I need some help. I have a Dell Dimension 8300 system, 1 Gig of Memory , 128mb ATI Radeon Pro and have been running FS2004 for some time with is stutters and such.I have virtually all of Simflyers, Fly Tampa and other sceneries including Georender, FS Addon and Lagos Emma installed. I also have Aerosofts Manhattan. I have just acquired the Georender, Lago and FS Addon Washington Sceneries.I

Hi Jim,I don't know exactly what processor you have or exactly what video card that is, but I would say that with all those sceneries installed your computer cannot keep up. I can suggest that you lock your framerate at a low number(20) and see what happens.Next, I would look to upgrade your whole system depending on your exact specifics.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_dev_team.jpg http://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

Definitley try locking your frames; I run a FX57 with SLI 7800GTX 2 Gigs of RAM and still lock my FPS at 20.

Jim,I think I have about the same PC as you.At the beginning I had stutters etc.. It took me quite some time to tuen the PC. Don't ask me what I did. I myself cannot follow all what I tried but now with some big CPU software usage as ASV, FlightKeeper, Radar Control and PAI I get normally between 18 and 28 fps with some very occasional 12 fps.So don't go out buying more power. I think you can tune it but it will be a long process.Not only on the FS side but also on the hardware side. My slides are almost all on the right.Good luck and patience.Roger

Thanks to all of you guys.By Golly! Locking the Frame rates at 20 seems to be working some what. I was able to take off at KLGA with Manhattan on in the background fly around the city and land at Newark then Wall street then back to lga with out a total disaster and with just a few short (really short) Stutters. Before I could not do this at all with out a total fs9 crash.Kep the ideas coming.Many thanks againJim

Jim, if you are inclined to do trial and error, chat here and there and benefit from the experiences of many seasoned simmers, continue on here as you are. If you have some $$ to spare, and you want to get your machine set up to perform its level best without going thru the trial and error, and perhaps taking longer than you want, you can contact Michael Greenblatt of http://www.fs-gs.com/ and for a fee he will work with you to max out the smoothness of your machine and FS9 installation. I don't think Michael has any particular magic, but again, you are going to pay for someone who has spent plenty of time testing and learning what works, and the decent part is--you don't pay a dime unless you are happy with the results. Most users, I believe, learned enough to justify the expense. Most users are happy, I believe. You can pick up enough stuff right here to work it out yourself, but if you want focused attention, 1:1, well, it's available. I have been a steady user of FS for years, build PCs, and had decent performance prior to paying Michael for his service. I do have improved perf (virtual total smoothness with not even a hint of hesitation) since doing the tuneup, and I can generalize the information to other machines I might set up. So, it was worth it. I email him from time to time to see what he thinks of this driver or that (for my vid card), and he will give me an opinion and recommended minor optimizations in the FS9.cfg file that he felt was specific for that card/driver. Noel

JimMany problems you experience with running FS over a long time have actually nothing to do with the program itself. They are rather a result of not maintaining your PC properly. I am some times surprised how people neglect their PC

Jim, sounds like we both have the same system. When I got the computer I didn't think I would have to tweak it. I have a Pent 4 3.0 ghz.I have turned down my sound acceleration to "Standard".Sight distance to 60 miles. Cloud draw 60 miles. 70% 3D clouds.I also cut down on visibility.I have heard that 100% 3D clouds and 100% traffic can eat up the 256 MB on a video card, so I run less because I only have 128MB.I also run FS Sky World's first set of light clouds, HIPFS 32 bit set1.What I try to get is a nice pan from the VC. By "nice" I mean no white texture tiles filling in as my view sweeps. I don't want to see the water with different texture tiles. I look very closely at how smooth (amount and degree of studders)the ground passes under me.I'm also locked at 27 FPS.