Performance Issues

[Guest photons]

I've been a keen aviator on Microsoft Flight Sim since it's introduction of FS2002 and now I have purchased FS2004, if not a little too late.I've purchased a reconditioned high spec computer to replace my old 800mhz PC, my new computer is a Dell Optiplex GX270 with a P3 2.8 HT processor and a recently installed budget Radeon 9750 graphics card.Since installing FS9 I've been plagued my unstable frame rates, particularly from just flight aircraft add ons. I've took notice of the minimum requirments to run both FS9 and Just flight aircraft and my PC excells both these requirments.I've altered aroound with the display settings, and the add on aircraft still suffers from unstable frame rates.Without the add on and with defualt aircraft selected the frame rates is at a respectable level even with the display settings set at max.Why isn't my add on behaving as well as the default aircraft? What is causing the problem, is it a software problem or the incompatibility between the speed of my CPU processor verses the speed of my GPU?Thanks

[FLEX1978 373]

Even fs2004 needs a bit of power behind it to run smoothly... I have a pentium3 clocked at 3.2ghz 3 gig of ram ATI x1950 with 512mb ram. That is nowhere near fast in todays standards. I have offloaded activesky, sqawkkbox etc to another computer and that helped. I am going to wait about 6 months and then properly upgrade as i still get some stutters. Try all the tweaks on the hardware forum or consider more Ram and a better GPU.... also one of the major things that helped me was finding the right graphics driver for my GPU... It's a pain searching but i managed to get a extra 10fpsRobert Prest

[georgetyrrell 7]

Man where do you start, you're the second person I've seen on these forums that is only getting into fs9 now. Its a long journey, really long when I look back at what I didn't know about systems when I first started! For starters you need to uninstall the sim using the cd1. It gets rid of all registries and folders. Then obtain the latest drivers for your vid card. Then clean out your old drivers using a program called driver cleaner and using safe mode. Re install the clean drivers and start from there. When you install the sim again make sure nothing else even anti virus is running and let it run. Then first thing is run the sim and then close out. Obtain the fs9 update, the link for it is in the forums somewhere and download it right into your fs9 folder and run it from in there. Then defrag your hard drive with whatever defragger you use and restart. That should be a clean base from which to tweak the fs9.cfg. You will see all sorts of tweaks to the fs9.cfg but the main section is the display section and the terrain section. Download fs9configurator. Install it and run it , it will catch your fs9.cfg and make it easier to understand. When running click fs9.cfg and display section. You will want the texture_bandwith_mult to be at least 100. Set you frame rates to a realistic value which is 20-30 in truth. go to terrain section. things like autogen etc can be set from settings menu when the sim is running but the ones you want are the last 3. I have a very moderate system and I set the terrain_default_radius to 9.5. But anywhere between 4.5 and this would be acceptable. This value tells the sim how big the circle of initially loaded textures will be around your aircraft. Then the terrain_extended_radius tells the sim how big the secondary circle is (if you get that) of textures that will be loaded in the further distance will be. This works for me as roughly half of what the default radius is. Then terrain_extended_levels can be 1-4 in my opinion. Stupid numbers of 232 and above are not recognised. This value outlines the number of outer rings the size of which are dictated by the value of the extended radius, still follow?!. So basically try with these numbers. If you have a slow system which yours really is, start with a moderate default radius and very small extended radius and levels. It should run reasonably enough.Also some add on airports and aircraft are simply just badly made and problems have nothing to do with your pc but the product itself. Hope this is a start in the direction of a tolerable simGeorge

[Mike S KPDX 597]

