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Performance issues

HardCorePawn

HardCorePawn

Messages
20
Country
newzealand
Howdy,

Firstly, I'd just like to say that FSX is a brilliant tool... I love it and it made creating my airport 'fix' (which quickly turned into a fullblown airport makeover) that much easier.... except

I have found the performance of FSXPlanner to be, if I can be blunt, very poor.

The interface is very sluggish... and it takes ages for it to respond to input. For example, if I roll the mouse wheel to zoom in or out it takes at least 4 or 5 seconds for it to happen. Likewise when highlighting objects, it takes several seconds. Even, selecting a text box (say the latitude for an apron vertex) takes several seconds.

Its almost impossible to use as the menus take 4 or 5 seconds to register that I've clicked on 'Display' than I have to wait another 4 or 5 for it to highlight my choice, then another 4 or 5 for it to register that I have clicked.

And using the SimConnect features is almost pointless as it takes so long to bring up the dialog, then connect, then clearing the dialog.

Now, my machine is by no means 'top of the line' anymore, but I would have expected better performance from a Core2Duo E6400, 4Gigs RAM, 8800GT 512Meg, WinXP SP2.

Is it possible that I am using a 'bad' version of Java (Java 6 update 3)?

Any advice anyone can offer would be much appreciated, as I love FSX Planner, but it is pretty much unusable at present.
 
Thanks for the response.

Unfortunately, the suggestions will not help me, as I do use the .exe to run the program (never actually thought to use the .jar) and I do not use background images as the ones for the airport I have been working on do not line up very well with FSX :(

Thanks anyway...
 
First, thank you for the compliment! :)

I'm not sure why you are experiencing such a lag. All the menus, including the display menu, work instantly for me. As meshman said the background image does take up more time due to it's size, and some complex airports can cause slower redraw times, but a 4-5 second lag on a menu redraw is odd.

It could be something to do with your java installation. To check you could uninstall and the nreinstall java.

Also, what else is running at the same time as FSX Planner? Does the task manager show any processes that are taking up a lot of the cpu time? (Make sure that the 'show processes from all users' checkbox is selected.)

-Russell
 
Thanks for the response Russell...

I have tried installing the latest version of Java, and reinstalling FSXPlanner but it is still running very poorly.

It is not other applications causing CPU usage... it is FSX Planner that is using CPU... when working in FSX Planner it starts jumping up to around 50 to 60%! :eek: And this is for a relatively simple airport (1 runway, about 5 parking spots, 1 taxiway and an apron + some things like windsocks, helipads etc)

I tried running FSX Planner on a spare machine at work, a Pentium 4 that only has about 1gig RAM, and it seemed to work fine with the example La Guardia airport!?!??! :confused:

Could this be due to the fact that I run Dual Monitors?

Some weird driver conflict? If I turn on FPS it tells me 'fps: 0.8 [1250ms]' That does not sound too good! :eek:

UPDATE: Ok, I have just done some further testing and I think it is somehow related to dual monitors...

If I disable the 2nd monitor (Display Properties -> Settings -> Untick 'Extend my Windows Desktop onto this monitor'), and just run FSX Planner (and everything else) on a single monitor I get 'fps: 66.7 [15ms]'... and things are nice and snappy... :)

If I then re-enable the 2nd monitor, I still get something like 'fps: 62.5 [16ms]' etc...

However, if I then shutdown FSX Planner and re-open it... bam... back to 'fps: 0.8 [1266ms]' :yikes:

disable the 2nd monitor and its back to 60fps again :confused::confused:

Any ideas?? I cannot live with only 1 monitor :rolleyes:
 
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That is very odd that s second monitor would cause that much of a slow down. I run with two monitors and do not have a problem. I have the two monitors as one large desktop with FSX Planner running on just one monitor. When I maximize a window it fills just one monitor, not both. Do you have FSX Planner on one monitor only, or spanning both monitors?

-Russell
 
Hi Russell,

yeah... well thats computers for you! :rolleyes:

I am just running the 'standard' dual monitors setup using XP's built in dual monitor support... I have not configured anything using the Nvidia control panel... ie. I only have the windows taskbar on one monitor, it does not span across the 2.

As for FSXPlanner, I am just running it on one monitor... it is not 'spanned' across both monitors. Also, it does not seem to matter if I run it in a window or 'maximised' (so it takes up one monitor)... I still get the poor performance when I start it up when dual monitors are running.

I have tried setting it to run on monitor 1 and monitor 2 (as it remembers where you last had it) but that does not seem to make any difference.

I might try using a different Nvidia mode like 'span' and see if that helps. I'll also try downgrading to a different video driver (as I am using the latest forceware 169.21) and see if I get a different result.

I'll let you know how I get on.
 
Im wondering if it has something to do with dual moniors or a driver issue. I removed the second monitor in the desktop monitor setup and it seemed a little quicker, but will have to play more to confirm.
 
mjrhealth said:
Im wondering if it has something to do with dual moniors or a driver issue. I removed the second monitor in the desktop monitor setup and it seemed a little quicker, but will have to play more to confirm.
Click to expand...

The easiest way to confirm performance, is to go to 'File -> Preferences -> App Options' and make sure that 'Display FPS' is ticked.

When you open an airport, the FPS will show in the top left corner...

If you're getting something like 'fps: 0.2 [600ms]' that is bad... when its working sweet I get something like 'fps:66 [10ms]'.

Unfortunately, due to other events in my life (like getting my PPL, a 172 type rating and trying to complete my cross country flying) I have not had a chance to experiment further with this problem.

I also finished doing my scenery, so the priority of this has gone way down until I start on my next project...
 
HardCorePawn said:
Unfortunately, due to other events in my life (like getting my PPL, a 172 type rating and trying to complete my cross country flying) I have not had a chance to experiment further with this problem.
Click to expand...

Hey, congrats on the PPL! Make sure you get some pics if you go cross country. That's something I've been wanting to get for a while (get a PPL), but haven't had the time or money to do so yet. Perhaps one day. :)
 
wells heres a doozer for you. I set the fps as you suggested with both monitors on, opened an airport and got 1.1 FPS. Removed second monitor and got 21.3, resizing FSX planeer gave an increase, i suppose as expected, then i restarted second monitor and still had 21 fps, moved things around and it seemed happy.
So there you go, another oddity.

David

PS running AMD X2 64 6000 dual core, with 2 gig cas 4 800mhz ram, Nvidia 8800GTS 320 meg video, so should have no issues.. And i only use it on one monitor.
 
I have also had the same sluggish performance as the OP with the latest version (27b). I removed it and reinstalled R 26b and it is much smoother now. :confused:

(Thanks for the great program!)
 
A suggestion that might work for some people is to turn off the double buffering option. This is in the App tab of the preferences dialog. On some machines using double buffering causes stuttering. So turning it off may help some people with this issue.

-Russell
 
Hi, must say though, wonderful programme, and awaitng lates ver. Bak to performance issue. I did some more playing. Running 2 19" LCD on 8800GTS 320 meg card. Open up FSp on 1st monitor or second with same file I gte 1FPS, yep thats 1. It may show 31 but its as jerky and laggy as heck. If i Go into my display properties and disable second monitor it suddenly goes up to 30 or so and is smooth and just as it should be. If i then reenable the second monitor, it still behaves, still above 30 FPs unless zoomed right out and smooth. But if i restart FSP it goes back to the usual laggy sluggish self. I hope this gives you some clues. might have something to do with screen detection or monitor resolution detection.

David
 
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