I have had this problem for a while, but I was too lazy to ask about it. Now it's really getting annoying...I get pretty good framerates when the flight first loads, and I am sitting on the runway or parked somewhere (about 18 fps on average with most sliders maxed and full custom AI). But 90% of the time, when I increase the throttle or get pushed back, the framerates drop to around 1 frame per second!!! Sometimes it goes back up to normal levels after a few seconds, but other times it doesn't get better until I become airborne (and it always goes away the second my wheels leave the ground). It does this in nearly every aircraft, at nearly every airport, and in every view mode! I have a pretty solid system:2.4ghz Pentium 4, 1 gig of RAM, and a GeForceFX 5600 128mb video card, so I don't think it should be doing this.Does anyone else have this problem? And better yet, can anyone tell me how to fix it!? Thanks in advance-Scott

Do you use a FF joystick? If so do a search here for Force Feedback.Greg

Try cutting back on AI - this is the biggest frame rate killer.Dave

MMMM not sure I agree AI is the biggest killer, it rather depends what models you are using for AI - Aardvark http://www.ai-aardvark.com are usually regarded as being the best in terms of quality and efficiency.Biggest killer for me is weather, and clouds specifically.There are smaller cloud files to be found in hifpsv2.zip in the Avsim libraryThese help, but weather settings are still a big influence I think.

Thanks for the responses everyone, and especially Soarpics! You were right, I had an MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro joystick, and I plugged in my old MS Sidewinder Precision Pro (without FF) and it cured the problem. I can now taxi, takeoff, and land without trouble! Seems sort of funny that the joystick could create such a huge difference in framerates. I knew that it wasn't a simple problem with the AI or heavy clouds, because it happened in airports with no AI for miles around and with clear skies. Well, I am definitely a happy camper now. Long live the AVSIM forums!-Scott