Hi everyone & *******,I have a big problem with FSX. I am running the Newer shader 3 mod and have an ATI Card which it did help alot except the following. I have changed settings and tried just about everything I can think of, and now I am burned out and I am reaching out for some help. If I am using a AC on floats for example, I get a solid 28-38 frames smooth as can be. (I use a external Frame Limiter locked at 30) As soon as the water spray effect starts, it brings my system to it's knees. 4-8 FPS??? Also The effects when flying Helecopters when taking off from a grass surface, the dirt effect kills my system. If I am not looking at it, no hit, or if I am zoomed out, no effect EX: the tower camera. If I get close to the effect or see it in my line of site , forget it. Cumulus Clouds are killing my system lately too. Why does everything else run ok?? Any sugesstions. I know I am limited a bit with my rig. AI Hits me too and I can't have any or I get stutters when panning. I have a Imac 3.02GHZ Core Duo Win & Pro 32 bit. It has an ATI mobility 4670HD 512MB video card and on board sound, 4 gigs ram. I tweaked the heck out of my rig to get FSX running smooth which I am very happy now, but I am getting bored not having any AI, no clouds, or bad weather to fly other than Cirrus clouds and visibility turned down to simulate low vis. etc.. I was hoping bojote can chime in only because I followed a lot of your wonderful knowledge to get this far and maybe I can have a miracle now and get it to run smooth all the way around. Thanks so much in advance for any suggestions. Warm regards, Jeff

Warm regards, Jeff

Jeff, see the posts I made 5 minutes ago. Upload your fsx.cfg to have the automated tool take a look at it and see everything is ok with it.

Hi *******,I responded in your other thread to this. I'm sorry it was there, I didn't want to take your thread OT. Warm regards, Jeff

Jeff, you installed the BETA Shader 3 mod correct? or you had the shader mod already installed before I released the latest version? Generally the comments I receive from ATI users are all related to the massive performance increase they get with the mod. Probably this only applies to newer ATI cards? you have a 4000 series.. thats kind of old I believe.

Jeff, I have an ATI 5770 on my system, and the problems with particles ar similar to yours (note, I'm using FSX in windowed mode cause I need that for different reasons), also with Shaders 3.0 mod, but recently, I had a good fps improvement lowering the water settings to "Low 2X", that is not so bad after all. In dense clouds environment I had an increas of 7-8 fps reaching a relative good value of 20-22 fps with Wilco E-Jets. In good weather no problem to have 35 or more fps. Note, it doesn't matter if you're close to water or not.Before, with water at medium 2X in the same first situation I had 10-15 fps maximum. Another think could be useful for ATI owner, I've been able to re-obtain FSAA in windoved mode setting FSAA off in ATI Tray Tools an on in FSX itself, leaving Anisotropic on at 8X in ATT and trilinear in game (from Catalyst 10.8 I had lost FSAA in windowed mode). I really don't know if this coul be the best setting for my card, but so far today is the best I've been able to achieve (thanks also to all boyote's tweaks).Mauro

"Jeff, you installed the BETA Shader 3 mod correct? or you had the shader mod already installed before I released the latest version? Generally the comments I receive from ATI users are all related to the massive performance increase they get with the mod. Probably this only applies to newer ATI cards? you have a 4000 series.. thats kind of old I believe."Hi *******,Thanks for your reply as always. My ATI card came in my IMAC I purchased last june, so it is not too old? But then again, at the rate new hardware comes out, it most likely is. The shader mod I got was installed a few months ago give or take? I assume that was the beta, bit I don't recall seeing anything mentioning a beta. Maybe I should re-download it again and start over in that dept? It can't hurt to try. I am comfortable with editing FSX and cfg files etc.. so I don't mind trying whatever you suggest. I guess I have OCD now trying to get FSX as perfect as it can be. Not that I'm alone in that department either. Hmmmm...obsessed with flight sim performance. LOL! Actually it's not funny. I drive myself nuts tweaking! At least once in a while I get a nice flight in between the madness. :)Warm regards, Jeff

Jeff,Do the following:re-install the shader mod, use this link: http://www.venetubo.com/sha3mod.zipAfter instalation, make sure you go to a folder created in your start menu called 'Shader 3 Mod for Flight Simulator X' and select the option 'Apply' Tweaks' let me know how this goes.