menu graphics problem

[rightseater 0]

Hi all,Perhaps someone here might know why I am getting the blurry letters and poor display on my menus across the top of the screen. The settings menu does not do this, nor have I noticed any graphics problems anywhere else in the sim. This just started today for some reason, though I have not made a single modification to my computer or any sim setting, at least not willingly and knowingly. Thanks for having a look.Oh, this is running on Vista Home Premium 64 in case that matters.

[snave 0]

Hi all,Perhaps someone here might know why I am getting the blurry letters and poor display on my menus across the top of the screen. The settings menu does not do this, nor have I noticed any graphics problems anywhere else in the sim. This just started today for some reason, though I have not made a single modification to my computer or any sim setting, at least not willingly and knowingly. Thanks for having a look.Oh, this is running on Vista Home Premium 64 in case that matters.

System resources are being stretched. Try turning some display sliders down/pausing the sim to see if the texture load `catches up`

[Dougal 165]

System resources are being stretched. Try turning some display sliders down/pausing the sim to see if the texture load `catches up`

No, I'm sure that's not a resourse issue. I had that some time ago. If I recall correctly, a video driver update fixed it.

[basys 4]

Hi Folks

No, I'm sure that's not a resourse issue.

It is a resource issue. :( When overstretched,FSX will dither the viewport's rendered content.HTHATBPaul

[rhagen 0]

It is a resource issue. :(

You probably meant to say that it could be a resource issue. :( As I can vouch for dougal's experience. In my case I could change one of the video driver settings to make it come or go at will. After a video driver update it was fixed and changing settings no longer had any effect.Ron

[basys 4]

Hi Folks

You probably meant to say that it could be a resource issue. :(

Ron -I wasn't being pedantic.You're confusing a correlation with causation. :( FSX is incapable of determining the underlying cause.As far as FSX is concerned it is a lack of resources issue,hence FSX dithers the viewport.The symptom of dithered fontscan have many, and multiple, causes,but the key point is that user-settings are too high for those resources available at that point in time.Every time FSX is startedit calculates the available resources, (saving them as ProcSpeed and PerfBucket).These are applied when the user clicks the Reset Defaults button. Other factors affecting available resources, (in no particular order), -Non-essential services running.Fragmentation of RAM - previously opened applications since last rebootFragmentation of hard-disk - Fragmentation/impaired response of the pagefile - Using dynamic rather than static.Any hard-disk with less than 25% free spaceClipboard useageetc.One possible underlying cause might be a faulty driver.Installation will require a reboot, so cross-session comparisons will be suspect,unless the other factors have been eliminated.Another may be incorrectly applied user settings for that driver.IIRC, Phil blogged or posted to the effect that regardless of whether you can change video settings via an applet,for optimal performance you should run FSX in full-screen modeand only change settings via the FSX GUI,allowing DirectX to handle the application.rightseater's cited example is for a mission.Running a mission generally utilises more resources than FSX in free-flight.If flown on a marginal, or misconfigured PC,will require the user to dial-back their settingsover those required by a free-flight session.Acceleration aircraft, (F/A-18, EH101, or P-51), are also more resource intensive than the RTM aircraft.Flight location will also impact performance, e.g. LA carrier, versus a mid-ocean carrier.HTHATBPaul

[rightseater 0]

Thanks for the tips, unfortunately the problem continues. I tried turning all settings to minimum, but the menu display remained the same. I loaded the default 172 on a normal flight with settings at minimum and still had the same menu problems. I checked to make sure I have the most recent driver, which I already did. I'm more than happy to entertain any further suggestions.

[basys 4]

Hi Folksrightseater -Was that with ALL settings at minimum ?Was all traffic and weather off ?Either -- There must be lots of other stuff happening in the background.- Something changed between last good session.Can you think of anything that changed ?List all you can think of.Examples -Had you added any texture replacement sets ?Had you converted texture types from bmp to dds ?When did you update that video driver ?Had you upgraded any FSX sevice pack levels ?Other matters -When did you last defrag your harddisk(s) ?If you have multiple disks, For each of -a) OS location:( temp locationc) FSX locationWhat % free space is there on your harddisk ?If multiple disks, list for all.Had your machine crashed recently ?if so your pagefile may be fragmented.Have you tried renaming your fsx.CFG to fsx_date.backupand allowed FSX to rebuild it ?Open "Task Manager"tick "Show processes from all users"How many processes are running ?HTHATBPaul

[rightseater 0]

"Was that with ALL settings at minimum ?Was all traffic and weather off ?"Indeed, I turned ALL settings either off or to the absolute minimums"Can you think of anything that changed ?List all you can think of.Examples -Had you added any texture replacement sets ?Had you converted texture types from bmp to dds ?When did you update that video driver ?Had you upgraded any FSX sevice pack levels ?"Haven't made any modifications to FSX, at least not intentionally. I'm using FSX Acceleration without any addons right now. I updated my video driver on the 4th and reconfirmed it is the newest release today. This problem just began yesterday, but I did revert to my old driver and had the same issue. "Other matters -When did you last defrag your harddisk(s) ?"Friday night."If you have multiple disks, For each of -a) OS location:( temp locationc) FSX location"Sorry Paul, I'm not particularly brilliant with computers. I copied my system specs in my signature if that helps at all, otherwise you might have to dumb down your question for me a bit."What % free space is there on your harddisk ?If multiple disks, list for all."917 GB free"Had your machine crashed recently ?if so your pagefile may be fragmented."No crashes"Have you tried renaming your fsx.CFG to fsx_date.backupand allowed FSX to rebuild it ?"I have not. I will give this a shot tonight."Open "Task Manager"tick "Show processes from all users"How many processes are running ?"14 including FSX if I counted rightSorry about my poor quoting skills, I still haven't figured this forum out yet. And thanks for the help, I'll try letting FSX build a new CFG and see what happens.

