RealFlight G3 graphics card support

no shadows under my aircraft

I posted a tread earlier. and they said I need to post it here. There is a slight problem with my game, there are no shadows under my aircraft. I have an Integrated Intel Graphic Media Accelerator 900, graphic card, 80 gig harddrive, with XP home service pack 2. Please help if you can.
 
I doubt seriously that graphic ard is capable of rendering shadows. Integrated cards are generally not designed for 3d applications
 
no problems

It is no big thing really, if you download any one of my recording you'll see I find the ground just fine. It would just look better with the shadows, thats all. Thanks again.
 
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St8kout said:
I couldn't justify buying another computer just to run a sim.


...which is exactly what I did. It was time, and the G3.5 is what pushed me over the edge. I purposely bought something that I knew would run ANYTHING I could throw at it. This new puter is awesome and G3.5 is as well...shadows, details, scenery...it's all good!

Intel Pentium D 3.4Ghz Dual Core
2 GB DDR2 Memory
256 MB nVidia Ge-Force 7300GT PCI Express Video Card
250 GB Hard Drive
Windows XP Home (My Preference)

I found a company in Cleveland that puts these things together per your specs. Cost was 765.00 for PC, mouse, keyboard and shipping. Killer Puter!!!
 
opjose said:
No such animal.

A Pentium D is not a Core Dual processor.


I only know what I read...and the fact that it runs G3.5 flawlessly!

Read up... http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PD-945BOX

Product Info:

Specification
* Mfr Part Number: BX80553945,BX80553945R
* Process Type: Intel Pentium D processor 945
* Frequency: 3.40 GHz
* FSB: 800 MHz
* Cache: 4 MB
* Process: 65 nm
* Socket: Socket 775
* Power Consumption: 95 W
* Package: Retail
* This processor is a Dual-Core processor
* This processor supports Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T)
* This processor supports Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology
* This processor supports Execute Disable Bit Technology
 
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Pentium D, 7300

Glad you are having good luck with that config. Indeed, Intel says that your processor is,

"Revved up multitasking
With an Intel Pentium D processor-based PC featuring two full processing cores, you get the flexibility and performance to handle multimedia entertainment, digital photo editing, even multiple users, simultaneously."
and
"The Intel Pentium D processor-based PC with Intel dual-core processing technology provides the performance to take advantage of sophisticated gaming software which can result in realistic game environments and challenging game play."

They clearly state the fact that it has two full processing cores in multiple places on their web pages.

Just goes to show that G3.5 does not require the most modern processor and high end video card to run great.

Enjoy!
 
The "Core 2 Duo" processors and the "Pentium D" processors are completely different beasts.

e.g. a Core 2 Duo 1.86ghz processor will run faster than a 3.4gHz Pentium D.

At the moment no 3.4gHz Core 2 Duo processor exists.
 
opjose said:
The "Core 2 Duo" processors and the "Pentium D" processors are completely different beasts.

e.g. a Core 2 Duo 1.86ghz processor will run faster than a 3.4gHz Pentium D.

At the moment no 3.4gHz Core 2 Duo processor exists.

Semantics. He never said he had a Core 2 Duo processor. He said he had a "dual core" which is exactly what he has. This is, as you say, entirely different from a Core 2 Duo chip and you can not compare chip processor speeds between the two.

No need to discuss further.
 
System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 510MB RAM
DX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X (Microsoft Corporation)
MFR: NVIDIA
Version: 6.14.0010.5673 (English)
Date: 8/4/2004 08:56:44, 4274816 bytes
CD-ROM (?:\) HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8483B (?)
CD-ROM (?:\) HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B (?)
Installed in: C:\Program Files\RealFlightG3
Free Disk Space (C:\): 94277 mb free
Launcher Version: 1.00.192
RealFlight G3: 3.50.060


Guys,

Can anyone recommend a good video card upgrade for my Dell
and where to purchase one?

Thanks,
Wig :)
 
When are you going to update the compatibility list?

The compatibility list has not been updated for a couple of years. Most of the cards that I'm interested in purchasing, high end graphics cards with HDMI interfaces, don't appear to be supported in your list.

