IGC Simulator & Google Earth

2nd February 2008, 12:42 PM

I'm having a problem that I am almost positive isn't with IGC Simulator but
with Google Earth. When viewing flights over mountaineous terrain, the
program frequently hangs with the message "Google Earth not Available". I
suspect that the required terrain data is not being supplied by GE as fast
as IGC Simulator needs it. Anyone else having this problem?

FYI, I have 5MB/Sec cable access and the problem occurs at all times of the
day/week.

Bill D

4th February 2008, 07:09 AM

On Feb 2, 5:42 pm, "Bill Daniels" <bildan@comcast-dot-net> wrote:
> I'm having a problem that I am almost positive isn't with IGC Simulator but
> with Google Earth. When viewing flights over mountaineous terrain, the
> program frequently hangs with the message "Google Earth not Available". I
> suspect that the required terrain data is not being supplied by GE as fast
> as IGC Simulator needs it. Anyone else having this problem?
>
> FYI, I have 5MB/Sec cable access and the problem occurs at all times of the
> day/week.
>
> Bill D

...for what it's worth .....
I used to have all sorts of problems with Google Earth and gave up on
it some time ago. However following a modest RAM upgrade [0.5GB to
2.0GB] I now find that it's performance is highly acceptable, nay
wondrous! FYI I am on an 'up to 8Mb' Broadband service.

4th February 2008, 08:25 AM

stephen_p_thomas@ wrote:
> On Feb 2, 5:42 pm, "Bill Daniels" <bildan@comcast-dot-net> wrote:
>> I'm having a problem that I am almost positive isn't with IGC Simulator but
>> with Google Earth. When viewing flights over mountaineous terrain, the
>> program frequently hangs with the message "Google Earth not Available". I
>> suspect that the required terrain data is not being supplied by GE as fast
>> as IGC Simulator needs it. Anyone else having this problem?
>>
>> FYI, I have 5MB/Sec cable access and the problem occurs at all times of the
>> day/week.
>>
>> Bill D
>
> ...for what it's worth .....
> I used to have all sorts of problems with Google Earth and gave up on
> it some time ago. However following a modest RAM upgrade [0.5GB to
> 2.0GB] I now find that it's performance is highly acceptable, nay
> wondrous! FYI I am on an 'up to 8Mb' Broadband service.

The first thing to improve performance on a windoze machine is to install at
least 3x the memory it should need...

General minimum is 1GB (XP) - and all my Personal machines have >1,5GB - have
avoided the vista forced upgrade so far - 2GB is minimum for that config.

The second thing to do - especially with things like Google earth is to install
a halfway decent dedicated video card. A decent GPU and 256MB+ of dedicated VRAM
make the world of difference. No need to break the bank on the latest gaming
card, just decent specs.

Google earth seems to work OK with this minimum specification 1.5GB + dedicated
256MB video + Open GL. Maybe the treacle slow 1Mb/s "broadband" around here
limits things.