Hi all..

I've had a Sony GR215 for some time, and although I never bought it for FS, I have tried FS2002 on it. The frame rate leaves a lot to be desired, but 12 to the occasional 20 fps is flyable, just - but when I switch on the sound, I get 1-2 fps, occasionally 3:-(

I've tried the mod that Alan reminded me of (thanks Alan)...

(SOUND) <-- Square brackets, of course
Channels=1
SamplesPerSec=22050

but it does not appear to make any difference. I've also tried SamplesPerSec=11025.

I'm currently having to rely on this machine a lot, due to commitments away from home, so I'd like to see if I can improve on those fps with audio. The 15 inch screen does give a superb display, but it would be nice to have some sound <g>

Does anyone have any ideas I can try ?

Here's some specs..
----------------------------------------------
Sony PCG-GR215MP
Pentium III Mobile CPU 1000MHz 256Mb RAM

Display Adapter ATI Mobility Radeon
(On PCI bus 1)
Details:
ASIC Type: M6
ASIC ID: 4c59
Bus type: AGP 1X, AGP 2X, AGP 4X
BIOS ver: 005.000.006.002
BIOS Date: 2001/08/29

Memory size: 16.0 M
Memory Type: DDR SGRAM / SDRAM

Driver file: ati2dvag.dll
Release ver: 7.59.01-010828m-1175E-Sony

Sound Card: SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio
Manufacturer Analog Devices Inc
Location PCI Bus 0, Device 31, function 5

I've also changed the paging file for Drive C: from 384 to 500Mb. No change.

------------------------------------------------------------

Having had absolutely no experience with these machines, is it possible that a sound chip can take so much processing power from the CPU ? If so, is there a way around it, say, for a minimum sound quality for FS2002 ? (I'm not really expecting high quality audio, of course, still having memories of FS1 and FS3 sound quality <g>

Thanks...

Regards
BillC

-= VPC OffLine Reader 2.1 =-
Registered to: Bill Cusick
-OLR.PL v1.80-

• RE: Laptop Sound,Ben_Chiu, 19:43z, 03-02-03
  • RE: Laptop Sound,BillC, 20:08z, 03-04-03
    • RE: Laptop Sound,DylanK, 20:36z, 03-06-03
      • RE: Laptop Sound,BillC, 10:55z, 03-15-03
• RE: Laptop Sound,AlanParkinson, 01:22z, 03-12-03
  • RE: Laptop Sound,BillC, 07:36z, 03-19-03
• RE: Laptop Sound,DylanK, 08:53z, 03-14-03

Greetings Bill:

> Sound Card: SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio
> Manufacturer Analog Devices Inc
> Location PCI Bus 0, Device 31, function 5
>
> Having had absolutely no experience with these machines, is it possible
> that a sound chip can take so much processing power from the CPU ?

I'm not familiar with that particular chipset, but from the name, it sounds like (pardon the pun!) it relies on the CPU for processing power, so it is possible.

> If so, is there a way around it, say, for a minimum sound quality for
> FS2002 ? (I'm not really expecting high quality audio, of course, still
> having memories of FS1 and FS3 sound quality <g>

Have you tried playing with the sound hardware acceleration slider? Also have you tried reducing the sounds in FS2K2 (e.g. tuning engine sounds off for example)? I don't know if that'll help, but it's worth a shot.

Hope this helps.

Ben

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Registered to: Ben Chiu
-OLR.PL v1.80-

Hi Ben..

> Have you tried playing with the sound hardware > acceleration slider? Also
> have you tried reducing the sounds in FS2K2 (e.g. > tuning engine sounds
> off for example)? I don't know if that'll help, but > it's worth a shot.

Yes, tried those, and a few other settings, and I am currently playing
around with the sound.cfg in a few of the aircraft sound folders.

This does appear to make some difference - I may edit/search for a
few mono files, just to provide some sort of background engine sound,
without the processing overhead.

It's not that I require sound 'quality' (there's no point when you
consider the quality produced by the laptop speakers), just that I
would like SOME audio <g>. I have already found a couple of aircraft
for FS2002, with what appears to be a simpler sound config, which
knocks up the FR a little.

