How can I make my FSX experience better?

[enji 0]

Hi there,I've been using FSX for a good 2 years now - however it's not been touched in the last 4 months due to getting a bit bored by some of its issues and because I was waiting until Flight came out. However, since the recent announcements on Flight, waiting for it might be a waste of time (although i'm still hopeful).Anyway, my PC rig is as follows:i7 930 @ 2.8ghz6GB ramGTX 460 768mbrunning FSX on a WD velociraptorFirst question - i'm planning to overclock my CPU which I should be able to get 3.8Ghz quite easily (my bro got the same results comfortably). I'm also planning on changing the GTX 460 for a 560 TI / GTX 570. How much of an improvement to the FPS would this make? I know the only sort of answers I can expect are along the lines of slight improvement / huge improvement, but that would help me in deciding if it will be worth the money. I get FPS issues at the moment using some Aerosoft airports or after a few hours flying which is why I'm planning on a hardware upgrade.My second question is - being that there are some 1GB models of the GTX 560TI and 1GB models of the GTX 570 that 'only' have 1GB of memory - would there be a noticeable improvement going with a card with more memory for FSX? I'm mainly talking about the ATI card HD 6950 with 2GB memory (do 'recent' ATI cards still have problems with FSX?), though I would be interested if more memory did make a decent improvement for FSX.My last question is - I've bought/got quite a fair amount of addons over the time. The main ones being:PMDG 737 NGXEZdokENB seriesREX 2 overdriveUTXGEXMytrafficSome UK2000 airports/Aerosoft airportAre there any addons that would either improve my enjoyment experience or my experience to get a smoother running sim? I mainly fly airliners in the UK/Europe (for example, I have read that VFR scenery improves FPS, though by how much??).fsuipc is something I have not got.. I've never understood or came across all the features it does, other than joystick config. If anyone has a manual for it or a list of improvements it would provides, then that would be great.Appreciate any help

[NoahBryant 26]

Re: FSUIPC - until you realize you need it, you don't need it, but once you DO need it, you will love it. I held out on it until the wind shift issues were unbearable. Now I love that they're almost gone, and because of how I have been able to map my yoke. I don't think VFR scenery improves performance so much as flying VFR in a GA plane. GA Planes are normally better performing because of their less complicated systems and smaller models. You don't mention what FPS you're getting, but although the new graphics card will help some, it probably won't help as much as you expect. The OC will probably have more of an effect though. What is it you're looking for? Just better FPS, or other add-ons? Getting better FPS is a very delicate thing that's usually unique to your own system. If you let us know what you're seeing now, FPS wise, we may be able to tell you what to hope for.

[ZachLW 37]

Skip on the GPU upgrade until you're ready for a new system. At least as far as FSX goes. You aren't going to see much of a difference (any) on that system if you go the 560ti or 570. A healthy overclock will go quite a way. What cooler are you using? Bojote's tweaks? Nvidia Inspector?By "VFR scenery", what do you mean? Photo real scenery? Photo real scenery can kill FPS. ie NL2000. While on the topic of performance, I see you use Mytraffic. That is an FPS killer. Hopefully you're running lower traffic settings.You've got a great core of add ons. EZDok, Active Sky 2012, UTX and the NGX are my main add ons. They're supported by VATSIM and very recently Aivlasoft EFB. Aivlasoft is expensive, and I only recommend it to a serious simmer using a networked PC (You must run FSX in windowed mose if you aren't using a networked computer for the program).I have found flying the NGX around the states to be fun lately. What with all of the winter weather around.

Edited January 12, 2012 by ZachLW

[enji 0]

Re: FSUIPC - until you realize you need it, you don't need it, but once you DO need it, you will love it. I held out on it until the wind shift issues were unbearable. Now I love that they're almost gone, and because of how I have been able to map my yoke.I don't think VFR scenery improves performance so much as flying VFR in a GA plane. GA Planes are normally better performing because of their less complicated systems and smaller models.You don't mention what FPS you're getting, but although the new graphics card will help some, it probably won't help as much as you expect. The OC will probably have more of an effect though.What is it you're looking for? Just better FPS, or other add-ons? Getting better FPS is a very delicate thing that's usually unique to your own system. If you let us know what you're seeing now, FPS wise, we may be able to tell you what to hope for.

