limbo696

Well, I'm not sure I'm the best person to answer this question, but I'll give it a shot. I seriously think that a 2.66mhz dual core processor will not run BS2 well since the game seems to be primarily CPU bound. People have been complaining about frame rates with much better systems specs than yours. I'd recommend sticking with BS1 instead.

Welcome to the club BaD CrC; I made a similar comment in another post. Since I'm a noob to the sim and still have lots of training to do, I've actually requested a key for BS1 since it supposedly gets much better frame rates. I've tried the tips 159th Falcon has suggested and again there seems to be no big difference between different graphics settings. (I have been keeping my viewing distances on the low end, however.) I'm not even seeing a difference in frame rates between windowed and full monitor modes. I'm hoping the ED can figure out where the serious bottlenecks are and optimize the game in the near future. Does anybody know if ED is making this problem a priority?

Thanks for the response and I completely agree with the sentiment of the original poster in the 159th message board thread. Since playing around with many different graphics settings does not make a huge difference in framerates (e.g., I do not see much difference between selecting different HDR settings), my impression is that BS2 needs to be optimized better or that the single thread CPU utilization is a serious bottleneck. I've submitted a trouble ticket to ED, so we'll see if I can get BS1 running and how that runs in comparison to BS2.

(Ack...title should read: Bought BS2 and have poor performance...can I get a BS1 key?) I’m getting what I consider to be marginal to unacceptable performance in BS2 based on my very limited experience with the game (see system specs below). I’ve been testing the frame rate sitting on the tarmac in the “Altitude EN" and and I am getting 16-20 FPS. I haven’t’ really figured out how to fly the helicopter yet, so I have not been able to test the FPS extensively (especially with some of the targeting systems running) but changing graphics settings from low to high and searching the forums here for improved performance tips have made very little impact on my overall FPS. I really get the impression that my graphics card is not the bottle neck. Quickly checking some of the instant action missions like “Take off Beslan” yields better performance (~40-50 FPS) but once when I crashed in “Altitude EN” at base, the FPS dropped down to 8 FPS. I’m open to suggestions on this front. I’ve read that BS1 provides significantly better frame rates over BS2, and at this point, I really just want to fly a helicopter sim without frame rate issues. (I also do not wish to spend hundreds of dollars to get a better gaming rig especially given that my system runs all other games I've encountered perfectly fine including 64 player Battlefield 3.) I recently purchased the full version of BS2 directly from ED at full retail. My main question is: Can I also get a BS1 key since BS1 + the BS2 upgrade is the same price as the BS2 full version? Thanks! Computer Specs Poor Performance with BS2…Can I get a BS1 key? Processor: AMD Phenom II X5 965 (3.5 GHZ) Graphics: ATI Radeon 5850 (XFX) Memory: 4 gig DDR3-10666 Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 SSD 120G OS: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate

First, thanks for the helpful responses. I should have mentioned that I will be playing Blackshark 2 (BS2). I also should have mentioned that the Andretti wheel system completely failed to work with the gameport to USB converter because the pedals were detected as digital button press combinations (weird!). I originally planned to use the converter with my old CH Pro Flightstick (gameport version) but the pots are completely shot on it, so I just ended up ordering another joystick which does not use pots (TM 16000). My plan was to directly wire the racing wheel pedal pots to a gameport connector. However, as Rhinox pointed out, this will not work with them simply wired in series. Looks like obtaining or building a circuit board is really the only way to go with getting these pedals to work. I do have another pair of pedals, ACT Labs Performance pedals with separate axes for the gas, brake, and clutch. I originally tried to use these using a two axes solution using the configure axis options in BS2, but I could not get this to work well at all (c.f., http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=52620). BS2 seems to want the rudder to be just on one axis to work well. I do not know if A10C or Lock On work differently. Would assigning say the gas and brake axes of the pedals to the wheel brakes in BS2 really work and act as rudders, Rhinox? I was able to successfully implement Plainsight's solution of setting up a virtual joystick using the PPJOY and GlobePie software, so now I have a functional set of rudder pedals for no cost. Thanks! It took me a few hours to figure out how to do this and here is the basic procedure: 1. Install a virtual joystick with one analog axis using PPJoy device driver (http://ppjoy.blogspot.com/). This is sort of a pain because the driver is unsigned so you need to tell Windows 7 (64 bit) to allow test drivers. Do this by running "cmd" as an administrator and typing in, "bcdedit -set testsigning ON" in the console window. The bad thing about this is that you make your computer more unsecure and you have a test mode build message permanently fixed on the lower right portion of your desktop. 2. Download GlovePie (http://glovepie.org/) and set it up so that the gas pedal and brake (or clutch) work with the virtual joystick above. I found two additional programs that aid in this process. First, use JoyIDS (http://www.wingmanteam.com/latest_software/gadgets.htm#JoyIDs_Utility:) to determine which Windows ID each controller is assigned to. Then you run a GlovePie script written by Lednerg to identify what names your pedals are assigned to (http://glovepie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=808). You then write your own script using a formula similar to the one Plainsight used. Mine looked like this: PPJoy1.Analog0 = .5*Joystick1.yaw - .5*Joystick1.pitch Depending on how the axis is assigned in BS2, you may need to play with the proportions of each joystick axis some. For example, when I set the rudder to be a slider in BS2, I had to bias the left/brake pedal (yaw) slightly more than the right/gas pedal (pitch) for some reason. As a long term project, I may try to get my Andretti pedals working with a circuit board as they have much better action than the Act Lab pedals. One problem with many brake pedals is that they have hardware which creates much more resistance the further the pedal is pressed in. I have trouble geting a 100% depressed value on my Act Labs brake pedal, for example (and the clutch only provided a limited range of values making it useless.) Thanks for the links, Sokol1. The BU0836 http://www.leobodnar.com/products/BU0836/) is another solution and one that could restore my CH Pro throttle to some degree of functionality.

I have some pedals from the Madcatz Andretti Racing Wheel system that have very nice action and ones that I have used for flight simulators in the old days. My problem is that even though this system has a dual gameport and USB connection, Madcatz never updated their drivers to work with Windows 7 (64 bit). My question is how do I best get these pedals to work in Windows 7? The pedals use two different potentiometers for the brake and gas pedals. Is there anyway to wire these in series to a simple game port connection which then would run through a gameport to USB converter box/cable so that they show up together on a single axis and work correctly? I realize that wiring the wires from the pedals to a programmable circuit board (e.g., Mjoy 16) would most likely be a solution but I do not particularly want to spend around $40 on a board for something that may or may not work well nor do I think I have the electronic skills or equipment to build one (c.f., http://home.base.be/verlejan/Mjoy16E.html). This solution might be nice, however, to also get my old CH Pro throttle (game port version) working again. Yes, I'm irritated that my old equipment does not work. Any suggestions would be appreciated.