Hi Guys,

Hopefully you can help, I just recently got FSX with REX and one of the ORBX scenery packs. I am running this game on a 2500k 8GB RAM and 2GB 6970 @ 1920x1080
I gotta tell you it runs like crap, absolute stutters almost unplayable. Running ultra high settings, is this normal should I not be smashing this older sim with my specs? Surely if not what a massive waste of money!!!!!

Hope you can help

P.S Running it on W7 64bit

Cheers

Danosh

What version of FSX are you running ?

If its the standard or deluxe version you will need to patch it to SP1 then SP2
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=14380
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8986

If its Acceleration or Gold then your fully updated already.

Either way go here
http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html
to optimise your fsx.cfg

I hope this helps

Are you running it in DX10 mode? FSX seems to run smoother under DX10 on my Win7/64 box with Nvidia GPU. Other than that there do seem to be some bottlenecks in the FSX code itself as things get jammed up on the CPU side, even on my Q9650 @ 3600 mhz. Very fast RAM is the best help for it but there's no real cure. Almost forgot: bloom and ground shadows will absolutely clobber your FPS with very little visual improvement to show for it. Again, FSX is not properly coded to use the power of the GPU.

Thanks guys I will try everything you suggested. I still find it incredibly hard to believe that my rig can't run this game at high settings, what would it take?!! Is it even possible?!? I mean i5 and a 6970 and I have to tweak this thing, ridiculous! This is starting to sound like a really bad investment, live and learn I guess.

To answer your other questions, yeah I have the GOLD PACK with Accelerator. How do I run it in DX10 mode? Is that done via the settings tab? I am not sure it makes much difference, it's still a slide show.

What a debacle, don't even feel like trying out the Accusim Spitfire in FSX's current state.

Cheers,

Danosh.

Not sure where your bottleneck is, but I'm running it on an i5 and it runs great.

Hey Scylla what settings are you running it on? Do you think it's maybe REX 2.0 or ORBX scenery that is affecting my performance? I think the ORBX scenery is loaded as it appears on the scenery manager and is prioritised, nothing special though, nothing compared to what I saw on their website anyway. REX 2.0 not sure if its running as I am not seeing anything even close to what everyone is raving about (e.g. incredible clouds and tarmac textures etc). Such a cluster fark this whole thing.

If I were you I'd install the RoF demo, establish a base line for flight sim performance -- if you get that running well, you can move on to something complex like FSX. You don't have to worry about screwing RoF up with add-ons.

Hey Dan911,

I can run ROF at MAX settings with no problems at all, it runs flawlessly. This is why I can't understand why FSX is running so badly.

Cheers,

Danosh.

FYI

SPECS:

2500k @ 3.3
6970 2gb Ram
8gb Ripjaws
Caviar Black WD
W7 64bit

My compu should be owning this game. I really don't understand what the developers that made this game were thinking.

I would try it w/o the addons and see what happens.

My settings are generally about 75% of max.

My PC:

Will try to slowly tone down the AI setting to see if that frees up some CPU power then go from there. Unfortunately I am at work so will try tonight, I was up till 1:00 am after installing all the addons etc and couldn't really fly in it without it being a slide show. Hopefully I am luckier tonight, will try that FSX.cfg website above also. Just want to fly the Spitfire in total smoothness!!

Good luck to me and thanks for all your help.

Check this thread:

http://www.simforums.com/forums/topic29041.html

FSX is bottomless performance hog, only because it needs more optimizing and wast number of different addons all having their own quirks of demand.

I would check your traffic settings, I found that to be a large performance hog.
With FSX it is always compromise between eye candy and smoothness.

Dont give up, its just a matter of finding the sweet spot.

You need to run this
http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html
Read the instructions VERY carefully and note the cfg isn't in the FSX main folder.

Also set your frames to Unlimited in the control panel.

I also recommend an External Frames Limiter for FSX (this has nothing to do with the frame setter wihin FSX. Sorry no link just now-use Google)

Seriously, it's the only way to get it running properly. FSX was a big disappointment until I was put onto these tools and it fixed it for me and now runs silky smooth on high settings with an inferior pc to yours (I also have ORBX, TrafficX and Xtreme secenery etc).

