Q) HOW CAN I STOP SOUND STUTTERS IN FS2004
A) CLICK ON START AND THEN RUN. TYPE IN "DXDIAG". LOOK FOR THE SOUND PAGE, THEN NOTE POSITION OF SLIDER FOR SOUND ACCELERATION. MOVE IT FROM HIGH TO BASIC.
Q) How can I get to see the aircraft textures at maximum detail, as I remember them from FS2002?
A) In Options/Settings/Display/Hardware, set global max texture size to "Massive"
Q) How can I get good looking clouds and reduce the 2D clouds imposters?
A) Use Ms ultra high default setup +
-Set your clouds draw distant to 40 mil, clouds % percentage to 90/100%, or with the lower slider at the bottom clouds density to MAX.
-Higher system, clouds draw distant more than to 40 mil, clouds percentage to 90/100%, clouds density to MAX.
Q) Where is the configuration file located? (FS9.cfg)
A) It is located in your personal Application Data folder. On XP systems, this is located in \Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9\FS9.cfg The Application Data folder is hidden, so you will need to enable viewing of hidden files/folders under the Folder Options in your Explorer.
Q) How can I make my DVC gauges look more crisp?
A) To make your DVC gauges look more crisp add these line under FS9.CFG [PANELS] section:
VIRTUAL_COCKPIT_TEXTURES_SCALE=2.0
This might not work on all video cards.
Q) How can I improve the look of the ground textures?
A) Open your fs9.cfg file, and modify the following lines:
TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.500000
TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=4.50000
Q) The panning is too slow. How can I speed this up?
A) In you fs9.cfg file, look for the line
PAN_RATE=400
Change this to set your pan rate near 900.
Q) How can i reduce the tyre smoke?
A) Change :
touchdown=fx_tchdwn, 1 to touchdown = fx_tchdwn_s, 1
This will give a little less tyre smoke.
Q) How can I add visual damage effect to aircraft?
A) Add the following line after the ui_variation line in the aircraft.cfg file for each aircraft you want to display the damage effects:
visual_damage=1
You must also check "Detect crash and reset situation" in the simulator realism settings
Q) How do I disable the warning message on startup about non-compatible modules?
A) Add the following lines to the fs9.cfg file
[OldModules]
name of dll=1
Q) How to find and enable/disable the Multitexture in Fs2004?
A) It's the terrain details slider in fs2004 Display.
Terrain details Slider to None = No Multitexture
Terrain details Slider to Land Only = Multitexture Enabled
Q) How can I make my overcast clouds look better and not so patchy?
You still get a few little holes here and there every so often, but at about a tenth of the frequency as before. Adds to the realism actually. I think it's a byproduct of the dynamic weather. I had no holes initiallly, but after about 20-30 minutes, I started seeing a few isolated patches in the overcast with different cloud formations occupying the 'holes'.
Combining low vis with the cloud layer is still the key. I have also had good success with two layers of stratus, one from 2000 to 3999, the next from 4000 to 6500. Then a layer of 1/16th vis from 2000 to 5000. If you like more of a "deck" then this looks a little better. Also, I have backed cloud density off from "maximum" to "high". I get more holes, but I don't get the giant hole above me after descending. I think with maximum density, FS9 is trying to get better framerates by knocking down the clouds.
You can also improve performance, my reducing the 3D clouds percentage. FS will still draw clouds out to the maximum cloud draw distance, but it will render them as a 2D textured surface instead of a volume. Not a huge gain, but you can pick up 10-15% or so. I have mine set to 60% 3D clouds.
For best overcast results, it's best if you limit your maximum visibility to 60-80 miles and set the cloud draw distance to the same, otherwise you'll get a very visible line on the horizon where the cloud line stops.
Q) How can I customize the panel lighting?
A) Here's the setting I use for my Hawk panel which looks cool and is subtle at night:
(Color)
Day=255,255,255
Night=20,20,20
Luminous=170,170,110
and one of the settings I use for my private DC-3 panels:
(Color)
Day=255,255,255
Night=60,21,21
Luminous=140,85,2
Try those two for starters in one or other of your panels, and see what you think.
Q) How can i reduce blurries with photographic sceneries?
A) Hardware tab (Display settings)
Framerate: Unlimited
Mipmap detail level: 4
Extended Terrain Textures
Enabling ETT loads detailed textures farther away from the aircraft.
Load textures farther away to reduce blurries:
Find these lines in FS9.cfg and change them to read:
TERRAIN_DEFAULT_RADIUS=9.000000
TERRAIN_EXTENDED_RADIUS=9.900000
TERRAIN_EXTENDED_LEVELS=4
Load textures faster
Find and edit:
TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=
Use 400. You can try a higher or lower setting to see what gives the best performance on your system. The default setting is very conservative so don't be afraid to try high values. You'll likely get stuttering if you set it too high.
Workaround for the Autogen performance bug:
In FS9.cfg, find this line and edit it to read:
TERRAIN_USE_VECTOR_OBJECTS=0
Go into your FS9 folder, then the Autogen folder, and rename the file
default.xml
-to-
default.bak
Improve the appearance of detailed Mesh:
Find and edit this line in fs9.cfg (default for this is 19):
TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21
This will allow FS2004 to draw detailed Mesh more accurately.
In your FS9 folder, find and open terrain.cfg. Near the top, you should see:
//Stream Lines
Under this are textures 1024 and 1025. At the bottom of each offset=-10
For textures 1024 and 1025 (stream lines), change it to read:
offset=flat
Q) I can`t see the water reflection even if they are correctly set?
In your Control Panel, Regional Settings, Set to English (United States)
Terrain detail = Land Only
Water Effects = High
Q) HOW DO I USE MULTI MONITORS IN FULLSCREEN MODE
A) Tired of reshuffling extra panles around on multiple monitors - I was, until I discovered this work around:
1. Load up FS9 & your favourite aircraft
2. Start a flight & go to a Windowed main panel.
3. Open up your extra panel windows, move them to your other monitor(s) and resize making sure you leave an allowance for the Windows frames which will disapear in full screen mode.
4. Save the flight!!!!! MOST IMPORTANT
5. Switch to 3d mode and check the position of your extra windows.
5A: Go back into Windowed mode (this appears to lock the full screen mode panel window positions into place. Then for the second time undock your extra panels and move and resize them into your extra monitor. THEN SAVE FLIGHT. This locks the windowed extra panels in place.
6. If you need to adjust, go back to Windows mode and CTL-C out of FS9 - DO NOT RESAVE THE FLIGHT.
7. Restart FS9 and the flight you saved (you should be in Windowed mode with your extra panels showing as you left them on your other monitor(s)).
8. Re-adjust your extra panels and then SAVE AGAIN, then recheck in Full screen.
REPEAT steps 6-8 until satisfied with positioning of extra panels.
9. When happy, kick off FS9 with your saved flight and go to full screen mode with your extra panels where you left them. Have a good flight BUT DO NOT GO BACK TO WINDOWED MODE AND DO NOT SAVE THE FLIGHT AGAIN.
10. At the end of every flight slip back into windowed mode and CTL-C out of FS9. Yes, the extra panels will resurface on the main panel window, this is no problem provided you don't save again.
11. Repeat the whole process with other aircraft.
I have noticed on one occassion that, on starting a flight in windowed mode, as you must to get this to work, the extra panels weren't showing. But, after pressing SHIFT + panel number they showed up on the second monitor as I had left them.
Caution: Remember that before leaving FS9 you must go into Windowed mode.
Excerpt from:
http://www.planesimulation.com/articles/fs9_QandA.htm