Something with FS2004 is far wrong.....

[3Green 80]

After several weeks of testing, tweaking etc, I thought I found the perfect combo of slider settings, video drivers, etc, for my machine. :) I have a lower end PC, and every frame per second counts for me.Here is my latest problem :-hmmm I just can't fix with slider settings and would like to ask fellow simmers if they see the same frame hit..It appears anytime I open up another window, my frames drop by about 4 FPS. Take the default B777-300 for example. Sitting on the runway with the default panel, when I open up the radio stack, my frames drop from 18.0 down to 14 frames. If I open the throttle quad, it goes down to 12 frames. What's up with this? Not believing this, I loaded up FS2002 and compared all the default aircraft. Opening up the radio stack, has no impact at all on frames in FS2002. Why does the radio stack in FS2004 have such a huge impact? I know I can't use the GPS in FS2004 because of the huge frame drop, but now radio stack??? Somebody give me a break.. ;)How can this be fixed? Thanks in advance.... RJ :-wave I suspect the answer will be a 5 Gig CPU ;(

[Guest wathomas777]

I don't have an issue with the radio stack, But the GPS on the other hand is a very different story. It takes 4 to 5 FPS in all situations. I tried this on two different computers with two different video cards. The hit is the same.I think the Garmin GPS is an XML gauge and as a result is not fully optimized. I remember the 747-400 panel on FS2002 as being an XML panel and that had a terrible hit on updates as well.If I remember correctly.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I can only confirm this seems to happen on lower end systems, having one too. Every panel "window" seems to be good for a 10-20 pct hit in fps. There's ways you can reduce the problem, but it won't go away I'm afraid.~First, some panels are "two parters". They have a bottom portion, and a separate bitmap above contains a heading indicator, or light switches, etc... If you right click on the top portion and click close, you'll gain 4-5 fps--perhaps enough to accomodate the GPS as an example.~I've noticed no relationship between the number of gauges and performance with the panel. It seems to be display of the bitmaps that cause the hit.~If you have a panel that displays the gps all the time, comment it out of the panel.cfg. Most panels allow you to pull up the gps by hitting shift+one of the number keys. Display it when you need to see it, hide it when you don't.~Reduce some of the other load on your system--turn shadows off, leave autogen at normal or below. Use Chris's cloud set--it does help. Reduce the screen res of your system. I get better performance and better visuals with 800x600x32 with AA vs 1024x768x32 without.I won't argue the point you've raised. I'm not happy with it either. And sure as shooting someone with a faster system will come in and tell you this, that and the other thing is fouled up on your system. I service systems and networks for a living, and I can tell you what you see seems valid for a lower end system--as mine is as pristine as they come.I guess the price we pay for beautiful clouds is Microsoft's having mucked around with the 3-d internals. We're being forced into ditching the lower end systems, or putting up with these issues. Or, choosing between FS2002 and FS2004 depending on the flight and the mood. I do the latter--I guess it's the price I pay for hanging onto my system. But I also pay a positive price--I have stability in both sims. FS2004 has been running on my system today since 10:30AM...no issues, and no degradation in performance.

[3Green 80]

Actually, I see an improvement with FS2004 and the boeing 747-400 panel in FS2004 in terms of the refresh rate, but as soon as I open the radio stack, I loose 4 FPS. The default B747-400 panel is better in FS2004, but as soon as I open a second window, like the radio stack or throttle quad, I lose 4 FPS. So I guess you don't see any FPS loss? Excluding the GPS...

[Guest Wizard]

HI, I am amazed at your specs and recieving satisfactory performance. I assume you have some sliders turned down..obviously :).My prob is this (after looking at your specs..close to mine) well..I have a p4-1.4 256ram and a newly installed GF4mx440..well let me tell you..I was having better results with the GF2 I had previously.I have not mucked with these drivers yet..:( but may have to.I turned off all sliders and shut off every box I could in the display box..min 800 resolution and had my Frame rates jumping..jumping..nothing smooth or steady ..from 24 to 45 max..but I mean jumping. In fs4 with all sliders at 2/3 with clouds at min. I usually get a slide show of 2- 8 fps, clr the clouds and might get 14- 17..does not sound right.In fs 2002, I have all sliders max and I get fairly smooth 18- 20'sdown to 8-12 15's clouds heavy scnery etc.But to turn everthing off, with my specs..and looking at some of the high end people runnin flawlessly....I wonder if it is partly the card....and partly the ram..or what?So How much does it cost to have the sim running on my machine ..smoothly ..like the top endersP4..3 gig biggest card and at leat a grand of ram?Oh, yeah for my I have to load up on Rambus ram..the cheap stuff only fits in my system (DELL:(Ok whinin over Any help appreciated!