FSX/Acceleration/Vista bashers!

[Brett_Henderson]

If it doesn't work out of the box without weeks of tweaking to get the best from it, and the SP fixes fix some stuff and 'break' others, and then the company shrugs and head off to work on a different product, well, I can see why some people are unhappy. Nothing wrong with it. Some like tweaking and are good at it, and enjoy challenges, others expect to pay their money and get a near-perfectly optimised product.

If a person had the proper hardware, it

[Brett_Henderson]

And...  :)  ...  We're going into the second year of FSX... We've gotten two SPs that yield a truly amazing product. I's not a shrug-ful dis-regard to be moving on to FSXI.  There's not ever going to be a SP for FSX that will have it running well on three year-old hardware.

I just hope that FSXI is a true, 64-bit app.. and that it will take full advantage of multi-core CPUs...

.... Which of course means another upgrade. The next-gen V-cards should be rolling out soon  :)

[Fly2e]

[size=16][font=arial]Here is where I am at with FSX!
I have been on the fence with the transition from FS9 to FSX due to my past experience with FSX.
Going from an average of 40fps in FS9 to a very "un-flyable" 14 fps in FSX, I too was frustrated.

I purchased FSX Acceleration and decided to give it another go!
Here was what I did.

I Un-installed FSX.
I cleaned up my PC as I usually do with O&O Defrag and a few other weekly processes.
Installed FSX Deluxe, fired up the sim and let it complete the install and boot the default flight.
Closed the sim.
Rebooted the computer.
Installed Acceleration which installed SP1 and SP2 automatically.
Booted the sim and allowed it to complete the install and boot the default flight.
Closed the sim.
Rebooted the computer.
Restarted the sim, and set all my sliders to full. Except for Autogen which I set for dense.
Closed the sim.

TO MY ASTONISHMENT, I AM NOW ABLE TO FLY WHITH A LOCK ON FPS AT 24!
NEVER TOUCHED THE FSX CFG FOLDER.
Sim looks great and has a very fluid flight.
All sliders maxed in scenery except Autogen which is in the middle.
Frames are locked at 24 with very fluid flight with no adjust to cfg. Amazed!
Blows away my 15 fps when originally installed. Even after cfg tweaks I could get 20 fps but choppy here & there.
Flew all around various locations nice flights. Heavy areas like LaGuardia in NY was a bit choppy due to NY City, JFK & KLGA loading but I could deal.

All those pages of tweaks that I had been doing were not even needed with SP1 & 2 & Acceleration!!!
I am so happy that I actually took all my FS9 shortcuts and programs that I used all the time and put them all in a new folder on my desktop entitled, "Old FS9".
I finally took the leap!
Goodbye FS9.
It has been great fun and you have given me thousands of hours of flying time along with a ton of unusable payware

[NickN]

[i]Yes, hello Harbor Services?

[Fly2e]

Off topic replies have been moved to [link=http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1197053840]This Thread[/link]

[th3flyboy]

Here is where I am at with FSX!
I have been on the fence with the transition from FS9 to FSX due to my past experience with FSX.
Going from an average of 40fps in FS9 to a very "un-flyable" 14 fps in FSX, I too was frustrated.

I purchased FSX Acceleration and decided to give it another go!
Here was what I did.

I Un-installed FSX.
I cleaned up my PC as I usually do with O&O Defrag and a few other weekly processes.
Installed FSX Deluxe, fired up the sim and let it complete the install and boot the default flight.
Closed the sim.
Rebooted the computer.
Installed Acceleration which installed SP1 and SP2 automatically.
Booted the sim and allowed it to complete the install and boot the default flight.
Closed the sim.
Rebooted the computer.
Restarted the sim, and set all my sliders to full. Except for Autogen which I set for dense.
Closed the sim.

TO MY ASTONISHMENT, I AM NOW ABLE TO FLY WHITH A LOCK ON FPS AT 24!
NEVER TOUCHED THE FSX CFG FOLDER.
Sim looks great and has a very fluid flight.
All sliders maxed in scenery except Autogen which is in the middle.
Frames are locked at 24 with very fluid flight with no adjust to cfg. Amazed!
Blows away my 15 fps when originally installed. Even after cfg tweaks I could get 20 fps but choppy here & there.
Flew all around various locations nice flights. Heavy areas like LaGuardia in NY was a bit choppy due to NY City, JFK & KLGA loading but I could deal.

All those pages of tweaks that I had been doing were not even needed with SP1 & 2 & Acceleration!!!
I am so happy that I actually took all my FS9 shortcuts and programs that I used all the time and put them all in a new folder on my desktop entitled, "Old FS9".
I finally took the leap!
Goodbye FS9.
It has been great fun and you have given me thousands of hours of flying time along with a ton of unusable payware  :'( , but it is time to move forward. FSX is a stunning environment! Blows away FS9, and I am saying this to those of you who are having the same questions and problems that I was having with FSX.

Remember, my machine is heavily worked and is performing at the maximum it can. It is not off the shelf by a long run which is probably why it can handle what I am doing. Heavy areas will created some loading issues and some stutters, but I am now willing to give that up for the beautiful world and incredible flights I am now experiencing!


So now I decide to load some addons.
FSGenesis mesh for North America, Canada, etc...
Fs Genesis landclass.
Fluid Flight!
Loaded GEX, got all updates.
No difference in FPS.
Loaded UT with updates. Went through menu and only activated those that do not impact much.
Flew again and can still remain locked at 24fps with no change from my original flight!
Loaded up Active SkyX, X graphics and flew. Still, 24fps!
I am happy!!!!!
Tonight I am installing FEX and that should be it for now!


