Last week I contacted Michael Greenblatt of FG-GS (whom most of you remember me raving about re. my FS9 installation). After discussing various options with him, he gave me a list of things to purchase/download to try and get FSX running on my rig.Yesterday was D-day! Once again, he destroyed every single pre-concieved notion of a correct FSX install. Instead he had me work with him on system unification and video setup. Believe it or not I have a stock fsx.cfg! The genius is in the setup- not in the tweaks!Robert- I now understand why you and other developers are smitten with FSX! It is the closest thing to flying an old, smelly, leaking 172 I have ever done outside of N737GG! All of the nuances of flight, that slight bobbing and weaving, the solid lightness, all of it was there!I installed the RealAir SF260 (which I love in FS9) and fell in love with her all over again, over London, sliding down the 5 degree glide-slope at City. I swear I could look at the wing and "see" the thickness of the skin panel overlap!I'll admit I've upgraded (for FS9 though) and have a fast processor (E6850) but my VC is the 320meg 8800GTS- not the bad boy 640 GTX- still, there I was, flying over Wilshire Boulevard, marveling at the cars whizzing by, smooth as silk. We have locked my frame rate at 28- and I see twenties everywhere in the glass cockpit Garmin 172. That's with decent slider settings, for example Dense Autogen, -2x water and 100% on scenery details etc. I don't know what the 744 will do but you can bet I'm planning on finding out (hopefully, very soon)!All this time I kept reading post after post about how horrible FSX performs- Captains- yes, we are still a generation of CPUs from being able to push everything full right- but SO WHAT! FSX is a HUGE step ahead- with accurate planet modeling, unbelievable detail, and felt physics upgrades in a/c modeling. No, I don't know I'm done with FS9, and certainly won't be until PMDG, SB and my airline ACARS support FSX- but what promise! She will be there waiting for me to fly her- and once drivers that better support FSX actually make it out (and I am convinced that there will now by DX10 for XP) and even more, once the new GPUs are out- look out world- FS will never be the same again.Not done with FS99- but I'm sure looking forward to that day now! It will only get better from here as the patches come out and drivers are optimized! Thanks Michael- I sure am glad I listened to you- but then I always am!Best-Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png

My sentiments on FSX are similar, a step forward and like you say, more time is needed for hardware to catch-up to make full use of it!Glad you are now enjoying FSX!

Matt:Thanks- the potential of this sim is hugely greater than other variants/releases. As drivers are optimized, GPUs get more powerful, MS engineers figure out how to offload significant chunks of processes to other cores, and as hardware as a whole gets more and more powerful- we WILL be delighted.Reading PT's postings about getting this version (SP2 and FSX as a whole) finished, so they can move on to FSXI used to fill me with questioning doubt- now it leaves me optimistically hopeful.They had to at some point take "one giant leap forward"- FSX did this and in a strange way, prepped the FS community for a reality check. the resulting hardware upgrades, trickling in now, almost too late for FSX which is a year old already, will be just in time for FSXI.I am hopeful, however- I was not before. Michael's FS-GS service has allowed me to run FSX way, way better than I ever though possible- well enough to want to buy and try the 400X. Everything I had read so far said FSX was impossible- with Michael it is not- amazing!I will say that at 28 FPS locked, FSX feels better than FS9 at 48 FPS locked. Now don't misunderstand- FS9 is running PMDG's 744, FSUIPC, Active Camera, Flight Environment, Ground Environment, SB and sliders full right- very pretty.What is amazing is that FSX is running with almost nothing added, but maintains the functionality and even adds to the eye candy- I think back to Ryan's or Marcus' comment about FSX being intensive to run, but very pretty- spot on! More important- the better "feel" of flight is unmistakable!I love my FS9, but am starting to grasp that the time to move on while not here today, steadily approaches. Best-Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png