Beside the fact that FPS are just not what I want it to be, even when the FPS could be good, there are weird stutters that are completely alien to me. The situation is as follows:1) FPS at first is fine, in the 20 range;2) The problem starts now: suddely, the FPS drops to 10, then to 4...3) The FPS now go back to 20 and it stays there for a second or two;4) The process repeats itself indefinetely.I ahve had this behavior with both addon and deafult aircraft, and I'm not sure what to do about it. My computer is a laptop with specs: Vista Ultimate2,4 gHz Intel Core Duo 2nVidia 8600 GT4GB RAMFSX partition is 150GB big, on external HD (that shouldn't be aproblem, FS2004 runs perfectly fine from there, and the fact is that if there is no default AI in the neighbourhood, FSX runs quite well. It should be obvious I will be installing WoAI planes because of that...)This is my current FSX.CFG

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I had something similar which I never managed to sort out the cause - my system specs are fairly rubbish, BUT I have found that if I turn on my PC, log in - leave it running for 10 minutes or so - then reboot and go into FSX as soon as everything settles down then my frame rate is static at 20. If I go straight into FSX without rebooting I get the "yo-yo" frame rates.Tried turning off all the updates etc and it made no difference .. .. ..Might help !?!G

FSX updates a number of things, including lighting the scene, roughly every minute.If your computer specs are marginal, this will really hit your frame rates.If you are running a more robust system you will hardly notice it.In addition, you may have background tasks running, such as Anti virus that periodicallywant to do their thing.The fact is, if you have little headroom to start with, you will notice every bit ofadditional load, be that scenery, traffic, or weather, and there is very little you can doother than lower the settings. Try flying with traffic disabled and clear skies to start with. And choose a pretty area with little complexity, such as the island of Kauaiias a test bed.

Weird stuff going on in FSX, that's for sure... Anyway, I'll see if your tips help. I should add I'm not always seeing the decsribed behavior. I did a flight just now with bad weather, and the "stuttering" as described here didn't occur. Sure, when I was in the clouds frame rate was crap anyway, but it wasn't the irritating "yo yo" effect (what an accurate definition!) I had seen earlier with the Boeing 747 at Kai Tak, where there is ziltch traffic and the sky was completely clear...To let things settle in the sime defintely helps though. I do notice always that if you wait a bit, things tend to get better. I might reduce texture sharpness and the like, though, to see how that helps.

ThrainiYour problem may well be the external HDD if that is not esata or sata but USB then you won't get enough throughput of data transfer to run FSX effectively.Its well know that HDD's can affect the performance of FSX which is best installed on a separate dedicated fast HDD (no partition). (I believe that X-plane runs OK on an external USB drive).RegardsPeterH

Although the thought did arise (to my horror, this External HD was VERY expensive), it is a Firewire 800 connection, so I can't believe the data throughput should be a real problem here... I'm looking into a eSATA controller though, but as these things are quite *cough* expensive, I'll have to know for sure it actually helps...Anyway, on the question of Hard Disks, its speed and partitions, I'm working on a laptop, so my hands are tied. in fact, I don't quite understand why FSX should run better on a dedicated HD then a partition... Tell you what though. I am getting completely fed-up with all this Microsoft stuff. Windows, Office, FS. Can't they make something decent for once? I mean, can't they make something that's decent out of the box? I'm sure it's not that difficult. other companies are doing it all the time!*sigh*

Although the thought did arise (to my horror, this External HD was VERY expensive), it is a Firewire 800 connection, so I can't believe the data throughput should be a real problem here... I'm looking into a eSATA controller though, but as these things are quite *cough* expensive, I'll have to know for sure it actually helps...Anyway, on the question of Hard Disks, its speed and partitions, I'm working on a laptop, so my hands are tied. in fact, I don't quite understand why FSX should run better on a dedicated HD then a partition... Tell you what though. I am getting completely fed-up with all this Microsoft stuff. Windows, Office, FS. Can't they make something decent for once? I mean, can't they make something that's decent out of the box? I'm sure it's not that difficult. other companies are doing it all the time!*sigh*

Well it *IS* decent if you run it on dcecent equipment. Pardon me but trying to run FSX on a minimally configured laptop and then complaing about the program is kind of tacky.As far as why FSX runs better from a seperate HD as opposed to a p[artition - that has been discussed many times - google is your friend.Vic

