Are there any benefits to running Active Sky on a separate PC from FSX?What are they? Do I use Simconnect or WideFS? Thanks! Mark

Hi Mark, With most computer hardware performance these days, the performance benefit is most likely unnoticeable. The benefit is having ASE on a different monitor.

Thanks Damian,I have a triple monitor setup. And am Currently running FSUIPC with weather disabled. Along with FS Flight Commander on WideFS. Mark

Nice setup! I too run three monitors, which is a necessity for my style of programming and development, but it sure is nice for FSX too :) Since going to 3 monitors I don't run networked (except for testing), I prefer having it all on the same system for simplicity

Hi Damien; I am currently refitting my simulator (everything replaced from the ground up). I will be using AKE V3 with FSX with 2 computers networked. You commented above about the benefit of have ASE on another monitor. Can you please elaborate more on this? Are you saying, that the ASE program is installed on the same PC as FSX, however, the screen utility is allocated to another "viewing" monitor? Thank you, Iain

Hello Iain, Just to avoid confusion, there is no "ASE V3". I think you are referring to ASE SP3. When using a networked configuration, you can have add-ons on separate computers than FS. This allows you to run on a different monitor/keyboard/etc. In the past there was a performance benefit to this, but these days with modern hardware the benefit is not really noticeable. If you have two computers each with one monitor each, the main benefit is that you can run ASE on a separate monitor. With multiple monitors on a single machine, you can also have ASE running on a separate monitor... but this doesn't work with FSX in "Full Screen Mode" (the other displays become blank/inactive). Not a problem for me as I prefer windowed mode, but may be something to consider.

Hello Iain, Just to avoid confusion, there is no "ASE V3". I think you are referring to ASE SP3. When using a networked configuration, you can have add-ons on separate computers than FS. This allows you to run on a different monitor/keyboard/etc. In the past there was a performance benefit to this, but these days with modern hardware the benefit is not really noticeable. If you have two computers each with one monitor each, the main benefit is that you can run ASE on a separate monitor. With multiple monitors on a single machine, you can also have ASE running on a separate monitor... but this doesn't work with FSX in "Full Screen Mode" (the other displays become blank/inactive). Not a problem for me as I prefer windowed mode, but may be something to consider.

Hi Damien My mistake - yes ASE SP3. Thanks for the tip regarding FSX and mulitple screen in full screen mode. This means that I'll probably have to run ASE SP3 from the second PC rather than the main FSX PC (unless I use windowed mode). I need to think about that a bit. Do you know of any problems (speed wise, etc) in running your program from the second PC? Thanks, Iain

The only performance issues we're aware of are from isolated accounts which have predominantly been attributed to network hardware issues, network cable issues, improper firewall configuration, etc. I've never personally seen any performance issues at all, and I've had plenty of test systems/networks through the years. Since ASE (and presumably your other add-ons) are on another computer your CPU and RAM are free to work with FSX exclusively, so there will be that benefit, which as mentioned isn't much noticeable with high-end hardware.

Thaks Damian, Iain

Hi Damian - me again. I've been doing some final research on my computer set up. My simulator is a Flight Deck Solutions full MIP running Sim Avionics. One PC currently has FSX and the other has Sim Avionics. It's been suggested that I use a third PC to only run ASE SP3 which will allow the maximum availability of CPU speed and RAM to run FSX. Can you please provide your opinion, in relation to ASE SP3, to how it will operate on the below system? My thinking is to install your program on the 2nd PC that runs Sim Avioncs (which has 2 video cards and 6 outputs - mostly to run the screens in the FDS MIP). Do you forsee oprational issues running on the 2nd PC with Sim Avionics? PC-1: FSX Computer

• ANTEC six hunded gaming case
• VANTEC ION2+ 600W ultra quiet PSU - SLI certified unit
• 1 GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3HB3 Motherboard. Z68 Chipset unit
• 4 X DDR3, 1333, RAID, GBLAN, 2PCI-E 16x, SATA3, USB3, ATX, STEP3, LGA1155
• INTEL CORE I7 2600 3.4GHZ 8MB cache LGA1155 unit
• TP-LINK wireliess G PCI Adapter with removeable antenna unit
• 2 x 4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 desktop RAM
• 1.00 OCZ VERTEX 3 SERIES 120GB solid state drive. SATA3 2.5" unit
• 1 x NVIDIA GTX580 1536MB DDR5 GPU: GeForce GTX 580 GPU unit - Clockspeed: 772 Mhz Memory: 1536MB GDDR5 (384 bits) Memory. Clockspeed: 2004 Mhz Pixels per clock (peak):N/ABandwidth:192.4
• GB/s Ramdac: 400 MHzBus: PCI-Express 2.0 Cooling: 2-Slot
• FanVideo-Features: Mini HDMIConnectivity: Dual DVI-I
• Front loading internal USB 2.0 HUB 4 PORT BLACK, EOL unit
• DVD-RW BURNER, SATA II, DUAL LAYER, BLACK, unit
• MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 home premium 64 BIT edition OEM
• CAT6 Crossover network cable

PC-2: Sim Avionics Computer

• ANTEC Three hundred gaming case unit
• VANTEC ION2+ 600W Ultra quiet PSU - SLI certified unit
• Z68XP-UD5 MB, Intel Z68, 4x DDR3, HDMI, 7.1CH, crossfireFire/SLI unit
• SATA3, eSATA, RAID, USB3.0, Firewire, ATX
• INTEL core I5 2400 LGA1155 quad core 3.10GHZ 6MB cache unit
• 2 x 4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 desktop RAM
• OCZ Agility 3 series solid state drive 60GB. 2.5" drive unit
• TP-LINK wireless G PCI adapter unit
• 3 x NVIDIA GT 430 PCI-E 1GB 128-BIT DDR3, DVI, VGA, HDMI, fan unit
• DVD-RW burner, SATA II, dual layer black unit
• MICROSOFT Windows 7 home premium 64 BIT edition OEM

Thank you for your time and advice, Iain

Hi Iain, I don't have any experience with Sim Avionics, so I'm afraid I can't help there. Maybe some others can chime in? In my opinion either computer is fine to run ASE without any trouble performance problems, but I guess it depends on how intensive Sim Aviontics is. My only suggestion is to give it a try, and if you have any trouble on computer 2 just put it on computer 1 with FSX. A third computer might offer noticeable performance benefits especially if the FSX system is pushed hard.

Thanks for your advice Damian. On another note, I sent you a message from your website regarding upgrading to SP3 from my current version. Did you get the message? Iain

Hi again,I'm sure if you submitted a ticket it has already been answered.

Hi Damien A question regarding installing ASE SP3 on a second PC (FSX is on the first PC). How is this done? Is there a file or something that needs to be placed on the FSX PC or what? Cheers, Iain

Answered in your support request, but for everyone here, the answers are in the manual and in our knowledgebase. The manual has an entire chapter dedicated to this.