ATTN: Reinstalled FSX

[gman! 1]

This thread is for people that had very good performance with FSX on Vista or XP and then had stuttering and deteriorated performance on Windows 7.When I got Windows 7 I installed FSX on my PC as I usually do (which was a horrible way), and installed it off the two discs, installed the service packs next without flying the default flight with each version then rebooting, and I didn't download the DirectX updates before I installed. I was so excited and I was impatient so I didn't want to "waste my time" performing all the extra steps. That was a VERY big mistake.I fired up FSX, configured my settings, closed it. Then started it up again, hit "Fly Now!" and what do I see, 30 FPS with the default flight with settings higher than ultra high. I also had a horrible stuttering problem whenever I moved around the cockpit and DirectX10 just made that problem worse, while reporting weird FPS (FPS looked higher than it should be). I spent a very long time modifying my CFG, removing aircraft, removing textures, etc, all to no avail. It did not help one bit.I gave up after 2 weeks (school gives you very little time to do anything :/) and then I remembered NickN's guide to FSX. I opened up the webpage, did all the things that he said after FSX was installed and still had horrible performance. I gave a big sigh and realized the only thing to do now was to uninstall FSX and install it again, then give it another go. One thing I forgot about is that FSX does not erase any add-ons or files that were not written to the drive by the installer in the FSX directory, so you do not have to re-install addons unless they modify the dll.xml or replace an original FSX file (probably very rare, unless you have texture modifications).After uninstalling I installed FSX and read NickNs guide thoroughly. This time I booted up each version of FSX then I flew for about 1 minute, exited FSX and then rebooted my PC. Then after installing SP2 I selected my settings from Vista, closed FSX, then rebooted. Then I opened FSX again, with my heart pounding. I select "Fly Now!" and it loaded, I was on the brink of sweating. Then.... I saw the screen with settings higher than ultra high, still retaining the settings I had in Vista... and my FPS was... 65-75!!! I was absolutely shocked. On Vista my FPS was 46-60, but now it is even higher and much smoother! Even after that when I turned up my autogen and other small settings my FPS was same and it was still very smooth! If you don't setup FSX correctly, you are not doing yourself justice at all.So here are some recommendations:

• Do not use any "FPS boosters" such as converted textures that have been said to increase performance. This may through FSX's balance off and cause many problems
• Remember, REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT. You must do this to make sure that you start fresh, and also so you can make sure any in-use files can be written over! With Windows 7, rebooting takes far less time, so there really is no excuse
• Defragment after installing everything. If you use UltimateDefrag, please ditch it, it has many bugs and can end up putting more fragmented files on the disk (I learned my lesson). If you want a good defragmenter below check the links at the bottom of this thread.
• Stay away from CFG mods, they are useless now... Even keeping the Texture_Bandwidth_mult at default (40) is good enough
• Only convert aircraft textures and add-on sceneries. Do NOT modify default FSX autogen textures, etc, even if you do it yourself. Or at least make sure to make a backup.

Recommended Sites:NickN's Guide for Setting Up and Tuning FSXNickN's Guide for Optimizing WindowsSmart Defrag DownloadSmart Defrag is a very good freeware defragmenter that has a Defrag Only, Fast Optimize and Deep Optimize function for the hard drive. Also has Scheduled Defrag and Auto Defrag. 5/5 Rating by CNETCPU-ControlIf you hate setting the affinity of process everytime you reboot your PC before you play games, now you have a tool just for you. CPU-Control allows you to select which cores to run your software on and send them to a profile (There are 9 Profiles) so you can easily test performance and switch processor affinity quickly. If you use affinitymask in your FSX.CFG or you don't want processes working on the first two cores, which FSX uses the most on quad's then this is for you! (If you don't use affinitymask or set it to 15 then the first core is to process aerodynamics/physics AND it also processes loaded scenery sent from the last 3 cores. The 2nd core handles scenery and will have more scenery processes than the last two cores.)I highly recommend this program.Best Wishes, and Happy Flying!

[gman! 1]

Just a few corrections, I know figured out the right settings for UltimateDefrag so I recommend it if you are computer savvy. http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=273128The bufferpools tweak may help people that are getting invisible textures that were not getting it before. http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=271292Prifinitty allows you to set affinity AND process priority, in comparison to CPU-Control: http://edgemeal.110mb.com/PriFinitty/index.htm