FS9 - Nvidia Graphics Card Not Showing Up

[jlpilot 0]

Hi Everyone,I've searched through the forums and haven't found anyone with the same problem (if of course it is actually a problem). My issue is this, I've just bought a new laptop and here are the specs:Intel I3 Core 2.13 GhzWindows 7 64bit4 Gig DDR3 MemoryNvidia Geforce GT 325M 1 Gig graphics cardI thought this system would run FS9 like a dream, especially from the graphics side of it but when I go to flight sim and select the display option, I don't see my Nvidia graphics card listed. The only thing that shows up is an Intel HD internal graphics card. :( On default scenery I get a decent-ish frame rate but even the simplest scenery sends my frame rate down to around 7fps!! Anyone experienced a similar problem?Thanks :(

[ubersu 78]

Hi Everyone,I've searched through the forums and haven't found anyone with the same problem (if of course it is actually a problem). My issue is this, I've just bought a new laptop and here are the specs:Intel I3 Core 2.13 GhzWindows 7 64bit4 Gig DDR3 MemoryNvidia Geforce GT 325M 1 Gig graphics cardI thought this system would run FS9 like a dream, especially from the graphics side of it but when I go to flight sim and select the display option, I don't see my Nvidia graphics card listed. The only thing that shows up is an Intel HD internal graphics card. :( On default scenery I get a decent-ish frame rate but even the simplest scenery sends my frame rate down to around 7fps!! Anyone experienced a similar problem?Thanks :(

Go into the device manager and see if both the internal and nVidia card are enabled. If both are, then disable the internal graphics and reboot. It isn't unusual for systems to ship with both enabled - same thing for add-on sound cards.DJ

[jlpilot 0]

Go into the device manager and see if both the internal and nVidia card are enabled. If both are, then disable the internal graphics and reboot. It isn't unusual for systems to ship with both enabled - same thing for add-on sound cards.DJ

Hi, thanks but that didn't work... My screen just went blank. Both drivers are there in the device menu though... I tried going to the Nvidia control panel and there were options there to make FS9 use the graphics card which I did, but in flight sim itself, it's still only showing the internal HD graphics card....

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,You need to disable the on board video chip in your computer BIOS set up. If you don't, even though you remove it in Windows, each time you boot, Windows will re-install it.

[jlpilot 0]

Hi,You need to disable the on board video chip in your computer BIOS set up. If you don't, even though you remove it in Windows, each time you boot, Windows will re-install it.

Ok I've got no idea how to do that but I'll google it and see what I come up with. One thing though, when I disabled the onboard graphics card, the screen went blank and I thought it should have switched to the Nvidia card but it didn't.. I had to shut it down by holding the power button and when it rebooted, I checked the device manager and the onboard device was still disabled but there were no Nvidia menu options. The resolution went back to 800x600 and the max I could get was 1280x768. When I enabled the onboard and rebooted, everything went back to normal.

[3Green 80]

1. Laptops are NOT designed to be "gaming" platforms. That said, I don't use FS9 as a "gaming" platorm.2. The video chipset on laptops are onboard (built onto the motherboard).RJ

[JSkorna 137]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-325M.24062.0.htmljl,Your modern day laptop will run FS9 very well. I have a 4 year old cheap laptop and can run FS9 at default settings fairly well. Don't give up!Also, give us the brand and model of the laptop.

[3Green 80]

Your modern day laptop will run FS9 very well. I have a 4 year old cheap laptop and can run FS9 at default settings fairly well.

FS9 at default settings??? "fairly" well??What is "fairly" mean with default settings Jim? FS98?Sorry jlpilot, laptops are not for gaming.RJ

[jlpilot 0]

http://www.notebookc...5M.24062.0.htmljl,Your modern day laptop will run FS9 very well. I have a 4 year old cheap laptop and can run FS9 at default settings fairly well. Don't give up!Also, give us the brand and model of the laptop.