Also, my Sapphire X1600 Pro HDMI interface *used* to work with Real Flight G3.5 until very recently. Now, my whole computer crawls once I run RealFlight. It seems to hose my computer. I read somewhere that my card is not supported on RealFlight G3.

How are we supposed to buy the correct card? I'm not a gamer, so I read 'support for Direct X 9.0' on the box, I expect it to work.

Frustrated as hell by the state of the video card industry,
Chris Shaker



Ryan Douglas said:
The RealFlight G3 video card compatibility chart is now available on our website. For each card, we indicate whether it is tested, whether or not it works with G3, and the year the card was introduced. Please refer to the key at the top of the chart for more information.
 
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cjshaker said:
How are we supposed to buy the correct card? I'm not a gamer, so I read 'support for Direct X 9.0' on the box, I expect it to work.

Frustrated as hell by the state of the video card industry,
Chris Shaker

Most (if not all) fully compliant DX9 or DX10 cards work just fine with G3.

The problem is that most video cards manufacturers *cough*misrepresent*cough* DX9 compliance or the end users make the mistake of assuming that if they have DX9 installed, that their card is DX9 compliant.

Your Sapphire may need updated ( or older ) revision drivers to work properly with G3.

If it ran before, and now seems to crawl, you may have a video device setting issue... caused by a driver update or even a Windows Update...

It may also be something that may not be readitly apparent to you.

e.g. turning OFF V-sync on your video card is known to improve performance GREATLY.


The problem is that often some of these settings are hidden from the end user.

You may want to try downloading some of the video card tweak utilities to help...

e.g. the ATI video tweakers, etc.

Turn off V-Sync and choose "performance" features for your card.
 
Works fine in 'full screen' mode, sucks in Window mode

First off, thank you for replying, and suggesting solutions. I appreciate it.

The problem was that it took about 2 seconds to draw each frame. Loading airport objects at startup was really slow, too.

After reading another post talking about how on-board sound interfaces can be a problem, I went into town and got a new Creative X-Fi sound card. Did not help.

I reloaded the June version of Direct X 9. Didn't help.

I updated the Catalyst drivers for the ATI card to the latest version, 7.10. Did not help. Ensured that the VGA card is *not* overheating, ie - fan is working, and Catlyst software says that temp is ok.

I used the RealFlight launcher to reload the latest version of G3.5 over top of my install, and it did not help.

After reading your note, I just updated the RealFlight G3.5 graphics settings to turn off Vertical Sync. Did not help.

Went into Catalyst and set everything for 'performance'. Did not help.

However, finally tried 'full screen' mode, and everything is working fine that way. I can even run in 1920x1080 32 bit mode, and it works fine. So, at least I can fly again on this PC.

Does that mean that the drivers and Direct X have a problem talking to each other?

Thank you,
Chris Shaker



opjose said:
Most (if not all) fully compliant DX9 or DX10 cards work just fine with G3.

The problem is that most video cards manufacturers *cough*misrepresent*cough* DX9 compliance or the end users make the mistake of assuming that if they have DX9 installed, that their card is DX9 compliant.

Your Sapphire may need updated ( or older ) revision drivers to work properly with G3.

If it ran before, and now seems to crawl, you may have a video device setting issue... caused by a driver update or even a Windows Update...

It may also be something that may not be readitly apparent to you.

e.g. turning OFF V-sync on your video card is known to improve performance GREATLY.


The problem is that often some of these settings are hidden from the end user.

You may want to try downloading some of the video card tweak utilities to help...

e.g. the ATI video tweakers, etc.

Turn off V-Sync and choose "performance" features for your card.
 
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cjshaker said:
However, finally tried 'full screen' mode, and everything is working fine that way. I can even run in 1920x1080 32 bit mode, and it works fine. So, at least I can fly again on this PC.

Does that mean that the drivers and Direct X have a problem talking to each other?


You didn't mention you desktop resolution nor the amount of video RAM available.

Windows is able to "save" the desktop off into a main memory buffer when it goes into "full screen" mode.

