I noticed that the clouds were killing my fps so I opened the mission file and changed weather to "scattered". Problem solved.

If you are having the same problem, open the mission with notepad and voila...

You can remove the clouds altogether if you are not interested in flying the real mission. The weather is set as it was the day of the mission as described by the pilot.

I'd love to fly the real mission, only not at 8 fps.

Use a lower environment. The clouds are less dramatic but the sky coverage is the same. When the weather is a factor in the story, it's best to keep it in the game.

Do what I did. I swapped in another weather mod, i.e. "widesky" and it not only looked a lot better than the regular vanilla WoV clouds, but it brought my FPS up enough that I am able to fly with shadows and interior mirrors (plus everything else maxed out).

With both the "high" and "medium" YAP2 clouds, I was getting about 13-15 FPS low over the ground, but with the "widesky" clouds, I was getting 28-30 FPS over the same terrain in the same weather conditions.

Are the YAP2 clouds, better, yes, but not 15 FPS better to me when I am trying to max everything else out in the game.

thanks!