i have been a flight simmer since fs95, so i think i know a little something regarding performance....to begin with, let me drop this bombshell;......i dont believe anyone on this forum that tells me he or she gets a "flyable, stutter free" fps with all sliders maxed out!!...
ok...as for me...first my computer specs: hp 2.6 p4 hyper thread.......2 gig ram.......ati radeon 9800xp, 256 mem..etc etc..(the rest is usual good stuff)...ok..now for where my sliders are for 2004 flyable sim (keep in mind this means fps on final approach into hi dense airport such as ord, etc)...
terrain mesh+10
texture size=high
terrain detail=land only
water effects=none
dawn to dusk=no
extended terrain=no
spec effects detail=medium
scenery complexity=very dense
autogen=very dense
add on scenery=on
sun and lens=off
target frame rate=35
resolution=1280x1024x32
render to texture=no
trans and lighting=on
aa=no (vid card)
filtering=bilinear
mip map qual=4
hrdwr render lights=6
global max texture size=massive
sight distance=60mi
cloud draw distance=30mi
3D cloud %=30
detailed clouds=on
cloud density=medium....
ok, now ,like all of you, i have spent way too much time screwing around with those sliders, and i can tell you that the above flys 2004 just fine....35 fps in most phases of flight, drops to 18 to 25 in hi dense situations. never stutters and allows for a smooth ils approach...try the above settings..i think you will be happy (if your specs are similar to mine....would be interested to hear your comments re the above...i'm sure some of you will say...GEEZ..i get 60 fps with all sliders maxed out!!!...lier. lier. pants on fire