Hellorecently there was a post asking simmers to list there favourite freeware airport sceneries. What I would like is something similar but including framerate/performance.My PC is ageing but still flies FS9 in a perfectly acceptable manner (P4 2.8,1GB RAM,GForce 6600GT Gcard.So far I have found only one add-on airport that really is properly usable (nice too) UK 2000s Manchester lite freeware version. I also have two by Framerate friendly studios VIDP Delhi and VOMM Chenai these two are just about OK ,but VIDP is spoilt by an area of construction (new terminal) lots of cranes (also some rather mysterious flashing lights )anytime that particular portion of the airport is in view frames and usability plummet.VOMM is pretty good though.Last night I added PANC Anchorage(also from Framerate friendly studio's and flew into it from CYVR(stock fs9) the resulting landing and taxxing where so poor (performance wise )that was immediately deleted after my session.So if anybody can recommend good freeware airports that are (genuinely FRate friendly )for a fairly Dinoplodicus but still perfectly usable PC I would appreciate it.Please chaps no 'get yourself a new PC' type comments either.That is not an option at this time.shortage of wonga in Andy land.

Sovlite11 for Sheremetyevo is light and pretty good for free. Available from the library here.

Sovlite11 for Sheremetyevo is light and pretty good for free. Available from the library here.

Thanks GavinMy first bite.Andy

Only you will really know what is framerate friendly for your system by testing them out but that won't break the bank as you are asking about freeware airports, ;)I will say that when I designed 9Dragons it was on an Intel single core 2.8GHz. CPU and I could not even run my own design at sliders full right! At the time of release (2008), most seemed to say it was framerate friendly for such a large package but I noticed most would run it without AI. I suspect it would be the same for you now. I would think about saving those nickles and upgrade your system as it doesn't take or cost much these days to enjoy the full experience with FS2004.Clutch

I'm also still using a pretty elderly PC which I'm frankly too lazy to replace - a bit like an old car which you know costs a fortune to keep running but has been with you so long it's acquired sentimental value. Random freeware addons that don't cause any noticeable problems for me but still look the business would include...- the Norway Airports package available here. A mixed bag but some of them, eg ENVA Trondheim, are very good indeed. - in the same part of the world, there's a pretty good ENGM Oslo Gardermoen (here) and an outstanding former payware set of Swedish airports here, all of which always run smoothly for me- Shehryar Ansari's KCLE Cleveland-Hopkins (here) isn't half bad. Much of his other (later I believe) stuff you'd happily pay good money for - last year's KPHL is of course already legendary - but I can only make it run acceptably by turning down the AI traffic- South African airports from Aeroworx: for instance FACT Cape Town (here) and FABL Bloemfontein (here) but alas not their very nice but very stuttery (for me) Johannesburg- around the Med: LEAL Alicante (here), LFMN Nice (here), LIRN Naples (here) and pretty much all the HSP Greek airports (here) although some of them are a bit basic, and they can be a bit fiddly to install properly- and closer to home, my personal favourite UK freeware is this for EGBB Birmingham.Having said all of that, I never have much of a problem with FRF's Anchorage but a lot of the UK2000 stuff is all but unusably slow. So maybe it'll be the other way round with all the above too. Hope not.

Andy, In my experiance, what really affects my performace is not so much the airport scenery itself, but the amount of traffic I have flying around it. With my system, London HRW can be sluggish with traffic at 100% and that is with Gary Summers scenery which is pretty frame-rate-friendly. To directly answer your question the airport(in my opinon)that offers the best frame rate balanced with the most complex scenery has got to be LROP-Bucharest http://www.avsimrus.com/f/fs2004-sceneries-44/lrop-2009-by-rsdt-scenario-is-one-of-the-best-romanian-ports--22425.htmlTristan

Most of Mach1 Design Group's airports are easy on frames; their KPHX in particular is excellent. You might try Jan Martin's "Jetways and Terminals" series also, which improves many default major airports, and Thomas Kwong's VHHH as well.

