So who is wrong?

[twinotter]

In my last post i said that i can't afford it...may responses were posted. make me wonder. Is it my fault that i can't afford to upgrade in order to enjoy flight sim? Are there many out there like me? I wonder. now you guys posted the specs of the symstem that you are running......and you guys posted that you changed this and changed that..... look i don't know much about computers, i just plug and chug. Yes i know the basics, but without professional help i'm not going to alter any settings. Now my point is, when i purchased 2002, i was assured that my pc was more than ready to run this game, without any alteration. I'm like some women who just get into their car, once it starts i'm good:-) now don't go telling me about fine tuning this and that, i know there must be a way to fix the problem, my things is that i shouldn't have to....i dind't have to do that to Quake or any other games that i have. I'm saying that i was decieved into buying this game, asuming that i was going to get the real deal... i don't speak alone here. congrats to you who can fix your pc with one hand tied behind you back. i can't!
So i guess i'm wrong here
Sorry!

Sean

[Jeff S KDTW]

Sean-

ALthough, I'm choosing to stay out of this debate, I will ask that you contain it to one thread. Otherwise, it makes this forum a bit choppy. Unless someone knows that what you are referring to above was contained in two other threads, they will be very confused.

Anyway, hope you have fun with this one. ;-)

[hr color=gray]http://home.earthlink.net/~snyders2000/ga.jpg

[mll]

see todays post at 11:46am

Take care

[fbass]

Be cool Sean. Take a deep breath and relax. Not everyone in the universe is a "gearhead."

For starters, FS2002 is way beyond a game. This is a very technical program. If you use Notepad and look into the *.cfg files you will see some very high-level programming statements. I can assure you that there is some very sophisticated code behind those statements.

It takes time to be comfortable with this system. There is a lot of interaction between the application and the operating system. There are hardware interfaces between display devices, joysticks, sound cards, computer memory, and such.

If you've had any experience with PCs you know that one cannot predict how software will run under a particular configuration. Some of the people in this forum are running early Pentium processors and some or running 2.2GHz models. Some can run FS2002 at resolutions that make many monitors bleed from the seams.

When you ask if what you have (system wise) will run FS2002 I will tell you absolutely (unless you have a 386). Do you expect to run it and everything works the first time without problem - probably not. There is always something to tinker with.

You need to run down your problems one by one. Everyone out there has done it. Some want you to believe they have been experts forever - WRONG. Everyone one of those people started out being afraid of touching the keyboard just like everyone else. So, don't feel alone.

The steps you need to follow are as follows.

1. Right-click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop. In the dialog box, select "Properties." Then select "Hardware Manager."

2. The dialog box that displays has a list of every hardware device you have in the system. Notice there is a "+" sign next to each one. Using your mouse, start clicking the "+" signs of your display and driver, your monitor, and any game devices you have such as joysticks. Make sure that everything you have is what it is supposed to be. Labels are correct, drivers are correct, etc.

3. Next, if you purchased a package system, how much memory did you get. The minimum is 128Mb of memory to run this application and more IS BETTER. I run 256Mb and it works fine. Some people say more but that's life.

4. Look at your system tray. What probrams are running in the background. If you don't need stuff, right-click the icons and disable them for your FS2002 session. They will come back when you reboot the next time.

5. Some people say that the SB Live sound card causes problems with FS2002. I don't know myself because I use a USB Plantronics headset and I disable the sound card while I'm flying. You may not be able to do this. Just know some people say its a problem.

6. Another group says that virus protection software is a problem. I run McAfee while I'm flying and it doesn't bother my system. But, I have 256Mb of memory.

7. Next, go the the "Start" button and click it. Select "Settings" and select the "Control Panel." Click the "Display" icon and see what resolution you are running the graphics card in. I run 1024x768 all the time - 32-bit color. You may run at some other resolution. In my opinion, FS2002 needs 1024 to look good - even higher if you have enough system resources.

8. This next thing is a little scary so I won'd tell you to do this alone. Call your system's tech support and have them walk through your "msconfig" program. What this thing shows you is all the processes that run in the background. There are many more than what shows up in the system tray. WARNING. Unchecking some of these may make your system unusable so seek competent help. I did this with Gateway support and doing just this one step solved a whole bunch of my system's problems. [msconfig is accessed from the "Start" button by selecting "Run" and typing in "msconfig."] The point here is that FS2002 needs every stinkin bit of resources your system can muster.

9. The next thing you need to do is go through the "Tips" portion of this Web site and write down every tip there that is associated with FS2002 performance. You're going to need those tips. What I do is open MS Word to a blank document and minimize it. Then I go through the tips and when I find one I copy it into Word. Later I print it out so I can refer to it while I'm screwing up my flight simulator.