The tweak that NineLives is pointing you to is the ticket. FSX is a resource hog, and even with a high end machine, you still need to get your settings right.

I'm running an i7 960, 12GB RAM, 2 GTX580 cards, blah, blah, blah -- I STILL had to get my settings right. After the Venetubo tweak, it's smooth as glass at 1920x1200 with in-game settings mostly maxed out.

I forgot to add that setting your water as low as you can bear helps too as I found that water has a big impact on the game. I have mine set to minimum which doesn't look good but as I rarely go near water (if I do it's at altitude but it still affects the game) it doesn't matter. For some reason the water settings even affects it when flying over land.

thanks for the tips

FSX is a CPU power drain. It represents a .dll drain in graphics. Holding the "water" to minmum is recommended. Also for IL1946. I suspect the drain killed the team and causes my Intel Dual core 3.3Ghz with a Nvidia GTX285(one meg VRAM) twenty minutes to reach the main menu.

Thanks guys I tried that venetubo fix and it made a difference. Still getting stutters over land though perfect over water so I suspect it's something to do with texture loads. I ve been on the net and will experiment with bufferlpools pool size etc aswell as other tweaks that I ve seen around the place like the XML utf 16 to 8 change. First thing though is the FPS limiter i ll try that when I get home. Quick one if I change settings within the game will that overwrite everything that was changed by venetubo? Should I just make the changes directly to the cfg file ?? Thanks again for all your help guys

I wih I had the tech knowledge some of you guys have, then I could advise Danosh. I have REX 2.0 AND REX Overdrive AND ORBX (Australia SP4, aka the entire continent) AND GEX for USA, Canada, AFrica, Middle East, and Europe, AND a third-party traffic A.I. program AND a audio enviroment enhancer. I got more sh*t added to my FSX install than Danosh.

I don't need to be a techie to clearly see my framerate counter that my FPS increase 50% to 100% with DX10 preview checked compared to DX9. I understand that not everyone experiences such a dramatic improvement but I do. The only time I get a slide show is when I try to fly one of the Lancair IV-P Hi-definition models (made by ORBX--their only plane so far). Especially in-cockpit view. Switching from the extreme ultra hi-def model to a normal model solves the problem.

FSX is a very CPU intensive anyway. And Danosh' i5 is not going to cut it with all settings on ultra high. None of us can do that with overclocked i7's, so i5 definitely won't do it. Like other posters have said, turn down the sliders, Danosh. It may piss you off, but FSX has been around for years. We all knew the demands of the sim since Day One. Welcome to the party, Danosh, but you're late. It is what it is.

Yeah that's cool Plainsman I know I am probably going through what many people have in the last 4 years. To be hones though I should've done more research before purchasing and really just waited for MS Flight OR bought more ROF planes!! All good though, tweaking this thing is half the fun.....right?!!?!?

One thing though although my CPU is an i5 it's a 2500k @ 3.3 the only diff with that and the 2600k i7 is as far as I know they hyperthreading which apparently isn't used by games at all. So if that's right my CPU should be performing as well as an i7 at the same clock speed.

Well for your interest I have only a dual core 4800 (2x2.4GHz) but with Windows 7 and a good HD 4850 card and 4Gb RAM and Flight Sim X runs very well except over large cities when it does get slowish. I cant put most of the setting on max. I did use the config recommendations as mentioned in a previous post but actually went back to my own settings as they looked better and were smoother. I have most graphics settings on about 75% and it looks great - I just messed about with them to get what I thought looked acceptable - also I run it in Directx 10 preview mode which is very nice, but precludes you from many free plane add-ons, but its too nice to ignore.

I am presently upgrading my computer to an AMD Phenom II X6 so we will see how that improves flying around the cities! I am mainly upgrading for the new career mode of Rise of Flight more than FSX though as I love that game and it is too slow on my computer during the new career dogfights. Cant wait to get the new Bristol Fighter once I have upgraded!