Hi Jim,The Laptop I'm using is a MSI FX600. On default settings I do get decent frame rates. It just doesn't seem to be able to handle any scenery when you'd expect a system of that spec to be able to. I'm almost finished installing all my add-ons, I only use payware such as Level D and PMDG and they all seem to be running well. If I continue to get decent frame rates when I install Active Sky Evolution, I may just leave it. It's just really strange that I'm not able to select my Nvidia graphics card.@3green: There are dedicated gaming Laptops out there like Alienware and many others. I do a lot of travelling so I have no choice but to use a laptop. I don't think that a Laptop with 4gigs of ram and a 1 gig graphics card is far off a gaming machine. What are you running?Thanks,Jermaine.

[spokes2112 179]

Maybe this can help, A quote from a NewEgg feedback poster. (NOT VERIFIED OWNER) - "Now for display and graphics quality. The gpu is both dedicated and integrated. I know is sounds confusing, but it is the truth. For less power the computer will use the integrated graphics card that is already in the core i5 cpu. Yes there is a seperate gpu inside of the actual cpu. When you need more power though, it will automatically switch to the dedicated gt 325m graphics card. This switch is really just to save power." This will be a problem for the FS9.cfg as when FS9 is installed the integrated GPU will most likely be the one switched on and therefore detected.. Maybe take a look at your power options to see if you can switch over to the dedicated GPU, then rebuild the FS9.cfg while this one is active. If the above is true, when you start up FS9 there should be no reason why the dedicated should automatically switch on. If not, go back to power options to force the dedicated on during simming.Roman

[ubersu 78]

Hi Jim,The Laptop I'm using is a MSI FX600. On default settings I do get decent frame rates. It just doesn't seem to be able to handle any scenery when you'd expect a system of that spec to be able to. I'm almost finished installing all my add-ons, I only use payware such as Level D and PMDG and they all seem to be running well. If I continue to get decent frame rates when I install Active Sky Evolution, I may just leave it. It's just really strange that I'm not able to select my Nvidia graphics card.@3green: There are dedicated gaming Laptops out there like Alienware and many others. I do a lot of travelling so I have no choice but to use a laptop. I don't think that a Laptop with 4gigs of ram and a 1 gig graphics card is far off a gaming machine. What are you running?Thanks,Jermaine.

Just read the specs on the manufacturer's site - this is a very interesting system. There is no way to disable the onboard graphics so that only the nVidia card is used. However, there is supposed to be a 'gaming' mode that might enable the nVidia graphics to be used when FS runs. You still won't see it as a selection in the FS graphics menu however.DJ

[jlpilot 0]

Just read the specs on the manufacturer's site - this is a very interesting system. There is no way to disable the onboard graphics so that only the nVidia card is used. However, there is supposed to be a 'gaming' mode that might enable the nVidia graphics to be used when FS runs. You still won't see it as a selection in the FS graphics menu however.DJ

Hey, thanks for the info... After going to the MSI website I found another feature that increases perfomance called the turbo button...Apparently this overclocks the processor (or something like that) Pretty good! http://www.msi.com/i...35&prod_no=2122As for the graphics side of it, like some of you suggested, I went to the power settings and put the sliders to maximum performance. I also went to the Nvidia control panel and made sure that the Nvidia card is the default card for FS9. As you said, it won't show up in FS9 but there seems to be a definite improvement in appearance. Wether or not it's switching to the Nvidia card i don't know but I can live with what I'm getting at the moment. At and around Las Vegas area on default scenery, I got between 40 and 60 Frames per second. I'll retry the scenery and see how that goes.One thing I did notice too was that the graphics seemed better in full screen mode rather than in windowed mode... The frame rates seemed to go up to when I ran it full screen.Thanks for everyone's replies!

[JSkorna 137]

Excellent! Glad you didn't listen to the doom and gloom and stuck with it!! Yes, full screen will take full advantage of all the features of the graphics system.