Hello all,

 

In recent months I've become very interested in using flight sims, leading to a recent purchase of FSX. Very interesting so far! I learn something new every day.

 

Here's my main question: is there anything general I can do to increase the performance of the sim, a.k.a. certain tweaks that "everyone should do," inside the fsx.cfg or elsewhere? I enjoy FSX but it's not as smooth as other games I play, and I know that's due in part to the age of the software and the way it was developed. I haven't made exact measurements of FPS (and I can't at the moment, see below), but my guess would be that I'm getting between 20-35 FPS at most, while I'm used to 45+ in other games.

 

I am also running REX Essentials for a weather engine, and REX 4 Texture Direct for textures, and I know particularly with HD textures that can also slow performance. But any advice in general would be appreciated.

 

I am very experienced in working with advanced system settings and repair, and know some of general game optimizations, but I would love to have your guys' thoughts on these matters.

 

My PC specs are to the left but I'll post some here:

 

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

8GB DDR2 800 MHz

nVIDIA GTX 460 1GB

SSD for OS, 7200 RPM HDD for FSX and other data.

 

At the moment my SSD is dead, and it is being RMA'ed, so I won't be able to try your suggestions until the end of next week or so.

I just upgraded my system from a Q6600 to a 4770K, so I can identify with your situation.

 

My suggestions:

 

1. Overclock your Q6600 to 3.2 GHz (or more if you have the cooling)

 

2. Set Affinity Mask to 14 in fsx.cfg

 

3. Set fps lock to 30 in FSX

 

4. Set nvidia Inspector to 1/2 refresh rate Vsynch

 

5. Start saving up for a 4770K which is quite a nice upgrade..

Thanks for the input!

 

1. I forgot to mention that I have it OC'ed to 3.15 GHz, it's purring along quite nicely. I can't seem to edit my own post?

 

2. Will do.

 

3. What would be the advantage of setting an FPS lock? Wouldn't it be better to allow for a higher FPS, or am I ignorant of something?

 

4. Didn't think of that, what would be the reason for that?

 

5. Yeah, I've been wanting to do a CPU upgrade for a while, I'm saving up. The only annoying thing is that I have to also replace my motherboard and RAM as well...

3 and 4.. that is a combination.. works very well.

Nobody's mentioned inserting HIGHMEMFIX=1 into the fsx.cfg?

That's the only real tweak I do now, having tried several of the others. Still undecided about locking framerates or not.

Nobody's mentioned inserting HIGHMEMFIX=1 into the fsx.cfg?

That's the only real tweak I do now, having tried several of the others. Still undecided about locking framerates or not.

 

That is not a tweak, but a required fix.

 

The line was left out by the Aces team, by mistake, and does need to be added.

Try not to get into the tweaking game, many times less is more when it comes to tweaking FSX. You have a great opportunity to get FSX running very well if it is a fresh install with no addons. This is where you concentrate on smoothness (not FPS), once you get it smooth, slowly start adding on one at a time so not to get to far from base line at once. Trust me, it can get overwhelming very quickly. "HIGHMEMFIX=1" is a must as stated previously by Bert.

Nobody's mentioned inserting HIGHMEMFIX=1 into the fsx.cfg?

That's the only real tweak I do now, having tried several of the others. Still undecided about locking framerates or not.

Thanks for that, I will do so as soon as I can. Didn't know about that one.

 

 

This is where you concentrate on smoothness (not FPS)

I was starting to get the feeling that FPS is not directly linked to smoothness, thanks for confirming. Is there anything to do specifically for FSX to increase smoothness besides HIGHMEMFIX=1? Or is like optimizing any other game?

 

Thank you all for your patience.

One more time....

 

Highmemfix is a fix, and does not affect smoothness

 

The four steps I outlined above, contribute to providing smoothness.

 

That is the whole purpose.

 

What you can do additionally, is to lower sliders in FSX, if your system is getting overtaxed.

 

Zero road traffic, low traffic settings overall, and simple weather will all take load off the CPU.

OK, good to know about highmemfix. I'll try those things when I can, it'll be later in the week since my drive died. I appreciate the input, I'm not disregarding it, just seeing if there is anything else in addition.

Here is some light bedtime reading for you, while you are getting your new drive..

 

http://www.simforums.com/forums/the-fsx-computer-system-the-bible-by-nickn_topic46211.html

Thank you!