System Requirements for MS Flight Simulator 2004?

[kmullin211984]

Hey Guys, I am getting MS Flight Simulator 2004 in a few days and wanted to know if my laptop was good enough to run the game at its best settings i.e. having the best graphics, no slowdown, no poor frame rates. It's really important to me that I have a good experience with this game. I also played it safe and bought a joystick. I'm gonna go ahead and list the system requirements first and then the specs that are on my computer. Also, anyone know how the graphics will look? Again I want to have everything set at max so I have the most realistic experience possible. I'm running it on a Dell Laptop D610.

Here are the MS Flight Simulator 2004 Minimum Requirements:
Pentium III or Athlon equivalent CPU
1 GHz CPU Speed
128 MB RAM
Windows 2000/XP Operating System
32 MB 3D Video Card (Graphics Card)
32 MB Video/Graphics Card Ram
Direct X Version 9.0c
2.2 GB Free Disc Space
4x speed or faster CD-Rom drive

Here are the specs on my laptop:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.73GHz CPU
1.73 GHz Performance Rated at: 2.595 GHz CPU Speed
1015.4 MB RAM
Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Build Service Pack 32600)
Intel(R) 915GM"GMS,910GML Express Chipset (Video/Graphics Card)
128.0 MB (Video/Graphics Card RAM)
Direct X Version 9.0c
68.9 GB Free Disc Space
_NEC DVD+-RW ND-6650A DVD ROM Drive

Again, I want the graphics to look gorgeous and not have any slow frame rates. I've seen some gorgeous videos of flights on YouTube and that's how I want mine to look. Thanks so much for your help!

Kyle

[ShaneG_old]

The minimum specs listed on ANY piece of software is just to get it to run.

NEVER use them as a guide line for performance. I found this out the hard way, and had to rebuild my system much sooner than I had planned.

MSFS is notorius for bringing desktops to their knees, and laptops don't fare much better.  You can use them, just keep some realistic expectations for the performance based on your hardware. 

To have ALL the sliders maxed, get great visuals, and good smooth frame rates (20-30fps), you need specs similar to these for FS2004:

- 2.5ghz or higher cpu (the faster the better)
-2 GB minimum of RAM (This is pretty mandatory, FS is Memory hungry)
-512mb graphics card, the Nvidea 8800 series is king here on the older sim. ( Fozzer gets away with less, but he's special.  )

Then it's a great idea to replace the stock AI with addons such as PAI, MAIW, or WOAI. The default AI uses the stock aircraft, and they have a massive impact on performance when you get enough of them flying around. The addon AI is made specifically for the purpose, and are light and easy on frames.

[Fozzer]

[quote]The minimum specs listed on ANY piece of software is just to get it to run.

NEVER use them as a guide line for performance. I found this out the hard way, and had to rebuild my system much sooner than I had planned.

MSFS is notorius for bringing desktops to their knees, and laptops don't fare much better.

[kmullin211984]

ok guys. Thanks for all your help. That didn't help me much as I'm not very tech savvy? Anyone else have any other answers?

Kyle

[microlight]

Hi Kyle, welcome.

I routinely run FS9 on my laptop, a HP Compaq 6715s, which has dual-core AMD Turion x64s at 1.6Ghz, and 2Gb RAM, plus ATI Radeon X1250 onboard graphics, which allows me to run the program pretty well; only stutters a little in heavy weather and high graphics loadings, but otherwise very acceptable.

I don't expect it to run like a high-end desktop, so am not disappointed when it doesn't! It does however have the advantage of being with me wherever I go!

Silver lining.

[Capt.Propwash]

here are my specs, which are VERY close to what you have...

DELL INSPIRION 2200 LAPTOP
OS Name      Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version      5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
Processor      x86 Family 6 Model 13 Stepping 8 GenuineIntel ~1396 Mhz
Total Physical Memory      1,280.00 MB
Total Virtual Memory      2.00 GB
Page File Space      4.10 GB

Display:
Name      Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family
Resolution      1024 x 768 x 60 hertz
Adapter RAM      128.00 MB (134,217,728 bytes)

Drive      C:
Size      24.24 GB (26,024,783,872 bytes)
Free Space      13.61 GB (14,611,591,168 bytes)

Drive      F:
Size      297.44 GB (319,368,982,528 bytes)
Free Space      265.75 GB (285,352,132,608 bytes)




I routinely get between 9-12FPS in level flight @ 10,000' over Atlanta, GA / LAX / SFO / DALLAS.

