Andreas:I had understood from a MS guy that TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS was an on/off switch. That is, there were only two choices, 0 or 1.I wonder if your "8" is simply being interpreted as a "1". Do you notice a difference if you use 8 instead of 1?If you have a reliable source, I would like to learn more about extended levels. I may not be getting the most out of my system.Thanks,Wilson

Well, all, I tried various comparisons from this thread and I VERY much appreciated the input . . . Using the following settings I got the most detail WITH performance from my system and now I am a very happy camper :-)[DISPLAY]UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=0TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=90[TERRAIN]TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=100.000000TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=10.000000TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=100.000000TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=8TERRAIN_AUTOGEN_DENSITY=5TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=0.0TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=0.0TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=1RENDER_TO_TEXTURE=1

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!I heard "render to texture" can be a problem with clouds if you change them from DXT3. It switches back and forth from GPU to CPU rendering for those textures specifically. Give it a try.Merry Christmas and a Survivable New Year :-beerchug

This is the MIP level used for the extended ring. Think of it as something like the MIP slider in FS. The higher the value (range 1..8), the sharper the textures get.Addition: higher MIP levels have in many cases a huge (negative) impact to framerates and memory (I'm not sure about the memory, but sure about the FPS).Andreas

Theres no way that system is LOW END. Flight Simulator is just a beast. It will bring any machine to its knees in some way as far as I am concerned. :)

Hmmm,This must be system-dependent.I tried changing from 1 to 8, but saw no visual difference. I also turned on the framerate counter and the framerate was exactly the same at a setting of 8 as it had been at 1.Using a Radeon 9800 pro here. What are you using, Andreas? Maybe it has to do with a difference in video cards.Wilson

If it helps any, all, using those settings I posted last helped even the Captain Sim Herc have decent frames in heavy scenery areas.

Hi Chris,I share your pain with blurring photo scenery, just a few thoughts for someone in your predicament.You say you changed the hard drive, have you checked that Windows has enabled DMA transfers on the drive?You changed (added) memory, have you checked (in the BIOS) that all the sticks are playing nice? Are the timings/settings OK? You could try taking some out and testing each single stick to see if one is a bit dodgy. I think you'll find FS will run OK on 'just' 1GB :-)Check that the AGP texturing is on and that the AGP multiplier is set to its maximum value (I'm guessing 8 in your case). It may be worth changing this setting just to see if it has an effect on the problem.Finally, try turning off the FSAA and AF to see if that helps, if only by reducing the load on the GPU making it available for other things.I won't pretend to know all the answers or that any of these will help but I hope this has given you some food for thought and something to get you started trying to find the source of the problem. Your machine is more than powerful enough to get Switzerland Pro running better than that picture you posted, there's obviously some setting somewhere that's taxing the system too much and stopping the textures from loading/displaying.Hope this helps,Ian

9800pro here as well. Take a GOOD look at the textures and trees, the difference is quite remarkable (and my FPS go down a little with setting at 8).Maybe some other setting of your specific configuration hinders the MIP level increase to show.The problem is that there are so many video parameters which can be changed individually, and which may influence each other in some cases...P.S.: we'd need something like a closed play station where all settings are always maxed out and everyone gets the same results; on the different HW/SW combinations we all have I doubt two FS screens look the same, let alone there's always the "doubt factor" whether you really get all benefits from what you have.Andreas

>Hi Chris,>>I share your pain with blurring photo scenery, just a few>thoughts for someone in your predicament.>>You say you changed the hard drive, have you checked that>Windows has enabled DMA transfers on the drive?>>You changed (added) memory, have you checked (in the BIOS)>that all the sticks are playing nice? Are the timings/settings>OK? You could try taking some out and testing each single>stick to see if one is a bit dodgy. I think you'll find FS>will run OK on 'just' 1GB :-)>>Check that the AGP texturing is on and that the AGP multiplier>is set to its maximum value (I'm guessing 8 in your case). It>may be worth changing this setting just to see if it has an>effect on the problem.>>Finally, try turning off the FSAA and AF to see if that helps,>if only by reducing the load on the GPU making it available>for other things.>>I won't pretend to know all the answers or that any of these>will help but I hope this has given you some food for thought>and something to get you started trying to find the source of>the problem. Your machine is more than powerful enough to get>Switzerland Pro running better than that picture you posted,>there's obviously some setting somewhere that's taxing the>system too much and stopping the textures from>loading/displaying.>>Hope this helps,>>Ian>Many thanks, Ian. I had actually eliminated those and am now running rather smoothly on this system. it had to do with a bit of tweaking in my FS9 CFG.With the following settings even the FPS hogging C-130 runs smooth . . . [DISPLAY]UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=0TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=90[TERRAIN]TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=100.000000TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=10.000000TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=100.000000TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=8TERRAIN_AUTOGEN_DENSITY=0TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=0.0 //5TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=0.0 //9.5TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=1 //1RENDER_TO_TEXTURE=1In my NVidia settings I have the following:IMAGE SETTINGS -------- High QualityANTIALIASING ---------- 4xANISTROPIC FILTERING -- 16xMy sim is now smooth and running beautifully.

>Set all sliders to maximum (esp. MIP level, texture size to>massive etc.) and edit fs9.cfg:>>TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=100>TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=10.000000>TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=100.000000>TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21 // maximum LOD level to use>TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=8 // is set with a slider in FS, move>it to max>TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1>TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1 // mandatory to get good terrain>texturing>TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=10.0 // radius of the default ring>TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=10.0 // radius of extended ring>TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=8 // MIP level of extended ring>>And make sure RENDER_TO_TEXTURE=1 is in FS9.cfg.>>This should give you all FS9 can handle (apart from graphics>adapter settinds which you need to define separately, make>sure the MIPMAP detail level and texture size is set to max.>quality in the driver).>>Hope this helps.>>AndreasAndreas you made my day :)I just installed FS9 on my new system and was kinda disappointed. Not with framerates. But with blurries. I had them all over the place. AND shimmering textures. I was about to uninstall FS9 because of frustration.Then i edited my fs9.cfg like you suggested and now i have crystal sharp textures, no shimmering and i can fly into KLAX with everything maxed out and the PSS A340 and still have 15-25fps. This rocksThanks a lot for your help - i just love this forum :)

I moved back to x64 after trying XP again.This solved all my blurry issues with Photo scenery.If you can live without Reality XP Gps then go for it.