I've just received my newly built i7 950 o'cd to 4.0Ghz from Overclockers in the UK. So once again, I'm starting out on the long winding road to FSX Nirvana. I have followed Nick's guide to setting up the PC optimally, running W7 - (although NIck does caviet that it is unwise to start out on a already overclocked system, - but that's where I'm at. I am no overclocking expert and neither would I trust myself to venture down that road based on a random forum suggestion) So with W7 tuned - and still stable, I'm now moving on to tuning FSX. Are people using NN's FSX tuning guide or *******' fsx.cfg automated tweak utility to tune FSX - or a combo? Cheerseric

Tuning guide is overrated IMO.I once followed the guide, reinstalling between every damn addon, but i'd still get constant .dll errors.I now just install all at once and FSX is hardly crashes on me anymore. I use automated tweak utility and then manually adjust

Tuning guide is overrated IMO.I once followed the guide, reinstalling between every damn addon, but i'd still get constant .dll errors.I now just install all at once and FSX is hardly crashes on me anymore. I use automated tweak utility and then manually adjust

Even if that were so (which I believe it's not), considering just how much that man has contributed to our community, I think that's rather harsh.

Well, personally, i have followed the tuning guide twice before and compared FSX performance BEFORE tuning to AFTER tuning. The result was significant. Much smoother after tuning and no instability issues. The only thing is, I can't remember how I applied the tweaks and in what order - I think it was a mix mash (Nick's at the initial install stage - and then used ******* utility after) I rate both of these gentlemen and their work in high regard, so am not trying to pit one against the other - am just wondering what everyone else did and whether there is a preferred approach based on individual experience.

I absolutely trust NickN's tuning guide, but have myself a recently purchased i7 rig and can say with certainty that ******* automated tweak facility was sufficient for me to get very good FPS in all types of weather, with lots of payware addons for weather, scenery, AI and more running. This is the best setup I have ever had and I felt that once I'd tried the CFG tweak facility from *******, further tweaking would likely make little difference and I did not want to risk pushing FSX to the point where I'd start seeing issues. My setup, for reference is i7-2600k, 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz, AMD 6870 1GB, Creative X-FI Titanium and an ASUS P8Z68-v-pro. FSXMark07 I get close to 85FPS with everything on high @1920x1080. 3Dmark05 I get 31000 points roughly.

Tuning guide is overrated IMO.I once followed the guide, reinstalling between every damn addon, but i'd still get constant .dll errors.I now just install all at once and FSX is hardly crashes on me anymore. I use automated tweak utility and then manually adjust

You mean rebooting correct? If you were reinstalling then it's no wonder you were having issues.

The result was significant. Much smoother after tuning and no instability issues. The only thing is, I can't remember how I applied the tweaks and in what order - I think it was a mix mash (Nick's at the initial install stage - and then used ******* utility after)

Before I ever heard of Nick or ******* I used the services of Michael at FS-GS which was about 2 year's after FS9 was released. I was impressed with the difference between the default, semi-tweaked install vs what Michael had done and the same holds true with FSX. Over the years I have come to learn and understand how the sim works from reading the various fora containing post's written by Nick and ******* and exchanges with Michael. Each and every PC is different and each has their own personality. I wouldn't say that one individual's tweaks are better than the other although I expect superior performance when I am paying for the services of Michael and he has come through on many an occasion. Personally I think it comes down to reading the forums and experimenting. I created a spreadsheet containing the date and time of an applied tweak and in the event of an issue I was able to go back to the settings that had worked previously. I have cross referenced that with the instructions so I knew what I had done and has saved me from a frustrating and time consuming reinstall many a time.

I'm running an OCUK in-house build OC'd machine. OCUK know what they are doing, and how far they can push the envelope without resorting to greatly increased voltages resulting in over-heating and instability. Your OCUK overclock will be good and stable, in my experience. Go with Nick's guide and apply the ******* tweaked fsx.cfg and you will be good to go. Don't try pushing your chip any further than OCUK have taken it, just accept that they have done the hard work for you. After the Nick and ******* work, just use an external frame rate limiter at 20 or 30 fps, relax, forget the tweaking and overclocking, you';ve done all you can so and get on with flying and enjoying. Tweaking can become a compulsive disorder if you let it. Good luck.

