Fs 2004 cloud problem

[Virtpilot 156]

Hello fellow flyers!

This is my first time that I write here. Here´s my problem: few weeks ago i bought a new computer, Acer x3475, Windows 7/64, 12 Gb memory and Amd radeon 7660+7470 graphics card. I fought that my new powerful computer will run Fs2004 without any issues. But now I am very dissapointed and frustrated with the clouds. In a heavy weather, my clouds will bring my rig to it´s knees. No matter which cloud set i use, the result is the same. I have searched the result but no luck so far. I heard yesterday about some Bojote´s Shader 3.0 thing which might help with amd cards. Can it be used with Fs2004??.

I think that the problem has something to do with the conflict between Dx9 and Dx10 technics.

Any help would appreciated.

 

Best regards

Virtpilot, Finland

[rayharris51 5]

Hi Virtpilot

 

Not sure of the technical explanation, something to do with how AMD cards' shaders work as you suggest.

 

It is fairly well understood that AMD cards do not handle clouds at all well in FSX compared to nVidia. It's a shame you chose AMD, perhaps on the basis of cost; but from what I've seen on the Forums nVidia 560ti or 660ti cards are a reasonable choice for FSX.

 

There may be some optimisations though, perhaps others can recommend. I have a Win7 64 laptop with a crappy AMD card on board, and it dislikes thick clouds in FSX even more than I do on real planes :-)

 

Not sure if this helps.

 

 

 

Ray (no pseudonym available..)

[ram1220 1]

Ray,

 

The OP is using FS9 not FSX. So not sure whay you gave him advice for FSX. He like I probably doesn't care about FSX. I build and repair computers for a living. I have used AMD and ATI products since 1996. In my real world experience they are just as good as Intel and Nvidia and cost a heck of a lot less too. My FS9 runs like a dream with all sliders turned up to max. And with add on scenery and add on planes as well.

If the system is built properly and maintained properly there is no reason why a person should not go with AMD and ATI. (ATI is now under the AMD brand). I just get so tired of hearing people spew bad information about how so much better Intel and Nvidia are. It's simply not true. And a person can save a lot of money by not going with Intel.

 

Bob

[saed45 38]

hes probably giving advice about fsx by saying if that card runs on fsx fine it should run fine on fs9

[psolk 3,057]

I have been dealing with this with my GTX680 lately believe it or not. Can not figure out what is going on for the life of me... I am trying one cloud texture at a time right now to see what is cutting my FPS in half... I literally go from 60FPS to 30FPS in the clouds and the stuttering when I pan down to look at the clouds is beyond painful. Then you move the view up just a little bit in the VC and pan around again and it is 60 FPS. Look down again and it is a stuttering 30, it is SO frustrating...

 

I am down to restoring my default cloud textures now to see if that helps...

[saed45 38]

is this a new problem for everyone? i believe im having the same issue. maybe its related to a new update on windows?

[geoffco 0]

As far as I have found, this is all about the anti-aliasing... With my setup (FS9, Win7x64, AMD7970 gfx and 3840x1200 dualscreen setup) I find that my FPS is dreadful if I use any supersampling AA but actually is fine with adaptive multisampling - I run 8x with edge detect and get 30 FPS most of the time (which is pretty good for 4.6M pixels). I have also found that using the new beta of RadeonPro which allows 1/2 vsync has helped somewhat as well.

 

(I have also noticed that some combinations from REX + Overdrive have a bigger FPS hit than others, even though all are 32-bit and HD quality)

 

Geoff

 

PS.Actually I am finding my AMD card to be better than my previous NV one. It is certainly faster in FS and now that I have ironed out the initial issues, I think the image quality is better as well!