FIX for Windows XP graphics problems

[Heli4fun]

Not sure if this is new or not but i didn't see it in any other posts.

If you have graphics problems under Windows XP similar to the picture



1. Click: Start->Run and type in the run box dxdiag.exe
This will open the DirectX Diagnostic Tool.

2. Click the 3rd tab "DISPLAY"

3. Goto DirectX Features, DirectDraw Acceleration and click DISABLE then EXIT, restart FMS.

And the game should run fine in all resolutions.
If this still doesn't help, go to the next tab Sound1 and slide the Hardware Sound Acceleration Level to the left 1 or more spots, restart the sim.

This worked on all 3 of my computers with XP sp1-3. (not tested on sp2) and with 7 through 8.5 versions of FMS.
Hope this helps.

H4F

[ggunners]

Thanks for sharing your fix. How was the frame rate without acceleration? -- ggunners

[Heli4fun]

Tested frame rates with directdraw disabled.

1600 doesn't work for me
1280x960 with all gfx options on =15fps With only 32bit color on, Textures and Smooth Textures checked =24fps
1024x768 with all gfx options on =21fps With only 32bit color on, Textures and Smooth Textures checked =32fps
800x600 with all gfx options on =32fps With only 32bit color on, Textures and Smooth Textures checked =51fps
640x480 with all gfx options on =53fps With only 32bit color on, Textures and Smooth Textures checked =75-85fps

32bit color, textures and smooth textures left on as a bare minimum for descent graphics.
Results were the same for either chase or fixed camera views and in some cases chase produced higher frame rates.

Tested on 2 Systems with XP sp1 and sp3, nvidia 260 graphics, 2Gb of Ram,2 separate 3Ghz AMD Quads(940 on an ASUS MB and 955 on a GigaByte MB).

Occasional sky tearing and some ground tiles blink. Other than that it works perfect for what it was designed for.

H4F