That not even the *almost* fastest computer today (for example mine) still can't run full quality clouds in a say LDS VC with decent fps - for me that's around 35-40 fps???I mean, what's the deal? I can't believe that pricely equivalent Athlon for instance runs this with high AA and AF settings...I'm asking cuz I bought Flight Environment yesterday, and clouds look awesome, but getting 15-20 fps in LDS VC while climbing through the thick multi-layered clouds cover is just a disgrace...

Not really, if you truly are trying to run FS at 4x FSAA AND 16x AA, as noted in your specs. Add on the fact that you are squeezing the system resources at both ends with a sophisticiated aircraft doing many things outside the bounds of the basic FS engine, add the FE enhancements and push those sliders up high and it's hardly a `disgrace` more a question of grudging appreciation that FS2004 has been effectively designed for the computers of tomorrow. It's just that with the increasing complexity of addons, tomorrow never comes!Allcott

>tomorrow. It's just that with the increasing complexity of>addons, tomorrow never comes!That's exactly my point.And I sure do appreciate the FS2004 complexity, but I'm only wondering if there could be even "better" optimization, so that FS2004 would potentially run even faster. I'm pointing a finger to those who say that MS has a poor engine...And so that you can rest your suspicion:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/117709.jpg

Change your "Quality" box to "Performance" and if you have the option to do so, turn off Truform (is that an ATI option?).Try that. I bet you won't see any visual difference but you should see a performance increase.

drop your AA and AF to 2X, that will speed it up a lot..also, what is your Vurtual memory set at, try setting it to 1500 min/max. Too high and the sim runs slugish, too low and the game will crash.

Not even my machine runs FS at a high frame rate. But I am pushing it to the limit, and running 100% traffic with full sliders, 1600x1200 res. I'm still messing around with the aliasing and AF and all the other settings but haven't found the best fit. I'm also still confused about the texture_bandwidth_multi= line in the fs9.cfg fileCan't figure out what to set it at. It runs great at 0 except for long texture load times. And setting it really high makes the sim skip

I have what I think is a pretty good computer. And I have never been able to maintain outstanding quality with extreme frame rates. As you know the computer is not only running FS the program, but the aircraft systems, the OS, and anything else you may have running in the background (anti virus, explorer, etc.) I use the FS Autostart found here in the Avsim library and it has given me a few more frames. Plus I have an ATI card and have turned Vertical Sync off, Trueform off, AA 4x, AF 8x, texture and mipmap on quality. Granted if I lessen mipmap and texture quality I can pick up even more frames, but I am not wanting to sacrifice the beauty. Personally I cannot tell the difference between AF on 8x or 16x other than the frames are better at 8x and the quality in the rendering seems pretty good.Just me thoughts...Kev

What is this "FS Autostart" of which you speak?Thanks!

>What is this "FS Autostart" of which you speak?>>Thanks!It is the coolest little executable file I have ever had.FSAutoStart allows the user the ability to automatically shutdown services and programs to provide as much resources to running today

Hi Matt,FS Autostart is by Ken Salter, and it is a program that allows you to shut down processes to allow more resources to be available. More resources, more Ram, more available CPU. :-)It's here in the library.I guess kev and I posted at the same time. :-)Here is the link:http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID...util&DLID=57040Regards,JoeGrab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]

"...drop your AA and AF to 2X, that will speed it up a lot..."Not sure I agree with this. Certainly is not the case for most gaming cards from ATI. They do quite well with higher levels of AA and AF... if the rest of the system can deliver the goods. :-) Whenever anybody is unhappy with the way this sim runs on their system I don't look at their hardware specs right away. I want to know what background apps they have running. That's where FS Autostart comes in... it will kill anything that might be uneeded (for gaming) and then restart all those CPU/RAM/System Bus hungry apps once you're done gaming. Couple it with a thorough study of BlackViper's recomendations for XP Sevices tuning and even a mid-range hardware system will do a decent job of running FS.A lean, well maintained gaming rig is a happy gaming rig.Greg

I didnt pay attention to the ATI part, I have an Nvidia and that along with dropping my Virtual Memory to 1500 helpped 100%, so I thought I pass it on, so do ATIs not handle lower AA and AF settings as well as the Nvidias? do ATIs require higher AA and AF to get the same results as Nvidias?

"...so do ATIs not handle lower AA and AF settings as well as the Nvidias? do ATIs require higher AA and AF to get the same results as Nvidias?"The ATI's don't require higher levels, they just do better at the higher levels of AA and AF. And it's not so much that they are superior to nVidia (they both make nice video cards), it's that the nVidia cards AA Alpha textures while the ATI cards do not. FS's clouds are Alpha's, so they are getting the AA treatment from nVidia cards. Some feel this is a waste of VC resources. On the flip side some ATI owners don't care for the shimmering ground textures they see and prefer to deal with the nVidia AA'ing of clouds.Greg

I have read this a few other places and can now can vouch for that from experience. Had a FX5950 that I got from a friend and had great IQ with it, but terrible performance in heavy weather. Got a 9800 pro, weather performance is fantastic, but I do have a slight shimmering. Tried several drivers for both and decided to stick with the Radeon.BTW AMD3200XP, 2 gig 3500, A7N8X DLX, 2 WD 120 rd 0 configRegards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

No shimmering with Mips a 4 in FS.Btw. advice for performance AF and not quality - GREAT! Maybe it's only me, but I really feel a performance boost, and visually, not a change! Thanks! :-) :-) :-)