While I was flying & making videos a little while ago, FSX was running reasonably well for me (not great but certainly acceptable). But now, something has happened in the last month or so and now, FSX is running like molasses with major stutters and terrible frame rates around any major airport.
I just did a flight out of Washington (DCA) and when landing, besides the slide show, the runway elevation started jumping up & down. I'm pretty sure I must have done something to screw things up but I have restored all the settings I had earlier and nothing is helping.
With the high end hardware I have in my FSX PC which is running at 4.7 Ghz and with a GTX 690 video card, I should be able to get better performance than what I am getting now.
I am so fed up now that after I cool off a bit, I am going to rebuild my FSX PC but this time, I may go with P3D. XP is definitely not an option for me unless I run it with one view only and I don't think I would be happy with that after experiencing full surround visuals.
If P3D does not make things any better (and I doubt it will), then I am pretty sure I will throw in the towel and get out of this business unless Lockheed Martin releases some updates that improve the fps performance which I understand is currently no better than FSX.
I know I have talked about doing this many times in the past but this time, I am truly at the end of my rope and this simulator has become a thorn in my back and not giving me any pleasure anymore. It's one thing after another and I'm more than ever tempted to dismantle it and sell the parts since I doubt there is a market for a complete simulator.
Anyway, Spring is in the air and getting out of my basement for a while sounds very appealing to me right now. Stay tuned for possibly great hardware bargains soon. :)
Maurice
Hi Maurice,
You always know I try to be the first one to say "no, don't give up"...uh, even though I did say just give up once, but you have dealt with this more than most of us, so you know how FSX really is.
Now, what should I say this time? How about this; turn the sim off, stop making videos and start spring early. You're at burnout stage again, so just leave it all alone and come back later. Besides, if you quit and sell out what would you do for fun...other than make posts on CB to bring out the crazies?
Finally, please go visit Scott or even Karen and I. Scott's would be better because he wants someone to do more piloting with since he has been so consumed with being airplane/simulator mechanic. As for Karen and I, we're rearranging house for simulators, but that's normal crazy people stuff, so a visit here might make you crazier, make you appreciate yours more or Karen will make you work!
John
Hi Mau,
You have probably tried this already but if you have tried updating to the latest nvidia driver you will need to redo your FSX profile again in inspector. 1/2 refresh rate option and limiting frames to 30 in game should get you back to minimal stutters.
Gary
QuoteI just did a flight out of Washington (DCA) and when landing, besides the slide show, the runway elevation started jumping up & down. I'm pretty sure I must have done something to screw things up but I have restored all the settings I had earlier and nothing is helping.
With your CPU and GPU, you should indeed have much better frame rates. Please send me your fsx.cfg file and settings you use in Nividia Inspector. hzanin@rogers.com
Thanks.
Harry
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, but right now, I need to stop banging my head against the wall and take a long sabbatical before I do something I may regret later.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder so I am going to test that theory before contemplating divorce, although in that case, I would not get taken to the cleaners and would end up with some money in my pockets ;D
Maurice
Mau,
Delete your FSX.cfg and leave the new one alone!
I don't do ANY tweaks anymore, besides "WideviewAspect=True"...period.
I know this is conflicting advice but Please try it!
If you feel like, try the DX10 Preview mode, guaranteed to be smoother,
only downside is some night textures at add-on airports don't support it.
Nat
Nat,
Did you say delete FSX? That's a fantastic idea and I'll do that today. Why did I not think of that earlier...like 5 years ago? :o
But just a tiny reminder here...you have 3 or maybe 4 PCs running FSX ( or XP). I have only one. Big difference I think about what tweaks are necessary :)
Maurice
QuoteBut just a tiny reminder here...you have 3 or maybe 4 PCs running FSX ( or XP). I have only one. Big difference I think about what tweaks are necessary :)
Maurice
I too only have 1 PC running FS X which also runs AS 2012. Also have several add-ons to FS on the same computer. I had the same problems you have now until I spent a fair amount of time tweaking the config file as well as using Nvidia Inspector. With today's hardware you really need to do the tweaking to take advantage of it.
