Downloaded the demo, got installed ok, loaded the menus ok, but nothing when attempting to go test it. Nothing but a black screen, and eventually a crash (tried it twice) saying my graphics adaptor had stopped repsonding etc.Athlon 2600+, Gforce 5700fx 256mb, 1gb ram, win XP home etcI've seen screenshots from others with lower systems.Still, the demo looks good, and despite the set back, one day when I can afford a new computer I'll be sure to upgrade. Until then, I won't risk buying FSX. Thanks for demo, saved me the disappointment on release day! :D and also I've enjoyed seeing the screenshots of others.

After playing with the FSX Demo for the last few days, I went back to my FS9 flying (over PNG as part of a VA event) and it all looked pretty bland compared to the living world that the FSX demo offered. Reminded me of how torn I was between the new FS2004 and my tricked out FS2002 at the time. This is a very exciting time indeed!Last time I dumped FS2002 too early on the IFR front and found it took a good year before I got back to a similar level of selection of quality IFR steeds. This time, I will keep my FS2004 setup for IFR work until FSX is up to scratch in that arena, and use FSX for my VFR work. My rationale is that my IFR flying takes me to the complex airports, which will likely not perform too well on my aging rig in FSX. VFR on the other hand will take me out into the wide uncharted world where FS performance won't be such an issue, and the graphical improvements are there for the appreciating. This is why getting TrackIR 4 working with FSX is so important to me, as it is a MAJOR enhancment to most flying, but especially VFR. I'm pretty sure this is in hand from reading threads on this forum, but it never hurts to put it out there to the ACES and NaturalPoint team.Really looking forward to the full FSX release!Gary

>Once I maxed everything out I was still>getting 20fps.>>SteveHmm, what are your computer specs?

One of the things I'd like to point out after playing with the demo is that in regards to system requirements, you are going to need a pretty high end machine to appricate the full effect of FSX. Microsoft is making this simulator so that it'll work on todays hardware but is also designed to be backwards compatable with older hardware.I tested this demo on the following hardware with acceptable performance:Pentium D 930 (3Ghz)OCZ 2GB DDR2 @ 800MhzeVga nVidia Geforce 7600 GT w/ 256MBSound Blaster Audigy 2 ZSAsus P5WD2 Premium MBI plan to test the demo later this week on an SLI system with the following specifications:Pentium D 930 (3Ghz)OCZ 2GB DDR2 @ 667Mhzx2 eVga nVidia Geforce 7600 GT w/ 256MB in SLI modeSound Blaster Audigy 2 ZSAsus P5ND2-SLII also plan to test the demo with an Intel Core 2 Duo system. Since there are no chipsets yet that support both Core 2 Duo and SLI, that will have to wait. I will make a new post once I've tested FSX on these systems.

I'm happy with the demo it shows alot of potential for the full product. I actually thought the frames were going to be worse. After playing with the settings and turning down the stuff that has bugs it runs ok, although there was absolutely no improvement when activating the second cpu :-hmmm Anyway I think we can expect that the dx10 version is going to run perfect and totally stutter free :)One thing though, after reading some of other non flight sim forums about the demo, some users are getting scared off because of the glitches. Maybe its a good idea for a second demo when all the bugs are fixed.

You need another option: the demo would not install despite everything you tried.- daniel

I have found the FSX Demo to be a pleasure to fly in. The install was flawless as was the setup. I know there are issues with the Demo, but I take it just as that, a Demo. I have been impressed with the proformance that has been displayed with the improved water and other features already mentioned in this thread. I applaud the microsoft team for their hard work in trying to obtain the most realistic flying sim that appeals to aviation fans everywhere.System specsDell 9100800 FSB1 Gig RamGeforce 6800

I guess I'm in the boat that'll upgrade once Vista and DX10 is released... :-roll

I have two problems with the DEMO.At sunset and dawn, the water tiles still are not working together for a ONE color ocean/lake.And the other, is the old ATC voices. I gotta hear the same voices for another 2+ years?Thats all, being a DEMO, thats all i can see.Keyno

