Hi guys, Im ready to reformat my machine for the 2nd time around...I cant figure why my sim has microstutters when it did not have them before I reformated the first time. I have tried different drivers, newer chipset drivers, and all the tweaks possilbe in the FS9 config. Im really lost at whats going on here. My sim was really smooth before I had to reformat because of a virus.Please, anyone have some insight on what I could do to get rid of these micro stutters?I have:FS9GE ProActive Sky 6.5Ultimate Terrain USA/CanadaFree Mesh from avsim for USA and South AmericaMy current drivers for my vid card is 91.47 (I have tried new drivers and no luck)Thanks folks,Bill

Wow, EXACT same thing with me Bill (sorry for you) and I'm at a loss too. Everything on my new build was running smooth as silk until I clicked on a link for a file sharing site posted in another sim forum - within a day both xp and Vista on my dual boot were full of downloader trojans, so I reformatted. Before, FSX was blurry free, wide level of detail radius and smooth - now both FSX and FS9 textures are blurred, load slower and I get these micro stutters as you described - both sims aren't the same as before. Last night I noticed I hadn't applied the Intel processor hotfix from Microsoft, but it didn't help either. To my knowledge, the only thing I have done differently is I didn't load the raid driver on install of XP, but I don't raid and have heard NCQ may degraded performance. I have run HDTach and my HD runs same speed as before. If you haven't yet done so, rebuild your FSX.Cfg file. It really helped me as far as the stuttering but I still have the blurries. I think tonight I will try and reload the graphics driver again and see if that helps. Anyone else have any ideas? Thanks.Regards, Kendall#1: [email protected]/Coolermaster HyperTX2 Gigabyte P35-DS3L 4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers PC6400 Seagate 250GB 7200.10 SATA2 Gigabyte X800XT -Cat 6.12's CH Yoke/Pedals/Saitek Throttle Dual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905 #2: Dell 8400 3.2 H.T. 3GB PC4200 Diamond Xtreme/Logitech X-530's

Thanks for the reply Kendall, I have tried to rebuild my FS9 config with now joy, the stutters are still there. Im really at a stand still.Thanks,Bill

Sorry to hear that. When you reformatted the first time did you do a clean install of xp or restore from a saved image, OEM disc or partition? If you just did a repair that could cause issues. I'm sure you've defragged several times already, if not do it. I would make sure I had no hardware issues creep up unexpectedly - check graphics board and system temps, fan speeds etc, run memtest, HD test(read/write, check for disc errors). I'm sure you updated to latest chipset drivers, direct X etc. On the software side, has anything changed from before? Are all unneccessary windows services and tasks disabled, are your addon program settings the same etc. I made an image of my clean re-install just in case this ever happens again so I know everything will be restored to exactly how I had it. Wished I had done it to begin with, but I was swamped in my business......:-madHopefully someone will come up with some ideas because I am scratching my head over the same thing. If you reformat again let us know how it turns out - good luck!Regards, Kendall#1: [email protected]/Coolermaster HyperTX2 Gigabyte P35-DS3L 4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers PC6400 Seagate 250GB 7200.10 SATA2 Gigabyte X800XT -Cat 6.12's CH Yoke/Pedals/Saitek Throttle Dual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905 #2: Dell 8400 3.2 H.T. 3GB PC4200 Diamond Xtreme/Logitech X-530's

Well here is my situation...I had a ASUS mobo with the nforce 3 25bgb chip set and it fried on me, since I did not want to build a new system and my system is somewhat outdated from nowaday machines, I searched in newegg for a mobo that has me socket set and same chipetset (nforce3 250gb). I got the Biostar K8NHA Grand. I had a friend put the computer back together with the new mobo and since it had the same chipset it booted right up and away I went. My sim ran smooth once again...no problems. The funny thing is my new setup was runing with a Biostar mobo and the chipset drivers from my ASUS mobo. Then I got a virus in my machine and I had to reformat.I reformated my machine and installed the drivers from the Biostar mobo and ever since I reformated now my sim does not perform like it used to. Im thinking of refomrting and installing the ASUS chipetset drivers for my Biostar mobo and see what happens.Anyone have other adivse here. I just want to have my hobby back.Thanks,Bill

