Classic British Flight Sim

In FS9 I used unlimited frame rates but with FSX do you run it unlimited or limit it to 30fps, which gives the best, performance wise.

Many thanks in advance

Nigel

The answer is.. which ever suits your system mate, try em both

I used to run unlimited on FSX.. it seemed to run better (overall) but I noticed scenery juddering in some places (Clemenceau) and dropping frame rates cured that. However, the author of Clemenceau has also issued a set of lower res textures which should also stop the juddering. I don't think there's any hard and fast rule which works for everyone but there are plenty of recommendations I think the most popular is look at the refresh rate of your monitor and halve that for your fr setting

ATB
DaveB

As usual, it varies from person to person, system to system.

There are basically 3 popular options,

1. use the built in frame limited, usually set to 30
2. set fsx to unlimited
3. set fsx to unlimited, but use an external frame rate limiter such as the one built into recent nVidia drivers.

I've found that using the built in limiter can result in lower frame rates than the other options even in situations where 30fps can't be achieved anyway. For example, sitting at UK2000 Heathrow I may get 20fps using the built-in limiter, but setting it to unlimited may give 25fps.

A down side to to this is you may be more prone to get the blurries if you like dashing about at 500kts & 250ft

I've got mine set to use the internal limiter, but the only way to know what's best for you is to try it and see.

Many thanks DaveB & DaveG, you lucky chappy, UK Heathrow at 20fps......mine with just the default Heathrow and 8% traffic set I can only manage during take-off 13fps lowering to 9fps then rising again!! though that is with the Capt Sim 737, have not yet tried anything else as not had the time. The external limiter - I have the NVidia GTX560 graphic card - where do I find the external limiter on the software?

Regards
Nigel

the 20fps figure was plucked from thin air as an example. I can achieve that, but only with AI turned off!

re. the nVidia limiter, you'll need to use nVidia Inspector to turn the limiter on, as although it's part of the driver, I don't think it can be enabled directly.
I'll dig out the instructions tonight when I turn the PC on, unless someone else chimes in first

Do you not have to download nvidia Inspector Dave? It's the new version of what used to be called nhancer I think (though I don't have it)

ATB
DaveB

Hi Dave,

Its built in to the current drivers mate

If you have a fast system and you set the framerate to say 30fps does it make any difference to the overall fluidity of the sim?
I peg my system to 40fps so that I can free up resources for other things. However I've never rearly noticed any difference to having it unlimited?
If I fly over an intense area the fps drops anyway. So if for example I then pegged the sim at 25, because the scenery is making the fps run at 25 does it make any difference?
In other words is a naturel 25 fps and a limited 25 fps the same thing (if you see what I mean).
I just wish MS had used multiple cores.

BTW with most of the sliders maxed, most settings ticked (except for ones I don't want) I get 80+ fps in less dense areas. 40fps in most other areas and 25fps over VFR London.

It certainly seems to in most instances mate. I was sceptical about locking it to 30fps having had poor results in the past, but, for me, leaving the sim unlimited and locking it to 30fps in the NVidia driver makes a noticeable improvement. My system isn't a rocket ship, but its reasonably fast, i5 3.3GHz (I don't do over clocking) 8GB RAM, NVidia 560ti, all drives SSD

Hi Ben,

I know the actual limiter is built into the drivers, I'm just not sure if it's accessible without using Inspector to configure it

I don't use that method any more as I found it led to more blurries, although it was smooth. With FSX on a ssd you probably wouldn't get that though.