Cursed Framerates...

[DauntlessDriver546]

Morning, gentlemen!

I have been having problems with framerates ever since I started FS-2004. It's rather an odd problem.

Whenever the earth needs to be drawn when I move my camera on the outside view towards the ground... the framerates drop signficantly. I was wondering if there was a way to somehow get better performance, and yet not have to turn down the graphics quality of the ground textures, because they look just beautiful and I don't want to wind up flying over FS-2002 like terrain again... :isadizzy:

[Zevious Zoquis]

System specs?

[DauntlessDriver546]

I don't know how to access the system specs... :kilroy::icon_lol:

[Z-claudius24]

Hi,

At least it's refreshing to know you are able to find the power switch of your computer :)

A simple way to know the main specifications of your PC and systems is to run

dxdiag.exe

The main window and also the "display" tab shows all the specifications needed to be posted here.

This executable is located (if you use WinXp .. I suppose you know wich OS you use ..) in
C:\WINDOWS\system32

[hawkeye52]

Whoa! Not everyone is a PC whiz. Some of us barely get by. LOL:icon_lol:
-H52

[Lionheart]

With FS2004, you want lots of RAM. If you can get the highest speed RAM possible, and put cooler jackets on them (about $15.00 for a nice set of cooling jackets). Also, ensure your box has NO DUST in it, especially on the chip grille. Make sure you have a cooling fan on it, with no dust on the blades or grille. Just 'some' dust is able to create airflow eddies that disturb the flow of the air along the surface of the grille assembly, thus causing your computer to run hot, thus causing it to run slow.

Next, if that doesnt help, get a more powerful graphics card. That will jump you up MASSIVELY....


Theres nothing like having FS2004 running sooooooo smooth, that its like glass.... Nothing like it.....

:d

[OBIO]

DD

Also take a look at how many services you have running in the back ground (Control, ALT, Delete..pressed together will bring up Task Manager in XP). If you have a lot of stuff running in the back ground (anti-virus, messenger programs, anti-spyware, AOL, etc), those things will eat up your available RAM and bog down your processor. Run as few back ground services as possible.

Have you updated FS9 to FS9.1? That update fixed a lot of things that make FS9 run smoother, look better, be more stable. It's a simple update to do...it does it automatically.

OBIO

[mrogers]

DD, click on start at the bottom corner of your screen. The menu will pop up.Click on "run" and a small box will then appear. You then write in it "dxdiag" and the pc will do the rest. Everything you wanted to know about your pc specs will appear in a window. Hope this helps you!

[aeromed202]

You can also got to START, My Computer, View System Information. Then hand copy and post what you see to here. Or use a screen capture utility if you have one.
Hope this helps.

[DauntlessDriver546]

DD

Have you updated FS9 to FS9.1? That update fixed a lot of things that make FS9 run smoother, look better, be more stable. It's a simple update to do...it does it automatically.

OBIO

Hey Obie,

Nope. I don't even know what FS9.1 is, or where it is to find...

I shall look at my specs tonight gentlemen, and I might even clean my box! Will a simple dry paintbrush do the trick?

Thank you so much guys! I promise I'll have that info for you tonight!

DD

[OBIO]

DD

I will e-mail you the 9.1 update, it's a small file.

Cleaning your system is easy. All you need is a small brush, a dry clean tooth brush, and a can or two of Electronics Duster spray.

Shut your system down, unhook all the wires...and I mean ALL. Set your tower one something solid and at a level to where it is easy to work on.

The first thing you want to do (and this is VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT): Press and hold the power button for 30 seconds or so. This will drain the power from the capacitors and reduce the risk of frying the board with an errant discharge.

Now, open your system and take a good long look at all the components. Make a mental note of were every wire comes from and goes to...in case you knock one loose or have to remove some to reach all the nooks and crannies.

Begin with the tooth brush, loosening the dust/dirt on the cards, the case, the fans. Then use the smaller brush to really get into the corners and places were cards meet the motherboard and such.

Take a good look at the heat synks...those finned metal things with fans on them. If they are packed with dust, grab a few tooth picks and clean the dust out of the recesses.

Now, using the canned cleaner spray, begin spraying the dust off of things. Be careful to keep the can upright and not to shake it...doing otherwise will result in a fair amount of liquid being sprayed into your system...not a good thing.

Also, when you blow the dust out of your power supply and off of the cooling fans, use a tooth pick, Q-Tip, something, to hold the fans in place. DO NOT let them spin in the spray....doing so could result in the fans being spun faster than their rated RPM and could damage the fans...you don't want to send any fans into premature death.

Once you have every possible speck of dust/dirt/dog hair/cat hair ect cleaned out of your case....let it sit open for an hour or so...just to make sure all the fumes are out of the case and that the boards are totally dry (in case you get some moisture from the electronics cleaner).

Once done with all that....close the case up, hook it back up and fire it up.

You should clean your system at least once a month...more often if you have pets or live in a dusty environment.

OBIO

[DauntlessDriver546]

Ok, from the outset, here's my rig's specs...

Operating System: Windows XP Pro
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00 GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1016 MB RAM
Page File: 570 MB Used, 1871 MB Available

Obie... I will try to clean it tomorrow. I looked in there tonight, and it actually is pretty clean in there, however, just to be sure, I WILL clean it tomorrow.

Let me know what you guys think of my stats... pretty lousy, huh? :icon_lol: :engel016:

[OBIO]

DD

My system is a Win XP (Home) P4 3.0 gig, I am running 2 Gig of PC3200 Ram. Add a second gig of Ram and you will see a huge jump in frame rates. What video card is in your system? If it is an onboard video chip set, you will need to add a dedicated video card. A 256meg or larger card will have your system running FS2004 nicely (I have a 512meg Nvidia GeForce 7600GS...FS2004 is super smooth, looks great).

Oh, one thing about some of the P4 chips....some of them say they have 2 CPUs, but they don't. What they do have is HyperThreading, which sort of mimics a second CPU...or maybe it's MMX Technology. Can't remember...all I know is that my CPU is a single core that claims to be a duel core. Socket 749

OBIO

[Astoroth]

Have to second Obio on the memory, throw another gig in there and you will see a BIG difference. I also run a 512 meg Nvidia card (EN9600 GT TOP), and have very good framerates on an AMD Athlon 4200+, which I THINK runs at 2.2 ghz, or maybe 2.4.

[DauntlessDriver546]

I'll have to see what kind of RAM I can pick up for cheap; RAM don't come cheap I think... at least for a COLLEGE student, it don't LOL!

[OBIO]

DD

Newegg.com usually has pretty decent prices on memory. I bought a 1gig stick for my wife's laptop and only had to shell out about $38...it was a bit more expensive because it's an older style memory (older style memory is generally more expensive than newer style memory because older style memory is not longer being made.....the law of supply and demand).

What memory card is in your system....if you can't find the specific brand/model, the RAM amount will suffice.

OBIO