Harry
Sitting looking out at the beach and Gulf of Mexico relaxing with a cup of joe reading about your plight Maurice and my sim is a thousand miles away. 8)
Sometimes it is nice to take a break from it all for a week and enjoy the other things life has to offer. Take a breather and enjoy the wonderful winter views out of your garden room and pour a cup of coffee. Come back to it in a week or two.
Best regards,
From sunny Sanibel Island, Florida (not a sim in sight!)
Scott
Harry,
Tweaking FSX.cfg and Inspector would not help a runway jumping up & down, especially in an airport I landed on before with no such problem. Something else here is at play.
I have been tweaking those 2 files ad-nauseam for years now and as I said before, FSX was running mostly ok but I was never quite happy with it as I never fully got rid of white flashes and/or occasional black patches of terrain now & then. I could live with those but not with what I am seeing right now.
Are you saying that you have discovered some magic settings that have not been discussed in any of the various tweaking posts made by Bojote, Kosta and others? I have tried just about everything in every possible combination and the only acceptable result is the one I was using now, but now, these same settings work like crap.
And by the way Gary, I did also try 1/2 the refresh rate and setting the internal fps limiter to 30. That made the frame rate much worse for me.
I am pretty sure I can eliminate a CPU hardware issue as I have run CPU tester Pro for hours at 4.7 Ghz and it ran perfectly with the CPU temperature never exceeding 80 degrees C. I also ran memory diags for hours with no problems. The only thing I cannot really test is my 240 Gb SSD drive. I have replaced it once already but at that time, I was seeing errors in the Event Viewer. The event viewer is not showing anything now so I assume the SSD drive is ok but who really knows?
Anyway, I really appreciate all the suggestions but I would have to see FSX running absolutely smoothly with 3 separate views and one computer only to believe that this is possible. It might well be if they come up with a much faster CPU than currently available but it seems like CPU speed increases have stalled now and if it ever happens, that means yet another hardware upgrade. At what point do you say enough is enough? For me, it's right now while I still have a few years left to enjoy life without FSX ;D
Thanks,
Maurice
Quote from: XOrionFE on March 03, 2013, 04:49:28 AM
From sunny Sanibel Island, Florida
You're in Florida? Man, you could've brought the sim, then I could've drove down to see it! ???
Quote from: XOrionFE on March 03, 2013, 04:49:28 AM
Sitting looking out at the beach and Gulf of Mexico relaxing with a cup of joe reading about your plight Maurice and my sim is a thousand miles away. 8)
Scott
You see... enjoying life without a sim is indeed possible, even for a long, long time :) . There must be a support group for recovering sim addicts somewhere in this world and if not, maybe I should start one. Anybody else willing to sign up? ;D
Maurice
'Sorry' for hijacking my own post, but does anyone know anything about satellite TV receivers? Now that I have so much more free time, I have to figure out why one out the 4 receivers in my house is losing satellite signal from time to time and that receiver is the most used and important one in the house and also an HD recorder (the others do not record)
It is not the cabling since I tried a regular receiver in that same spot and that one works ok. I am quite sure that something is gone bad inside the box but before I spend 500 bucks for a new one, I would like to be 100% sure if possible.
So, does anyone know anything about satellite HD recorders internals? I am wondering if the internal disk drive may be flaky and causing the signal loss. In other words, does the satellite signal get recorded before passing on to the tuner and if the drive is flaky, the tuner may not be getting the full signal and thereby giving a message the signal was lost?