Here is some info that I have gathered over the years of using this product...fs9.cfgTERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.500000TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=4.50000**********************************************************Global max texture size equates to the following entry in FS9.CFG:TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=nwhere n corresponds to one of the Global max texture size slider values as follows:Very Small 64Small 128Medium 256High 512Massive 1024You need High for terrain textures, Massive if you want to use 1024x1024 bitmaps where these are supplied and aren't worried about the extra texture memory/bandwidth they will use**********************************************************Fs9.cfg under: (DISPLAY)TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40 <------------ to a higher value ex: 400This setting controls the rate at which textures get transferred to the video hardware. Higher numbers will result in the textures getting to the hardware faster and avoiding "popping" textures when switching view but may increase stutters and require more physical memory on the video card (and some more, not recommended for video card with less than 128Mb).***********************************************************Q) Where is the configuration file now located?A) It will be located in your personal Application Data folder. On Windows 2000/XP systems, this is located in Documents and SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftFS9FS9.cfg (for Windows 9x users the path is WindowsApplication DataMicrosoftFS9fs9.cfg). The Application Data folder is hidden, so you will need to enable viewing of hidden files/folders under the Folder Options in your Explorer.Q) How can I turn off the Flying Tips?A) This option is located under the Realism settings on the primary Settings screen. Open the Realism window. It is a check box in the upper right.Q) How can I improve the look of the ground textures?A) Open your fs9.cfg file, and modify the following lines:TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.500000TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=4.50000Q) Where are my saved flights stored?A) For Windows XP users: Documents and SettingsMy DocumentsFlight Simulator Files For Windows 9x users: My DocumentsFlight Simulator Files Note: if there are several users on a Win9x machine there might be several subfolders in the folder path aboveQ) How can I get good looking clouds and reduce the 2d clouds imposters?A) Use Ms ultra high default setup +-Set your clouds draw distant to 40 mil, clouds % percentage to 90/100%, or with the lower slider at the bottom clouds density to MAX.-Higher system, clouds draw distant more than to 40 mil, clouds percentage to 90/100%, clouds density to MAX.Q) How can I change runway light settings?A) To get your runways configs light size add these line under fs9.cfg display: RUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=1.0 //scales edge, center,end,touchdown,runways RUNWAY_LIGHTS_VASI_SCALAR=1.0 // scales VASI lights)RUNWAY_LIGHTS_APPROACH_SCALAR=1.0 // scales approach light bars RUNWAY_LIGHTS_STROBE_SCALAR=1.0 //scales RAILs and ODALs)More the value is lower, more the light will decrease in size, 0.5, 0.005 etc.Q) The panning is too slow. How can I speed this up?A) In you fs9.cfg file, look for the linePAN_RATE=400Change this to set your pan rate near 900.Want to bypass the opening screen?Make this change to the fs9.cfg. --Square brackets--DEMO=0LOADSIM=1LOADWINDOW=1SHOW_OPENING_SCREEN=0 Change this from 1 to 0STARTUP_DEMO=Want to see low/high/average FPS? --Square Brackets--Location=316,222,964,756HideMenuNormal=0HideMenuFullscreen=1Maximized=0Ave_Frame_Rate_Display=1--Add this lineSave the file and exit.Q) How can I pan the outside view when in 2D cockpit mode?A) Add this line in the FS9.CFG CONTROLS section:PAN_IN_COCKPIT_MODE=1Q) How do I turn off the red "brakes" messages?A) Add this line in the FS9.CFG SIM section:SHOW_BRAKE_MESSAGE=0How to disable the AGP Texture Acceleration without disabled from the DirectX.In your fs9.cfg, under your display graphics cards:(DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X.0)Mode=1024x768x32TriLinear=1TextureAGP=0 <------------------------- Add this lineWhat are the following settings in the section of the fs9.cfg file? TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=96.000000 This is a value from 0 to 100 that control the DEM radius (it is linear in area) TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=10.000000 This the lowest value used to calculate the DEM radius based upon the TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=100.000000 This is the highest value used to calculate the DEM radius TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=19 This control the DEM resolution: 18 = 150m DEM, 19 = 75m DEM, 20 = 37m DEM, 21 = 19m DEM TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=8 This controls the terrain texture size. Valid values are 8 = 256x256, 7 = 128x128, 6 = 64x64 TERRAIN_AUTOGEN_DENSITY=4 This controls the autogen density TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1 This turns on/off the gradient map (cliffs). TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1 This turns on/off the extended texture ring TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS= This is the default radius in textures for all rings, default is 2.5 TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS= This is the radius used for the inner ring when the extended texture ring is turned on, default is 4.0 TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS= This is the number of rings to add when using extended texture rings, default is 1 When I am switching view, I get coloring popping texture (brown, red etc.) how can I fix that's ? Fs9.cfg under: (DISPLAY)TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40 <------------ to a higher value ex: 400This setting controls the rate at which textures get transferred to the video hardware. Higher numbers will result in the textures getting to the hardware faster and avoiding "popping" textures when switching view but may increase stutters and require more physical memory on the video card (and some more, not recommended for video card with less than 128Mb). Performance Boost -Enable the T&L will increase your performance near 4 fps-AntialasingThe Antialasing inside fs2004, will reduce alot your performance, uncheck from the fs2004 and only use the Antialasing from external tweaker or from your driver display setting.Better performance in 2d panel mode and others area.By disabled the AGP Texture Acceleration, your performance will increase specialy with 2d panel and others area. (You will not nead to turn of the AGP Texture Acceleration under your DirectX, it's the same function inside fs9.cfg)In your fs9.cfg under:(DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X.0)Mode=1024x768x32TriLinear=1TextureAGP=0 <------------------------- Add this linePanelAsTexture=0 <--------------------- Add this lineBy adding the PanelAsTexture line, your performance will even increase specialy with 2d panel 3rd party aircraft, it may cause 2-d panels to blank out if you've enabled AA inside FS2004, uncheck AA in fs2004, and enabling AA from your prefered tweaker or your driver display setting.Q) How can I pan the view in the 2D cockpit? A) In the fs9.cfg file add this line in the CONTROLS section: pan_in_cockpit_mode=1 Q) How can I add visual damage effect to aircraft? a) Add the following line after the ui_variation line in the aircraft.cfg file for each aircraft you want to display the damage effects: visual_damage=1 You must also check "Detect crash and reset situation" in the simulator realism settings Q) How do I disable the warning message on startup about non-compatible modules? A) Add the following lines to the fs9.cfg file{OldModules} (use brackets not braces - this forum does not display brackets)name of dll=1 Q) How can I stop the AP to automatically turn on the wing leveler? Add the following lines in the Autopilot section of the aircraft.cfg file for each airplane you want to change back the AP behavior to the FS2000 way: use_no_default_bank=1 use_no_default_pitch=1 Q) How do I back-up from a gate? A) With the push-back function: SHIFT+P to start going back, SHIFT+P then 1 (main keyboard) to back and turn left, SHIFT+P then 2 to back and turn right, and don't forget SHIFT+P again to stop movingQ) How can I customize the panel lighting?A) Here's the setting I use for my Hawk panel which looks cool and is subtle at night:(Color)Day=255,255,255Night=20,20,20Luminous=170,170,110and one of the settings I use for my private DC-3 panels:(Color)Day=255,255,255Night=60,21,21Luminous=140,85,2'PoolSize=5000000'As far as I am aware this tweak only works with FSX.As for the TextureMaxLoad tweak, here is the info that I posted in another thread. This one does work! (N.B. I did not write the following, simply copied and pasted it from another forum)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: THIS TWEAK IS NOT ONE FOUND ON FLIGHT SIM SITES. IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT THE FS9.CFG FILE IS OR WHAT THE CONTENTS MEAN, DON