Hi all!Finally managed to have it work, i turned off UAC (Vista 64) that did the trick :( With a stock clock quad core duo 6600, 4gig of ram and a 8800 GTX, 22 inch screen at 1680 x 1050, at KJFK, i get the same fps with the optimizer set at 30 with unlimited in the game as locked at 20 or 30 without optimizer, altough smoother...so it works!Maybe it's just me but i noticed that under heavy load like from KJFK heading for Manhattan (from Aerosoft), when my fps drop from mid/high teens to low teens, scenery does not catch up as fast as without optimizer ? settings are:Scenery Complexity: Very DenseAutogen Density: Extremely DenseWill try Autogen down a notch but what is even stranger is at CYUL (from Blueprint) my home airport, same setting sitting on 6L, outside view looking toward tower, with optimizer i get 10 fps and without it, locked in game at 30 i get 18-20 ???Alain

Hi all!Finally managed to have it work, i turned off UAC (Vista 64) that did the trick :( With a stock clock quad core duo 6600, 4gig of ram and a 8800 GTX, 22 inch screen at 1680 x 1050, at KJFK, i get the same fps with the optimizer set at 30 with unlimited in the game as locked at 20 or 30 without optimizer, altough smoother...so it works!Maybe it's just me but i noticed that under heavy load like from KJFK heading for Manhattan (from Aerosoft), when my fps drop from mid/high teens to low teens, scenery does not catch up as fast as without optimizer ? settings are:Scenery Complexity: Very DenseAutogen Density: Extremely DenseWill try Autogen down a notch but what is even stranger is at CYUL (from Blueprint) my home airport, same setting sitting on 6L, outside view looking toward tower, with optimizer i get 10 fps and without it, locked in game at 30 i get 18-20 ???Alain

To sum up what FPSL appears to offer: it should be allowing you to run in UNLIMITED mode and take advantage of generally better overall frame rate than at locked levels, but will reduce or eliminate surges/spikes. In doing so, *should* offer somewhat better frame rate with smoother overall performance. The degree to which this is accomplished may be in part based on your particular platform. Try this Alain: set up a complex static position (like at a big terminal, in a 3rd party AC, lock frames in FSX at 30, such that when you assess frame rate it is actually around 24 maybe (ie, your machine is not hitting the 30 lock you set). Now set to UNLIMITED. Are you seeing an increase in frames, maybe up to 30 or so? This is my experience. You may get surges/spikes in this situation. Using the optimizer then lets you run at UN but reduces/eliminates surges/spikes.

NOTE TO TILEPROXY USERS: Don't use this FPS_Limiter tool! Setting in-game FPS to UNLIMITED will kill Tileproxy's Accesses per second resulting in blurry textures, even on a very high end system. When using this tool I was only getting about 80max accesses per second. When limiting the FPS in-game to 28 it shot up to 500+ and got rid of all the blurries.

Edit: Darn thing locked up again, this time while running in a maximized window! Tried to shut it down and I was presented with an invitation to activate the product!! Firefox was still running in the background and I was able to <Alt + Tab> to it to make the above post before this edit (which I did following a reboot and Chkdsk). Also I could <Alt + Tab> to FPSL and was able to close it down although it took a little time to react. FSX, however refused to respond so, in the end, I was forced to power off. I do wonder whether I should be trying another driver for the 8800 GTS. I fired up FSX after rebooting and there was no sign of the activation window - go figure :(

Hi MikeI had similar problems about a year ago - CTD's in full screen mode - it eventually came down to the PSU - not enough voltage on the 12v rail. I have a Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950XT with 512MB and it was demanding 30amps on the 12v rail!!! I only had two 12v rails with 18amps each. Got a new PSU with single 12v rail at 58amps - no problems since. Lots of discussion on these issues at the Sapphire forum http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4 , but I think the newer GPU's have much reduced amperage demands.NigelVancouverMy System:Intel Core2 Duo E6400Gigabyte GA 965G DS3 mobo Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950XT video card PCI-e 512MB with Omega v3.8.421 drivers (Cat7.10)4GB Transcend 800Mhz DDR2 RAMMaxtor 80GB 7200rpm hard driveMaxtor 200GB 7200rpm hard driveWestern Digital 250GB 7200rpm hard driveNEC FE950+ crt monitorCHProducts USB yoke and pedalsWindows XP Home edition with SP3DirectX 9.0©Silverstone Olympia 650W power supply with 54A on the 12v single railFive case fans

I had similar problems about a year ago - CTD's in full screen mode - it eventually came down to the PSU - not enough voltage on the 12v rail. I have a Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950XT with 512MB and it was demanding 30amps on the 12v rail!!! I only had two 12v rails with 18amps each. Got a new PSU with single 12v rail at 58amps - no problems since.

Hi Nigel,Yes, under other circumstances I might have agreed with you but, in my case, I don't think the PSU is responsible. I upgraded to an Antec NeoHE 650W PSU (I have the 'Blue' version with the 120mm fan - much quieter) in anticipation of the greater power requirements of the 8800GTS. Believe you me I did my homework on this one and since the upgrade of the PSU and GPU my system has been subjected to some pretty rigorous testing and has passed everything with flying colours. http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html...W50aHVzaWFzdA==http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1365http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1192http://www.techaddicts.net/reviews/neob650/neob650.htmlClearly the 650 Blue is a very capable unit.Regards,Mike

Clearly the 650 Blue is a very capable unit.

