Trouble with saving flights midway is multiple addons like RC4 and FSCaptain dont tolerate it.  Yuo can use RC4 to save a flight but not FSCaption AFIK.  And so on.

One more thing. I think a certain other developer of an aircraft (not going to mention it here out of respect) has developed an aircraft that works outside of the sim with it's on FDE. This takes off the workload in FSX to give good frames and less VAS. Maybe in the future this will be a way to keep FSX alive for a bit longer.

I have FSX, P3D (Academic) and X-Plane 10.

 

FSX is #1 because of PMDG so I live with the "isms" of the system and generally seem to be able to survive if I measure my expectations to reality and understand, without complaining, the effect of exceeding the limits. That way I have endless hours of educational immersion in a world I can't enter in reality.

 

I'm reluctant to do much with P3D until it becomes much clearer who it really will be developed for and at what cost. Will PMDG scuttle use of their aircraft on the Academic version or let them fly anywhere on P3D provided it's not for fun? That "other" turbo prop runs really well on P3D and it's mouth-watering to think PMDG could do the same.

 

X-Plane 10 is, for me, the best and most realistic C 172 (which I used to fly in the real world) but it lacks PMDG and any really great complex planes. I got an email today from Laminar Research trying to sell me a car racing simulation. From the developer of a flight sim platform which could be the 64 bit solution we are all looking for, that seems to me to be either spreading things a bit thin or a need for a wider appealing revenue stream.

 

It must be a tough call for the developers. I liked Capt Randazzo's post about all 3 platforms back in July (I think) and feel confident that he will guide PMDG to look after his loyal supporters on FSX. And I'm sure as he guides PMDG forward to new frontiers, he will not leave us behind on cost or qualification to continue to use use PMDG products.

 

I was always made to believe that education needs to be fun in order for it to be effective.

Gents, Good Morning,

 

I am overwhelmed by the response thank you all.  It is Sunday and where I work that is like a Monday so it will have to wait until I get back to the apartment later today. I understand the frustration of a 32 bit programme trying to work with a 64 bit system and the limitations.  But there are people on this forum that manage it or at least reporting so.  I am encouraged that it isn't my system which although compared to some is modest.  I will digest the suggestions especially those from the great man Robert S. Randazzo as I think I have tried the majority of the other suggestions.  I don't intend to give up, I have spent a small fortune on the software I have and my wife would kill me if she only knew.  Thanks again, one and all, I will report back over the coming days.

If it's any consolation Dave, I too have struggled almost since inception. My first MS Flight Simulator was on a Mac SE in the mid 80's. No Oom's and no issue doing ILS approaches into Everett. It was that small 9" B&W screen which soon had me at Oceanside doing a PPL and a year later at KCCR doing an Instrument rating.

Fast forward 28 years and the real world flying is a distant memory so it's back to the simulator and, from my post above, you can see I've tried them all and spent way too much on software to find the "perfect solution".

About a month ago I took the ultimate plunge and splashed out on my current rig - see my profile for details. Was it expensive? - yes it was. Was it worth it? - yes for sure because in the end, if you want to run addons and fly high end PMDG airplanes as they were designed, then it's always going to be the hardware. With the current sim options, FSX and P3D will always have Oom problems. X-Plane not so but then the planes are not a patch on the FSX and hopefully soon, the P3D options.

So, as they say in Marketing parlance, Hardware - Hardware - Hardware and then a sensible approach to addons and you can then have pretty much what you want. While you patiently wait for things to happen at least you are getting the best experience possible in the meantime.

I don't know much about the specifics of your rig but it seems that if you run the PMDG 777 with no addons and the sliders mid range, you should get pretty decent performance. For a purist interested only in perfecting procedures and getting everything spot on, that would be just great. But when you add eye candy and "reality" you pay the price twice over - sim performance and the VISA card! I'm sure a statistician could produce the perfect spend - reality -  performance 3D graph to nail everybody somewhere on it, depending on their "needs".

With what I have got now, I can concentrate more on flying and less on tweaking. I do run Process Explorer and a monitor for core temperature on a separate monitor. I use Fiber Accelerator and have FRAPS monitoring frame rates. ORBX provides the eye candy and I have some airports loaded (UK2000, VTBS, VHHH and VHHX). Weather is a combination of ASN and Opus. Views are Opus too.

On FPS, the eye cannot perceive more than 24 and at 24 I find personally that the sim is smooth and responsive to input. I've set the FSX frame limiter to 30 and Fiber's lower end to 20.

Touch wood, all seems to be going fine.

Hope this helps your deliberations and searching.

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: After you have Process Explorer running, go to VIEW, SELECT COLUMNS then click on the PROCESS MEMORY tab, and click WORKING SET SIZE.



WORKING SET SIZE is going to show you VAS... you will see FSX in the list- and it will constantly display VAS in the WORKING SET SIZE...

 

Robert, are you sure about  this? I thought VAS is shown in the "Virtual Size" column.

Although I still get an odd OOM, I've found that the most successful way to prevent them is to do what a few have already mentioned in here. Use a scenery config editor to ONLY use the departure and arrival airport on your route. I'm also at work today so don't have a direct link, but I'm sure Google will help you with that.

 

Good luck.

Chris, thanks for making me smile, I liked your 'About me' Statement, I have now updated my profile it had old details for a rig I own in the UK.

 

I am still considering upgrading my system here in the UAE and may build my own or find a shop that will build to my spec.  A second monitor to run Process Explorer and be able to call up some of my Flight Planning Docs might also be in order.  I had a scenery config editor but it corrupted during the install now I cant uninstall it or reinstall over the top!

 

I will continue to adjust my settings and will report back if I make a breakthrough, confident I am not!

- Disable any scenery you don't plan on flying into via scenery library

-Change your Texture_Max_load to 2048 or below in FSX.cfg

-Never use high res clouds ( 1024 or 512 only)

- And the all time best way, Save flight at cruise, restart FSX and load the save.

 

I have a quick question. If you restarted FSX and resumed flight at last saved point, will FSX resume with cleared out VAS or does VAS count also resume from that point.

Sorry if this sounds bit silly question.

I have a quick question. If you restarted FSX and resumed flight at last saved point, will FSX resume with cleared out VAS or does VAS count also resume from that point.

Sorry if this sounds bit silly question.

I would assume the VAS count resets because you then load the scenery etc etc from where you left off again.... If that makes sense