Please .....Please .....Please.......

[Guest simnut]

I, for one, love to help someone out with computer and FS issues, but......please...please...please.....1) MAKE SURE YOUR BIOS IS TUNED!Research the net for your mb and equipment, read about what others have found to be the best settings within BIOS . DO NOT take for granted that your new computer is set up properly. Oh, it is set up sufficiently to run most OS's and programs, but perhaps not for FS. Key things to check are AGP aperature, Fast Write, etc. This is the corner stone to your computer's session you are about to begin. If this isn't tuned, the rest aint' either!2)MAKE SURE YOUR OS IS TUNED!Do yourself a favor, go to this site (or similar type of site)http://www.tweaktown.com/ and follow as much of this info as you feel comfortable following! FS is a graphically intense program, requiring your computer to BE IN TOP FORM! MS operating systems are notorious for all the extra "junk" that is running needlessly, draining resources. As mentioned in a previous post, even a desktop icon is taking resources. A wallpaper is taking resources...etc. You can do MANY things to tune your OS, like important things such as your memory and virtual memory usage. XP has many systems running in the background that are useless in day to day use, especially for a gaming machine. XP is a great OS to "fa*rt" around with....the restore feature can save your buttt! 3) MAKE SURE YOUR DEVICE DRIVERS ARE TUNED!Type in your hardware in Google and you will be amazed at the info available. Tweaks and drivers, do's and don't's and user experiences are resources you should use. Usually the newest drivers for a device are the best, BUT not always. This can be experimental. 4) MAKE SURE FS2004 IS TUNED!Tuned for your system.....which may mean all the sliders CANNOT be moved all the way to the right, although, if above is followed, the sliders CAN be increased. And this is the stage many of us can help out because this is the only constant between everyone running FS2004 right? Here is a great site for radical hints and tweaks for FS:http://www.ailes-virtuelles.com/trucs-astu...essoluces02.htmMany of these hints were a tremendous help to me and I run an Athlon 2800xp, Ti4200 128mg, 1gig DDR3200 ram, and Win XP. This system is only 2 months old...but ----->I<---- set it up properly with the help of the above sites. I guess what I am trying to say is this.Your flightsim enjoyment starts when you turn on your computer and it goes through BIOS. It all starts there......and these are things that you, the user can tweak. You can have a brand new Ferarri, but if you put desiel in it, don't expect too much. BUT, if you give it the proper resources, the Ferarri WILL burn up the road!I would like everyone to enjoy FS2004, and you can. But it may take a bit of work on your part to get there. I thank you for your time!(Now let the flaming begin!! )Harry

[1mikel151 71]

Why would the flaming begin?? You are trying to help by pointing out things that have helped you, The post took alot of work on your part! thanks for the tips, I am sure some of us will benefit!!Regards, Michaelhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

[MD83 1]

Thanks for the info :)http://album.atomic-systems.com/showPic.ph.../AAV_banner.jpghttp://www.aavirtual.com :)

[Guest daveg4otu]

I'll go along with Harry's recomendations ,in particular BIOS settings are often ignored.This PC uses a K7S5A motherboard and when I first built the PC over a year ago ,using the default settings ,performance was diabolical,- unstable,slow and generally unreliable.Over the following months I changed many things in the PC ,both hardware and software,but one of the most productive exercises was gradually altering the BIOS settings until I arrived at a point where the PC was stable,quick and reliable.As first assembled it wouldn't run FS2002 for more than about 30 mins without some kind of problem.Now it can run ad lib.For those who are reluctant to play in the BIOS,be aware that if you really muck things up,it is simple to reset the CMOS and reload the default BIOS settings and start again.Also,when making changes,do only one thing at a time,note what you've done,see how the system reacts before making more changes.One other thing often ignored is heat.Quite simply ,a system that is fine under normal(low- demand)circumstances,will often become unstable when running a high demand application such as FS.Check and see how your CPU and system temps are affected- it may be that a bit off extra cooling is all that is needed.Some board/CPU cominations are more prone to heat induced instability than others but as a general rule - the cooler the better.

[Guest Bob Z]

HarryEverything you said is perfectly valid and should never be taken for granted. I read thru the Tweaktown guides just yesterday to refresh my memory and see if there was anything I might have missed.I will second the comment on System Restore. It can get you out of almost all jams and it only takes a few seconds to run a backup before applying any system adjustments or doing anything "heroic".I usually label them something like "Before Driver Tweak" andafter the system has been stable for a comfortable time period, I do a restore backup called "Scheduled" and delete all but the last (scheduled) backup.I have a pretty lean machine but have a question. There is a utility mentioned on Tweaktown called something like XP Tweak Suite. It has a button for registry cleaning. I have been pretty careful with un/installs and have tried to keep the reg fairly clean via careful install procedures and system management. However, I was wondering if this registry clean utility is safe?

[Guest simnut]

I use another program, Regclean, and I have not had a problem with it yet. It even does a back up before it does it's thing.....so you can always go back to it if need be. Won't System Restore look after the registry also? I would imagine so, as many installed programs show up again after doing a restore. It's amazing how much quicker a computer can run when ALLOWED to run! :)Harry

[Guest simnut]

The heat.....excellent point!Harry

[Guest Bob Z]

HarryI've seen Regclean on PCWorld and it is listed for WIN/NT, 95, 98 and I have XP, so I was looking for an XP util. I revisited Tweaktown and the util listed there is called Winoptimizer by Ashampoo for $40 and does several other things also, stray DLL's, modem settings, disk files.Yes, System Restore does the reg as well.