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srgalahad
November 8th, 2008, 20:18
Between server crashes/hacks and a year gone by, a lot of the basic hints and ideas that have been shared among the RTW community have disappeared from the Outhouse. With a bit of digging in my own files and the other teams' websites I present a compilation of "the Basics"

In this installment (RTW-101 -- The Racer's Computer) we'll go over some of the principles of setting up and maintaining your computer for Round the World Racing. Where possible, credit has been listed or names retained to show the original authors, whom we all thank for their input.
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Preparing your computer for the RTWR Race (RFields (1-18-07))

We are occasionally asked about re-installing FS to prepare for the race, and uninstalling addons.

Provided your FS program runs stable and without problems there is no need to re-install FS before the race. You do need to make sure that no addons will reset the FS system clock.
FSRealTime does this. It's a great tool, but it will make validation of your flights impossible. Don't uninstall it - just do not use it during the race.

You need to be wary of automated updates to software on your computer. Most are harmless, but some could create a problem. Microsoft patches are addressed in a different post.

Now to make your FS even more stable, I recommend you create a new folder (Call it Storage or Hangar or Replace Later, etc) in the Microsoft Games folder which holds your flight simulator program. This folder will be a temporary location for files which you will not want to use during the
race - but will want after the race is finished.

Among the files I move each year are:

1. AI Traffic Files - from the Scenery\World\Scenery folder
2. AI Aircraft - from the Aircraft folder
3. Freeware flyable aircraft which I will not fly during the race - from the Aircraft folder (I strongly recommend you do NOT move payware aircraft files)
4. AFCAD Files - with few exceptions the default airport data will work great for the race. I keep AFCAD files for airports with no parking in the default FS system.
Note - I make a special effort to remove any AFCAD files for airports which are not in the default FS setup. i.e. the two in Tibet. Since they are not in the default FS, they cannot be used for the race. There are also many airports for China, Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Iceland and Russia which are not in the default FS - watch out for them.

Scenery - I will open the Scenery Library and uncheck any scenery which I do not expect to use for the race.
This includes two types:
1. New airports - such as the new Bangkok airport - which is not in any version of FS - and we definitely do not want our team to land there.
2. Frame Rate Hogs - definitely turn off any scenery which drops your FPS.

Display settings
I normally fly with very high scenery settings in FS. You may also - but if you cannot maintain above 20FPS (I prefer 30) at all times - you might want to turn down scenery settings.
(Note in FSX, I find that as low as 10FPS is usually perfectly acceptable for flying and landing - I have NO idea why FSX gives me smoother performance at half the FPS of FS2004)

For FSX - turn down AUTOGEN or turn it off completely. FSX seems to love putting 40-80 ft tall trees on the runway centerline at the airport boundary. You WILL CRASH on a night landing with them.

Detailed Clouds - be sure you know the impact of these on FPS / performance - they are fantastic - but you can have a weather update hit and bring your computer to it's knees.

BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP - as always - make a backup before you change any file.

Make a record of your FS settings before you change any - maybe screen shots?

Key assignments - make sure you have keys such as Slew, Aircraft Reload, Engine Shutdown - etc, set to key combinations which you cannot accidently hit while typing in the Chat Window. The FS Multiplayer Chat window has caused many crashes over the years - but we need it.

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apollosmith (1-17-07)

All excellent suggestions! Here's a few more:

- When possible, restart your computer system (or at least FS) before flying a hop. I've always found that a fresh restart makes EVERYTHING on my computer work better.

- Ensure your computer is sufficiently cooled. During the race, your computer will be running the intensive simulator for several hours in a row. Getting a new, more powerful fan can keep the system cooler, which results in less system freezes and blue screens of death.

- Disable unused or unnecessary background programs. You know all of the icons that sit down by the clock in Windows? Get rid of them. All of them take valuable memory. Check your Start Menu... Start Up folder and get rid of stuff you don't need. I also highly recommend StartUp Control Panel -

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml - to disable other programs that automatically start. There are other programs out there that clean up memory, but almost all of the TAKE memory to run - pretty much defeating the purpose.

- Disable unnecessary system services. Windows runs about a zillion unnecessary processes in the background. If you're not using them, disable them. A default XP system has about 50 services running. My system runs perfectly fine on 20 - a saving of over 100MB in memory and a load of processor power. An excellent guide is found at
http://www.codecavalier.com/blackvip...servicecfg.htm

- While carrying the baton, minimize your use of other programs. Yes, ActiveSky looks sweet, but the extra processing and memory it takes could cause problems during the race. A browser crash can lock up your entire system. I use a laptop adjacent to my PC to do things like TeamSpeak, Google Earth, posting to the forums, and e-mail while running only FS on my PC.
- Get all of this ready well before the race.

