FSX addons: Which HD to put on?

[jjaycee1 0]

Have been looking at the Nick N suggestions regarding FSX setup and need best advice please.Currently I have a dedicated 500gig HD with FSX on it and most addons, and a seperate C drive of 250gig for Vista32 Home Prem and Internet access, AV etc.I want to do a "best" reconfiguration of programmes to HDs.Drive D= FSXDrive C= Vista 32.I want to add the following and would appreciate if you could advise which drive to use for which programme:Megasceneries Socal/Dallas/Phoenix/Oahu (27gig)Horixon GenX VFR (all 3 areas (60gig)Swiss VFR X (6gig)FS Altitude western Europe (23gig)FS DiscoverTraffic 2005 for FSX (500mb)UTX US UTX EuropeGEX USCAN enH (2.5gig)FEXX GraphicsUpcoming Addons to install:FSDreamscape 30cm Oahu & Utah (BIG stuff)Any suggestions appreciated..(bigger C drive HD ? !!)jjaycee1

[Guest Nick_N]

I am going to give you some generic advice... sort of rules to follow but they are not "completely" set in stone but I would try to stay with these guidelines none the lessWhen it comes to addons that are of a 'database' nature, such as GEX and FEX which install textures upon a selection made in the interface.. install these away from FSX and use them to make changes to FEX as desired. They hold a database of textures which are only installed as you select the themes or optionsWhen it comes to UTX, install it into FSX. UTX simply turns options on and off and should reside within the FSX install. Any add-on that works like that should probably go into the FSX install although there can be exceptions.When it comes to scenery and large scenery.. this is something you must decide. What I can tell you is that it is 6 of one, half dozen of the other on most systems when it comes to having MORE than 2 drives. Every drive being accessed at the same time will in fact take CPU cycles therefore your system specs and the type of add-on with how you defrag can make a huge difference.Follow the rule of keeping the FSX drive at 65% or less with 35% free space. 50 is optimal... greater than 75 and performance starts dropping like a rock.If you have a MASSIVE amount of scenery you can put another drive in the system and use it by pointing the scenery library to that drive and each scenery folder. Follow the same 65% rule with it and the Windows drive as well and you should be OK but do remember, the more drives being accessed during FSX use, the more resources must go to that use. Defragmenting for optimal file retrieval especially with huge photoscenery is critical and do not partition the disks. The write-up I posted about system tuning will optimize huge disks and installs for the best file retrieval possible..http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...d=436619&page=2

[jjaycee1 0]

Thanks Nick.Basically sounds like if the addon seeks at point of extract/installation," C:Program File " then go with it (my observation of most Megascenery/Horizon/FEX/GEX do that. Others seek the drive on which FSX is placed when installing, so go with that.It also looks like it would make sense to start again and swap the Drives around i.e. put Vista onto the 500Gig HD and FSX on the 250Gig. That way i would have plenty of room for the large VFR scenery files which appear to be "databases" + FEX/GEX etc.UNFORTUNATELY (hint) I run Vista 32Home Prem and the Rig tweak you kindly guided me to is for XP and have never seen any Vista comparison recommendation.I use Ultimate Defrag (used to use O&O when I ran XP)and am the first to agree about the almost silk like difference regular defragging affects the running of FSX (micro stutters on VFR Photosceneries, no autogen, are GONE).I also defrag after each installation. it is amazing how fragmented the HD is when you install even a relatively small program. Re-installed FS Discover earlier and then looked the HD via Ult Defrag, and FS Discover was all over the place. 3 minutes later all defragged and consolidated. Well worth the time and better than any FSX tweak (post SP2).

[Guest Nick_N]

Yes, FSX is more about the system, the drivers, their setup and use than the software itself.. The rest is in understanding the sliders, what they really do and what affect they have on each other and the systemSorry, did not see VISTA in the mix... I do have a Vista list but I need more time to ensure its safe before I post it. Unfortunately with VISTA the way it locks the partition it does not allow the same benefits of XP with file defrag software, but, there are a few tricks that can be done to help that. Right now and until I can analyze all the changes within the SP1 update for Vista I am holding off on posting any tweaks for the OS.