Hello All,It looks like with some of the newer add-ons out I may have to lower some FSX settings (BOOO!). I followed Nicks guide pretty much to the letter ad have always had pretty solid performance with aircraft like Careado, CS/F1 MD-80, etc.. However, with some of the newer add-ons out like the CS 767, I am just not "satisfied" with my current performance. Since I have been transitioning over to more heavy aircraft, I am flying into larger and busier airports. Normally, my performance would be pretty good with almost maxed out settings (visibility, etc.. I handle with ASA), but I would like to start seeing smoother flight as opposed to just *better* looking flight.Here is the perdicament; the native resolution of my monitor is 2560x1600 (30" Dell). I am pretty sure it is my resolution that is putting a damper on my performance. I also own a 23" Acer and performace is very nice on that at it's native resolution (1920x1080), but once you have 2560x1600 and a 30" inch screen it is very difficult to go back, so to speak.I would like to maintain panel and aircraft graphics and clarity as well as at least make use of my 3rd party scenery add-ons. I don't want to be one of those people that *must* run FSX at max settings and then blame FSX for lower performance. What I am looking for is a better visual experience than FS9 (I don't want to lower FSX settigns down to make it look like FS9 (though my FS9 install looks awesome with all the add-ons) while at the same time maintainig smooth performance. By "smooth", I don't mean 60 fps in all phases of flight, what I mea is more along the lines of no heavy frame rate drops and at least 25 fps in all/most situations (some folks say they can't see any performance loss at 20 fps....I am not one of those people. lol).So, my question to you folks out there is; what settings would you lower first to improve performance and still maintain a nice visual experience?My specs are in my signature below. My settings fit Nick's recommendations with NHancer, etc.. almost to a "T". The add-ons I use are: UTX, GEX, REX 2.0, ASA, and UT 2.Thanks to any and all who help/offer suggestions!!

I have a similar rig and addons to you.Firstly - Get rid of all moving road traffic. It's not necessary. You'll get 10fps right there.Next, drop Autogen to Dense and Scenery Complexity one notch.Frame rates to Unlimited and let NHancer run your card.You can achieve smooth 25+ at Heathrow and Kennedy with complex jets. I have zero issues. FSX runs better than FS9 ever did.

Sadly I need to tell you to not to use NHancer as that is a big cause of frame rate deterioration in Vista 64 bit and Windows 7 64 bit. I think there will be an update coming which will fix the problems but for now I would use FSX without it. Just activate Antialiasing and Anisotropic in the game and use a higher resolution. Things will be better. NHancer will be back, but major changes are needed.Lee

I have a similar rig and addons to you.Firstly - Get rid of all moving road traffic. It's not necessary. You'll get 10fps right there.Next, drop Autogen to Dense and Scenery Complexity one notch.Frame rates to Unlimited and let NHancer run your card.You can achieve smooth 25+ at Heathrow and Kennedy with complex jets. I have zero issues. FSX runs better than FS9 ever did.

It is all what you are after. I consider moving road traffic a necessity-I watch and see it all the time when I fly-utx gives you more for less.Light bloom-don't care for it, aircraft /building shadows-don't care for it, water-think it looks cartoonish and leave it at 1x high. That seems to make me get similar performance ..it is all about choice and great we have sliders to do so. There is a combo that will work and give you what you want. By dropping the above I run autogen and scenery complexity at max.Have to say I am mixed on autogen which still looks a little cartoonish to me but I can now run full right-but the scenery complexity is a must for me. Ai traffic also is a big hitter-adjust accordingly.

It is all what you are after. I consider moving road traffic a necessity-I watch and see it all the time when I fly-utx gives you more for less.Light bloom-don't care for it, aircraft /building shadows-don't care for it, water-think it looks cartoonish and leave it at 1x high. That seems to make me get similar performance ..it is all about choice and great we have sliders to do so. There is a combo that will work and give you what you want. By dropping the above I run autogen and scenery complexity at max.Have to say I am mixed on autogen which still looks a little cartoonish to me but I can now run full right-but the scenery complexity is a must for me. Ai traffic also is a big hitter-adjust accordingly.

That also mirrors what works for me, although I have water on 2X low most of the time. I agree on road traffic, one of the best kept secrets of making a realistic VFR flight environment. Since I fly with Tileproxy, autogen is somewhat moot. But I find it interesting how accurate the road traffic is in lining up with the Interstates I see in Tileproxy.... -John

Not sure what you are using for ai (or are you using it at all) but switching to a 3rd party would help out quite a bit. You don't want all of that default stuff flying around.

Not sure what you are using for ai (or are you using it at all) but switching to a 3rd party would help out quite a bit. You don't want all of that default stuff flying around.

I use UT 2 (see my first post where I list the add-ons I use towards the end). I may lower to 75%, then 50% and check the differences.Thanks for all the suggestions so far, everybody!

Sadly I need to tell you to not to use NHancer as that is a big cause of frame rate deterioration in Vista 64 bit and Windows 7 64 bit. I think there will be an update coming which will fix the problems but for now I would use FSX without it. Just activate Antialiasing and Anisotropic in the game and use a higher resolution. Things will be better. NHancer will be back, but major changes are needed.Lee

Hmm, that's interesting. Where did you hear this? I had never heard that before. If you have a link I would really appreciate it!!

I use UT 2 (see my first post where I list the add-ons I use towards the end). I may lower to 75%, then 50% and check the differences.Thanks for all the suggestions so far, everybody!Hmm, that's interesting. Where did you hear this? I had never heard that before. If you have a link I would really appreciate it!!

Sorry, I guess post scanning and the Silver Bullet don't mix well. Have you turned off jetways for UT2?

Sorry, I guess post scanning and the Silver Bullet don't mix well. Have you turned off jetways for UT2?

