Got FSAA on in FS 2004? Turn it off !!!

[Guest Checkmate]

To be fair, Microsoft releases a new version roughly every 2 years. The liftime of most systems is about 18 months. If this was essentially a downgrade for people with mid grade systems you'd have a point. I've played with COF for a few days now on a couple of different systems and while there are issues, that isn't the case (for me anyway).I'll bet a year from now you have a completely diferent point of view.

[Guest Ronson2k]

Okay a few things first if you turn off the panel as texture in the FS9.CFG you will not see your 2d Panel in the sim. If you use the VC all the time this is not a problem except when selecting you will have a big black spot where the 2d panel should be. It's not a great saving on framss but a little if you like.FSAA being able to select that outside also does have a bit saving on FPS about 2-4 depending on your external setting. It's not that the AA inside FS is bad it's just perhaps bigger then needed if you could set that inside FS it would be a great idea. Instead of AA on or OFF select the amount just like all the other setting that have more the ON/OFF. Anyway I have it on - on my FS9 however I have an new way to save some framesTurn off the Extended textures. The textures you have in the highest texture setting Extremely Dense are quite good so extending them even farther takes up about 5 FPS. I did this at meigs (sorry to here about the airport BTW) and got about a 5 FPS increase. The textures look just as good as before. I know they are distant textures by the way...With Cold Front selected and the baron on the runway I'm getting about 15FPS I have a P4-2.4 and TI4200. This isn't bad I figure. It does go higher and lower but mostly higher. I hate the idea of having to turn off stuff too. The sky in the sim is the best part I think and it's there that you should concentrate your frames. Most of the other settings including traffic are at the very dence level. I wish also that MS would have the settings like a number 3 for highest and 1 for lowest or something so when your talking about it you don't have to say so much.. (eg: Setting 3/Setting 1)Getting the sim to 15 frames or above and having most of the setting at near highest is pretty darn cool. I have noticed something else. Perhaps mostly for the chopper pilots out there. The crash detect has been increased (very accurate now). This makes taxiing a lot easier (once I got my yoke working of course).The skys are in a word Awesome... I love the clouds. I do think however that these are the clouds that we had before in fs98. The ones you couldn't turn on before. I'm glad there back. They look fabulous.. No doubt about it...Ronson2k

[Guest PaulL01]

>>JimmiG:>>Your recommendation is an interesting idea--but I am amazed>(and rather appalled) that you say my Ti4600 is not really>fast enough for FSAA. Is it not a huge capacity 3-D video>card ?That is right, a GF4TI4600 is a wimp compared to todays best video cards, AA kills the performance as you yourself have found out. :)AF is also a performance drain on GF4TI cards on down.If you want to use AA and expect good performance in such a game as FS2k4 you will need a card that can handle it such as a ATI9500p/9700p/9800pro or Nv FX5900/5900 ultra.It really is as $imple as that.

[JSACKS 0]

Thanks everybody for leaping in; this is a good thread.OK, you are right--what matters is how it LOOKS, not the fps indicator. But fps still gives a guide of sorts and is helpful to some extent.Tonight, for the first time ever, I went to 1600x1200x32 res with no FSAA, setting clouds to max 3D and max DENSE in DISPLAY settings, and I got a steady 24 fps in the default Baron over the LA basin. I got similar or slightly less fps in the default Cessna. Flying over downtown LA, fps fell over areas of heavy buildings, but motion was generally fluid. With this resolution, I see no significant jaggies at all (at any angle) on the TRINITRON 21" which is really satisfying. Driving INTO the clouds, frames fell a lot, but they seemed to average 15 (falling to 10 or 12 now and then, rising to 18 at other moments) in heavy cumulus set to 5000-11000' at 5/8 or 6/8 density. Much of the fps/visual performance seems to depend on one's position, perspective and angle, etc. I am still sickened to hear that my Ti4600 is a wimp in today's FS world! Anyway, right now, this version of FS2004 is pristine, virgin, with no 3rd pty add-ons. We shall see if I am still getting this fluid show with MelJet, POSKY, etc. + add-on panels (I fancy not!)Then again, mebbe I'll just fly with no add-ons and enjoy this as simply a VFR sim.JS

[JimmiG 244]

"I am amazed (and rather appalled) that you say my Ti4600 is not really fast enough for FSAA. Is it not a huge capacity 3-D video card ?"The Ti4600 is 1.5 years old. That's an eternity in the age of computers. When it came out, it was a great card, capable of running 4x FSAA in the most demanding sims out at the time. Now, even budget cards such as the Radeon 9500 and 9600, as well as Nvidia's mid-range GeforceFX cards are faster.It's still a great card, but it's not fast enough for 4x FSAA and/or 8x Anisotropic filtering in the games that are available today. If you stick with 2x FSAA and 4x Anisotropic, you'll be able to enjoy the card for another year before you have to upgrade. If you always want to play with the highest settings, 4x FSAA etc. then the only way is to buy a new videocard, as well as a processor, motherboard, RAM...the lot...every year :(BTW, I have discovered one framerate problem on my system. Sometimes, the FPS will drop to about 6-8 FPS when looking in CERTAIN directions. Looking in another direction resturns to the normal FPS. The strange thing here is that there's usually NOTHING complex in the direction. It's usually just a country landing strip or a small GA airport or something. Saving the flight, exiting FS2004, then re-loading the flight also usually fixes the framerate?!

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Jimmi, I run with 2xAA and 4xAF on my Ti4200 which is slower than your card.. and it runs just fine and the scenery looks lovely. Try those settings for a while and enjoy FS9.. there is lots to see (and try out)!BTW.. until Nvidia releases new drivers, the 30.82 drivers seem to be the only ones that are rock solid with FS9 in full screen mode and Anti-Aliasing. (Use Rivatuner to set AF with those - older - drivers)

[JSACKS 0]

Bert:I am using the nVidia 45.20 betas in FULL SCREEN and having success. I start in Windows mode, then switch to full screen mode, and load a Cessna flight that I created in full screen, and all the menus and settings and even the sound work normally. Why? I have no idea !If I start the sim in full screen mode, then I get black patches and no sound loads with the 2D cockpit until I push the throttle lever forward a tad. Then the sound kicks in.Well, we live and....get baffled !JS