Better late than (a "lost" FS2002 tip)

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Today I was playing around with an aircraft that was noted for being a bit hard on my system--I could only get about 15 fps in spot view mode, as an example. I tried going through the various detail settings--mesh, scenery density, Autogen, AA, etc.... to see if I could give my cpu just that extra bit of "oomph" to run the aircraft well.I even switched on HW T&L, which I have set defaulted to "off". No real difference, so then I turned it back off.Kid you not--fps jumped to 24-25, and I noticed dynamic blurries were all but gone. I took the jet out, cruising just above ground level at 350 kts, and not one blurry texture.I've seen this mentioned before, but I have no clue as to what this is doing. Or maybe I should say, I suspect that this may be disabling a feature being enabled by default on my card (a GeF/2 TI). Perhaps one has to toggle this setting to "make sure" it's off.Anyone have any thoughts? I have RivaTuner--does anyone know of a setting on the NVidia side where I may have this on?To sum up, if performance suddenly suffers, this may help some...-John

[Emile 28]

Hello,Who knows what the HW T&L setting does?I did try the tip but without any impact on my PC EmileEBBR

[Guest JonP01]

John,You are correct about the problem being mentioned before. It is pretty much a "documented" problem with FS2002 that require(d) T&L to disabled then re-enabled to work properly. Most (if not all) people who had the problem found it disappeared when they upgraded to DX9. So far as I recollect you haven't done this yet which could explain the persistence of the problem.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

You're right--haven't done the DX9 upgrade yet (bandwidth on dial-up is a killer). Considering the performance jump for me with this trick, this may well tie into the reports some have had regarding big jumps in performance after a DX-9 upgrade. Odd thing is, it seems to work in reverse for me--that is, I must enable, then disable T&L.... Just for kicks, I'll start FS with T&L enabled, and try the opposite....

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Well, I started '2002 with T&L enabled, and had the same increase in performance....A bit of history:When I first installed my GeF/2, I tried out the T&L option while in a FS2002 session. I saw no improvement, so I clicked it back off and "simmed" since that point with it off. Also, in the back of my mind were some reports saying that FS became unstable with T&L on. So I reasoned why should I use it, if there was no benefit and it could cause FS to become unstable.My "discovery" yesterday seemed to just prove the point--and that I even had to toggle T&L on and off to get the improvement.So I took a different tactic--I enabled T&L, shutdown FS, and restarted it. Upon launch, I saw the immediate improvement in performance I posted of yesterday.It's almost as if I upgraded from a P3/800 to a 1.5 Gig machine--the improvement is that profound. FPS, fluidity, and texture loading have all improved. Only time will tell whether I won't run into stability issues, or whether this improvement will help when I purchase FS2004.... Since I've heard it will be bundled with DX-9, maybe then I'll find out if Jon's suggestion is true.As for those not seeing any improvement, try checking to see if this line exists in the "display" section of your FS2002.cfg:TnL=1If it's there, then you are starting FS with T&L enablef and you're probably already seeing the improvement it offers. If not, add the line, and start FS. I've also read reports that T&L improvements seem more profound on lower end systems, like mine. I can't understand why enabling it, then disabling it, improves FS when this line isn't there. It just may be one option that needs to be enabled when FS starts, else things will get a bit odd...Anyway, hope this helps someone. My net improvement is about 33 pct, in all areas. Not bad for a PC that's a midget in a 2 Gig + world :)

[Guest cast1010]

Sounds great JohnCi, I also have a low-end machine and I would like to try your suggestion.My question is, in what section of FS2002.cfg should I add TnL=1 ???I just checked my FS2002.cfg and there is nothing about TnL.Thanks,Carlos.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

As I noted above, the entry should be in the "display" section. If it isn't there, just type it in.Also note that this would apply to cards which support T&L, which would be mainly the Nvidia GeF 2,3 & 4 and I believe the Radeon series as well. Older cards probably won't benefit....-John

[Guest]

When I was running FS2002 with an Athlon Computer, this phenomenon also happened with filtering. The frame rate would grind down to low levels, but recover when I switched from Trilinear to Bilinear and back again.Some people have even reported that pressing ALT twice also recovers slow performance.With my current Intel Computer and WinXP the problem seems to have gone away.Rob Young

[Guest BrianC]

Maybe you can use those FS2004 clouds after all. ;)

http://brianc.vip.warped.com/kpwk_sig.gif

[Guest EGT_]

I'm unfamiliar with the HW T&L selection, (what does it stand for anyway ? ) Where can i change it ?I'll give it a go on my system and let you know the results.:-wave

[Guest JonP01]

>You're right--haven't done the DX9 upgrade yet (bandwidth on>dial-up is a killer). Considering the performance jump for me>with this trick, this may well tie into the reports some have>had regarding big jumps in performance after a DX-9 upgrade. >Could well be. We both remember there were literally scores of people on these forums stating that the DX9 upgrade improved performance and reduced blurries and improved image quality. There were people sceptical about this (including me). However if indeed the DX9 upgrade did coincidentally correct this T&L problem then I guess that could explain the improved performance so many people reported. It wasn't that DX9 in itself improved performance, but that it addressed this enigmatic T&L "bug" that has affected quite a few of us. It seems to have been a problem unique to FS2002. Any other game I've run that utlitises hardware T&L just does it properly from the start.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Since my post yesterday, I learned the "trick" is to set HW T&L from the start. If you change it in FS2002, it seems like things do not initialize properly. I've had no stability issues with it enabled.... I'be "burned in" FS2002 with the new settings since 7AM this morning--12 hours now. I've swapped out half a dozen aircraft, and flew back and forth between Texas and the West Coast. It's like I have a new system.I am now enjoying performance beyond what I ever expected for a P3/800.... Even at LAX (with AI off), where I was getting 15 fps from the cockpit before, I am getting 20 fps now. Everything has increased 25-30 pct, sometimes more, in performance. Even AI fps are tolerable in the smaller airports--about 15-18 fps...But the biggest wow is Autogen.... It always cut my fps into the teens.... Here is a small shot to show the results, with all maxed, except for AI....:http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/13965.jpg

[Guest JonP01]

And you thought you would have to upgrade for FS2004! On the basis of Bear's posts, you wont have, as he's been getting performance on the FS2004 Press Beta equal to or even better than FS2002. I'd send you the DX9.0a redistributable on CD if I had a darned CD burner :( I'm still on dial-up as well, but I get heaps of hours cheaply so I just let it download overnight.

[Guest EGT_]

I did some research on this "Hardware Transform and Lighting". Do you need to download a particular program to select it on and off or is there a selection under the Nvida options menu ?Thanks.Edit: My graphics card is a Geforce 3 64mb if that makes any difference ?

[Guest cloudtops]

It's in the FS2002 menus under Options > Settings > Display. Then select the hardware tab and check Transform & Lighting.