Any satellite TV wizards out there? :)
Maurice
Would you dare to reload FS9 on a tiny part of your HD and give it a try! :P
Quote from: jackpilot on March 03, 2013, 06:50:50 AM
Would you dare to reload FS9 on a tiny part of your HD and give it a try! :P
OK Jack, please find a good therapist near you. I'm really worried about your mental state now ;)
Maurice
Maurice,
Do you have an antvirus software running?.If so turn it off temp,ive run into that problem
with Avaast on my system.
Les
Quote from: Maurice on March 03, 2013, 06:59:05 AM
Quote from: jackpilot on March 03, 2013, 06:50:50 AM
Would you dare to reload FS9 on a tiny part of your HD and give it a try! :P
OK Jack, please find a good therapist near you. I'm really worried about your mental state now ;)
Maurice
Hey, hey, HEY! Watch it there bub... :o
Quote from: iwik on March 03, 2013, 08:22:13 AM
Maurice,
Do you have an antvirus software running?.If so turn it off temp,ive run into that problem
with Avaast on my system.
Les
Antivirus software could affect frame rates & stutters but it would not cause the runway elevation to jump up and down. I really need to re-build and get rid of a lot of extra programs which I tried & don't even use now. Any Windows PC needs a clean rebuild from time to time but unfortunately, with all the scenery add-ons I have loaded, I dread starting and I need to get away from it for a few months before I muster the courage or desire to try again.
Right now, I am feeling a euphoric sense of relief to be out of the basement and I can't see myself back at it until next Winter at least, and if I last until Winter, it will be very unlikely I will start again and that thought is very appealing to me right now :) . So what I need to do is quit watching flying videos (cold Turkey) because watching videos is the only reason I got back at it in previous episodes of sim despair ;D
So... nobody has any idea about my satellite receiver?? I really need a change of subject here.
Maurice
Quote from: Maurice on March 03, 2013, 09:17:52 AM
Antivirus software could affect frame rates & stutters but it would not cause the runway elevation to jump up and down. Maurice
IMHO maybe conflicting sceneries.??
Quote from: jackpilot on March 03, 2013, 10:15:25 AM
Quote from: Maurice on March 03, 2013, 09:17:52 AM
Antivirus software could affect frame rates & stutters but it would not cause the runway elevation to jump up and down. Maurice
IMHO maybe conflicting sceneries.??
Could be. I watch the scenery on the Discovery channel and the satellite reception is ok , and then I switch to Oasis, and the reception sucks. And the next day, things are different again. ;D
Am I being subtle enough? :)
Maurice
Maurice,
QuoteTweaking FSX.cfg and Inspector would not help a runway jumping up & down, especially in an airport I landed on before with no such problem. Something else here is at play.
Sure sounds video card related. When did you purchase the 890 card?
QuoteAre you saying that you have discovered some magic settings that have not been discussed in any of the various tweaking posts made by Bojote, Kosta and others? I have tried just about everything in every possible combination and the only acceptable result is the one I was using now, but now, these same settings work like crap.
I can only say that I had similar problems to yours and by spending hours with the cfg file and inspector, I managed to get it fixed. But what may work for one sim may not work properly with another. That's why I suggested you send me your fsx.cfg file so I could have a look and also your inspector settings. Sometimes one setting can cause problems....it's just a matter of finding out which one before you go and jump off the nearest bridge :-))
QuoteAnd by the way Gary, I did also try 1/2 the refresh rate and setting the internal fps limiter to 30. That made the frame rate much worse for me.
What MHz setting are you projectors using?
I know the frustration you are feeling. I've been there on more than one occasion. I keep on telling myself that whatever the problem, it IS fixable. Just a matter of finding the right info.
Harry
Quote from: Maurice on March 03, 2013, 06:11:57 AM
'Sorry' for hijacking my own post, but does anyone know anything about satellite TV receivers? Now that I have so much more free time, I have to figure out why one out the 4 receivers in my house is losing satellite signal from time to time and that receiver is the most used and important one in the house and also an HD recorder (the others do not record)
It is not the cabling since I tried a regular receiver in that same spot and that one works ok. I am quite sure that something is gone bad inside the box but before I spend 500 bucks for a new one, I would like to be 100% sure if possible.
