Cretin

#1 Hello. #2 Don't shoot yourself. The firing squad needs the practice. #3 The enhanced manual doesn't even claim to posess magical powers. #4 The sim will run even without the enhanced manual sitting in your lap. #5 FLY! Fly and learn. Amen and Amen!

The game is 40 bucks. That's all you need. If you are a collector or have money to burn, get the manual. Last I saw you could download the enhanced manual in black and white as a PDF for $15, if you don't have to have color. Again, the manual is an enhancement, not a necessity. Get the sim. Play with it. Read the excellent freeware tutorials posted on the net. And, of course, keep coming back to Biohaz news and this forum for all the latest. Don't worry. You'll be just fine. Jump in with both feet and have some FUN!!! :D

Good foy you, firehawkordy! Have big fun! :D

See ya, Tuff. :D

Right back at ya, Chain. Been a nice way to spend part of Xmas. :D Well, here's the straight scoop on how I got my handle. When my wife and I get ticked off with each other we start calling each other names. That gets us laughing so hard that whatever the original issue was disappears. "Cretin" was the best one she came up with to dump on me. I took it up because it was unique and because I figured that it gave me active immunity. No matter what I get called it probably will never be as good a dump as "Cretin" already is. :D Yeah, go for it! The card sounds like a good idea. Your CPU is no slouch. You can have a big adventure putting it in and seeing what happens. The suspense is already killing me! :D Glad you came over to this forum. You fit right in. Nice folks here. Have a good new year, although I suspect we'll be seeing each other around before that. Keep your canopy out of the dirt! All the best, "Cretin"

Holy moly, that IS an old monitor! You must feel like you just got an entirely new system. Hey, when all is said and done it comes down to what you SEE on the screen!

He he! LOMAC most definitely does not fall into the "arcade" catagory. :D

Yo! Life is Tuff, huh? :D I have a 17 inch CRT. Got a real good deal on it BUT it only goes to 1024 x 1280 and the refresh rate is like 60 up there. :( Well, your sims should have a whole new look for 2004! Glad you scored. Have big fun! B)

:D Ok, ok ok. :D I bought a new machine a year ago. I'm quite pleased with the way things turned out. Here is how I went about it: 1) I went to the hardcore technogeek sites and reviewed only hard test data for components. No opinions. 2) When I encountered something that I did not know or did not understand I made it my business to learn it and understand it. 3) I looked at the test setups carefully to make certain that they were valid in terms of what I was trying to accomplish. All of the above constitutes immunization from BS. :P Since I have no experience building a PC from scratch, I checked out builders. Really put them through the wringer by phone and email. I settled on one and got a good deal on what I wanted. Since then I have upgraded my DDR and graphics card myself. This is what I learned from that: 1) It is a SYSTEM! A collection of top quality components does not necessarily a fast computer make. That is where a good, proven, experienced builder of performance systems can be of value. They can save you money as well! 2) Going from 512 to 1024 of DDR didn't seem to affect FPS in flight sims at all! Fancy that! 3) The 9800 did not give me faster FPS than the Ti-4600 BUT the QUALITY of the graphics is much better. 4) The test of a system is not max FPS, it's whether it can sustain smooth playability in the most demanding situations. 5) A bottleneck in your system will piss you right the heck off. Don't go there. Think system. As regards flight sims: 1) Because a component or system yields good benchmarks doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to do well with flight sims. If it runs "Serious Sam" well all that means is that it runs "Serious Sam" well. 2) MOST flight sims are more CPU dependent than they are RAM dependent. You'll notice that I have not made any specific suggestions. That is because: 1) I'm not up on all the latest. 2) I don't have any certainty regarding what will bring the most improvement for the least money with your particular and unique system. That is why I have focused on process. It's a hell of a game we play with puter magic. You never know for sure until AFTER you've spent the money! :( That is the best I have to offer on the subject. It was good for me. Was it good for you? B)

Uh oh! Looks like the foreplay is over! :D

He he! This is blowing me away! :D P.S. Give the "fast-overcast_v3_low.zip" a try, Chaingun. Still looks great but even faster than medium.

Truer words were never spoken, Kimosabe! Tweaking is much more of an art than a science. Standards? Ho, ho, ho! :D Here's what I have observed with my system: 1) LOMAC runs better, smoother, faster at 32 bit than 16 bit. 2) Runs faster with graphics card settings cranked to max. 9800, 128 mb, 4 x FSAA, 16 x AF!!! 3) Runs smoother with "Effects" set to "High". 4) "Advanced Haze" is a big FPS killer. Go figure! All of those things are surprising to me. "Who am I to blow against the wind?" :ph34r:

Right on, PG Raptor! It's mellow here. :D

I've kept up on the threads you linked to, Chaingun. Still a pretty lively discussion going on. Still mixed results. One thing I noticed is that folks are not consistently stating which OS version they are using. Wonder if differences is OS version could account for the varied outcomes? Some are saying that there is no sound basis to the idea, that it could not possibly have any effect. Others are swearing that they are getting dramatic increases in FPS. The truth is, "Only the Shadow knows!" :ph34r:

I have an Audigy Gamer and have had no problems.

Interesting! Did not affect my system either way. Athlon 2200 XP+ Asus A7V333 1024 DDR Radeon 9800, 128 mb

Da!!!!!! :D

Was wondering why I couldn't get your page to come up! :( Merry Christmas and happy new year. Keep on keeping on! :D

Fascinating. Advanced haze takes a nice bite out of FPS on my machine. Heat blur has no affect at all. Athlon 2200 XP+, Radeon 9800, 1024 DDR, Asus A7V333. BTW, if you click Ctrl + Backspace twice, more info comes up. I'm surprised by the numbers being racked up by "Surf". You guys getting high "Surf" numbers too?

Well spoken, MrMudd.

I was real hesitant to try XP but have no regrets after the fact.

Promise? :D

N...nn....n...nnn....no.

That's why Russians do the Cobra. Scares the birds away. :D

I have to be able to blow things up and shoot things down. I'm taking my medications and my therapist is doing the best that he can. :D I do like flying some of the larger planes. In other sims I have flown big bombers. It's a nice change of pace. Completely different kind of challenge. The most fun is when the fighters come after you. Man, they really get pissed if you shoot 'em down, he he!