I just helped install fs2004 on a friends laptop-a system not much more powerful than my athlon 2100+. I turned everything basically up as it is on my machine on his-yet noticed that performance totally smooth-especially in turns with real weather on his laptop. There were no joysticks connected and I was flying with the keyboard only.I came home and immediately tried running on my system with my ch pro/rudders usb-small stutters in turns at the same airport-not as smooth.I then disabled the joysticks-now smooth flight in the turns-about what he had.For the record-I am happy with performance in general in fs2004-just get slight stutters in turns with lots of real weather or autogen.However-it does seem at least in my case-the joysticks might be the cause of the stutters in turns. Just wondering if others notice this also. I wonder if this would be usb specific, manufacturer specific, or just the delay of translating the joystick input to the program.I have all xp usb updates, latest via drivers etc, etc...http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg

Hello Geof,Well, It would probably be good to see what repsonse you get from other CH Pro USB users, but I can say that with my MS Force Feedback Pro 2 USB joystick I do not have such a performance anomaly occur when turning on my system. Maybe it is manufacturer specific?Regards,JimP.S. I tried to get your Debonair to work in FS2004. I thought if I could edit the panel.cfg to where I could get it working for me I would ask your permission to release the updated panel.cfg file for other folks to make use of. But after editing it to get rid of all warnings, the sim would just crash everytime the plane tried to load. Darnit! :( Oh well. :)

Geof,My experience is also that the more complicated the joystick / peripheral setup, the more it impacts performance. This applies in my case to not only the complexity of a given control device (how many axes / controls), but also how many USB ports are used.If I stick to a simple joystick setup connected to one USB port, then I do get noticeably better performance than if I were to use multiple devices. I guess this makes sense, as the machine needs to constantly poll these devices and / or the USB ports to determine what control inputs it needs to send to the sim. On the other hand if it just gets all it's command input from the keyboard, then that scenario is comparable to using a computer for everyday use - afterall, the majority of personal computers still require a keyboard just to be able to work.In my own situation, because I do notice impaired performance on more complicated peripheral setups, I have now settled a very simple joystick arrangement connected to one USB port only. Also, in my machine's BIOS, I only have the primary USB activated, which theoretically avails me of 2 out of the 4 possible USB ports. But then in Windows I remove the second port from Device Manager. So the machine only has to worry about one device connected to one USB port at any given time.Because I also use motor racing sims, I have two hardware profiles. One hardware profile boots up with the steering wheel and pedals, the other hardware profile boots up with the single joystick.Having used this arrangement completely successfully for two years now, I can vouch that it provides optimal performance. That said, the improvement is extremely small and whether you notice it or not depends alot on what configuration you are running in FS itself. Obviously the more "spare" grunt you have, the less likely you would notice any impact.

It makes sense...I just wonder how many that are having stuttering problems are related to joysticks? It seems we talk to no end about video cards and drivers-but perhaps this problem that effects some more than others comes from this overlooked source?By the way-I just downloaded a newer version of the ch drivers (I have 2.0)-and the stutters in turns are almost gone now....hmmm...http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg

If you remove the old reference to the old gps-and remove the reference to the traffic detector-and if you want add the new fs gps to look cool and replace the mx20-it will work fine. I did something like that with mine-but also screwed up one of the sub panels doing so or I would upload mine.To be honest-I don't want to go near editing anything about it-I burned out on the fs2002 version. If someone wants to upload a "fix" for fs2004-that would be great! :-)http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg

Incidentally, it's not just joysticks that can pull down performance. I used to have a GoFlight device attached to an extra USB port, and even the presense of that device on the USB port caused a very small but noticeable performance decrease. That's why nowadays I am a less-is-more person.Mind you, if I had horsepower to burn, I would connect as many devices as I could afford. Since I think FS2004 is such a fanstastic product, I'm willing to keep running it over the next 4 years (rather than run FS2006) so I can take advantage of the hardware horsepower that will become available during that time.

Geof,Thanks for the input/suggestions about your beautiful Debonair. I tried editing/tweaking that thing quite a bit. Including putting my Reality XP 530 in place of the mx20. After quite I while of trying I became frustrated and gave up. I may decide to try again somtime, if I do and am successful, I'll of course let you know. Meanwhile, I'm kinda hoping maybe someone else will come out with an updated config for it. Thanks again.Take Care,Jim

Drop me an email at [email protected] and I'll send you the one I have-see if it works.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg

"Incidentally, it's not just joysticks that can pull down performance."I agree. It's one of the reasons I bought a HOTAS Cougar. My Elite rudder pedals (gameport) plug into the Cougar. I even use one of those USB>PS2 connectors on my mouse. No scanners, digicams, etc. allowed when I'm flying. Just the Cougar. One USB device that does all that's needed. If I'm racing, them the MOMO is plugged in and the Cougar isn't.USB is a cool technology, but it certainly eats resources.

Geof...you've seen the topic on XP, the Service Pack / USB issue, and the available patch? This is the link I believehttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&DisplayLang=enCheers,bt

Yes-I have -but thanks!http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg

Hmmm....me thinks other things are the root problem...USB driver wise that is. I have always plugged in:1. MS SW PP Stick2. Momo Force Wheel3. HP 6200 Scanner4. Compaq IPAQ 36355. Altec Lansing ACS495 Speakers/Sup6. Epson 740i7. MS Optical Mouse8. Xircom 7 port USB HubThey are all plugged in but on the stick, mouse and speakers get used when flying (and hub) and as fast as USB 1.1 is,(or even 2.0 which I have but no 2.0 devices) Your controls are still well under the USB limit of 125 polls per second, which in a PC is dirt slow. And if I check the processes running, scanner, printer, etc are at 0.0. So no worries mate! :DGood article at Toms Hardware Guide right now on the new wirless mouses, some good USB info in the story....I've been running tons of USB stuff since my first Dell in '99...and have built three PC's since then. Nothing different and no stutters. FPS hits at 2 way to detailed for my Video card airports (Shev's KSNA and KLGB) but thats another matter.

Do the experiment in fs and disable the joystick-see if performance gets better.I am not blaming usb-but the joystick at least on my machine takes a hit-more than any video driver or video setting I have tried...Could be the joystick-could be the joystick driver-could be usb.I know the newer driver I just tried helped.Just wonder if any of those reporting stutters have looked in this direction rather than the old video card/drivers...http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg