Hi,

I recently upgraded to a new system listed in my signature.

With the new system I also thought I'd give Windows 7 (64-bit) a try since Microsoft was giving it away for nothing.

The problem I'm having is that I'm getting massive stuttering.
I've followed all of NickN's posts and made all the tweaks as described.
As a side note, I did the intial install with W7 so I haven't tried the Core i7 on Vista.

The strange thing is that I can even dummy up FSX with all MIN settings and I still get Stuttering... although my framerates are well over 200 FPS!

I was wondering if anyone knows what could be the problem.

I'm using nVidia Forceware Drivers version 185.85.

Edited:
I have FSX on it's own physical SATA drive with only FSX & Addons.
I have the following addons installed:
Acceleration
All FSGenesis Mesh (DVD version)
REX
MegaScenery: Vegas, SoCal & Hawaii

The drive has also been completely Degragged as well.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Hope it's not Windows 7 because other than this issue, I really like the interface.

Thanks! :cry

Yah, I turned the bios back to default just to see if that worked.
What video drivers are you using?

I was using the 185, but last night gave the new beta 186 a shot.

BTW, in W7, apparently you can install new drivers without first uninstalling the previous ones.  At least that's what happened for me.  It didn't ask to unistall and reboot first.

BTW, what's the rest of your setup?

Thanks again,

This issue is user error

I can tell you right now.. if you see 200FPS you didnt follow the FSX tuning guide

http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041

Vsync enabled wont allow 200FPS

I have said it 100 times here.. LOW scenery settings in FSX will cause stuttering sometimes with framelock as well as without. When a user sees them after proper tuning then there are other possible areas to review however in this case just by the description its ALL user error and not following guides


I dont know how you followed my list using W7 as my list does not specify how to set up W7. It is pretty much the same as Vista but there are differences

You are using what amounts to a beta OS.. I wont even go into the possible problems you are facing by using it. I have already gotten at least 10 people off the OS and back to either XP64 or Vista64

As for Vista changes there is a link in the OS opts list at the top of this forum to Vista optimizations that are equivalents to the XP

http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=30437&PID=174126#174126

Running DX10 Preview enabled by any chance?

If so my guide specifically states Nhancer has no control in DX10 and my guide also specifies the use of GLOBAL and PROFILE. You must also be using the correct version of Nhancer with driver 182 and above... its all in the tuning thread

DX9 only

Locking frames @28 would be the RIGHT approach for you in tuning

I did say anyone was stupid

Vsync is not working on this system if you are seeing 200FPS. Vsync locks the frame rate at the refresh rate of the monitor in use and although it is possible to see brief spikes in the counter above refresh the system will not run high frames flat out

Therefore either there is a problem with the OS, the drivers/Nhancer or the user is running FSX-DX10 in which Vsync does not work by a design flaw

i7 can present some problems with respect to stutters simply on the basis of the high overhead in resources as compared to the amount of scenery being rendered. Typically when this occurs it is a simple matter of tuning correctly however in some cases it can be due to background activity or a combination of the memory timing/speed in use with respect to CPU speed.

I would get off W7 however because right now anything you read about 'higher performance' and FSX is nothing but forum rubbish.

Quick update on Vista 64 reinstall:
Bare FSX, No Patches, No Accelleration, No Tweaks, No Defrag, No Addons, Driver v185....

Here are the FSX Settings:
All Everything Maxed out...1900x1200x32, unlimited FPS
All sliders, all checks including Bloom, Ground & Airplane Shadows,
All Max clouds incl distance, Max Aviation, Road Vehicles, Water Vehicles
AA, Antialiasing, Max sliders on scenery with the exception of:
    38mm mesh, 1m textures, Max Water etc....
Litterally all max sliders & all check boxes except 38m mesh, 1m texture.
Max aircraft Realism...

Default flight "Harbor"....evening flight
10-15 fps, NO Studdering, playable...
   even when doing tight circles in both the Lear Jet & Ultralight.

Meat-Grinder:  Seatle Boeing Airport, all same settings.
FPS between 5-15 which is expected given settings.
5fps between airport and downtown doing tight turns looking at horizon at dusk.
NO Studdering (unless you call 5fps studdering but it was better than 50fps with studdering I had before).

Tommorrow... Acceleration, maybe some addon mesh.
Lets hope it was the whole W7 install.

Hi Steve,

Maybe I wasn't clear in my most recent post.  I haven't even gotten to the part of using Nicks' guide.  I was mearly saying that I did a fresh install in Vista, and without any tweaks at all, I'm not getting any stuttering and I'm even pushing max settings.

My hope is that it gets even better as I apply Nick's guide using Vista.

With respect to 5FPS being "Playable", I think I only referred to 10-15FPS.  Either way, you have to understand where I started from.  With my set up applying Nick's guide to W7 (as best as one could considering it only mentions Vista), the jerking was so bad (at average settings) it made me sick and it was actually difficult to fly.

Obviously, I'd never want to play at 5FPS.  But if someone held a gun to my head and said play with the stuttering or play with 5FPS, I'd take the 5 FPS.

Next Stop, try some Mesh / Mega Scenery addons and see how things are affected... THEN do the tweaks per Nick's guide.

BTW Nick,
Thanks for that link to the Vista OS permissions a while back.  It's a helpful step-by step guide.

I'm running W7 64 bit. I started with a bland Vista 64 bit FSX installation, i.e. no add-on scenery, acceleration, or any of that stuff, nor did I do anything for the OS, other than turn off the sidebar. The ONLY thing I do with my FSX is add airplanes here and there. I've not used Nick's big tweak/tune and I get good fps and good smoothness. It's the KISS plan.

I then installed W7 RC as an upgrade and watched as it magically imported every setting, program, photos, everything. FSX runs just as well. I even have W7 gadgets up, running, and sitting on the desktop when I run the sim.

I don't overclock, I don't do any hardware or software tweaking at all, except for changing slider settings in the sim. I'm running a Phenom Quad-core 2.5 stock. I have 6 gigs of memory, but I'd say anything over 4 is wasted. I have watched my memory meter desktop gadget  while doing maneuvers over cities, with various weather settings and have never seen over 2/3 usage. Normally not over 1/3.

I would be very interested if you posted after every addition, so if it IS an add-on problem, it'll be isolated.