Frame rates - any suggestions on this setup?

[martinlest2 58]

Hi,

 

I know frame rates have been done to death in these forums, and will continue to be no doubt.. but maybe someone can advise as I haven't really solved anything as yet.

 

I am currently working in Sri Lanka and will be here for a couple of years at least. I didn't want to be without FS9 altogether when I moved here from the UK, but I didn't want to ship my main (and highly beloved!) FS9/FSX PC (specs as per my signature) as it got damaged when I last shipped it (to Bangkok: I shift around the world every couple of years for my job). Not seriously damaged: the heatsink and thermal paste parted company with the CPU with the jolting, but it was a hassle to fix and I don't trust the folks here to fix any further damage it might sustain in transit. Plus, getting the PC through customs in this part of the world is a real pain too. So......

 

..... I reinstalled FS9 on my Dell XPS M1730 and brought that with me (plus my Saitek X52 and so on). It's a disappointing after my PC's performance of course, but it's better than nothing. It's supposed to be a gaming laptop after all (if it's good enough for the guys on 'The Big Bang Theory', then it's good enough for me!) and was always OK with FS9 when I used it as my main FS machine, several years ago.

 

I am getting frame rates of around 14 fps: not spectacular. If I add antialiasing it plummets to 2fps. So I use SweetFX for that and switch the FS9 AA off. As say, that way I get about 14fps (at the payware VIDP in a PSS A321). I am sure I can get more though. That said, turning down settings in Display, or reducing AI from 75% to 25% makes little difference to the fps I achieve. I don't have scenery casting shadows (just the aircraft).

 

I am running out of ideas to tweak, so any advice would be welcome. At default FS9 airports in a default Cessna, I get much nearer to the 30fps (where I have capped the frame rate), but I don't fly default airports much (yawn). I hardly dare go to Aerosoft Heathrow, as I am sure fps will fall to single figures there!

 

My O/S is XP 64-bit by the way. (The laptop's not really capable of supporting Windows 7). Intel Core 2 @ 2.2GHz & 2GBs RAM.

 

The real joy (by the way) of going back to XP is having FSHotSFX running again after all this time! I really miss it in Windows 7!!

 

Thanks,

 

Martin

[FloG 148]

I'm sorry for not being helpful at all here, but I wanted to pass on a friendly reminder that AVSIM's signature rules have been changed. It is no longer allowed to have your system specs in your signature. Please use the provided tab in your profile instead. Thank you for your cooperation.

 

Best regards,

[A32xx 129]

I found that converting the PSS Airbus external and VC textures to DXT3 improved framerates for me. I also found that sweetfx killed them again, if you have nvidia graphics I would try nvidia inspector instead for AA at x8 multi to start with.

[martinlest2 58]

Hi. I do have nVidia, but if I disable the SweetFX AA I don't get any change in FPS, so I guess it isn't contributing to the relatively low frame rates. I use nVidia Inspector on my main PC, but haven't added it to the laptop yet.

 

I have quite a lot of processes running in the background too, but Googling this has always shown that killing off the unnecessary ones has little if any effect on frame rates in FS9, thugh maybe some disagree. I could try AlacrityPC perhaps?

 

Martin

[martinlest2 58]

I have installed nVidia Inspector on the laptop, but the configure button doesn't open the configuration page. Is the a compatibility issue? (GeForce 8700M GPU; 197.48 driver -  supported by NvI??)?

 

If I remove SweetFX entirely (and the dlls) I get a much better frame rate, but now I have no AA. If I add FS9's own AA the fps drops to 2 or 3.

 

Can anyone help? May post separately about the nVidia Inspector problem...

 

Thanks

 

Martin

[mebull 27]

I may be mistaken but I do not think the 'Inspector' is compatible with the driver you are using. In which case you would need to use the drivers original interface to make your AA and other settings. Give that a try and see if it helps.

 

Regards,

Mel

[martinlest2 58]

Thanks Mel. But what is the driver's interface? How do I access it to make AA changes?

[mebull 27]

Typically with Nvidia, when the driver is installed a GUI is also installed to allow settings changes. look in your programs list for something like 'NVIDIA Corporation / NVIDIA Control Panel. Inspector and this Nvidia program might be at odds with each other?

 

Mel

[martinlest2 58]

Of course, yes - I had forgotten I can adjust AA  in the nVidia Control Panel. Unfortunately, though I have set AF and AA there, there is no visible effect in FS. I have tried several options, but to no avail. Aircraft etc lines are as jagged as with no AA set.

 

If I enable AA in FS9 by the way, all is fine until I go from windowed mode to full screen. Then the fps drops from 30 to 2 or 3. In windowed mode, the AA setting is not effective - it only works in full screen mode.

 

I seem to be between a rock and a hard place here!

 

Thanks,

 

Martin

[kamaz74 81]

This tool was what everyone used back in the day before nVidia inspector. Should work with that driver.

 

http://downloads.guru3d.com/nHancer-2.5.9-download-2396.html