How to Increase FPS?

[RyanJZ]

What're some good ways to boost my frames? Things like settings and maybe addon utilities?

[ryanbatc]

What's your PC specs?

[RyanJZ]

My computer only has an intel core i3, and I have 6GB of RAM. I forget what kind of of graphics card I have :P

[Jafo]

My computer only has an intel core i3, and I have 6GB of RAM. I forget what kind of of graphics card I have :P

Like that quote from Jaws.....
Yer gonna need a bigger boat....

[Peg o my heart]

It is a big question you asked

But you may want to start considering replacing your CPU. Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K is now pretty much affordable. You should see a noticeable improvement. You dont need a new motherboard since i3 uses LGA1155 as i5 does. Since you forget what your GPU is, I am not sure if you need to replace it.

After that try DX10 as it boosts performance.

[RyanJZ]

about my GPU, its something like microsoft or intel hd graphics family, something like that

[RyanJZ]

It is a big question you asked

But you may want to start considering replacing your CPU. Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K is now pretty much affordable. You should see a noticeable improvement. You dont need a new motherboard since i3 uses LGA1155 as i5 does. Since you forget what your GPU is, I am not sure if you need to replace it.

After that try DX10 as it boosts performance.

Does that CPU run windows 7?

[heywooood]

about my GPU, its something like microsoft or intel hd graphics family, something like that

Ryan - you arent far from me - I'm near KSAN

If you want to try to get the most out of what you have on hand - start by setting your FSX frame rates at around 23-25
reduce all traffic in game to:
ZERO ground traffic (no little cars and trucks for you pal)
GA traffic to no more than 5% or so
Airline traffic the same or ZERO

go to weather settings in FSX:
reduce cloud draw distance to min. 60KM I think
amount weather changes over time to ZERO or similar
detailed clouds - YES

When you fly, use Cirrus or Stratus clouds if you must - but very little to ZERO cumulus clouds as they will eat frames like a linebacker eats pasta
those settings are in the detailed weather selector for each free flight - or just set your own master free flight (saved and selected as your default flight) with the weather your PC can handle over your most frequently used scenery

Set your game resolution to match your monitors native resolution - try right clicking on your desktop to see if screen resolution is listed and click on it to see what it is - then match it in the FSX settings
Set also your anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering in the FSX game settings window
try each setting on the same saved flight to see what works best / what you can live with visually

in FSX - turn off planes cast shadows on themselves and on the ground - turn off ground shadows and lens flare and Bloom - all OFF
the detailed aircraft slider should be on MAX detail - anything less looks horrible

in the TERRAIN settings - try all sliders at 50% -and load and fly your saved flight - if you want to try higher settings - go one slider at a time and see where your rig bumps its head - then drop back a little

Now - do you know where the FSX.cfg file is?
IF you can find it -( look on the google machine and there will be an answer) - and you want to make a major difference in FSX for the better - add the following lines:

HIGHMEMFIX=1 (right under the [GRAPHICS] heading in your fsx.cfg file - just edit it in notepad and save it

under the [TERRAIN] heading add:
TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL=1400 <---------you will want to lower this number to 1000
TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL=900 <------- you will want to lower this number to 500

you have to add these lines to your fsx.cfg just as I have listed them here - they are NOT already there

IF you do NOT feel comfortable editing your cfg file then don't - but you can PM me and I'll try to assist you if I can
now go back inbto your FSX game and in the settings under autogen trees and objects reduce the sliders to 50 % or so (unless you can do the cfg edit - in that case you want to max the sliders to the right all the way)

there might be another trick or two you can use to enjoy FSX on that rig - but you will be limited WRT which scenery, which aircraft models, and how much weather you can use - I flew mainly over water when I started out and until I could upgrade my hardware.

The Islands around Princess Julianna - the Cook Islands - Raratonga and a whatnot - and similar areas allow you to fly smoothly FPS wise compared to congested urban metro areas - autogen is the enemy of all CPU's that are below a certain minimum spec.
Any desert area works well for the same reason...if you get tired of looking at water