Check out the tweek sticky  above.Welcome to the tweeking society.You will learn alot about you system in the days and weeks to come stick with it .I love thisgame.

Thanks for the good info - just finished updating my machine.

BTW, I have an IBM Aptiva, 2.4 Ghz, 1 Gig Ram, 533 bus......

Hope this helps, however, I have one sneaking suspision - I have my system on a KVM because I share the monitor, keyboard and mouse with my work laptop and that might have an impact on the screen refresh rate.

If these fixes don't alleviate my issues, I will try removing the KVM.

Thanks again guys!

Bob,

Started poking around on my machine and low and behold, I only have 256 Mb RAM.  Going to have to fix that and get a gig - its only $112 a dimm.

I don't think the KVM is hurting anything.  Last night, I tried without it and it gave me same problem.  I also did all the upgrades on a previous night.  That last one, the different CFS3.exe seemed to help a little bit but I think the problem is memory and probably the video card.

So, I have a crappy graphics card.  Guess I will have to get another one.  I am going to try the memory upgrade first.  If I put another graphics card in machine, will I be able to have 2 screen?  I know with XP you can stretch across screens - that would be awesome.  Although probably not feasible for CFS3.

Thanks for the help.

Mark

Bob,

Thanks for the good feedback.  Actually, I work for IBM and can get the 512 Dimm for $112.  Also, I realized, I don't have an Aptiva (that was my old box), rather a NetVista.

I went back to my old invoice and saw that I did in fact order a 256 machine - what was I thinking?

Have to call IBM and check and see whether I can just add a 512 or do I have to go in pairs.

In the meantime, I going to set my virtural memory max size back to 768 (or what ever XP recommends as the max), and fine tune the graphics card.

Thanks again.

Mark

Hi Mark,

It's good to hear that IBM still keeps a few employees on staff. They always seem to be downsizing and laying off workers.  

Since I have Rambus RDRAM I'm not really sure how SDRAM and DDR SDRAM works. I've picked up a few odds and ends of info about it but not enough to give you any definitive direction. When you call IBM ask them about it. I do know that you want the larger size modules in the #0 or 1st slot etc. On my sister's computer the 3 slots are listed 0, 1 and 2. But the #0 and #1 slots aren't in line but rather separated by a slot so they are aligned 0, 2 and 1. I guess this is for cooling purposes if you only have 2 modules installed. Check out your motherboard specs to find out for sure.

Or download the Belarc Advisor and run it. It will give you the information you need and a lot more!

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

SDRAM and DDR SDRAM doesn't need to be installed in pairs but some types of it need to be matched up in order to take advantage of the doubled-sided feature of it. Ask the IBM tech when you talk with him or her about it.

When I partitioned my 120GB hard drive, I created a small separate 2GB partition just for my paging/swap file.

C:\ 20gbs for XP and small programs and utilities.
D:\ 02gbs for the paging or swap file.
E:\ 30gbs for games.
F:\ 30gbs for mp3s, jpgs and videos.
G:\ 20gbs data storage or whatever.
H:\ 15gbs for storing downloaded programs/drivers etc.

Your wants and/or needs may differ so partition accordingly.

If you ever decide to partition your hard drive I would recommend that you make your D:\ partition around 2gbs for your paging file. Having a small separate partition for your paging/swap file can speed your gaming up a bit and maybe even keep your active C:\ partition from fragmenting so much. After you get XP installed you just change the location of your paging file to your D:\ partition. I have my paging file set to 1024MB minimum and maximum so that it's a non-changing, static paging file.

Hi Smoke2much,

Like you say the rule of thumb for your paging/swap file is 1.5xs the amount of actual system RAM that you have installed. I have mine set to 2x and it works fine for me. The newer games and sims are starting to need huge amounts of system RAM and if you don't have it it needs to use the hard drive as "virtual RAM". And of course this slows down your gaming. You'll see the game stutter as the hard drive access light on your computer lights up while gaming/simming.

Have a good day.

PS. I'm not sure what model NetVista that you have but the ones I saw just have 2 DIMM slots.

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=-840&...

So ask IBM if in order to get the best performance from your DDR SDRAM if the two modules need to matched (the same size) up to take advantage of that doubled-sided feature of some DDR SDRAM. Maybe a 256MB and a 512MB module will work just as well as if they're matched, but I don't know for sure.

Hi Mark,

That's cool. With two matching DIMMS you can't go wrong. It's always a b*tch to have to give away, throw away or try to sell that 256MB DIMM but it is kinda inexpensive for DDR SDRAM now. I wish RDRAM was as reasonably priced.

I was only recommending that you partition your hard drive the next time you format it and clean install your OS. I wouldn't bother doing it just for the sake of a separate partition for your paging file and or games. I definitely wouldn't recommend using a third party partitioning software program like Partition Magic so that you can partition while keeping your OS installed. That's just asking for trouble! When you're ready just back up everything onto CDRs, bite the bullet and get it done. With added partitions, in the future you'll be able to store all the stuff that you want to onto them and not have to bother with CDRs. And by putting your mp3s and mpgs etc. onto their own partition you don't have to mess with them whenever you format and clean install.

