O.K., NOW it's as real as it gets!!!

[Guest]

I've changed a few things in my system in the last few days which have improved my virtual flight experience to such a degree that I have to pass them on. First, I dumped my old RIVA TNT video card and replaced it with a GeForce3 Ti200. Very disappointed in the results, so...Second, I downloaded the Nvidia 23.11 drivers and tweaked them a bit using some info I got from a thread in this forum (I'll get that info for anyone who wants it). So then the previous jaggedy edges and shimmering trees and buildings disappeared and I started seeing the clarity I've seen in screenshots in this forum. Third, I purchased and installed FSGenesis 75m US and National Parks mesh and suddenly hills that had not even been there appeared. It looked damned good!...and I was a happy camper. Fourth, I then downloaded Otto Sotomayor's landclass textures (of California, where I fly a lot) and POW! The terrain became "real" and I was an AMAZED happy camper! It couldn't get much better than this...until... Fifth, I heard about "Autogenius", another texture program developed in Italy, downloaded and installed it...AND WAS KNOCKED ON MY REAR! THIS IS AN AMAZING PROGRAM which adds so much dimension to the textures that it must be seen to be believed. Combine all this with Gerrish Gray's trees and conifers, and the Piper Archer, and FSMeteo, and FSNav, and FS SKY World and OceanFX...AND LIFE IS GOOD! I'm now ready to tweak my piloting skills and start an around the world trip.I'm a guy with very moderate computer skills, so I'm not much help with technical stuff. I just hope that some of these ideas will help others out there get to this level of beauty/fun/clarity.P.S.-THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of those who have developed these programs...and are developing new ones. You've given me much pleasure and I'm grateful.Jeff

[Guest]

jeff.......refreshing to read such a positive posting..................like yourself, i've added one or two bits and pieces........the most recent being a trip down the traffic tools road to increase my AI traffic............i find the result interesting.........i did a night circuit at KLAX and after landing i just parked up out of the way scrolled into the external view and watched the stream of traffic behind me land......it can get a bit spectacular.......a jumbo landed with a 777 virtually on its tail.......listening to atc the 777 had no landing clearance so was instructed to go around.........by this time it was on the runway...... taking off it almost took the jumbo's tailplane with it..........bare-knuckle stuff......i'd like to add my general appreciation to all the folk who put in the hours to give us all the extras that take the immersion to new levels...........alan d kerr

[Guest]

I have heard AutoGenius mentioned before - what exactly does it do ?? And does it have any effect on frame rates ???

[Guest Toni Rauch]

JeffWhat you've done looks very interesting. Did a search for 'Autogenius' here at Avsim, but found nothing. Please tell us an address (link) for that programme. You also mentioned that you tweaked the 23.11 drivers - any specific details that you found effective?Thanks.

[Guest]

Hi Jeff,Done a bit of looking myself - have a look at this article in the forum (about 1/2 way down) - the author gives a description, instructions and a screenshot of what it is all about !! Think I may be downloading it tonight .. ..http://ftp.avsim.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboa...orum=DCForumID8

[Guest]

>I've changed a few things in my system in the last few days >which have improved my virtual flight experience to such a >degree that I have to pass them on. >First, I dumped my old RIVA TNT video card and replaced it >with a GeForce3 Ti200. Very disappointed in the results, >so... >Second, I downloaded the Nvidia 23.11 drivers and tweaked >them a bit using some info I got from a thread in this forum >(I'll get that info for anyone who wants it). So then the >previous jaggedy edges and shimmering trees and buildings >disappeared and I started seeing the clarity I've seen in >screenshots in this forum. >Third, I purchased and installed FSGenesis 75m US and >National Parks mesh and suddenly hills that had not even >been there appeared. It looked damned good!...and I was a >happy camper. >Fourth, I then downloaded Otto Sotomayor's landclass >textures (of California, where I fly a lot) and POW! The >terrain became "real" and I was an AMAZED happy camper! It >couldn't get much better than this...until... >Fifth, I heard about "Autogenius", another texture program >developed in Italy, downloaded and installed it...AND WAS >KNOCKED ON MY REAR! THIS IS AN AMAZING PROGRAM which adds >so much dimension to the textures that it must be seen to be >believed. >Combine all this with Gerrish Gray's trees and conifers, and >the Piper Archer, and FSMeteo, and FSNav, and FS SKY World >and OceanFX...AND LIFE IS GOOD! I'm now ready to tweak my >piloting skills and start an around the world trip. >I'm a guy with very moderate computer skills, so I'm not >much help with technical stuff. I just hope that some of >these ideas will help others out there get to this level of >beauty/fun/clarity. >P.S.-THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of those who >have developed these programs...and are developing new ones. > You've given me much pleasure and I'm grateful. >>Jeff >Thanks for all those details.Is it possible that you would describe what you did to your GF3TI to bring it up to performance ? Than you

