When I use the external FPS limiters (FPS Limiter 0,2, Antilag and DXtory) the fps are still fluctuating very much. I.E. when I set fps to 30 I see the frames jumping from 28 to 30 to 32, back to 28 again etc. This is causing microstutters on my system. Everytime the fps go to 28 or 32 there is a microstutter. Even when I set all settings to sparse or minimum there are still microstutters because of this. I can use the internal limiter but then my overall fps are lower than using unlimited fps and an external fps limiter. Is there a simple reason why my FPS are fluctuating this much? Why can't it be a solid 30 fps all the time?

In all honesty, I don't think anyone will be able to get rid of micro stutters 100%, regardless of the spec of machine.FSX is a complete dog and isn't coded like Crysis 2 for example.my advice is to get your machine so its running nicely, but dont expect it too be perfect.X-plane 10 and Flight are on the way..Maybe they will sort out stuttering and other FSX related problems. If anyone has 100% free stutters then feel free to shoot me down..

True: I agree with you. But a lot of people are saying the external fps limiters are wonderful and create a smooth flight. But when I use them the fps are fluctuating very much and cause microstutters. If others use the exteral fps limiters, do they experience wide jumping of the frame rates or are there solid fps @ 30? If so, I must be doing something wrong here..... The internal fps is cutting my fps so I really want to use the external fps limiter.

I also experience micro stutters. However, with DXtory and a tweaked fsx.cfg I have found the best solution. I simply decided not to notice the micro stutters any more. :-) There's always something not completely right with fsx so I stopped tweaking and started flying again.

I had never noticed any benefit in using an external frame limiter, so I no longer use one. Interesting that a couple of days ago I had just installed the latest FlightGear v2.4.0 and I got micro stutters with it too! Notice the past tense, I have already uninstalled FlightGear off my system. After all if I must have the odd micro stutter I may as well have the much improved scenery and aircraft graphics of FSX to go with it! Regards, Mike Mann

But a lot of people are saying the external fps limiters are wonderful and create a smooth flight. But when I use them the fps are fluctuating very much and cause microstutters. If others use the exteral fps limiters, do they experience wide jumping of the frame rates or are there solid fps @ 30? If so, I must be doing something wrong here.....

In my experience, this is the way the external limiter works. You are not "doing anything wrong". Try the internal limiter one more time - I found it to be the better solution for smooth flight,coupled with the AffinityMask=14 setting.

When I use the external FPS limiters (FPS Limiter 0,2, Antilag and DXtory) the fps are still fluctuating very much. I.E. when I set fps to 30 I see the frames jumping from 28 to 30 to 32, back to 28 again etc. This is causing microstutters on my system. Everytime the fps go to 28 or 32 there is a microstutter. Even when I set all settings to sparse or minimum there are still microstutters because of this. I can use the internal limiter but then my overall fps are lower than using unlimited fps and an external fps limiter. Is there a simple reason why my FPS are fluctuating this much? Why can't it be a solid 30 fps all the time?

I don't think your microstutters have anything to do with varying this little. If you have locked the sim at 30, but it can only crank out 28 in places a limiter will not resolve that. Varying between 30 and 32 will not be the source of any microstutters. The external limiters allow you to get the benefits of running in UNLIMITED mode. You will notice if you are in a situation where IF you lock the sim w/ the internal limiter at 30 and because of situation complexity the sim will run at for example 24 or 25. Change to UNLIMITED and use and EXTERNAL limiter, you will find the sim running at 30. This is an example to illustrate this fact of the benefits of external limiters for some configurations. Further, there are some users that experience surges in the video, a sort of slip and slide, when running straight UNLIMITED w/o a external limiter, and the addition of an external limiter resolves this. To sum up, an external limiter never was supposed to get rid of 'microstutters', though I argue they can help some in some situations by allowing you to get the benefits of running FSX in UNLIMITED mode. There is a killer explanation of how UNLIMITED mode varies from INTERNAL frame lock, from someone I think named LARS. Noel

I pretty much agree with Bert about using the internal FPS Limiter for smoothness. My solution since I have an ATI card was to set my framerate to my monitors refreshrate of 60. I also remove the force vsync setting from my fsx cfg since I run it from the gpu control panel. The only tweaks I use is the "High Memory Fix" and the AffinityMask=14. Now what really puzzles me is that I get better performance using TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=4096 than 1024. The aircraft I fly mainly is the Quality Wings 757 and everything is pretty smooth for the most part in Full screen mode. I also find that keeping you hard drive clean, registry clean, and doing a defrag also helps with performance.

Now what really puzzles me is that I get better performance using TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=4096 than 1024. The aircraft I fly mainly is the Quality Wings 757 and everything is pretty smooth for the most part in Full screen mode. I also find that keeping you hard drive clean, registry clean, and doing a defrag also helps with performance.

Basically, with 4096 you're telling FSX to load bigger chunks of texture data into memory than with 1024. In this way FSX can better keep up with itself and run more efficiently, instead of "stopping more frequently" to pick up smaller chunks of data. Depending on your system capabilities and how you balance your FSX.cfg settings, coupled with a LOD_RADIUS set higher than 4.5 (up to a maximum of 9 if you have a really ballsy system) this can significantly help reduce - or even eliminate - the "blurries" and give you very sharp, detailed visuals.

Thanks, I would try setting the LOD_RADIUS but as they say, "If it´s not broke don´t fix it."

Basically, with 4096 you're telling FSX to load bigger chunks of texture data into memory than with 1024. In this way FSX can better keep up with itself and run more efficiently, instead of "stopping more frequently" to pick up smaller chunks of data.

That is news to me.... I was under the impression that 4096 allows you load to load bigger textures (like detailed add-on clouds or cockpits), notload 4X as much at a time..