Thanks GavinMy first bite.AndyGavin thanks for the recommendation. I downloaded it ( Sheremetyevo) and that scenery is very frame rate friendly so that's one for the pot.cheers Andy

Thanks very much for your suggestions and links.There is plenty to keep me busy. The reason I am asking for your suggestions at this time is because until now I have been reluctant to have ANY addon sceneries/airports in case of potential clashes and possible CTD woes ,but I feel now as a fairly experienced user of FS I can (hopefully) sort out any possible problems that might arise. The only add-on airport I had up to this point is VTBS Suvabh-------the one with the long name. because that is not included in FS9. Its good scenery, usable but a bit sluggish on my PC.By the way there is only one thing that MIGHT make me consider a new PC and that is FLIGHT if it turns out to be a real hit .However what ever it turns out be it probably ain't going to run well on PCs of my vintage.Thanks guys! trying out new sceneries could become a hobby in its own right.Andy

Hello AllAnother bit of brain picking please. Where are Addon sceneries/airports best placed in the FS9 library priority order?cheers Andy

Only you will really know what is framerate friendly for your system by testing them out but that won't break the bank as you are asking about freeware airports, ;)I will say that when I designed 9Dragons it was on an Intel single core 2.8GHz. CPU and I could not even run my own design at sliders full right! At the time of release (2008), most seemed to say it was framerate friendly for such a large package but I noticed most would run it without AI. I suspect it would be the same for you now. I would think about saving those nickles and upgrade your system as it doesn't take or cost much these days to enjoy the full experience with FS2004.Clutch

I don't think you can get better advice than this. There are so many excellent freeware sceneries and the vast majority are probably "frame rate friendly" for most simmers, but each system is going to be different. In addition to AI traffic, another thing that can cause poor FPS is the presence of other sceneries within a certain distance that can drag the rate down. You may have a conflict whereas other simmers do not. And then there's the old AFCAD duplicate issue. A duplicate AFCAD may cause a CTD or it might just drag your frame rates down. I purchased a recently released scenery that had been given great reviews by other users but when I loaded it the FPS were terrible. I was about to post a pretty scathing comment about it when I decided I should do some trouble shooting before shooting off my mouth! (pun intended) Sure enough, it was a duplicate AFCAD. As soon as it was removed, I had excellent FPS....So I can only echo Clutch's advice - they're freeware so just try them out and if you like them, keep them and if not - hit the delete button.Cheers mateIanps. Clutch - if you read this.... I CONTINUE TO BE AMAZED AT YOUR 9Dragons production - I go back to it time after time after time! Thank you!!!!!!!!!! And I run it with everything maxed except scenery shadows and overflow WoAI traffic! LOVE IT!!!!! :(

Have you added traffic, particularly aircraft to augment your fleet? At one time, I happily installed new aircraft and added them to my traffic files, but realized that it's a bad idea to use just any aircraft for this. Use only "AI Friendly" planes. You will notice a big difference, for example, if you replace any Mike Stone A320s with DJC A320s. The Mike Stone planes are flyable, and look a lot better, but the frame rate hit is a killer.Remember, the frame rate around airports is a composite of the scenery impact and the aircraft impact. When you have a dozen planes parked at the gate, you may get more of a hit from the traffic than you do from the scenery.

Hellorecently there was a post asking simmers to list there favourite freeware airport sceneries. What I would like is something similar but including framerate/performance.My PC is ageing but still flies FS9 in a perfectly acceptable manner (P4 2.8,1GB RAM,GForce 6600GT Gcard.So far I have found only one add-on airport that really is properly usable (nice too) UK 2000s Manchester lite freeware version. I also have two by Framerate friendly studios VIDP Delhi and VOMM Chenai these two are just about OK ,but VIDP is spoilt by an area of construction (new terminal) lots of cranes (also some rather mysterious flashing lights )anytime that particular portion of the airport is in view frames and usability plummet.VOMM is pretty good though.Last night I added PANC Anchorage(also from Framerate friendly studio's and flew into it from CYVR(stock fs9) the resulting landing and taxxing where so poor (performance wise )that was immediately deleted after my session.So if anybody can recommend good freeware airports that are (genuinely FRate friendly )for a fairly Dinoplodicus but still perfectly usable PC I would appreciate it.Please chaps no 'get yourself a new PC' type comments either.That is not an option at this time.shortage of wonga in Andy land.

There is a new version of VIDP (v2.9) without the construction cranes. Terminal 3 is done and in use. Get it at www.frfstudio,net

There is a new version of VIDP (v2.9) without the construction cranes. Terminal 3 is done and in use. Get it at www.frfstudio,net

Is may just be me being dumb, but I can't get that link to work. Edit: But this one did: http://www.frfstudio.net/

Yes ! I updated to VIDP v2.9 Frames seem better now the building work has been done and the cranes have been dismantled.cheers AndyPS I described VIDP as being Mumbai ,I believe I should have said Indira Gandhi (Delhi)