BirdDogICT

Actually, no, they are the same settings that have been recommended from the early days when CFS3 came out. Much of CFS3 was written in DirectX 7 and 8 (patching it to 3.1a brings it up to 8.12). ATI cards at that time were behind the curve, and had trouble with rendering vertex and index textures in DirectX 8 (based on my experience building AMD/ATI machines, for what it's worth). These settings can be found in the Installation & Graphics FAQ: http://www.overfland...tm#ATI_GRAPHICS Many of these settings were tested in early Phase 3 by LeBlaque, RedDog, and others, and have been modified since: OVERRIDES: Clear the tick in the 'Dual Pass Render' box Tick 'High Resolution Z-buffer' box immediately below it. Also tick the following: Disable Write-Only Vertex Buffers Disable Write-Only Index Buffers Disable Terrain Texture Ring Blend (possibly/test) I can't tell a difference with newer ATI card..ring blend was important for earlier cards Disable Vertex Buffers Disable Index Buffers Disable Chat Disable Advisor Messages Disable Simulation Warnings. TEXTURE INFO: Composite Terrain Texture Pool - set to Managed Composite Terrain Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget Composite Aircraft Texture Pool - set to Managed Composite Aircraft Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget Vertex Buffer Pool - set to Managed Index Buffer Pool - leave as is - should be set to Default Fullscreen Swap Effect - set to Flip ATI CATALYST SETTINGS: OpenGL Setting Triple Buffering - ON (check mark) Wait for Vertical Refresh (Vsync) - Always On (try set to off too if you have issues still) Mipmap Detail Level - Performance Anti-Aliasing & Anisotropic Filtering - Application Managed (AA off in OFF) The only difference between the FAQ and my settings is that I use ATI Catalyst to set AA and AF. To do this, i set AA to 8X in CFS3Config, then set AA to 4X (12 Samples - Edge Detect) and AF to 8x in Catalyst. I also disable Catalyst A.I. and Adaptive AA. From my experience, the most important settings for ATI cards (old and new) are in the Overrrides. Your mileage may (maybe I should say WILL) vary.

ZZ, From my experience, you'll start seeing microstuttering when you reach the end limits of your particular combination of video card, memory timings , FSB speed, CPU speed/cache, OS, etc., AND whatever is going on in the sim. A FPS limit of 25 in BHaH is very playable. I have mine capped at 40, although I can easily reach 60 at altitude with nothing going on. When I hit the front lines or get in a 12 plane furrball, I'm looking at 20-25, which is still very smooth, with no jaggies. If you want good, thoughtful advice on hardware, Parky is hard to beat. What I enjoy about this forum is that it's like a formal brainstorming session...all ideas are welcome, and the discussion eventually leads to the best solution.

Olham, Okay, then, just keep your nose clean from now on. Don't forget, the ATI Police are watching you. That goes for the rest of you fliers, too!! LOL Best regards, BirdDogICT

Olham, Not trying to hijack your thread, but thought that I'd point out that your Texture Info settings are very different from those suggested by the devs in the Installation & Graphics FAQ http://www.overfland...on_and_settings Composite Terrain Texture Pool - set to Managed Composite Terrain Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget Composite Aircraft Texture Pool - set to Managed Composite Aircraft Texture Usage - set to Rendertarget Vertex Buffer Pool - set to Managed Index Buffer Pool - leave as is - should be set to Default Fullscreen Swap Effect - set to Flip The above settings have been around for a long time and were useful for older ATI cards like yours...maybe the devs need to update their FAQ to your settings?! ATI cards and drivers have come a long way in the last year. When I first installed BHaH in January, the recommended tweaks (especially the Overrides) made a BIG difference with my X1950XTX and HD4870 (using Catalyst 9.1 through 9.6). But with the latest 9.7 and 9.8 drivers, and Superpatch 1.32f I don't have to apply any tweaks at all (of course your mileage will vary).

