Swedflight

Q: Even in FS98 there are memory problems sometimes. How can I get more memory for the simulator?

A: If you download the patch program PATCH SET 1 from Microsoft you will, among other things, increase the internal memory buffer that is used by the Flight Simulator from 256 kB to 512 kB. This program can be downloaded from Microsoft - or if you are a Scandinavian user you can by preference go to the FlightSim.no. pages. There you can at the same time also download the Aircraft Converter and a lot of other useful extra utilities. The adress is on our Link page.

Q: How can I see the actual frame rate on the screen?

A: In FS5.1 and FS95, press Ctrl-Z four times and you can see the framerate figure in the upper part of the screen. In FS98 press Ctrl-Z two times.

Q: The new Cessna panel in FS98 is much higher than the old one. How can I improve the sight out of the window?

A. Press Ctrl-Enter one or more times (Pan Up) to look out from a higher viewpoint. Press Ctrl-Backspace (Pan Down) to lower the viewpoint again. The same command can also be used in FS5.1 and FS95.

Q: How do I improve the frame rate?

A: The frame rate (frames/sec) depends on several factors:

the speed of the processor
the capacity of the graphic card
the complexity of the scenery
the resolution of the picture on the screen
the complexity of the aircraft panel used

SWEDFLIGHT is a quite complex scenery. In this first version, most of the details and objects belong to the scenery outside the airports, with a lot of mountains, lakes, islands and roads. Next version will also have a lot of detailed airports. For every picture or frame of this that is shown on the screen, the computer must do a lot of calculations that takes some time and resources from the processor. The faster the processor and the graphic card are, the better will the frame rate be.

All these objects look absolutely best if you have FS98 or FS95, a fast computer (at least 166 MHz) and 800x600 as the screen resolution. If you don't have that equipment you can still use SWEDFLIGHT of course and still have a lot of fun with it. But especially near the very detailed airports it can be difficult to keep up the frame rate at a reasonable level. To be able to land at an airport with accuracy, precision and the right feeling of the plane, you must have a frame rate of at least 5-6.

Read the following advice to get the most also out of slower and older hardware:

If you have less than P166 and 24-32 MB of memory, use 640x480 as the screen resolution instead, at least in the neighbourhood of airports. (Press Alt-Enter in FS98/FS95 to change mode.)
Do not use some of the new panels that are developed with the latest tools from Microsoft. These panels are very complicated and need a lot of power and calculations from the processor - which results in a lower frame rate.
Turn off ground scenery shadows (you will earn 15-20% directly)
Turn off textured water. SWEDFLIGHT contains thousands of bigger and smaller lakes plus the very long coast of Sweden. Textured water requires a lot of processing power. Many of us also like the appearance of the scenery better without the texturing - but that is a matter of taste of course.
SWEDFLIGHT is built so that if you choose the VERY DENSE setting you will see all objects in the scenery. Especially near big and detailed airports we have given some objects a lower density setting. That means that if you choose SPARSE or VERY SPARSE instead, some of the details will disappear - and the frame rate will increase.
If you have a slower machine you must also sacrifice the nice HAZE setting and don't use a lot of clouds (layers etc) in the Weather menu.
To improve the frame rate further, you have to turn off all other extra features under Scenery Display Options, like: Textured ground, buildings and sky, Wispy cloud effect, etc etc.