C172 (new graphics card)

[JW49]

After just getting FS2004 after being on 2002 for so long, I took jordonjs' advice and installed a GeForce 6800 overclocked to replace my Intel Integrated and realized that my power supply of 165w wasn't gonna cut it.  So I installed a new 400w power supply and WOW, a whole new simulator.  Check out the framerate!
Great card!  ;D  Thanks for the advice.  Now to tweak alittle bit.

[jordonj]

My face is green with envy!

[chomp_rock]

Very nice, I wish I had framerates like that. Are all of your sliders maxed? what are your system specs?

[JW49]

I hope these are ok on this screenshot forum.

[Omag 2.0]

That's quite a serious presentation of your settings...  ;D

Nice to see the sim running so smooth!

[jordonj]

Grrr...now I am really green with envy!

[Silver1SWA]

Thats crazy...I can only get a steady 30 frames MOST of the time with my setup...and there is still plenty in FS9 that can bring my system down.

Something is not right...I have a bottleneck somewhere but I can't figure out what it is...

[jordonj]

Try using FSAutostart.  Also, I find that I cannot notice the difference betwen 30 and over 30 FPS...

[Silver1SWA]

Well that is true that anything over 30 really is not noticeable.  But sometimes even though I get the 30 FPS, its not a smooth 30 FPS.  I get some small stutters.  And the benefit of getting higher than 30 FPS averages is there is more room for deductions when using a lot of traffic or weather.  In other words, if I could get FPS averages as high as this screen shot shows, then adding a lot more traffic and especially weather would reduce that number to somewhere in the 30s.  That would be PEREFECT.  Right now, it's like I cannot get averages anywhere over 30 on the most basic configuration...for example clear skies.

[JBaymore]

MCairjockey,

I was wondering why you have anti aliasing and trilinear filtering being done in the sim itself?

[jordonj]

Well, at the risk of sounding redundant, I'd start with FSAutostart to shut down the stuff running in the background...

How many Icons do you have running in your system tray, by the way?

I also modified the FS9.cfg file so that the fast-food restaurants aren't there.  This really helped my framerates.

Quoting from the main fourm...

Heya HSV,

A common issue with FS 2004 are all of the restaurant signs clogging the memory (especially in urban areas).  This over a period of time can cause frame rates to drop.

Two things that you may do to avoid this:

1. In the main FS2004 folder you will find a subfolder called Autogen.  In that folder there is a single file named Default.xml .  I renamed this file to default.BAK.

2. Find the line in the [Graphics] section of FS9.cfg file that reads TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_OBJECTS=1 and change the 1 to a 0 so that the new line reads TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_OBJECTS=0 .

You'll be missing some fastfood restaurant signs, however, you should see both an end to the poor FPS when returning to the airport to land and an increase in framerates when flying in the city.

Personally, I didn't notice the Fast Food reastaurants being gone very much, but I did notice the difference in framerates!

I also have gotten rid of the default AI and replaced it with Project AI.  I have the traffic set at 72%...which gets me great framerates even with the LET when landing at O'Hare...

[coolamon]

      look at my dumb graphics card

[4_Series_Scania]

Thats crazy...I can only get a steady 30 frames MOST of the time with my setup...and there is still plenty in FS9 that can bring my system down.

Something is not right...I have a bottleneck somewhere but I can't figure out what it is...

Your Graphics Card probably Silver1SWA, believe it or not!

MCAirjockey's 6800 compared to your 9800 is a little like comparing a B-17 to a B-52 - Both do similar jobs, both pack a considerable punch, alas, the B52 is simply leagues ahead in both technology & payload.
The principle is similar when you look at the 6800GT's performance compared to the old 9800 / FX5950's et al.

I feel for anybody who's recently paid

[JW49]

John, On my card I have AA and AF set to "application controlled" and Mip mapping to off.  But, I'm still tinkering.  And no, I don't have any ground shimmer at all.  I also updated some facts about my system, further up in the thread, that I had forgotten to mention before.  I always shut down whats running in my system tray.  I've been down for a day re-installing my operating system and everything else thanks to some blunders I made while using FSAutoStart.  I couldn't even get system restore to work!  I think I'll leave application shutdown programs alone until I learn a whole lot more about them.

[Silver1SWA]

[quote]Well, at the risk of sounding redundant, I'd start with FSAutostart to shut down the stuff running in the background...

How many Icons do you have running in your system tray, by the way?

I also modified the FS9.cfg file so that the fast-food restaurants aren't there.