I format my hard drive and clean install XP every six months to a year to keep everything running smoothly. It gives me an opportunity to get rid of all the stuff that I've installed in the past that I no longer use anymore.
Nothing fixes and speeds up an OS like a clean installation of it!

You'll definitely notice a performance increase with the added RAM. And when you can afford it upgrade your video card and you'll have a good gaming machine there. Good for you.

Have a safe flight.

Hi Mark,

I want a gig o' RAM too but I'm not gonna spend $400.00 to get it. The $400.00 will be better spent on a new computer when I take the big plunge. Like I said before I wish RDRAM was as reasonably priced as DDR SDRAM. Grrr...

Your problem sounds like some video card specific anomaly. I think the nVidia GeForce4 MX video card is probably the most common video card around so hopefully someone here who has one can comment if they're experiencing the same graphic corruption as you. And if they are or did, just what they did to fix the problem. MS recommends using the version 30.82 drivers for CFS3 that you can get here:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_30.82.html

Maybe the newer ones will work but try the v.30.82 and see what happens. Always uninstall the older drivers before installing the new ones.

"Driver Installation Hints from nVidia

1- "Download Accelerator" utilities should be disabled when downloading any drivers.

2- Do not run virus protection software in the background while installing the drivers. This prevents the driver from configuring itself properly.

3- Before installing new drivers make sure you uninstall all NVIDIA display drivers from the Windows Control Panel. Browse to the Start Menu > Windows Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and search for "NVIDIA Windows Display Drivers" or "NVIDIA Display Drivers" and select remove."

Lots of computer manufacturers (assemblers) used nVidia GeForce4 MX video cards in their computers because of the name recognition given to nVidia's line of the well performing Geforce4 video cards. They failed to mention that the MX version wasn't a "true" GeForce4 card but just a hopped up GeForce2. You can buy an nVidia GeForce4 MX video card for around $35.00 now.

Like that article from Anandtech SAID:

"The entire line of MX cards falls below the $199 mark making it a product for the masses, the GPU is noticably less complex than the GeForce4 and thus boasts a smaller die size making it cheaper to manufacture, lower memory clocks give NVIDIA the ability to offer ample supply to the market and it carries the GeForce4 brand which is associated with the very highest performance graphics cards around."

Check out the MS Game Insider webpage about Troubleshooting your video card here:

http://microsoftgamesinsider.com/CFSInsider/FAQs/GraphicsTroubleshooting.htm

Earlier I think that I recommended that you try the below tweak from MS. I have my CFS3 set up this way for my Radeon 9700 Pro video card and I get better performance with it. It won't hurt to try it.

Go to Start/All Programs/Microsoft Games/Combat Flight Simulator 3/Run CFS3 Config/

1. Open up the CFS3 Configuration application.  An icon is located in your Start menu.
2. Click the File menu.
3. Click the Custom Settings option.
4. Select the Window menu.
5. Select Overrides.
6. Uncheck the "Dual Pass Render" option if it is checked.
7. Check the "High Resolution Z-Buffer" checkbox.
8. Click OK, and then exit the CFS3 Configuration application.


And while you're in the "Overrides" section you can "Disable" that annoying "Intro Movie". Grrrrr.....

And try adjusting the graphic "Detail" sliders in CFS3. The higher you set them the slower the framerates that you'll get but it might fix the graphic corruption that you're getting. Start them all out at at the #2 setting and mess around with them and hopefully you'll find a setting that will work for you. I have all mine set to #4 I think except for the clouds which I keep at #2.

I'm not 100% sure but adjusting the Detail Sliders and other options inside the CFS3 game itself may change the "Dual Pass Render" and "High Resolution Z-Buffer" back to their default settings so you may want to keep an eye on them whenever you start adjusting options inside the CFS3 sim itself.

And in your nVidia Control Panel (right click on blank desktop/Properies/Settings tab/Advanced button/Direct3D tab) you can try using some anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering (2X and 4X sampling) and see what that does for you. It will slow CFS3 down somewhat but make it look better (removes the jagged edges) and you can always set it back to default. And try turning on and off the "Wait for V-sync" option in there and see what that does too. I've heard that V-sync can really screw up CFS3 with some video cards.

Hopefully you'll get CFS3 up and running and get to check out the multiplaying part of CFS3. It's fun.

I'd like to see you put at least an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro under your NetVista hood but they still are pretty expensive. The approximate price quotes are in another one of my replies to this thread but the newer cards have all the latest features on them and can run the newer games and sims etcetera without these little quirky annoyances. And you should be graphical problem free.

I know, it's all about the money.  

You want your flyer to have his head and both his hands when he exits his aircraft.

Good luck.

PS. It seems as though Dougx (check out his thread) fixed his graphical problems by updating the drivers on his nVidia GeForce4 MX video card. So try that first.