Everything but 60 FPS is unsmooth

[McCrash 3]

HiI have an Nvidia GTX 260 and play FS9. The problem is that the sim is unsmooth if 60 FPS is not reached. If the FPS is locked at 60, it works very well if the computer can keep that value. If the FPS is locked to a lower value, 30 for example, the sim is stuttering, but the FPS is still stable and kept at 30. Also setting it to Unlimited makes the same problem.I'm quite sure that the problem is because of my video card (GTX 260), had a 7900GTX before, and bought the GTX 260 a few months ago. I have tried with new PSU (Corsair 650W), new CPU (Phenom II X4 3.2 GHz) , new RAM (4GB) , and new HD (WD caviar black), and still having this problem. I've also tried many drivers, two OS (win XP and 7) but the problem remains.Anyone knows why?

It's time for Nick's guide ... http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041

[Propeller 1]

It's time for Nick's guide ... http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041

Thanks, but I've already tried that one.

[neumanix 113]

I've been experiencing the exact same thing. I had an AMD Athlon 64 with a Radeon X800 and I remember how 30fps felt very smooth.I've since upgraded, and with both an 8800GT and my current GTX285 I've been having the stutter issue. But as you say, when locked at 60 it's great, smooth as silk.Locking to anything other than 60 gives a stutter at a steady rate that depends on what you locked to.I'm now in the process of tuning my FS9 setup to maintain >60 fps at all times. That seems to be the only solution.

[Propeller 1]

I've been experiencing the exact same thing. I had an AMD Athlon 64 with a Radeon X800 and I remember how 30fps felt very smooth.I've since upgraded, and with both an 8800GT and my current GTX285 I've been having the stutter issue. But as you say, when locked at 60 it's great, smooth as silk.Locking to anything other than 60 gives a stutter at a steady rate that depends on what you locked to.I'm now in the process of tuning my FS9 setup to maintain >60 fps at all times. That seems to be the only solution.

Thanks for your input. What makes me so frustrating about this is that some cards and setups seem to run quite smooth at any FPS. I tried the integrated ATI Radeon HD3300 graphics on the motherboard, and there was no problem at all locking the FPS at 30 for example. Very smooth. Actually I think the problem is about Vertical Sync. That some cards, in FS, can't handle the sync with the monitor's refresh rate, and becasue of that makes these short constant freezes if the FPS is not the same as the refresh rate. I don't know if this is true, I'm not an expert when it comes to this.I haven't been playing FS seriously for five or six months I think. Almost all my time with FS since then, I have been dealing with those stutters/freezes but I think I'm giving up now. And I don't think the reseller will find anything wrong with my GTX 260 if I let them have a look at it. It performs very well in other games, and gives good results in 3D mark, so I think, sending the card to the reseller will only result in me having to pay for the service since they wont find anything that's wrong.

[red1 0]

Thanks for your input. What makes me so frustrating about this is that some cards and setups seem to run quite smooth at any FPS. I tried the integrated ATI Radeon HD3300 graphics on the motherboard, and there was no problem at all locking the FPS at 30 for example. Very smooth. Actually I think the problem is about Vertical Sync. That some cards, in FS, can't handle the sync with the monitor's refresh rate, and becasue of that makes these short constant freezes if the FPS is not the same as the refresh rate. I don't know if this is true, I'm not an expert when it comes to this.I haven't been playing FS seriously for five or six months I think. Almost all my time with FS since then, I have been dealing with those stutters/freezes but I think I'm giving up now. And I don't think the reseller will find anything wrong with my GTX 260 if I let them have a look at it. It performs very well in other games, and gives good results in 3D mark, so I think, sending the card to the reseller will only result in me having to pay for the service since they wont find anything that's wrong.

You're very right about v-sync. If i force my vsync off, I get no stutters at all at any FPS but I get terrible tearing which is even worse. I've tried and failed on many occasions to correct it. Since, I have learned to live with it. The only advice I have is try an older CRT monitor and see how it is.

[Damokles20 0]

Hi, English isn

[Guest FlyingBits]

HiI have an Nvidia GTX 260 and play FS9. The problem is that the sim is unsmooth if 60 FPS is not reached. If the FPS is locked at 60, it works very well if the computer can keep that value. If the FPS is locked to a lower value, 30 for example, the sim is stuttering, but the FPS is still stable and kept at 30. Also setting it to Unlimited makes the same problem.I'm quite sure that the problem is because of my video card (GTX 260), had a 7900GTX before, and bought the GTX 260 a few months ago. I have tried with new PSU (Corsair 650W), new CPU (Phenom II X4 3.2 GHz) , new RAM (4GB) , and new HD (WD caviar black), and still having this problem. I've also tried many drivers, two OS (win XP and 7) but the problem remains.Anyone knows why?

Typing fast on the fly so please excuse for mispelling and such...You dont mention if you are using DX10 preview or not, so I will assume DX9. However you can try this for both.Try this first - Make sure FSX is shutdwon, go into your Nvidia control panel Turn Vsync=OFF, Start FSX and Go into display settings in FSX and set FPS limit to 24-34. Fly, What happens? If that doesnt help you try: download Rivatuner and install it. In the Start/program menu you will find D3DOverride, start it and run it with FSX may help in some situations by forcing tripple buffering.You can download Rivatuner here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/RivaTuner-v2.2...wnload-163.htmlHope that helps you.