It sounds like you had the default desktop resolution so high that you are using all of the available vram.

The graphics card did/does not have enough memory for the next few frames it must render...

You could try lowering your desktop resolution. I'll bet you'll find that G3 will run faster this way.
 
More information

My WinXP desktop resolution is 1360x768 at 32 bits. My Sapphire has 256 MB of RAM.

I just tried reducing it to 1024x768, and it still had the 2 seconds per frame (or more) problem.

Thank you!
Chris Shaker


opjose said:
You didn't mention you desktop resolution nor the amount of video RAM available.

Windows is able to "save" the desktop off into a main memory buffer when it goes into "full screen" mode.

It sounds like you had the default desktop resolution so high that you are using all of the available vram.

The graphics card did/does not have enough memory for the next few frames it must render...

You could try lowering your desktop resolution. I'll bet you'll find that G3 will run faster this way.
 
cjshaker said:
My WinXP desktop resolution is 1360x768 at 32 bits. My Sapphire has 256 MB of RAM.

I just tried reducing it to 1024x768, and it still had the 2 seconds per frame (or more) problem.

Thank you!
Chris Shaker

Then there is a DX9 problem...

The card is not rendering in 3D when the system is running in Windowed mode, only in full screen mode.

You may want to try re-installing the video card drivers ( preferably the latest ones available! ), rebooting and then going to Microsoft's site and downloading the DX9c "redistributable" file.

Run the file to re-install DX9c, reboot again, then try G3.
 
DirectX not working in windows mode

I've done those steps yesterday, but I'll try them again.

I've tried the June and August 2007 versions of DirectX
'redristributable', and the latest version of drivers for my
card.

I have *not* yet tried older versions of the drivers for my
card. Probably I should bug ATI or Microsoft about this problem...

I picked up a new Nvidia based ASUS EN8600GT card at
the local computer shop as a spare. If I am willing to burn
another WinXP activation, I could try swapping video cards
out.

Thank you,
Chris Shaker



opjose said:
Then there is a DX9 problem...

The card is not rendering in 3D when the system is running in Windowed mode, only in full screen mode.

You may want to try re-installing the video card drivers ( preferably the latest ones available! ), rebooting and then going to Microsoft's site and downloading the DX9c "redistributable" file.

Run the file to re-install DX9c, reboot again, then try G3.
 
cjshaker said:
I've done those steps yesterday, but I'll try them again.

I've tried the June and August 2007 versions of DirectX
'redristributable', and the latest version of drivers for my
card.

I have *not* yet tried older versions of the drivers for my
card. Probably I should bug ATI or Microsoft about this problem...

I picked up a new Nvidia based ASUS EN8600GT card at
the local computer shop as a spare. If I am willing to burn
another WinXP activation, I could try swapping video cards
out.

Thank you,
Chris Shaker

Swapping cards should not require a new activation, as you are not changing the motherboard or MAC address of your system.

Before swapping the cards, download the latest drivers for your new card, UNINSTALL the current video drivers. then shut down and swap the cards.

Skip the wizard dialog when the system comes up and install the downloaded drivers.
 
Wonder if the BIOS is related to the slow windows redraw rate?

After WinXP updates a couple of weeks ago, and some change I made to BIOS, my machine burned up another activation. For some reason, the BIOS decided to remap devices in memory. That caused windows to think that my hardware had changed. I'm not sure how I caused it to do that. I learned about the device addresses changing from the Windows system log. Wanted to know what WinXP was complaining about.

Is there some BIOS setting that I could have screwed up which could cause the graphics to run slow in Windows, yet be fast when full screen?

Sounds good. I'll try the Nvidia card soon, if I can't find a problem in my BIOS config.

Thank you for the help,
Chris Shaker



opjose said:
Swapping cards should not require a new activation, as you are not changing the motherboard or MAC address of your system.

Before swapping the cards, download the latest drivers for your new card, UNINSTALL the current video drivers. then shut down and swap the cards.

Skip the wizard dialog when the system comes up and install the downloaded drivers.
 
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