Military AI Works

This just came up in another thread and reminded me that I've always wanted some help in this area.

I've never quite understood what all I can shut down prior to running FS9. I know that it's important to free up as many resources as possible for the CPU since FS9 is such a heavy draw on it.

I've seen a couple of tips but nothing that I've ever been able to consistently make use of.

So the question is: What programs are the rest of you guys shutting down before booting up FS9. Obviously anything running in the background like the AV software etc. But are there some programs that are not as obvious that can take a break while FS9 runs?

Mike

Well it takes some reading but
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
gives you a good overview on the services you might want to stop prior to running FS or any other resource hungry program.

You might also use FSAutoStart available at AVSIM this utility allows to configure which services you want to stop and stops them at the click of a button.

regards
Willy

For me one of the biggest hogs was my IE browser. Closed that and the sim started loading like it was off to the races.

Slightly outside what you asked about....

Something else to consider, changing the process priority for FS9.exe via Task Manager.

If I increase the priority 1 level, from Normal to Above Normal, I normally see FSX run smoother. If I go 2 levels up, to High, then I occasionally have problems.

I remember doing the same thing with FS9.exe when I ran that.

One thing to take into account is whether you have one of those turbo-nutter multi-core cpu thingies installed. If you have then its likely not to be an issue.
The reason for this is that FS9 is compiled to only run on one cpu so on my system, for example, it only ever takes up 25% cpu and other programs run in the other core cpus.
What you are talking about was/is only relevant if you have a single core cpu.

That would be me.

Mike, I did look at using the fsautostart utility, I think that was what it is called, a couple of years ago.
Like you I could never find a definitive list of what could be stopped. The reason being that I seem to remember at least one item it was recommended to shutdown that I used. Also when FS9 crashed to desktop it did not start the tasks that it had stopped. It only did that on a clean end.

It took me some time, which I think ended with a system restore to set the tasks back to their previous settings. I kinda lost confidence in using it again, so I didn't bother and just bit the bullet and suffered.

Not much help from me there I am afraid just my personal experience on my setup.

And I'm not sure it works with Vista. I installed it but I think the Vista security defeated it.

John

I use AlacrityPC with FSX and Vista. Not sure if it works with FS9/Win XP.
I think it can be found on avsim, certainly by a Yahoo search.

That proggy can be found at the same site that hosts the FSAutostart author's other work.

I guess for me personally, I'm just not knowledgeable enough to look at a list of programs that are running and know which ones I can shut down on a temporary basis.

Obviously things like the security program, and other small programs can take a seat on the bench but beyond that, I don't even know where to start. I downloaded FS Autostart but will have to dig into the readme's to figure out how to use it.

As I'm working with an ancient 6 year old machine now, XP with a P4, anything I can do to help the performance is important.

Not sure if it would help you but I got this years ago and I still refer back to it every time I do a re-install/major update:

Thanks Pete I'll have a look.

No probs Mike

Just be very careful as killing a critical service can ruin your whole day. As always RTFM & if you are not sure the don't do it

Log off and switch to a second user, this way you can shut most things down, including network connection and of course AVG or whatever you run, [unless you use the weather downloads!].
When I open Task Manager/Processes there are maybe 6 items running instead of maybe 30!
Load FS, light the blue touch paper and hold on tight, its a rocket baby...
Tony

What a good idea, never thought of that.

Mark

That is a great idea, thanks Tony, I'll have to try that.