System Requirements for MS Flight Simulator 2004?

[Capt.Propwash]

the harder that your processor and vid card have to work, to render (make) the scenery and airplane look good, the lower the framerates because it is taking longer to make things 'look' better.

the more in-depth and OMG!!!  scenery you are trying to load, the slower it is going to run ~ the lower the framerates.



where as, you will have to play with the settings a bit to find your balance between 'looking good' and hitting that 20+FPS consistently.  If you are hitting 15+ at KATL, JFK, LGA, LAX, DFW, SEA... and other major airports ... DO NOT WORRY. that is better than what I get and really good.

the only 1 problem that I really see right off the bat, is that both of our vid cards are 128mb.  If you can upgrade it to at least a 256 or 1Gig, ... and upgrade the Processor chip, you will then see things in a whole new light.   .... if the vid card is an "EXPRESS CHIPSET" then it is an onboard video "chip" on the motherboard and most likely can not be changed out.


one of the 1st things that you should read and follow (as a bible to FS) is this thread:: http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaB ... 9973 
It will help clean out your computer of the unwanted clutter that starts up when you dont want it to.   -- I would also go 1 step further and download "CCLEANER" ccleaner.com ~ and give your system a complete cleaning at least once a week.  Every time that I run my CCleaner, i end up deleting OVER 500MB of crap that gets built up in my C:  .. which can cut down on valuable Virtual Memory that FS can use.

[Rocket_Bird]

Resolution is basically the size of the visual image stretched onto your computer screen.  Generally, the higher the resolution, the more details things appear to look on screen.  The limiting factor is the size of your monitor and the strength of your video card/device.  Resolution can never go higher than what your monitor allows, and the higher the resolution, the more strain it will have on your video card, causing drops in FPS. 

You often hear the term high-definition.  It has a lot of meanings, but generally, at least the way I understand it, it means "bigger and more detailed."  You can have high-resolution textures, for instance, which are simply large scaled textures with a lot more pixels that make up those textures, hence the reason they might look more detailed. 

[kmullin211984]

CaptPropWash,
  Sorry if I messed up the spelling of your screen name. Anyways, the link that you provided me with does not work. It says firefox can't open the page.

Kyle

[Hagar]

the link that you provided me with does not work. It says firefox can't open the page.

Try this. http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1208959973

[Capt.Propwash]

if you still can not get the link to work.. go to the FSX FORUM (above the 2004 section) and look for the thread called::  XP/Windows Setup, System Optimizing and Drivers ... it is at the VERY top of the page, the 1st post.


follow it to the letter and you should see at least a 5-10 FPS increase.  I did.