MikeDon't doubt it - I note you have 3X 12v rails at 19amps each, what is the requirement of your video card, and can you couple the three rails output together? My previous unit had 2x12v rails at 18 amps each, but they could not be coupled together.Nigel

With my first post here I like to share my experience with the FPS LIMITER. My 2

Don't doubt it - I note you have 3X 12v rails at 19amps each, what is the requirement of your video card, and can you couple the three rails output together? My previous unit had 2x12v rails at 18 amps each, but they could not be coupled together.

Hi Nigel,The 8800GTS requires 26A, but that is for the whole system and not just the GPU. The Antec NeoPower 650 Blue can deliver 57A on the +12V rail and this is available over 3x19A lines. I know there is frequently confusion over this and some would assume that by connecting your device to one of the +12V lines that only 19A would be available to that device. This appears not to be the case. I am assuming each line comes off the same rail and so can draw more if needed. Even if continuous output was 10A less than the 57A total, the PSU would still deliver all that is needed by this card.Anyway NVIDIA appears to think this PSU is okay:http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MTIyMw==Also, there has been some discussion about this on the nVidia forum:http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/index.php?t24713.htmlMy experience is that these lockups are only occurring while running FSX. If the GPU was running out of juice I would certainly expect it to crash in, say, 3DMark06 (much more demanding graphically) and it doesn't. It runs the benchmark unerringly and also the demo with absolute stability. Temp of the card can rise to 83C but it doesn't bat an eye!Regards,Mike

this has got to be one of the best finds over the last few years. Its the little things that make all the difference, those micro stutters used to bug the hell out of me and now they are gone !! Thanks to OP, great post!

With my first post here I like to share my experience with the FPS LIMITER. My 2

Interesting find! I just checked task manager to monitor CPU usage with and without the limiter... BIG SURPRISE :) please, open task manager, then start FSX, fly to 1 minute and check task manager CPU utilization, repeat the step with the limiter set to 30, and the in game FSX setting set to unlimited and then just limiting frames using FSX without the tool.In conclusion, the FSX frame limiter is inneficient, it makes your CPU 0 go to 100% ALL THE TIME!! however, with the frame limiter tweak, same CPU stays just below 50% hence the smoothness everyone is seeing.

yes, and due to that - less heat out of the exhaust

I must say this FPS_Limiter indeed seems to be the holy grail of FSX simming. I see +20% higher frames everywhere, and total smoothness, including texture loading in flight. Amazing.

Hi Frank,Perhaps it might help if you could give us some details about the content of these configuration files and what you want them to do for you. I didn't know that you could start FSX with a specific hardware configuration other than at boot time. Perhaps you are referring instead to some of the background stuff like services and programs that begin at startup, in which case I imagine you might direct your attention towards Ken Salter's AlacrityPC:http://alacritypc.kensalter.com/.I've no idea how this works, but if it's anything like his FSAutoStart, which many of us used successfully with FS9, then it could be used at the front end and the required configuration file with the disabled services and programs could be chosen at that point. Within the configuration file you can execute fsx.exe by describing the path to the "fsx.exe.limited.bat" file created with the FPS_Limiter GUI.That's what I would try. Again, it may not work although I don't see why not. All you're doing in this instance is referencing a batch file which will contain a command line leading to the execution of fsx.exe.Mike

Mike,Yes, you can start FSX with a specific set of software and hardware configurations. What you do is take your standard fsx.cfg file and modify all the settings (hardware and software) and store that configuration in a folder. For example, I have a great deal of hardware (goflight and thrustmaster) connected to my system. I use the GoFlight hardware (most of it) for flying fixed-wing aircraft. I use the Thrustmaster hardware (HOTAS) for helicopters and fighters. My system gets very confused when you have two game controllers (different types) controlling flight surfaces or two controllers controlling the throttles - all connected to the same system.So, I configured my fsx.cfg file so that I have two different versions of the same file except the hardware settings. That way, if I use the GoFlight yoke and throttles the Thrustmaster hardware is not in the configuration - and vice versa.The various configuration files are stored in the main FSX folder (my choice) There are icons on my desktop pointing to these configuration files. For example, I have a config file titled fsx-airliner.cfg. This file is basically a standard FSX configuration file but with the hardware settings I want for my "airliner" configuration. You can also place any FSX settings in these files if you want FSX to load with specific settings - autogen, scenery settings, etc. NOTE: The actual hardware settings are sourced from the *.xml file stored in the c:\users\name\appdata\roaming\microsoft\fsx\controls. You have to use the standard.xml file for each hardware configuration and then change the title of the file. For example, I have an xml file titled fsx-airliner.xml. This matches the airliner configuration. NOTE: There is a post in the forums concerning the steps needed to set up these configurations.The icons on the desktop have a target property - c:\fsx\fsx.exe/cfg:fsx-airliner.cfg (notice the different slashes). This path for the icon starts FSX with the "airliner" configuration. I tried to add the FSP limiter path information and it doesn't work - FSX does not start.fb

Googling around found *DA MAN* vento, the creator of this wondeful tool...http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/showp...p;postcount=272So, if there is any GErman Speaking friends in the community, please give him a big Danke on our part :)In fact, you can download it from the above link.. maybe its a new version? haven't tried, because you need to register.