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New To CFS2 - Where Do I Start? (Read 1319 times)

Jul 25^th, 2004 at 10:46pm

tiger63 Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 171

I got lucky and found a copy CFS2 today so I grabbed it. Unfortunately, I have an old computer so I'm going to have to live with bad graphics for a while. Undecided

Undecided

(If anyone knows the secret to getting moderate performance out of a 300 mhz./60 MB RAM CPU, please let me know) Anyways, I need to know where I should start. Mainly I'm talking about the BEST add-ons, any patches MS has released etc.

PS: The link to the CFS2 Framerates Tutorial on the front page is dead. Anyone know where I can find that tute?

Will

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Reply #1 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 3:40am

ozzy72 Offline
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Pretty scary huh?
Madsville

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On the downloads front go to http://www.simviation.com/fsdcfs%5B1%5D.htm and just browse and see what takes your fancy. Everyone has personal preferences....
If you like Spitfires and Me109s go to Paul Rebuffats site at http://myzone59.ath.cx/accueil.php3 (telecharger is French for download).
I'll look into the framerate improver file Wink

Wink

What are your full system specs?

Ozzy

There are two types of aeroplane, Spitfires and everything else that wishes it was a Spitfire!

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Reply #2 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 11:16am

tiger63 Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 171

I think, Windows 98/AMD-K6 3d processsor at 300mhz/ 60 MB of RAM and 28 Gig Hardrive. Is there anything else? I'm probably about to upgrade soon so I wanted what would be better.

A. 512 MB RAM

or

B.256 MB RAM and a 64MB Video Card

Thanks, Will

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Reply #3 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 11:43am

Spock Ex Member

Tiger63,

I highly recommend you get a new computer. Don't spend any money on video card and memory upgrades on such an old computer. If you do get a new computer, get a Compaq. Here are the system specifications for one of their new models:

AMD Athlon 64 3400+ operating at 2.2GHz
Windows XP Home Edition
1 GB Memory
160GB Hard Drive
Double Layer 8X DVD+RW/+R Drive
256MB ATI Radeon 9800 w/ TV-out & DVI Cap
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Card
Usual Accessories (Keyboard, Mouse, Floppy Drive)

Only $1,248.99 after rebate.

You will get a improved operating system, 16 times more memory than you used to have, DVD writer, good graphics card, and a reasonable sound card. If the price is over your budget, you can always order a custom model with less.

It depends what you want to use your computer for. If you only use your computer for e-mail and internet, keep what you have. If you will be flying CFS2 and other simulators a lot, a new computer is the way to go. You decide.

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Reply #4 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 12:10pm

tiger63 Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 171

ONLY $1,248. Unfortunately I don't have $1200 to spend on something I just use for entertainment. If I did get a new computer I would be trying to keep it around $500. I'll just have to keep looking for a good deal. Thanks Ozzy

Will

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Reply #5 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 12:25pm

Spock Ex Member

Okay, I'll see what I can find for $500. If you don't get a new computer, I would say you are better off getting B. 256 MB RAM and a 64MB Video Card. It still won't do much good, because what really need is a new CPU and chipset.

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Reply #6 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 12:37pm

Spock Ex Member

Compaq SR1000Z Customized:

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ operating at 1.83GHz
Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition
256 MB RAM
80 GB Hard Drive
48x max. CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive
128MB DDR NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200XT, TV-Out
Integrated 5.1 Capable Sound w/ Front Audio Ports
Usual Accessories (Keyboard, Mouse, Floppy Drive)

www.compaq.com

Only $468.99 after rebate. I'll keep looking to see if I can find you a better deal (which shouldn't be too hard). Maybe I'll try Dell next.

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Reply #7 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 12:46pm

ozzy72 Offline
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Pretty scary huh?
Madsville

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Okay there are a few little things you can do to get the odd extra FPS here or there.
First defrag your HD. Then make sure there are no background programs running. There is an excellent program for this call EndItAll. Its available in a lot of places, just do a quick search with Google.
For 500 bucks you should be able to pick-up a reasonable second hand system.
I'm still running a PIII 1Ghz with 512mb RAM and a Ti4600 and getting good FPS in CFS3 and FS9. Don't hesitate to ask for help, and look to places like eBay for parts the Ti4000 range has just dropped in price as the new 5000 series has come out so you could pick-up a real bargain Wink

Wink

Ozzy

There are two types of aeroplane, Spitfires and everything else that wishes it was a Spitfire!

