I'll try one more time....

Blackbird686

Blackbird686

SOH-CM-2025
I have a question for any of the xml guru's out there.... I recently did an upgrade to a medium power machine so as to make FS9 run like greased lightning on it. I installed a new video card, doubled the memory and went from a 300W PSU to a 550W.
FS9 runs GREAT on the machine now with no stutters in weather or clouds from the cockpit view or the spot plane view. The quality of the visual model and scenery in the spot plane view is STUNNING, a vast improvement of how this little machine ran FS9 previously.

The only hiccup I am seeing now is in the 2D panel... the gauges will flicker if the plane is moving. Not if it's sitting on the ramp or the runway. The VC is fine... no flickering what so ever... just the 2D. Oddly enough if you place the cursor over any mouseable or functional object in the 2D and the "tool tip" lights up... the flickering stops, as long as the tool tip label is there. As soon as it goes away, the gauges start flashing again. I am at my wits end. I use the 2D panels in a lot of my aircraft for IFR. The VC's in some will work just fine but I prefer the 2D panel because the gauges are easier to read.

System specs:
HP 6730f
AMD Athlon II Quad 4 Processor 3.0
8GB DDR3 RAM
Ati HD6450 PCI Graphics ( was Ati HD4200 integrated )
550W PSU ( was a 300W )
Samsung 21.5 Widescreen 1920X1080 resolution ( same setup in FS9 )
Saitek X52 Pro. ( sorry, the Jetline gets the Thrustmaster FCS )
All drivers current and up to date
Anti Aliasing turned OFF in the sim, have tried turning on and off on the video card... no joy.

Any input would be appreciated

BB686
 
Couple of quick question - which operating system are you using, and do you know what motherboard your PC uses?
 
Hey Andy --

Windows 7 64bit Home Premium, and the mobo is a N-Alvorix-RS880-uATX ...

Not really sure if that helps or not.... but thanks for the response!

BB686
 
Blackbird686 said:
Not really sure if that helps or not.... but thanks for the response!
Click to expand...

Me neither, but just trying to eliminate possibilities. Windows 7 will happily use all of that RAM, so one possible issue is discounted.

I remember back in the early days of FS9 that there were flickering issues with ATI cards. One suggested was incompatibility issues between the graphics card and the mobo, but that is unlikely here as your mobo has integrated ATI graphics.

The real answer lies, I suspect, in licking that anti-aliasing problem (AA settings seemed to be the answer back then). I was given to understand that it was better to use the ingame AA settings (any games) rather than the cards, maybe others will have a view on that; so maybe switching it on in FS9 will help? Also worth checking drivers, are there any conflicts between those installed for the (presumably disabled) on-board graphics and your new card, have you got the latest/best (not necessarily the same) drivers installed? Sorry, not a definitive answer for you, but maybe some thinsg to consider.

Like you I've (fairly) recently upgraded my system, although my specs are a touch higher than yours - i3 CPU, 12 gig of ram (my very first PC had 512 kb of RAM!!!!) and a GT630 card with 2 gig of it's own RAM. Heady stuff, and it chews up anything FS9 can throw at it for breakfast ..... mostly; oddly, even with those specs I was getting the odd stutter under heavy scenery loads, but restricting the frame rate (to 40 fps - unthinkable with my last system) has sorted that last niggle. Even though I can now run FSX I tend to mostly use FS9, as I can have maxed out AI, scenery detail giving an experience the Dark Side cannot provide. This sim ain't dead yet.
 
I haven't had much of a problem with the 2D panels except for a brief period when I just slammed EVERYTHING in the settings hard right.
Moving back to 50FPS, setting the AA Active and Filtering to Trilinear sorted it out.
While our respective systems are 'different' it does indicate that fine tuning is important, no matter how much grunt is at ones disposal.
And I agree, FS9 is certainly getting better all the time, it's like XP, as long as it runs the silent majority will support it.
:applause:
PS: The single piece of hardware that boosted performance in anything and everything is the BenQ XL2420TX 120Hz monitor I purchased 12 months ago, about to be replaced by a BenQ XL2411T which is 'sulking' in the corner because I haven't had time to hook it up.
I think people often overlook the performance gains to be had from a purpose built monitor, in this case the XL2411T has a TN panel and has been ramped up 144Hz, at some $50.00+ less than the ASUS VG248 ...... maybe seem like a wretched excess but I like it.
 
