FSX:SE

[Wes_Howes]

Well FSX has finally been released on Steam, nothing major in terms of new content etc. but it's apparently a stable release and compatible with some addons.

For the £3.99 asking price, I thought it was worth a gamble. I haven't installed it yet but will do once I've rebuilt my PC with it's new SSD, memory and graphics card

[bigfatron]

Sounds like they're already addressing some issues with add-ons. TBH its as much in the add-on makers interest as it is for the publishers who've pushed it through Steam. I ended up paying the £4 just for 'insurance' in case MS ever pull the plug on the activation servers for the old boxed copy (haven't even bothered to pull the Steam version down, its just sat in my library for now).

[Rule 27]

You've not needed to activate FSX retail for ages, I just enter zeroes and it works.

I've not found this to be any more stable than FSX retail, still crashes if you try loading too much.

[Vodka]

I have been running FSX without any crashes for over a year now.

firstly you must tweak the fsx config file. .. amending and adding . . as various guides outline. All available with a simple search on youtube. This takes about 45minutes.

ensure you have a decent system to run it. Anything less than an i5 cpu , forget it unless you're going to turn the gfx down to useless levels.

I would suggest having fsx on a stand alone SSD too.

Lock your frame rate to half your screen refresh rate. i.e. 60hz = 30fps. Anyone who tells you they are running 120fps, firstly are hindering the writing of the cpu and secondly talking camels!

your frames will never be higher than your refresh rate!!

if you don't fancy tweaking the CFG file (believe me its simples). you can purchase frames booster which will tweak you cfg file for you . .buffer pools etc etc..theres a couple out there at around £10.

if you need any advice , drop a question here and ill do my best to answer it or at least point you in the direction.

I run an overclooked 4.2ghz i7 with tweaked files, orbx scenery , many add ons, traffic 360, air hauler, carenado & A2a aircraft.

all but autogen (set to very high) maxed out and runs 30fps smoothly and around 22fps around heavy traffic areas , LHR etc.

Frame killers are light bloom and shadows on ground, plus the x2 highest water reflection settings ( adds a 2nd shader pass).

keep Ai traffic to < 30% and like wise for Ai road and water traffic and you should be fine ( subject to your rig)

[MarkL]

Hi

I've always used Bojote's Tweaking and Tuning tool. Gives me great performance and even better does it all for me.

Link here : http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html or search 'Bejote tweaking' in Google if you don't want to follow the link.

It creates a FSX.cfg file for you specific to your system.

I'm curious about the frame rate setting mentioned above as most guides I've read tell you to set frame rates to unlimited. I'm not sure of the science behind this but seems a common recommendation.

Mark

[Vodka]

by setting a upper limit on frames you're doing two things.

One, setting the maximum frames you would ever achieve , no matter what system you've got.

That frame rate is 1/2 your screen refresh rate. 30fps for 60hz, 37fps for 75hz 60fpx for 120hz etc etc.


The second off shoot for setting a max rate is your are freeing up your CPU to perform all the maths to its best capabilities and allow the transfer of calculations to the rendering via the GFx card.

FSX is Dx9 technology (Dx10 is achievable) and will only ever use 4GB of memory. Thats total memory usage. So does not matter whether you have 32gb Ram and 2 x 3gb gfx memory DDR5 working in crossfire ATI's. FSX will only ever run with 4gb memory use. The trick is how to best get the memory to utilise that 4gb and in the best manner. If you have unlimited fps you are not dedicating enough memory to the calculations, or actually your are wasting capabilities of the GPU. FSX needs a decent GPU for near maxed out graphics.

The various tweaks out there, including bojotes ( although a little dated in some aspects) will advise your best configuration for running fsx smoothly and to the best abilities it can muster with your system specs.

I've used an external frame limiter but that did become hit and miss. sometimes stutters would be happening.

buffer pools and setting your affinity mask is the MUST do's though Affinity mask is a little try and see how you get on.

I have a quad core hyper threading which means Afin. mask set to 84. if you have quad core no hyper threading ( or switched off in Bios) set to 14. THere are different combinations and i can link you to a affinity mask calculator if needed. Makes huge difference to the frames and smoothness overall. It is telling the pc to use ALL cores and then designates what each does what. One core is set to free up for all external applications running, with remaining cores being used for fsx. If this is not done correctly. FSx in its default set up after install will only ever use ONE core and it will be 10fps'ish and stuttering.

If this all sounds techy and confusing , I've only learnt this be the various on line guides out there and I'm not techy at all!

once you get fsx running like a dream it is a very rewarding piece of software.

[Vodka]

useful links


Affinity mask calculator

http://www.gatwick-fsg.org.uk/affinitymask.aspx?SubMenuItem=hardware

I can vouch for FSX genius guides being very good and easy to follow for both set up and tutorials on flying ( though can't vouch for the ethics of the man. .long story)

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fsx+genius

[MarkL]

Excellent info Vodka, thank you.

I mention Bejote simply because it's provided a solution for me and is quick and easy. I only use a laptop, although it's reasonably specced, and am a big user of PMDG products so until the tweaks from Bejote I struggled with memory 'outages'. Doesn't happen now but I do have to be careful with things like autogen etc.


I think the Mods should consider 'Stickying' Vodkas post, it's excellent.

[Flare Path]

I have a problem whereby the simulator freezes, if I switch views or access the menu. I'm on Windows 10, which somewhat complicates the matter further - I have a very moderate system with a very limited amount of additional content.

I've asked considerably on the Steam forums and through Dovetail, but I'm still not getting anywhere. Some people have suggested running 'Windowed' mode, which I haven't tried at length because I can't replicate the error at any given time, it's completely random and leaves no error message.

Help?

[cg_341]

Google "FSX UIautomationcore fix"

[Flare Path]

Google "FSX UIautomationcore fix"

Thanks. Will try.