In Understanding FSX More

[lancer24]

Hi, I am not sure (please do not quote me on this) but in understanding FSX more better, I think I vaguely remember reading someplace that FSX is more CPU dependent than RAM dependent? Is this true? I have almost all of MAIW's U.S. bases installed, six or seven Megascenery Earth states installed, airport scenery from various authors installed and LatinVFR's San Diego airport scenery installed. I noticed when flying around San Diego that the Sim takes longer to load the textures to the airport. I was wondering if I wanted to keep all the eye candy on (car traffic, boat traffic and default air traffic at around 40%) would it be best to buy more RAM or a more robust CPU? My system as it is now is Win7 Home Ed 64-bit, i5 4440 at 3.1 GHz, 24GB RAM DDR3-1600 Kington. Any and all help, opinions, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. P.S. I plan on getting more MegaScenery Earth states and airport sceneries in the future.

[Canuck1955]

Have a search for SceneryConfigEditor v1.1.7 which is simply the very best way to handle scenery files. Then you can outside of the sim just use the scenery files you want rather than firing everything all the time. Useful video on it here https://youtu.be/W-DMMMse3UA

[Awaken]

You may want to turn down the boat, car, and air traffic to something around 25%. I have a similar system to what you have, actually you have more memory. I believe FSX can only utilize 4GB of memory anyways. What graphics card do you use, or do you use integrated CPU graphics? You might want to invest in a graphics card if you don't have one, a GTX 1050 Ti would do wonders for you. Your CPU should be able to handle FSX very well, I don't see the need for a upgrade on that.

[OldAirmail]

I noticed when flying around San Diego that the Sim takes longer to load the textures to the airport.

As Awaken said, FSX can only use 4GB of memory. Having said that, if you have other programs running in the background, such as real-time weather, Plan-G, or others, then the more memory, the better. Up to a point.

Last Christmas I bought an extra 16GB of G.SKILL Ripjaws X memory at a very good sale. I've noticed no improvement in FSX/P3d, or my system, with a total of 32GB. Good thing that it was a great sale.

But, yes, FSX can only use 4GB of memory no matter how much you have.


Another problem may be your video card, again, as Awaken said.

On top of that, the San Diego scenery may, inadvertently, be adding to your problem. The more detail the scenery, the higher the demand on your system. This extends to your aircraft too.

There is also an FSX specific memory problem. As you fly over (and it doesn't matter how high you fly) any scenery, FSX will load that into memory. Unfortunatly, it doesn't free up all that memory once it's no longer needed.

Also try reducing your setting on clouds and water effects. in spite of it's superior performance, Nvidia had, and may still have, a performance hit with high cloud texture settings. I'm not sure if that was a hardware or software problem, and may no longer exist. Reduce those settings anyway, and see if it helps.

[garymbuska]

It is a fact that 16 bit CPU's can only access 3.4 gig of ram . However I am not sure if that is true with a 16 bit program like FSX and about 90% of all of your software. Like you I have a 32 bit OS and can put 32 gig of ram on it if I desired to. Currently as you can see by my signature I have 12 gigs,
I also know that the more eye candy one has on there system the slower FSX will become. It comes down to fine tuning FSX start with AI traffic than the weather. one of the biggest frame rate killers is the autogen there are way to limit that as well, The other thing that will help with loading time is to insure that FSX is not installed on the same drive as your operating system is on. Now I realize we are not talking about a lot of difference here but it will definitely be noticeable.
When you get down to the facts the CPU is what really controls everything so the faster it is the better Ram is just a place for the CPU to store things so it does not have to so it helps to have plenty of ram at a descent speed.
The I6 is an older CPU but still descent i would put as much RAM as you can afford at the highest speed you can afford.
One can spend a lot of money on just a CPU as of this writing you can spend $30,000.00 on a single CPU
Holy Cow that is a lot of money for something that you can not even drive.

[Fozzer]

.......One can spend a lot of money on just a CPU as of this writing you can spend $30,000.00 on a single CPU
Holy Cow that is a lot of money for something that you can not even drive.

CPU?... ....

Sounds more like a second-hand SUV!... ...!

Paul....Honda Motorcycle with an Intel i7 engine.... ... ...!

[lancer24]

Hi, sorry for the delay... school and work things came up. Thanks for all the input. I will take all of these suggestions into consideration, I am currently now trying to save up for a newer CPU. (keeping fingers crossed)

[seafloat]

hi read this it will tell you all you need to know about fsx http://www.simforums.com/forums/the-fsx ... 211.html.I messed about for years with incapable hardware and playing with the config then read this article only I got z97m board with a used i7 4790k and gtx780ti win7 64bit and 8gb ram it runs fsx with all sliders at max easily and with flawless performance and with orbx scenery running aswell.

[garymbuska]

Hi, sorry for the delay... school and work things came up. Thanks for all the input. I will take all of these suggestions into consideration, I am currently now trying to save up for a newer CPU. (keeping fingers crossed)

If you put a new CPU on your current mother board or replace your mother board you will have to re register windows. You are allowed to change a few things on your system without having to re register windows but Changing your CPU Mother board or your hard drive that has your windows on it will require you to re register windows and if you do not own a copy you are going to have a problem.
If you are running the free windows 10 you are going to have an issue I am not 100% sure Microsoft will allow you to do that without purchasing another copy of Windows.
The reason behind this is the major parts of your system are all part of the KEY you entered when you installed windows. While you can add printers other hard drives and other hardware you can not change your CPU your Main hard drive or Mother Board. This is how Microsoft knows when you are trying to use your copy of windows on another system. In the days of windows xp and earlier you could buy a professional version of windows that would allow you to put it on multiple systems but not any more. Windows 8.1 was only sold as OEM and was good for one system only PERIOD. For those who do not know OEM stands for Original Equipment Machine or Manufacturer.
Most store bought computers will not come with a copy of windows so if you try to update it you could run into a problem
That is just one reason why I build my systems as I own a copy of windows but now that I am using the free windows 10 I cannot make any major changes for the same reasons

[Sprocket]

That is just one reason why I build my systems as I own a copy of windows but now that I am using the free windows 10 I cannot make any major changes for the same reasons

Gary, for what its worth, Microsoft has not left you high and dry. OAM posted a heads-up on this topic previously already, but I cannot find that link. (OAM?)

