I would be ecstatic if I could manage to get 30-40 fps while running FRAPS!

The best I can manage is 20-25.   But to be honest, it doesn't make that big a difference in video quality in the end, especially if your nailing frame rates that high!

You must remember that FS9/FSX are CPU hungry monsters and when you run ANYTHING else along side them, there is going to be a performance hit.

  As for being a waste of money, I don't see how, lots of people use this program and love it. I enjoy it, but only use the free demo. for me, 30 second clips is enough for each shot/angle.

There are alternative programs, but each of them affect FS in pretty much the same way.

Check out Simteevee, almost every video on there is made using FRAPS or GunCam, and I'm pretty sure that most are not getting the performance that you are, yet they still look good.

  The alternative method which I mentioned in another of your posts would be to run FSRecorder first, then use FRAPS on the playback.

Also, you could try lowering some in-game settings while running FRAPS to increase frame rates. There is always a trade off with MSFS.

But do remember, it's darn near impossible to tell the difference past 25-30 fps.

In the case of 8fps, I would be pretty mad too!

For the FSRecorder bit, it is a utility that runs inside of FS, and you use it to record a flight, and it also comes with editable custom cameras.

What I do is record my flight using this first, allowing me to concentrate on flying as I only have the FRAPS demo, it gets a little inconvenient to constantly monitor the recording status and maintain a decent flight.

And when that is done, I fire up FRAPS and play back the recording I made with FSR and make my clips that way.

I'm not sure if this will help, but my thinking is, if the sim is just doing a playback, then it may not be drawing upon the same amount of CPU resources as it would with the real time flight, thus allowing for a slightly higher frame rate during FRAPS use.

  I've personally never experienced a frame drop as severe as yours, and can understand the frustration, but I also do not have the paid version (I'm cheap. ) but it may have extra options or features running that draw upon extra CPU resources that could be slowing things down.

If it was fine yesterday, but bad today, then I would say your present settings are fine, and it is indeed something in FRAPS.  A long shot here, but have you tried their support? I know sometimes those things can be a waste of time, but it is worth a try.

  I will play around with mine some more and see what I can come up with on my end.

Let me know how it's going on your end.

Thanks - I'll have a go.   I'm not sure what I have to do but I'll play around.  I was hoping to have some stuff to put into iMovie which I use a lot, but .......

I turned all the sliders down (it's like flying in a desert!) but I still get 8 or so.  The minute I turn Fraps off it shoots back to 60FPS.

I have email Fraps support - I'll let you know what they say.

Glad to hear it's working again. And no problem!