Thanks for your thoughts chaps

I have just purchased a new PC (i5 2500k @ 4.5Ghz).I have installed FSX and all of my addons (scenery and aircraft).The only "tweak" to the fsx.cfg file is LOD radius @ 5.5.I have all detail sliders set to MAXIMUM (except water, which is set to High 2.x).AF/AA/AA Transparency are 16xS/16x/4xSS respectively.Screen resolution is 1280x1024x32bit (19" monitor).Framerates are smooth, and stutters due to texture loading are basically non-existent (even in the most detailed areas). In other words, I don't need to start messing around.

NickN's guide for tuning the OS, and the initial setup of FSX (like installation order of RTM, SP1, SP2), along with your own preferences for graphics settings, etc. And after that, send the cfg to *******'s tweak site for the icing on the cake. I think NickN's FSX setup was mostly needed in the pre-i7 cpu era. Now that hardware has pretty much caught up, the less tweaks the better and ******* has made some really groundbreaking discoveries that have helped us all.

Nick's Win7 setup guide breather new life into my aging system. The difference between using and not using is night and day. *******'s tweaks (I do hesitate to use that word; Investigation into the inner workings of FSX) are amusing, at least on my end. I remember when he first posted the "bufferpools=0" findings. Took a lot of heat for it, but won us over in time. I do miss his "Micky mouse hat" aviator.

NickN's guide for tuning the OS, and the initial setup of FSX (like installation order of RTM, SP1, SP2), along with your own preferences for graphics settings, etc. And after that, send the cfg to *******'s tweak site for the icing on the cake. I think NickN's FSX setup was mostly needed in the pre-i7 cpu era. Now that hardware has pretty much caught up, the less tweaks the better and ******* has made some really groundbreaking discoveries that have helped us all.

AJ, that is not quite correct. Nick was running an i7 when he wrote the guide. He mentions the i7 throughout. Are you sure you read the W7 tuning guide ?And if you read beyond the tuning guide, in other posts he talks about the Sandy Bridge, and made and excellent summary about the couger point chipset. having read that, I waited for the Z68 boards to be released before upgrading. He know's his stuff, I know you don't doubt that. Cheers

I used to be fanatical about setting my pc up to Nicks guide and the various other snippets of help and advice that seemed to help. Constantly editing the CFG file and defragging my machine etc. But since ******* (bojote) created his auto tweaking tool thats all i use now and have not performance problems at all. Its been so long now since i tweaked FSX that i dont think i could remember how to do it without going back and re-reading all of the guides. (which incidentally can be found in the link in my signature). I suppose I now like a simple (lazy) life hence. Thank god for Bojotes tweaking tool thats what i say. Of course machines vary and my approach will obviously not be successful to all. But i really do believe now that simplicity is the key.

Always love differing opinions!! :) Each system is different andf will react differently. For most users, start out with a fresh install. Then apply Nick's tuning guide. Nick's guide is NOT a tweak, it just get's your system optimized to get the best out of FSX. Now, after that, run some test flights to get a base for your FSX setup. *THEN* try the Bojote tool to tweak your system - run more test flights and adjust as necessary. Each system will react to the tool differently. My system, for example, got worse using the Bojote tool - this does NOT mean the tool doesn't work - it just means that my system was set up properly. I have 4 settings that I change - HIGHMEMFIX, Reject Threshold, LOD-Radius and TBM - that works for me just fine. Sometimes, less is better so, IMHO, the only tginh you must do for optimum operation is Nick's tuning - after that apply any tweaks on an as needed basis - just plerase do not do what some folks do and apply every twek you can find all at once and complain that your system has CTD's. Vic

On my previous install of FSX I used mainly the Bojote tweak. It worked OK and I got better FPS with it. Then somewhere along the way my FSX started to show weird graphics errors so I decided to uninstall-install everything back. Only this time around I went with Nick's guide. First optimized my Win7 and then installed FSX. I read all the things Nick had written in his guide concerning the different fsx.cfg tweaks and the "if it works, don't try to fix it"-principle. I applied just the affinitymask, TBM, reject threshold and highmemfix (+forcefullscreenvsync=1) tweaks and disregarded the "small part reject radius" and "fiber time fraction" tweaks, which Bojote's tool added to the .cfg. Then I took off from KSEA and was amazed by the smoothness I was seeing. Of course there was one more thing to be fixed... the clouds were disappearing/appearing as I panned the view back and forth. I was getting fairly frustrated because I remembered seeing a topic somewhere which described a fix for the problem, but couldn't find it. Finally I found it and the flickering cloud problem disappeared. To sum it up: The different tweaks really do work and you really should use them. But only if you know what you're doing because adding something (or a wrong value) to the .cfg can cause instability and errors.