Hello, Using FS2004 on a NVIDIA MSI FX5900 (non ultra) with 52.16 drivers, 1GB RAM, Intel P4 [email protected]. Win XP PRO. Antialiasing works very well at 4xS (much better than 4x) and 1280x1024x32 with 17-23 FPS at full detail with ZERO jaggies, perfect image, but inside clouds the frames drop very low, 5 or 6 FPS, unflyable. I used the cessna grand Caravan and default scenery, no add-ons. I have tried several configurations, optimizations, tweaks, HT enabling/desabling/affinity trick, XP tweaking, overclocking the video card, etc. and the problem always appear when flying with dense clouds. I also played with the FS9.CFG settings with no results. Tried the replacement cloud textures (compressed) found at avsim file library, there's a slight change but nothing worth the change. I tested with the detail sliders going from 100% to 70%. Clouds sliders are: Sight distance: 70mi Cloud draw distance: 40mi 3-D Cloud percentage: 90% Cloud detail (Detailed Clouds): Maximum I also tried lowering the cloud detail, but if a P4 at 2.9Ghz, 1GB RAM and a NVIDIA FX5900 is not enough to fly at full detail... then I'll need a mainframe.... I made a big investment (in my pocket terms) to be able to fly with acceptable quality, and for me, that's full detail weather and ZERO jaggies, other goodies can wait. I just can't believe that a FX5900 can't do AA at 4xS 1280x1024x32 with heavy cloud formations, it's a near top of the line video card, where's the problem ? After several weeks of testing, my conclusion is that there's a hard link between cloud detail and antialias (4xS), at least on the NVIDIA FX5900 with 52.16 drivers, other factors seem not to really affect the performance. I'm the only one to have this problem ? Is this a driver problem ? What about ATI Radeon users ? Any comments are welcome Thanks Camilo

>What about ATI Radeon users ? No, you are not the only one. This issue has been discussed. You may search for past posts on the subject.I think the problem does not exist for Radeon users since ATI's approach to AA is completely different (superior ?).Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

>Hello, >>Using FS2004 on a NVIDIA MSI FX5900 (non ultra) with 52.16>drivers, 1GB RAM, Intel P4 [email protected]. Win XP PRO. >>Antialiasing works very well at 4xS (much better than 4x) and>1280x1024x32 with 17-23 FPS at full detail with ZERO jaggies,>perfect image, but inside clouds the frames drop very low, 5>or 6 FPS, unflyable. Hi Camilo,After some Thorough investigating from JimmiG, JonPo1 and myself...Nvidia cards are able to Antialias Alpha textures, this includes Tree textures, Radio towers, various other objects, aircraft parts, panel parts and....clouds.Antialiasing the >objects< is a good thing as the image is very stable (no shimmering) at even the highest AF and LOD settings (do not over use the mip settings), however as you noted there is a huge penalty for filtering the clouds, and frankly it does nothing for image IQ to have the cloud textures antialiased.So here are your choices for now:Setting AA=on in the sim will always AA alpha textures including clouds, so for this as well as some other performance reasons always leave AA=off in the sim.As for the driver settings:2xAA will not AA the Alpha texturesQncxAA Does AA the Alpha 4xAA will not AA the Alpha 4xsAA Does AA AlphaIf you use Tweakers like Rivatuner to access other hiden values:6xAA Does AA Alpha8xAA Does AA AlphaAs far as ATI: "I think the problem does not exist for Radeon users since ATI's approach to AA is completely different (superior ?)."ATI hardware is not enabled to AA alpha textures.As far as this issue concerning the clouds my own feeling is the ATI card is superior in that you can pick the higher AA settings (ATI's AA is superior as for IQ) that will be seen for your aircraft and buidings while not taking the performance hit that you get from the NV card.However if you like flying VFR over nice scenery and terrain with all the image quality settings on high; high LOD high AF then the shimmering of all the alpha textured objects is bad for IQ and for that the AAing of alphas (Qnx/4xs/6x/8xAA) by your Nvidia card will come in handy for the best IQ over the terrain.

Hi , great explanation Paul.I have a GF FX5900 Ultra (Creative), and I don

Hello Guys,4xS AA 2x GF 5900 ultra 52.16is the best! (with Tweaker) Just ser the cloud layer thin! 1500 - max 2000 ft! Scattered.AC5Mainboard ASUS P4 C - 800 Deluxe Bios 1008Pentium 4 C - 800 3.0 Ghz2048 MB RAM Corsair XMS (4 x 512MB DDR, 400MHz, CL2)Graphics card Nvidia GF FX 5900 Ultra 256 MB Drivers 52.16Windows XP Professional English SP 1a

Great info Paul, Thank you.So what can we expect from NVIDIA ? do you think this is something that can be improved at the driver level ?Camilo

I am running an Athlon 2800xp(overclocked to 3200) and a Ti4200 128 meg video card. Download the latest cloud textures, they are of a lower resolution but look just as good. These textures were released a couple of days ago, and they are great. I have my AA set within my video card settings at 4xs, and have a silky smooth sim even with different cloud setups. It was these latest cloud files that really made the difference. Give 'em a try!Harry

After using the autogen fixes that have been discussed here and switching to Chris' FSW clouds, I have no problems with my PIV2.53, 9700Pro, 512mb PC1066 Ram machine. Both made a huge difference in performance on my machine. I run 1600x1200x32; 4xAA & 16xAF Performance with all sliders maxed (90%on TerrainMesh; Maxed Clouds; 90mi visibility; max coverage; but density on high; trilinear filtering selected which gives the best pic quality; ground shadows off). I also run the AI slider either off or on default. Raising that slider affects performance). I also switched to Gerrish's Connifer Trees which don't wiggle. My picture is nice and quiet. No shimmer, no wiggle, no glitches of any kind. None noticeable anyway unless I look for a radio tower at an airport. I run with frames on unlimited and usually see frames between 20 (in 2d cockpit) and a 100 in outside view depending on what I'm looking at. I can now run with heavy storms, building storms, no problem with frames in the 20s and nice and smooth. There is a bug however; when you fly above heavy storms that slows the frames down. But they're still acceptable framerate wise. Just not what they should be above those storms. If you really look for flaws, you'll find em' in any game/sim. I run FS9 mostly with fair weather and building storms as those two are my preference and I don't use any third party mesh, landclass or other scenery. What FS9 provides is good enough for me.

I fly with real weather, and I don't consider 5 or 6 FPS a "flaw", I call that a show stopper :)Maybe it's your Radeon 9700 PRO that makes the difference, or the view angles.My tests are pretty simple but effectives, I download real weather for a cloudy area and go inside with the Cessna Caravan, no addons. All the other switches (autogen, mesh, etc.) become irrelevant when mixing dense clouds and AA set at 4xS 1280x1024x32 on the FX5900.

I've never used real weather. Just not interested in that feature. I have read quite a few posts though where it was giving folks headaches. You'll just have to find the sweat spot for that card. There's no card that'll do everything all at once.

How did you replace the trees that wiggle with ones that don't? Did you take the connifers from the 2002 conifers in Trees v3 and delete all your trees, then replace them with these? What you did sounds interesting.

Gerrish released several sets of trees for FS2k2. One was called "connifer". I use those. His other tree addons wiggle pretty bad with my 9700Pro. Not the case with the connifers. Backup your originals first, then just replace them.