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Reply #8 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 1:52pm

tiger63 Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 171

Im not worried about what I can get for $500. I've gotta add sitting right here 2.66 ghz Celeron D with 512 RAM for $400. I'm just trying to make what I got last while I look for a REALLY GOOD deal. Patience is the key.

Thanks, Will

PS: Ozzy, I tried defragging my computer last week. I started the Defragmenter before I went to bed and when I checked it the next morning, it was still at 1%. Is it always that slow?

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Reply #9 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 2:20pm

Spock Ex Member

Quote:

Im not worried about what I can get for $500. I've gotta add sitting right here 2.66 ghz Celeron D with 512 RAM for $400. I'm just trying to make what I got last while I look for a REALLY GOOD deal. Patience is the key.

Sounds like a good deal. What type of video card does it come with? If it comes with a cheaper 64 MB video card, you may need to upgrade it to 128 Mb video card if you want to play FS2004 or CFS3. Another thing to point out, AMD Athlons come with more onboard memory than Pentium 4s do. This means that even though the AMD Athlon may be slower pure speed wise, it will often perform better. What Ozzy72 said is also right, you can often get good parts on eBay and others for cheaper. Whatever you choose, make sure your happy with it.

Good luck!

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Reply #10 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 2:53pm

Stratobat Offline
Colonel
To fly... Or not to fly?

Posts: 1165

Quote:

If you do get a new computer, get a Compaq.

Why Compaq?

Regards,
Stratobat

&&&&'If the literal sense makes good sense, seek no other sense lest you come up with nonsense'

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Reply #11 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 3:28pm

Spock Ex Member

Just a personal preference. My family's last three computers have all been Compaqs, and there has never been anything wrong with them. The computers also seem extremely stable, and Compaqs customer support is good (well it used to be, we haven't had to phone since before HP purchased them). They also seem well priced, at least in the stores in my area.

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Reply #12 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 4:03pm

tiger63 Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 171

It doesn't say anything about a video card, but it has a DVD-Rom/CD-Rw in it, so it must be able to play video well. Thanks for the input guys. I've gotta another question. I'm trying to update a Japanes Kikka jet to CFS2. I was wondering if there was anything I needed to update in the .air file. I also wanted to know if there is a tutorial for updating the aircraft.cfg file from 1 to 2. Last of all, I want to know where I can find a list of all of the stock CFS2 weapons.

Thanks again, Will

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Reply #13 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 4:37pm

Hagar Offline
Colonel
My Spitfire Girl
Costa Geriatrica

Posts: 33159

Hi Tiger. My Aliasing article might be of some help. Check it out from the link in my sig. All you should need to get jets working in CFS2 is the Jet Base File posted here. http://www.simviation.com/cfs2misc1.htm

If you still have CFS1 installed copy the lear45 folder from the Aircraft folder & paste into CFS2\Aircraft.

Founder & Sole Member - Grumpy's Over the Hill Club for Veteran Virtual Aviators
Member of the Fox Four Group

Need help? Try Grumpy's Lair

My photo gallery

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Reply #14 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 5:27pm

Dakota93 Offline
Colonel
Cruising MiG alley

Posts: 377

You could do what I did with my old desktop. I put a good video card in it and then when I was ready to buy a new PC I bought one without a vid card and pulled the one from my old PC and put it in my new one.

Going back several years I had a system similar to yours, when I first got CFS2, and with a 32MB card was getting around 20FPS with graphics maxed out.

Korean Skies, Official Home of the Dogpatch Crew: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/~dakota93/ &&

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Reply #15 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 5:28pm

4_Series_Scania Offline
Colonel
He who laughs last, thinks
slowest.
Stoke on Trent England U.K.

Gender:
Posts: 3638

Tiger, I had a few years "Cutting my teeth" with CFS2 on a lowly p200 with 128MB RAM & initially, a single Voodoo2 16MB Card!

