NVidia and FSX SP2 (Revisited)

[thrakete 0]

Was there ever any resolution to the problem of SP2 and NVidia Graphic card "issues"?I am using an 8500GT in a Vista 32 bit system and am happy with the card, but if I install FSX SP2 some of my colors go haywire. In two non-default airplanes, the propeller arcs in the VC either break up or turn solid black.Actually I have found no advantage in installing the SP2 update anyhow. Performance is fine without for my activities. However, I notice that some of the add-ons specify SP2 and state they will not work without it.I am using the latest recommended NVidia drivers as listed for the 8500GT yesterday, and yes, SP1 is installed.Thrakete

[Guest Gizmo]

Ive been through every Nvidia vista beta & WHQL driver released for my 8800gts 640mb since Acceleration was released and FSX was code locked(thats what 5 months now)& theres still no Resolution to the various major DX10 problems with Nv hardware,these includeZ-clipping/buffer errors which causes flashing on runways Broken Vsync (DX9 & DX10)On/Off flicker of airport/city lights depending upon camera view anglePoor blending on alhpa textures causing square lightsStutter/hicthes every min or so(only in dx10 mode)Odd black/FSX logo textures loading just before the proper textures pop into view5 months and no fixes...Thats pretty lame if you ask meIt seems that NV isnt interested in fixing driver problems if your game isnt named Crysis or doesnt feature any kind of benchmark they can tweak/cheat at to win browny points against ATI in reviews....Does anyone from Aces have an update from Nv on when there going to fix theres problems? if not any chance you could give them a good hard kick in the pants so we can enjoy all the hardwork you guys put into the DX10 Preview

[thrakete 0]

Thanks for the input-As I said, my card is quite adequate (for my preferred aircraft and locations in FSX) from the performance standpoint, but I was considering going to the later 8000 or even the 9000 series in the hopes that that might solve the SP2/NVidia incompatibility problem. I will of course drop the idea of upgrading if it won't solve the problem.Thrakete

[thrakete 0]

A Question to the moderator-So I don't make the same mistake again, what about my posting makes it unfit for the forum I placed it in?This is not a complaint, my question is for my information only. I have been inactive for a while, so probably missed something or did not read the rules carefully enough.Thrakete

[David Roch 1,982]

Hello Thrakete,First, welcome back!Your post related to hardware questions was moved to the Hardware Forum.We all wish Nvidia guys begin to pay attention to FSX a bit!!Don't hesitate to post in Nvidia's customers forumhttp://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showforum=16Regards,

[Guest firehawk44]

"Was there ever any resolution to the problem of SP2 and NVidia Graphic card "issues"?"Excellent question! I know Phil Taylor over at ACES stated he passed the issues to Nvidia but that was several months ago. I read somewhere that Nvidia was waiting for Microsoft to update Vista to SP1 first and that would fix many compatibility problems. Well, that has been accomplished and I now have the final version of Vista SP1 installed on my system. I ran FSX with DX10 Preview checked and still found the same graphics problems with the Nvidia cards. However, I am getting better frames (as should happen with DX10 Preview checked), maybe 5-6 more FPS. I read somewhere that Microsoft wanted to hold off releasing SP1 until March to allow the video card and sound card manufacturers time to develop new drivers as they stated there would be "compatibility problems." The only problem I have encountered so far (after 3 days of running FSX with Vista SP1 installed) was the fact I was receiving the dreaded "Display Driver has stopped responding and has restarted again" (hadn't seen that since the KB936710 hotfix). However this happened only once and since then I have ran FSX at night, in the LAX area, with real weather ticked (it was pouring rain) and had no problems flying from LAX to SFO successfully. Normally, under those conditions, FSX would slow to a crawl at around 5-6 FPS or FSX would crash but I was over 12 FPS at LAX and running at 25 FPS to SFO. So something happened to my system for this to happen. The only thing I changed were a couple of display driver settings and this could be the reason but I doubt it. I'm hoping Nvidia will release a new WHQL driver soon as I have been using the 169.25 WHQL drivers since Dec. I have tried a later Beta driver but I saw no improvements so reinstalled the 169.25 drivers. Nvidia is issuing new compatibility drivers for other games, like Crysis, but so far nothing for FSX. I hope we see something soon.Best regards,Jim

[thrakete 0]

Thanks Dave-for both the answer and the Welcome back. I sort of dropped out of the Forums for a while there. I need to look at the Forum lists a little more before I post again.I have an LCD monitor, and your flea really threw me for a few minutes. You tend to notice it before you read the message.Regards,Thrakete

[thrakete 0]

Jim:Thanks for the response I am really behind the power curve it seems, as a result of not monitoring the forums for a while. I didn't even know that Vista SP1 was released, so will pick that up and see what happens. I printed out your message to use as a reference if I encounter any problems when I update Vista.As I recall, about a month ago NVidia posted a later driver than the December 20th 169.25, and indicated it was the latest for my 8500GT. My memory is a little hazy on this, but I think I tried it and saw no difference. Anyhow, that version is now gone from their site, and they only list the 169.25 (plus the betas, but I don't need that added to the original problems).I actually don't have any frame rate problems with just FSX SP1 installed, and had planned to ignore FSX SP2 because I am not into the interactive flying with other players. However, I now see numerous add-ons coming out that state they are only compatible if (FSX)SP2 is installed, so got interested in it again. I installed it, but with the 8500GT, it was not compatible with at least two of my favorite add-on aircraft, so I uninstalled it.Regards,Thrakete

[Guest firehawk44]