[Guest UlfB]

Open up the computer chassis and make sure that the graphics card is correctly seated in the slot.

[Daveo 36]

Open up the computer chassis and make sure that the graphics card is correctly seated in the slot.

Yea that definitly looks like the begining of a slow death or overheating of the videocard. Or alot of dust inside the case. Especially on the circuit paths.

[basys 4]

Hi FolksJeremy -No worries,and nothing obvious stands out, (to me).Sorry I'd missed your sig specs, displays as very feint grey on white, on my LCD monitor. :( Nice box & monitor.Should eat FSX. :( As Ulf says, (EDIT & Daveo),Check that your video card is seated correctly.After confirmingalso check the video card's fan is working correctly.Was there a thermal reporting tool included ?What temperature does it report ?As overheating can also cause this display dithering.Specs say - Maximum GPU Temperature (in C) 105 C Though should be a lot lower, (sub 70C).Acer B273HU monitor - Max Resolution 2048 x 1152 2.36 million pixels per frame.Are you running the display at native res ?If not, set both your desktop & FSX res to 2048 x 1152 (32 bit).What FPS are you limiting that to ?Set FPS limit to 20 FPS.Check your FPS variance.Open fsx.cfg for editingSearch for [TextInfo.3]Set it to -[TextInfo.3]Latitude=1,1Longitude=1,2Altitude=1,3HeadingTrue=1,4TrueAirspeed=1,5WindDirectionAndSpeed=1,6FrameRate=2,1AverageFrameRate=2,2//LockedFrameRate=2,2GForce=2,3FuelPercentage=2,4The FPS will now display as -(Min, Avg, Max) % varianceVariance should be sub 1%. :( Be aware,- web surfing populates your web cache.- downloading emails will fragment your pst.Though with 900GB free diskspace that shouldn't impact.14 processes sounds good if you've ticked "Show processes from all users"Try sorting by activity,what are the top 4 utilising processes ?HTHATBPaul

[rightseater 0]

"Sorry I'd missed your sig specs, displays as very feint grey on white, on my LCD monitor. :( "You didn't miss it, I added it after your post. I figured it would save me the trouble of having to type out my specs every time I have a PC related question. "Nice box & monitor.Should eat FSX. :("It definitely has made a huge improvement over what I had before. It's only about a month old now so I hope none of the hardware is starting to go. "Check that your video card is seated correctly.After confirmingalso check the video card's fan is working correctly.Was there a thermal reporting tool included ?What temperature does it report ?As overheating can also cause this display dithering."I checked the card and it is plugged into its spot all the way. I can see the fans turning and feel a nice breeze. I've also got some type of cooler system that CompUSA installed a couple of weeks ago that seems to be keeping things nice and cool. I'm not sure about what the temps, not sure if I have any programs to report that. I'm computer challenged."Are you running the display at native res ?If not, set both your desktop & FSX res to 2048 x 1152 (32 bit)."Does running Vista 64 cause any problems here? I was told by a guy at Best Buy that the menu graphics problem I am having could be related to Vista. He didn't think there was a problem with the video card because this is the only place where I am having a problem. Even the regular menus in FSX look good, it's just the dropdown menus that do this."What FPS are you limiting that to ?Set FPS limit to 20 FPS."I was locked at 30, then I tried 25. I just tried 20 but got the same menu problems."Check your FPS variance.Open fsx.cfg for editingSearch for [TextInfo.3]Set it to -[TextInfo.3]Latitude=1,1Longitude=1,2Altitude=1,3HeadingTrue=1,4TrueAirspeed=1,5WindDirectionAndSpeed=1,6FrameRate=2,1AverageFrameRate=2,2//LockedFrameRate=2,2GForce=2,3FuelPercentage=2,4The FPS will now display as -(Min, Avg, Max) % varianceVariance should be sub 1%. :( "Locked at 20 my minimum was 20, avg 20 and max 21"14 processes sounds good if you've ticked "Show processes from all users"Try sorting by activity,what are the top 4 utilising processes ?"FSX.exeexplorer.exedwm.exetskmgr.exeI tried letting FSX build a new CFG file, but the menus were still messed up.

[rhagen 0]

Thanks for the tips, unfortunately the problem continues. I tried turning all settings to minimum, but the menu display remained the same. I loaded the default 172 on a normal flight with settings at minimum and still had the same menu problems. I checked to make sure I have the most recent driver, which I already did. I'm more than happy to entertain any further suggestions.

You could try different Anti-Aliasing or Anisotropic Filtering in either the driver or FSX. It's been so long I can't remember which one fixed it for me. I think I may have even turned it off in FSX or in the driver. Moving all the sliders to minimum, turning off traffic, weather simplified, etc... had no effect. As others have said, there could be many sources of the problem but I think this is worth a try.Ron

[rightseater 0]

I'm sorry Ron, in the process of trying to fix this menu problem and figure out how to quote properly in these new forums I missed your post. I will try different Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic filtering settings now. Since you had this problem before and were able to fix it I am optimistic about doing the same.