and close to qualifying as "devastated"Greetings all...with special empathy for those whose systems will not let them run FSX as they'd like to see it.It is one thing to not be able to use FSX on a underpowered system... it is entirely different to have a functioning system suddenly stop working correctly. I am at a loss to resolve the issue. If the problem affects FS9, it's very subtle and not noticeable.Previously, as all of us have probably noticed, there is sometimes a delay before textures pull into focus at the desired level as we approach a new texture area, but I'm seeing something new going on. The problem seems to exihibit two forms:A. sluggishly loading textures that fall further 'behind' until the ground is barely recognizable.So how bad is it up on the Blue Ridge Parkway? Scenery reloaded overlay on righthttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/183695.jpgB. erratically loading textures: a texture block ahead of me may load to the desired resolution while the one I'm actually still over may never load at the correct resolution. Sometime an 'intersection' of 4 textures can be identified by there being 3-4 different resolutions displayed in the same area (as in the accompanying image where I sat patiently for several minutes waiting for something to happen at KRIV)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/183694.jpgCondensed version of settings:global texture (max); scenery range (med); mesh 80% of 76m at 1m res'; scenery (dense/V dense); AG (sparse/normal); AI (none); weather (none); fps (easily maintained 20)System :3G of 4G pagefile free (new)1+ of 2G ram free (tested independently)90M free on 256 ATI card573M free in texture memcpu/gpu temps normalfile-folder defrag (Ultimate Defrag) as always -at the head of a new HDDNO unusual processes running/ virus scan clean/NO performance difference with zonealarm off and AVG/McAfee disabled/removedATI X800XL Graphics (Omega) - freshly updatedAA 4x; AI 8x; texture High; Mip High; trilinear w/aniso' (typical settings)The issues are MORE blatantly visible with Ultimate Terrain but still evident in newly installed default FSX(SP1). Strickly speaking, "plain Jane" FSX runs more poorly now than FSX+UTX did two months ago. Many months of screenies remind me that I'm not imagining this.And it all pulls back into shape with a scenery reload.... Filemonitor generally indicates no file activity going on while I 'twiddle my thumbs' waiting to see how long it's gonna take FSX this time.... I almost always give up and reload scenery first - occasionally it will surprise me and actually 'recover' on its own.Experimenting/testing with this mess has taken up way too much time during the last several weeks. I either need a solution or a new hobby... I do not expect to build the next system for 4-6 months.Thoughts, suggestions, (or condolences) welcome. Loyd

My condolences!That is what I was looking at with FSX on my "old" system... Nice P4-2.8 which ran FS9 just right.Finally, I bit the bullet, got a new Q6600 system and all problems gone.There must be a lot of P4 and AMD equivalent systems sitting in closets right now.. :-)

Loyd, I have a similar system (not using it currently) with FSX and never had any problems as you have displayed except I couldn't crank up the settings as with my current machine. Do you have a spare graphics card you could test with?? Seems to me it would almost have to be the graphics card. Just a guess. by the way; where you located? Just wondering cause I'm very close to the Blue Ridge Parkway myself. CraigLian-Li PC60-B Case Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W Power Supply Gigabyte P35 DS3R Intel Core2Duo E6850 Arctic Cooling Freezer7 Pro Crucual Ballistix 2GB PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066) EVGA 7950 GT OC 512 Mb Plextor PX-810SA/SW-BL 18X SATA DVD Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/sec Seagate Barracuda 7200.10250 GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/secCraig

Hi Craig,Strictly speaking, I was a little further north, on Skyline Drive maybe 15 minutes out of Front Royal at the pic location... gorgeous country. I'm down at the SW corner of TN in Cotton Country (KMEM), home of FedEx and Elvis.Most of my flying is in the high country of the Rockies where all those roads, rivers, streams and valleys just 'beg' to be explored. I come over to the Shennandoah just for the Autumn colors :). Drove it for real some decades ago and canoed the Shennandoah a couple of times.The system has been fine (up until early Dec) for the kind of flying I do and I want the the 45n to hit the streets and drop pricing a bit on the 60n hardware before I replace the current system. IF I could get a new card now that would work on the next system - Q6600/6850? also, I believe I might just do it anyway. Absolutely nothing I've done with the applcation or settings has made any significant difference.Loyd

The images your posted would indicate corrupt memory on the video card. Try running some video card test.

Loyd, Try running AquaMark (free) and see what happens. Also try ATItool 0.26. Craig

Or, graphics system overload... At least on my old system, if I pushed the settings high enough on FSX, it would stop loading detail textures before the frame-rates were impacted. Especially if you switch between inside and outside views. I could pause the system and wait for minutes before the texture loading system would get itself untangled.Now, there may well be hardware reasons... maybe blowing out the dust and running with covers off as a test might help..

Hi Loyd,I had almost the same sytem for FS9 and FSX... but nt such problems at all.It can be very frustrating when those things happen....Now i have a newer one for FSX; just to split into the 2 FS-versions.Please check the memory usage with a util like Memstatus; you can watch both, ram and videomem, at the same time...Most problems i have seen are related to the videocard...Good luck!Bertwww.worldoffs.com