on their systems. Trim the fat, and then there will be more power for your simming. Another important endeavor is to visit BlackViper's site to study his system configuration suggestions. He's quite good at streamlining XP's system Services to the minimum required (and still have a perfectly functioning OS). A side benefit of using his config suggestions is that a computer will most certainly be more secure. [link:www.blackviper.com/index.html]BlackViperYour video card will take no prisoners! It's very good. Check DirectX to make sure it is configured correctly. Click on Start>Run> type "dxdiag" (without the quotes) and then wait for the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to stabilize. Then click on the display tab and check that all three "DirectX Features" are enabled. If not you need to reinstall the motherboard chipset drivers. While you're at it click on Start>Run> type "smartgart" (without the quotes) and make sure the card is reading at it's designed AGP speed. Again, if all functions are not enabled here it's time to reinstall the chipset drivers.Within the sim there is a simple tweak that will allow textures to load faster when in the 2D cockpit. In the FS9.cfg find:TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40and change it's value from 40 to something around 200. The higher the value here the faster the 2D texture loading will occur. But if you set the value too high you'll start seeing pronounced stutters (especially in turns). Find a value that works best for you.Hope this helps,Greg

Greg -Thanks much for your reply.* I'll look into the drivers, but this system is only 2 mos old. I would hope it has the latest stuff!* I downloaded FSAutostart a few days ago, but couldn't figure out which programs/services to disable. Can't understand the titles. Got intimidated and gave up! I'll read more on Ken's forum.* I'll check out Black Viper for sure, however, I must admit a lot of this stuff is beyond my comprehension. * dxdiag shows everything enabled and working.* smartgart yields absolutely nothing. goes back to desk top??? I googled it and I see it's an ATI thing so I'll have to read about it on their site. Have no clue what it is.* On the new system TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=60. A few days ago I upped it to 120-180-240 with absolutely zero improvement(no stutters either though). So I set it back to 60. Maybe I'll try the 400 that someone else suggested.Once more thanks for the suggestions!Bruce Scott

Hi Bruce, in addition to what Greg suggested; - Turn off the HD-indexing - Turn off the mouse shadow - Adjust the system to maximum performance in --> System --> Advanced - IMHO, don't distribute FS across multiple partitions on the same harddrive Hope this adds to thoughts, good luck and kind regards Jaap

Jaap -Thanks for the additional input,however I must admit I have no idea where to find these items---HD indexing, mouse shadow, system/advanced/max performance??? or what you mean by 'distrubute FS across multiple partions on same hard drive'??B. Scott

Hi Bruce,Very good advice here and I'm sure we all understand your difficulties.Why don't you do yourself a favour and spare yourself from further unnecessary anxiety:http://www.fs-gs.com/Many of us here have followed this route (myself included - May 2004) and have never looked back.Yes, it costs, but you won't be asked for payment until completely satisfied.Mike

Mike - This site is probably what I was really looking for. I will definitely take advantage of it! Thank you.I've read your thread on XP maintenance and have followed several of your suggestions(the ones I understand) for which I am also grateful. Thanks to you and the others who have responded. I see by the sigs that I've been counseled by some of the best in the business.Bruce

Sorry for the Double Dutch, Bruce. - Turning off HD indexing: Open the Windows Explorer and do right mouse-click on the drive/partition/volume (i.e. 'C') and then select 'Properties'. Uncheck the box 'Allow indexing for this volume' and let the OS do its job (it can take a while). - Mouse shadow: Open 'Mouse' in the OS' 'Control Panel' and go to the 'Pointer' tab. You can't miss it. - Max system performance: Again in the OS' 'Control Panel': Open 'System', go to the 'Advanced' tab and select 'Performance'. Choose 'Adjust for best performance'. - Partitioning: When you prepare a HD, you have to partition the drive into one or multiple partitions per HD. Some folks like to put FS on second partition on the same harddrive. IMHO this is not helpful regarding performance because it creates a greater need for HD-head travel. With other words, consider sticking everything (OS and FS) into one big partition (if not already so). Mike's proposal is very reasonable if our help doesn't get you any further. Nevertheless, two questions, does the lag occur with default aircraft (i.e. the Cessna) as well? Which Catalyst are you using? As far as I understood, there were lagging probs with FS using Catalysts beyond v.5.1. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

