Hi all, just curious to know how many of you use FS9 with frames unlocked. My sim does not seem to micro stutter with frames unlocked. The minute I lock the frames even at 99 there would be some micro stuttering. I just don't want blurry textures, however with my CPU , memory, video card I don't think that will be much of a problem.So, how many unlock their FS9?Thanks all,Bill

I have tried both ways, and then I heard a developer of FS9 (Steve Lacey) say you should lock it, no matter what anyone else says. So I have....EDIT>>>Linkhttp://www.steve-lacey.com/blogarchives/20..._blurries.shtml

I second altstiff's comment. I have read the same in numerous places. It's probably all in my head, but I think my textures load more efficiently with frames locked. I have mine locked at 55.ScottKPNS

I tried fs2004 with unlocked frames for quite a while...Those high framerates on the counter felt good, but in reality to me the sim ran no more smoothly. During cruise, my fps was 50+, but things were no better. Since then I went back to locking fps (I currently use 24) and everything works great. For stuttering and blurry textures, tweaking your config file is a better option in my opinion. I use this guide from the Ultimate Terrain site:http://www.scenerysolutions.com/doc/performanceTuning.pdf

Mine is also locked at 24 FPS, i didnt feel a need for more than that.

Unlocked here. But I'm running FS9 triple views on triple monitors with all popups open, with a 5 yr old system- so I'll take every FPS that's lurking in the shadows! Seems to be the way, if trying to squeeze the last ounce of performance.PS- also have Virtual Memory set to "Let System Manage".Alex Reid

I too have been lead to believe that setting frames to unlimited is simply a waste of system resorces, ones that could be otherwise employed in loading the next bit of scenery which is when a stutter will occur.It has been said that on a standard monitor, the human eye cannot tell if frames are faster than 25 per second anyway, therefore, i've locked mine at 30.In my experience, the settings in the FS9.cfg file have a great deal more to do with stutters. I changed mine after my re-install and it ran MUCH smoother.

I go back and forth. Right now I'm limited, next week I may go unlimited. Sometimes I convince myself that one way is better than the other but truth be told, I don't seem to notice much difference. For me the most important thing is leave the FR counter display turned off and just enjoy the scenery.R-

Ya, I have these stutters that will not go away no matter what I do. To me there is a huge difference in smoothness from frames 25 to 30. I have them locked at 30 but there has to be a way to get rid of them stutters during turns on in the air or on the ground. Im sim did not run this way in the past...before I reformated the machine it ran like a dream, now I cant get it to run like it used to. Maybe I should try different drivers....who knows..Thanks,Bill

There was a great post on this issue a long while back, which basically said that the fps counter in fs2004 isn't a complete measure of performance. As people have seen, you might be getting 30fps all the time, but get stutters. People confuse this with thinking that we cannot tell fps differences over 24, but that is false. In other games you certainly can. In fs2004 though, the fps counter doesn't always tell the full story. Stutters of course can ruin the experience, so the best thing is to lock it lower and tweak the sim until it runs smoothly.

Thanks for the reply....all I know is I saved my entire FS9 directory into a USB external HD for backup and at that time my sim was runing perfect nice and smooth...I also copied the fs9 config to my external drive for backup. Then I reformatted my machine and loaded fs9 back on...now I copied most of my config settings from my backup back to my runing PC and copied all my aircrafts, textures, sounds, scenery...etc from the external HD back to my PC, but whatever I do, and It seems like I have tried everything in the book...inlcuding replacing the mobo, CPU, memory, and videocard to what I have on my sig (currently)..my sim still has microstutters even with high frames...when its not stuttering, its as smooth as butter. The only thing I havnt replaced is my 460W power supply and my HD. I could copy my config file here and see if anyone would spot something odd in it, but the real bugger is it was working great before the first reformat. My old machine specs were:Win XP Pro SP2AMD 3400Geforce 6800GT2gig DDR 400 (PC3200)Antec True Blue 460W PSBiostar Mobo (dont remembe the model)Maxor 7200 200gig HD (Sata)Thanks for the help, I really hope I sort this out, I just want my sim back to the way it was. Im really pulling my hair with this stuff...and I dont have much up there.Bill

Hello BillI would be tempted to put the 6800GT back inI moved from an ATI X850XT AGP to a X1950pro PCIe on that ASrock mother board and found that the X850XT had better performance in FS9.I think that the 6800GT will give better results that the X1950ProThe X1950pro will do better in games that use shaders more.http://www.freewebs.com/reading1871/30.jpg

Any discussion of frame rates isn't complete without mentioning monitor resolution. Multiplying FPS times resolution= pixels per second. (it's a big #,so drop six zeros and call it megapixels/sec or MPS!)Pixels or the flow of pixels is what your eyes/brain perceive as an image. More MPS= better quality image.I run 3 monitors/triple views @1024x768 on my ancient AMD XP2200. Frame rates are typically 14-20, say 17. That's about 13.4 MPS.(1024x768x17) Even though my FPS seems low, my brain says "wow, that's a great pic!" What quality of image- "MPS" are your eyes seeing?Alex Reid

My optimum resoltion for my LCD monitor is 1400 X 1050. Thats what I have set to FS9.Bill

The AS Rock mobo that I have has both PCI-Express and AGP, however the PCiE slot is maxed at 4X not 16X. Im also tempted to puting in the 6800GT and see what happens. I really dont have anymore options left to do. The ATI and Nvidia cards I have are both AGP.Thanks,Bill