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Some more good advice. This time from the guys over at Sim-Outhouse.

Turn off automatic scans by your anti-virus.
Turn off automatic updates by Windows.
Turn off your screensaver. Turn off automatic everything.
(dangerousdave, jcook28, fliger747)

Also, click on the advanced power saving options button on the
display/screensaver tab and disable all the power saving features like turn off display after..., turn off HDDs after..., etc... (Moparmike)

To get your heart jumping up and down, there is nothing like seeing your racing leg taken over by a system maintenance function! In general, you want full control of your machine when you are carrying the baton!
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Just going over some things

You will want to remap keyboard assignments for some functions which can kill an RTW flight.

Y - Slew - I use CTRL+SHFT+Y
P - Pause - CTRL+SHFT+P
E - Engine - CTRL+SHFT+E
M - Magneto on/off - CTRL+SHFT+M
G - Gear extend/ retract - CTRL+SHFT+G - This is especially important for P-38 pilots and FSX pilots. The P-38 will model damage if the gear is extended too fast. The good news is you can make a successful broken gear / gear-up landing in the P-38. The bad news is that is about 25% success rate.

In FSX , ALL aircraft will model damage to the gear if extended too fast.
__________________
@ PawPaw's house - near KADS, Addison, Texas, USA
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With each year we learn a bit more and a few of these ideas will change as the nature of the race evolves, but combined they give a good idea of wht we should go through to set up our systems to build a winner.

I'm sure there will be more added as we go along but don't worry about huge threads to sort through at race time. I intend to collect the best of the info and upload a .txt file toward Christmas that you can save and refer to or print.

whitehawk_2009
December 13th, 2008, 19:01
Another good tip is to make sure you've defraged before racing. I just found a program that will let you defrag selected folders, not the whole hard drive. Might be worth a shot.

http://www.defraggler.com/

The same company also makes a nice drive cleaner as well. CCleaner, one time it saved me 1.5GB worth of temp files!:isadizzy:

WH

n3306tx
February 8th, 2009, 15:07
Great info here in this post.

If you defrag with the Windows default defrag program, run it at least 3 times. I've used Defraggler also and it appears to be a good program as well.

Probably worth also mentioning to scan all hardrives of your computer before the race for any viruses, spyware, malware and adware. A few good programs I use weekly are as follows. All are freeware.

Ad-Aware by Lavasoft - http://www.lavasoft.com/?domain=adaware.us

SpyBot Search and Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

CCleaner (formerly known as Crap Cleaner) -http://www.ccleaner.com/update/

Windows Defender - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx

Some of these programs can take several hours to run if scanning your whole system. I usually run them overnight as to not interfere with my computing time.

Now after following all the instructions in these posts, confirm that your network and router are set up correctly. Russell Gilbert (FSHost author) developed an FS Port Test tool that will check to ensure ports are set up correctly. You can find it at http://www.chocolatesoftware.com/forum/index.php?topic=737. Whether you can connect to the multiplayer server without problems or not, you could be blocking others from connecting. Certainly worth checking just in case. I had been set up correctly for years then one day some pilots started having problems getting online when I was online. Found a corrupted setting in my router, that I believe may have been the problem. Another reason to backup all settings/files (or reset to factory settings and start from scratch again). These port problems can also stem from a corrupted firewall setting as well, which can be deleted and recreated.

You may also find some more helpful tips at my website http://home.comcast.net/~tmaddox3 under the FS Multiplayer Tips link (which by the way-thank you Team Sim-Outhouse for including it on the Team Outhouse Resource Links page).

srgalahad
February 8th, 2009, 18:04
It would be a disservice to the flight sim community to not link to it. There are so many resources, but you've done a great job of collecting them in one good place... along with your excellent videos.

Rob

fliger747
February 8th, 2009, 23:26
Computer???? After buying the flight sim and all these addons... we need to buy a computer too?

Badges? We doa'n need no stink'n badges.....

T.

Milton Shupe
October 24th, 2009, 06:49
I would like to fly in FSX but I do not have FSUIPC4 for FSX. I am not sure from reading that there is a freeware version available for the Duenna connection. Can someone explain if a payware version is required, or where to get the basic version to support the Duenna connection?

