Comments on: Meshes, Memory, Drivers, and Betas

By: Ben Supnik

Ben Supnik — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:02:32 +0000

In reply to NLS. You have an odd sense of fun! :-)

By: NLS

NLS — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:48:51 +0000

In reply to Ben Supnik. Actually reinstalling Windows is quite fun. Cleans up a messed registry etc. I find myself no reinstalling cr*p apps/games after reinstall, although I make sure to keep old profiles (for crucial parameters or save games etc.). System works fine for years now.

By: Philippe Malenfant

Philippe Malenfant — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:58:51 +0000

You never run out of address space, but there is never more memory than what the installed SIMMS provide.

PhM

By: AMD performance issues addressed again at Caffeinated Aviator

AMD performance issues addressed again at Caffeinated Aviator — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:26:38 +0000

[…] So I can’t give you any new news on ATI Windows performance, and I am sorry about that. I can only say that it is my top priority. [source] […]

By: Ben Supnik

Ben Supnik — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:24:35 +0000

In reply to David M.

Right!! – on win7-64 the limit for X-Plane is 4 GB – that’s the highest limit for any OS for a 32-bit app. And since the drivers often keep textures out of process address space, the driver is using less of our space too. The combination means that I pretty much never run my win7-64 machine out of memory.

If you have a 32-bit windows install, think about 64-bit, because when we go 64-bit in the app, you’ll need the OS anyway!

By: Ben Supnik

Ben Supnik — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:22:46 +0000

In reply to Stanisław Halik. Nothing is _problematic_ (e.g. impossible) - it is just work that has to be done!

By: David M

David M — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:59:03 +0000

Thank Ben – really enjoy your updates.

I switched to Win 7 64 bit when I built a new computer. I really encourage anybody to make the switch to 64 bit OS sooner than later. Even though all my programs are 32 bit, the 64 bit OS does a wonderful job of using all of the 8gb of RAM I have on board – so X-plane can have all 4gbs and web browsers and other programs are pushed into other address spaces.

Most drivers updated to 64 bit without problem – the only problem driver was for my scanner. The company would not release a 64 bit driver for it (probably the technology wouldn’t support it), so I had to buy a new scanner.

By: Chris Strosser

Chris Strosser — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:04:00 +0000

In reply to patrick bureau.

I have been monitoring the Guru3D and AMD forums, and let me be the first to say that you are not alone. There’s something wrong with the newest Catalyst driver(s), which causes Windows to crash. I have received multiple BSODs since the March 7th update. I haven’t personally done this yet, but many have reverted to the previous release, which was stable. For the 7xxx series, some have recommended the RC11 drivers.

Also, make sure you submit driver feedback to AMD:
http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D27E29B0E3

By: Stanisław Halik

Stanisław Halik — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 02:56:12 +0000

In reply to Ben Supnik.

Thank you for the answer.

Let me ask about one more thing – what’s problematic about 64-bit support? Is it sizeof(long) being 4 on 64-bit Windows? Or some issue unrelated to code quality?

Anyway, great job on the sim – It’s nice to see it after the PC flight-simulator golden age is so long gone…

By: Flightime56

Flightime56 — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 02:31:21 +0000

In reply to Ben Supnik. Will do, but it has to happen as i can't just make it happen, It was not a bug report as I was just relating to the RC2 release....