So, does anyone know anything about satellite HD recorders internals? I am wondering if the internal disk drive may be flaky and causing the signal loss. In other words, does the satellite signal get recorded before passing on to the tuner and if the drive is flaky, the tuner may not be getting the full signal and thereby giving a message the signal was lost?
Any satellite TV wizards out there? :)
Maurice
Maurice, what about your TV programs that are recorded on the drive .... do they play OK? If they don't then that would definitely indicate a problem with the drive.
In regards to your FSX issue, the first thing I would do is un-install and re-install the video driver. My son had a similar problem on his computer with a game and that solved the problem .... somehow the driver got corrupted.
Regards,
Henry
Quote from: HarryZ on March 03, 2013, 10:47:26 AM
I know the frustration you are feeling. I've been there on more than one occasion. I keep on telling myself that whatever the problem, it IS fixable. Just a matter of finding the right info.
Harry
Sorry Harry, I sincerely appreciate your effort & everyone else's efforts to help me fix my FSX problems. But the biggest problem right now is that I don't care to fix FSX anymore. Maybe in a few months, I will try again and at that time, I will gladly listen to any suggestions if I still have problems.
But for now and the foreseeable future, I am done with FSX and my sim and I don't know if I will ever attempt to revive it. For many years, it has caused me countless hours of aggravations for a measly few hours of flying pleasure. The more I think about it, the better I feel about my decision. It simply isn't worth it for me anymore.
The biggest benefit has been the camaraderie with many new friends so I will probably continue to annoy some of you and set you straight when you do something silly like installing a useless one inch gauge in the overhead or adding windshield wipers like I did or spraying the scent of jet fuel like John does (BSD) does ;D
But for now, please let me rest in peace :)
Maurice
Maurice,
Is it a single or dual feed satellite receiver? Is it connected to a phone line?
Rhys b
Quote from: rhysb on March 03, 2013, 01:13:39 PM
Maurice,
Is it a single or dual feed satellite receiver? Is it connected to a phone line?
Rhys b
Finally! :). It's a dual feed receiver and it is connected to a phone line to pay for Pay per View programs. We don't use the second feed though.
Maurice
Sorry Maurice can't help with your satellite receiver, but I just wanted to warn you about loading P3D in preference to FSX in the vain hope it will improve your plight. The word "vain" should give you some idea of my experience with it lately. I was hopeful with my new i7 build and all the wizz bang hardware similar to yours but when outputting to a 3 HD TV's the frame rate is less than appealing and still requires plenty of tweaking and compromises. My recommendation is to stick with FSX but perhaps a full reinstall coupled with periodic backups so it can be restored to any fully functioning point in time should issues arise such as conflicting or corrupt scenery (which is what the runway issue seems to point to). I also frustratingly found the 1/2 refresh rate tweak in inspector to cause a downturn in my frame rates.
I'd also endorse Nat's suggestion of deleting the cfg file and only running the Wideviewaspect=TRUE addition. Even Nick over at Simforums has removed most of the previous tweaks espoused by others over the years.
In the meantime enjoy the bourbon and sunsets, but I bet your mind is racing as to how you can fix this dilemma? ;D Good luck staying away from it.
Ken.
Quote from: Maurice on March 03, 2013, 01:48:34 PM
Quote from: rhysb on March 03, 2013, 01:13:39 PM
Maurice,
Is it a single or dual feed satellite receiver? Is it connected to a phone line?
Rhys b
Finally! :). It's a dual feed receiver and it is connected to a phone line to pay for Pay per View programs. We don't use the second feed though.
Maurice
Maurice,
I sometimes get a lag in my satellite receiver if the box is updating through the phone line. Most service providers do this for the guide pages etc. this can cause the signal to drop.
