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View Full Version : How I got CFS3 to run on my AMD PC



Bad Dog
September 10th, 2009, 02:18
First of all, Hiyas! I'm new to this Forum so please forgive any newbie mistakes I may make :redface:.

I first played CFS3 back in '03 on an old AMD rig whose specs I can't even really remember now. Point is, it ran just fine.

After all these years, I decided recently to re-install it on my current rig which is an AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual-Core 4400+ with 2 gigs of RAM and a nVidia 9600GT (512Mb DDR3) on Windows XP with SP3. I also have every single Windows, BIOS, graphics card, sound card, game controller, etc., update in the book.

With this configuration, I have no probs running GTA IV and Crysis at mostly high settings and decent frame rates. So, I thought, CFS3 will be a piece of cake!

To my great surprise and horror, CFS3 would not run properly. Nine times out of 10, it would crash to the Desktop (with no Error Messages) within a minute or so of loading. The other 'one' time, it would crash somewhere within the first Mission I played.

I spent many hours over several days searching the Net looking for a solution plus fiddling with in-game and nVidia graphics settings, trying 'retro' video drivers, you name it, all to no avail.

Hanging out as I was to play a good WWII combat flight sim, I gave up on CFS3 and decided to once again install BoB II (Battle of Britain). Lo and behold, it runs perfectly!

While cruising various flight sim Forums for more info on BoB, I stumbled onto a post in a Thread that mentioned two very interesting downloads from the AMD site: Athlon 64 Processor Driver and Dual-Core Optimizer.

To make a long story shorter, I downloaded and installed both and now, wait for it...CFS3 now runs like a dream!

Hoping this may help others who are experiencing the same problem :wavey:.

Cheers,
Bad Dog

grizzly50
September 10th, 2009, 05:21
:kilroy:Bad Dog, it looks like you lucked out.

Yep, that's the fix for Athlon AMD. If you had come here sooner...LOL

That's a well-known problem in these parts.

This is not a denunciation of CFS3 by any means, you might want to step things up a bit. You might want to try the CFS3 ETO Expansion add-on stand-alone sim.

It installs through, but not into, your clean, unmodded, fully-updated (3.1 and 3.1a) CFS3 install. It copies your present CFS3 instrall into a new game folder and installs itself into that new folder. ETO takes CFS3 into the stratosphere, with over 200 aircraft, new weather, effects, and other changes.

You might want to check it out (copy and paste this link into your internet browser and go have a look): http://aussiex.org/forum/index.php?act=idx

We have a Forum for both ETO and PTO over there as well. You can also check out the ETO thread here: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=862

There will be an update in the near future.:d