Dear Simmers :)Just one question for you. I am running fs9 under Windows 7 and I must say that it's running very smooth. I locked it to 30 fps and for me it's enough to run it like that,however when i tried to set it to unlimited the fps jumed between 60 -70 fps. So my question is what is best? to leave the sim locked or set to unlimited?I look forward to hear from you Regards,Cpt ZammitSpecs - Intel Core 2Quad, BFG 8800 GTX OC, WD 150 GB HD, Creavtive SB Fatality Pro.

The $64,000 question.I don't believe there is a definative answer to this.I believe it all depends on a number of things whether to leave the framerate limited or unlocked. I tried it unlocked and found that, although I could hit 50/60fps at times, the scenery refreshment rate suffered causing considerable lagging. I now have it locked, I started at 25fps, then up to 30 and it's currently locked at 40fps and everything is working fine.

The $64,000 question.I don't believe there is a definative answer to this.I believe it all depends on a number of things whether to leave the framerate limited or unlocked. I tried it unlocked and found that, although I could hit 50/60fps at times, the scenery refreshment rate suffered causing considerable lagging. I now have it locked, I started at 25fps, then up to 30 and it's currently locked at 40fps and everything is working fine.

Try to lock it at 30 and then unlimited. Which ever works best start using and then tweak your hardware and defrag the harddrive on a regular basis. Carl Perry

The $64,000 question.I don't believe there is a definative answer to this.I believe it all depends on a number of things whether to leave the framerate limited or unlocked. I tried it unlocked and found that, although I could hit 50/60fps at times, the scenery refreshment rate suffered causing considerable lagging. I now have it locked, I started at 25fps, then up to 30 and it's currently locked at 40fps and everything is working fine.

Try to lock it at 30 and then unlimited. Which ever works best start using and then tweak your hardware and defrag the harddrive on a regular basis. Carl Perry

For me FS9 works better with a framerate lock and FSX on unlimited. Weird. Are you Maltese by any chance?

For me FS9 works better with a framerate lock and FSX on unlimited. Weird. Are you Maltese by any chance?

The opposite is true for me. Unlimited in FS9 gets me 40+ FPS in heavy addon scenery and aircraft, while the same unlocked frame rates get me between 20 and 60 FPS in FSX. The fluctuations (they're abrupt) in FPS in FSX are noticable and show as stutters and make panning with the joystick or Trackir --and flyin in general-- impossible. So I lock it at 30. My understanding is the frame counter can offload some of the CPU load devoted to graphics/texture/etc loading. With a mid-high end modern PC this offload is not needed in FS9, therefore unlimited can give the best results (for me).For the OP: I'd say unlocked for you.

I was always a strong believer in locked fps because of all the things of read up until recently. I have an LCD monitor with a refresh of 60Hz. The only way to avoid mircostutters is to lock fps at 30 (even half). Anything else resulted in microstutters. Then I got TrackIR and 30fps just wasn't fluid when looking aroudn with it. I decided to unlock fps and try some tests with lag, blurries..etc. Well long story short...my computer stays unlocked at 60fps (with vsync) unless in a complicated heavy in add-on airports..or overflying busy cities..then it can go from 35-50. What i have noticed is that there is no additional lag, no additional blurries, and the overall sim is much smoother now. One negative is that you def notice some 'lag' when going from 60fps to 40fps, etc...but you get over that quickly.

Another consideration - I've heard that you can reduce the load on people with slow computers when flying multiplayer if everyone limits their frame rate. The information is apparently sent once a frame, and if you are running 60-70 fps it can bog down slow computers.Hope this helps,

I used to have mine unlocked and it would hover around 30-40fps but it would occasionally jump to 60-70fps for less than a second,which was noticeable.So now its locked at 50fps and still gets the same 30-40fps.

