Ive been fiddling with FSX on my PC and now im happy to report that i get 20fps with the PMDG J41. I followed a fw tweak guides and now its flyable, however ive nocticed something and i wanted to check with you guys and gals to see if you know about this.When I move the mouse from the VC on any aircraft including the default ones but mostly noticable on the Maddog and the PMDG J41 that the frame rate drops about 5 of 6 Fps for a few seconds until the mouse pointer symbol goes away and then returns to normal.Is this normal?

AHAH! Another mouse cursor issue! Happens to me too! Also happens to about 20 other people on this forum.No one really knows why. But if you look at your task manager, under performance, while even back in the desktop, you'll find the CPU to shoot up to 100% if you move the mouse cursor.... what lame programming huh?

Glad its not just me but yea seems like awful performance hit for a mouse cursor -).

AndyThis seems to vary with the mouse. I'm not even sure that it might be a USB issue too. The worst mice that I found were Razor, MS Sidewinder, MS standard Mouse, MS Intellimouse Optical, Logitech standard Mouse. The best mouse for me has been the Logitech Performance MX which seems to have little impact on performance and it is a "wireless" device.. Have you looked at your keyboard too? I found that soem keyboards and some combinations of keystrokes also affect FSX performance. Interesting :( RegardsPeterH

Very interesting Peter, I use the Logitech G5 gaming mouse and do get this hard hit. In various tests I've noticed a 30-40% drop in FPS.Also interesting about the kb.... I used to have a PS/2 logitech, very simple kb. I now use a Saitek USB kb with lights and do-hickys. Maybe I'm overloading the USB ports who knows.

Ok ive been tweaking my system and now im really confused because for some very strange reason its now backwards. What I mean is my frame rate goes up by more than 5fps when I move the mouse instead of when the mouse pointer goes away. Its bad for me as my PC is on the limit of being smooth. I can happily fly the PMDG J41 and the Maddog with good detail after following the tweaking guide posted elsewhere on the site.I really notice the drop and the sim becomes stuttery but as soon as I move the mouse its suddenly smooth. This is in both windowed mode and fullscreen.Anyone else got any thoughts on this? Im thinking it might be something to do with DirectX but there is something not right.

Ok ive been tweaking my system and now im really confused because for some very strange reason its now backwards. What I mean is my frame rate goes up by more than 5fps when I move the mouse instead of when the mouse pointer goes away. Its bad for me as my PC is on the limit of being smooth. I can happily fly the PMDG J41 and the Maddog with good detail after following the tweaking guide posted elsewhere on the site.I really notice the drop and the sim becomes stuttery but as soon as I move the mouse its suddenly smooth. This is in both windowed mode and fullscreen.Anyone else got any thoughts on this? Im thinking it might be something to do with DirectX but there is something not right.

Hah, how did you manage to reverse it? Anyways, we had a few thread topics on this (you can search them), and as mentioned, no real solution is possible. what I do is open up a useless 2D panel, shrink it to the smallest size it gets to, and drag it over to the upper corner so it barely visible. I then just keep my mouse there when not in use. This helps the most when opening the ATC window, as it brings up the mouse. Note, there is no FPS drop when mouse is over 2D panels.

thats a really good idea im going to do that from now on. Incedentaly i notice the J41 is better FPS when the mouse pointer is gone and the Maddog is better when mouse is showing lol. Going to wait till i get another complex aircraft and see what that does hehe.Thanks for the tip.Andy

This happens because of the activation of the mouse clickspots in the VC, it's an issue we informed ACES about and it was on the list to be fixed just before the studio was closed. For whatever reason in the FSX engine, mouse clickspots kill the framerate.Here's a good way to see the full effect of it - run FSX in windowed mode with the framerate visible and then click in the taskbar, taking the focus away from the FSX window and disabling the clickspots. You should see the FPS go way up when you do it...