FSX-SE Please Bring Me Up To Date! FSX:SE

[Hawk777th 0]

Hey all I am a longtime FSX user I started before 3.1 haha!

 

Anyways I stopped simming for a few years do to flight school in real life and jobs back in 2011. Needless to say its seems much has changed in the sim world. I am just getting all set up again.

 

I guess Prepared 3d is out which looks slick but to be honest alot of my pay ware wouldnt work so that is a frustration and would stop me from switching. I also see its like $200...

 

I just started FSX SE again and started installing my payware add ons again and needed some suggestions. I was actually dreading all the setup on a new machine for about a year cause its always a headache to get it all setup they way you like.

 

I have like the original REX Ess Plus and have installed that. Rex told me they have something newer coming soon so I was going to grab that. That being said I had some good weather mods and ground texture stuff installed back then but I am sure there is alot newer stuff out there.

 

I guess I will just post my questions.

 

1. Is DX 10 Fixer Worth Getting? Read it just causes more issues sometimes?

2. What is good ground water texture pack?

3. Weather Mod?

4. CFG File Mods? I did Highmemfix and Wideview fix cause I run 21:9 monitor but I am open to any others.

5  CFG File increase texture size? (I use PMDG Flight Sim Labs and Caranado Flight 1 stuff. I don't know if this will help the game textures at all?)

6. Seems my AA isnt working in sim anymore for some reason?

 

I have a good rig. 32GB DDR 4 SSDs 5960X Titan X etc. So I would like some tips and recommendations on getting it setup as best as possible even though its 32 Bit game still.

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

1. Is DX 10 Fixer Worth Getting? Read it just causes more issues sometimes? 

A:  Yes.  Better FPS.  Recommend getting Steve's DX10 Fixer as it fixes the issues of the original DX10.

2. What is good ground water texture pack?

A:  REX TextureDirect has some great textures!

3. Weather Mod?

A:  HiFi has a great weather program called ActiveSky.

4. CFG File Mods? I did Highmemfix and Wideview fix cause I run 21:9 monitor but I am open to any others.

A:  I do not recommend any config mods.  You will only have issues (unless you are a computer expert and, based on your questions, it does not appear you are an expert).  See the AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide (link in my signature) for suggested settings that work best for most.

5 CFG File increase texture size? (I use PMDG Flight Sim Labs and Caranado Flight 1 stuff. I don't know if this will help the game textures at all?)

A:  Again, see the AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide.

6. Seems my AA isnt working in sim anymore for some reason?

A:  AA does not work well in FSX.  See AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide as the settings I placed in this guide get rid of all indications of bad AA.

 

See my responses in red in the quote above.

[Chock 17,769]

Here goes...

 

FSX-SE was recompiled to allow it to run better, and in doing that, Dovetail also added in the high mem fix and increased the max texture load etc, so in other words, the tweaks you would have done on your older FS boxed version are already in there by default for FSX-SE, and it's all the better for it.

 

Having said that, even though the DX-10 stuff is a bit more sorted in the SE version, it is definitely still worth getting Steve's DX-10 fixer, for many reasons but particularly if you have some older add-ons which don't preview correctly on DX-10. For example, the older version of Ultimate Traffic will display all white aeroplanes without textures in DX-10 mode, whereas the fixer sorts that, similarly, Night Environment shows weird artifacts in daytime on DX-10 unless you have the fixer installed, and the same may be true for some of your other older add ons. Of course you could run without DX-10 preview enabled, however, newer FSX add-on aeroplanes run better with it on, for example, the FSL Airbus A320, which actually comes up with an alert telling you that if you don't have DX-10 Preview enabled.

 

Beyond that, there are other reasons to get Steve's DX-10 Fixer, not least of which is that for another ten quid, you can get the Cloud Shadow add-on which runs with it, and then you can have nice shadows of clouds on your landscape (so a total of 30 quid if you figure on paying 20 quid for the Fixer plus a tenner for the Cloud Shadows plug in). It's a lot of bang for your bucks, because it sorts out so many things and adds such nice effects too.

 

As far as water and land goes, be aware that the DX-10 Fixer and Cloud mod sort out a lot of things very nicely, with lots of choices and options for a number of things related to lighting, weather and shading, although you have to make sure water is set to a minimum level of 2x to get the cloud shadows to show up.