Shouldn't be anything to do with the hard drive.
the only other time my signal has dropped was when it snowed and covered the dish!!!
In many cases a phone line is no longer needed.
If you have internet access through cable or DSL the receiver can update wirelessly through the broadband connection.
Just sayin'
Hi Maurice,
Have you tried unpluggng the power to your satellite receiver yet? If not, unplug it and it'll recycle or reiniate its connections once you plug it back in; it might take 5 mins or so before it is ready again.
John
I'm getting a lot closer to resolving the satellite issue, but first, yes I did reset the box several times with no difference.
Last night, pretty much every channel was almost unwatchable with frequent loss of signal just on that one TV. Because of the dual tuners, I have 2 cables going to the receiver. I unplugged the one going to tuner #2 and all channels were suddenly working perfectly. The only issue was that I could not record one channel and watch something else live or I could not record 2 channels at the same time like I used to.
But to add to the mystery, I plugged both cables back in this morning and the reception so far is perfect. The cabling is ok for sure since the fellow who did the original install replaced them anyway just to be sure. So it very much looks like one of the tuners is flaky and affecting the other one when a cable is plugged in. But who knows? Maybe the receiver is infected with the FSX virus :)
Thanks,
Maurice
Quote from: Kennair on March 03, 2013, 07:46:46 PM
Sorry Maurice can't help with your satellite receiver, but I just wanted to warn you about loading P3D in preference to FSX in the vain hope it will improve your plight.
Ken.
Thanks for the heads up Ken. I'll keep that in mind and probably not venture there unless P3D releases a new version which gets good reviews :)
Maurice
Hi Maurice,
Just taking some time off generally seems to be a good strategy, although I know from myself that I really can bite into a problem until it's solved. What helped me a lot up to now, and not only in case of FSX troubles, is simply writing back a (Acronis) backup without ever knowing the problem(s) (sometimes you just not want to know the shit that happened). I generally make a backup once a week for my FS PC's and once a day for my office PC.
Concerning switching to P3D, I just wait till version 2.0 appears and no major problems reported.
I simply do not believe that you going to give up, but what is wisdom...
Quote from: sluyt050 on March 04, 2013, 09:07:05 AM
I simply do not believe that you going to give up, but what is wisdom...
Don't make any bets about that :)
Maurice
Maurice,
Best thing to do is walk away for a while.
Just curious and please humour me, do you backup your FSX machine with an image when
you have an acceptable performance.
Les
Quote from: iwik on March 04, 2013, 07:18:10 PM
Maurice,
Best thing to do is walk away for a while.
Just curious and please humour me, do you backup your FSX machine with an image when
you have an acceptable performance.
Les
I've made many full image backups in the past at various stages. But if by acceptable performance you mean something I was happy with, I would say never.
I know I could easily get back to something 'acceptable' but I simply don't want to. Try & guess why? :)
Maurice
Thanks,
Been there and done that, at 65 i definitely know where you are comming from.
Please stay around as i enjoy your rants and raves, i know im not alone.
Les
Maurice,
Obviously I would hate to see you sell everything but I do understand the need to rethink. I have done that many many times. Flying them for a living I wonder why the hell I need a sim at home and what am I going to do with it when its flyable.. Come home from work and fly more?? If I didn't start this project before I started flying them I doubt I would have ventured into this lol..
I know you and X-plane are like oil and water but before you go I really suggest you try
X-Plane in your sim. I understand you don't want to do the 3 computer thing but why don't you start with one? Im sure it will be tough reconfiguring the sim to it however im sure Scott would give a helping hand as he seems to have have ventured far into it.
Flying X-Plane with some winds and turbulence up a bit is a waaaayyy different experience than it is in FSX or any FS for that matter. Believe me it is much more realistic and I think you would find a new challenge to your flying skills and have more fun. Not sure what type of computers your using however you could even run X-Plane 9 and get better results. The modeling is the same and the graphics are still nice. Oh and no more stuttering..
