Hey, Dboy,
About FP ... I've always had issues with stuttering gameplay, mostly because I was using my old WinXP desktop with integrated video. The same went with my Dell Vostro XP laptop ... FP stuttered like a drunken sailor, whereas VP8 and most of VP9 played very well.
Since I've upgraded to my Win7 laptop, FP gameplay is substantially improved. I'm an avid fan of Sphere's Music Pins ... hmmm, it's sad, but his site is no longer available ... anyway, with Win 7 and an i3 processor, FP gameplay is far more enjoyable than it used to be.
What is Zed? From what I can see here
http://zedpinball.com.ar/ it looks like something to help the physics in FP. you say it makes FP physics a little better than VP??? Can't help wonder about that ... maybe it's a matter of personal preference, esecially on one's own hardware ... but VP physics are hard to beat, methinks, at least as far as free opensource software is concerned.
My 2¢