Improving FSX via Windows

[frostlp]

Hi -
Just wanted to share this "tip" I found over at the Orbx forum.  I definitely noticed a difference.  Hope it works for everyone.

http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/58637-improving-fsx-via-windows/

Many thanks to jaydor for this.
Enjoy,
Lou

[jeff3163]

Thanks Lou.  I am implementing it now.  Reviews are promising.  I will see.   


Here's a couple of shots with the settings active:

[Doug]

Jeff... Is this something you could send me, as usual I cannot get into the ORBX forums.

D

[jeff3163]

Oh, it just said to increase your virtual memory to 25000-25000, and in windows "color management" settings select "photography" as media type or whatever.  I will get more specific in a few minutes, I need a screenshot.

[spud]

Unfortunately I use XP so the 'color management' portion of this tip is not possible for me.  As for increasing virtual memory to 25000 that was tried then reduced to 10000 both of which caused my FSX to crash after a few min. of operation.  Originally I had Virtual Memory set at 3076 from a tip several years old.  After experiencing the crashes at 25K and 10K I have set it to 4096 and so far it seems FSX is running OK.  Other than having sim crashes I fail to see any improvement with a higher VM setting.  Probably due to a rather anemic system I find all these "wonder fixes" so much bunk.  I guess if you have the uber cpu and gozillions of megs of memory the placebo effect will be evident but other than just a couple of tip that work most of these things for me are just a waste of effort and time.
My 2 cents worth!!!
 

[stiletto2]

The color managment change produced zero difference for me when comparing before and after pics.

I enlarged my Virtual Memory space a year ago so can't disagree with that recommendation for Windows 7 users.

Rod

[ualani]

Spud,
Is your XP OS the 32 or 64 bit version?

MS has a hotfix to automatically increase the virtual memory for you in Win 7.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947246?wa=wsignin1.0

Just hit the "Fix It For Me" button and it will change the vm to 20480.

More detailed discussion of this topic here:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/409828-improving-fsx-via-windows/

Also, take a look at this for even more in depth info:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ijxzaohfgy104xw/OOM%20-%20Desktop%20Heap%20Limitation.doc

[Doug]

Ok, did it all. Color looks better. Haven't flown enough yet to check ram. Would be nice not having FSX freeze all the time.  Thanks.

[spud]

Spud,
Is your XP OS the 32 or 64 bit version?

MS has a hotfix to automatically increase the virtual memory for you in Win 7.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947246?wa=wsignin1.0

Just hit the "Fix It For Me" button and it will change the vm to 20480.

More detailed discussion of this topic here:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/409828-improving-fsx-via-windows/

Also, take a look at this for even more in depth info:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ijxzaohfgy104xw/OOM%20-%20Desktop%20Heap%20Limitation.doc

Sorry all the links are references for WIN 7 or VISTA (and I assume WIN 8 as well).  With WIN XP the color management portion of the tip is impossible because there is no color management function in this older operating system.
As I said increasing Virtual Memory anywhere near the amount in the tip cause my FSX to crash about 5 min. into a session.  If you have a new OS and scads of memory then it may work but for us Grumpy Old Farts and our aging systems it is interesting reading and thats about it.
 

[ualani]

Doug,
What kind of messages are you getting when FSX crashes/freezes? Check your event viewer.

[ualani]

Here's a really good forum that helps troubleshoot FSX crashes:

http://forum.avsim.net/forum/262-crash-to-desktop-ctd-forum/

LOTS of info there!

[Doug]

I get the "fatal error" occurred one. The details didnt mean amything tipo me...niw ill start checking and Logging the detail. I'll start tracking it rather than just restarting. I'll keep you posted, thank you, working on it.

[jeff3163]

I get the "fatal error" occurred one. The details didnt mean amything tipo me...niw ill start checking and Logging the detail. I'll start tracking it rather than just restarting. I'll keep you posted, thank you, working on it.

It will list modules that are at fault.  Look for DLL files in the information. 

Here is an example of one of mine from the past.

Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14
Faulting module name: ai_player.dll, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb57
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0003748b
Faulting process id: 0x17f8
Faulting application start time: 0x01ce6a6ef91ca774
Faulting application path: P:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\fsx.exe
Faulting module path: P:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\ai_player.dll
Report Id: d33bf24f-d667-11e2-8815-406186f2a2b0

Knowing WHAT is messing up will tell alot about where to look for the problem. 

Duh.  Did I say that?   

Anyway, see what you've got in yours.

[Doug]

Well, I've got much better colors with the color fix ... deeper, bluer blues, etc ... like the saturation was increased. Far more vibrant scenery.  On the FIX IT NOW for Windows Ram usage ... that seemed to have worked too. I was running about 55% ram (and hitting a wall now and then) and now am running 40-42% ram ... and this is flying around PAKT.  I'm also seeing frame rates from 25 to 35 in this area now, I was running 10!  So I'm seeing some improvements.  I've got the new AppsCrash program ready to go, but haven't needed it yet (good news!).   So these fixes helped my situation. (Win 7).

D