Hi All,

 

I'm looking into a new GFX card, and since I'm upgrading that part the thought of going to DX10 intrigues me. I've tried the 'DX10 Preview' mode several times before, but always abandoned it due to either glitches or lower FPS performance.

 

There are a lot of opinions on either side of the fence, I've finally got DX9 to a stable point where the visual/performance ratio is acceptable (and hopefully will be better under a new GFX card!) but is it now the case that there is no down side to the DX10 mode?

 

If people could please give me their honest review I'd be much obliged.

 

Many thanks,

James

It's simply worth trying. You can always switch back to DX-9 very easily.

 

All you need to do is save a version of the FSX.cfg file and Nvidia Inspector profile for each DX setup. Then switch to the correct ones when you want to try the other DX version.

 

DX-10 is not perfect (for me) yet, but I'm pretty much flying exclusively in that mode. Once the screen tearing issue was solved, it became the better version for me. There are still a few issues, mostly with compatibility, but the benefits outweigh the negatives, big-time.

What's the smoothness like? I'm ever striving for a lovely smooth as silk experience, and what are the incompatibilities?

Hi James,

 

I've been flying exclusively dx10 now for about a month and it is unbelievable. If you carefully follow the steps in the "How-To" guide, you will be really impressed I think. Due to some fixes and shader adjustments that have been happening, some of the glitches that used to make DX10 not very friendly have largely been taken care of. I was flying yesterday at 22fps in a complex aircraft but it was smooth as silk--reminded me that somehow 22fps in dx9 vs. dx10 are not the same thing. Quality of image wise, smoothness wise, dx10 is really fantastic IMHO.

 

The limitations appear to be in some occasions there are occasional flickering of night lights (? I think moreso in Orbx products, though I have not noticed this at all) and that some scenery products (usually of major airports) have blank textures at nighttime.

 

But as other users have said, absolutely give it a try--it's easy enough to go back to DX9 anytime you wish. For me, the smoothness and image quality is too good to give up--essentials to conveying the flying experience!

 

Good luck and if you like it, encourage others to try it too! It seems we're slowly building some expertise and mass on the dx10 side : )

 

Alex Malek

somehow 22fps in dx9 vs. dx10 are not the same thing.

I noticed that too :rolleyes:

I just thought I'd give a little report back on my own DX10 findings.

 

Since my original post I've given DX10 a go but on net decided my sim is better served by keeping everything on DX9 - I couldn't manage to get any extra frames (To be honest it felt more jumpy and the FPS counter was giving me on average 3-5FPS lower than I would usually receive)

 

Visual wise in terms of outside scenery it looked great, slightly better than DX9 and the memory footprint was much more favorable I'd personally recommend it to anyone who enjoys their low and slow flying certainly but being a heavy driver its not really for me. Plus the lack of proper AA support left me with some almost ugly VCs.

 

Thanks to all who have obviously put some hard work into making it what it is today. I'll check back in 6 months ago and perhaps give it another go!

I just had a thought in the night - When I added in my DX10 config I left everything else in my FSX.cfg pretty much as it was - only changes were the AA and bufferpools (I changed it to use a reject threshold as I get getting oddities) - are there any settings that we set for DX9 that are unhelpful in DX10?

 

I was thinking about it last night and it does seem a bit odd that I'm getting better frames in what is essentially a unsupported version of DX - That is as far as I know ATI have discontinued their support of DX9 in their drivers.... Granted my card is optimised for DX11 but still you'd think a DX10 game would have better results. The only other reason I can think for my lack of DX10 performance is that the preview mode built into SP2 wasn't finished properly and doesn't properly utilize DX10 properly... feel free to chime in..

I am tempted to try it but before I do I was wondering if there are any aircraft or sceneries that are incompatible with the settings? I can deal with graphics glitches here and there but I am afraid of CTD's and the like occurring and ruining the experience.

 

Any thoughts?