20+ if Clear skies looking at the bottom of the plane up to the sky..

2-5 Extreme Stormy Weather, vis ~1/4nm, winds 090@56




I am also running REAL ENVIRONMENT PRO, ULTIMATE NIGHT ENVIRONMENT, and a few other scenery enhancements that I cant think of at the momment.  if you want a S/S of what mine looks like, ... look here...http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaB ... /4#4  (scroll down about 1/2 way for a shot of my 777 and Lear45)

[ShaneG_old]

I wanted to know if my laptop was good enough to run the game at its best settings i.e. having the best graphics, no slowdown, no poor frame rates.

It's really important to me that I have a good experience with this game.

Again I want to have everything set at max so I have the most realistic experience possible.


Again, I want the graphics to look gorgeous and not have any slow frame rates.

Did anyone read his post? :-/

It's NOT going to happen on that laptop, sorry.

[SeanTK]

Yeah, the original poster's specs are WAY below what is necessary to run FS2004 at max settings. I'm afraid that you are going to have to make a lot of animal sacrifices to get FS to run well with that setup.

[JBaymore]

Kyle,

Spend some time looking at the older postings in this forum section.

[kmullin211984]

Ok let me clarify!!! lol....I didn't mean for my post to come across as it did. Yes, it would be awesome for my compu to be able to run MSFS 04 with max graphics. I'd be happy just to get the dang thing to run lol. I know it will, but I would like some decent graphics and not too much slow down. Those are my main concerns. I don't have a hardcore gaming machine, so I know my machine won't be able to handle tons and tons of graphics. All I want is an enjoyable time flying, but still have decent graphics and recognize some landmarks. I want it to be as real as possible for me. That's all. I can currently run The Sims 2 and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 just fine on my laptop. And, I can also run the FSX Demo fine. So I'm not really anticipating problems. I've read reviews of the game, and heard that it works just fine on regular machines. Someone posted a link earlier today showing their specs (which seemed to be close to mine) and what their screenshots looked like. The only thing that concerned me was the 9-12 fps when scenery was around and 20 when you were in the air. That seemed slow to me. What does everyone else think?

Kyle

[JBaymore]

Kyle,

The framerates mentioned are likely what you can expect with that machine if you turn up the graphics.  That is what people are saying here.

best,

.................john

[Capt.Propwash]

i fly my rig (laptop) maxed out on everything, except "aircraft realism" {i like to fly helo's so i keep those around 1/2 way for better handling}

the FPS numbers that I gave are flying maxed out on my rig... which is close to what you have now. So being that... you could use that as a possible benchmark.

you WILL have an enjoyable time flying, but it also depends on how intense your addon scenery is that you picked to download.  I have run across some (FlyTampa HONG KONG) that no matter what i can not get more than *2* FPS on my rig.   

as for the FSX Demo giving good frames, that is to be expected.. because it is only the DEMO!!! Microsoft wants you to get interested in it and buy it, then when you try to play it.. OMG you can not even see airport buildings, NO AUTOGEN.... its a baren wasteland because you have to have all your sliders on NOTHING! -- waste of money as in my case.  I can not fly FSX DELUXE because it is a baren watseland.




you WILL be able to fly FS9 / 2004.  you WILL have an enjoyable time doing it.  there are more than enough downloads out there that have been around for 6 years, so there is no shortage.  PLUS.. you CAN use FS2002 downloads and they will work just fine, so that means you have at least *8* years of downloads available.  HAPPY DOWNLOADING!!!

[kmullin211984]

Thanks for making me feel better. That's the best post i've heard all day lol. i'll let u know what it's like when it gets here from amazon. and i bought a joystick woot! cuz running a flight sim with the keyboard stinks lol'

[Rocket_Bird]

Hi,

I used to run FS2004 with almost full graphics (at of course, a modest resolution) on a almost similar spec laptop, albeit you have more ram than I did and I was running a Geforce go 6200 as opposed to an Intel Chip.

From your specs, the major bottleneck that will occur in running FS is going to that intel chip your running for graphics.

[kmullin211984]

Question. What does resolution have to do with stuff? Thanks again guys.

Kyle