Cameljockey, Two options: 1. PM me with your adress, and I can send you a FCJ CD 2. PM me an email address and I'll send you an ISO file (229,568 KB)

Try C:\OBDSoftware\CFSWW1_Over_Flanders_Fields

Rather than re-install RBII, patch it to RB3D, add FCJ, and spend an hour fine-tuning it for XP, I simply unpacked Gump's v2a ( http://www.rb3d.net/...GumpsBONUS.html), and added Zeckensack's glide wrapper (http://www.zeckensack.de/glide/) and was able to install HASP on top of it. A very easy install. DgVoodoo worked fine with RB3D, but was corrupting the display in Longbow 2 (I still play this regularly...I never grow tired of blowing stuff up from 8 miles away). Also, I use winThrottle to slow down my system...works better than turbo.exe for me http://www.oldskool.org/pc/throttle I found RB3D to be really handy for learning how to use TrackIR. When I first got TrackIR for BHaH I found it a little disorienting since there was so much going in. RB3D's low end graphics made it much easier to get used to, but I discovered what I'd been missing all those years. No wonder I got my butt flamed so much years ago!! Makes me wonder why I want to fly BHaH, where I get killed every 4th or 5th mission, if I'm lucky.

Stumpjumper, Ouch, those things hurt when they go off. Green fireballs are fairly easy to avoid, but brought several AI flight members down when I used the "sacrifice yourself to save me" command. Nice stuff, especially the reds in night flights...hadn't noticed this so much before. I didn't include a vid...couldn't improve much on your previous posts. Only one negative: I realize that the graphics may need to be tweaked a little, but I noticed white jaggies from moving my TrackIR views, something I never see otherwise (but this is the first time I've used multiplayer...the graphics anomalies may be related to that?! Not sure.) The movies for the latest concept (concept 4, is it?) would be a nice touch to what you've already accomplished. Thanks for letting me participate in your test!!

Sitting Duck, I found that interesting too...I've had zero problems with Catalyst 9.7 or 9.8 in XP SP3 with a 512MB HD4870. FWIW, I had struttering problems back in January when I first installed BHaH, but they disappeared when I turned off all in-game messages and relaxed my aggressive memory timings.

Roger, There a bunch of Nieuport 11 nuts only a couple of hours from where I live http://www.kcdawnpatrol.org/index.php. They have a 7/8 scale Nieuport for sale right now for $11K. Volkwagen engine and all.

Pied, Olham, I put a SuperPatch v1.32 CD in the mail to Roger this afternoon. If you're talking about MAW or ETO, that stuff IS NOT that easy to install. Thanks for helping. Turns out Roger and I both went to Arizona State University. Small world, ain't it? BirdDogICT

Uncleal, You may already know this, but the primary reason for PCIe 2.0 isn't more bandwidth, it's extra power through the slot to the card. PCIe 2.0 offers 150W through the slot now, compared to 75W through a 1.1 slot. So the 8800 and the HD3870 can get by with a single 6pin PEG connector. and technically, according to the 3870's power consumption, that PEG is only a fallback, a safety option. It allows the card to run on 1.1 slots, or overclock on 2.0 slots. 2.0 also allows other options such as digital power management to the slot. You can specify exactly to the watt how much power each slot receives if your BIOS supports this option. The HD4870 I use requires 2 external power connectors. My motherboard allows power control over the 1.0 slot, but not up to the 2.0 standard. There shouldn't be much difference in performance when you run the 8800 on a Mobo that doesn't have a 2.0 PCI-e slot, since the 8800 doesn't fully use the bandwidth the 1.1 bus offers. Even a 9800 can run on as little as 4x 2.0 (8x 1.1) without serious bandwidth problems. Powering it may create some issues, though. Just wait until after DirectX 11 and PCIe 3.0...we will all be able to afford new MOBOs and graphics cards when the prices fall.

I always saw two wide, blurred props...could be the Wellers and Water.

Tone12, You shouldn't have any problems. The instability I was describing comes from populating all four slots and trying to run them at a high bus speed. Also, adding two sticks to an existing configuration is sometimes a problem, even if the sticks are the same brand and model, but bought at different times. There are a lot of easy ways to screw up an upgrade...I've learned a lot from my own mistakes.