I have never had such a smooth simulation experience from DX10... I don't see myself on DX9 in the future.... :Big Grin:

I only tried it for one night flying the Flight1 Mustang and the NGX over in orbx's Australia. Tested a variety of 3rd party and default airports and didn't see a single glitch. The only thing I did notice was the usepools=0 setting wasn't very good in DX10 - With that set I had a lot of graphics anomalies - when I used a reject threshold it solved those...

 

I'll repeat what others above have said, it's worth a try. I personally didn't see any compelling reason to abandon DX9 - and actually experienced worse frame rates and many, many more stutters. But it is just as easy as having a configuration backup (copy your FSX folder in your profile) and should you not like the DX10 settings, just revert back. The patch as far as I can tell only affects DX10 files, so nothing in the DX9 config gets messed with.

No CTD's reported since my move to DX10 in late July, Robert, and none reported on this forum. The same applies to sceneries: 99% od Orbx are just fine, with the odd issue with the two free Canadian airports having the long grass as "blocky". Their new (free) traffic is also not compliant (grey). CYYJ (Don Grovestine) is 99% ok, - the static 152/172's at the VFC also being grey. Mainly the issues are limited to a number of airports which have some grey night textures - runways or night lighting issues. FT's Princess Juliana, fo e.g. has some long grey "road dividers" - blocks - down the left side of my runways at night. There are a number of addon vendors that do have DX10 - compliant sceneries, though, and I expect we shall be listing them here, and supporting them as they make their individual choices to support or not to support DX10.

Over the last two - three years I have only purchased Orbx products - all the PNW areas/airports, but a couple of their forum admins seem remarkable hostile to any DX10 query, also at this point I've moved my focus away from almost all-vfr day-time flying, looking instead to revitalizing the Maddog and the North American routes, beginning a couple of days ago with FS DreamTeam's KLAX - their last three airports being fully compliant. Brett, "The Dude" is actively contacting vendors for their input and thoughts, and the situation is quite fluid.

There are a number of addon vendors that do have DX10 - compliant sceneries, though, and I expect we shall be listing them here and supporting them as they make their individual choices to support or not to support DX10.

 

What a great idea Paul, this list should be pinned, some 3PD's plane also support DX10 but not fully as some do not have cockpit shadow in their plane, there is also some sceneries like Miami X where their static plane are not DX10 compatible (white skin) and that should also be noted.

 

We should ask all 3PD to make all their sceneries or plane fully DX10 compatible, Fs Dream Team is a perfect example of a company pushing the envelope, and their last airport is the best for that matter, I understand FSX not been finished as far as DX10 goes but since when is DX9 better compare to DX10 in the graphic industry...and DX11 is better then DX10.

 

Don't get me started about Orbx.... :aggressive: .... there is a lot of good 3PD like FS Dream Team who make (IMHO) better airport including DX10 compatibility as a bonus.

 

The day a 3PD will come up with photo sceneries like Miami X fully implemented with autogen, high resolution building textures and fully DX10 compatible...I'll be buying what ever they make, assuming their after sale customers relationship is good..

HI Robert,

 

For what it's worth, I'm no technical expert, but DX10 has transformed FSX for me. I do think my success has been through a tweaked fsx.cfg, and a tweaked Nvidia Inspector (of course I have a GTX 570).

 

I've flown over the Uk photo scenery, with uk2000 airports, and in all the ORBX areas, without noticing anything amiss.

 

Good flying whatever you decide, Jim

Thanks for all the feedback fellas, I will give it a try and see how it goes. I will report back when I have everything set up and tested.

I am tempted to try it but before I do I was wondering if there are any aircraft or sceneries that are incompatible with the settings? I can deal with graphics glitches here and there but I am afraid of CTD's and the like occurring and ruining the experience.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Flight1 ATR and Leonardo Mad Dog don't work very well. The aircraft skin and VX textures are all silver under DX10.