Turning the quality to "high" for the virtual cockpit is the single most limiting effect on smoothness for my system. Interestingly, it doesn't matter if I'm using the virtual cockpit, 2D, or full screen view. As soon as I switch to "low" things smooth out. Unfortunately, for many of my planes, "low" makes the virtual cockpit unusable. This is most noticeable around heavy graphic areas like cities. Anybody else notice this? I'm doubtful there's a solution, but I am curious.RandallSpecs:Athlon 1.4384Mb DDRRadeon 9700 - AA 6X, AF 16XSoundblaster Live Xgamer

Seems to be the case here to Randall. Very noticeable on my 350mhz. :-)It seems that once you have a look at the VC side, the 2D side is also impacted; not sure why, but I exepect once the VC gauges are activated by going to the VC, they are always updated even if you are in 2D mode.Milton

One thing you might consider is adding some RAM. Most people say that 512 MB is the best amount for FS2002 - less brings you stutters, more does not help. Just an idea, because your processor a graphics card are faster than mine (Duron 1 GHz, GeForce3), but I have never had any problems using the VC.Bye,VOlker :]

I can see the negative impact of some of the VC's even runnning at 2.7Ghz. What we really, really need is a way to "turn off/on" the VC completely so as to eliminate any impact when desired/necessary. I'm one of those who very seldom uses a VC but I'm sure there are times when even the dedicated VC-user would like to get rid of it simply for performance reasons. Thankfully, the plea has not gone unheeded and several developers have offered us both a VC and non-VC version on some releases - and I'm hoping the trend continues. And, I'm also hoping someone finds a way to do a "turn off/on" switch as that will fix the problem once-and-for-all.Trip

I suppose I am guilty of having 2 versions available for the Commander series. :-)BUT, keep in mind that most people today want those wing and engine views in the 2D model... guess where they come from ... yup, the VC model. However, I have noticed no fps hit in our No-VC versions for having these views.I can understand seeing an impact on my 350mhz machine, but I wouldn't think you would be so impacted.For our future releases in the Commander series, we will use less active gauges in the VC to minimize the impact to lower end machines.Milton

From the responses, it seems this comes down to a programming issue. Maybe the next FS will have a few more ways to easily configure--such as when you turn off VC it really is off--or just cleaner programming. I primarily like the viewpoint VC gives--2D panels takes up too much screen area for most planes. Anyways, with this system I was surprised to have the VC stutters--had them just the same with my former Geforce 2. Maybe more memory . . .Thanks.RandallSpecs:Athlon 1.4384Mb DDRRadeon 9700 - AA 6X, AF 16XSoundblaster Live Xgamer

This problem is not helped by Microsoft's functionality whereby you have to cycle through views to get to the view you want. Every other flight sim I have ever used lets you swap to any view independantly without having to cycle through views that you do not want at that particular time. I know there are convoluted ways around this, but they are just that - convoluted and not nearly as practical as Microsoft doing this the way every other developer seems to. If they did, you'd never have to worry about seeing a VC because you wouldn't even have any keystroke or joystick function allocated to it.Same goes for the VC view. A lot of people only use VCs and don't want to ever see a 2D cockpit. It would at least be nice to see a couple of linked radio buttons in the aircraft sub-menu in future releases of FS - whereby you can toggle to either bypass the 2D or VC view completely on an aircraft by aircraft basis.

Good point and a good idea!