A large portion of my family was/is in New York State and I've been frustrated with locating Vital Records (BMD) for many of them. I can provide specific names and dates, so search time should not be lengthy. The local towns and parishes have not been open to searching for or providing copies of records, or charge an exorbitant fee for a copy. (I have a large Irish family and can't afford $22 or more a pop.)

I find few indexed records online (exception is NYC) or in the FHL catalog.

Does anyone have advice for locating New York records? Is a visit to the NYS Archives worthwhile? The Archives website seems to indicate that they have little genealogical records available on site.

Thanks for any advice or counsel.