 

As always with weather mods, you'll get arguments from people about which one is best, although one I do recommend having a look at is OPUS, which does a lot and is very cool. Having said that, older versions of REX are okay, I still use REX essentials, and that is fair enough for me.

 

One thing to be aware of with the Steam version of FS, is that some older add-ons might have to be manually pointed to the FSX cfg file or FSX folder if they were made before FSX-SE existed, but thus far, I've only come across one old FSX add-on out of my old ones which doesn't like that and won't run, and that is Ultimate Terrain Europe, all my other old add-ons are just fine in FSX-SE.

 

Theoretically, you can have FSX boxed version and FSX-SE both on your system, but there's very little point in doing that because the Steam versions runs way better and by default the Steam version also has all that Acceleration stuff and the stuff which was only in the Deluxe version of FSX Boxed, in other words, all of the Accusim stuff which needed Acceleration to work in the old FSX will work just fine in the Steam version.

 

Have fun installing stuff, just take it slow and resist the temptation to add everything including the kitchen sink to it, just because you used to have it on your old install, because these days, fancy stuff such as the new PMDG Boeing 747 and the FSL A320 can be a bit tough on memory allocation, so a lean and mean FSX-SE will pay dividends where those are concerned.

 

Although a lot of FSX is legacy locked to putting the load on the CPU, generally speaking these days, the more things you can stick onto your GPU, the better you'll manage, so, if you look for settings on your GPU utility which will let that override application settings for things such as Antialiasing and texture filtering, it's worth having it do that, as it will not only look better, but it will also run a lot better too.

[Hawk777th 0]

Thanks for both the answers! I will grab the patch and look at those mods! 

Does the DX10 Patch put more on your GPU?

 

Right now I have been running it on DX9 cause I knew the DX10 was broken forever. So slick someone fixed it! I just grabbed the A320 and 747 V3 can't put them down! Have to quit my day job .

 

I actually work in IT so I am not unsavvy but I am not a programmer at all. LOL

 

I was looking at ORBX or GEX aswell. Sometimes those winter midwest FSX textures get to me at FL340 hah!

 

Will read the guides and always open to more suggestions.

[Cloudrider 4]

I got fed up with FSX a few months ago, after many long years, and made the jump to SE, but I have to say I didn't find the experience much more pleasurable I'm afraid. Same old instability and incompatibility issues. And with that I decided to look at P3D. You only need the $59 license and my experience so far has been seamless, and stable. I can't recommend more highly right now.

I guess the addons compatibility may hinder though possibly so check first, but mine have all gone in beautifully.

 

Best wishes.

[ieydis 51]

 

 

Does the DX10 Patch put more on your GPU?

 

It does especially if you run with bufferpools=0.  With a Titan X that's a great option for you.  The other benefit Jim didn't mention is that it will free some of the VAS and helps to avoid OOMs.  DX10 is a slam dunk especially with the Cloud Shadow option.  Really don't see the point of P3D until 64bit.

[rwy23 1]

64 Bit...yeah...once becomes available.....they are talking but nothing official....

[Patco Lch 1,464]

1. Is DX 10 Fixer Worth Getting? Read it just causes more issues sometimes?

 

A: Yes. Better FPS. Recommend getting Steve's DX10 Fixer as it fixes the issues of the original DX10.

Jim, I always appreciate your comments as you seem very tech knowledgeable. I have the DX-10 fixer but stopped using DX-10 after noticing all the PMDG user manuals suggest not using DX-10 as it doesn't add that much to the sim in proportion to the VAS it uses. Does the fixer remedy this?

Any thoughts, advice or comments?

[Jim Young 2,356]

Hi Vic,

 

I had to reinstall FSX/Acceleration then my PMDG 737 for FSX to get to the documentation they issued for FSX. I just built a new system and just had P3D and all of my PMDG products installed and was going to install FSX some time later.  I could not find anything about issues with DX10.  If they are there, do not believe them.  I seriously cannot believe they would implicate DX10 as major user of VAS.  DX10 is Microsoft technology to make FSX run better and provide additional eye-candy.  For instance, the best part of DX10 is the ability of seeing shadows from the sun in the VC's.  Without DX10, you would not be able to see shadows in the VC's in the PMDG FSX products. 

