Microsoft Flight Sim 2004 Problems

[CorpSysEngineer]

Hey everyone,

I just bought and installed Microsoft Flight Sim 2004 but am having a strange problem. I'll get a little way into playing and my comp will just shut off. I meet and pass all the requirements on the box, I've got it installed on a 120GB drive, Athlon 1.4 GHz, etc. I have opened the side of the computer and left it open w/ a fan blowing on it... but it still does the same thing. Any ideas? I tried installing but it still does the same thing.

 

[gpalmer711]

Take a look at the event viewer

Start > Control Panel > Admin Tools > Event Viewer

Are there any errors around the time of the crashes?

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[CorpSysEngineer]

Not any that I can see. Seems to be hardware related... but the game's overall performance is pretty bad. Its weird since I am well over all the requirements for RAM, HDD, Processor Speed, etc.

 

[Marcs41]

very first thing to check with those hi-res games, the video drivers! next, audio

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC![/sub]
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[toolman59]

Further to Marcs41 don't forget to check the power supply, has it got enough muscle for the extra work required?


Toolman59

 

[Marcs41]

that depends how fast you fly ;-)

 

[Volk359]

weird since I am well over all the requirements for RAM, HDD, Processor Speed, etc

means very little. MS's minimums are a bit misleading as those are the minimum requirements to load the software, not necessarily to fly, have descent resolution, detail, scenery, fun, etc., so unless your running at least a 2.5 gig with a gig of RAM you're below the "mimimums". Trust me. ;-)


I have a 1.7Ggz, 512RAM, 64Meg Vid Card machine and I have to run the dang thing with a majority of the "sliders" towards the left (low) and still it tends to stutter, particularly around high scenery areas like airports. Especially if there is third party stuff involved. You don't mention how much RAM you have or how much RAM is on your VID card but those may be good places to start.

I think I've narrowed down my crashes (virtual that is) to swapping views and not letting the computer "catch up" with the view I've changed to before swapping back to another view. I only have to do that a couple times before I get the blue screen of death with a data dump. Save often!

Another possible problem is a scenery you may have installed; they sometimes get corrupted and it can be difficult to pin down. Does the system crash around the same area? Try flying out of a different airport. If that tends to solve it remove and uninstall the scenery and replace it from the zip file or redownload it from where you got it and reinstall it.

Flightsim 2004 is a great program but it is performance heavy and with only a 1.4gig I'd recommend turning all the details down to low and see how it runs then turn one thing up at a time, one notch at a time until you can get into a comprimise with your system as far as detail and performance.

Have patience and do some tweaking before giving up on it. Good Luck!

Keith

 

[Marcs41]

sorry Volk, but that is seriously exagerated, if you need that kind of ram for just that game, you better check what other stuff is consuming memory.
I ran MS Flight fluently on a laptop, with 'just' 512 MB. And we all know laptops are much lower spec then a desktop.

If people would only take some time to LEARN something about pc's instead of dumping every kind ot tool on it they come across, alot of problems would not exist.

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC![/sub]
How Do I Get Great Answers To my Tek-Tips Questions? See faq222-2244

 

[Volk359]

Hey Marc,

I beg to differ. I'm running a laptop too and I'm basing my post on my experience plus a lot of other people I've talked to and read about in various forums. The majority of the simmers who experience good performance are those with lots of RAM and a faster CPU. Those with slow end machines have configured them so they're not running any extraneous stuff even to the point of shutting down virus checkers, etc.

I went from FS2002 to FS2004 and was suprised and dissapointed at the performance difference as were a lot of other people.

How high of detail do you have set in your sim and how fast is your machine? What kind of vid card do you have and how much RAM is on it? Is it shared?

There's about a bazillion ways to configure a machine and between that and the hardware, CPU, manufacturer, etc. you'll get varied results. My brother has a 2.2 gigger laptop with 512 RAM and I consistently get higher frame rates than he does on my 1.7gig.

I agree with your comment about people dumping a bunch of junk on their machines and being suprised at taking a performance hit. Depends on if you can live with or with out it I suppose.

Keith

 

[Marcs41]

the laptop is a P4 - 3MHz, I don't remember the exacy settings, but they were high and flying was smooth and very detailed texture.
There was of course not 1 byte too many loaded of other stuff in memory, as I always keep my startup very very clean.

My brothers runs it smoothly, hi-res, on a P4 - 2.6 MHz, 512 MB ram and an ATI 9600. Also here, no other stuff running in the background.

So, sorry, beg and differ all you want, it is running that way here ;-)

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC![/sub]
How Do I Get Great Answers To my Tek-Tips Questions? See faq222-2244

 

[Volk359]

OK, I think it's difficult to compare your 3Ghz and your bro's 2.6Ghz to my 1.7 or the 1.4 per the origiginal post.

You are correct tho, clean out the closets and any machine will run faster than before.