FSX in a whole new light

[John_Cillis 2,406]

My video card of four years, a GeForce 9500 GT with 1GB of ram, recently suffered a fan failure so I knew it was time to replace it. I wasn't interested in spending a lot for a new video card--I've always had a modest budget for my PC, so I went out and bought a 650 GTX with 2GB of ram. I was advised in advance that the new video card wouldn't improve my framerates since FSX is cpu bound. But what I have found is that I can run with max AA (32X) and max resolution with no peformance penalty. FSX literally looks like it's 3D now--in spot view it looks like I can reach in and grab the aircraft as its flying. Ground detail is very pronounced and there's a better sense of depth. I can make out fine details on mountains in the distance.

 

I look forward to experiencing this sim in a new way over the few weeks. I'm continually amazed at how technology has changed the look of flight simulation over the years.

 

John

[LHookins 3,102]

I can only imagine what you're seeing.

 

I was playing The Sims 2 when I had to upgrade to a new video card. The old one showed very few high res textures, and then not all the time. The new one was all high res. It was a few days before I could actually start playing again; I was too busy looking at all the textures!

 

I got tired of lower res cockpit textures showing up in FSX, so I edited several of them to remove the mip maps. Nothing but high res after that, and the difference was amazing.

 

Hook

[simmerhead 885]

Yep, the GPU and VRAM does make a difference!

 

Hook, ever thought about how great FSX could have been if we could build scenery the way one builds houses etc. in The Sims?

[Spartan0536 49]

FSX is heavily CPU dependent, the Cache, Clock Speed, and when the affinity mask is set correctly even the core count will help you achieve much smoother frames. The reason why your new GPU helps so much is that your old card was hindering your systems capability, FSX also uses VRAM to render textures so if you were using HD textures or lots of rendering this helps. I am glad to hear your system is to your liking better now, have fun!

[LHookins 3,102]

Hook, ever thought about how great FSX could have been if we could build scenery the way one builds houses etc. in The Sims?

 

I've seen a program advertised here that appears to do exactly that. Instant Object Studio, available from flight1.

 

http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=insobjstu

 

It always amazed me how many people never actually played The Sims, they just built houses or made other content. Were you around the Sims 2 BBS in the early days?

 

Hook

[simmerhead 885]

I've seen a program advertised here that appears to do exactly that. Instant Object Studio, available from flight1.

 

http://www.flight1.c...oduct=insobjstu

 

It always amazed me how many people never actually played The Sims, they just built houses or made other content. Were you around the Sims 2 BBS in the early days?

 

Hook

 

Instant Object Studio is a good idea, but still has a long way to go to become as intuitive and user friendly as The Sims, and it does little to landscape the surroudings of the buildings.

 

No, I played The Sims for a short while when it was new, but never progressed beyond that. I just used it to build houses, so I downloaded some freeware content to increase the variety of textures and objects.

[pegger74 18]

Google Sketchup....easy to build models, and with the SDK and other edvelopment tools that are available, easy to get the models into fsx. But I'm straying off topic sorry.

 

I recall when I brought home my new computer, after playing FSX on a Pentium Duo for 4 years. I reloaded FSX into my new computer, and started it up. First thing I did, was go into the settings and slide everything to MAX. Then launched a flight.

 

It was a brand new sim for me. I had never seen anything so remarkable! Then I went out and bought a 1080 HD monitor...and it was AGAIN a brand new experience!

 

It's amazing how the same old program from 2006 continues to impress me with each new hardware upgrade I get.

[Pilatus Matt 8]

These posts always make me think back to the first few days after the FSX launch when 99% of posts had to do with how terrible the performance was, and how awful the graphics were. Coding issues aside, which there were plenty of, FSX truly can look stunning by today's standards if you have FSX tuned properly with the right addons.

 

We just had to wait for the hardware to catch up.

[RWFeldman 159]

But what I have found is that I can run with max AA (32X) and max resolution with no peformance penalty.

That is where these "Big" video cards shine! you can run higher quality resolutions without sacrificing performance.

[simmerhead 885]

Google Sketchup....easy to build models, and with the SDK and other edvelopment tools that are available, easy to get the models into fsx. But I'm straying off topic sorry.

 

I recall when I brought home my new computer, after playing FSX on a Pentium Duo for 4 years. I reloaded FSX into my new computer, and started it up. First thing I did, was go into the settings and slide everything to MAX. Then launched a flight.

 

It was a brand new sim for me. I had never seen anything so remarkable! Then I went out and bought a 1080 HD monitor...and it was AGAIN a brand new experience!

 

It's amazing how the same old program from 2006 continues to impress me with each new hardware upgrade I get.

 

Your definition of easy is very very different than mine...

 

Yep, it's amazing that FSX is still king on the hill after all these years, three version of X-Plane later...