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RogerPotie

Vista questions

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All, I plan to install Vista Ultimate SP1 32 bit in the very near future. I will be installing it on a seperate drive so I can dual boot and will be reinstalling FSX on another drive as well unless there is an easier way. I guess what I'm asking for is any tips, advice etc. Driver recommendations as well. The reason I'm using that OS is I was able to obtain a valid copy for a very reasonable price as I work for a University. My machine specs are listed below. Thanks in advance. CraigLian Li PC 65B CaseCorsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W Power SupplyPlextor PX-810SA/SW-BL DVD/CDGiagabyte GA-P35-DS3RCrucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)Arctic Freezer 7 ProIntel E6850 Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache @ 3.6 GHzEVGA 7950GT KO 512mb 169.21_forceware whqlSeagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATASeagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATAWinXP Pro SP2

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Hi CraigThe only issue I've run into with Vista and FSX is that I had to turn off the User Account Control to be able to 'see' addon aircraft and use some of the gauges. Once I could select addon aircraft in FSX, I was able to turn the UAC back on with no problems.Happy Flying

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Guest JimC1702

What I did was leave User Account Control enabled but installed FSX outside of Program Files. Vista keeps a tight rein on anything installed into Program Files. I made a folder called Games and installed FSX and rFactor in it.JimDell XPS 420 Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0 ghz3 gb dual channel 800 mhz DDR2 RAM512 mb nvidia 8800GT500 gb SATA drive 7200 rpmSoundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music22" Acer widescreen LCDWindows Vista Home Premium

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Hi, I've tried both Vista 32 and 64. Have to admit, I like 64 bit better, especially if you have 4 gb+ of ram...The OS just seems snappier to me, FSX seems smoother as well.You can also just take ownership of the entire FSX folder. Just right click on the Microsoft Games folder, click properties, then the security tab. Click the edit button, highlight your User name you play FSX under, then check Full Control...click OK and wait. Vista will go through all the files in the folder and assign fullcontrol to everyone...I like this better than turning off UAC because you lose a valuable security tool. I'm not familiar with installing it outside program files, but I checked a couple programs I installed outside and if you look, your username still does not have full control of the folder/program... Your choice which to pick of course :) Your system should be able to run either 32 or 64 bit easily with FSX, use the latest Nvidia drivers, these seem to be quite smooth on my 8800 GT, I think I'm at 175.xx right now. I just did a fresh install so what they have up is what I use. I don't see a sound card in your specs? I would suggest investing in a Creative X-fi...The Gamer version is going for $80 or so. Takes the load off the processor , and you need that because Vista has a bit more overhead in CPU and memory requirements. Think about Upping to 4 gigs of ram as well. Try Alacrity PC...this program is awesome and free :)..It will shut down many services you do not need while gaming/flying. When your done, you close FSX, the program restarts everything..Works great in Vista.. Dual booting is good, but since this last reinstall, I don't plan on putting XP back in. I'm happy with Vista and to be honest, I can't stand using XP anymore LOL...It looks so Win 98 :( j/king all.. Larry

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Larry, I do have a sound card just haven't updated the machine specs. I will be upgrading to 4G of ram as soon as my budget permits. Thanks for that big chunk of info. Craig

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I agree with Jim about not istalling FSX in Program Files. I turned off UAC and since I didn't see any change I turned it back on. No problems installing freeware aircraft and GEX. Larry's suggestion about allowing full control sounds very good.I started getting "RAID Access Fail" messages at various times. Two weeks ago I tried to boot into safe mode and it locked up. Then it would not boot at all, safe, normal, or last known. I tried booting to Vista and it worked. I decided to follow NickN suggestions and get rid of RAID 0.Turned off RAID in the BIOS and turned off SATA 1, and turned off SLI. Used PM to set up 3 partitions CDE. Booted to XP CD and formatted all three. Installed XP on C. Installed all updates incl SP3. Installed Falcon 4 AF on D and it works ok. Arhive stuff and docs on E. Turned on SATA 1. Used PM to set up one max partition. Installed Vista to C. Installed all updates incl SP1. Installed FSX in C:Games, flew ok, activated, installed Accel, flew ok. Activated Vista.I installed another 2GB matched pair of memory sticks to extend my memory to 4GB. This threw my FSB from 1066 back to 800Mhz. I didn't see but a small increase in memory so I removed them. FSX stopped with out-of-memory error so I installed the memory fix and have had no more problems. I think 2GB is enough since Vista maps the video memory address space, about 3.5GB for me. Vista 64 can utilize 4GB much better.I tried the last 2 NV drivers but had to go back to 169.25. Had tearing textures and vert black bars when external panning.FPS ~50 away and 23-28 near the airport. Locked at 30 and everything is smooth. Sliders full right and water low 2X, DX9, Traffic 60%. DX10 gives me >100 FPS away but has flashing textures and Non-FSX aircraft are all white, so I use DX9. Setup your video as NickN suggests.I have a 160GB HD dedicated to (bare) install of Vista Prem. and FSX. This was recommended by NickN and works great for me. I use XP for internet, MS Office, and older flight sims. Having no software on Vista that wants to communicate with the mother ship, and no AV, makes FSX run very smooth.I think if you dedicate that 250GB HD to Vista and FSX+Accel you will have a perfect flight sim machine! Until next year!DaveSystem:Dell XPS 720 H2CIntel Quad Core Extreme QX6800 @ 3.73GHz2GB Corsair Dominator EPP 8500C5D 800MHz FSB 1066 MHz2x160GB WD SATA Raptors, Sound Blaster X-FiNvidia 2x8800GTX 768MB SLI, Dell 2407WFP PanelXP driver: 169.21, Vista driver: 169.25Logitech Z680 5.1 Speakers, G5 Mouse, Saitek X52WinXP Media Edition SP2 on C: (SATA 0)Vista SP1 on D: (SATA 1) (Dual Boot)3DMark06: 17,018/6992/7123/5667

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Larry,I see that your desktop specs are not much more different from mine.What is the average FPS ?


Roger

See my specs in my profile

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Guest D17S

Run Vista 64 if possible (Eliminates OOMs). Then: 1) Turn off UAC and Leave it off. Forever.2) Do not partition. 3) Install FS on the boot drive4) Let FS install into it's default directory. 5) Defrag with a modern defragger that will allow directory to position to the outer edge of the HD (Ultimate, et al) 6) FlyThis is the simplest, most efficient method and Everything will work fine.

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I lock it at 32 fps and it pretty much sits there, even using the PMDG 747 and LevelD 767...Busy airports can drop it a bit but not anything I would call worrisome :) sliders off to the right some..I'm not running any addons except MyTraffic for FSX and a bunch of payware planes. Looking to try FTX today..I'm presently messing with the overclocking also, I'm at 3.o right now. I'd like to get it to 3.4 on air with no voltage increase. Supposedly these C2D's are good for this :)What are you running your FSB at right now to get 3.6?I tried Raid myself a while ago but always ended up getting rid of it because of the corruption problems. Happier with my Raptor X...If you try Alacrity PC, it will shut all that extra stuff in Vista down that you don't need when flying. Stop the game, Alacrity restarts it.. and it's free :)Larry

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I had also corruption problems with RAID 0. But with the help of an Abit tech we tuned the voltage specs for the MB and DDRM and now it works perfectly for more than 11 months despite what the Western Digital tech told me (the HD were not the appropriate ones for RAID 0).I am still with XP pro 32bits. Coud Vista with more memory (now 2 GB) be more efficient ? I have average 18 (in major airports) to 26 fps. If it doesn't go further down it is acceptable for me.


Roger

See my specs in my profile

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