FSNavigator

[Stelios 11]

HiI have installed FSNavigator but when I press F9 it takes too long to load (about 1 minute). I have a very fast PC (P4 3.2GHZ) and a reasonable fast graphics card (Asus PCI Express GeForce N6600 250MB) it should load much quicker. Any ideas?Stelios

[Guest bones]

The first time you start FSNav it loads a lot of navaid data - especially if you have installed the off airways reporting points. Once this has run in you should be able to get at the FSNav screen almost instantly - it's just the first time you have to be a bit patient.boneshttp://fsaviation.nethttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpg

[Guest bobsk8]

I find that it takes about 20 seconds to load on my system, which is fairly fast with a good videoe card.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

Stelios,I believe Anti-Aliasing can slow loading down especially in full-screen mode. Switch to windowed mode and see if that improves things. 1 minute is way too long. I've just timed it on my P4 3.0 / 9800 Pro and it took 10 secs.I've just switched to full-screen mode for a comparison and it's really noticeable how much longer it takes to redraw the objects.Cheers,

[Bill Womack 7]

Interestingly, I'm finding it takes at least 20 seconds to load each time for me with my new GeForce 6800GT video card. With my old Radeon 9700 Pro it was nearly instantaneous. Also, with the GeForce it takes a painfully long time to draw all the red areas (airports, if I recall) around the world before I can zoom in to the area I'm in, whereas again with the Radeon it was very quick. Perhaps it's a problem with the implementation of DirectX or something in the card, I dunno. Just taking a guess.thanks,

[Stelios 11]

Ray you are right I switched to windowed mode and it loads very quickly. I don't like flying though in windowed mode it's so distractive.I also unchecked anti-aliasing and in full mode also loads quickly but then again with anti-aliasing on the sim is so much nicer with my set up. So it's a catch 22 situation. Stelios

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

Stelios,Good old Catch-22 eh? ;-) I've tried flying in full-screen mode but can't live with it. If you right-click the forward view you can hide the menu bar. If you set the Windows taskbar to auto-hide all that's left is the FS9 title bar and that can be set to a inobtrusive colour.The benefits outweigh the disadvantages for me. Only you can determine if they do for you.Cheers,

[Stelios 11]

How do you set the FS9 title bar to an inobstructive colour?ThanksStelios

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

Stelios,Right-click the desktop and choose Properties / Apearance / Advanced. Select Active Title Bar from 'Item' and you can change the colour. It's a Windows thing - not FS.Cheers,

[Stelios 11]

Thanks Ray silly me I was looking in the FS9 menus.I also noticed that with window mode the FPS jumped about 25%!!! I get now with heavy clouds about 30FPS!Stelios

[Guest bobsk8]

I wonder why it picks up some many FPS with FS run in the windowed mode? I have never run it that way, but I am going to try it tonight to check it out.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

Stelios,That could be linked to AA settings. I've compared F/S and Windowed mode and there's very little difference in frame rates. I have AA 2X and AF 8X on a 18" TFT running at 1280*1024. What are your display settings?Remember you will boost overall smoothness by limiting the frame rate to around 25. The spare CPU cycles can then be used to load textures in the background.Cheers,

[Stelios 11]

>Stelios,>>That could be linked to AA settings. I've compared F/S and>Windowed mode and there's very little difference in frame>rates. I have AA 2X and AF 8X on a 18" TFT running at>1280*1024. What are your display settings?>>Remember you will boost overall smoothness by limiting the>frame rate to around 25. The spare CPU cycles can then be used>to load textures in the background.>>Cheers,Ray my display settings are 1024x768 at 32bit. I always thought that you should set the frame rate to unlimited.Stelios

[Ray Proudfoot 8,903]

Stelios,Firstly, I'm assuming you have either a 17" CRT or 15" TFT monitor for 1024*768. Please confirm.There's two schools of thought on the frame rate limiter - those who advocate setting a reasonable limit above which no extra smoothness can be seen or those who perhaps chase the highest frame rates obtainable. The point is if you ask your CPU to work as hard as possible to deliver the highest frame rates where will it find time to perform other tasks such as loading scenery in the background? The answer is it can't so it pauses FS very briefly whilst it loads these textures. These pauses can be seen as stutters albeit very small ones.I've tried both ways - limting to 25fps and unlimited and I believe I get better performance by limiting the frame rate. Whether it works for you only you can determine. Give it a try and see what you think.Cheers,

[Stelios 11]

>Stelios,>>Firstly, I'm assuming you have either a 17" CRT or 15" TFT>monitor for 1024*768. Please confirm.Ray I have a 17" CRT.OK I will set the frame rates to 25 and see. Well I have to go now it's midnight here in Cyprus. It's been nice talking to you. Take care.Stelios