Jaap -I completed all these adjustments, and as far as the lag is concerned there was no noticeable improvement. In fact some negative things happened. It became difficult and jerky to size, undock and move the GPS, TQ, ATC, and Radio Stack to the second display; so I used system restore to revert back and all work fine again.I now have FS9 installed on C drive(7200rpm) which is where the OS is. I had it on D drive(10,000rpm) all by itself, but moved it to C because that's where the OS is(per your recommendation). As far as partitions go I don't know how to determine that status. I just specified the two seperate hard drives when I ordered the system from Dell thinking that if FS9 was on it's own dedicated 10000rpm drive(D) the data would get transfered as quickly as possible----especially with 2GB of dual channel RAM!??? Along with the hot rod video card that's where I thought I would cure this lag thing! Didn't happen.The ATI driver is AT12DVAG.dll, version is 6.14.0010.6490Actually my graphics are terrific (I think) and the frame rates seldom below 30 with the settings mostly max. I have very litte, if any, stutters or swimming effects. The lag occurs only with addon aircraft. The stock ones are just fine - no lag. There is some lag with ground textures using stock planes though, but it's worse with addon planes.Bruce

Hi Bruce, thanks for clarifying and reporting your results. If adjusting visuals for max performance, cancelling the HD indexing or disabling the mouse shadow didn't help and even complicated things, I fear there is something wrong with your set-up. Furthermore, - The default aircraft have DXT3 textures and many add-on AC use 32-bit textures which are considerably larger. Hence there sometimes is a noticable load effect --> lag. This varies a lot from AC to AC. - IMHO, the OS and FS should be on your 10000rpm HD. This will certainly speed things up but will not represent the final cure. - >>The ATI driver is AT12DVAG.dll, version is 6.14.0010.6490<< Hmmm, I hope Greg or Mike (or anybody else) can jump in and identify your driver version. I'm not familiar with X800 series and the best drivers for them. My mention about the Catalyst v.5.2 and v.5.3 is only a conclusion of following various forums. - I believe you can cure the swimming effect by activating Vertical-Sync (V-sync), available in the '3D' department of the display settings. Please note though, this ideally requires a display which does equal or higher refresh rates than 75Hz. This is so, because the framerate will adjust to deviders of the monitor frequency and the framerates thus seemingly drops (personally, I prefer the image quality with V-sync --> no smeering). To give you an example, my CRT monitor does 85Hz so I see 42.x, 28.x, 21.x and in worst cases 17fps with my Ati 9800pro @ 1280x with V-sync on. IMHO, some (rare) stutters are unavoidable with FS. Thereafter, most stutters or lags are usually a derivative of particular add-ons. Since you didn't mention which planes or other add-ons you use, it's impossible to confirm a pattern or not. Perhaps check whether the add-on planes you use also offer DXT3 textures? There are also various threads on the subject here at Avsim if you use search words like 'converting textures', 'DXT3 textures' and alike. Another little helper (but not a cure), is, to lower the cloud draw distance to i.e. 40 miles and the visisbility to 30. Finally, I fully comprehend your eventual frustration and sympathize with your concerns. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

Hi Jaap,"The default aircraft have DXT3 textures and many add-on AC use 32-bit textures which are considerably larger. Hence there sometimes is a noticable load effect --> lag. This varies a lot from AC to AC."Agree. For anyone having a problem with stutters it's always a good idea to convert 32bit textures to DXT3."IMHO, the OS and FS should be on your 10000rpm HD. This will certainly speed things up but will not represent the final cure."Absolutely. Also, I'd add that partitioning a drive won't increase sim performance one tiny bit (though it might help with housekeeping chores).">>The ATI driver is AT12DVAG.dll, version is 6.14.0010.6490<< Hmmm,I hope Greg or Mike (or anybody else) can jump in and identify your driver version. I'm not familiar with X800 series and the best drivers for them. My mention about the Catalyst v.5.2 and v.5.3 is only a conclusion of following various forums."If memory serves me correct (and it doesn't as I get older) I believe the 6490's are the 4.12's. Perhaps Mike can verify (I think he's using them). I've noticed no difference in any of the last 4 Omegaized Cats on my system... they've all been good."I believe you can cure the swimming effect by activating Vertical-Sync (V-sync), available in the '3D' department of the display settings. Please note though, this ideally requires a display which does equal or higher refresh rates than 75Hz. This is so, because the framerate will adjust to deviders of the monitor frequency and the framerates thus seemingly drops (personally, I prefer the image quality with V-sync --> no smeering). To give you an example, my CRT monitor does 85Hz so I see 42.x, 28.x, 21.x and in worst cases 17fps with my Ati 9800pro @ 1280x with V-sync on."Hmmm, not sure about this Jaap. Bruce's card has the capability to do Triple Buffering, which would make the divisor 3. If he runs VSync at (as an example) 75, then he should lock his frames at 25 (75 divided by 3). Doing so will allow the card/drivers to utilize any plain vanilla DirectX A.I. that the drivers offer. Certainly VSync should be enabled, otherwise any A.I. capabilties will be negated."IMHO, some (rare) stutters are unavoidable with FS. Thereafter, most stutters or lags are usually a derivative of particular add-ons. Since you didn't mention which planes or other add-ons you use, it's impossible to confirm a pattern or not. Perhaps check whether the add-on planes you use also offer DXT3 textures? There are also various threads on the subject here at Avsim if you use search words like 'converting textures', 'DXT3 textures' and alike. Another little helper (but not a cure), is, to lower the cloud draw distance to i.e. 40 miles and the visisbility to 30. Finally, I fully comprehend your eventual frustration and sympathize with your concerns."Agree with everthing you write here, Jaap. All great advice. Occasionally I will get a stutter, but for me it is more often a factor of some add-on scenery rather than any particular airplane. And let's face it, with all the 3rd party add-ons (payware and freeware alike) there will always be times when even the best system hiccups.I like Mike's suggestion... FS-GS. Their service has certainly produced alot of happy simmers!Cheers,Greg

