Sadly, I disconnected my Microsoft FF2 Joystick last night just to check whether what I had been reading on the various forums was true. Well....after suffering with disgustingly low frame rates on a high end machine, and trying everything from Config tweaks to lowering my quality in the sim, I still was getting 20fps and below most of the time with wicked stuttering and pauses. This occurred no matter what I tried. It was not as enjoyable as I remember the sim to be. Long story short....I connected a Cyborg 3D stick and Voila! Frames on runway shot up to over 45fps and continued throughout flight in the 20's, 30's, and 40's. I even flew into LaGuardia and stayed in the 20's. UNBELIEVABLE!I'm concluding that this joystick served me well over the years because I never had as many addons as I do today. I have all the scenery enhancements such as FSGenesis, Mesh, Bev, etc., and I keep my Autogen very dense. I will start, I'm sure, to enjoy the sim WITHOUT force feedback, but I've definitely concluded that it was hurting my performance tremendously.If you have a FF joystick, I would ask you to try this. I can't believe what it did for me.

>Sadly, I disconnected my Microsoft FF2 Joystick last night>just to check whether what I had been reading on the various>forums was true. Well....after suffering with disgustingly low>frame rates on a high end machine, and trying everything from>Config tweaks to lowering my quality in the sim, I still was>getting 20fps and below most of the time with wicked>stuttering and pauses. This occurred no matter what I tried.>It was not as enjoyable as I remember the sim to be. >Long story short....I connected a Cyborg 3D stick and Voila!>Frames on runway shot up to over 45fps and continued>throughout flight in the 20's, 30's, and 40's. I even flew>into LaGuardia and stayed in the 20's. UNBELIEVABLE!>I'm concluding that this joystick served me well over the>years because I never had as many addons as I do today. I have>all the scenery enhancements such as FSGenesis, Mesh, Bev,>etc., and I keep my Autogen very dense. >I will start, I'm sure, to enjoy the sim WITHOUT force>feedback, but I've definitely concluded that it was hurting my>performance tremendously.>If you have a FF joystick, I would ask you to try this. I>can't believe what it did for me.>Hi,Its a well known fact that with MS FF joystick, going thronormal joystick port that you MUST turn "ground bumps" OFFto give improved framerates. Other FF settings should beOK. Of course if you buy a USB FF joystick alls OKanyway!!!!

My joystick is USB....and the frames were terrible. The Saitek practically doubled the performance.Tell me...is there another brand of force feedback stick that works well within FS9...and doesn't suffer from the frame hit?

HI Stan. I have the FF and the symptoms you speak of. Do you think disabling all forces would help or must I abandon it altogether? It is USB.

I would bet on it! I also had the payware FSFORCE. I was a Beta Team tester for the product, and it made MSFF2 joystick feel even better. I am using the non-forcefeedback Cyborg 3D by Saitek now. But tonight I ordered the NEW Cyborg EVO FORCE from Saitek. It gets great reviews and I'm going to try it with FS9 and see if it has the same effect as the Microsoft stick did. If it does, it will be sent back. If not, I will have proved what I believe is true. It's the Microsoft stick that effects the frames.You have nothing to lose...disconnect the stick and go into the sim at your default setting and hit Shift+Z twice to see what your frames are. Be sure to check them first with the stick connected. Then compare. Use the same time of day, the same weather, etc.Let me know what you find.