I have even installed the 3 gigs of UK VFR scenery for FS2002, with
its 9 to 10 minutes of loading time when changing flights - and that's
without 'extended textures' ticked <g>. (that's why I would prefer
to retain FS2002 on this machine).

I've also installed FS98 - that's how desperate I am !
Funny, though, returning to FS98 and those 'square' polygon clouds -
seems so 'old'.

I'm spending about one week in four away from home, due to family
illness, so I need FS now and again.

The laptop gives a beautiful screen image with FS2002, so it is very
tempting to try and retain FS2002 and use that instead of FS98 <g>

Also done the usual, like downloaded the latest audio drivers etc. I
do not wish to wreck the curent setup, but I may be tempted to try a
reformat and start from scratch. A little drastic, but I consider that
I'm well qualified to do that.

I'll keep trying. I suspect the answer lies in much simpler sound.cfg
files for each aircraft.

Thanks for your reply.

Regards
Bill C

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Registered to: Bill Cusick
-OLR.PL v1.80-

Ran into this problem with a desktop machine with a rather 3rd party integrated sound system.
Try to update your directx, only other thing I can advise is to check out driverguide.com and try to obtain unofficial drivers.
Hope this works!
-Dylan

Hi Dylan..

Sorry for the late reply - I'm a little busy of late - cannot seem to
find the time !

Thanks for responding.

Reminds me of a conversation I've had a few times on the forums re being
'retired' <g>. I've never been so busy...

>> Ran into this problem with a desktop machine with a rather 3rd party
integrated sound system.... Try to update your directx, only other
thing I can advise is to check out driverguide.com and try to obtain
unofficial drivers.<<

Thanks Dylan - I'll try that site. The unfortunate part about fiddling with
this laptop is that Sony and their ilk appear to consider their customers
as 'computer illiterate' types, so from what I've seen so far with the
software, it is a 'restore' from the CDs or nothing.

As I mentioned, I'm very tempted to wipe the HD, and install my own
config. I suppose that I can always return to the Sony 'default' should
it be necessary.

Thanks !

Regards
Bill

-= VPC OffLine Reader 2.1 =-
Registered to: Bill Cusick
-OLR.PL v1.80-

Hi Bill,

>I've tried the mod that Alan reminded me of (thanks
>Alan)...
>
>(SOUND) <-- Square brackets, of course
>Channels=1
>SamplesPerSec=22050

I'm glad you mentioned that - I was thinking only yesterday that I needed to try it myself.

I've not really got much in the way of useful advice, except perhaps that if you can disable the internal sound in BIOS, then you might be able to fit a higher performance sound card in the form of a PCMCIA card. There's a very good, professional one we sell at work, whose name completely escapes me for the moment. It's pricey, and may not be entirely appropriate - £500+ and balanced ins and outs on XLR connectors (Digigram VX Pocket). There's also the Echo Indigo at around the £ton - much more reasonable (www.echoaudio.com). As these are intended as professional recording systems, they won't come with joystick ports, you'd need to use USB, but then you used to be a keyboard flyer so even that may not be necessary .

This is the first time I've visited here since Christmas, I've been suffering major trauma - my FS drive decided to fail, eventually got a new drive installed, decided to upgrade the operating system (for "upgrade", read "downgrade"), and finally put the old FS back this weekend.

You may remember I was running FS98 on Win98, and before that on NT4. On Win98 I was getting excellent frame rates on this clockwork computer - around 23fps in 3D mode. On NT, although it was much slower because the card couldn't run in 3D mode, it was delightfully smooth.

Now, on Win2000 pro, I'm getting 4.1 fps in 3D mode with the scenery density at its minimum setting - it is totally unusable. Running the graphics card in 2D in a window gives about 18 fps at minimum scenery density, with a horrible looking display.

I decided to try the copy of FS2000 that I won at Brum a couple of years back, hoping beyond hope that it might be more suited to Windows 2k than FS98 is. It is, about 25% better than FS98 - the opposite of what happened under Windows98.

