Well, if Joel is getting this stutter on approach with a P4 3.06, 1gb RDRAM, ATI9700, then it seems like there must be a major flaw with the programming code in the sim and seeing as how it is MS code, I am not surprised. I don't understand how one can play DOOM, Quake and other games like them and not have any problems and yet MS continually screws up the code for FS. If FS was coded by the same guys that do DOOM, Quake, etc..., we would probably not have these continual problems.

I agree, MSFS always requests so much from the machine, bad code ??? That's why I was impressed first time I ran X-Plane in open-GL, I felt I was in a professional flight-sim...Ulisses

>Can anyone else replicate the degradation effect? Has anyone>experimented with saving and resetting the sim prior to an>approach to see if the approach is smoother (studders still>there, but less significant)? I would think this would only be>noticable to people doing many landings during the same sim>run. People making one takeoff, flight and landing would>probably not see the slowdown effect.I can certainly confirm that the problems I experienced on my system showed a degradation effect! The first landing was almost always smooth, the second never! After many tests I *seem* to have found out that the Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 1 caused my problems (which is strange as it NEVER caused any problems in FS2002)! After disabling it I don

Well, I've spent/ wasted the afternoon playing with my settings, and I think I have a 99% conclusive answer to what causes the 1.approach stutters and 2. the FPS slowdown on both approach and looking toward large airports/autogen areas.First, turn off your ground shadows (buildings only, planes don't seem to make a noticable difference). This increased my FPS and smoothness on approach to 90% of what I would expect and hope for. It also completely eliminated the "look back" slowdown, both in spot view and out the rear window as you depart a busy scenery area. Second, for the last 10% smoothness improvement, I turned my Autogen down from "very dense" to "dense". My frames, which had stuttered around between 16-24 on approach and reduced to as low as 15 on "look back", are now solidly at 27-30 (my FPS lock is 30) on approach. and there is 0- nada- slowdown when looking back at scenery that used to cripple my FPS.So there you have it, it worked on my pretty fast machine, I'd bet the results are just as good on slower hardware too. Please give it a try and report your findings on this thread to see if we can see some consistency here.Best,Joel

Hi, You may check this threadhttp://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...id=136178&page=I have not seen the frame drop in NAPA tried both runways before and on final and at ground, frame rate unlimited, I got 29 fps, default inside cockpit cessna, all fs2004 to full except no shadows at all, clear weather.1024x768 32 bit, I will never swith view when I land, we should suppose to land I think inside the cockpit.Not a single Stutters pause, all smooth I am not using the fs2004 default Mesh http://www.simviation.com/terrain.htm and All Orlando Mesh at avsim.P4P800 ASUS 8X 533, P4 Intel 2.53GHZ 533, 512 Kignston Ram, Windows XP PRO, Gforce4 TI 4200 128MB 8X,Driver Nvidia 45.23 official one.Conclusion: Result may change on different system and configuration.ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

product wrote: "turn off your ground shadows "I, too, have turned ground shadows off... begrudgingly. My AG is set at "Dense", where it has been since I first installed. I can live without aircraft shadows, but the ground shadows are a part of the immersion factor for me. But turning them off has made a huge difference for me. No stutters (didn't have that many before), frame rate pretty much stays pegged on 20 where I have it locked, and everything else about the sim is much more enjoyable. Even in dense urban areas and busy airports the FR stays smooth and steady.Now, where did I put that 5 Ghz box of bits...? :-)

Hi, From the begenning I never use any kind of the shadows, this is probably why my result I have.ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

Chris--you have a considerably faster system than many here. If you read on in my thread you'll note that the issue doesn't seem to be the airports per se', but the impact of the panel, especially during the type that is often done near airports. Set your fps to unlimited, and measure the impact of the panel on your system vs. no panel (hit "W" twice). Now, imagine a system half yours in speed. FS2002 didn't hit performance unless you had a panel with a very complex gauge. But FS2000 had problems, and what I've seen is very much like FS2000. -John

My system is an Athlon XP2400+, 1gb RAM Crucial DDR333, ATI Radeon 9800pro 128mb and I use project magenta in a network, so all the time I fly full screen at 1280x1024, my shadows are OFF and I get a hit of at least 10FPS in approaches, it's with autogen OFF, using autogen it is worst !Ulisses

I think its the ground shadows that are the real culprit here- somehow they eat up lots of resources even when you are well beyond the distance you can even see them. People have surmised that FS2004 is rendering autogen beyond useful distances, my guess is that it isn't "letting go" of shadows.I too miss them, but for the perfomance gain I'll make the trade happily. An unfortunate compromise, though.Best,Joel

Crazy idea- is there a way to create "low resolution" shadows? Do they operate in any way analogous to other textures that have been succesfuly "reduced" by forum members?Joel

I'm not running with any shadows--I didn't in FS2002 as well. Nor Autogen. As I've noted, I think I'm seeing this around airports simply because you do the type of pattern work that has the airceaft changing heading. By hiding the panel, the problem all but goes away.-John

HI Joel, The shadow is in the code in think, never seen any kind of texture for shadows in fs2000, fs2002 and fs2004.I remember in fs2000, using the desktop with 32 bit/ 16 bits and in the sim made a difference, If I remember well on visual not sure about performance.ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

Yeap, Shadows must be calculated using the light position...it is in the code, so every polygon cast a shadow that must be calculated (autogen and scenery).As suggested, I think autogen and scenery have been processed far away from what is needed for the simulation.Ulisses

I don't have FS2004 installed yet but I wonder the following: turn the shadows back on. Fly into say LAX at noon, sunset and say, midnight. If the shadows are the true culprit in FR degration on approach, one would assume that the sunset arrival, i.e., when shadows would be most pronounced would see the lowest FR with midnight setting, you should get no FR loss. If you are getting FR loss with shadows enabled even at midnight, then that cannot be the cause?