tips and tweaks for better performance and graphics1

8/12/2019 Tips and Tweaks for Better Performance and Graphics1

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Tips and Tweaks for better

performance and graphics.

MS Flight Simulator 2004 (FS9) is probably the most demanding program that you will

run on your computer . FS9 is truly a program that will run better on a high end

machine, the higher end the better but that doesn’t mean that you can’t run and enjoy

FS9 on a lower end machine!

One of the files we will play with the most is the “FS9.cfg”.

I will state now and this can not be overstated! CREATE A BACK-UP OF ANY FILES

YOU MAY BE ALTERING!! It takes just a second and you’ll be glad you did if

something may go wrong.

Also all these tips and tweaks I have done with no bad outcomes, this may not be the

case with you so use these at your own risk and remember MAKE A BACK-UP!!

Ok lets get started!

You ask, this FS9.cfg? Where is it?

The FS9.cfg is located in your “application data” folder:

Windows 2000/XP:

C:Documents and settings\[user name]\Application data \Microsoft \FS9\FS9.cfg

Windows 9(x)

C:Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9\FS9.cfg

NOTE: The Application Data folder is a hidden file!, you will need to enable “view

hidden files/folders” under the folders option in Explorer.

Now that you found this all important file MAKE A BACK-UP NOW! (you may want to

lable it “FS9ORG.cfg”, or similar so you know this is the original) it doesn’t hurt to

make a back-up after each tweak that way if you perform a tweak that doesn’t work

you don’t have to revert to the original and start all over from the begining.

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HOW CAN YOU IMPROVE FRAMERATES?

Open your FS9.cfg file and find the header [GRAPHICS]:

Look for “TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=X”

Change the current number “X” to one of the following:

1024- high texture detail (low fps)

512-high texture detail (low fps)

256- medium texture details (mediun fps)

128- low texture details (high fps)

Save your file and exit

http://www.flightsimguides.com/view.php?id=17














The lower the number the uglier the textures but higher the frame rates, I use 256 for

a decent balance of texture quaility and frame rates. Play with the numbers to find

the best balance for you.

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HOW CAN I IMPROVE THE LOOK OF GROUND TEXTURES?

Open your “FS9.cfg” file and modify the following lines:

TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.800000

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=4.800000

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=1242456

Save file and exit

This works great for clear extended ground textures!

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HOW CAN I GET GOOD LOOKING CLOUDS AND REDUCE 2D CLOUD IMPOSTERS?

Use MS ultra high default setup:

Set your cloud draw distance to 40Mi, cloud precentage to 90-100% or with the slider

at the bottom set cloud density to MAX

Higher system, cloud draw distant more than to 40Mi, cloud precentage to 90/100

% cloud density to the max.

(with all grapical improvement frame rate may suffer, bare this in mind it is all give

and take)

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HOW TO DISABLE THE AGP TEXTURE ACCELERATION WITHOUT DISABLING IT FROM

DIRECT-X?

Make this change to the “FS9.cfg”:

Under your display graphics card( ex. DISPLAY.Device NVIDIA GeForce 5200)

Mode=1024X768X32

TriLinear=1

TextureAGP=0 (Add this line!)

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WHEN I SWITCH VIEWS, I GET COLORED “POPPING” TEXTURES, HOW CAN I FIX

THIS?

In the “FS9.cfg” under the [DISPLAY] header

TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40 (change 40 to a higher number ex.400)

This setting controls the rate at which textures get transfered to the video card.

Higher numbers will result in the textures getting to the video card faster and avoid

“popping” textures when switching views BUT may increase “stutters” and require

more physical memory on the video card so this is not recomended for cards with

lower than 128Mb.

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PERFORMANCE BOOST?














Enable T&L (transform and lighting)

This should increase your frames near 4fps

Antialasing

Antialasing from within FS9 will reduce your performance greatly. Uncheck AA in your

display settings within FS9 and ONLY us AA froma external tweaker or from your

video card settings.

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BETTER PERFORMANCE IN 2D PANEL MODE AND OTHER AREAS

By disabling the AGP Texture Acceleration your performance will increase especially

with 2d panels and other areas. (you do not need to turn this off under DirectX it is

the same function as inside the FS9.cfg)

In the “FS9.cfg” under “DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce.blah blah”

Mode=1024X768X32

TriLinear=1

TextureAGP=0 (add this line)

PanelAsTexture=0 (add this line)

By adding the panel as texture line your performance will increase especially with 2d

panels and 3rd party aircraft, but it may cause 2d panels to “blank-out” if you have AA

enabled inside FS9, so make certain you have AA disabled from within the game and

enable it from your video card settings.

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HOW CAN I TURN OFF FLYING TIPS?

This is a option located under “Realism” settings on the primary settings screen, open

the “realism” window and you’ll see a check box in the upper right.