It ran very well (considering minimum requirements were 266mhz!) and I posted more screenshots with that pc than my current one! (ahh, the days of free time Roll Eyes

Roll Eyes

)

Don't give up on your current setup for CFS2, but a budget of $500 should go a long way to improving things! Wink

Wink

Posting drivel here since Jan 31st, 2002. - That long!

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Reply #16 - Jul 26^th, 2004 at 10:48pm

tiger63 Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 171

I might just do that. If I do, I'll probably try to find a 32 - 64mb Video card and upgrade to 265mb RAM. That way (correct me if I'm wrong) when I do get a new cpu (i'll at least have a new one by Christmas) I can just pop the Video Card/RAM into the new one.

PS: I'm having a problem with the dp of the jet I was working on. I can see the weapons. The bombs work fine. But I cant select the torpedo and my drop tanks wont drop.

Thanks, Will

PS2: Ozzy, do you have any idea why my cpu only defragged 1% in 12 hours?

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Reply #17 - Jul 27^th, 2004 at 3:38am

Hagar Offline
Colonel
My Spitfire Girl
Costa Geriatrica

Posts: 33159

Quote:

I'm having a problem with the dp of the jet I was working on. I can see the weapons. The bombs work fine. But I cant select the torpedo and my drop tanks wont drop.

You might need to add a trigger to the DP file for the torpedo. Read the instructions with MW's weapons library for full details.* http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/cfs2/weapons.htm
The drop tanks will need extra CFS2 entries added to the AIR file to function.

*PS. Cpied from payloads.txt in the above file. Quote:

Payloads will only function correctly if the Aircraft Dp file contains
appropriate "dummy" gunstations and guns for the given weapon type

gunstation.4=2,-1,4,0.00,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 ;Rockets
gunstation.5=3,21,8,0.00,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 ;Bombs
gunstation.6=5,62,32,0.00,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 ;Torpedos

Each gunstation will have a corresponding gun.x entry further down the dp.
The values in this entry set the maximum of a particular weapon type that
can be carried.

Founder & Sole Member - Grumpy's Over the Hill Club for Veteran Virtual Aviators
Member of the Fox Four Group

Need help? Try Grumpy's Lair

My photo gallery

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Reply #18 - Jul 27^th, 2004 at 10:08am

tiger63 Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 171

Still no go on the DP. I can select the Drop tank but it wont drop. The torpedo has trigger, but it acts like it isn't t there. On top of that, i have a strange .air file. Unlike the stock ones, my airfile has the fuel tank capacities at the top and fuel tank positions at the bottom. Kinda makes it hard on someone with very little experience in air files.

Will

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Reply #19 - Jul 29^th, 2004 at 8:50am

Staiduk Offline
Colonel

Posts: 1040

Hi Tiger - I've a little experience at this; adding CFS2 weaponry to modern aircraft in all sorts of weird combinations. Grin

Grin

(Like an A-10 Thunderbolt II with 14 torpedoes; for instance. Grin

Grin

Grin

)
Anyhoo; if you want, send me the .DP, .air and .cfg files; along with the URL of where you got the jet from - some models aren't completely compatible with CFS2 and require a quick conversion. You can use the E-mail in my profile; you'll get it back fixed tomorrow.

(Hopefully.)

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Reply #20 - Jul 29^th, 2004 at 9:43am

JacobWaltz Offline
Captain
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 3

It needs a gunstation with out one the weapon might drop but will act like nothing happend.

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Reply #21 - Jul 29^th, 2004 at 10:21am

tiger63 Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 171

I have a gunstation for the torpedo. It shows up but won't arm or drop. Same with the drop tanks. I've put bombs on it and they work fine though.

Will

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Reply #22 - Aug 6^th, 2004 at 4:19am

Akula. Offline
Colonel
o.O
UK

Gender:
Posts: 943

Quote:

ONLY $1,248. Unfortunately I don't have $1200 to spend on something I just use for entertainment. If I did get a new computer I would be trying to keep it around $500.

I'm twelve, so i dont have too much cash, but i really wanted a PC in my room, so i saved up and i built a PC for about £190 (£400 about) but my dad supplied me with an Operating system (actually two, Win98 and Win2000 professional). You can probaably get a cheap OS somewhere, but yeah, it is possible to build a PC for less than $500.
Akula

- Akula

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