Your opinion on the FS-X Demo

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

We are looking to you to guage the success of the demo. Your input on this historic release of a demo for MS FS is important. Once you have completed the poll, please give us your views on the demo release in this thread.

[Guest]

While I am in the camp that can't wait for retail and love the demo, I do believe the demo turned off many of the people MS wanted to attract (i.e. gamers). I know a lot of regular gamers, and after playing the demo they are disapointed because of the bugs. It's difficult to get somone from outside of FS to understand that it is a beta demo and that there are supposed to be bugs. The average 'gamer' doesn't have the patience that most of us on this forum do (I know, sounds crazy but there are actually people less patient than us :-lol ). Indeed if this was an FPS or other game I would be frustrated by it and probably wouldn't buy the retail. Getting outsiders introduced to the game is nearly impossible if the demo is a pre-release, I'm sorry to say. Also, it would have helped if MS included some notes on how to optimize performance, and maybe put in some of the tutorial files to help get users started. Like I said though, I am extremely happy with the demo, and as a seasoned simmer I know retail will be amazing and will blow everything else out of the water (the really good looking water, by the way).

[Manny 1,293]

FSX is promising..but it needs to deliver.The water is out of this world... far better than what I expected. With DX10, I am sure it would be even better..right?All other features like high resolution textures etc... need to be available while having a decent FPS/no Jerkies on an average 2 yr old machine....say a Pentium 3.2 Ghz HT processor with a decent 256MB graphics card with sliders nothing less than with 60% of its potential with room to spare for addons. I know this is a demo and they are still working on tweaking it... But the amount of performance improvment that is required is almost like expecting them to pull a rabbit out of their hat. After looking at the Demo, this performance issue has taken on a new significance over all the other features we have been harping about here. JMOMannyEdited to add: If they have to delay the release from Oct to Dec to fix issues.. I would be ok with it, I would think, Now having the FSX Demo, many here would understand.

[Datalink 26]

I think its a great demo, showcasing some of the new things that will be available, and things that have changed since the last release. I can't wait to get my hands on FSX! :-yellow1

[Guest diajohn2]

I have seen many complaining about performance with the demo. I don't have a leading edge machine although it is good with an AMD 64-3500, 2G 3200 memory and an ATI X800XT PE video card. No overclock.It runs as smoothly as FS9 and perhaps a bit better. FPS is a bit lower but no slideshow and smooth flying. My FPS with heavy traffic and real weather is 25fps or so. My minor problems are to do with hardware interfaces such as my pedals and yoke. It all works somewhat but I can fly the a/c smoothly and I even turned up the graphics and other sliders to well right.Am anxious to have the full release.

[Guest PaulRogers]

I agree with Manny..I was VERY disappointed by the demo esp. by the performance and numerous bugs.It is unlikely however that in this stage of the development , msft can pull a rabbit out of It's hat and make FSX run smoother and with much lesser bugs..Thats my 0.20$ worth of opinion.One more thing , I'm really glad that one of MSFT's developers has come out of his shell and really started to address people's queries and questions. that is a very welcomed attitude coming from the MSFT team and i thought i should commence them on that approach.Way to go.

[Bray 1]

My initial reaction to the demo wasn't too positive primarily due to the frame rate issue which has been with us for a long time. But after playing around with it some more I think the final release should be well worth it. I have a P4/3.4 HT with a fairly decent 256MB video card and it was a bit of a struggle with the default settings. As mentioned the most outstanding improvement is the water and for me the flight dynamics of the baron has greatly improved. The beaver is a real treat. Now I can pull up to my tiki bar for a drink :-) It has occurred to me that MS made a great move releasing the demo, as the more I think about it , it is one way to quickly increase the beta field without NDA restrictions etc. I am sure the demo will provide valuable information that will allow improvements prior to final release. So if most folks would take a deep breath and look at it as part of the beta process, we will be better for it. I know I had to!Bill

[Johan_Dees 84]

Just tested the demo and besides the expected lower performance I have some mixed feelings about it.The graphics while stunning, are more FS9 alike, so there is not that much difference, but, a big but, it stutters much less, and appears at 15 fps much more fluid.Altough I expected much more sharp textures, (yes I played with the settings) it looks immersive. Not happy with the clouds, they dont seem to fit in the rest of the FS world. Work for Chris in this part.The flight engine, the FDE part seems to be much better, seems I must say after a short test. The responses to the stick seem much less rigid or lets say artificial. The head latency may of course be a part of it.Also, the water on the runway looks like just eyecandy and dont actually has some dynamics in it. Maybe I am wrong, more testing needed.The response to the wind and such feels much better and active then before.I think I wait a month or two after the release to see what the final verdicts are.JohanA LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION, AND A LITTLE MORE ACTION PLEASE