Thanks

PRB
October 24th, 2009, 07:02
Milton, I'm flying the race in FSX with no issues. I only have the freeware version of FSUIPC, and the duenna works fine. (Duenna v 0.802 R120). As soon as I land I'll post the FSUIPC version I'm using (unless sombody beats me to it)

EDIT:
http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html

Milton Shupe
October 24th, 2009, 07:06
Thank you ... I went to that link before but see no mention of the freeware basic version. Is that FSUIPC4 unregistered? or something else?

EDIT: My Duenna is the same version as yours.

PRB
October 24th, 2009, 07:13
Thank you ... I went to that link before but see no mention of the freeware basic version. Is that FSUIPC4 unregistered? or something else?

EDIT: My Duenna is the same version as yours.

I'm running 4.1.2 currently, but I just downloaded 4.5.3 from that link and unzipped it. I think registration is optional with that one, like the others. That's what the PDF file says anyway. I will try it later.

srgalahad
October 24th, 2009, 07:16
Milton,
The download is free to use but limits the advanced functions which are unlocked after payment/registration just as the FS9 version (3.xx)

The unregistered install is all you need for racing. You may find small but irritating issues with the FSX version not 'liking' your realism settings (mainly the Real World Wx) but there are lots of people who have suffered same and worked it out.

Rob

Milton Shupe
October 24th, 2009, 07:23
Installed FSUIPC4 ... willl see what happens....

EDIT: Looks to be working now if I can find all these other settings I need to change. :)

Milton Shupe
October 24th, 2009, 07:33
Milton,
The download is free to use but limits the advanced functions which are unlocked after payment/registration just as the FS9 version (3.xx)

The unregistered install is all you need for racing. You may find small but irritating issues with the FSX version not 'liking' your realism settings (mainly the Real World Wx) but there are lots of people who have suffered same and worked it out.

Rob


Thanks Rob. Yes, that is what I was not clear about. Installed okay but now wrestling with the real wx and winds aloft settings.

EDIT: Thanks Paul and Rob ... all is working well now. :)

smilo
December 5th, 2009, 15:08
:bump:

smilo
January 26th, 2011, 11:02
in the first post,
the link mentioned is dead,

"- Disable unnecessary system services. Windows runs about a zillion unnecessary processes in the background. If you're not using them, disable them. A default XP system has about 50 services running. My system runs perfectly fine on 20 - a saving of over 100MB in memory and a load of processor power. An excellent guide is found at
http://www.codecavalier.com/blackvip...servicecfg.htm "

does anyone know of an alternative?

OleBoy
January 26th, 2011, 11:28
For the services that you think you might want to turn off, you can get more info directly via Vipers home page. http://www.blackviper.com/index.html

smilo
January 26th, 2011, 14:14
thanks, that's what i was looking for. :salute:

Willy
January 26th, 2011, 17:31
I'd also clean out my attachments here at SOH. I'd sure hate to have a green duenna and not be able to post it because my attachments were full up.

Click on Settings in the upper right, then on the left a little ways down is Attachments. Click on that and delete away. I usually delete the ones that are over a month old. (just cleaned out a ton of them about an hour ago)

smilo
February 1st, 2011, 17:16
well, fudge...
yesterday, i decided to go ahead
and install a 5 port usb card.
now, i am back to first, fs9 seizing up,
then, the whole machine.

DRAT!!!

i've had this problem before.
it's one of the reasons i did a complete reformat.

i have removed the card and will try a system restore,
but i sure could sure use those extra usb ports.

i really don't have the time for this foolishness.

smilo
February 4th, 2011, 14:01
good news,
after removing the usb card,
things are back to normal.
what ever normal is...

this week, i bought a self powered, 7 port, external usb hub for $15us
and installed it today, along with a bunch of devices,
just for testing purposes, you understand.
so far, i am happy to report no seizing problems.

apparently, my weak old machine,
doesn't have the power for too many devices.

speaking of which,
i just received my birthday present.
a BU0836X joystick circuit board.
6 axis, pov, and 32 buttons. :jump:
the plan, for starters, is to use it to build an external auto-pilot and a gps

smilo
February 6th, 2011, 07:25
well, for cryin' out loud! :crybaby:
it's always somethin'...

apparently, with all the tilting and moving the machine,
installing and removing the usb cards,
i have succeeded in damaging the keyboard port.
the long and short of it is, my keyboard quit working.
i tried replacing it, but still, no go.
bummer...i really like that old ibm monster...
click, click, click
i have a couple apple usb keyboards,
but only one works.
i'm sure glad i didn't tear it apart for my flight controls project.

----------:kilroy:-------
this will take some getting use to.
not good for these banana fingers.
it's like getting out of a '64 cadillac
and into a miata.