I had to revert back to the older driver that came with the "new" video card. The latest driver, from the Ati website, didn't seem to handle the sim as good as the "older" new one. The DX diagnostics tool didn't indicate any conflicts or problems and sees the older "new" driver just fine.
I tried switching off the "Render to Texture" bit, sometimes that mucks with cockpit textures, here again... no joy.
I haven't tried the in-game anti aliasing, I have that feature shut off in the Ati Catalyst Control panel for the video card. The thing that gets me is that the tool tip labels, when they pop-up, will stop the fluttering of the gauges, even whilst in flight. Of course they only stay up for a moment or two and when they go away, I'm back to the flutters again. Just in the 2D, not the VC. The VC is fine. So I'm inclined to think it's not a hardware incompatibility issue.

I'll tweak things a bit more, and I'll get back with you all. Thanks for all the input, chaps! Much Appreciated.... ;~}

BB686

EDIT.... Here's a wrench in the works, The Alphasim Tornado F3's 2D panel seems unaffected, only the GPS pop-up flickers. Same with Alpha's F-105D Thud. I don't get it... :~\
 
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I have concluded that this problem is definitely screen format and or refresh rate related. The superb Team KBT F-2A has only one gauge that flickers in that very basic 2D display the model comes with. The other 2 panels with XML gauges that come from the same cab file are just fine. The VC, which uses the same gauges as the 2D panel, from the same cab file in the panel folder are fine. The FS9 GPS will flicker slightly in the 2D view but NOT in the VC. It's the same gauge, just being in the VC makes it function properly.
The Alphasim Tornado F3 and the Alphasim F-105D Thud are UNAFFECTED, and both 2D and VC work flawlessly. Not real sure what the Tornado, or the Thunderchief have over the other models in the sim...:banghead:

I also have the SR-71 Blackbird from Alpha, and it came with a widescreen panel bitmap. However, I didn't see a widescreen config for the gauge layout. Is anyone flying the SR-71 with the widescreen panel....?

BB686
 
Here is my widescreen cfg for the SR-71:

[Window00]
file=widescreen main panel.bmp
size_mm=1260,768
window_size_ratio=1.000
position=4
visible=1
ident=MAIN_PANEL
sizeable=1
window_size= 1.000, 1.000
window_pos= 0.000, 0.000


gauge00=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!ATT2, 588,384,84,84
gauge01=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!COMPASS, 593,127,80,69
gauge02=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!ATT, 557,480,144,147
gauge03=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!ALT, 702,542,101,101
gauge04=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!VSI, 710,651,91,91
gauge05=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!MFD, 476,651,50,82
gauge06=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!N2RPM1, 815,573,62,62
gauge07=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!N2RPM2, 889,573,62,62
gauge08=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!Fuel_Quantity, 968,668,99,99
gauge09=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!ACLK, 712,459,67,67
gauge10=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!NozPos1, 817,679,60,60
gauge11=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!SPEED, 454,533,95,94
gauge12=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!AOA, 523,422,45,44
gauge13=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!CIP, 385,688,56,57
gauge14=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!CHUTE, 305, 604 ,94,50
gauge15=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!AIRREFUEL, 490,462,15,29
gauge16=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!CIT, 381,572,58,57
gauge17=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!airtemp, 286,661,61,61
gauge18=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!FF, 1073,679,53,53
gauge19=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!OILPRESS, 1080,736,50,50
gauge20=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!STALL, 680,401,39,14
gauge21=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!FSICONS, 966,599,85,63
gauge22=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!GEAR LIGHT, 423,545,20,19
gauge23=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!AUTOPILOT LIGHT, 813,545,20,20
gauge24=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!STEER, 475,505,17,16
gauge25=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!OVERSPEED, 496,503,17,17
gauge26=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!FIRE ENG1, 823,646,40,22
gauge27=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!FIRE ENG2, 900,646,39,22
gauge28=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!IGV_lit_left, 804,735,12,12
gauge29=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!IGV_lit_left, 945,737,12,12
gauge30=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!HSI, 555,639,145,123
gauge31=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!Marker beacon, 690,627,12,12
gauge32=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!Master_caution_lamp, 678,422,66,12
gauge33=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!Master_warning_lamp, 679,437,66,12
gauge34=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!NozPos2, 892,679,60,60
gauge35=ALPHA_SR-71_2007!AIRREFUEL_light, 516,502,18,18


Hope this works for you.

PF
 
Just so we know, what is your smoothest refresh rate as well as the highest 'recommended' refresh rate?
Flickering........:banghead:
 
In the past, I have always had standard VGA monitors which refreshed at 60Hz. The new 21.5" widescreen which is HDMI, refreshes at 75Hz. 75Hz is the recommended refresh rate for the new widescreen. I had always had the best luck with 60Hz on the standard flatscreens I used. Those were LCD monitors, the new one is an LED.

Pfflyers -- Tankssssssssssssssss for the widescreen config, mate! :encouragement:

EDIT: The widescreen setup for the Alphasim SR-71 almost cured the problem. I still see a flicker, but only now and then... not constantly like it was with the standard panel bmp.

BB686
 
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