[Guest jase439]

I think I am in agreement with Johan. On its high points, the water looks stunning below 10K (but a shimmering pixelated mess at altitude). The coastline resolution and autogen is equally improved. The high poly count aircraft and improved textures open up promising new doors for aircraft designers. Object textures on the whole seem to be higher across the board, although the ground textures did not dazzle me. But my love with the demo ends there. The head latency I found to be over exaggerated and on the whole just annoying. The flight dynamics continue to suck following in the great Microsoft tradition (but that's why we have Rob Young ;-). Although I was particularly enamoured with the new ultralight, I didn't see anything that jumped out at me as "WOW! That rocks, I must have this!!". While the atmospherics and ground environment is improved in this release, I still think FS9 w/ land class, Flight Environment, Ground Environment, and ActiveSky present a much more believable universe. The clouds are more or less what they were in FS9. The UI is "sexxed-up" everywhere - transluscent menus, lots of alpha blending effects, glowing text, etc. The map view/planner is better, but still cheesy, and nowhere near what Fly! achieved with real sectional maps and approach plates which I loved. Runway textures are improved, but like Johan, I felt the "wet" runways were unconvincing both visually and physically. Lots of eyecandy everywhere, in exchange for about 2/3'rds of your framerate (shadows on aircraft look like crap and caused all kinds of bizarre artifacts on my ATI). Not a great trade off IMO. I dunno, I can get 90% of the eyecandy I saw in FSX from third-party add-ons for FS9. There may be a whole bunch of DX10 effects I simply cannot see, but for me, the "sex appeal" alone is not a compelling purchase motivator.FSX will probably be on my Christmas list this year, but it's not something I'm going to rush out and purchase.J

[robcap 80]

Hi,I like it. 2 thumbs up!The Beaver it top. That VC, that detail, those textures, amazing. Can't wait for the other planes.Water is super. Reflection, two layers, nice waves and subtle surf.The immersive environment. The world is more alive.Sure the demo still has it flaws, and as said before, if the MS team need time to fix it, I'm OK with a release in early December.I think ATC needs some work, I still get vectored around too much.And I like to keep my hands on the yoke while flying, so the mouse-pan option would be even better when you can toggle it with the mouse.Anyway, maybe I will edit this post with later with more comments that come to mind.I would like to end the way I started: I like it. 2 thumbs up!Bye, Rob,And remember: no DC3 without the DC2Visit http://www.avsim.com/hangar/flight/dc2uiver/

[Bruce 0]

i most proberbly won't be getting it for my PC, but if it comes out for the Xbox 360 i most probably will get it.

[barryward12345 0]

Do I like it sufficiently to got out and buy a new $2000 computer? - no, I don't think so. I will be waiting for Vista and DX10 - but I think it is going to be a long wait -probably at least 18 months Barry

[Guest drv4truk]

I appreciate that the FS team are finally able to give us a demo (Thank you!!). However, I really do believe they did it all wrong. Just take a look at the demo's for Halo, Age of Empire III, X Plane, or Battlefield 2. They are fully polished up and are a preview of the finished product. I think the least they could have done was to call it an early Beta preview and not release it to the entire gaming community. Actually, if they would have waited another month, say August 20, they probably could have released a highly polished demo while the finished product went off for Mastering and none of us would have complained too much (or even known about it until they anounced it). After the fiasco with the PC Gamer article, I am really surprised they released the demo to places like game spot. Kris Goodrich

[Guest MD11Forever]

I'll definitely wait to purchase FSX until I have a Vista box here, running DX10. No use trying to get top performance from a new program on a 2-year old PC. It just ain't gonna happen- and I'd wind up disappointed in the end. Perhaps by then the service pack will have come out that fixes all the bugs. ;-)

[Randall 82]

I'm either easy to please or have an unusually good 3 yr. old system (Athlon XP, 3200+, 1 GB RAM, Radeon 9700 pro, NForce 2 motherboard). The demo runs really well. It stutters only when I use shader 2 water--looks great, but the stutters would be expected based on the demo needing optimization and my old video card.The ground textures are great at 1 meter. The water of course looks fantastic cranked up.I have no desire to update my computer and it looks like I wont't need to (I did order a better video card). I'm definitely looking forward to release.Randall