Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe: Settings

I write this post to answer a question that was asked in youtube.com related to my “flying around” videos.

I have tried the ‘recommended’ settings for the Nvidia graphics cards, these recommendations give you optimal performance (but in my personal opinion) sacrifice some realistic

So, I tried and modified several settings profiles, and finally I came with the following selections. There is no “right” selection, it depends in what you want, but also in what you have(Hardware).

Let me list the specs just as a reference.

My rig:

• AMD 5600+ OC 2.99 MHz
• BFG 8800 GTS OC
• ASUS M2N SLI Deluxe
• Artic Cooling freezer 64 Pro
• 2GB DDR2 800MHz
• Seagate 7200RPM
• OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS PSU

Lets review the FSX settings:

GRAPHICS

Target frame rate: 20
I could set this to unlimited and let program decide which FPS run at. But after testing this option FSX sometimes run at higher FPS levels (60) but also sometimes at lower ones (10). So during these changes -from high FPS to low FPS- I can perceive a difference, so I prefer 20FPS fixed, since I cannot notice any difference at that level.

Full screen resolution: 1440x900x32 (my monitor is 19”, its default res)

Filtering: Trilinear
Anti-aliasing: ON
Global texture resolution: Very high
Lens flare: ON
Light bloom: OFF
Advanced animations: ON
Informational text: Continuous

AIRCRAFT
Default cockpit view: 3-D virtual cockpit
Show cockpit ToolTips: ON
High-Resolution 3-D virtual cockpit: ON
2-d panel transparency (%):0
Aircraft casts shadows on the ground: ON
Aircraft casts shadows on itself: OFF
Aircraft landing-lights illuminate ground: ON

SCENERY
Level of detail radius: Large
Mesh complexity: 100
Mesh resolution: 38m
Textures resolution: 1m
Water effects: High 2.x
It can be mid, or low, it depends, if you have a low proc. Select low, if you have quad select highest.

Land detail textures: ON
Scenery complexity: Extremely dense
It gives you more realistic experience.

Autogen density: Dense
You can set to extremely dense, if you have the latest proc and graphics in the market.
Ground scenery shadows: OFF
Special effects detail: High

Again, it gives more realistic experience because you see a “live” environment, not like you are flying over a “picture”.

WEATHER

Cloud draw distance: 70mi/112km
Thermal visualization: None
Detailed clouds: Selected
Cloud coverage density: High
Download winds aloft data with real-world weather: OFF
Disable turbulence and thermal effects on aircraft: OFF
Rate at which weather changes overtime: Medium

TRAFFIC
Airline traffic density (%): 5
General aviation traffic density (%):5
Airport vehicle density: Minimum
Show aircraft labels: OFF

Road vehicles (%): 40
Some people recommend a lower % (zero or 5%), because this option -at higher levels- consumes a lot of resources, but since I have hardware to run at this specs, so I selected 40. Again, I’m looking for a realistic experience, but also taking in account my hardware specs.

Ships and ferries (%): 10
Leisure boats (%): 10

Most of the settings, if not all, the highest selected, the highest resources eaters. So, as I said before, the optimal settings are the ones that you are comfortable with.