Highmike

I don't think FSX has that functionality natively. I suspect that that action was made using the 3D modelling tools by ACES Studio expressly for that mission. It's a long time since I dabbled in the mission creation system, but I do recall having to record all sorts of cutaways to splice into the footage.

I've noticed the anisotropic filtering is way up, although it was already pretty high when it was released so long ago. I think I can crank it up to 4 times now when it was up to 3 times before. It doesn't look that high in MSFS '20 or '24, or even P3D, although they hide the horizon in an atmospheric haze. I've got a triple monitor rig each with HD resolution which is something you couldn't get years ago.

I actually built a Mini ITX rig with a R7 5800X and RTX 4060 especially for a triple monitor display, and FSX and FS9 look great on it. Aces Studio really had some foresight to make FS9 and FSX triple monitor compatible. I'm really enjoying FS9 with the triple display and it now really makes sense to fly it. In 2006 when FSX was announced I dropped FS9 like a hot brick because I was tired of the dim CRT and 4×3 display. My monitors together are now 63 inches across, so it's the next best thing to VR.

With 8 multithreads your affinity mask will be 2^8 - 1 = 255 If you look at your Task Manager on the Performance tab while running FSX you'll see that the sim is updating the number of other threads about once a minute which isn't much. So the other threads aren't working much at all, but it does take a small load off the main thread, and I think it's safe to assume that your scenery is updated at about this rate. You could compare the timing of these spikes in activity with the incidence of frame rate jitters.

There's a setting in the fsx.cfg file that can take a small load off the main thread of your CPU. FSX is heavily dependent on the first core of your CPU, and was built in the very early days of multi core and virtual processor functionality, but in SP2 they implemented multi core support. If you add a section to your fsx.cfg file your CPU will offload scenery (and a couple of other things I can't remember) to a number of other threads you can specify with this setting: [JOBSCHEDULER] SetThreadAffinityMask=1 AffinityMask=n Where n is a decimal number the binary form of which depicts the cores and virtual processors you want FSX to use. You can set all of them with 2^number of threads - 1 So if you have an 8 core, 16 multithread CPU you could set this to 2^16 - 1 Gossip says that you should leave one or two threads for other work such as some Windows functionality, but these extra threads won't be working very hard, so will have plenty of clock time to do these other things. Check out your Task Manager to gauge how much work they are doing. You'll find your fsx.cfg in Users/your name/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/FSX/

This isn't a development site but you can download the Software Development Kit here: https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/2799/microsoft-flight-simulator-x-sdk-sp2/ You'll also find it on the FSX Acceleration disk, if you have it. It's a must have if you plan on tinkering with the FSX configuration files. It's all and only what all those developers had to begin with. I'm glad you seem to be getting better frame rates. Win 11 is copping a lot of criticism these days. I haven't had any trouble with it but there have been a lot of negative comments I've read.

You got that right. I've got three versions of P3D, MSFS 2020 and '24, but I keep coming back to FSX because it's so much fun. I can tinker with the configuration files and make it do whatever I want which is something '20 and '24 won't allow. I was thinking years ago when ACES Game Studio got shut down that one of the reasons was because FSX was perfect. They figured that they just couldn't improve on that. Yeah, that 6800 might have some life left in it, and if you've got the skills you may as well try. It's only about five years old.

I'm never going to be in a position to consider overclocking because I live in a warm climate. I can't even run the sim today because it's too hot, about 28° C. ASUS has the best reputation, but there are plenty of others you might consider. AMD CPUs are most popular at the moment and well priced, and Nvidia is as well, but they're pricey. If FSX is the only sim you want to run then it won't need to be too high end. I've got a Radeon 7900 XT for my MSFS 2024 rig and it performs nicely. It's amazing how strong computer parts are nowadays.

The other thing you might consider is reading the FSX Software Development Kit which comes with the FSX Acceleration disk, or you can download it here: https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/2799/microsoft-flight-simulator-x-sdk-sp2/ There's a lot of useful info there besides the formalities required by AI aircraft, but there is a bit of reading to do. Just slow down and bite off small bits at a time.

Have you tried running the System File Checker? Open command prompt as administrator and type: sfc /scannow Yeah, building is fun, but my experience has been that you only need a pricey MB if you intend to do overclocking, otherwise a cheaper one is just as good.

This sounds like a pretty good indication your system is failing. Which version of Windows do you have?

I looked up the system specs of your Optiplex 980 and saw that it is about 15 years old. It's a business computer not well suited to gaming. I try to keep all my old computers, so I know that they become difficult at that age. I know that you can upset some of the system functionality when you go swaping parts during an upgrade. You mentioned buying a new computer. I would be thinking about saving up for a new computer if I were you. It wouldn't need to be too powerful if FSX is the only thing you want to run.

FlyInside FSX was a bit difficult when I first set it up about six months ago because I was on Windows 10 and Microsoft was removing features of WMR which my Reverb G2 depended on. WMR is now useless in both Windows 10 and 11. As far as I can tell your Rift 2 has it's own proprietary driver so you won't need the WMR replacement or SteamVR which my G2 needs. The setup should be pretty easy for you with your Rift 2. https://flyinside-fsx.com/AddOns.html When you first load up FlyInside you'll need to put on your HMD and define a couple of buttons on your controller. First there's the centre view button, but there's also a Menu/Activate/Enter button used to navigate through the FlyInside menu system. There are a lot of options here which you'll have to experiment with because there is NO documentation. FlyInside FSX is free and largely unsupported. After you are happy with your settings, take off your HMD, setup your flight, and load the flight to the VC. A large square window is displayed which mirrors the VR display in the HMD and which I can't resize. In my case I open the ATC window and the GPS which I like to see during my flight. Only after all of this can I then put the HMD back on and continue with the flight setup. I have to move the GPS and ATC window to where I like them. I can do all of this in the cockpit with the mouse, but sometimes the mouse gets lost so keep track of it with everything you do. In the worst case just lift your HMD off, look for the mouse pointer on your monitor, and move it back to the mirror display. It's not too complicated and the rewards make it worth while.

Your first thought was right, there is a forum that specialises in addressing concerns like yours: https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/326-system-hardware-pc-mobo-ram-cpu-hdd-ssd-psu-etc/ I like computers but I can't give you the sort of advice you're looking for. If you leave your post as it is it will be moved to the hardware forum by the moderators which will save you having to copy and paste your query to the link above. In any case, welcome to the FSX forum and good luck.

Today it's 20 years since I first heard that FSX was in production, and the day I joined the Avsim Forums. I was so excited by the news back in 2006 that I wanted to discuss it with you guys. FSX is still perfectly flyable today! I've got a VR rig now, with FlyInside FSX, and it looks as good as new. The default Cessna 172 looks fantastic in VR, and it only gets better from there. I'm particularly fond of Captain Sim's 727 in VR. Check out the cockpit at night, it's impressive in the VC, but wow, wait till you see it in VR. Or, the Carenado P46T Malibu in VR, wow! Are there many FlyInside FSX pilots here on Avsim?