First of all, thanks for the reply. Wasn't expecting one so quick!Extensive reading up got me using an FPS limiter which i've set to 30. So 30 would be the max I receive.I've had times though where FSX stutters, particularly on approach to airports. Sometimes it's pretty bad and If I remember right, 12-15 FPS is not uncommon. In a few of the Aerosoft airports, I manage to get something like 10 FPS on ground as soon as I start up the flight.I'm looking for something that will improve my experience. I imagine that i've got most, if not all of the main addons for UK/Europe flying in the 737 NGX. I would love to be able to run all my addons and have my system performing at a level where I don't receive ANY stutters/lag at all.If my config was setup right - would an OC to 3.8GHz and a new graphics card give me the flawless results I'm after? (is anything flawless with FSX? haha). Going by a few posters, it seems that it is possible though!If you have any addons that I've not listed that you might think I would enjoy/benefit from for Europe flying, then I would love to hear some recommendations.

[enji 0]

Skip on the GPU upgrade until you're ready for a new system. At least as far as FSX goes. You aren't going to see much of a difference (any) on that system if you go the 560ti or 570. A healthy overclock will go quite a way. What cooler are you using? Bojote's tweaks? Nvidia Inspector?By "VFR scenery", what do you mean? Photo real scenery? Photo real scenery can kill FPS. ie NL2000. While on the topic of performance, I see you use Mytraffic. That is an FPS killer. Hopefully you're running lower traffic settings.You've got a great core of add ons. EZDok, Active Sky 2012, UTX and the NGX are my main add ons. They're supported by VATSIM and very recently Aivlasoft EFB. Aivlasoft is expensive, and I only recommend it to a serious simmer using a networked PC (You must run FSX in windowed mose if you aren't using a networked computer for the program).I have found flying the NGX around the states to be fun lately. What with all of the winter weather around.

Thanks for the reply!Regarding the graphics card upgrade - I know I won't see as much as an improvement as one could hope for after spending that sort of money, though every little helps! I do play BF3 though, although not seriously (my system runs it pretty well actually with graphics turned up a fair bit).Bojote's - yes. NV inspector - yes, although I've came across posts on here recently that have said there is a new application that is good to use instead. It might just be a newer version of NV Inspector though. I used NickN's guide anyway.edit: I think it was NickN that said the perfect card for FSX seems to be a 560TI / 570. Which is what got me interested in the upgrade.edit 2: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus.edit 3: Traffic settings are on low. Edited January 12, 2012 by enji

[NoahBryant 26]

For grins, try those same airports with no traffic at all, just in case that's you bottle neck. 15-20 in dense airports with traffic may be about the best you can hope for for now, but do try removing the traffic for a flight or two to see what happens. Without getting deeply into it, video cards dont have nearly as much effect on FPS in FSX as they do in other games. FSX is definitely more dependent on your CPU so the OC will get you better perf. than the GPU. In fact, I would take Zach's advice and not even get one right now. So many people get new GPUs assuming it will help, and although it does help a little bit, it's usually not worth the money.

[TurboTomato 90]

I can echo the thoughts on OC - taking my i7 870 from standard to 3.7GHz made a huge difference. However, I still get pretty much a slideshow when approaching somewhere like Heathrow from over London in cloudy weather.If you fly in and out of the UK a lot then I'd recommend Horizon GenerationX VFR scenery (with ESI Treescapes) - it may actually reduce FPS a little but it's so much more realistic and satisfying than even GEX and UTX together.

[paula 0]

besides upper info a lot of people complains with an ATI card for fsx.it seems the nvidia card gives better results.

[enji 0]

I can echo the thoughts on OC - taking my i7 870 from standard to 3.7GHz made a huge difference. However, I still get pretty much a slideshow when approaching somewhere like Heathrow from over London in cloudy weather.If you fly in and out of the UK a lot then I'd recommend Horizon GenerationX VFR scenery (with ESI Treescapes) - it may actually reduce FPS a little but it's so much more realistic and satisfying than even GEX and UTX together.

