Because the FS9 engine supported animations on textures (the rain in FS9 is basically an animated GIF like you'd see on websites), they removed that functionality in FSX and only they know why. Hopefully Flight actually physically models precipitation and allows for custom DX11 GPU shader effects - all of this will be moot then if they do that. You'll see sheets of rain with realistic light refraction, engine heat exhaust etc if they do that.

Ryan, Those would be great things to see but how much would they impact performance? I get the impression that there is a finite amount of effects that you can add and anything beyond a certain point requires a trade-off.

He's talking about that clicking sound Jordan - it's electrical relays, nothing to do with the GPWS.

Ahh okey dokey... I thought it was odd because that had the radio altitude call outs where as the NG only had 'fifty'. It was the only comparison I made between the two videos ;)Thanks

AMT stands for Aircraft Maintenance Technician's: People that can inspect and repair the aircraft prior to flight and give the aircraft a CRS (Certificate of Release to Service) after maintenance. MarkBoeing 737NG Ground Engineer.

Stephan- but any time you hit that button Ryan has to lean out the window of his office and spray a toxic chemical into the air...

Haha love it.

Ryan, Those would be great things to see but how much would they impact performance? I get the impression that there is a finite amount of effects that you can add and anything beyond a certain point requires a trade-off.

Mike,The problem with every version of FS up until now is that they rely on the CPU to do most of the graphics. This is an antiquated approach that goes back to the early days of PC gaming when FS was invented. Accelerated 3D video cards didn't exist and everything through FSX is built on that old platform at the core. Any modern game you see right now like Crysis, Battlefield, Call of Duty etc render their graphics almost soley with the video card (GPU) If Flight is programmed like a modern game engine is and not like FSX, we'll probably see more effects and stuff than simmers have ever dreamed of and it'll run at 60FPS on the best cards.Any given frame of those other games I mentioned are whole orders of magnitude more complex than anything in FSX and yet they run much faster - it's all in how the engine is programmed - they need to use the GPU and not make it CPU limited.

Mike,If Flight is programmed like a modern game engine is and not like FSX, we'll probably see more effects and stuff than simmers have ever dreamed of and it'll run at 60FPS on the best cards.Any given frame of those other games I mentioned are whole orders of magnitude more complex than anything in FSX and yet they run much faster - it's all in how the engine is programmed - they need to use the GPU and not make it CPU limited.

Ryan, From your lips to Bill Gates ears!

I hope MS Flight update their graphics methods and move from CPU to GPU-based graphics, as Ryan said above. Otherwise, we're not so much going backwards in time as merely standing still while other simulation genre's make bounding leaps forward!

Interesting facts on FS9 and FSX here. Thanks for explaining. You guys @ PMDG sure know how to get the maximum out if it. Maybe one day you'll be programming a new simulator... Just make sure it is compatible to your great planes! ;-)While watching some NGs dancing Waltz in windy conditions I was wondering wether your a/c has windshear callouts. I used to have them in another 737 many years ago but their function was annoying. As the wind direction changed very rapidly in old MSFS according to the settings in the weather module I heard them in 3000ft when climbing in another "wind level" but not on finals. I made some bad dents in the runway...Btw: If I set the weather settings to realistic and update each 15min in FS9 I get massive barometric changes every few minutes and really bad and unrealistic wind changes in cruise flight. There should be a function in FS that inhibits these changes that take place in milliseconds. Something like a smooth transition between the local weather station reports that interact with FS. I got massive overspeed warnings because the change was way too big. And those were no gusts. Just stupid switching between stations. Thank god I don't have to check the planes I damaged (virtuel). That would be a structural check like never been done before. The TecLog entry would be: I saw the upper end of the overspeed scale..."Stephan

Btw: If I set the weather settings to realistic and update each 15min in FS9 I get massive barometric changes every few minutes and really bad and unrealistic wind changes in cruise flight. There should be a function in FS that inhibits these changes that take place in milliseconds. Something like a smooth transition between the local weather station reports that interact with FS. I got massive overspeed warnings because the change was way too big. And those were no gusts. Just stupid switching between stations. Thank god I don't have to check the planes I damaged (virtuel). That would be a structural check like never been done before. The TecLog entry would be: I saw the upper end of the overspeed scale..."Stephan

I purchased a registered version of fsuipc just for the wind smoothing options, after buying the PMDG MD-11 (FSX) a couple years ago (Wow that long :( ) and having so many flights ruined because of sudden overspeed then stall conditions. Haven't had the problem since :)

Thank you! Didn't know FSUIPC is capable of that. Great to get this info. I'll have a look at itStephan

Stephan-We did not simulate the evergreen smell, but any time you hit that button Ryan has to lean out the window of his office and spray a toxic chemical into the air...Now if you would like to purchase the carbon offset for your simulated airplane, we can talk... :(

Bwaahahaha, now thats gold Robert :D