FS2k4's Clouds eating my framerates alive...

[Dillon 2,197]

No matter what setting I set my sliders to, once I'm off the ground at about 12,000 feet and/or above my frame rates take a nose dive. I tried a flight from KSAN to KPHX tonight and had to stop the sim it was so bad. Certain clouds create a framerate mess and if you can't get high enough (I was using MS's downloadable weather), your flight is going to suck. Maybe Chris Willis at FSW GROUP will design some clouds that are a little more friendly on framerates. Guess I'm back to flying FS2002 tonight, it's amazing the difference in performance in these two sims. I still find myself appreciating FS2k2...Les D.Dell P4 2.6gig 800fsbATI 9700 Pro 100gig SDRAM100gig HDP.S. FS2k4 is not for the low end user and sometimes not even the high end user....

[Chris Willis 8]

Hi, I hope you don`t use the AA built in fs2k4, because they use the max AA from your card,use a tweaker or in your display driver setting AA 2X, retry to tweak the clouds display area slider, specialy the 3d clouds percentage, you can manage to have clouds like fs2k2 by reducing some. You may check others details area to leave some room FPS for clouds also.I have already strating fs sky world 2004 total environment change, I will include lower performance system with preserving quality, and already others add-on are finishedAnothers things about ATI, some problem on their driver for now..ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

[Guest AAF]

How much RAM do you have? As well, it could be an issue with ATI Radeon chipsets, but that's just rumor so far.

[Guest]

Here's what I've observed performance-wise in FS2004 so far: on my computer, ground detail settings have virtually no impact on my framerates so I leave all these sliders at max (EXCEPT for autogen, which I have at dense).The clouds, on the other hand, are the token FPS eaters of this game when you are flying through them. My frames are also hurt when looking at the horizon, but if I pan the view to look entirely at the sky or at the ground my frame rates stay up at my cap.Panning the camera within the virtual cockpit is also noticeably more jerky than it was for FS2002, even when the frame rate counter is reporting decent numbers. I'm hoping a tweak to the cfg file will fix this.Anyways, I have found one very major FPS cure--lower the antialiasing, like Chris said. The highest AA setting will truly hurt you, as I experienced first hand. I now play at the 2x instead of the 4xS setting that I did with FS2002, and I am getting more acceptable frame rates (although not quite where I want them yet). Good luck in your tweaks...-Derek

[Guest]

Hi,Something I noticed with most people having problems, no one mentions what resolution they run the sim in. I haven't gotten COF yet, but I fly 2002 at 1024 x 768 on a 17 inch monitor. My system is an Athlon 1800XP, with 256 MB Ram on a Shuttle AK12 Mobo and a Geforce4 MX440. I have the sliders about 3/4 to the right and average about 25 fps, even in the denser areas with planes such as the MelJet Triple-7. I'm just curious, for those who are having frame rate hits in the clouds and all, what res you're running at. I plan on getting the sim before upgrading my computer, and want to know if I'll be okay with how I run it.Thanks!Yet another Jon

[LAdamson 240]

>Panning the camera within the virtual cockpit is also>noticeably more jerky than it was for FS2002, even when the>frame rate counter is reporting decent numbers. I'm hoping a>tweak to the cfg file will fix this.>I havn't run into an actual problem with the screen being "jerky" in VC mode, unless it's just low fps; but after months of fairly smooth beta testing, I ran into a bona-fide "stutter" yesterday with fps still showing in the upper 20's. I had been changing slider settings all over the place, as well as my video card settings. Even had swimming textures as though mip-mapping wasn't working. I hit the default buttons in the menu's and made re-adjustments, including my video card with NVmax. Now everything is back to normal.L.Adamson --- Athlon 1900XP/Geforce3Ti500/512DDRram

[Guest captbulldog]

Try changing from "detailed clouds" to "simple" in display--> weather menu.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

Les,<<100gig SDRAM >>How much RAM? :-hmmm Surely you mean 1Gb RAM? Otherwise you have probably beaten the world record in a single PC! ;-)Cheers,

[Guest]

AhhHaaaa! I've been witing to hear someone say your "P.S." (frankly, it's B.S....at least for me I can happily report... :-)I can happily report, as I already have, that I am a proud and determined low end user (Athlon900, Radion9200, 512Mb PC133SDRAM, et al) Mind you, I can't speak for Microsofts "minimum requirements", that would be ugly...everything to the left. However, I can enjoy the FS2004 enhanced displays quite nicely. My framerates are locked at 15 and generally stay up there around 14-15. The only time my rates drop below 10 on on the ground at big airports with the gates, vehicles, etc. Tha display runs very smooth, no stuttering. I am running fairly high settings (still fiddling with the settings) but most sliders are at least at half or higher. Even when I get to the big hubs, the frames are smooth and when I maneuver slowly and gently, it makes the display "look" faster (can't explain it, I just avoid fast turns, where slow framerates have their greatest apparent impact...)Anyway, I know you can get decent performance from a lower end machine. Get all the RAM you can, sounds like XP is much better than Me, etc. I plan on upgrading someday, but am happy to report that 2004 is very comfortable in it's new home on my humble hardware...Movies run at 25fps, no complaints yet....Cheers,Dave JStill looking for haze...