Now it's more clear. I think you answered your own question with: "I reformated my machine and installed the drivers from the Biostar mobo and ever since I reformated now my sim does not perform like it used to." FWIW, I'd personally re-install, but I also would take the time set up an OS/programs partition along with another storage partiton. Then I would downlowd and install Maxblast5 http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?loca...000dd04090aRCRD , which includes a free version of Acronis True image and when everything thing is installed and configured, make a backup image of the OS/Programs partiton over to the storage or preferably, an external drive. If you ever run into trouble again, restore and go. Hope it helpsRegards, Kendall#1: [email protected]/Coolermaster HyperTX2 Gigabyte P35-DS3L 4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers PC6400 Seagate 250GB 7200.10 SATA2 Gigabyte X800XT -Cat 6.12's CH Yoke/Pedals/Saitek Throttle Dual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905 #2: Dell 8400 3.2 H.T. 3GB PC4200 Diamond Xtreme/Logitech X-530's

So are you saying my chipset drivers from my ASUS disk are most likey better than the onces from my Biostar mobo?Thanks for your quick reply.Bill

It could be disc indexing that's causing the stutters. Is your hard drive access light blinking away when you get the stutters?If so you could try disabling it for your games directory.

Dont know if its the disk indexing since I really have not messed with anything like that in the past. I notice my frames are high when these stutters happen. I lock my frames at 30 and they never dip below that when Im getting the darn micro stutters.Thanks,Bill

>Dont know if its the disk indexing since I really have not>messed with anything like that in the past. I notice my>frames are high when these stutters happen. I lock my frames>at 30 and they never dip below that when Im getting the darn>micro stutters.>>Thanks,>>BillLithium is right, disk indexing will cause this behavior. Turn it off in xp services, then go into My Computer, right click your C drive, select properties and at the bottom, turn of disk indexing for this drive.Regards, Kendall#1: [email protected]/Coolermaster HyperTX2 Gigabyte P35-DS3L 4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers PC6400 Seagate 250GB 7200.10 SATA2 Gigabyte X800XT -Cat 6.12's CH Yoke/Pedals/Saitek Throttle Dual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905 #2: Dell 8400 3.2 H.T. 3GB PC4200 Diamond Xtreme/Logitech X-530's

Ok, will try that out and see what happens. Hopefully that will do the trick.Thanks,Bill

Ok, turned off indexing but the problem still is there.Bill

>Ok, turned off indexing but the problem still is there.>>BillOne thing you are probably doing, but gets overlooked by many, is turning off any active anti virus programs like Norton, while running FS. They definitely causes stuttering. Also if you are locking frames, make sure it is divisible by the frequency of your monitor. (ie: If your monitor is 60hz, you can lock it at 15, 20, 30, or 60. Don't lock it say at 25.) I personally find FS runs best unlocked, but it seems it's different on everybody elses system.

Thanks Tom, however my refresh rate for my monitor is 60 and I have my sim locked at 30 frames. I have tried using the sim with spybot and anti virus disabled, and even tried moving the priority of the sim from normal to high with no success. I guess what Im going to have to do here is another reformat and figure out at what point is my system "chocking" even with high frames.Thanks guys, Im really somewhat depressed with this situation, seems like I wont be able to get my sim back to the way it was...Regards,Bill

>Thanks for the reply Kendall, I have tried to rebuild my FS9>config with now joy, the stutters are still there. Im really>at a stand still.>>Thanks,>>BillBill, try running FilemonNT.exe if you haven't already so you can see if stutters are secondary to disk access or not. Google it if you need the software.Have you thinned out all non-critical processes, services & programs?Did you do a first rate "clean" installation of your video driver, with complete uninstallation of the former video drivers?Do you have your frame rate locked to a level that doesn't vary more that 3 or 4 frames between high and low rates?Do you have heavily embedded programs such as Norton running?Do you have AV and anti-spyware running and have a clean machine? Good luck!Noel