Well, well, after 6 months of beta testing and trying to get FS2004 to run correctly, some of which time was spent slightly heated up wit h the MS team on the beta - I have solved my stutter problems and have gained a significant steady frame rate in 2004 with almost all sliders max at 1600x1200x32 on my P4 1.5/512/Radeon 9700 Pro Catylist 3.7 (the very latest ones that just came out). Before stutters would plauge me after the first 10 min of flying. Now there are none and I can fly at over 40fps most of the time with frame rate UNLOCKED. Visually there is no visual diff when running unlocked. What I did (and may not work for you - but who knows)was to just reinstall the new drivers for the Radeon, reinstall FS2004 (store copy), delete the default.xml file as many have reportedI know run stutter free, for many hours, with some slight frame rate slowdowns over time only! Frame rates go from 100 in cruise to 30 to 40 in landing. Terrain mesh 100% too, doesn't hurt any, nor the res x32.. must be the Radeon 9700 Pro FINALLY WORKS RIGHT with thenew drivers? eh?Now, maybe this is the best card to finally have.Peter

Peter,Congrats on the fix. Now without sounding like an A Hole, how the hell are you getting those FR with that machine? 30-40 on landing? Where? Almost all Sliders maxxed at 16x12x32? How many or what sliders are maxxed? Your not running a stitch of AA or AF though right? I ask these questions becuase your probably the only person running your settings on a machine of your specs getting those results. Hell guys with 2X the CPU really don't get those FR at TO or Land.If you say so than hey great for you.Good Luck and happy flyingBobby

Peter; yeah, there's definitely a problem with that autogen. When I renamed the default xml file and changed the _vector= to zero, my sim took off. I run with everything pretty much maxed except for AI. AI IMHO also has a frame bug and always has. If I move the AI slider up, my frames slide. Definitely a processor limitation with AI. I much prefer the eye candy anyway and find ATC just a hassle. The 9700 handles the graphics very well. We'll have to wait for the PV processors for the AI. Each to their own way of finding what they like and how best to run the sim. I don't really notice any major difference when running with unlimited frames either. PIV 2.53 512PC1066 9700 Pro.

Yes, deleting the xml file has a significant impact on framerates. Unfortunately it makes the autogen scenery a bit bland, but on the other hand, framerate is doubled, sometimes even trippled.40 FPS where? I don't think you can get that on approach to KSEA with all sliders maxed, even after deleting the default.xml file and disabling vector objects.I have however found that FS2004 is MUCH faster at rendering mesh scenry than FS2002 ever was. Where as I would get 20-30 FPS over detailed mesh scenery (over forest), I get 40-70 FPS in FS2004.

May I ask a dumb question, just where and what is the XML file?Lee

The file is located in FS9Autogendefault.xmlIt contains definitions for some additional autogen objects (barns, gas stations, fast food houses etc.). Nothing special, and the majority of autogen is defined elsewhere.There's something funny going on with regards to how FS2004 handles this additional autogen, as well as normal scenery library objects. It does not release the objects after they have been viewed causing framerate to drop significantly over time as more and more objects accumulate. Simply deleting or renaming the default.xml file will remove the references to the troublesome objects, increasing framerate. You will loose some variety in the autogen (red barns on the countryside, gas stations, billboards, shopping malls etc. in cities), but for now, it's the only way to get decent framerate if you suffer from this problem.

Can someone expand on the vector objects=0? Where and how?

Disregard, found it.

Hi,In case anyone is interested, there is a file that partially helps with the autogen bug while allowing you to keep rural area objects in case you still wnat to have objects such as red barns and silos and the like in the countryside(where the bug has the least effect/hit). It is in the avsim library and it's filename is 'fs9xml.zip'. I recommend trying the sim with the default.xml file renamed for a while, then with this file in it's place to see what you think.Regards,Jim

Hi. I have tried the file but the performance hit is still too big for me. It does not remove enough objects for framerate to be good enough over e.g. the SW of US because of the large rural areas. Framerate dipped to 12 after 40 minutes. I deleted some additional objects and got the FPS up to 16 but deleting the xml alltogether I got 31 FPS...

....Don't disregard ;) I would like to know about Those "Vectors"Thank youJos

Hi JimmiG,Thanks for reporting your results. Well, I really wish MS would just fix this bug! ;)Jim

Hey Peter glad to know everything worked out great to you. I installed the catalyst 3.7 and improve fps by 8-10 but the the textures looked discolored, but I didnt reinstall FS9 when i install those driver, do you think thats what might caused that. I have a Radeon 7000pro.

>Peter,>>Congrats on the fix. Now without sounding like an A Hole, how>the hell are you getting those FR with that machine? 30-40 on>landing? Where? Almost all Sliders maxxed at 16x12x32? How>many or what sliders are maxxed? Your not running a stitch of>AA or AF though right? I ask these questions becuase your>probably the only person running your settings on a machine of>your specs getting those results. Hell guys with 2X the CPU>really don't get those FR at TO or Land.on my machine, I get an easy 40fps on landing in places like Grand Junction CO, Eagle, CO, anywhere in the Caribbean like St. Marteen, where the scenery is to die for... that is with 4X AA activated by the video card, in windows mode, 1600x1200x32, without aa selected in the FS9 menu. All is maxed execpt weather settings, they are default however. Autogen is medium. Terrain mesh full (never saw a decrease in anything however, have not tried flying near coasts yet wit it on max). I NEVER use GPS nor real weather and I noticed that PFC controls and FSUIPC cause st utters!Peter