DVA3931
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Posted onPost created on
November 19 2008 17:10 ET by Andrew Kaufmann
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This ia a repost by Paul Predoehl from VATSIM for folks who want more from FSX...
Here's the link:
http://forums.vatsim.net/viewtopic.php?t=35194
Here's the meat:
Hi,
Fsx can be quite a nice program if you can get it past slideshow mode , so here are some tips to help. First I'd like to go over the aspects of hardware. The different parts of your computer all work together to help, each one part doing its own thing.
1st..
Most important is your cpu, at one point in time the fastest single core would always prevail on a game benchmark. This is no longer true as almost all new games are multi-threaded(able to run the same program through all the cores at the same time). So in that case the more cores the better. Also a cpu has something called Level 2 cache, with low amounts of level 2 cache you will have a better chance at getting stutters in a max demand situation. Level 2 cache is like a pool where all the infomation thats coming from everywhere else can be stored and accessed with no delay at all(Very important stuff). Without a good cpu you are bound to bottleneck. CPU's in DX9 provide almost all the Physx and they are always gathering info from all the rest of your computer. It is doing all the math for weather, AI traffic routes, your planes and the AI dynamics, and more.
2nd..
The next important thing is your motherboard. A front side bus, or FSB for short and the North bridge are like the gateways to you components. In short you need a fast network of highways for your components. So that means and good chipset. I.E. Nforce 700 series, or if you dont want to spend a billion dollars on SLI or Crossfire boards from Nvidia and ATI, Intel makes a fast chipset for boards you can find for less then $100 called the ICH9 chipset.
3rd and 4th.
Video card and RAM. Youe video card in DX9 takes care of the whole visual aspect of your game. In DX10 it takes a load off your cpu as the gpu is doing more of the work that the cpu would be doing in DX9. So a good video card is needed for DX9 play but not top notch, an 8600GTS or 9600 are nice for the price. RAM, you need at least 2gigs of somewhat fast RAM, I.E. if you can support it at least DDR667. The more RAM you have the more textures and other info can be stored for quick access.
So, now you just have to figure out the max setting you can run smooth with your hardware. And if you feel brave you can do a few quick edits to your fsx.cfg file and get a few extra FPS. Unless your computer is top notch ad I mean top notch, you will prob need to edit all the settings yourself based on your computer parts to get max fps. Here is a checklist of settings and what resource they will hog from your computer.
Max FPS,, with fsx to prevent stutters you will want to find your lowest fps and put the slider about 10-20fps above that. Most of the time it comes out to be 30-40fps for a setting. This is for DX9 most 3rd party fsx programs and planes of run right in DX9.
Filitering,, Aniso is the way to go for a good video card, FPS loss is min for this option
Anti-aliasing,, Once again this is based on your Video card. It makes the block edges smooth.
Global texture resolution,, High or very high, once again It has to do with your Video card and how much V-RAM and RAM you have.
Lens flare,, It takes FPS off and doesnt do much.
Light bloom,, Looks very cool but takes alot off your FPS also.
Advanced animations,, A little bit of a CPU,GPU hog but it provides moving trees, wing flex, animals.
High res 3-d cockpit,, For the default aircraft you need it but for some add-on it takes alot of fps and it would look almost the same without it
Aircraft ground shadows,, Nice to have but without a good video card it will take fps off the more planes you have arounf you.
Aircraft self shadows,, Nice but too much FPS loss for too little.
Lights illuminate ground,, Not much off here but a little, without you cant see the runway centerline at night.
LOD radius,, Large will take alot more RAM and CPU and GPU then medium as it means how far out all the scenery is drawn.
Mesh compx,, A nice medium setting will be good for most computers.
Mesh and texture resolution,, Resolution is how close you can get to the picture and still have it look clear. 76m and 2m is good for most cpus.
Water effects,, If you have a 8600 or better, run Low 2.x
Land detail,, Big extra hog, looks ok but not worth the fps loss
Scenery Complexity,, You want Ex Dense if you can because it will provide nice full airports and downtown areas. It hogs CPU,RAM, and videocard.
Auto-gen,, The biggest hog of them all, but even a normal setting on FSX is more autogen then FS2004 at max. This is where you motherboard, CPU, and RAM come to a big test.
Ground scenery shadows,, Take the biggest hog Auto-gen and add the extra job shadowing all that.OFF for most.
Special effect,, Not much FPS drop, Just for fireworks and waves.
Cloud Draw,, 60-80mi, quad core, 100mi
Clould detail, Detailed clouds-Max dense
AI trafiic,, Another huge CPU, RAM, motherboard hog. For Vatsim and for more auto gen I would say all traffic off. Who cares about road and sea traffic for the FPS cost.
FSX.cfg fixes:::::::::::::::;
Found in your (VISTA) Users\-yournamehere-\AppData\Roaming\FSX (XP) same but AppData is listed a applicationdata I think but im not sure.
Add this line
[DISPLAY]
TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=xx
40 is normal for a Nvidia 8600 or better use 60-80 but not more then 90 unless you have some really nice SLI or crossfire setup.
Find this line
[MAIN]
ProcSpeed=xxxxxMHZ
Do the math for you CPU, I.E. I have a quad core at 3.0ghz so 3000*4=12000
Add these lines
[JOBSCHEDULER]
AffinityMask=x
1core=1
2cores=3
4cores=7
Ie.
for a quad core
[JOBSCHEDULER]
AffinityMask=7
[BUFFERPOOLS]
Poolsize=8000000
Ok now after all this work you should be able to play FSX with more the 10fps. My rig is as follows
Intel Q6600 cpu OC3.3ghz
2 gigs OCZ ram DDR800, OC1000Mhz
8800GTS-512mb OC775mhz
Intel G33 motherboard ICH9 chipset.
I built my rig for less the $1300 air cooled.
I get 20-60 fps bt i have it maxed at 40 to prevent stutter.
In DX10 the jumps are huge and I can max all setting with no traffic, but I dont like looking at a bunch of wihite planes and all the 3rd party add-on problems.
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