unacceptable frame rates

[klick]

i dont usually ask for help for things such as this, as i try to do as much research as possible and fix things on my own, but i'm pretty stumped here..

i can not get 'normal' frame rates while playing, no matter what i try to do.

I've got IL2FB+AEP installed and patched up to date, and i'm running it on a:
Dell Inspiron 9100 Laptop
512 RAM
3ghz processor
64mb ati mobility radeon 9700
"updated" the graphics drivers from dells website for the card, though they're still quite old i believe.

Currently I've tried setting it up according to the instructions on the graphics setup section for the 9700 pro..

with that set up, its still unplayable in 1024x768.
resized to 800x600 with the same problem
have experimented with the different visual settings in game, such as medium/no clouds, medium visibility, blah blah.
i've pretty much got everything set at medium or low, except for object detail i have at normal.
i havnt played in quite some time, but i remember when I had first gotten the game i could get it to run no problem with little to no loss in frame rate at 1024 x 768 with similiar settings as above.

I've also tried the directx instead of opengl with no luck.

could anyone please give me a few suggestions on what more i might be able to do to get a playable frame rate?

thanks in advance!

[WWSensei]

The problem is the vid card. 64Mb is just really too low. IL2 can drag down a 128MB card. I'd also consider 512MB to be bare minimum as well. In short, you have about the least amount of hardware you can have to play the game (processor is ok though).

What version of IL2 do you have?
Are you running in Excellent mode or Perfect?
Have you turned off AA and AF?

[klick]

The problem is the vid card. 64Mb is just really too low. IL2 can drag down a 128MB card. I'd also consider 512MB to be bare minimum as well. In short, you have about the least amount of hardware you can have to play the game (processor is ok though).

What version of IL2 do you have?
Are you running in Excellent mode or Perfect?
Have you turned off AA and AF?

yeah i do know that 64mb is pretty low for the game. thing is though last time i had it installed on my system i had it running just fine, even with alot of planes in the air at one time. now it seems i cant do a quick mission with 4 planes on each side w/o fps going under 10..

I'm running version 2.04 of FB+AEP
I wish I was able to run the game in excellent or perfect all of my settings are on flat/low with object detail at low or normal.
AA and AF im not sure how to turn them off, but I have my options set all the way to performance side rather than the quality side of things.

i'm beginning to think i should have never uninstalled the game when i wasnt playing it for a bit.

[MaXMhZ]

Another thing you can try is set up a static swap file (minimal=maximum=3GByte) and then defrag the drive.
Also check conf.ini has 3dgunners=0 and not 3dgunners=1
Using CachemanXP might also help. This will cache HD-access and reclaim RAM when possible.

That might help.

[klick]

3dgunners=0, and i will check that cachemanxp

i'm gradually getting my framerates up, hopefully i'll be able to fight soon without watching a slide show

thanks for the help!

[MaXMhZ]

No Problem. Upping your RAM to 1GB or better 2 GB (if possible) will improve performance of IL-2. It might bre worth looking into since RAM has decreased in price considerably over the last year. I would visit a local PC shop and ask what it would cost to let them upgrade to 1GB. Dell itself is quite expensive with $150 - the online shop I order my components has 1GB SO DDR 400
listed at 99€ My own system is a P4 1.7GHz with 1GB DDR 266 (PC2100) and an AGP 4x ATI Radeon 9600 128bit 256MB and runs IL-2 with acceptable framerates when not too many planes are in the air. My processor is the main bottleneck. 20-40 fps when I fly a single plane in QMB (1280x960 on perfect mode with maxed AA and AF)

[klick]

i've actually looked at RAM and was hoping to get some for christmas, but it never happened

the cheapest i could find it was 120 for 1gb which if i save up for a bit i should be able to snag one. i could always charge it though..