Sudden, dramatic loss of framerates -- try this if it happens to you
I'm not talking about the framerate loss that occurs when you fly over Seattle or Tokyo. No, this is panicky, do-I-have-to-reinstall-FSX-or-maybe-even-Windows-from-scratch framerate loss.
PROBLEM: I've been busy with holiday things, and haven't flown much in the last two weeks. This morning, I tried several framerate-friendly scenarios, and all of them gave me 6 or 7 fps, down from my usual lock of 20. I looked at my log, and the last good flight I had was on Dec. 12. Unfortunately, my last system restore point was Dec. 17. I tried going back to Dec. 17, and it didn't help. I also restored my FSX.cfg from Dec. 12 (which I archive separately) and that didn't help either. I keep a log of changes that I make to the system, and I don't see anything that would affect FSX. What the log doesn't record are Windows updates. (It's also possible that there's an iTunes update in there too.)
SOLUTION: I tried the easiest thing first, which was to reinstall DirectX. I wasn't hopeful but it worked -- I loaded up my original flight from this morning, and there I was, back at 20 fps.
I still don't know why this got corrupted in the first place. If I had to guess, I would blame iTunes, which also forces you to install QuickTime (and makes it the default player for all manner of media, whether you like it or not). But that's only a guess.
Hopefully my hour of panic will help someone else. If the same thing happens to you -- dramatic loss of framerates, in situations that you know should be easy, when you haven't altered your FSX setup, and you haven't messed with your video or sound drivers -- try installing the most recent DirectX end-user runtime package (not the SDK, which is a much larger file).
I'm not talking about the framerate loss that occurs when you fly over Seattle or Tokyo. No, this is panicky, do-I-have-to-reinstall-FSX-or-maybe-even-Windows-from-scratch framerate loss.
PROBLEM: I've been busy with holiday things, and haven't flown much in the last two weeks. This morning, I tried several framerate-friendly scenarios, and all of them gave me 6 or 7 fps, down from my usual lock of 20. I looked at my log, and the last good flight I had was on Dec. 12. Unfortunately, my last system restore point was Dec. 17. I tried going back to Dec. 17, and it didn't help. I also restored my FSX.cfg from Dec. 12 (which I archive separately) and that didn't help either. I keep a log of changes that I make to the system, and I don't see anything that would affect FSX. What the log doesn't record are Windows updates. (It's also possible that there's an iTunes update in there too.)
SOLUTION: I tried the easiest thing first, which was to reinstall DirectX. I wasn't hopeful but it worked -- I loaded up my original flight from this morning, and there I was, back at 20 fps.
I still don't know why this got corrupted in the first place. If I had to guess, I would blame iTunes, which also forces you to install QuickTime (and makes it the default player for all manner of media, whether you like it or not). But that's only a guess.
Hopefully my hour of panic will help someone else. If the same thing happens to you -- dramatic loss of framerates, in situations that you know should be easy, when you haven't altered your FSX setup, and you haven't messed with your video or sound drivers -- try installing the most recent DirectX end-user runtime package (not the SDK, which is a much larger file).