SurClaro Flight Simulator Resources

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 7:08 am Post subject: What to do to improve frame rates

Here are my specs
Dell 2.4 Ghz Celeron 400mhz bus
640 mb pc 2700 333 ram
40 gid wd hard drive
ati radeon 9200se 128 mb (pci) video

I only get 14-15 fps with sliders about 1/4 full

If i add more Ram will it help?
Is my processor to slow?
I do not have an AGP bus (found out after my purchase)have to use PCI card.
Am I looking at a new system ?? Sad

Any advice would be appreciated........
Thanks in advance.

Thanks

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:25 am Post subject: For starters.........

First start out with a couple of frame rate enhancers. Get the clouds fix, get the autogen fix, get the textures fix. This should help to improve things a bit so you can play with the settings a little.

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 3:04 am Post subject:

Do I need these if I installed the new fs9 patch from microsoft. What exactly do these fixes fix. Thanks for the reply!

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 3:45 am Post subject: For the most part

What they do is improve frame rates by speeding up the scenery loading. They are basically resized texture files. For example, a texture file may be a given size, and the resized texture file will be half that or less. This directly affects the number of files that can be processed in a given amount of time. For some systems the speed difference can be quite dramatic. Just back up the files you are replacing in case you dont like them. Some people say they notice a slight loss of detail, but I havent seen it myself. Give it a shot, follow the directions and see for yourself. If you already had them installed they should not have been affected by the 9.1 patch.

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 3:53 am Post subject:

I did a search for the fixes you mentioned and the only one i found was for clouds. can you point me in the direction of the textures and autogen fixes. thanks

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 8:16 am Post subject:

Buy a new CPU. Celerons suck big time. Also get a new mobo that has an AGP slot. Adding memory is always a plus. I have 1024MB of DDR in my rig.

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 8:37 am Post subject:

There are tons of addons for texture enhancements, FPS enhancers and autogen fixes. I'm surprised you couldn't find any.

Try searching again and pick the one that you like, and one that works for your own preference both for performance and quality of sim. It all depends on what you want to see and what you can live without.

I agree with Flowdrip in regards to changing your processor. FS is very CPU dependant. Ram means almost nothing to it. There is almost no difference between 1 or 2GB of ram but there is a huge diff when you upgrade your CPU. Go for that option and you won't lose.

Exxman

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:41 pm Post subject:

Well first of all thanks a lot for your comments. I checked with Dell support and apparently their mobo's are a proprietatary size and CANNOT be upgraded. Well what a shock to me. I am going to open the case and measure the board. I hope this is not true. If so I guess I am looking at another new system and it wont be another Dell. Any thoughts on PCI express video cards and fs9. Is there a big difference say from 2.8MHz HT processor to a 3.2 HT processor? There is a big difference in cost between the two. Darn... I wish I would have spent the extra 500$ 4 months ago. It is way better than my pentium 150 though. Sorry folks for all the questions.

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:59 pm Post subject:

There is no need to apologize for asking questions. This forum thrives on helping others. Without questions, we would not have the pleasure of seeing others share the same enjoyment that we are having.

The personal computer business changes every day and it is not easy to keep up with the technology. Therefore, if you have the time and patience to assemble your own computer, then you should choose components that can be upgraded at a later date. Don't be afraid to spend a few extra dollars today knowing that you will have the ability to "expand" or "upgrade" some of your components in the future.

I have owned a few computers in the past and always had the desire to "assemble" my own computer someday. Therefore one year ago, I sold my old computer to a friend (who is now addicted to Flight Simulator) and bought components one by one from computer stores or from the internet:

AMD 2700+ CPU
ASUS A7N8X DELUXE Motherboard with dual channel DDR memory
1GB DDR RAM (started out with 512 and later added another board).
ATI RADEON 9500 PRO (Cheaper version of the 9700)
Extra Case Fans
CH Products Yoke and Rudder

All of my settings are set to maximum and I have my frames set for a maximum of 22. I read several times in the past that the human eye does not really know the difference when you get above 16 frames per second. However, I know that there are a bunch of computer geeks out there who thrive on quoting their high Frames per Second. However, I am not competing with them even though my background is computers (Past President of DPMA (Data Processing Management Association) and served on the International Board of Directors). Cool

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 6:35 pm Post subject:

I agree totally with Skipperdan there Richy2237. Sad to hear about your PC not being compatible with an upgrade.

I am currently in the process of finishing building my new PC. Waiting for a GeForce PCX5700 card to complete the project. PCI Express is the way to go, for now. It's twice as fast as AGP 8x and the cost of the cards is on par with the latest AGP cards. Go with the higher end (256MB) card and you can't go wrong. Just depends on how fast (and how much $$) you want to put out for it. The diff between a 2.8 and a 3.2 is huge depending on the processor. If you get the 3.2 then you can run FS with a lot of other cool addons and really max it out for realism.

Compatibility is a major issue. Do your homework via forums and manufacturer's websites to get the scoop on products. Best way? Just go to Goog and type in " Problems with..." and put in the model/make/product name and it will come up with answers you need to make an informed decision. If you want my advice the do the following: sink all of your money into the CPU, motherboard and ram all at once. Everything else is secondary. Get the fastest CPU and mobo you can afford, max out your ram if you can and then start adding other stuff. You won't go wrong. And it's not difficult to put one together if you do a little homework first. Everything fits one way only, and most parts are semi-protected against failures due to installation. Remember, semi-protected. I'll bet you can do it!

Don't be discrouraged man. Get rid of the old clunker and before you know it, you will be the one who is giving out advice to others regarding how to enhance FPS and other questions...heheheee.

Exxman

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:57 am Post subject:

Hey Richy2237. don't stress over asking a bunch questions. It is a LOT cheaper to ask a bunch of questions than it is to buy the wrong computer components. How do I know Celerons suck? Because I didn't ask enough questions when I bought one, than later found out that if you are getting 10- 13 FPS in Flight Sim, you are doing *beep* good. Now that I learned a few things (albeit, the hard way!), Flying is much more enjoyable without the stuttering framerates. You should pick up any Megascenery add-on. I have Megascenery New York and Northern California. I don't know how they do it, but the scenery is awesome and it IMPROVED my FPS to average around 45 FPS. It is incredible. Good Luck! Very Happy

Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2004 9:54 am Post subject:

Check out this Tutorial. It may give you some good tips and get you pointed in the correct direction.
Cool

http://courses.help.com/courses/overview.jsp?courseId=1829