Video FPS question in SP3

[Hooper]

I've been away from F16 for a while, and returned after I saw SP3. I'm using:
PIII 500
Win98 SE
256meg of ram
Voodoo2 card
7200RPM drive
2.56 video drivers
DirectX 8.1

Settings in game:
Voodoo2 DirectX 7 Driver
Direct3D HAL
800X600-16bit
T.Texture 4
T.Detail 5
O.Detail 6
O.Density 5
Player Bubble 3
Vec. Mag. 1
Special Effects 4
Canopy cues: reflection

Under advanced settings:
Fast2D and allow 3Dnow are selected with texture quality normal-16bit

No apps running in the background i.e. virus, etc.

My question, and using this test for frame rate: I go into takeoff, and when I'm parked on the runway, I get 14FPS which doesn't seem very good to me. When I get
airborne, it goes to 25/30FPS.

Is there anything I can do to increase the FPS, or is this about all this combination will do.

Thanks in advance for anyones help!

Hooper

[diomedea]

Your system specs and performance are quite similar to mine (PIII 533 - 256MB RAM - WinXP Pro - Matrox G400 DH 32MB - 80+30GB 7200rpm HDD - all drivers up to date - all processor time goes to F4SP3 when process is active so no trouble from background services).
Actually I'm happy with what I have, action is fluid and immersive, no hindrances for low frames when close to ground, inflight can get up to 50fps.

Should downgrade game settings or resolution (thus lessening realism) to improve fps with such hardware. I prefer to wait a bit more looking for a whole new system.

diomedea out.

[Hooper]

Thanks for the return post. Here's what I did after reading your post. I went into F4, and lowered or turned off every possible setting in the graphic area. I left bubble setting the same as before. I then went to takeoff scenerio (using the 2 key as my test view as always)and, the fps were vitually the same as before. However,
selecting the 9 key, (outside view) the FPS went to almost 40. I conclude that the cockpit view is causing this. BTW, I'm using the standard, non-addon cockpit that comes with SP3. The game is not real noticably slow, but I suspect any campaign mission would be almost un-playable. True?

Just for comparison, I have loaded F4SP3 into my desktop computer I use for my business. I have tried to avoid loading any games in it for the simple reason, I'll play them and not work (self-employed). It's a 1.8 ghz running Win2K with a G2 card. On the runway, under the same conditions, I'm seeing 50/60 FPS. Right after takeoff, it's gone as high as 200, with an average of 100+FPS.

Would upgrading to a 800mgz processor help much? I can get one real cheap.
I was just hoping that I could drag a little more FPS out of the Win98SE computer, use it for the games..and being able to use most of the SP3 features with reasonable FPS. Also, my X35/36 Gamrport controls work on this computer with 98 and I couldn't use them in Win2K on the other computer.

Hooper