Framerate problem ONLY in the US

[ndoynov 0]

Hello fellow simmers,

 

So after flying in Europe and South America for a while, I decided to start flying in the US. However, I noticed that my framerates dropped significantly when I fly in US cities ONLY. Now, I know that US airports have lots of AI, and that US cities are big and have a lot of autogen, but this is something that I experience only in the US. I have flown into and out of Heathrow, for example, with the UK2000 scenery, and have managed to do around 20 FPS (my max frame rates, considering I don't have a stronger graphics card; I'm happy with 20 FPS). I've flown to places like Rome, Milan, Paris CDG, Frankfurt, all with detailed addon sceneries and have managed 20 FPS. But, I load Boston with a freeware scenery, and I get like 6 FPS! Even worse, I load New York La Guardia with an AFCAD ONLY, and I get like 2-3 FPS in all views! First, I thought that maybe because NY is huge its slowing my computer. So, I chose Detroit, a much smaller airport and city with an AFCAD only, and I still get like 5 FPS! I don't understand...I've done all tweaks that I've seen, I run Autogen on Normal (it was on Very Dense in Europe) and most other settings, traffic is reduced to 70%, I have FS9 V9.1 (updated), I updated drivers, I switched the Autogen xml file, tried the renaming technique, and nothing! Still the same crappy FPS. I'm surprised. I've flown everywhere, but in the US. Even Canada works excellent! I tried Toronto- Pearson with and AFCAD only, and I got a decent 15 FPS. Let me know what you guys think, and if you need more info, please ask.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Luis Hernandez 569]

What if you kill AI? Juts for knowing if AI is the problem or something else.

[Amnmaddox 2]

This is a tricky topic...for one, what are your settings in FS9? Also what kind of graphics card do you have? Also as Luis asks, what kind of AI are you using. A major cause for FS9 slowdowns are bad texture files in AI traffic. They will really eat up frames. You could have a "local" airline or livery file causing the issue.

[mebull 27]

 

 

Let me know what you guys think, and if you need more info, please ask.

 

It is all about the process of elimination.

 

I agree with Luis and Amnmaddox, The first step is to switch off the AI to see if there is a difference. Let us know about the results.

 

I will follow up with some questions or requests that may also give some clues.

 

 

When you load up one of these US flights do the frame rates start as low as you have described or do they degrade to that level rapidly?

 

What kind of AI are you using?

 

When you say a AFCAD only, do you mean stock or add on?

 

Are you using any form of scenery such as UTUSA or some photo scenery or a texture set that replaces the stock files?

 

Any Land Class installed covering any part of the globe?

 

Do you have any terrain mesh installed covering any part of the globe?

 

What type of aircraft are you flying and are you using it the same in all instances? Be sure to use the same aircraft everywhere, preferably stock, for now. My thinking here is that you might be flying an aircraft in Europe with one paint scheme related to Europe. Take the same plane and load a flight in the US with a US related paint scheme which just might have bad textures that kill performance.

 

CPU?, Graphics card? Ram?

 

Best regards,

Mel

[ndoynov 0]

Ok, so, the AFCADs that I have are add on (downloaded from avsim library), I have no terrain addons, no land class, absolutely no addons regarding the terrain in any part of the world. I tried going to the US with a plane that ran excellent in Europe, and the FPS is still bad. The fps are as low as 2-3 FPS right when FS finishes loading. They stay that way while I'm on the ground (I didn't even take off, because it stutters real bad). Now, I'll try to kill the AI and see what happens. I'm thinking its probably a bad AI texture. I use the WOAI by the way, as well as some of which I manually installed. My CPU is 2.2 GHz Intel Celeron, 2 GB of RAM, and graphics card is a Intel G41 Express Chipset. I know, I know, not the best machine out there, but it seems to do just fine in Europe. I'll keep you updated on what happens. Also, the FS settings are all on Normal.

 

Thanks,

 

ndoynov

[mebull 27]

 

 

I have no terrain addons, no land class, absolutely no addons regarding the terrain in any part of the world.

 

Does the above also include no new textures? Thanks for the reply above. It is good to remove these as possible causes.

 

 

If you were getting 20 FPS in Europe with your PC specifications there is no reason the US should be different except the New York city area, it is notoriously bad on frame rates.

 

When you have started a flight at KDTW or KLGA did you see a large number of AI aircraft or what you might deem normal? Here is something else you might try -  load a flight starting at a gate or ramp at KDTW and just let your aircraft sit for about twenty minutes or longer and observe whether the frame rates improve or not.

 

Let us know how things go after you disable the AI.

 

Regards,

Mel

[ndoynov 0]

Hey Mel! So I just put my AI at 0 and went on to Newark, and I had around 15-20 FPS, which is good enough. It must be the AI. Now, I'll just go and see if I find some errors in my AI for the US . I'll keep this page updated...

 

Thanks for all the help,

 

ndoynov

[mebull 27]

 

 

Thanks for all the help,

 

Glad you are getting close. Might help if you remove your USA airport related flight plans a few at a time to a temporary folder to help close in on which aircraft(s) is / are the cause. Keep in mind this may be model or texture related.

 

Mel

[ndoynov 0]

Hi All,

 

I apologize for not posting anything sooner, but I had some internet issues. So, back to my problem, what did was I mipped most of my AI that fly in the US. It took so long, but at least the FPS were a little better. I even did a flight from YUL to LGA, and I can say that 95% of that flight had at least 20 FPS, which is good enough considering my computer. However, that approach on to LGA was a killer...that killed my FPS, but there was a lot of AI flyin' around, and NYC terrain is always tough on frames. I'll keep testing out other airports, and see what happens. Once again, thank you all so very much for helping!

 

ndoynov