Gents -As it turns out the 'adjust for best performance' was causing the undocking/sizeing/moving problem plus a drop from 37 to 26fps on the runway at SEA with the Wings Of Power B-17G.I'll see about moving the OS and FS9 to the faster hard drive. Can I do that by simply moving file folders or do I have to completely re-install??That driver and version info I supplied above seemed to be for the ATI Control Panel which includes lots of files including smartgart. I can not access(they won't open) either one.?? I seem to remember seeing, somewhere on the ATI website, that unless you used the ATI installer that smartgart would not be accessible. I guess Dell didn't use it. From what I can gather it looks like the latest drivers for Windows XP Media Center Edition, which I have, should be the 5.3 version. Don't know how to find out exactly what I have. Do you suppose I should just reinstall them to make sure I have the 5.3?? I'd hate to mess this thing up as I'm really happy with the graphics and overall frame rates with the exception of this lag on the addon planes.Maybe I'll try to convert the addons from 32bit to DXT3?? Is there a relatively simple way to do this?I've included (I think) a couple pix to sow the lag effect and a normal full color to show the quality of a normal shot.As ever I'm grateful for the input!Brucehttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/110438.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/110439.jpg

Hi Bruce,"That driver and version info I supplied above seemed to be for the ATI Control Panel which includes lots of files including smartgart. I can not access(they won't open) either one.?? I seem to remember seeing, somewhere on the ATI website, that unless you used the ATI installer that smartgart would not be accessible. I guess Dell didn't use it."If you can't access SmartGart then your motherboard chipset drivers need attention. Something major is wrong!! All ATI cards require that SmartGart be functioning in order for the video card to offer best possible performance.I strongly recommend that you call Dell and insist that they get this problem squared away. Don't let them B.S. you... your system must have SmartGart working properly in order for it to offer all it can do for your gaming experience. And keep in mind that a malfunctioning SmartGart reveals a problem with the MB chipset drivers, not the video drivers. The video drivers can't work correctly until SmartGart is working properly.The correct procedure for installation is this: First, the chipset drivers, then DirectX, and finally the video drivers. Would be best to reinstall all three -- you may encounter issues if you reinstall the chipset driveers without following that up with a fresh install of DirectX and video drivers.Your choice of video drivers isn't nearly as important at this point as insuring that the chipset drivers are properly installed. Whether you go with the Cat 4.12 or 5.3 (or anything in between) is a mute point until the chipset drivers are working as they should.Good luck and keep us posted with your progress,Greg

>>If you can't access SmartGart then your motherboard chipset drivers need attention. Something major is wrong!! All ATI cards require that SmartGart be functioning in order for the video card to offer best possible performance.<

Hi Jaap,"Hi Greg, the a.m. line is very interesting and new knowledge for me. SmartGart is unavailable on all hardware platforms I tried with winXP-64 to date. So far, I thought this was upto Ati to fix. Best of all, I have nothing to complain about performance-wise with this OS and this non-functional function. Nevertheless, I would l