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42 CHAPTER 4. CONFIGURING AND TUNING YOUR X-PLANE INSTALLATION
Figure 4.5: Setting the cloud coverage for the whole world [Full size →]
4. Set the visibility (found on the left side of the screen) to about five miles or so. Higher visibility
takes more computing power because the computer has to calculate what the world looks like
for a much larger area.
Changing the Number of Other Aircraft The final setting that really impacts the simulator’s
frame rate is the number of other airplanes. Access this by moving the mouse to the top of the
screen, clicking Aircraft, then selecting Aircraft and Situations. In the dialog box that appears, go
to the Other Aircraft tab.
There, the number of aircraft setting (found in the upper left of the screen) should be set to
one for maximum speed. This means X-Plane will only have to calculate physics on your aircraft,
providing a significant speed increase on slower CPUs.
With that done, your performance should be optimized, and you’re ready to fly.
4.9 Configuring the Sound
To configure the sound, move your mouse to the top of the screen and click Settings, then Sounds.
The dialog box that appears allows you to configure the relative volumes of all sounds in X-Plane
using the sliders on the right side of the window. On the left side, sounds can be turned off by
category. By default, all sounds are enabled, with volumes set at 100% (sliders fully to the right).
The bottom of this window will also check the status of speech synthesis software. If the software
is not installed on Windows, download the Microsoft Speech SDK 5.1.
4.10 Allowing X-Plane through Your Firewall
Some features of X-Plane require that X-Plane be able to communicate across your network. These
features include:
• networked multiplayer flights,