I have been using FS2k2 since it came out (and all previous versions). Last year I upgraded to a new system:P4 2.01 GB RDRAM (PC800)SCSI 10RPM hard driveNvidia G4 Ti-460040.72 Nvidia driversWindows XP Prof - SP1DX8.1 (or whatever SP1 updated)My settings within FS are AA, 1024x768x32. Frames are locked at 20.So, my sliders are at about max, not quite, ATC 80%.I still get low framerates (9-10) at busy default airports when coming near any AI traffic.Graphically all looks great, and there seems to be no real problem when NOT flying into a busy airport, but you would think with this much power, things would be better.I have read all the articles on various sites about framerates, etc...Is there any specific settings on the Nvidia drivers, or in FS that can help without giving up the quality?Any help would be appreicated.Thanks in advance,- JD

No, it is all those polygons that the scenery generator is trying to render.I have that same problem with KATL and the AI I have loaded for that airport. The simulation almost comes to a standstill when I am looking at the airport.Try this. Place an aircraft a short distance from the busy airport in about a 1000-1500 hover using the Slew mode. Hit Shift+Z twice to show the FPS. Using you joystick top-hat, rotate around a 360deg circle. Watch the FPS rise and fall as you rotate.The only solution is to turn down the percentage of AI.

Try turning your visual distance down a little.Hope this helps!:)Shane

Yes, visual distance can do it, i have mine down to the smallest setting (60nm I think?) and Ive never seen lower than 20FPS at any aiports with 100% AI traffic (with addon AI, too)- my system is pretty similar except for processor and video card, which is Athlon 2100+ and GeForce Ti4200 ...Play with certain options and youll find the one that does what you want :D

My computer is a bit less powerful than yours, but I believe I'm getting better performance (maybe I'm just fooling myself) :-)You'll probably want to start posting your exact slider and switch settings for the FS graphics settings, but here are 2 suggestions:1) turn off AA...it's a personal preference thing, and I certainly enjoy the performance more than the smoothness. There's a catch though, if you do turn it off in FS you have to set the nVidia drivers to off as well, otherwise you might get one setting over-riding the other.2) turn on T&L...you aren't likely to get any real "magic bullet" settings (other than turning off AA) but that's exactly what this was for me. At the time, I might have just had a bad setup, but when I turned on T&L I was able to get a lot more performance and stability out of FS.

Splash_One...not to derail this thread, but with visual distance turned down does it make it more difficult for you to spot the airport off in the distance? Judging from the pic in your sig I'm guessing you do a VFR flight every now and then, and this is one setting I've been having a hard time finding balance with. I end up not seeing the airport because once I get too close my dashboard gets in the way, but I don't know if increasing the draw distance would help with that or not.

Also, what type of AI?I find it so misleading to report FPS values when people do not include the screen resoultion, water details, slider settings, add-on scenery, terrain values, scenery detail levels, texture settings, and on and on ... Depending on the value of my sliders, I can average around 17FPS (P4, 1.7GHZ, 768MB RAM), but in dense airport areas, I can and do go down as low as 4-5FPS. Terrible. I lock my FPS at 20.I hope everyone gets the point. We all know this, but we all go a bit nuts at times when one person reports xx FPS and another yy FPS when they both report having virtually identical machines.Anyway, specific to AI, to me it's NOT just the % of traffic specified, but also the TYPE of traffic. What I mean is that if you take just the FS2K2 default AI and max it to 100% you'll see some drop in FPS. However, if you add some AI (I use PAI) and drop the traffic slider to 60%, you'll probably still see a drop-off in FPS. Take this a step farther, if you add more flights (via AFCAD), more aircraft to local airports (planes that have no optimized textures like PAI and other AI styles), and still have BOTH PAI and default planes as AI and in flight plans ---- well ---- as I've done this let me tell you my skies are filled, but my FPS is drastically affected at KORD for example.So, to me, just saying that one gets xx FPS with AI maxed does not tell the whole picture unless you indicate WHAT type and how much additional AI you've added.JerryG