This is kind of late in the life of FS9 to be asking this, but what do I look for when changing the video card settings between 2X to 16X for Anisotropic filtering? Also is Anisotropic filtering what is referred to on the hardware settings page of FS9 as filter (none, bilinear and trilinear)?I know that the recommendation is NOT to check anti-aliasing in flight sim and I use 4X on the video card. I have always run trilinear filtering in flight sim.On the 3D application of my ATI video card, I have been trying Anisotropic filtering between 2X through 16X with no real difference in the video graphic presentation. The difference that I do notice is frame rates and smoothness. The lower the X value the smoother the graphics.Is the flight sim trilinear filtering setting over-riding my video card X values and that is the reason I don't see any differences when I change my card's Antisotropic filter between 2X and 16X ?? thanks

Your video card settings should override anything in FS9 (assuming you don't have them set to "application preference" or some-such).For anisotropic filtering, pay attention to the textures out a little ways from your aircraft. Without anisotropic, they will look muddy and indistinct. With anisotropic, you will see detail further out.Personally, I found around 8x anisotropic to be optimal. Any more than that almost adds too much.If you aren't seeing a difference you can try a couple of things:1) pause your flight looking out the side of your VC, take a screenshot, save the flight, then close out FS9, change your video card settings, reload the flight, and take another screenshot. Compare the screenshots. If you aren't seeing a difference, there is probably a problem.2) Some video cards might require a reboot to see your setting changes, especially if you are running FS9 windowed rather than full screen.Let me know if you work it out. If not, I can take a couple of screenshots and show you the difference.

Thanks Jimmy So it is mainly scenery at a distance. I'll try that and observe the scenery. If you get time post a screen shot. I didn't notice any difference at 1000 feet around Manhattan with max sliders for complexity and autogen except 2X was pretty smooth.

Hi Daryl. If you haven't already, check out this tweak guide for ATI boards which will give you a good description of what all those options really do, including AA/AF. AA and AF need to be in "balance" or they can defeat their very purpose. Hope it helps. http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_1.html Regards, KendallDell 8400 3.2 GHZ H.T.800 FSB/2MB L22 GB 533 DDR2X800XT 256MB/Catalyst driver - 6.9's6x Adaptive AA/16x HQ A/FIntegrated SoundDual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905CH Yoke/Pedals

To see the effect of anisotropic filtering in action you might want to check out this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anisotropic_FilteringRegards,http://www.bremmekamp.com/img/misc/avsim.jpg

I wanted to thank everyone for the links which I will study.