10. Once you have your system optimized and your tips written down, the next thing to do is configure FS2002. When you execute the program you will see a selection screen called "Settings." Select it and look at the entries. I will tell you right now that no one on this planet knows for sure how everything on these menus work together. ITS CALLED HIT AND MISS. You try one setting and another one gets out of whack. You go back and change something else and now nothing works. The operative word here is trial and error. Start with the "Simple" configuration. Its the first entry. These are basically the default settings. Start there and see how the system runs. Read the instructions on how each of these sliders and radio buttons affects FS2002. You just have to take small steps and see what happens. I went a little crazy and maxed out every setting - including the FPS setting. Well some things worked and some not. That life.

11. Try out these setting one at a time to see what the effects are. That is all you can do.

12. The last thing I'll tell you is get the "fsuipc" module that works with FS2002. When you are in a FS2002 flight you can access this from the main window menu bar (hit alt) under Modules. This little doozy has a number of configuration tabs you can use to help you deal with the FS2002 environement. Read the instructions for this module.

I hope some of this has helped. Remain cool.

[KathyPilot]

Gee Frank, you could have charged for that!


I hope it is used and appreciated.



Kathy

[lnuss]

Excellent starter recommendations. As you say, FS2002 will run (if you keep the display settings low) on almost any pentium 2 or better, but it may not run well. But it will generally run better than FS2000 did.

I didn't see the other threads, but if he can't afford something that HAS to be his call -- NO one else can say where his priorities must be. I've known folks who couldn't afford $100 to send their kids to a summer camp, or $30 for a Scout uniform shirt, and it was high on their priority list -- just that they were literally pinching every penny. And a computer system and program have to be lower priority for most folks than camp for the kids.

One other note: learning about computers takes time, effort and persistance. Learning about FS takes a lot more of the same.

Larry N.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...7021de66b9.jpg

[rumpel]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Feb-21-02 AT 01:33PM (EDT)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Feb-21-02 AT 01:29 PM (EDT)[/font]

Sean;

It is not a matter of anyone being wrong.

You will find that there are a lot more people on here who want to be helpful than there are those who get their kicks hurling childish insults from behind the anonymity of the internet, so just ignore the ones in the latter category.

(This was edited because the person who posted the message that inspired that comment just deleted it, or the moderator did. It was right above this one originally. Good judgement either way.)

You will not be able to fly FS2002 with everything at the max with your computer, but it can be set up to fly FS2002 satisfactorily if you follow the advice in the posts to you. Just take your time, and take heed of what the guys are advising you to do. If you cannot do these things yourself, you may be required to find a friend locally who is willing to help.

And, as advised, please don't change headings in the middle of a thread. That screws everyone up.

Regards, Good Luck,

Rumpel

[natman1]

Unfournatly it seems to be a trend for sim/gaming titles to need some tweaking before they will run on a particular system theses days. Case in point is my latest purchase since FS. The preferred specs for this sim is as printed on the box. Pent 3 800,128RAM 32 MB video card. I wont even bore you with the minimum specs but unless you are into slide shows they are a joke and in my opinion misleading to the average Joe PC user that makes up the majority of buyers. Gone are the days of install it play it.

Ok new title so off to their forum. Guess what. Complaints about lock ups, poor performance etc. Many coming form people with high-end machines whom are unfortunate enough to have a hardware combination or configuration that the software doesn’t like. It’s apparent to me now that this is not just confined to FS.

So here is one alternative for those who don’t have the time or feel they are not techno savvy enough to tweak their machines. I know this may be a dirty word to some people on this forum but here goes. Console system.

I am aware that one of these systems wont run flight sim but most titles will have a console system release and with multyplayer capabilities for these systems there is no reason not to go this route.

Of course I wouldn’t be caught dead with one of those pieces of crap in my house. To me it would be an admission of defeat and I can’t have that. Console systems are on the shelves and much cheaper than PCs. So if you “just want it to work” go grab yourself one. No offense intended. In some ways I can understand were you are coming from.

[twinotter]

hey guys! ..well all that offered their help. God knows i've been trying to help myslef with my PC and FS 2002, what i will do is to have a freind come over and read the post frank placed and maybe that will help

Thanks Much

Sean

[ve3ega]

Sean,

Like previous posts indicate.. there is a lot of help here if you need it, best to identify one problem at a time and then ask for advice.. not a whole bunch of problems 'cos you will get a whole bunch of potential solutions....

For what it's worth FS2002 WILL run WELL on low-end systems (polite way geeks refer to anything lower than a P3! :))

I have a P2, 350MB with 393MB of RAM (but it ran ok on less!!) and recently upgraded my video card from a TNT2 32MB to a GeForce 2 MX400 (minor differences!)...

I dont know what you are running but I can tell you that updating drivers such as DirectX, and video will improve your FS2002.... whether you want to go to this length is a personal choice.... FS2002 is of course resource intensive but is also (reasonably) forgiving.... the display and hardware sliders can make a lot of difference to what you see and how it performs... so, as previously recommended, dont Max everything out from the get-go!

Remember, Try and test!....

worst case, you can always return the game for something else if you decide it's not worth your time and effort!

FS2002 has (like its predecessors) gained a tremendous following.. so help is out here..

Good luck and enjoy!

Terry