[Guest GabrielR]

Then I'm not the only one, I also have everything this felllow simmer have except for the textures in californa, and I have to say that the difference is really big, when comparing the product as "out of the box". I also added some real world liveries in my favorite airports along with some real world fligth plans FSW night textures, sun and moon and something that was really worth: the taxiway signs, this is a must, now I dont want to fly from or to an airport without taxiway signs and wait for that crappy (oops!) pink line to apppear on the taxiways. with all that I can say that I have reached the best flight sim experience ever!!.

[Guest]

Yes, that's it Gazzareth. I don't really understand how it operates; it just seems to give dimension to textures...buildings seem to fit into the scenery, trees look like they actually belong there, things look more "real". The resulting ground cover looks much like what Terrascene looked like in Fly! AND I HAVEN'T NOTICED ANY FPS EFFECT.Enjoy,Jeff

[Guest N247BK]

Now, just get the 28.32 driver ... and watch the world become "real".I've got the same video ... maybe not the same system ... and I was amazed .... !

[Guest]

Tony, I looked all over for the thread I found regarding the tweaking and can't find it. Thus, here 'tis from my memory...pretty simple though. Went to a site called "www.guru3d.com/files" and downloaded "GeForce Tweak Utility". Installation puts an icon on the desktop. Opened the utility and did only the two recommended things (the author of the article was VERY clear not to go mucking about with ALL the settings)...1)under the "Direct3D" tab, I changed the "mipmap detail (LOD)" from "0" to "-0.5)"...and 2)I put a checkmark next to "level of anistrophy" and changed the slider to "32-tap" (he said one could use "64-tap" if one had a good enuf system. That's it!!! Give it a try and let me know how it goes (you can easily and quickly change it back if needed).Jeff

[badderjet 181]

Heheh... taxiway signs... yea! Also included in my M$ mail.that crappy (oops!) pink line to apppear on the taxiwaysYeah, to come to progressive taxi, I am not a real pilot but I think there is progressive taxi in the reality but it's done with ATC (most like GND controller...) if this is wrong, feel free to correct me... It would be much more fun to have that ATC directing rather than that 'crappy pink' unrealistic line... Or just, as we said, taxiway signs so that problem would not exist anymore...Regards :-wave from EDDFhttp://flightsimmers.net/airport/etti/signature_pro.jpg

[Guest]

Bob,I HAD the 28.32 drivers! :-) Wish I could find the thread I read it in, but I DID read that after some research the two best-rated drivers for the GeForce3 using MSFS were 23.11 and 23.12. I believe the gist of it was that one needed to go to GeForce 4 to be able to use all that the later drivers could offer. What do I know!? What I DO know is that the current setup is really working for me now. HOWEVER, I am cursed with "obsessive tweaking disease" (let's call it OTD)...so who knows waht the future holds.Jeff

[Guest GabrielR]

THAT WAS ONE OF MY POINTS IN MY WISH LIST........

[Guest]

Jeff: Your information just piques ones interest. How about giving a lot more detail. Where to get the programs, how much they cost, the Internet addresses (URLs) and so on. You whet the appeite but leave the belly empty. I know you understand. Thanks. I think your post can stand a lot of expansion for us newbies to MSFS.

[Guest GabrielR]

OK I start contributing with this ones:Best place for Generic textures:Night textures, Moon, Sun, Rain, Snow, and of course, clouds:http://fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenu2002.htmlRun and grab them all, its great.Taxiway signs for selected airports: (great)http://www.taxiwaysigns.com/OCEAN TEXTURES AND EFFECTS:Do a search in the Avsim Library for OCEANTX.ZIP and OCEANFX.ZIP and the great utility to install them.all of them are for free, they will give you at least a busy weekend to start