Minimally comfigured? Nah, I don't think so. It's a perfectly "decent" laptop (it's also a year old Macbook Pro) and all the other things I throw at it work perfectly fine. Fallout 3 for example, works very well with all settings set to its highest. It's really only FSX (and some other Microsoft stuff) that refuses to do what I want it to do. A program that is that demanding of the user, that nitpicky about where it should be run and from what hardware it should be run, no longer is a problem of the computer, but of the program itself. Mathijs Kok had a post some time ago on the Aerosoft blog, where he basically said that FSX is an ultimately flawed product, and he at first did too think the users where at fault with "minimally configured hardware". Turns out that after some tests, he came to the conclusion that FSX is mostly at fault, not the users' hardware, and now that Aces has stopped existing, these important issues will never be corrected.One thing he said at FSBreak which I found sort of interesting, was that FSX tends to get sluggisher on more modern video cards, instead of faster. Anyway, sicne google is your friend, you'll be able to find it.Honestly though, FSX doesn't always behave stuttery. There are moment where it runs perfectly fine and I have no complaints whatsoever. On my computer I do think I should be able to run FSX on medium settings quite comfortably though. Now everything is on high or ultra high and the performance loss isn't even as great as I'd think it would be. When cruising, with nice weather (not cloudless though), I can easily get fluid motion. Don't worry though, I'm going to see what I cna do to make it better. REgarding the partitions: I did a search with google and found the problems with partitions. It was what I expected. However, since this is an external thing and the only thing running from it will be FSX. Therefor, the HD, I think, doesn't have to go and search for other files while FSX is running (as opposed to a disc, either partitioned or not, with the OS on it), and I don't see a reason for a performance hit. HOWEVER, will it help if I eject the other three partitions, leaving only the FSX one available for the computer? That way the OS, or any other program, can't meddle with the drive while FSX is being run. Would that make the performance go up?In two months, Windows 7 is coming out. At that time I will be doing a grand reorganization of everything Windows related on this computer. Vista is going out and a full install of Windows 7 will be done. At that time, I'll also whipe the external disc, repartition it and see what I can do to make FSX and FS2004 happier.And I did a search to see the speed difference between eSATA and FW800. It appears to be around 240MB/s, which is an enormous difference. it's a pity and external eSATA controller for an Expresscard34 slot is so darn expensive.

So anyway, two times good news:1) I found a eSATA controller for 25 euro, and I cna get it at a local computer store;2) I lowered the texture detail from very high to high and detail radius from medium to low, and FSX works well now. I'm getting FPS constantly above the 10, which means I have *almost* fluiud motion, but I foudn that if I use the 2D panel, I can get FPS in the twenties and thirties. Looks like I can get decent performance out of this "minimally configured" laptop after all, without having to put all the settings on medium. I'll be experimenting a bit more, but this is the way I'll start every config of FSX for now.

So anyway, two times good news:1) I found a eSATA controller for 25 euro, and I cna get it at a local computer store;2) I lowered the texture detail from very high to high and detail radius from medium to low, and FSX works well now. I'm getting FPS constantly above the 10, which means I have *almost* fluiud motion, but I foudn that if I use the 2D panel, I can get FPS in the twenties and thirties. Looks like I can get decent performance out of this "minimally configured" laptop after all, without having to put all the settings on medium. I'll be experimenting a bit more, but this is the way I'll start every config of FSX for now.

LOL! Well, I did say minimally configured, so now you have it maximally configured. :) Sorry for that - semantics r fun. I see your point. I agree that a partition on a seperate HD with the other parttitions not in the mix is acceptable. You've resolved your throughput situation apparently so that's a good thing.I'm quite well aware of the Mathjis Kok interview and people far more technically astute than I take issue with his comments re FSX running slower on better video cards.However, no matter what - it still ALWAYS comes down to the same thing, if you can find the balance point for *YOUR* system, you will get a very good experience from FSX.Vic

Heh, yeah, but you're right: find the balance and it's all good. I still have to buy the controller though. I will do that one of thse days, but I do think the throughput is a problem. I just did a flight at St. Maarten, because I know it's supposed to be one of the detailed airports, and their the performance was ghastly. When I tested at EHAM with the default 737 and a lot of AI, all was well. I guess it really depends on where you are flying, too. I thought EHAM would be a show stopper, but St. Maarten is far worse. Let me first get the eSATA controller and see what's happening, because it may well be the cause for all the trouble. Otherwise I really don't see why FPS would jump up and down like crazy. I have seen it as bad as 5 - 20 - 4 - 10 - 40 - 80 - 1 etc. Very weird, and very irritating. I will be playing with these settings and see what happens when the data throughput is enlarged with 220 MB/s. That will help, I'm sure :-PBy the way, I tried removing one of the four partitions, but to my astonishment it appeared not to be possible. It always says, whatever partition I try, that the partition is in use. When it finally did eject oen of the partitions, it ejected the entire drive. Am I doing something wrong, or is it just impossible to eject three of the four partitions? If that's true, Windows has just AGAIN failed me completely. I'm just so glad Windows is not my primary OS (not trying to start any flame war here).

