>Dude, it won't be out for another YEAR, they got alot of>time to add stuff.>>"Dude", that doesn't mean I can't have opinions about things>in their current state. I doubt they'll redo the graphics>engine in a year. :-roll >>I stated a fact: If this isn't the FS9 engine with>modifications, it sure looks the part. My opinion is that it's>disappointing. Evidently, there's a group that thinks this is>the best thing since sliced bread. If you want to debate my>opinion, feel free... But I predict you'll lose. :)>>Daniel P.>http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg>Member of SJU Photography. [A>HREF=http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=9004]Click>Here[/A] to view my aircraft photos at JetPhotos.Net!>The official psychotic AA painter. :)Well, Daniel, I hope you are enjoying FS2004's current graphics. If so, why re-invent what is already pretty good? I think MS decided to build on what is really good. From the limited screenshots released, FSX is looking even better. I hope that the MS programmers are using pixel shaders (PS ver 3 perhaps) for all the nice eye-candy. If FSX will use shaders heavily, then I think I know what graphics card I will buy next.David

The screen shot show great promise. I can not wait to see the features list. MSFS press releases seem to not sell their fire so I personally enjoy what they show and say knowing that its just the tip of the iceburg.

Interesting how I used to use only Apple machines to play games because, back in the early 80's, Apple had the coolest games!I don't use a Mac today, but someday I might use one for a living...David

I totally agree also! The MS team have (and continue to) work very hard to bring the next FS experience to the masses. I am grateful that the MS team had decided to release this much information for us. I am looking forward to FSX later this year!David

Well, as one of those low-and-slow VFR types (not smart enough to fly the big iron), I like what I've seen so far. Seems to be a nice start. Only other thing I can add...ARE WE THERE YET???GregP.S. I'm most excited about 3rd party folks being included in the process. Also, it's so nice to see MS dev people here visiting... great that they're interfacing with us MSFS geeks in forums. Makes us all feel "included". Hat's off to you, Microsoft folks. :-beerchug

I take hope in the multiplayer statement that they have smoothed that area out some. SB3 went a long way to smooth aircraft movements but a re-write from MS will do wonders with that. I also like how they mention just a basic fleet of planes and they are making it easier for 3rd party dev's to use FSX. That will be great. I don't know what some of you all are seeing but the overall base terrain graphics look a heck of a lot better than what we got. I do hope the night textures look more realistic than what they do now. Overall I am looking forward to it and will install it ONLY when the upgrades for the stuff I have for FS9 are available (LDS, PMDG, Fly-Tampa type stuff).Is that a wet tarmac in the 747 shot?I just hope a Vista upgrade and reformat will go smoothly for me as those types of jobs usually cause me to stroke out and start throwing things.

Phewww! thanks guys I can see the cars in picture 12. Also there is another picture at simflight with heaps of traffic..Theres something strange about picture 27. The angle of the rain on the right side of the picture is right to left, and on the left side of the picture, is left to right :-hmmmIt's good news though that it will be shipped on DVD. If everyone is using the same default mesh, the sceneries will work better together.John.

From a development standpoint it will make our sceneries 10X easier to make without having to worry about what add-ons people have for friggin mesh on their individual tmvl settings. This caused havoc for our EGKK and EGKA releases. Everyone was using about 50 different add-ons all at once in the UK area. Our US stuff won't be as hard to do with most people using UT.

I haven't EVER been this stoked about a game.I'm usually the type to get stoked on new Windows releases, especially after testing betas, or new awesome hardware, but NEVER a game, not like this.I think much of that is because I have such a passion for FS anyway, and I'm always amazed at technology and what it can do to the virtual world I immerse myself in. This is just awesome. Think about it. They don't really need to do much to the current sim to make me happy, but they are doing alot. It's way to early to call the type of ATC and dynamics we'll experience in FSX, but those graphics....my gosh! And the missions part sounds awesome. Just because they're their doesn't mean it won't be freely explorable. Adventures are a fun thing in FS, they lead to new challenges, new sites, new experiences. With these kind of graphics I'll need a bigger hard drive just to store the screenshots I will be taking! :)To the FSX team, you've won me over big time. Thanks for making us impatient hard-to-please folks wait a bit longer than we wanted. Thanks for making sure the release is far enough away to take advantage of extensive testing. Thanks for making us graphic nuts drool. Thanks for working hard on something you want to see yourselves, and a BIG thanks for listening to the community! But most important, thanks for the work you've already done for FS, and the work you're doing now.To AVSIM, thanks for the screenshots and the exclusives, thanks for being my number one source for downloads Thanks for being good enough to merit being my homepage. Man I am STOKED. Nice nice nice.http://home.earthlink.net/~dawgfighter/sit...es/swvasig1.gif-Jeremy BurchSWVA4806 http://www.virtualswa.com/home.phpThe Ozark Dogfighter http://forums.avsim.net/images/wedge.gifHappy Flying!

