Ideal graphics settings?

can you please post a screenshot? that would be interesting to see

MrSam wrote:

I recently updated my computer, and in my humble opinion it's pretty darn powerful (2 gigs dual channel ram) (it can easily handle Battlefield 2 at max settings).

So I decided to fire up and install FS2004 again and bring back the glory. But here I am, completely underwhelmed, despite my 20" widescreen monitor and putting all the graphics to max.

Don't get me wrong, the framerate is silky smooth, no problems there. However, I'm getting a nasty "pixelated" look when viewing cities from a distance (when I descend under 15k feet). And then it scenery starts to "bend" and I almost get this dizzy if I look too long. Weird, huh?

Anybody with a powerful computer got any tips for setting graphics?

What card are you using ? as it's not just down to ram. I consider to have a pretty powerful/fast machine, but still, I dont have all the sliders maxed out. I have my FPS set at 50, and I get that all the time, no matter what aircraft/scenery/etc, and I have quite a few add-ons. I could get much much more fps, but it could be argued that, if fps is not noticable after ??fps then why set it high 🙄 I'm happy at 50 fps.

My spec.......
Pentium 4 3.4 GHz dual core.
4GB Corsair DDR 400 Ram = 4 x 1GB sticks.
ATi Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition PCIe Card.
250GB HD = X2 Drives.
Foxconn Mainboard.

You could test your Ram, try using Memtest86+, I'm not saying that your ram is at fault, but this will test for any failures. 😉

http://www.memtest.org/

my main problem is the jagged edges... I need some serious anti-aliasing but it doesn't seem to do any good when I turn AA on.

My card is a x800gto flashed to 16 pipes. (I'm using the latest omega drivers)

I would love to get smooth edges around my planes like that.

Look at my screenshot and the jaggies around it: http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8151/untitled5wn4.jpg

In settings in the sim, set mip-map to 4 and don't check the AA box.
See how that works.

You should sort your problem with what RM suggests. But let your card do the work, here's my settings for my card.........

Anti-Aliasing set at 4

Anisostropic Filtering set at 8, although some set this at 16.

As RM say's, adjust your settings and see how you go. 😉

what can I say, you guys are geniuses. I mucked around in the graphics card settings and sure enough, it worked wonders. Can't thank you enough!

The detail is amazing... I quickly took off from KSEA in a 777 and grabbed a screenshot

And you have spot an excellent shot there. 👍 👍 👍

Im not sure about ATI gfx cards,but with Nvidia you get a utillity which sits in the system tray.Im sure ATI is the same,use this to set your A/A and A/S settings and anything else,then open FS and adjust the settings

You can have two identical systems which will run FS differently
Its all down to trial and error,a little bit of ground work from you to find the best visuals(it can take time,but trust me its worth the effort)

I used "ATI Tool"... it's chockablock full of features. I'm still experimenting with it... cranking out all the features I can...

Glad to hear your getting sorted 👍 .
When you say "ATI Tool" I take it you mean the (Catalyst Control Center) ?

You'll find lots of goodies on the ATi site. 😉

actually, I think ATI Tool is a seperate program, different from the catalyst control center. It was recommended to me when I was trying to upgrade my graphics card to 16 pixelpipelines.