Tips for faster framerates

[Joseph29 225]

I have recently been download Project AI packages and files to get more gates at airports and now my framerates at those airports are not that good (before I download Project AI stuff and the stuff for extra gates my framerates were near 20) I have lowered the AI slider to 70% but don't want to go lower cause that would just defeat the purpose of downloading Project AI stuff and the files to have more gates.PS - when I take off from the airport my framerates go back up nicelyIs there any tips you can give me to improve my framerates? Maybe some adjusting I could do to my computer to get better framerates?

[Guest]

Yes, turn your sliders down more.That's the ONLY! way to get higher framerates (apart from spending money on a new superior computer).Doesn't have to be the AI slider, can also be scenery.

[Joseph29 225]

Thanks for the reply jwenting. I do plan on getting a much better graphics card than I have, and I do plan on upgrading the computer to get higher frame rates, but not for 2 or 3 months.I was hoping on something I can do besides moving the sliders down casue not my grapics in the game are good and I don't really want to have lower graphics. But thank anyway for the reply :-)

[Guest]

Initial options, in mind of what you wish to achieve, would be to turn off Aircraft Reflections and then, if required, Aircraft Shadows. This makes quite a difference - even with AI Traffic slider untouched.Another hot tip would be to limit visability. Using FSUIPC I limit visability as follows;1000 - Clear800 - Cloudy600 - Overcastand graduated vis;0 - 99000 @ 3000This gives your FPS quite a kick, trust me. And, realistically, whenever I look out across the landscape in Real Life I don't see all that far, so feels rather realistic.Hope this helps!Regards,Andrew

[Guest seev_39]

Andrew,Excellent tip. Thanks. Frame rate was improved by at least 15-20%, sometimes even more and the whole setting looks more realistic.Seev

[Guest]

Seev,Thank you for your kind reply - glad this helped. Personally seeing 60 odd miles around you seems very unrealisting in comparison.Have you tried these settings with FSMetar at sunrise/sunset - the results can be rather astonishingly beautiful!Frequently provides those "Flt Sim Moments" where I find myself just staring - somewhat idiotically, no doubt - at the monitor absorbed by the beauty of it all. This is usually followed by "Terrain Terrain - Pull Up Pull Up" :-lol

[Joseph29 225]

Yes thank you ATingle! I was at Heathrow and with a AFCAD for more gates plus airline packages from Project AI I was getting framerates at about 7. But with your setting my framerates jumped up to about 10 or 11!

[virtualstuff 750]

I'll have also a lot of AI (80% slider) and turning of aircraft shadows will speed up the framerates a lot... :-)Andr

[Guest Kobie1244]

If you havent already done this.....Keep your monitor at full view.... (Press "ALT + ENTER").This makes your CPU use more of the Graphics Card, and less CPU resources. It works for me.....Hope this can help you too!Kobie

[Joseph29 225]

Would removing the default AI big jet traffic help framerates? I still use the default AI traffic along with the Project AI planes.

[Guest]

Joseph29,Thanks for the kind comments!Yes, this would indeed help - it improved my FPS somewhat.Regards,Andrew

[Guest Milio_B]

Hhehehe a few tips from me.Ok, I LOVE AI and I have installed many AI packages. In big airports and intensive sceneries (Gary's EGLL, or EGKK, Simflyers EDDF, KLAS, KDFW, etc.) I set my AI traffic to let's say 30%, depending on the scenery used. I get planes taking off/landing on a regular basis, so the airports feel quite "alive".And this give me solid FPS (more than 12) on my P4 1,5 with 512 RAM and a GF2Ti. On approach, FPS are 15, or sometimes in the 20's, and the airports still look great and realistic. This is with Ariane's 737, or POSKY 747 or MelJet 777All my other settings are maxed, expcept for mesh and cloud density.Shadows are turned OFF. First, ground shadows eat FPS. Plus, they're not fully compatible with many add-on sceneries. Then, aircraft shadows are also too FPS intensive to use them IMHO..Also, I changed every PAI a/c texture to DXT1. Inbstead of 1,00 MB they're 512K. This makes a huge difference, plus gets rid of reflections (without having to set your aircraft/s reflections off), with also IMHO aren't needed. Bare metal can still be seen though, if the Alpha is Black (the only Alpha DXT1 mode will take)That waay, in default airports or not so busy sceneries (let's say Gary's EGSS, EGLC, EGGW, or even EGCC) I can set my AI to 100% and get high FPS.The thing is, I learned to live without reflections in AI planes, and whithout shadows. IMHO that eye-candy is not that necessary. Autogen on the other hand makes the flight much more fun :)So that's what I've been doing for a while now...and honestly I'm really happy with my FS. I'm not planning to upgrade the whole system anytime soon. My PC could run FS2002 smoothly when it came out, and was considered top of the line. I still consider it a grat way to fly my FS even if I know there are 3 GHz+ PCs out there.Hope this helps!

[Guest]

>Also, I changed every PAI a/c texture to DXT1. Inbstead of >1,00 MB they're 512K. This makes a huge difference, plus >gets rid of reflections (without having to set your >aircraft/s reflections off), with also IMHO aren't needed. >Bare metal can still be seen though, if the Alpha is Black >(the only Alpha DXT1 mode will take)Hi! I'm following this thread very closely because my system isn't exactly up to par with a good majority of you guys. Currently, I'm running with the following specs:Athlon 1800XP (1.53 GHz)Shuttle A12 MoBo256 MB PCI133 RAMAnd the punchline...Voodoo3 2000 PCI w/ 16 MB.Now, before you all bust your blood vessels laughing at me, yes, I know I'm waaaay overdue for a graphics card upgrade. Til then, I'm going to try to squeeze as much performance out of my rig as I possibly can.My questions is, how does one do the above-- changing the textures to DX1. What is DX1 exactly, and what program do you use?Thanks a heap! JonathanKATL

[Guest LSangiovanni LIML]

Andrew,thanks a lot for tips; but, how do i get those visibility settings using FS2002 with FSMeteo? In other words, when trying to reduce visibility, nothing seems to change if i run FSMeteo :-(Can you please help? In FSUIPC.ini i can read:ExternalOptionControl=YesIs that correct?Thanks in advanceLuigi ;-)

[Guest Milio_B]

Hey there,Well, DXT1 if an image file format.The most used in FS2002 are:32-bit, with provide most of the quality but are very large files,DXT3, which provide High quality textures (most of the times as good as DXT1, but are 4 times smaller),and DXT1, which provide textures without an alpha channel (actually you will still see some bare metal reflections in DXT1...)They take up half the space a DXT3 does.In most downloaded planes, converting to DXT1 it's not worth it, since you'll lose the reflections and lower the quality (the reflections can be turned off from FS)BUT, if you have 20+ planes around you, as in a dense airport, then DXT1 textures are much more convenient that DXT3 ones.you can change this file format with Imagetool.Usually, it comes with FS2002 Pro, in the GMAX folder (just use the search function of your Windows).But, if you have FS2002 Standard, you can download it from the net, just search Microsoft ImageTool.In the program, select Image and in the Format tag, select DXT1.Hope this helped :)