I always use the menu option of ground scenery casts shadows. Is the program Shade a better alternative? I have found the ground scenery option really drags my framerates down. Is Shade faster than the way FSX does it? And better?

The default "ground scenery casts shadows" option in FSX makes your autogen and other 3d objects (i.e. buildings, hangars, you name it) cast shadows. It does eat a lot of frames. The Shade for FSX utility doesn't do that, it just makes the shadows from the terrain more prominent.

To be honest I never saw what the shade made or did not make. Except that the cockpits became so dark that I could not find the switches. Unistalled it and lived happily ever after.

Unfortunately, the Shade part doesn't add shadows, it allows you to configure them. This also expands to light colours by the way. So you will have to leave the FSX option off for the sake of fps and you therefore won't see shadows on the autogen and stuff. Shade would render the terrain shadows and things darker/lighter though, just as you like.

 

Apologies to Mike, I just saw he was writing the same before. :blush:

 

Except that the cockpits became so dark that I could not find the switches.

Sorry to hear that. You could have altered the shadow value in the config tool. With a slightly deeper shadowing than default FSX, most cockpits gain some atmosphere and depth. Right you are, when picking too strong black shades, the thing ends up being too dark. The ENB mod helps a bit though, but is optional.

Thanks for the info. Was hoping for more FPS friendly shadows.