I am a totally new user of RC4. I set it up last night and took a quick flight. Very happy with it so far and I am sure there are still 99% left for me to learn about this product. First my computer is AMD64 3200+ & 1G ram * 6600GT. I get 22 - 28 FPS with FS9 (locked at 28).So far my question is regarding the ADVdisplay (did I say it right?). I read about and noticed a performance drop with the display window open (up to 8 FPS and I fly from VC only), which is understandable. I created a tiny invisible panel just so I can dock the display and I am not sure I saw a significant performance gain over it undocked. Well the advantage of that for me is more that I can open and close it with a button since I don't have registered FSUIPC.So my question is technically what can be done to minimize performance hit? I can guess a few things: Use WideFS and a second PC. Given this setup will RC4 display be on the second PC's monitor or still the main monitor together with FS? If later, I guess it won't prevent the FPS drop.Use a second monitor and just move the undocked ADVdisplay to the second monitorPay for FSUIPC, which I believe is a very good thing to have anyway. This way I at least don't have to change each panel.cfg to put in my invisible panel. Also when I have ADVdisplay docked on my invisible panel and open that panel, FS undergoes a 1 sec. pause. I hope I won't have that using FSUIPC to open and close it. Please confirm this.Anyway the drop in performance is not that a big deal. First the drop is not big enough to "kill" my sim. and also I figured we really don't need the display window open that often at all.Your suggestions and comments are appreciated. And I am sorry the post ended up so long.And based on what I've experienced flying with RC4 (just one flight :) ) It's a great product!!!Jason Zhang

Hi Jason,Thanks for the encouraging words.I for one have never regretted registering my copy of FSUIPC. It's like a 'Swiss Army Knife' full of useful little features!If you run via widefs you can hide advdisplay and display all the messages on the second machine using the 'showtext' utility which comes with advdisplay (I think).Personally I run RC via widefs but have the advdisplay window on a second monitor attached to the main FS machine. That should fix any 'frame rate/display issues with advdisplay. To be honest I wouldn't be without that second monitor. Any old monitor will do but it makes such a difference to be able to move things onto it and keep the main view uncluttered.All the best,John

Thank you John for your response! Do you get a 1 sec. pause opening and closing the undocked advdisplay window with FSUIPC? If not I guess I should buy FSUIPC...which is cheaper than a second monitor. :)Jason

Hi Jason,I don't see any pauses on my system when using the fsuipc hotkey to hide/display advdisplay.All the best,John

Hey Jason,John.I have found the same problem on my system. I initially thought it was the Radar Contact program at first.I was like, "OH NO"! But, after trying differet things, discovered it was the Adv Display box being opened that was causing it. It happens in docked, undocked, second monitor, small, big, registered FSUIPC, you name it. It causes a drop in my framerates. And I run 3.0Ghz, 2G ram, ATI 9800 256 pro. I do however run two monitors for outside VC view. And a third monitor (touchscreen) on a 7500 PCI card. I have tweaked this set-up for the last 2 years and finally achieved very positive results. Average fPS 23-28. This is with Ultimate Traffic and Activesky6, w/ sliders 90 to 100%. Actually, since using Radar Contact, I've enjoyed smoother simming since the annoying stutter from FS ATC is gone. I've basically just learned to use the default "green box" messaging to view commands. I think I'll give this ShowText a shot if it's still available since I do have two other computers hooked up to my network running Project Magenta and FS Garmin. Sorry for such a long post. I was just glad to see that someone else here was experiencing the same problem and I hope something here helps a little.ThanksKevin

Hi Kevin,I run advdisplay on a second monitor with no affect on frame rates. The problems folks are experiencing seem to be when advdisplay is superimposed on one of the FS windows. Presumably, from your description, that's what is happening on your second monitor as well.All the best,John

Ah. That makes sense. The second monitor that you are using. Do you have it just displaying an Adv Display window and nothing else? Thanks.Kev

Hi Kev,Depending on the aircraft I'm flying I have various windows displaying on the second monitor: advdisplay, FSNav, panel windows, rxp instruments atc. I don't use it for external views.All the best,John