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WHERE ARE MY FLIGHTS SAVED?

Windows 2000/XP systems:

C:\Documents and settings\[user name]\My Documents\Flight Simulator files

Windows 9(x):

C:\My Documents\Flight Simulator files

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HOW CAN I CHANGE RUNWAY LIGHT SETTINGS?

Change this in the “FS9.cfg”

under the [DISPLAY] header

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=1.0 (scales

edge,center,end,touchdown,runways)

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_VASI_SCALAR=1.0 (scales VASI lights)






RUNWAY_LIGHTS_APPROACH_SCALAR=1.0 (scales approach lights)

RUNWAY_LIGHTS_STROBE_SCALAR=1.0 (scales RAILs and ODALs)

NOTE: The more you lower the numbers, the more the light will decrease in size. 0.5,

0.005 etc

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THE PANNING SPEED IS TO SLOW!! HOW CAN I SPEED IT UP?

In the “FS9.cfg” look for

PAN_RATE=400

Change the “400″ to a higher number “900″ for example

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CAN I BYPASS THE OPENING SCREEN?

Change this in the

FS9.cfg under the [STARTUP] header

DEMO=0

LOADSIM=1

SHOW_OPENING_SCREEN=0 (change this from 1 to 0)

STARTUP_DEMO=0

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DO YOU WANT TO SEE HIGH/LOW/AVERAGE FPS?

In the FS9.cfg under the header [MAIN]

Location=316,222,964,756

HideMenuNormal=0

HideMenuFullscreen=1

Maximized=0

Ave_Frame_Rate_Display=1 (add this line)

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HOW CAN I PAN THE OUTSIDE VIEW WHEN IN 2D COCKPIT MODE?

Add this line in “FS9.cfg” under the [CONTROLS] header

PAN_IN_COCKPIT_MODE=1

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HOW DO I TURN OFF THE “RED” BRAKES MESSAGE?

Change this in the FS9.cfg under the [SIM] header



SHOW_BRAKE_MESSAGE=0

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WHAT ARE THE FOLLOWING SETTINGS IN THE [TERRAIN] SECTION OF THE FS9.cfg?

TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR=96.000000

(this is the value from 0-100 that control the DEM radius (it is linear in area))

TERRAIN_MIN_DEM_AREA=10.000000

(this is the lowest value used to caculate the DEM radius based upon the

TERRAIN_ERROR_FACTOR)

TERRAIN_MAX_DEM_AREA=100.000000

(This is the highest value used to calculate the DEM radius)

TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=19

This controls the DEM resolution

18=150m DEM

19=75m DEM

20=37m DEM

21=19m DEM

TERRAIN_TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=8

This controls terrain texture size. Valid values are:

8=256X256

7=128X128

6=64X64

TERRAIN_AUTOGEN_DENSITY=4

This controls autogen density

TERRAIN_USE_GRADIENT_MAP=1

This turns on/off the gradient map (cliffs)

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_TEXTURES=1

This turns on/off the extended texture ring

TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=”X”

This is the default radius in textures for all rings, default is 2.5

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=”X”

This is the radius used for the inner ring when the extended texture ring is turned on,

default is 4.0

TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=”X”

This is the number of rings to add when using extended texture rings, default is 1

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HOW CAN I ADD VISUAL DAMAGE EFFECT TO AIRCRAFT?



Add the following line after the “ui_variation” line in the “aircraft.cfg” file for each

aircraft you wish to display the damage effect:

VISUAL_DAMAGE=1

You must also check “detect crash and reset situation” in the simulator realism

settings.

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HOW CAN I DISABLE THE WARNING MESSAGE ON START UP ABOUT NON

COMPATIBLE MODULES?

Add the following line to the FS9.cfg:

[OldModules]

name of dll=1

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HOW CAN I STOP THE AUTOPILOT FROM AUTOMATICALLY TURNING ON THE WING

LEVELER?

Add the following line to the “Autopilot” section of the “aircraft.cfg” file for each

aircraft:

use_no_default_bank=1

use_no_default_pitch=1

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HOW DO I BACK UP FROM THE GATE?

With the push-back function:

“Shift+P” to start going back

“Shift+P then1″ (1 on the main keyboard not the num pad!) to back up and turn left

“Shift+P then2 “to back up and turn right

“Shift+P” again to stop

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HOW CAN I CUSTOMIZE THE PANEL LIGHTING?

Here is a setting to try I use mine on my DC3

[color]

Day=255,255,255

Night=60,21,21

Luminous=140,85,2

this setting can be found in the aircraft of your chices folder which inside you will find

a “panel” folder and inside there you will find the “panel.cfg” .

Don’t forget sometimes a aircraft may use a alias panel from another aircraft, if so

changing these values will change them to all aircraft in which use the same panel.

Try a few different conbinations, by changing numbers you can get different

brightnesses,color etc!