Dear Simmers,Thanks for your replies..I tried to lock it at 30 fps. and it stayed very constant in all the airports inc heavy ones like Brussels ( dreamfactory) but then when set to unlimited I saw arounf 50 fps.Is it true that when you lock it,there is less chance of microstuttering?I look forward to hear from you :)regards,JustinP:S Gavin, yes i'm from Malta ;)

not necessarily. I notice more stuttering with the framerate locked than I do with it unlocked. Locked, I note slightly slower texture loading as well. I run the framerate unlocked, with vsync enabled (w/tripple buffering). On my system I'm at 60fps pretty much everywhere except flying in dense scenery areas.

Oh Ic...So what exactly the v/syhnc does really? coz as far as i'm concerned mine is switched off..shall i turn it on fro mthe Nvidia control panel?Ok then I think i'll leave it unlocked :)ThanksJustin

For me FS9 works better with a framerate lock and FSX on unlimited. Weird. Are you Maltese by any chance?

yes I Am gavin :)

v-sync syncs the fps to the monitor refresh rate to prevent 'tearing'. Tearing is when you see a line moving around ont he screen...kind of like 'tearing' the image in two. If you do not see this effect I guess you do not need v-sync enabled although I like to enable mine either way because i don't need more then 60fps.There are problems with having v-sync enabled which are far more complex then I can get into. There was actually a thread a few weeks ago where someone explained it very nicely, but ultimately, with vsync, if you can't maintain that fps (ie, 60 with a monitor whose refresh is at 60) then the fps will be tempted to stay locked at 30 or 45, instead of just dropping a few fps. I have noticed this on my PC, but not to a great enough extent to switch it off, as I get a lot of tearing otherwise. Having triple-buffer enabled helps with that fps problem, but I always thought it applied to Open-GL based games only, but I may be wrong.

v-sync syncs the fps to the monitor refresh rate to prevent 'tearing'. Tearing is when you see a line moving around ont he screen...kind of like 'tearing' the image in two. If you do not see this effect I guess you do not need v-sync enabled although I like to enable mine either way because i don't need more then 60fps.There are problems with having v-sync enabled which are far more complex then I can get into. There was actually a thread a few weeks ago where someone explained it very nicely, but ultimately, with vsync, if you can't maintain that fps (ie, 60 with a monitor whose refresh is at 60) then the fps will be tempted to stay locked at 30 or 45, instead of just dropping a few fps. I have noticed this on my PC, but not to a great enough extent to switch it off, as I get a lot of tearing otherwise. Having triple-buffer enabled helps with that fps problem, but I always thought it applied to Open-GL based games only, but I may be wrong.

Actually, tripple buffering solves the issue of vsync halving the framerate. The way it used to work was that if the system couldn't maintain the refresh rate of the monitor (60fps in the case of most LCDs) then it would run at half the framerate (or 30fps). So, if yr frames dropped below 60 they would go right down to 30. With tripple buffering that doesn't happen. If my frames drop below 60, they will just run at whatever the system can maintain. I'll sometimes see 55fps as I approach a dense scenery, then when I get near a busy airport it might drop to 45 for a bit, then once clear of the area its back up to 60. Vsync is often claimed to cuase input lag. I don't notice it on my system. In fact, I do notice some lag when I lock the framerate at say 30fps which is another reason I like to leave it unlocked...

Yea, I know (kind of) about triple buffer, but from my experience, even with it enabled for fs, I do notice at times when the fps gravitates to 30fps when lower then 60 with vsync on. I do get other fps, but it's noticeable. :(

Dear Simmers,Thanks for your replies..I tried to lock it at 30 fps. and it stayed very constant in all the airports inc heavy ones like Brussels ( dreamfactory) but then when set to unlimited I saw arounf 50 fps.Is it true that when you lock it,there is less chance of microstuttering?I look forward to hear from you :)regards,JustinP:S Gavin, yes i'm from Malta ;)

Hi Justin,I live in Marsascala, and I know you used to do, I know your mum and dad.I didn't know you were interested in flight simulation. Do you still get back toMalta? call me if you do, my name is Clive and I live in Triq L-iskal on theBella Vista estate Tele 636686, you know the two numbers that go in frontof those six numbers.Bye for now