Finally reached FS9 nirvana ...

simtrac · Post by **simtrac** » 14 Nov 2006, 12:29

... on a Mac. I know a lot of people on here probably have no interest whatsoever in Mr. Job's products, but I have to have one for work so for this reason it's my main machine for everything.

To be specific, its a 24" widescreen Intel iMac, Core 2 Duo @2.16 Ghz, 2 gb RAM, Nividia Gef7600 GT 256mb RAM, dual booting into XP and OS X.

So yesterday when I was supposed to be working, loaded up FS2004, shoved in the first demanding add-on I could find (CS130), whacked EVERY slider I could find right up, set full resolution (1900 x 1200), set 4x anti-aliasing ... no 'tweaks' whatsoever ...

30fps - on the runway at KSEA. In the air it was just ridiculous. The machine just burps and asks for more. At 8x aa, I was disappointed - just 20fps (!)

Remains to be seen how we get on with other add-ons, but I can only think that Active sky and FSE are going to make it even better - Gary's airports may have an effect, but I can't see that its going to be much.

Same goes for FarCry and Doom3. Its just nuts.

As for FSX - I don't care, I'm probably not going to get it anyway. All I know is that I will never ever use a PC again*

*probably

Post by **Garry Russell** » 14 Nov 2006, 13:06

At those resolutions do you need AA?

Garry

simtrac · Post by **simtrac** » 14 Nov 2006, 13:22

Not really. You can tell when you've got it on - it does make stuff look extra silky smooth. Without it of course, you are talking 40fps and at lower resolutions - who knows? 50, 60, 70, 80? Although on my monitor 1200 x 1024 or whatever looks a bit more like 800 x 600 on my old one! I was really just experimenting to see how far I could push it - and it seems so far it'll take anything and still be perfectly flyable.

Just one thing - on a widescreen the 2d panel is slightly s t r e t c h e d, but I like VC's anyway and don't have to worry about the performance hit anymore.

Other games - you just max everything out and 'it just works' (to quote the Mac ads!)

I have to stress, there's no way in the world I would get one of these for FS9 alone - its just a happy by-product.

Post by **Garry Russell** » 14 Nov 2006, 13:35

Hi Simon

I does prove though that can be given the power.

And if it was redesogned with a better engine it could really be something

Garry

simtrac · Post by **simtrac** » 14 Nov 2006, 14:08

I totally agree. Some positive moves to a new engine and a little thought outside the curve would have made all the difference to FSX

I think MS are losing the plot. I read on the news this morning - at the launch of their Zune mp3 player, Bill Gates was making out he's hip and in the groove - and he's there wearing a brown anorak that's meant to match his brown mp3 player. Just embarassing.

Their way of competing with Apple is simply to copy - Vista is a case in point - nothing original, just a paste off OS X, but not as good. A bit like when you were a kid asking for a proper pair of Clarkes Commandos and getting Woolies Specials!