Microsoft allows you to make a copy of your current "free" W10 installation. Follow this link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/softwar ... /windows10
or: simply search "Win10 ISO."

Download the Microsoft tool and burn yourself an "ISO" DISK for future use. You now have fully working version of your existing W10 OS installation on disk.

I tried the ISO on a spare HDD for a test, INSTALLED IT ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT MACHINE WITH A TOTALLY DIFFERENT CPU it and it works like a charm. Would recommend everybody make a copy.
Because the ISO is an exact copy of your current installation, it is ALREADY registered, so no subsequent registration is required afterwards with this method.

Thanks OAM for the heads up and thanks Microsoft.
Jan

[OldAirmail]

Hi, Jan. I remember posting info to that effect, but couldn't find it.

But your post answers the problem. And yes, it was a really nice move on Microsofts part. It can make a HUGE difference for people who like to get the most out of their OS. Not that I've ever needed to repair my OS.

[OldAirmail]

Hi, sorry for the delay... school and work things came up. Thanks for all the input. I will take all of these suggestions into consideration, I am currently now trying to save up for a newer CPU. (keeping fingers crossed)

Actually, your "i5 4440 at 3.1 GHz" CPU should be able to handle FSX better than you're indicating.

Unless you have other programs that will benefit from the extra "threads" that an i7 CPU will give you, you'll find that FSX isn't able to use more than a few threads. How many, I don't recall, but I think that it's one thread fully, and two other threads to a limited degree..

For Prepar3d, it's a slightly different story. LM has done a good job of spreading some of the flight sim processes around a bit. In fact, some of the non-graphic functions have even been offloaded to the video card where possible.



Another thought

I noticed when flying around San Diego that the Sim takes longer to load the textures to the airport.

Have you given any thought to re-installing FSX to an SSD drive?

Unless you have a huge amount of files, a 250GB drive will easily hold your entire flight sim. I'm using a 250GB drive now for Prepar3d (I'm also cheating, but that is a VERY different story).

Which is the best SSD to get - it doesn't matter!

First of all, ANY SSD will be faster that most hard drives.

And talk about cheap! How about one for $77.99? DREVO X1 Series 240GB SSD 2.5-inch Solid State Drive SATA3 Read 550MB/S Write 470MB/S

There's also another speed benefit. Your C: drive has your operating system on it.

(This will be grossly inaccurate, but you'll get the idea)
If your flight sim is on the same drive (even if it's a different patrician) your computer will read instructions from the flight sim files. STOP. Read the OS on what, and how, to use that data. STOP. Carry out those instructions. STOP. Read more files from your flight sim files. STOP. And on and on it goes.

The point being that your C: drive will be VERY busy.


Now lets look at a mechanical C: drive and an SSD drive.

In this setup the Windows operating system can read data from both drives at the same time. How it handles that data is another story, but you don't have a lot of seeking/reading going on, on ONE drive.

And that scenery that's taking up so much time? Well, if nothing else, it's going to take significantly less time to read the data.


My system is a Frankenstein machine. I have;
A 500GB SSD C: drive for the OS. (There's still 2GB free)
A fast 2TB E: drive for the majority of my programs.
A 250GB SSD F: drive for Prepar3d. That one is starting to run out of space and is due for a larger SSD soon.


Is it going to be worth the headache of reinstalling your flight sim? ABSOLUTELY.

Will it solve your problem? I think that just a fresh reinstalling of FSX might solve the problem too.


One last thought - With your entire flight sim on it's own drive, you may be more likely to back it up.


A TIP - When installing your flight sim on another drive KEEP the Program Files (x86) folder name on the new drive.

Why? Most files will want to install to C:/Program Files (x86).

All you'll have to do to install anything to your new drive is to change one letter - C:/Program Files (x86) to E:/Program Files (x86).

Very easy with almost nothing to remember.

[OldAirmail]

Correction

My system is a Frankenstein machine. I have;
A 500GB SSD C: drive for the OS. (There's still 2GB 200GB free)
A fast 2TB E: drive for the majority of my programs.
A 250GB SSD F: drive for Prepar3d. That one is starting to run out of space and is due for a larger SSD soon.

[Tonydb]

If you realy want to understand FSX read this post. It is a long read but it tell you just about everything you need to know factually. A bit better than some of the guesswork and mis-information posted on this topic.
https://forums.simviation.com/phpBB3/vi ... 21&t=68473

[Awaken]

I've read that article and it is very informative. It's a Good place to start.

If a may give my more abbreviated knowledge base of what I've learned over the years.

* Buy the best hardware you can AFFORD. Live within your means.
* Don't expect to max out settings on ANY flight sim, unless it's a lot older, and have a smooth experience.
* Use COMMON SENSE with Settings Sliders. Doubly so if you have lower and mid tier hardware. (See Point 2 Above)
* TURN OFF THE FPS counter. If you are having a smooth, trouble free experience, that's what matters.
* Use COMMON SENSE with your selection of add-ons, If it kills your experience, you probably don't need to use it.

Just my 3 cents

Back to OP, I agree with OAM, a I5 4440 should provide a good experience, I would look to other reasons you are having these apparent texture loading problems.