FSX updates a number of things, including lighting the scene, roughly every minute.If your computer specs are marginal, this will really hit your frame rates.If you are running a more robust system you will hardly notice it.In addition, you may have background tasks running, such as Anti virus that periodicallywant to do their thing.The fact is, if you have little headroom to start with, you will notice every bit ofadditional load, be that scenery, traffic, or weather, and there is very little you can doother than lower the settings. Try flying with traffic disabled and clear skies to start with. And choose a pretty area with little complexity, such as the island of Kauaiias a test bed.

And don't forget to use a lean boot configuration with less than critical services and applications running. FSAutoStart or its sequel can help with this.Noel

Heh, yeah, but you're right: find the balance and it's all good. I still have to buy the controller though. I will do that one of thse days, but I do think the throughput is a problem. I just did a flight at St. Maarten, because I know it's supposed to be one of the detailed airports, and their the performance was ghastly. When I tested at EHAM with the default 737 and a lot of AI, all was well. I guess it really depends on where you are flying, too. I thought EHAM would be a show stopper, but St. Maarten is far worse. Let me first get the eSATA controller and see what's happening, because it may well be the cause for all the trouble. Otherwise I really don't see why FPS would jump up and down like crazy. I have seen it as bad as 5 - 20 - 4 - 10 - 40 - 80 - 1 etc. Very weird, and very irritating. I will be playing with these settings and see what happens when the data throughput is enlarged with 220 MB/s. That will help, I'm sure :-PBy the way, I tried removing one of the four partitions, but to my astonishment it appeared not to be possible. It always says, whatever partition I try, that the partition is in use. When it finally did eject oen of the partitions, it ejected the entire drive. Am I doing something wrong, or is it just impossible to eject three of the four partitions? If that's true, Windows has just AGAIN failed me completely. I'm just so glad Windows is not my primary OS (not trying to start any flame war here).

I have this sinking feeling that you are trying to accomplish the impossible... making FSX and it's add-ons run well, consistently, on a system that does not have the required horsepower. Don't spend a lot of money on incremental upgrades if all it does is get you to the next level of frustration. :( And please stop blaming this all on Microsoft... FSX runs well on a well tuned Intel quad 3 GHz+ system.. that is what all the experience in this forum has shown.I know, because I tried for a long time to make it run on my P4 2.8, complete with video card upgrades, system tuning, dedicateddisk drive etc. A new Q6600 OC'd at 3.2 GHz with a mainstream 512M 9600GT video card was what it took.

Maybe, but there are a number of problems here and I notice it in all other games I've been running on this computer in the past few days. Something has gone terribly wrong in Vista when I partitioned and formatted my external hard drive. I used a program that required to reboot to finish all oprations, but while it was busy, apparentky szomthign went awry and it never completed. I think at that point things went bad. Steam, and with that Fallout 3, ran into significant trouble, to the point I had to uninstall everything and reinstall. Even now, I can't run Fallout 3 comfortable on any setting, except very low, while it was at veru high at first. I'm not sure what happened, but I suspect the third party program I used is the core of the troubles for now, at least for Fallout 3.I will be buying the eSATA controller though. For 25 euros I'm willing to take a risk, and if it doesn't help for FSX, then it'll help for copying over big files. It won't be made useless, anyway.Concerning blaming things on Microsoft: I blame them for the inability to eject one of the partitions of the external HD. It seems to be either all or nothing, which I think is just ridiculous. Maybe I'm just spoiled, who knows, but I'm accustomed to this being a perfectly normal operation.Isn't a P4 a single core processor? I do have a dual core at 2,4gHz... If it only works well (with good graphics I mean) on a quad core, well... That's a great pity. Tell you what: I will do the last and final thing I can do about my hardware, and is buy the controller. If it doesn't work, well. If it works, yay. Not using FSX, though, is out of the question, however stubborn it sounds. I simply want to be able to fly aicrraft that are not there for FS2004, like Aerosoft's Twin Otter, a plane I have been wanting ever since I learned of its existence (a long time ago). I'm not giving up just yet, and I think increasing he data throughput will help.I'm only going to buy a new computer in two years. Until that time I want to be able to enjoy FSX, at least at a moderate level. And let's be honest here, even though graphical quality goes down, system quality does not. The Twotter's systems will all work fine, even if the graphics of the plane are turned down. If that's the way I have to go, then so be it. I know I won't be able to play the game on the highest settikngs but I don't hav to. If I want to fly high and fast, I'll take FS2004. if I want to do low and slow, I can take FSX. Simple as that.

I blame them for the inability to eject one of the partitions of the external HD

What the Sam Hill is this supposed to mean.