I've done a bit of investigation tonight, and found that it's having the instrument panel visible (in FS98) that is nobbling the performance. If I drag the panel down off the bottom of the screen, so that just the padding aroung the top shows, my frame rate shoots up from 3-4 to anything upto 33 fps.

In FS2000, dragging the panel off the screen makes absolutely no difference to the fps figures.

Either Windows 2000 Pro or the graphics card driver (the latest Windows certified nVidia ref. driver at guru3d a couple of weeks ago) does not like FS98.

These figures are after running Enditall 2 - don't like it - the first version was much more user friendly, and did exactly what it said on the tin. Being new to Win 2000, I may not have shut down all the services necessary to get a decent performance. More time-consuming experimentation with this is required, to see what can be shut down, and what is needed to keep the machine running.

Alan - still to retrieve the OLR from the duff drive

Hi Alan & Dylan..

>>in BIOS, > then you might be
> able to fit a higher performance sound card in the > form of a PCMCIA
> card. There's a very good, professional one we sell at > work, whose name
> completely escapes me for the moment. It's pricey, and > may not be
> entirely appropriate - £500+ and balanced ins and outs > on XLR connectors
> (Digigram VX Pocket). There's also the Echo Indigo at > around the £ton -
> much more reasonable (www.echoaudio.com). As these are > intended as
> professional recording systems, they won't come with > joystick ports,
> you'd need to use USB, but then you used to be a > keyboard flyer so even
> that may not be necessary .
>
> This is the first time I've visited here since > Christmas, I've been
> suffering major trauma - my FS drive decided to fail, > eventually got a
> new drive installed, decided to upgrade the operating > system (for
> "upgrade", read "downgrade"), and finally put the old > FS back this
> weekend.
>
> You may remember I was running FS98 on Win98, and > before that on NT4. On
> Win98 I was getting excellent frame rates on this > clockwork computer -
> around 23fps in 3D mode. On NT, although it was much > slower because the
> card couldn't run in 3D mode, it was delightfully > smooth.
>
> Now, on Win2000 pro, I'm getting 4.1 fps in 3D mode > with the scenery
> density at its minimum setting - it is totally > unusable. Running the
> graphics card in 2D in a window gives about 18 fps at > minimum scenery
> density, with a horrible looking display.
>
> I decided to try the copy of FS2000 that I won at Brum > a couple of years
> back, hoping beyond hope that it might be more suited > to Windows 2k than
> FS98 is. It is, about 25% better than FS98 - the > opposite of what
> happened under Windows98.
>
> I've done a bit of investigation tonight, and found > that it's having the
> instrument panel visible (in FS98) that is nobbling > the performance. If
> I drag the panel down off the bottom of the screen, so > that just the
> padding aroung the top shows, my frame rate shoots up > from 3-4 to
> anything upto 33 fps.
>
> In FS2000, dragging the panel off the screen makes > absolutely no
> difference to the fps figures.
>
> Either Windows 2000 Pro or the graphics card driver > (the latest Windows
> certified nVidia ref. driver at guru3d a couple of > weeks ago) does not
> like FS98.
>
> These figures are after running Enditall 2 - don't > like it - the first
> version was much more user friendly, and did exactly > what it said on the
> tin. Being new to Win 2000, I may not have shut down > all the services
> necessary to get a decent performance. More > time-consuming
> experimentation with this is required, to see what can > be shut down, and
> what is needed to keep the machine running.
>
> Alan - still to retrieve the OLR from the duff drive
Hi Alan & Dylan..

-= VPC OffLine Reader 2.1 =-
Registered to: Bill Cusick
-OLR.PL v1.80-

Speaking on external laptop sound cards, although a bit extreme creative realeased the Sound Blaster Extigy (A USB 2 Version of the award winning Audigy) a few months ago.

I believe its running from the 150$-230$ range and is quite the card. Recent reviews etc have given it some good praise as it not only does it sound but also perform excellent.

www.creative.com

-Dylan