"I now see numerous add-ons coming out that state they are only compatible if (FSX)SP2 is installed, so got interested in it again. I installed it, but with the 8500GT, it was not compatible with at least two of my favorite add-on aircraft, so I uninstalled it."The only incompatibility I have found with SP2 with addon aircraft is DX10 Preview. Turning off this feature usually fixes any problems with addon aircraft/scenery.The only way right now to get Vista SP1 is through the Vista auto update program. If you have that turned on, you may already have the update installed. Just right click the Computer icon on your desktop, select Properties, and it should show you the version installed on your system. Read more info on getting the update at tweakguides.com: http://www.tweakguides.com/.Jim

[thrakete 0]

Jim,Is DX10 Preview a part of FSX SP2? If so how do you turn the option on and off? RE Vista SP1, I just checked Microsoft's Vista info site and they indicate that Vista SP1 is now available to MSDN members only (which I no longer am) but will be available to the general public (that's me) in mid March. I do have the auto update download program on however, and will still check to make sure I don't already have Vista SP1. As I said, I have been in never-never land as far as keeping up with both Vista and FSX for a while, because everything was working pretty well. The auto update is good, and I tend to just accept the "Vista Important" updates without really checking to see what they are doing. I am more careful about the optional ones, since I have been bitten on peripheral (not windows) changes a couple of times.Do you know what the status of the "real" DX10 is?Regards, Thanks for bringing me up to speed.Thrakete

[Guest firehawk44]

"Is DX10 Preview a part of FSX SP2? If so how do you turn the option on and off?"The option will show up in your FSX config under the Graphics tab IF you have FSX SP2, Vista, and a DX10 compatible card (and you appear to meet those prerequisites). Believe it's turned on by default when SP2 is installed and you just need to make sure you have it unticked if you have non-compatible addon's. If you don't see the DX10 Preview box, then there's something wrong with your installation."they indicate that Vista SP1 is now available to MSDN members only (which I no longer am) but will be available to the general public (that's me) in mid March."That's "old" news. Evidently Microsoft is installing the program via the auto update system. As I stated before, you should follow the link to tweakguides.com where he has the correct info on proper installation. You have to have two KB's installed first before the final version is installed. I checked my system to make sure I had the two KB's installed and I did. I checked further and found that my system was fully updated to SP1. Be aware that SP1 turns off certain anti-virus programs but believe those have been fixed (http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006533.html)."Do you know what the status of the "real" DX10 is?"I suspect you're referring to the DX10 Preview option in FSX. Sounds like an unfinished product but that's all we're going to get with FSX. No further updates are planned and, if DX10 gets better within FSX, it's going to be through new drivers issued by Nvidia and AMD and/or DX10 programming by commercial venders who provide us addon's for FSX (highly unlikely). I believe Vista SP1 has the capability for DX10.1 but that was not installed in Vista SP1 but will be IF you buy a DX10.1 compatible video card. I believe I read somewhere that FSX will not become DX10.1 compliant. Maybe in FS11.Best regards,Jim

[thrakete 0]

O.K Jim- I checked tweakgudes.com, and they indicate that an "accidental" release of Vista SP1 for 64 bit systems for MSDN and "Technet" users was released, but that it has now been turned off by MS.The mandatory KB's you referred to are also mentioned.They also state that you don't have to go through the KB checks for the "full installation" which I assume is the one that will be furnished through the Vista updates downloads, which start in March. Anyhow, I haven't gotten it yet according to my configuration check.I am in no hurry, so will just wait until Vista SP1 shows up on my auto-update downloads.Frankly, I'm not sure what I was referring to on DX10. :9 I only recall that it was in a forum on another site, and stirred up pages of speculation on waiting for DX10 compatible Graphics cards to be available.I will now charge off and reinstall SP2 (for about the third time) and see what happens when I disable the "Preview' option.Regards, many thanks for your help.Thrakete

[thrakete 0]

Jim:Just a final message to let you know how things went.After re-installing FSX SP2 I found a box under Graphics labeled "D3D10=0". I assumed it was the DX10 box and experimented with it. I found that it made drastic changes in FSX when changed from =0 to =1. Turning it on really creates chaos in several of my add-ons; Transparencies go solid, other weird colors appear, etc. I didn't really take time to find out the whole effect, since it is obviously not usable with my set-up.However, I still encountered problems, but much less spectacular, with at least two of the freeware airplanes just by installing SP2 (Prop Arcs go solid colors etc). SP2 alone apparently also changes things in some of the older designs when used with the 8500GT NVidia card.Assuming I was working with the right box, I can put up with the minor problems with it in the default ("=0") mode, so I decided to leave SP2 installed. My reasoning is that this way I can at least use the growing number of add-ons designed to require FSX SP2. Also I seem to have picked up a few fps.Thanks again, I learned a lot about both SP2 and the DX10 Preview edition. Regards,ThraketeRegards,Thrakete

[Guest EdrickV]

You can fix the props a bit by fiddling with the texture's alpha channel. (It's detailed on a blog post.) Basically fill the alpha with RGB: 20,20,20 and the props will look much better. (More transparent.) There are some other issues though. Props vanishing behind clouds or buildings, (worse with copters then planes) as well as things that were shiny being transparent. (Old FS2002 FSDSv2 Beaver's and Steve Grant's Otter's engine) The fix for the latter is a white alpha channel. (What was reflectivity's become transparancy.) Payware stuff may have updates from the companies."Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can to any runway you see."

[thrakete 0]

EdrickV,Thanks, i will try fiddling with it. The airplanes affectd are the excellent FSX Freeware Beech DS18 recently posted, and an FSX SuperCub. Sorry, i don't have the model designers names handy.I put several days work into eliminating indicated XML gauge errors in the Beech, plus panel/gauge revisions in the SuperCub to match photos of a real panel, so hate to lose those.Since I don't know what a Texture's alpha channel is (I don't paint), I need a little more info. Do you recall how to access the blog you refer to?Regards,Thrakete