What I am saying in a nutshell is if you have FSX and have added the updates then Acceleration when it came out,
try un-installing all and follow the instructions that I posted with a little help from Nick  ;)
as it has totally changed my FSX experience.
Changed it so much that I finally let go of all that FS9 payware that I can't use.

People, you need to advance with the Simulator or you will not be happy. A year ago I was cursing FSX and annoyed like many others.
Here I am a year later and can't believe what I am seeing and a happy guy!
Went through the same exact roller coaster ride with FS2002 to FS2004.
I still need to upgrade but I also need to accept that my rig is over 3 years old. Back then it was state of the art at $2,500.
Now 15 year olds are running FSX with machines much better than mine. You can never keep up with technology

My hat is off to Aces and MS for always pushing to create a new sim. So what, I need to upgrade my hardware soon. But you know what, now I will gladly pay the money for the hardware now that I have a taste of what the future holds!
I will be getting an entire new rig in the spring-summer of 2008 as by then many of the hardware issues should be worked out.

Actually Nick is building it for me for free since I am such a nice guy!  :P


Dave

im gonna try that on mine, hmmm i wonder what my fps will be at when i do this.

[Solid]

[quote]Alright guys, I've got a new analogy for you... FSX isn't a track....or a sea.... or a knife...

[macca22au]

I have Vista + Acceleration + an 8800GTX.  So far no real problems and considerable improvement in smoothness.  Yes I have 4 gigs of good RAM but the notion of Vista being a blood-sucking vampire hasn't been my experience.

And yes,  my rig is top of the line and in January will go further upstream as well with a quad-core CPU and RAID controller.  

If new nVidia drivers improve some of the minor irritations that will be all the better.  However I did turn Dx10 off as it didn't seem to lift the graphics much and there was a small hit.

So in reality, Vista was unnecessary, but it hasn't been the monster some report it to be.

[NickN]

[quote]I have Vista + Acceleration + an 8800GTX.

[Solid]

I have Vista + Acceleration + an 8800GTX.  So far no real problems and considerable improvement in smoothness.  Yes I have 4 gigs of good RAM but the notion of Vista being a blood-sucking vampire hasn't been my experience.

And yes,  my rig is top of the line and in January will go further upstream as well with a quad-core CPU and RAID controller.  

If new nVidia drivers improve some of the minor irritations that will be all the better.  However I did turn Dx10 off as it didn't seem to lift the graphics much and there was a small hit.

So in reality, Vista was unnecessary, but it hasn't been the monster some report it to be.

I also have Vista like you. I don

[macca22au]

Nick:  you are probably right, but I've got it, I can't afford to go back to XP (and maybe I can't be bothered) so I have to grin and bear it.

In practice however it hasn't been as bad as the predictions, and yes, nowhere as good as the drum-beating foreplay.

The great regret is that I need never have got it, given the reduction of the Dx10 compatability to something described only as a preview.

I've made my bed, now I have to lay in it.

[NickN]

[quote]Nick:

[Wingo]

Here's a little update for everyone on my part!

I decided to really clean things up for FSX. I uninstalled it and restarted the computer then followed the process that we should all know by now. At each point I noted done my experiences. I will note that this is all before a defrag and CFG tweaks and I installed into a new directory as well

On the first run of RTM, the sim had automatically picked "Low" for all settings. As some may not know, FSX had problems determining the true power of a dual core system. At these settings I was screaming along at 100+fps, then I set my own settings. I hit down around the 11-15 fps mark on the default flight.

Next was SP1. I installed it separately from the SP2/Accel for the purposes of documentation, in the long run I don't think it makes much difference. SP1 picked more accurate settings for my comp, but I tweaked them to what I liked and ran. Sat somewhere in the low 20s for the default flight

Now for SP2/Accel. With a clean RTM and SP1 underneath with no addons and in a new directory it run smoother than before. A good 25-30 frames on the default flight. Can only compliment on the performance that ACES has added into the sim.

After tweaks and a defrag I now have nice smooth frames with slightly higher settings than I had before.

[NickN]

SP2 in DX9 is a performance increase

if you are not getting that increase there is something wrong

SP2 in DX10 is also a performance increase but from a different perspective. It allows bloom and water FX be enabled without the hit they cause in DX9.

[Solid]

Here's a little update for everyone on my part!

I decided to really clean things up for FSX. I uninstalled it and restarted the computer then followed the process that we should all know by now. At each point I noted done my experiences. I will note that this is all before a defrag and CFG tweaks and I installed into a new directory as well

On the first run of RTM, the sim had automatically picked "Low" for all settings. As some may not know, FSX had problems determining the true power of a dual core system. At these settings I was screaming along at 100+fps, then I set my own settings. I hit down around the 11-15 fps mark on the default flight.

Next was SP1. I installed it separately from the SP2/Accel for the purposes of documentation, in the long run I don't think it makes much differen
ce. SP1 picked more accurate settings for my comp, but I tweaked them to what I liked and ran. Sat somewhere in the low 20s for the default flight

Now for SP2/Accel. With a clean RTM and SP1 underneath with no addons and in a new directory it run smoother than before. A good 25-30 frames on the default flight. Can only compliment on the performance that ACES has added into the sim.

After tweaks and a defrag I now have nice smooth frames with slightly higher settings than I had before.

"After tweaks and a defrag I now have nice smooth frames with slightly higher settings than I had before."

Your last statement?...what do you mean by " slightly higher settings than before"??......After SP2 if you have a descent PC you should be at 98% on everything, except water and Traffic..No? and still be in the 20+ Fps range..............