Just a thought anyhow.. good luck on your decision making!! Well be here for ya!
Mike L
I would definitely work with you Maurice if you want to give it a whirl. It may not be quite as pretty on one PC with wide wrap but not too bad either for trying it out. It is pretty damn stable to me and really easy to back up and manage, does not require all the crazy addons and tweaks to be nice like FSX does. Worth a shot anyway before you completely throw in the towel. Either that or plan a trip down to Chicago area for a weekend and come visit. I would love to have you over along with your wife. We could grab some dinner out and do an evening of simming on XP! Visiting Chicago is always nice also.
Scott
especially today... heard you got more white! :D
I tought about that for Mau but did'nt dare!!
;)
Luckily I am in Sanibel Florida right now :P
And I'm in Florida too, albeit sitting in the departure lounge at MCO! :(
Mike & Scott,
I appreciate your efforts to lure me back in :) but I have tasted the freedom from sim bondage and the last thing I want right now are different set of challenges and aggravations with XP. If I ever get back in next fall, it will be with FSX or very unlikely, P3D ... something to do with the devil you know :)
And Mike, I also often wondered what motivates you to build a 737 sim when you fly the real thing. No matter how good XP is or how realistic your flight deck is, it has one major flaw...it remains attached to your house ;)
Cheers,
Maurice
Mike & Scott, just one last comment about XP. I am way ahead of you there. Many years ago (at least five I think), I tried a much earlier version of XP on my desktop PC with a 19" monitor.
Despite my lousy memory, I still remember very vividly how great it felt when I tried flying through a thunderstorm. I was truly stunned at how realistic the airplane motion was compared to FS9 at that time. I could have sworn I was riding a roller coaster. And that was while sitting on a desk chair in front of a tiny monitor and a very early version of XP. I wanted to switch at that time but there were too many unknowns and I went the 'easy' way instead.
So, I can only imagine what the new XP versions look like in full surround or even a single projector. That is why I would rather not see it now in all it's glory. I am a weak person and I am very afraid to sample it even once and a visit to Scott's place would be like a first heroin injection, not something I need right now ;)
Ignorance is truly bliss in some cases ;D
Maurice
Maybe this is why I do not load FSX! :laugh:
Quote from: jackpilot on March 06, 2013, 05:21:24 AM
Maybe this is why I do not load FSX! :laugh:
Forget about FSX. If you ever switch, skip the 'middleman' ...it will be much less painful :)
Maurice
Last summer the motherboard died on the main PC for my F-4. I made a decision to be very selective about mods and software upgrades and I made a clean FS install. I went from a flightsim crash every 20 minute to no crashes at all. It now runs all day. It also loads and resets much faster.
Now Im glad I had to rebuild the system and that I installed minimal upgrades.
Justin
Quote from: Maurice on March 03, 2013, 09:17:52 AM
Quote from: iwik on March 03, 2013, 08:22:13 AM
Maurice,
Do you have an antvirus software running?.If so turn it off temp,ive run into that problem
with Avaast on my system.
Les
Antivirus software could affect frame rates & stutters but it would not cause the runway elevation to jump up and down. I really need to re-build and get rid of a lot of extra programs which I tried & don't even use now. Any Windows PC needs a clean rebuild from time to time but unfortunately, with all the scenery add-ons I have loaded, I dread starting and I need to get away from it for a few months before I muster the courage or desire to try again.
Right now, I am feeling a euphoric sense of relief to be out of the basement and I can't see myself back at it until next Winter at least, and if I last until Winter, it will be very unlikely I will start again and that thought is very appealing to me right now :) . So what I need to do is quit watching flying videos (cold Turkey) because watching videos is the only reason I got back at it in previous episodes of sim despair ;D
So... nobody has any idea about my satellite receiver?? I really need a change of subject here.
Maurice