I have tried some of the tweaks listed on this site (and others), and I finally have my FSX running well. The biggest problem I had was screen tearing, which was completely unacceptable to me. I have made several tweaks to the fsx.cfg file, and to ATI Catalyst Control, and to FSX in game settings. I wanted to post the changes that I made, hoping it helps someone else with an ATI card.

 

BTW, I have used many tweaks from other sites, so I don't mean to take credit for the work of others. I just want to share settings that work well for me, which are a combination of these tweaks. I didn't discover any of these tweaks on my own, but I did find a good combination of them for my ATI-based system.

 

First, here's my system specs:

 

Windows 7 x64

8GB RAM

ASUS ATI 5850 1GB

i7 875K Running at 4.0 GHz

1920x1200 24" Wide Screen Monitor

 

FSX Add-Ons:

 

Ultimate Traffic 2

Ultimate Terrain X

GEX

REX

FSGenesis

Active Sky Evolution

 

I get 30FPS steady with no screen tearing and no stutters. Of course, if I am at a busy airport things can dip down a bit, but then I can turn down things, if needed. But this setup is as smooth as I have gotten FSX.

 

You want to backup your current fsx.cfg file, then check to make sure you have these settings. It might help, but of course there are a ton of variables that could mean your system runs better or worse with any of these values.

 

FYI, I am using Bojote's Shader 3.0 mod for FSX.

 

Here are some selected tweaks I made (or were made using other tweak guides/tools):

 

1. FSX.CFG

 

 

[bufferPools]

RejectThreshold=131072

UsePools=1

 

 

[GRAPHICS]

ALLOW_SHADER_30=1

ForceFullScreenVSync=1

HIGHMEMFIX=1

STALE_BUFFER_THRESHOLD=1024

TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=4096

 

 

 

[Main]

FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.33

 

 

[Display]

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=70

TextureMaxLoad=30

TransitionTime=4.000000

UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=30

WideViewAspect=True

 

[JOBSCHEDULER]

AffinityMask=14

 

 

[TERRAIN]

LOD_RADIUS=4.500000

SWAP_WAIT_TIMEOUT=2

TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL=3000

TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL=4500

 

 

2. ATI Catalyst Control Panel

 

Anti-Aliasing = 4X (Box) (Nothing else checked)

Anisotropic Filtering = 8X (Nothing else checked)

Tessellation = 64X (Nothing else checked)

Catalyst AI=High Quality (Nothing else checked)

Mipmap Detail Level=High Quality

Wait for Vertical Refresh=Always On

Anti-Aliasing Mode=Super-sample AA

OpenGL Setting=Triple Buffering is Checked

 

3. FSX Settings In Game

 

Graphics Tab:

Target Frame rate = 30

Filtering = Bilinear

Anti-Aliasing is NOT checked

 

The other settings can be adjusted to the level of eye candy you want, but it was the settings above which got my setup under control in FSX.

 

Disclaimer. These settings work for me. They may not do anything, or they may make things worse for you. I have an ATI card, and I have read a lot that ATI cards do not work well with FSX. Mine does. Hopefully your ATI system will also, once you take a look at these settings.

 

Final note: I would probably start with a benchmark of your current setup. Then I would make the Catalyst Control changes and do another benchmark. Then make the FSX in game setting changes (backup FSX.CFG), and do another benchmark. And then finally tackle the FSX.CFG file itself, going one change at a time.

 

Maybe there isn't a magic bullet for you here. Or maybe there is.

I saw your post.. i also have at least the 5850 ati card.

 

I was having an issue with flickering textures.. I read that if i turned the aa setting in catalyst to supersample it would fix that issue.

 

In my case it did, but at the cost of quite a few fps.

 

I also removed mipbias=6 completely as an alternative test and the flickering stopped as well.

 

 

In your case it appears that turning on supersample didnt impact fps... have you did a run through using fraps benchmark and the fsmark07 file?

 

I set my fraps to 420 seconds and ran it.. i max out most of my sliders, except shadows are off for scenery and only the bottom one for aircrafts.. i turn off AI/traffic too.. mesh at 5m, texture 7cm, 90 on complexity, max slider on scenery complexity, autogen on dense, clouds at max (rex clouds 4096).

 

In my test (near KSEA with PNW scenery in NA mode).. i got a measly 15.9 fps avg (at 3.6 ghz on my i7 2600).. i had lowered my clock speed down for testing.

 

I tried increasing my speed back to 4.6ghz and oddly, no change in fps/performance.. i'm perplexed.

 

But my biggest confusion is on the supersampling, because that toggle really brings down my fps at the moment.. (before this rebuild i was up around 25 fps on this same fsmark test).

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I have a 6970 ATI card & found with the shader mod 3 I got a terrible shimmering in the near & far distance , I got a bit of it with the latest ati driver , so I went to 11.11 driver & that reduced it even more. I just can't get rid of photo scenery blurring though.

Worked for me like a charm! Thank you!

I knew all this tweaks, but you've managed to combined it somehow in very appropriate way for my HD7990 i7 [email protected] with REX Ess+HD and AS2012 Its stable 10+fps in heavy snow and HD clouds/fog and 20+ for fair weather in heavily populated AP. My res is 6048x1080 for tri-mon Eyefinity and Im really happy with that! Thanks for sharing.

Accidentally reset of ATI settings for fsx.exe today and sim almost stopped. Aligned backwards with your recommendations it again runs smoothly and much better then any other tweaks combinations. Again, thanks. It is works for ATI and Eyefinity with latest ATI drv.