[Propeller 1]

Typing fast on the fly so please excuse for mispelling and such...You dont mention if you are using DX10 preview or not, so I will assume DX9. However you can try this for both.Try this first - Make sure FSX is shutdwon, go into your Nvidia control panel Turn Vsync=OFF, Start FSX and Go into display settings in FSX and set FPS limit to 24-34. Fly, What happens? If that doesnt help you try: download Rivatuner and install it. In the Start/program menu you will find D3DOverride, start it and run it with FSX may help in some situations by forcing tripple buffering.You can download Rivatuner here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/RivaTuner-v2.2...wnload-163.htmlHope that helps you.

I run almost only FS9, but when trying FSX it has been set to DX9. I've tried DX10 once, but did not make any difference. Regarding your suggestion for FSX, I actually can't try it now. I don't have FSX installed at the moment. I'll try that later.I've tried D3DOverride before and there was no difference at all.

[Guest FlyingBits]

I run almost only FS9, but when trying FSX it has been set to DX9. I've tried DX10 once, but did not make any difference. Regarding your suggestion for FSX, I actually can't try it now. I don't have FSX installed at the moment. I'll try that later.I've tried D3DOverride before and there was no difference at all.

Sorry to be such a doofus, I read right over the FS9 part...Have you looked into reducing unnecessary services are running in the backround?Sounds like you have something running in the backround like some kind of kind of polling service, some Antivirus can be rude that way as well.

[Propeller 1]

Sorry to be such a doofus, I read right over the FS9 part...Have you looked into reducing unnecessary services are running in the backround?Sounds like you have something running in the backround like some kind of kind of polling service, some Antivirus can be rude that way as well.

I've tried with clean installation of both Win Xp and Win 7 and there was no difference and also when having optimized the OS. I am sure that the problem is not because of background services or antivirus etc. As I said before, 60 FPS is running perfect when reached, which makes a background/antivirus problem seem quite impossible. I am in contact with the reseller of my GTX 260 and, in the last mail, they told me that they've read about other people having problems with exactly the same card as I have. Now I'm waiting for a second reply, and I hope can get another card that can run FS.

[Guest FlyingBits]

I've tried with clean installation of both Win Xp and Win 7 and there was no difference and also when having optimized the OS. I am sure that the problem is not because of background services or antivirus etc. As I said before, 60 FPS is running perfect when reached, which makes a background/antivirus problem seem quite impossible. I am in contact with the reseller of my GTX 260 and, in the last mail, they told me that they've read about other people having problems with exactly the same card as I have. Now I'm waiting for a second reply, and I hope can get another card that can run FS.

Hope that solves the problem for you.

[Propeller 1]

Hope that solves the problem for you.

Thanks. Yes, I really really hope so. All I want is to start playing FS again. I havn't done it seriously for months.

[Damokles20 0]

I've tried with clean installation of both Win Xp and Win 7 and there was no difference and also when having optimized the OS. I am sure that the problem is not because of background services or antivirus etc. As I said before, 60 FPS is running perfect when reached, which makes a background/antivirus problem seem quite impossible. I am in contact with the reseller of my GTX 260 and, in the last mail, they told me that they've read about other people having problems with exactly the same card as I have. Now I'm waiting for a second reply, and I hope can get another card that can run FS.

Well, what is confusing about this, that I didn

[Propeller 1]

Well, what is confusing about this, that I didn

[Bob Scott 7,719]

Keep in mind that the GTX260 did not exist when FS9 (or FSX) was released. The nVidia drivers through the 7xxx series of cards used nv4_disp.dll as it's driver, which has an entry in the default display.cfg file...not so anymore, so there is no matching entry in the display.cfg file to configure your GTX260 or newer card with specific settings. Try adding a custom entry for your video card(s) at the beginning of the display.cfg file (in the FS9 main directory).Here's an example of one such entry (for an 8800GTX, but I use similar settings for a GTX285):

;----------------------------------------------------------------------; NVIDIA 8800GTX on Vista64	 this line is comment text only;----------------------------------------------------------------------[000010DE:00000191:nvd3dum,nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2um, nvwgf2umx.dll]Disable=1PanelAsTexture=0Shader20Plus=20UseShaders=1

You'll need to run DXDIAG and click the button to save all information to disk. In that file, under the section for "Display Devices" you'll see line items for Vendor ID, Device ID, and Driver Name. The line in brackets is formed for your display card by showing the Vendor ID as an eight digit number (you have to add the four leading zeros), a colon, then the Device ID as an eight digit number, another colon, then the Driver Name string.For my card, DXDIAG lists: Driver Name: nvd3dum,nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2um, nvwgf2umx.dll Vendor ID: 0x10DE Device ID: 0x0191So that breaks down to 000010DE:00000191:nvd3dum,nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2um, nvwgf2umx.dll between the brackets.With additional monitors in the system, you add additional sections with ".1", ".2", ".3" etc appended to each driver file name, for example:

;----------------------------------------------------------------------; NVIDIA 8800GTX Monitor #2;----------------------------------------------------------------------[000010DE:00000191:nvd3dum.1,nvd3dumx.dll.1,nvwgf2um.1, nvwgf2umx.dll.1]MinDriverRev=7.15.0011.7474Disable=2PanelAsTexture=2Shader20Plus=0

I have no idea what the line Disable= does, but it's found in other nVidia driver setups and seems to work. Also, the PanelAsTexture line is important on some video cards...if you set the second monitor to PanelAsTexture=0 like in the first entry it can cause ugly problems with black-screen CTDs, and often undocked windows dragged to the secondary monitor will not render and you'll see a black box.This also works in FSX.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO