worthwhile FS9 investment?

[RobbieHe 0]

I read this review on Avsim and was wondering if you guys think it is worth it. At this point, I only occasionally use the MS defragment function that comes with Windows XP.http://www.avsim.com/pages/0608/DiskTrix/defrag.htmI am mostly interested in knowing if it could help in decreasing texture loading while flying. I have a problem with being in the fightdeck view and then going outside (at a busy airport - for example) and then having to wait 5 to 10 second while the airplanes around me load their textures (move from a white outline to their respecive liveries). Many times, this will happen with the outside scenery as well, from flat plain tiles to the proper outside textures (trees or whatever).Thanks,RH

[Sylle 48]

Hello Robby,I do see the difference when I have recently defragged my hard disk.(FS folders are set as 'high performance' in the Ultimate defrag options)Before defragmentation, you can clearly see that the aircraft textures will load one by one when I'm switching to spot view (starting from a completely white model).After defragmentation this texture loading is a lot quicker.The same for scenery...On my setup, it works a lot better than the default WinXP defrag utility.Cheers,Sylvain

[HoratioWondersocks 4]

>I read this review on Avsim and was wondering if you guys>think it is worth it. At this point, I only occasionally use>the MS defragment function that comes with Windows XP.>>http://www.avsim.com/pages/0608/DiskTrix/defrag.htm>>I am mostly interested in knowing if it could help in>decreasing texture loading while flying. I have a problem>with being in the fightdeck view and then going outside (at a>busy airport - for example) and then having to wait 5 to 10>second while the airplanes around me load their textures (move>from a white outline to their respecive liveries). Many>times, this will happen with the outside scenery as well, from>flat plain tiles to the proper outside textures (trees or>whatever).>>>Thanks,>>RHFive to ten seconds!good heavens.I s that FSX OR FS9 you are using.What percentage is your A.I running at?Do you shut of all unnecessary background programs and services?What are your system specs?Have you tried changing the values in the 'texture max-load' bit of your FS9 Cfg? default value is thirty i think ,try two,three or four hundred (i use 400)this may help with texture loading.My setup is nothing special,but the grey effect you describe is usually only a fraction of a second(not five or ten)on my machine.I am always defragging,always checking for spyware and then a bit more defragging for good measure.If you know all this stuff,then open a bottle of beer and enjoy the summer.Hope somebody can sort it for you.cheers Andy

[tunnelcat 1]

I bought it and definitely found it to be a worthwhile purchase. I like the disk-shaped graphical interface that shows you where all the files are being put. Make sure you defrag by setting 'high performance' and 'by file name' when you perform the defrag. But another worthwhile addition is to get new separate hard drive that doesn't have the OS on it and install FS on the very outer ring of the drive using the above settings in the defrag program. This really helps performance.Kim

[RobbieHe 0]

I am using FS9My specs are overclocked FX57 (3.0Ghz)8800 GTS (384Mb)Raptor (10,000RPM) 150GbI mostly fly the LDS 767-300ERI have AI and 100% (Ultimate Traffic)Flight EnvironmentGround Environment ProUltimate Terrain (North America)FS GenesisActive SkyRadar ContactI typically use all the above and use EndItAll2 to shut down background programs.I have not tried changing the values in the 'texture max-load' bit of my FS9 Cfg. Any other suggestions would be helpful.Thanks,Robbie

[RobbieHe 0]

Hi Kim -If I had FS9 in a new D: drive, how would I access it from my C: drive?Thanks -Robbie

[tunnelcat 1]

Robbie,If you don't have a large setup of FS, just uninstall it, or if you do, some new drives come with software that allows you to transfer your software programs to the new drive. However, you will have to do registry editing to make FS work. In my case, I needed to purge out a large, cluttered setup of FS, so I just uninstalled everything. There have been posts here about how to edit the registry for a drive swap if you don't want to do reinstall, just do a search if you want to try this.When you go to do the reinstall or the move to the new drive, first make sure that you create a new folder on the new drive so that you have an empty folder to point to when you get around to installing FS. If you decide to do a reinstall of FS instead of a move, do a complete install so that you get the option that allows you to point to the new drive and your new folder, for example, D: Flight Simulator (whatever you previously named it). FS will then install the large bulk of it's most accessed files on the new D drive, while the shortcuts, exe. files, cfg. files and flight save files end up on your C drive. All scenery, texture and aircraft files end up on the new drive, which you then can properly and efficiently defragment. If you put FS on first, it will end up on the outer rings of the drive, getting the fastest access.Kim

[RobbieHe 0]

Thank you Kim for the information. I am probably going to stick with FS9 on C: and try the degrag program to see if it helps. One of the problems I have is a cracked disk 4 for FS9, so I had to use a work around for FS9 start up purposes. Therefore, I can't reinstall it. Also, I have a lot of other programs associated with FS9 and other things that would be a hassle to have to reinstall. Robbie