Beer probably makes any forum more interesting. lol I have not done the jetways suggestion yet, but moving the traffic to 75% and shutting down the road traffic helped quite a bit. Performace seems quite a bit improved in the moothness departmet.Btw, I agree with your signature......GO WINGS! :)

You should not have to turn anything down with that rig. I have all sliders full right except: water low 2x, DX9, no shadows, no glare, and Traffic 79%/med/40. Set up per NickN is essential. I use Windows defrag and set my video card in it's own software. Cloud Fix and FPS Limiter Max clears up the vertical bars and gives a smooth 23 fps when locked at 30.Hve funDaveNew System 1:Same as 2 except: I7 975 3.3Ghz @ 3.9GhzNew System 2:Intel Core I7 920 Quadcore OC @ 3.6GhzAsus P6T DLX V2 X58 1366, BD Combo Plextor B310SA6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR3 1866C7GTHIS ATI 4890 1GB, Samsung 24", Saitek X-52 ProLogitech Z680 5.1 Speakers, G15 Keyboard, G5 MouseThermaltake Element S Case, Corsair 850TX PSUC: Intel 80GB SSD w/Windows 7 Home 64D: WD 300GB Velocity Raptor w/FSX, F4AFE: WD 1TB Caviar Black w/Data SH4Old System:Dell XPS 720 H2CIntel Quad Core Extreme QX6800 2.93 @ 3.73GHz4GB (2x2GB) Corsair Dominator EPP 8500C5D FSB 800MHz @ 1066MHz2x160GB WD SATA Raptors, Sound Blaster X-FiNvidia 2x8800GTX 768MB SLI, Dell 2407WFP PanelXP driver: 169.21, Vista driver: 169.25Logitech Z680 5.1 Speakers, G5 Mouse, Saitek X52WinXP Media Edition SP3 on C: (SATA 0) w/ Internet/AV/Office/FS9/Falcon4 AFVista SP1 on D: (SATA 1) (Dual Boot) w/FSX3DMark06: 17,018/6992/7123/5667

Set up per NickN is essential. I use Windows defrag and set my video card in it's own software.

Now there's a couple of contradictions if ever I saw :( I'm also VERY interested in that info regarding nHance and Windows7. First I've heard of it too. Anyone got any more info on it?

Now there's a couple of contradictions if ever I saw :( I'm also VERY interested in that info regarding nHance and Windows7. First I've heard of it too. Anyone got any more info on it?

Not at all. I don't know how those programs work with Win7 64, yet. I used them with XP. The video driver and software woork with Win7 64 so I just plug in the numbers and settings that NickN says. The settings are whats important not enhancer itself.Dave

Sadly I need to tell you to not to use NHancer as that is a big cause of frame rate deterioration in Vista 64 bit and Windows 7 64 bit. I think there will be an update coming which will fix the problems but for now I would use FSX without it. Just activate Antialiasing and Anisotropic in the game and use a higher resolution. Things will be better. NHancer will be back, but major changes are needed.

???I never heard that NHancer is a big cause of frame rate deterioration Vista or Win7... please, can you be more specific about that?

You should not have to turn anything down with that rig. I have all sliders full right except: water low 2x, DX9, no shadows, no glare, and Traffic 79%/med/40. Set up per NickN is essential. I use Windows defrag and set my video card in it's own software. Cloud Fix and FPS Limiter Max clears up the vertical bars and gives a smooth 23 fps when locked at 30.Hve funDaveNew System 1:Same as 2 except: I7 975 3.3Ghz @ 3.9GhzNew System 2:Intel Core I7 920 Quadcore OC @ 3.6GhzAsus P6T DLX V2 X58 1366, BD Combo Plextor B310SA6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR3 1866C7GTHIS ATI 4890 1GB, Samsung 24", Saitek X-52 ProLogitech Z680 5.1 Speakers, G15 Keyboard, G5 MouseThermaltake Element S Case, Corsair 850TX PSUC: Intel 80GB SSD w/Windows 7 Home 64D: WD 300GB Velocity Raptor w/FSX, F4AFE: WD 1TB Caviar Black w/Data SH4Old System:Dell XPS 720 H2CIntel Quad Core Extreme QX6800 2.93 @ 3.73GHz4GB (2x2GB) Corsair Dominator EPP 8500C5D FSB 800MHz @ 1066MHz2x160GB WD SATA Raptors, Sound Blaster X-FiNvidia 2x8800GTX 768MB SLI, Dell 2407WFP PanelXP driver: 169.21, Vista driver: 169.25Logitech Z680 5.1 Speakers, G5 Mouse, Saitek X52WinXP Media Edition SP3 on C: (SATA 0) w/ Internet/AV/Office/FS9/Falcon4 AFVista SP1 on D: (SATA 1) (Dual Boot) w/FSX3DMark06: 17,018/6992/7123/5667

It is important to keep in mind the resolution I am running. The difference between 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 is quite large. Also, I had a majority of my sliders full right except water (2 notches down from max), airport - medium, and AI near 100%. Putting my processor back at 4.0 ghz doesn't helpo much either. In fact, to be honest, I don't really see a difference between 3.6 and 4.0 ghz. lolTurning the road traffic off and dropping the AI to 75% seems to have helped out quite a bit. I will try some of the other suggestions as well. Thanks for the assistance!

Sadly I need to tell you to not to use NHancer as that is a big cause of frame rate deterioration in Vista 64 bit and Windows 7 64 bit. I think there will be an update coming which will fix the problems but for now I would use FSX without it. Just activate Antialiasing and Anisotropic in the game and use a higher resolution. Things will be better. NHancer will be back, but major changes are needed.Lee

Uhhhh, no.I run nHancer with Vista x64 no issues....