Well after much internal fighting I had to make the difficult decision to uninstall UT USA. The performance hit I was getting with my payware heavies was too great. UT USA is a very awesome looking add-on but it seems it adds a little more strain on my system than what

That's disappointing to hear but I'm not surprised. I have so much traffic FS is already a slide show at addon airports flying complicated aircraft in the virtual cockpit... thats why I haven't purchased UT canada/alaska or USA yet and probably never will. Thats too bad because it does look fantastic.Heres looking to FS10...by the way, what freeware version of KSBA are you talking about?

I was just about to cry along with you Dillon....But my system is handling UT-USA brilliantly since I upgraded. It's just one of those catch 22's of the game. The add-on software companies are aiming to please with a vengeance....but now you gotta have the right engine to handle all the HP they are offering.Try limiting some of the scenery settings in the UT set-up page first. More customization might save you.

Buy MyTraffic. The new version is particularly great. I purchased UT but got a refund because I simply didn't like it. I've never regretted MyTraffic or going back to it.

It seems very hard to believe that UT is the cause of the problems, since it is merely properly locating water, landclass, and roads(and it sounds like you already had USA roads, so that would net to no real change). With your system spec, these changes should not cause any real performance change, let alone cause your system to come to a grinding halt. Obviously, if you're having issues, you need to make the choice as to what to do to correct them. I just have a hard time believing that Ultimate Terrain is the cause, with your system. More likely it's the airports and AI traffic which are a known source of performance problems. P.S. - I echo the comments about MyTraffic. I have it maxed at 100% and I run my system with fps locked at 30, and I never have any preformance issues with Ultimate Terrain USA, Canada, MyTraffic, everything from FSG, and a bunch of other stuff. Some of it's the hardware, but some is the tuning and choice of products.

Dillo., i run UT/USA fairly well (i.e 20-25fps under demanding approach conditions). I dont use add-on airports, still use AS2004.5,and i run ultimate traffic at 80%.My system is a P3.2ghz processor and Radeon X800 graphic card.This info maybe no help but thought i would mention it because comparing different systems i think is perhaps useful.Dan

Sorry to hear that Dillon, but I to have a hard time believing it has to do with UT (I dislike it for other reasons). I add mesh and scenery in every way, shape and form and have never heard of the issue you speak of or experienced it, so I have to wonder where you got that idea?But you are correct, FS just can't handle all the addons we throw at it, it has to be a compromise unfortunately, hopefully it'll be better in the next version.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

Lets see, FSGenesis full mesh,Ultimate Terrain, Active Sky,FSScene,Flight Enviroments,I use the DXT3 textures, Flight Deck Companion, My Miltary AI Traffic. Hmmmm, Im sure Im missing something. Anyways I installed UT last week and just didnt like what I saw. Everything was a jumbled mess and I was havig alot of general wierdness going on.. So I nuked fs2004 and reinstalled. Took 2 days and with around 20 payware planes, was a major hassle. This time I left out FSGenesis mesh. I got tired of seeing elevated airports,deep cut rivers and I was now able to use payware area-51,Tonapah and Nellis bases where as before they were unusable with the mesh.I have a killer system and all the above put a hurting on it. During thunderstorms or high density areas it would sometimes chug.My biggest problem was textures were slow to load and sometimes wouldnt load at all. Anyways, Before I loaded all the above and had a clean FS2004 install I flew around some. I realized that all these latest and greatest addons really are not "must haves". Im not sure if they make the sim more realistic and enjoyable but just make it different. Im suffering from burnout and anything new visually gave me a much needed boost. At least for a short while until the next,must have comes out.

yes but that means more water textures displayed, more lights displayed at night, and in general more misc textures. So add that up, and you will definately see a bigger framerate hit than before UT: USA

>yes but that means more water textures displayed, more lights>displayed at night, and in general more misc textures. So add>that up, and you will definately see a bigger framerate hit>than before UT: USAIf that's the case, I haven't noticed it on my system. Based on Dillon's specs that he has listed for his system, I would not expect his system to be as badly impacted by loading Ultimate Terrain. Remember, he already had USA Roads. The water is more accurate and there are more lakes and streams than before, but come on. I truly have a hard time believing that UT USA caused the system to go belly up because of added water textures.Of course as I said, it's everyone's perogative to load whatever add-ons they want. For me, since I fly low and slow, the accuracy and features from UT are extremely important, and the performance has been great.

>Lets see, FSGenesis full mesh,Ultimate Terrain, Active>Sky,FSScene,Flight Enviroments,I use the DXT3 textures, Flight>Deck Companion, My Miltary AI Traffic. Hmmmm, Im sure Im>missing something. Anyways I installed UT last week and just>didnt like what I saw. Everything was a jumbled mess and I was>havig alot of general wierdness going on.. So I nuked fs2004>and reinstalled. Took 2 days and with around 20 payware>planes, was a major hassle. This time I left out FSGenesis>mesh. I got tired of seeing elevated airports,deep cut rivers>and I was now able to use payware area-51,Tonapah and Nellis>bases where as before they were unusable with the mesh.>>I have a killer system and all the above put a hurting on it.>During thunderstorms or high density areas it would sometimes>chug.My biggest problem was textures were slow to load and>sometimes wouldnt load at all. Anyways, Before I loaded all>the above and had a clean FS2004 install I flew around some. I>realized that all these latest and greatest addons really are>not "must haves". Im not sure if they make the sim more>realistic and enjoyable but just make it different. Im>suffering from burnout and anything new visually gave me a>much needed boost. At least for a short while until the>next,must have comes out.>>Well said JimJamXP Home SP2Asus P4P800-SE Intel 3.0GHZDDR 400 D/C 4x512MBLeadtek 6800GT 256MB (77.72)SB AudigyCH Products Yoke/Pedals USBSee you in the fence...CYYZ

Dillon,Your post was timely since I was ready to pick-up UT USA this weekend. I have read the reviews and was convincing myself it will work on my system. I have PMDG

UT: USA had no significant impact on my system, including both frame rate and stuttering, even when I was running a 9800 pro 128 on an AMD64 3200+. Even if it did, I would compromise somewhere else rather than sacrifice something that delivers as much bang for the buck as UT: USA (whether flying GA or commercial). For example, I ran 64x64 clouds for a long time. That was a good tweak for me because it significantly improved both frame rate and stuttering plus to my eyes the cloud detail was sat. (wispy, like in real life).

Carl, I know I probably sound like a sales rep for UT, but I'm not. I would suggest to you that Dillon's experience is not typical, and that you might consider trying UT and seeing if it works well on your system. If it does, then you've gotten the value you sought. If it doesn't, then you have 30 days to get a refund. I just hate seeing an isolated experience that one person has be portrayed as a failing of a wonderful product.

I agree. I see absolutely no impact on my system be it in stutters or in frame rates. Everyone should try it first.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/747400.jpghttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_beta_member.jpg