Parky, I agree completely, just trying to warn newbies of the need to know what they're doing, especially when trying to upgrade older PCs. I find ASUS boards to be very forgiving, but they're designed for overclocking and are designed to dissipate all of the extra heat. Best regards, BirdDogICT

Carrik58, Not that it WON'T work, but it's a tradeoff, since you have to reduce your FSB speed, and thus your memory speed to maintain stability. Here is a simple explanation of what's involved: http://www.corsair.com/_appnotes/AN806_Memory_Upgrade_Resource_Guide.pdf Upgrading to 4Mb can result in performance improvements, but it's also a tradeoff...if you're installing 4 older 1Mb DDR sticks, it's not cheap ($150+).

You're right, Olham. Cost is always an issue. An $80 dollar graphics card upgrade is a very cheap, practical option. It's difficult to know when you reach the point of diminishing returns with computer upgrades. My general rule of thumb is that if a piece of hardware is three years old, it's already beginning to reach its' useful life due to the effects of heat. Most of my PC builds last 6 years or more and I typically upgrade the video card after 2-3 years. I was also running BHaH with an ATI X1950XTX and was getting good performance on low slider settings. I'm glad I upgraded to a 4870.

Tone12, If you are planning on populating all four memory slots with 1Mb sticks, you are asking for problems. You will be forced to reduce your FSB speed to maintain stability. No amount of additional voltage to the memory will help, as the instability will be due to memory controller limitations. Doesn't matter which motherboard you're using. You are right that XP won't recognize all of the memory...only about 3.5 will be recognized, depending on your system.

ZZ, Your CPU upgrade options are very limited, too. You could "upgrade" to a dual core E6700 (4M vs 2M Cache, 2.66 GHz vs 2.8 GHz, 1066 MHz vs 800 GHz FSB) , but that may not help your BHaH performance at all. Save your money for a new pooter.

Good discussion here... Anyone wanting to know more about how XP and memory usage might read this: http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/memory-winxp/ There are a number of utilities like Alacrity (it's one of the best IMHO). Iolo now includes memory defragmentation and resource management utilities in system Mechanic 9. I use AMD Fusion for Gaming (only for AMD processors) and am able to get my available physical memory to 1.65K (out of 2K total). Your mileage may vary.

Let's bring back 80ms hard drives, too. They left scorch marks on my desk back then...now wouldn't even qualify as boat anchors.

Try this: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?act=paysubs&CODE=index

Roger 55, You can reduce the number of aircraft and ground objects from within Workshop. BHaH works just fine out of the box. No need to apply any patches, really, but you will miss out on improvements to the game interface, new scenarios, and smoother gameplay (just to mention a few of the many improvements) PC requirements for IL2FB and are much lower than for BHaH. Hope this helps...

Roger55, Overheating can sometimes be a problem with a CPU intensive program like BHaH, considering the sometimes poor quality of standard fans/heatsinks. But since you already know how to monitor CPU temperature with PC Wizard, why not measure CPU temps while giving your PC a real workout with Prime95 http://www.majorgeeks.com/Prime95_d4363.html or Orthos http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=200 or with BHaH itself. BTW, there is a lot of PC information (and misinformation) to be had for free via the internet, but keep in mind that you get what you pay for. Be skeptical. Good luck.

Roger55, As you've been able to tell from http://www.overflandersfields.com/sysreq.htmhe, your system just about meets minimum requirements. You'll be able to run BHaH, but only with graphics details turned way down (including graphics sliders and in-game object density settings). As the system requrements states, you'll have low frame rates: Depending on system configuration should give FPS around 10 min-40 max depending on settings in workshop Lower settings are possible for lower systems but fps may be poor. However, low FPS isn't necessarily a problem...the game will look and play MUCH, MUCH better than RB3D ever did. Why not talk to your tech about upgrading your Socket 775 processor to something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206? If your motherboard would support an upgrade, with proper cooling, you could reach processor speeds of 3.0 GHz or better. And tell your tech that BHaH is a single core application. Good luck