Hey guys, I apologize if this issue has been addressed. I 'm getting these black vertical lines, and get horrible frames in some addon sceneries like flytampa Boston and fsdreamteam New York with only addon aircraft.I'm running FSX on a Dell XPS410, Core Duo, with Windowns XP3 and an EVGA NVIDIA 8800GTX video card which is about 2 1/2 years old. I also run fs2004 which does not produce the problem. Just wondering whether I need a new graphics card or better computer with a stronder processor. Any Help would be appreciated.Thanks,Myron P.

I screen shot would help. Could be many things. Do you overclock your graphics card? What is the temperature of your card when running FSX? Have you cleaned the inside of your case lately?

Vertical lines are always indicative of your system being stressed beyond it's capabilities. Could just be not enough oomph in your system or heat, dust, bad memory etc. Try turning down some settings and see if that helps.

Are you using the bloom thewak?That caused it for me.

Myron It can be attributed to how much VRAM you have in that 8800GTX card if its 256/320MB its a bit light for FSX, but if 512 it should be OK. Another thought is that this could be an artefact of a 32-bit OS. You may have most used up all of the Virtual address space (nothing to do with physical RAM) and sometimes the first signs are the black verical lines, usually followed by an OOM message. Have you got the /3GB (USERVA) switch activated in the boot.ini file? That would certainly help. The line to put in the boot.ini is similar to this: / fastdetect / 3GB / Userva = 2900 from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721. The Latter issues do not occur with a 64-bit OS.RegardsPeterH

Any driver later than 169.25 (Vist 169.21) has this problem on the 8800GTX card, when set to "unlimited". I could use a later driver if I set unlimited in FSX and set FSX Limiter locked at 30. FSX Limiter works fine with my ATI 4890 cards.DaveNew 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

Thanks for all the replies guys, I really appreciate it. I did have a look at my computer just after my first post and noticed alot of dust. I will be cleaning it out and trying again. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe my computer should run FSX fairly well with the specs I posted. But if you guys say that dust can one of the problems also then I will check it out. My driver is a 182.50 by the way and 4GB of memory. Do I need the GB tweak as Peter wrote about. I don't know anything about it.Myron

I continue to have the black vertical lines at the start of every flight. Panning the outside view for a few minutes may or may not solve the problem, for me.

Thanks for all the replies guys, I really appreciate it. I did have a look at my computer just after my first post and noticed alot of dust. I will be cleaning it out and trying again. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe my computer should run FSX fairly well with the specs I posted. But if you guys say that dust can one of the problems also then I will check it out. My driver is a 182.50 by the way and 4GB of memory. Do I need the GB tweak as Peter wrote about. I don't know anything about it.Myron

Well you didn't specifically state which CPU you have, but yes, it should run FSX 'fairly' well on default, but once you start adding add-ons its a different story.

Do you have a bufferpools setting in your FSX.cfg?

Yes I have a bufferpools setting in FSX. I tried the cleaning out of my machine and got the dust out, however the lines still remain. It only occurs when I use addon scenery with addon aircract like for instance the Aerosoft DHC6 and Flytampa St. Martin... Maybe my machine just can't handle it.Myron P.

Yes I have a bufferpools setting in FSX. I tried the cleaning out of my machine and got the dust out, however the lines still remain. It only occurs when I use addon scenery with addon aircract like for instance the Aerosoft DHC6 and Flytampa St. Martin... Maybe my machine just can't handle it.Myron P.

MyronUnfortunately bufferpools will do very little for your system, it usually works best on later video cards that have well over 512MB RAM. Try your sytem without it. How much RAM does your Video Card have?The /3GB /USERVA sw3itch is well worth using in a 32-bit OS running FSX SP2.Also have a look at this post: http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_post...p;KW=Nick+Guide and the definitive guide for setting FSX up correctly: http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041.RegardsPeterH

Thanks Peter. My video card is a EVGA GEFORCE NVIDIA GTX8800 768MB...Something tells me it's my system ie processer, however it is a duo core. It's the Dell Dimension 9200 w/ duo core.I'll look into the 3GB tweak...Myron P.

Thanks Peter. My video card is a EVGA GEFORCE NVIDIA GTX8800 768MB...Something tells me it's my system ie processer, however it is a duo core. It's the Dell Dimension 9200 w/ duo core.I'll look into the 3GB tweak...Myron P.

Myron, it's the driver! This is an old problem that has been hashed over before. If you use a driver newer than 169.25, which you do, then you need to use FSX LIMITER. You can set unlimited in FSX and locked at 30 in the limiter. No more vertical lines and no stutters.If you have XP 32 bit, you need the /3GB switch for memory use, though it won't help the lines.Dave

I would try a more current driver release. I don't think the limiter program will help.Also follow NickN's tuning guide --> http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041nHance is a very nice and useful tool.Where do you have the sliders set for scenery complexity and autogen?