I have the FPS data output window open, but can a seasoned XP user explain what I'm seeing here and how it affects what settings I should use.  I can see higher figures in some of the fields are showing strain on the system, but what should I be aiming for?

Not a seasoned XP user here (let's leave that to the XP Tigers here) but I understand that f-act/sec is you're actual FPS, for cpu and gpu times the lesser values the better, for example in your readings, your gpu is struggling a little more than your cpu and maybe the gpu is the bottlenecking part, the other parameters I'm not sure. 

7 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

I have the FPS data output window open, but can a seasoned XP user explain what I'm seeing here and how it affects what settings I should use.  I can see higher figures in some of the fields are showing strain on the system, but what should I be aiming for?

"f-act" is the actual FPS you see on screen;

"f-sim" is the frequency of the internal XP physics/flight model engine; in normal conditions, the two should match. In past XP versions (and I think in XP12 as well), the physics model frequency would not go below 20, so if for some reason your actual FPS on screen would go below 20, then the internal calculations would slow down as well, and the sim would play in slow motion (very bad for gameplay!). In your case, since you took the screenshot while paused, the internal physics engine was not running, so the value goes to infinity.

Short story: don't worry about "f-sim" whenever "f-act" is >20 FPS;

"frame" is the time in seconds to draw the single frame; it is just the inverse of "f-act" (1/0.0327 = 30.6 FPS);

"cpu" and "gpu" are the time in seconds the CPU and GPU respectively take to elaborate a single frame;

they can be useful to establish which of the two is the bottleneck; whichever of the two is close to the "frame" value, should be the actual bottleneck (this is a bit simplified explanation);

"grnd" is the set "ground time acceleration" (it allows you to traverse ground faster; I don't remember what key combination activates it);

"flite" is the set "time acceleration" (it allows you to speed up everything; it's activated and cycled with the "CTRL-t" combination).

On 9/15/2022 at 5:53 PM, Murmur said:

"f-act" is the actual FPS you see on screen.....

Thanks for the explanation.  I have tuned XP12 following your guidance to get cpu/gpu figures similar. I have tuned it to get no less than 30fps over dense cities.