ATI 9800 issues

[Hornit 3]

After using this card all day today I love it!!! Im curious to know if others are seeing something that I am. When I go to spot view, it seems my panning is pretty jerky unless I go 360 degrees around the aircraft, then its smooth as long as I stay in that view. Happens with any aircraft, no big deal really, but I would think its some kind of driver issue. I also see what i consider to be long load times when switching views in the 2D pits. Its not a big deal either but it takes just a moment for the views to switch, not used to that. Sometimes I get a flicker of wierd texture or an old artifact for a split second then everything is fine. Running in windowed mode to avoid the flashing thing with menus. Is that what is causing this? Full screen is really annoying if you have to use the menus. This is a great card but it needs a driver tweak for this sim.Hornit

[Guest SoarPics]

"This is a great card but it needs a driver tweak for this sim."Hope that will be soon, Hornit. ATI is getting back on track with their driver support, so if we're lucky we'll see something in the next CATs.I have a 9700 Pro running the CAT 3.6's, so I can't offer you much on the spot view issue. I just tested here and see nothing like what you mention.With regard to load times when switching views in 2D, I am seeing that. It's the worse on the Carenado Cessna 210, but still not bad (use to have the same thing with my 4600 in FS2K2). I'm running in full screen (accepting the menu flashing... just can't get use to window mode).As an aside, I spent the last few hours here testing add-on terrain mesh. WOW, what a difference!! In FS2K2 I never added any terrain mesh... the nVidia cards I owned (GF2 64 MB, GF3 Ti 200, and GF4 4600 128 MB over 2 years) just couldn't cut it. Even with this computer (AMD 2400xp @ 2700, A7N8X, 1Gb PC2700 (until last week when I went to 1Gb of Corsair PC3200 XMS)), the 4600 couldn't get it done. Now, with the 9700 and FS9, I believe I'll be spending some time and money at FSGenesis. I tested some 10M mesh for the Bay area and Yosemite, and this box never lost a single frame!!It just keeps getting better.

[Guest hassata]

People upgrading from Nvidia cards to ATI sometimes face problems resulting from left-over Nvidia drivers (some say it may even be by design). Download and run Detonator Destroyer. Some even go through the registry and folders to remove Nvidia referenced stuff (there are guides out there, although that maybe overkill). I suggest you also install Omega's drivers rather than the plain vanilla 3.6, just be sure to follow Omega's simple instructions for installation.

[Guest]

The spot view jerkiness sounds like texture loading. As you move around the plain you're getting different views of terrain, requiring different textures to be loaded. Once you've gone right round, they're all loaded into video memory. Just a guess of course. I don't know if this is specific to ATI cards. You could try lowering the mip-map setting and see how this affects it.

[Guest hassata]

Also, you can edit the config tex load entry o increase to 400. I have mine at 1000, and don't see brown pop up textures whiule loading anymore.

[Guest]

Hi, I am totally new to MS Flight SIms, and am wondering what FSGenesis is you mentioned you may be purchasing since you're ATI card is performing so well. I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, and am wondering if maybe I should look into this program as well?

[Guest Bigshot]

Hornit; try running with 16xAF Performance. Ground textures just look more natural in performance mode and there's no distinct high res/low res texture line in front of the aircraft. I had some pausing when panning in outside view when running quality anisio in FS2k2. Also, in the fs9 cfg file, increase the default textures to =5 and then extended textures to =8. Also, in the fs9 cfg file, there's a texture_bandwidth_mult= line in the display section. The higher value you assign the more priority the program gives to the video card when transferring textures. Increase it and no more pop in textures. I originally set my mult to =400. It was really quick changing to outside views; but caused bad stuttering with the eaglesoft aircraft when switching views. I've since lowered it to =70 and now everything seems fine. Try =80 and =90 also. Once in a while I'll see a texture pop in; but the eaglesoft aircraft behave.

[Guest]

Bigshot what's this Eaglesoft software you mention?

[mickjosb 0]

www.fsgenesis.net is a site for mesh scenery, not a site dedicated to the ATI 9800. Is a good site with good mesh.

[B777ER 2,483]

Guys, let me ask you, when you are setting AA and AF on the 9800PRO, you are doing it through the ATI control panel? We are to leave AA and AF off through the FS2004 menu options (if they are available)correct? therby letting the card handle it and not the cpu? I don't have either but will be getting both on my new cpu here in about 2 weeks. I just want to be ready to set this when I get it though.

[Guest Bigshot]

www.eaglesoftdg1.com . It's payware. You get a Beechjet 400A and a Premier1 and can also buy a BeechjetXP . If you get all three, they're about ten bucks a piece. Very nice aircraft with a bunch of liveries. Only problem with em' is they seem to like a gig of ram; but fly ok with 512mb.

[Hornit 3]

I went and put the sliders to performance versus quality, and that has taken care of the stutter while panning, Thanks!!! Still looks just fantastic and I think it helped the view switching a good bit also, great tip! Now to fix the menu crap:) Windowed mode is only OK if I know that ATI is gonna fix this I guess. I also tried the terrain def/ext radius trick with 9.5 and 4.5 and got some minor stuttering, with 8 and 5 it seems to be totally gone, also a nice tip. Hornit

[Guest Bigshot]

I got my 9700 Pro last September when they first came out along with my PIV2.53. I could have gotten a 2.8; but elected to spend the extra on a monitor. It's just amazing that a year later it's still what'd I call state of the art equipment. Usually, a year makes a huge difference in technology. This past 12 months though things haven't really changed that much. During that time, I've run FS2k2 in about every conceivable card and option setup. I keep going back to that 16xAF performance anisio. It seems to be the best option. IMHO.

[Guest tascaso]

I am looking to leave the NVIDIA camp and go with ATI. Give me a break down of issues with FS2004 and FS2002. Also how do they do with tother games such as IL-2FB, EA Sports F1 Challenge 99-02. Let me know!Thank youTony

[Guest cw1011]

I get the long load times with the 9700 the first time I switch views. After that, they seem fine. I've just added to my checklist.