Oh no, not again!

[FridayChild]

Lately my morale has been doing more ups and downs than your average roller coaster ride.
Take yesterday, for instance. I was looking forward to some relaxing drifting on a Cessna after all that heavy jets work, so I set to Honolulu airport with the default Caravan amphibian. My FS9 install is, as of now, totally default. I did set all graphics settings all the way up, because my eyes need candies after all that FS98 I had.
I didn't notice problems until yesterday, meaning that I got about 32 fps (I set the limit to 32 myself) in all situations.
Well, I just couldn't take off from Honolulu. 16/17/18 fps at a maximum.  :(
I designed my new PC mainly for FS9 use, I intended it as a good - if budgety - flightsim system. The VCard (6600GT) was the one I learned about in this forum, the one that most users suggested me.
Please don't tell me that my new PC isn't good enough for a good FS9 experience  :'(

[ozzy72]

What are your AI traffic settings?

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

For enjoyable VFR....turn off your AI.....mine is set to like 2% AI...when I fly heavies...it's set to around 50-60%....but that dips my FPS down by at least a good 5-10...when in highly intense scenery and 100% AI...I don't know what would happen....
Cheers,
Ashar

[Hagar]

I didn't notice problems until yesterday, meaning that I got about 32 fps (I set the limit to 32 myself) in all situations.

It might be a mistake to set the Target Frame Rate too high. No matter how powerful your system I believe the human eye cannot detect anything above about 25 fps so there's no point in setting it any higher. IMHO

[FridayChild]

Probably, what would happen is exactly what is happening to me.  ;D
So, just to make sure I understand: this is a CPU computational power issue rather than a graphic card issue?
I mean, does the AI traffic put such a stress on the CPU?
Actually I have AI set up to "very dense", because I like a lot of AI traffic to make my own flight feel more real.
In the past few days I've been asked by the ATC to confirm aircrafts in sight, and I have heard ground order a turboprop to stop taxiing to let me pass, and needless to say I very much like all this.  :)

[Hagar]

[quote]I mean, does the AI traffic put such a stress on the CPU?
Actually I have AI set up to "very dense", because I like a lot of AI traffic to make my own flight feel more real.
In the past few days I've been asked by the ATC to confirm aircrafts in sight, and I have heard ground order a turboprop to stop taxiing to let me pass, and needless to say I very much like all this.

[Moach]

FS9 is very processor heavy... it doesn't help to have just a good video card

i have a radeon 9800xt 256mb, but i also have a not-too-beefy athlon xp2000 (1.6ghz) and i can't use all the graphics card's might because of the lack of processing power

i think that, anyways, no matter what processor you have, FS will still pound it to the ground, so it's always advisable to turn down the processor-heavy settings to get a smooth performance...

i set my AI to 20-30%... more than that is unflyable..... i also never use the dynamic scenery option...

another thing... check if your anti-aliasing is turned on... if it is, try turning it down a notch or two, or completely off
i find that AA is the biggest framerate hog in FS

just a few thoughts

Moach

[RollerBall]

Friday, don't turn all your sliders down. Defeats the object of having the program. You haven't got a donkey there (like some other SimV members have  ;) ) - you've got a system that should zip along nicely. If I were you I'd leave all my sliders at max and turn my target FR down to 20. You should find that then it changes very little except when you come into AI intensive 'showcase' airports like KBOS, KJFK, EGLL and others. Then it will drop, but with your kit it shouldn't really go below 10 which is still highly flyable.

These are realistic figures.

The other thing is YOU MUST install and configure FSAutoStart to shut off all the programs and system services that are running in the background that you don't need while using FS9. These are typically worth at least 2-5 FPS.

I have an AMD64 3000+ with 1GB of PC2100 RAM (only - ie not DDR400 like you) and a 6800LE (unmasked) AGP graphics card which is ceratinly no higher spec than yours on paper (and could well be slightly lower in practice).

I get at least the numbers I've stated above and so should you.

If you don't especially after using FSAutoStart you've got some other problem.

BTW - there's no such thing as a 'fixed' or 'average' FR. My FR in the VC varies tremendously according to aircraft, from a solid 19.9 to 12 or less. Model and instrument complexity can have an enormous effect.

Don't despair  ::)

[FridayChild]

I'll take your advice, though I usually don't like programs to optimize things or shut down services for me without my manual and specific intervention.  ;D
I'll be happy if I will get 24 fps at a minimum, applying all the advices I have learned of here. I frankly find taking off and landing extremely awkward with frame rates below 20 (and believe me, I had to deal with this a lot back in the FS98 days)  :D

[Ivan]

Everyone knows that the current version flightsim will run above 20fps when the next one comes out (that's about two years)

[RollerBall]

I usually don't like programs to optimize things or shut down services for me without my manual and specific intervention.

You configure it yourself. It's totally under your control.

I frankly find taking off and landing extremely awkward with frame rates below 20

well inthat case frankly you will always be disappointed.

I know of noone getting that kind of FR in highly AI populated showcase airports and IMO there's no way you'll achieve it with your current rig.

[Fozzer]

As a General Aviation fanatic, I turn my AI traffic down to about 10%, (or even less), to get fantastic smooth frame rates and less annoying ATC chatter... ...!
Everything else is max'd...(except for highly detailed clouds and extended visibility, ...!
Cool...!

Paul... ...!

[Jakemaster]

Yea, its definately not just a graphics card thing.  I still have an integrated chip, but my fs works pretty well because I have a 64 bit, 2.2Ghz processor.  

[BAW0343]

I have no idea why you are complining about 17 fps   the human eye cant detect any lag below 11 fps  excpet for the occaisonal burp in the system.  But the weather (on my computer) is the biggest effect   i have ALL my ground setting set to max and my AI at 100%    if there is no weather i have 17 - 19 fps  (locked at 20)  I have the cloud settings set verry low and evrything works fine   (on my LAPTOP!  ;D )

[Alphajet_Enthusiast]

The computer I have now is pretty creppy; big ironical thing here is that it has 2.4Ghz processor.
At least my new computer will have a 3.2Ghz one, cant wait for that.