I am a FS2004 user from the beginning (and other previous versions too) and having used the FSX Demo I have to say I am fairly disappointed. Now, I have plenty or patience, a reasonably fast machine (GE6800, AMD 3800+ 2G RAM etc), I understand about tweaking, FPS, expectations and so on. The thing is, Microsoft is a huge company with billions of dollars and FSX will produce millions more. They have had years to develop FSX and a Demo, plenty of Programmers, and pretty much anything they wanted. So, why put out a Demo that is just plain ordinary for the most part. It had a distinctly gamey feel and appearance, poor autogen (yes, nice water textures), is buggy and the menus are straight out of FS2004! Will you buy a brand new car with exactly the same dash and appearance as your last car? Oh, I will buy the new FSX, I simply love this Flight Sim but I just cant believe a company with microsoft's resources could put this out for the FS community. Beta Demos has been hailed as an excuse? As a company advertising their product fopr potential buyers the idea of a Beta Demo is ridiculous. it should represent their company to their best ability or not be provided at all.I think its a pretty poor situation and although I appreciate their attempt I would have preferred waiting another 2 months and having something with far better polish. In the mean time, I am heading back to FS2004. It is hard to believe that now, with a FSX Demo in my hands, I would rather go back to the previous version than spend any more time playing that dopey FSX game.Paul

>Will you>buy a brand new car with exactly the same dash and appearance>as your last car? >If I really liked my old car, sure.

I think it was very clever. This demo will give a lot of feedback to the FS team, and they will hopefully iron out some bugs as a result. Yes, I know it's a "demo", but I regard it as a "limited beta" ;)I am thankful to the MSFS Team for this opportunity to test my FS planes, two months before I will get my hands on the full version. This enables me to be proactive in setting up my FS hangar for FSX :)10/10!

>I am Very disappointed with MS I have been using fsim for 20>odd years and now they cant even produce a mouth waterer that>works properly , this is highly unprofessional, but typical>MS! release something long before it is ready. All this demo>does is harm to their potential release date sales. I shall>certainly now wait quite some time now before buying and watch>the feed back on this forum (and no doubt wait for the>inevitable SP1 and SP2) before jumping in to what on the face>of it appears to be a bug riddled product. And in reality the>product that they are releasing isnt as visually good as the>product we now have if you have a few add on's. yes there are>a few more bells and whistles, but nothing that sets the world>on fire, Considering they have had 2 years to get this far all>I can award is an "E" for effort. Better luck next time. Oh boo freaking hoo I'm sorry if you think Microsoft should design eveything around what you want but a huge percent of us are more then happy with this latest sim. It is a huge improvement and my guess is you have a low end sytem that couldn't play the demo so now you're lashing out at MS calling there hard work unprofessional. Listen up buddy you can go ahead and stick with fs9 for all I care. Now go somewhere else your whining is not wanted here.

Demo was better I expected. Of course there are some bugs, it is pre release demo after all. It worked much better I expected compared with FS9. I'm looking forward for the release!! It

There is no doubt that even with the Demo being released with a fair number of bugs, I am impressed with what I see, in the aircraft and environment.However once again it seems that to be able to run the software at anything like its full potential, with the sliders pushed to the max, once again we are being placed in the position of having to buy a brand new system, new processor, extra memory and video cards, which once again means unhappiness with the extra outlay on top of the basic software.Another point in that I was pleased when FS9 COF was released in one version, meaning that you bought the same software that everybody else has, which once again sees the introduction of a standard and super version, which I think will put people off FSX in some cases.I would also like to know, how many of my purchased addons will work, when I now have a large investment in commercial packs for FS9,FS2002, 2000 and FS5. Does this mean yet more loss when having to buy new packages once again?An important question must be asked in that how much work will have been skipped in the identification of bugs, before the rush to get this on the shelves in time for Santa to fill our Christmas with PC aviation? Lets see an effort to wait and release a piece of software that does not contain hours of frustration and hair pulling, whilst waiting months for a patch, or series of patches.Will I buy it on release? I would like to say no; that I will wait and see what others think, but then again I cannot say in all honesty that this will be the case, so time will tell.John Murcutt