Hi there,Does Horizon GenerationX VFR look better than GEX and UTX together?I've only seen a few screenshots at most, and it doesn't look great. Though I'm not sure if that was Horizon's scenery or not, though it was for the UK.If it looks better, then I'd definitely go for it.Also, how does Horizon's scenery wort with with GEX and UTX? Is it a case of one or the other? (at least for the UK).I actually went on the Horizon website and struggled to find screenshots at all.

[Tom Wright 438]

Does Horizon GenerationX VFR look better than GEX and UTX together?

I personally think it does. UTX and GEX still is 'generic' land class, whereas with the photo scenery you are actually flying over a real landscape. If you combine it with TreeScapes, which adds autogen trees onto it to populate the forests, it looks very realistic.

[enji 0]

I personally think it does. UTX and GEX still is 'generic' land class, whereas with the photo scenery you are actually flying over a real landscape. If you combine it with TreeScapes, which adds autogen trees onto it to populate the forests, it looks very realistic.

Thanks very much. Are there any screenshots/videos at all showing it combined with TreeScapes?

[TurboTomato 90]

Hi there,Does Horizon GenerationX VFR look better than GEX and UTX together?I've only seen a few screenshots at most, and it doesn't look great. Though I'm not sure if that was Horizon's scenery or not, though it was for the UK.If it looks better, then I'd definitely go for it.Also, how does Horizon's scenery wort with with GEX and UTX? Is it a case of one or the other? (at least for the UK).I actually went on the Horizon website and struggled to find screenshots at all.

I agree with twright - IMO it looks better. You see what you'd see out of the window of your airliner/GA aircraft, not some generic texture for whatever landclass UTX/GEX says is there. What you lose is autogen buildings - not noticeable a higher altitude but noticeable near the ground. However I don't really have a problem with this - the autogen houses never really looked very 'British' IMO and city night textures had lighting in blocks (US style) which looks totally wrong. There is now a massive difference when I fly over the border into Scotland (which is back to using UTX and GEX) and IMO it looks a lot worse than Horizon's VFR.It would replace UTX/GEX totally as far as I'm aware.Can't link to pictures at the moment sorry (work internet policy!) but I'm pretty sure there are quite a few pictures on the playsims website. Likewise I think there's quite a good video of treescapes in action on Earth Simulations' website (or search 'fsx horizon treescapes' on youtube).

[enji 0]

I agree with twright - IMO it looks better. You see what you'd see out of the window of your airliner/GA aircraft, not some generic texture for whatever landclass UTX/GEX says is there. What you lose is autogen buildings - not noticeable a higher altitude but noticeable near the ground. However I don't really have a problem with this - the autogen houses never really looked very 'British' IMO and city night textures had lighting in blocks (US style) which looks totally wrong. There is now a massive difference when I fly over the border into Scotland (which is back to using UTX and GEX) and IMO it looks a lot worse than Horizon's VFR.It would replace UTX/GEX totally as far as I'm aware.Can't link to pictures at the moment sorry (work internet policy!) but I'm pretty sure there are quite a few pictures on the playsims website. Likewise I think there's quite a good video of treescapes in action on Earth Simulations' website (or search 'fsx horizon treescapes' on youtube).

Thanks for the post. I'll check it out!

[nzeddy 13]

I mainly fly airliners in the UK/Europe (for example, I have read that VFR scenery improves FPS, though by how much??).

Orbx is doing UK England this year.http://www.orbxsyste...__fromsearch__1 Edited January 12, 2012 by nzeddy

[gliderdriver 6]

How about some new hardware? Do you have a yoke, pedals, TPM, Saitek or Goflight panels? Expensive but nice. How about flying online with a Club, google UKVGA or CIX VFR for free lessons, or have a look in the multiplayer forum for DTP, or try flying out of Shoreham or Cardiff on VATSIM, very helpful VATSIM controllers there.