hi allive tried all the different cloulds in the cloud library even the small texture ones but everytime i go through clouds my frame rates go down the toilet,i dont know whats the cause ive even reduce the slider in cloud density to 30% and there are still major frame rate problems, any idea why this is happening and im not running any other weather program just FS2004 by itself.as you can see im getting 8fps normally it is 18-20fps set only through clouds i get this problem.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/148696.jpg

Hi Clayton,You may have an antialiasing issue. Make sure it is set to off within FS9 and check your videocard settings. I have a 6600 GT as well and I have antialiasing usually set to 4x (even to 0 when I use FSMetar with several cloud layers but then jaggies appear...), anisotropic filtering to 8X and get satisfactory results (more than 20 fps locked at 24 )with visibility set to 60 miles and maximum cloud density.Jean-PaulPIV 2.8 Northwood, 1024 Ram, NVidia 6600GT AGP (Forceware 77.77 drivers), XP Pro SP2

Jean-Paulthanks v much for the tip, i am using a 24" widescreen running at 1920 x 1200 so i put off AA and AF and now i get a little ore jaggies however its alot more smoother through clouds, thanks!

I wonder if the unusual resolution has anything to do with it.Matt

its not an unusual resolution its the native resolution for this monitor.

Your extremaly high resolution + AA + AF is causing this.Either a lower resolution + AA + AF , or a very high resolution without AA and without AF.It's that simple. Your low end graphics card has also to do with this.

yea thanks for that, yes i tried doing 0 AA and 0 AF but it looks horrible , so i think i will just have to grin and bear it till i upgrade my system in 12 months time.x(

I had the same problem since I run 2560 x 1024 dual monitors in span mode. After I got my new BFG 7900GTX OC I now can fly through clouds at 40-50 FPS with most GA aircraft and freeware add on planes or default airliners whereas with my 6600 I would get maybe 10-12. Heavy cpu using add on aircraft (payware) and add on airports sceneries still bring frames down to the low to mid 20s. So I can say my system is cpu limited.Now gotta save up for a stronger cpu but I think I'll wait for FSX.Current System:AMD 64 3700+ San Diego coreAsus A8n SLi deluxe2gigs Corsair value select memoryBFG 7900GTX OC 512mb video card2 Maxtor ATA133 hard drives (120gb,300gb)Ultra 500w power supplyPlextor 708A DVD writerThermaltake Tsunami Dream case.2 Samsung Syncmaster 19" monitors in span mode 2560 X 1024 resolution.P.S. My system is more than adequate for FS9. I am just a performancefreak.Regards, Carlos

This issue waas originaly raised over a year ago here; the resulting findings were that the Nvidia cards (your 6600GT - I also have one of these!) have a 'problem' with their anti-alaising in that in standard modes (not the xQ, or xS modes) they will apply AA to transparency/alpha textures, thus, they apply AA to clouds! Not good!! ATI Radeon users were OK as these cards don't apply AA to alphas...The newer 7x00 series of Nvidia cards now have a new setting in the drivers which allow for alpha AA to disabled; hence that 7900 card not having a problem with heavy clouds.My experience with my 6600GT is exactly as the above describes; when I also owned an ATI X800SE for a short time (before it died!!), I never had a problem with AA and clouds.

thanks allthat sums it upi will need to upgrade the cardrgds

Yes I am experiencing the same problem. I have a HP dual core p4 2.82 Mb RamNvidia 6200SE 256 Mb Ramdac,,whatever that means. I have my display at 1024 X 768..Should I go lower to 800 X 600 to see if I get a better frame rate...looking for Answers hereThanksFred

A 6600GT is hardly low end... The native clock is 500mhz, it has all the advanced shaders and AA/AF optimizations (incl. supersampling) and memory is 1ghz ddr3. They all overclock to between 550 and 600 mhz on the core with native cooling and 1100 on mem.It outperforms the 6800 gs, and even beats the 6800ultra in shader speed because of its superfast GPU. Even those if you with a 7800 do not have clocks that fast.It kicks the butt of ATI x700 cards and even gives a run for the money against the x800 and my 7800GT in all tests, up till res gets high (they are limited by the 8x pipeline - but pipelines are not everything when the clockspeed is 35 - 45% faster than most). I have two of them (1 AGP, 1 X16 PCI-E) and franky they rock. I would buy it over most other cards as they are absolutely the best bang for the buck bar none. Throw SLI into the mix and it get even better. You can have 7800 perf at half the cost.You were right about the high res though, even my 256mb 7800GT (455/1200) is going to choke on that in FS.CheersShad

>thanks all>>that sums it up>>i will need to upgrade the card>>rgdsYou do not need to upgrade the card, you just need to optimize it and understand the limits of FS (or any game). Besideds all the new games use HDR and AA does not work in HDR... you need fast shaders... and guess what, you have some of the fastest out there all ready.Do not be sucked in by bad advice.

>Yes I am experiencing the same problem. I have a HP dual core>p4 2.8>2 Mb Ram>Nvidia 6200SE 256 Mb Ramdac,,whatever that means. I have my>display at 1024 X 768..>>Should I go lower to 800 X 600 to see if I get a better frame>rate...>>>looking for Answers here>>Thanks>FredYou on the other hand need a better card. ;) Find a hundred bucks and go buy a 6600gt. The 6200 is not a game card and the SE is even slower still. It was designed so causual users could benifit from XP and DX9.0 on the desktop for 3d poker and such.CheersShad

iholrfbut ive tried everything and it doesnt seem to work, so whats the go then ?