Hi I got a problem that I never had before.When close to clouds I get a drop in fps, but it ONLY happens when in full screen mode. In windowed mode the FPS keeps high close to clouds. The strange thing is that on heavy addons the fps is much higher when in full screen mode than in the windowed mode. I cant really figure this out. I would mean that it should be the same, whether it is clouds or heavy addons (airports etc) I am close to.Before I always had highest FPS in the full screen mode.I use the drivers from Nvidia and Nhancer.Spec:intel core 2duo e6600 prhardd: 500 gb2048 mb ddr-2 (2*1024)nvidia geforce 8800 gts

I have the same problem, but not with all types of clouds, only sometimes, when near a specific type of cloud my fps drop from 45 ( is my blocked setting ) down to 19-20.And like you when at ground with heavy addons I don't have any problem with fps...I have to say that a very well done scenery may have a number of polygons lower then a cumulonimbus, so when you have a nice broken sky maybe your computer have to elaborate more polys then on the ground in LAX.... clouds like cumulos are very cpu-gpu intensive...For the question full screen vs. windowed I always run fs9 full screen, so I don't have a comparison, maybe you have to tune something in nhancer panel, maybe the problem is texture compression, time ago I'd found something about texture clouds problems like DXT vs. 32bit try some search on the web.

It is probably the anti-aliasing dragging things down. If I remember rightly, Flight Simulator's internal anti-aliasing is only active when full screen.John

Correct, AA only works when full screen, so any FPS gained when in window mode is simply because your graphic settings are reduced. As for clouds, that's just how it works. On my system, clouds hit it the worst, not even 100s of AI planes or complex planes like the PMDG jets can match the demand on the system. Not sure which clouds you use, but you can try to convert to DXT instead of 32-bit or lower the resolution.

Hello,

It is probably the anti-aliasing dragging things down. If I remember rightly, Flight Simulator's internal anti-aliasing is only active when full screen.John

Really .. I don't suggest at all to use the internal FS2004 antialiasing filter but instead set the antialiasing filter of the graphic card for best results.OP

I use the drivers from Nvidia and Nhancer

So I assume he use the graphic card setting for AARegards.Gus.

Sorry to hijack the thread slightly. I'm currently to run 3D clouds but the FPS are not too great. I have been told to get a HD4870 instead of my old crappy 9300GS - Will this comfatably run with 3D clouds or not? My specs are:Windows Vista 32 bit3GB RAMQ6600 @ 2.4GHznVidia 9300GSAny help would be appreciated,Sam

Don't get a 4870 its crap with clouds, its well known for it, especially in FSX, in FS9 its doesn't seem to be as much of a problem though. Stick with an Nvidia card like the GTX 275 or 285. All ATI cards are known for poor performance in heavy clouds in FSX.Oh and get a decent after-market CPU cooler and overclock your Q6600 to about 3Ghz, this will give you a better boost in performance.

I'm using FS9, will it still be a problem? GTX275/285 is abit pricey for me at the moment...Sam

It's not as bad as it is in FSX but if you want to future proof I would wait a little longer until you have the cash for a GTX285 1Gb card they really are very good.

hi guysThanks for all the respond.I found a solution by looking fourther around : to turn off the Vsync. No idea how come, but when that turned off everything runs very smooth and no FPS hit close to clouds :)

I never had Vsync on when I used the 4870 so I think that is just a coincidence.

How do you guys not get tearing when not using vsync? My set up tears a lot without it on...this is with a 8800gts 512mb

How do you guys not get tearing when not using vsync? My set up tears a lot without it on...this is with a 8800gts 512mb

No idea, but I have the same card as you. Fs has never run this smooth before after I turned it off. Do you have the nhancer installed as well ?

You could also reduce the cloud textures to DXT3 that would decrease the texture load.

How do you guys not get tearing when not using vsync? My set up tears a lot without it on...this is with a 8800gts 512mb

Theres a few different possibilities here. For one thing, screen tearing is one of those things that isn't a problem for most people until they have it pointed out for them just exactly what it is. Then, once they start to see it, they can't stop noticing it. It was that way for me - and it's particularly apparent when you pan around the VC which is something I like doing. :) Another thing is that the issue is worse on some types of monitors and at certain refresh rates than others - LCD monitors with their 60hz refresh rate tend to suffer from it alot. I use an app called D3D Overider to force v-sync w/triple buffering in all games. I can't stand the screen tearing...