New to flightsimming

[ATPCaptain787]

I got FSX a month or two ago and decided that I would have to put it away for awhile as I was only getting 12 FPS with decent settings (some on high, some on medium high) in densely populated areas.

So I read a few forums on got FS9, which runns stunningly. Nice scenery and at 38 FPS at KSEA! However, there are a few issues and questions I have:

First off: The framerates are great, yes, however whenever I fly into clouds, the framerate becomes very very stuttery until I get out of the cloud. Lowering the framerate lock didnt work nor did unlocking it. Reducing the amount of scenery doesnt help either. (I have it maxed out) I tried increasing the Texture Bandwidth Max tweak to 400 and that helped a little.

Im running Vista home premium with a ATI Radeon X1100 256 MB card.

also, I want to make FS9 look very reaslistic after seeing some of the screenshots people had on here, and I was wondering what software would help with this. I'm already eying a few like Live cockpit, Ultimate Terrain and Flight environment. (I want the clouds, autogen, and water to look more real) also, I want the terrain to look better and the textures as well.

Lastly, I also want to increase the amount of autogen slightly. Any way to do this?

[Fozzer]

How much Memory is fitted to your motherboard?

You will need at least 2Gb of Memory installed to prevent the FS 9 CD having to load data periodically as you travel, and creating a "Stutter".

With limited Memory, the problem will be even greater as you add more Texture, Mesh, Scenery, Effects, etc, to the Sim

F.... 8-)...!

[ATPCaptain787]

oh ok. I only have 1GB and a 2GB flash drive for using ReadyBoost.

[Celtman]

You're asking for a lot for FS9 there - be warned that you framerates will drop with everything you want.

The cloud stutter issue I would guess is caused by your video card not being able to handle them. do you have 100% 3d clouds? If so, try lowering this. Also, you could try downloading some replacement cloud textures (or if you buy flight environment, this contains replacement could textures) - Try and get textures 256x256 in size, much easier on the framerates.

As for the "realistic" side you are looking for, you are really going to be looking into payware scenery. For ground textures, I recommend Ground environment Pro, very good textures. Ultimate Terrain is a great addon for the USA, not tried it in Europe though, but I've heard it is excellent. Flight environment is great, and will provide you with new water textures also, so that should make your water "more real". Also, Morewatr or Xtrawater are great freeware water addons - I think one of them is in the featured downloads section.
As for increasing autogen, im not sure how to do this, but I'm sure someone else will be able to help .


Regards,
Celtman

[Wii]

I'm not sure about autogen, but water, morewatr or waterzone. Grass, PicNic (plus update). Browse through the scenery files of simv and go to avsim, File Library, scroll down click on View Catagory and select FS2004 Scenery, then Select Order by Downloads, and click on scan mode and then click change view. It just hit me, clicky

[Hagar]

Waterzone is posted here --> http://www.simviation.com/fs2004scenery11.htm

[Rocket_Bird]

Theres a freeware package, I think its called Real Environment Professional, that seems to have some pretty nice goodies.  I personally prefer the water textures inside that package, and also, it helps sort some of the autogen (with trees and bulidings I think), making it look a lot more realistic, also an amazing looking sun.  For clouds, theres the payware package called active sky...  In terms of general terrain texture, i have seen some really good things from ultimate terrain, though I do not have this package myself.  After installing Real environment, I don't really bother much, but the night lighting in ultimate terrain is stunning.  

Now, as far as the stutter goes, you can also try reducing the resolution down a bit.  Im not sure how big your monitor is, but for me, anything above 1024x768 is a bit excessive, and might drag the framerates a bit.  

[Kaworu]

If you want some super realistic operations, try Areosoft's Airport Enhancement Services. It is a payware system that adds usable gates and pushbacks to the sim. It works on a large # of pay ware addons by several companies and some freeware designers. It works buy using credits, which you buy from them, and you use to "buy" airport enhancements from the system.  Bigger airports cost more.

Also, you should try the FlyTampa products. They are AMAZING and really don't hurt FPS too bad for the amount of detail put into them. All there airports ROCK!

I can also recommend the FREEWARE Rome-Fiummico airport by the ISD project. I don't think it is on Simv for download, but it may be on Avsim. It's a bit of a frame killer though. It's one of the free airports supported by AES.

[Celtman]

Also, you should try the FlyTampa products. They are AMAZING and really don't hurt FPS too bad for the amount of detail put into them. All there airports ROCK!

+1  They are FANTASTIC

[ATPCaptain787]

thanks for all the replies. I just thought it was weird. I have the latest ATI driver for my card, and whats even weirder: the clouds didnt make FSX stutter for me. Maybe this is because FS9 is more processor based? I have a 2.0 ghz AMD Turion X2 overclocked to 2.2 so it shouldnt be stuttering that bad right?

[Fozzer]

Select a clear sky. See if that makes a difference. If it does, reduce your Cloud density.

Turn your AI to zero, or at the most, 10%

Reduce your Default water effects to zero....nice BLUE water!

Reduce your visibility to 20-30 miles MAX...more realistic!

Your Autogen setting should be able to cope with Max then......!

Experiment with all the settings!

F...G-BPLF...!

[Sovien]

thanks for all the replies. I just thought it was weird. I have the latest ATI driver for my card, and whats even weirder: the clouds didnt make FSX stutter for me. Maybe this is because FS9 is more processor based? I have a 2.0 ghz AMD Turion X2 overclocked to 2.2 so it shouldnt be stuttering that bad right?

It's hard (for me atleast) to know how bad this "stuttering" really is because I can't see how it looks on your computer (for the obvious reasons) . Nevertheless, if you have your 3d cloud density set to 100% you will start to notice some performance issues. Also, as cloud cover increases (in bad weather for example) the performance will drop. It's a fairly reasonable understanding throughout the community that if you set your cloud density between 60-70% you will still get quality clouds and less of hit on performance.

The 3d clouds in FS are resource intensive. I experienced the same issues until I added more ram, and was able to upgrade my video card. Lowering the Cloud density helped me with my performance issues until I was able to upgrade my hardware.

[Fozzer]

Your Processor should be OK. I'm still running an old Socket A AMD 2600+ running at (standard) 2.1 GHz, and together with my nVidia 7800 GS 256 Mb AGP card, I have most everything Maxed with no "stuttering", and frame rate LOCKED at 20FPS max! (recommended for smooth on-line Multiplayer flying!)......!

..and 2.3 Gb of DDR 2 Memory...

...and don't forget...."The LATEST graphics card drivers are NOT always the best!"....any problems, try the original drivers which came with your Card...(don't forget to completely clear out your existing drivers first!)......!

F...G-BPLF...!

[ATPCaptain787]

Ok thanks for all the help guys. first off, I found out the reason everything was stuttering: I had my AA on my card set to 4x and my AF set to 8x. I set the AA to 2x and the AF to 4x and everything ran perfectly. I also have my FPS locked at 24 which helps a little as well.

I also downloaded Real Environment which is very nice and am looking to buy UT Usa, a few Fly Tampa airports, Ground Environment Pro, Active Sky and FS Global 2008

____________________
Edit: One of you guys suggested lowering the sight distance to 20-30 miles. How do I do this? the minimum is 60 mi.

[Celtman]

Use the custom weather settings to set lower visibility