 

Some quick history - unfortunately, DX10 for FSX was rushed out the door as the Microsoft Aces Team, the developers of FSX, were tasked to release Acceleration before the product was finished.  The Aces Team were coding FSX with the DX10 technology (FSX uses DX9 technology - the tech used by FS9) and were told to release Acceleration immediately.  So they did the best they could with coding for DX10 and figured they could update FSX/Acceleration in the future to further enhance DX10.  They did not realize the Team would be released by Microsoft before any further updates to FSX/Acceleration could be made.  So DX10 in Acceleration is unfinished and we saw a lot of anomalies especially on taxiways and some runways.  Turned out that was bad shadowing effects.

 

Along comes Steve Parson's who found the files associated with DX10 in FSX.  He started messing with the files and asked for volunteers to test his improvements.  I think I was one of the first, if not the first, volunteer to beta test his findings (but had a hard time installing his update as I don't follow directions very well :smile: ).  The improvements were stunning.  He had eliminated all of the artifacts and anomalies found at airports.  This pretty much fixed everything wrong with DX10 in FSX.  He had a freeware version of his fixes but someone recommended he turn it into payware for all of his efforts and the awesome improvements.  Thus Steve's DX10 Fixer.  Over the years he has added more improvements and it definitely improves your immersion into FSX.  Two of the most important technologies added with DX10 is the shadowing effect inside the VC's.  The other is with the water.  If you have real weather turned on and the weather is bad, you will see white caps on the lakes or on the ocean.  Kind of exciting stuff!  Steve has added many more features. 

 

DX10 technology has been proven by experts to provide a 10% boast in fps (but it has to be programmed properly in the software program).  I personally see improved fps.  Some others do not as I think they have all of their FSX settings set to the highest and probably use ugly tweaks like the AffinityMask and/or the Bufferpool tweaks.  PMDG aircraft are not fps friendly themselves especially when you turn up the fsx settings. 

 

More info from the experts who developed it for FSX can be found here - https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ptaylor/2007/07/13/friday-the-13th-is-here-and-so-is-the-2nd-fsx-dx10-progress-report/.  At this link there are many other topics regarding this technology.

 

If DX10 technology affects the amount of VAS usage, we are all in trouble and flight simulation will soon end as Prepar3D uses DX11 technology and one day soon, DX12 technology.  So, if Direct X uses up VAS, its not going to be very pretty some day soon.  Anyone who has FSX Gold or FSX/Acceleration or FSX/SP2 and does not have DX10 turned on are missing a lot.

 

My recommendation:  Get Steve's DX10 Fixer and have fun!!  Oh!  And for the best settings with the DX10 enabled, see my FSX Configuration Guide and the settings near the end of the guide.  No jaggies.  Can you believe it?  No jaggies!!

 

Best regards,

Jim

[Patco Lch 1,464]

Thanks a lot Jim. I think I'll give DX-10 another go . I use FSX-STEAM and have had the fixer for some time. Think I'll play with it again.

Regards,

Vic Green

[Patco Lch 1,464]

Quick correction. PMDG doesn't say anything about VAS. It just recommends turning DX-10 off as it doesn't add that much to the sim and affects graphics according to them. They don't say this holds true with Steves fixer.

[Jim Young 2,356]

Quick correction. PMDG doesn't say anything about VAS. It just recommends turning DX-10 off as it doesn't add that much to the sim and affects graphics according to them. They don't say this holds true with Steves fixer.

Well, they may be correct regarding the DX10 that came with FSX/Acceleration.  A lot of people did not like the basic DX10 as it had too many anomalies.  As I stated above, it was not fully coded as Microsoft made the Team release Acceleration sooner than expected.  Steve's Fixer just fixes the DX10 that came with FSX/Acceleration.  It is not another version of DX10.  If PMDG recommended turning DX10 off, then they also turned off the shadows from the sun in the VC and that's a great immersion factor whether you use the basic version or use the fix done by Steve.  Without DX10, you cannot see shadows in the cockpit.

 

Be careful installing Steve's fixer.  It will install tweaks in your FSX.cfg and I find them useless and taking up resources needlessly.  I like Steve's fixer as I stated above.  Really like it but I do not like programs that install tweaks thinking you need them.  They have no idea what your system is and capabilities.

 

Best regards,

Jim

 

Best regards,

Jim