The point I think is that if FSX comes with all this included, just think what MORE could be expanded upon by developers with that new building power. And I think it will definately improve your experience, unless I'm totally off; all of that detail, plus more powerfull graphics rendering abilities, straight out of the box. That's awesome. Now take all that and imagine the sweat and tears of our current crop of outstanding free- and pay-ware developers 2 years after FSX is released...see where I'm going? This is going to be HUGE, and I'm not saying you're wrong in the least, but I think when she ships you'll be excited.http://home.earthlink.net/~dawgfighter/sit...es/swvasig1.gif-Jeremy BurchSWVA4806 http://www.virtualswa.com/home.phpThe Ozark Dogfighter http://forums.avsim.net/images/wedge.gifHappy Flying!

And isn't it great! All this time up to now I have been thinking: "great, now i've got to shell out big bucks if I want to run this when it ships."But now I see I've got about a year to do it. Makes the saving that much easier. So I can move slowly and with purpose.My first upgrade is going to be memory, because i can always use that.Next, a nice high-end gaming sound card. I'm currently on the on-board sound and my Klipschs are crying.Then, I'll upgrade my CPU to an almost-max for my socket mobo, because I won't change my mobo this early in the game, I'm going to get more service out of it (I like it alot too, Abit AI7).Then the video card, also because prices will be alot lower for top-of-the-line AGP cards, and that's what my mobo supports.Lastly, harddrive. I'll buy a big capacity Barracuda SATA150 drive, because the mobo supports it, and I'll just make sure that the new mobo supports it as well.With the new mobo will be the video card, CPU and another hard drive, but that's 2007, maybe late, so that doesn't concern me now.I'm glad I've got room to decide and fine tune though. Whew!http://home.earthlink.net/~dawgfighter/sit...es/swvasig1.gif-Jeremy BurchSWVA4806 http://www.virtualswa.com/home.phpThe Ozark Dogfighter http://forums.avsim.net/images/wedge.gifHappy Flying!

"...Theres something strange about picture 27. The angle of the>rain on the right side of the picture is right to left, and on>the left side of the picture, is left to right... John."Howdy John,The distortion you see in fsx027.jpg comes from the camera position and wide angle from zooming back a bit. The camera position is on the wing...Cheers,jason

At first I was somewhat unimpressed, but then I looked a bit closer. Some thoughts....* The main advantage would seem to be the extra detail in the terrain textures. Roads are much sharper than currently possible with even add-on textures. The "look" is somewhat reminscenent of BEV, but I'd consider that a compliment to BEV. The actual textures in FSX seem to be much sharper.* They are obviously using satellite photographs as a base. You can see drivways, sidewalks, etc ... this bodes well for low-altitude flying. The autogen is lined up very nicely. The autogen buildings and trees are a bit underwhelming, but it's early.* Shorelines seem more detailed. Hard to tell if it will match the level of detail of the shorelines provided by current add-ons like UT-USA.* Birds I will probably turn off. Not worth the CPU cycles.* Some of the screenshots don't have anti-aliasing enabled.* Reflective tarmac in rain looks great.* Water reflections look great.* Water textures are maybe a bit glossy for my taste, but certainly a big improvement over FS9 default.* More detailed default mesh?* Considering we have nearly a year to go, it's looking good. I think the eye candy is nearly there, but of course all of us are interested in things like flight dynamics, weather, ATC, sloped runways (?!), etc.Much too early to really complain or sing praises, but overall impressive.

>>Anyone spot cloud shadows yet?> >>I agree :) CLOUDS CAST SHADOWS!>>:)I didn't see this in the screenshots posted at AVSim. Which screenshot are you referring to? I did see water reflecting clouds (although it cold be just a texture, not a reflection of the actual cloudscape above the waterbody), but I didn't see clouds casting shadows on the ground.I noticed the carefully-aligned autogen objects, too, but the cynic in me immediately said "That could just be for this one particular area - what about remote towns in Alaska, Africa or Siberia?" In this sense judging autogen complexity on a global scale based on these screenshots alone is a bit premature.Same goes for the textures and mesh data - the areas shown in these screenshots (where driveways and lawns are visible, or the mountains look detailed) could simply be part of the "more detailed" areas of FS, just like there are "a few more detailed airports" while the rest are very generic. We've seen this in FS9, too, and it's not because the FS devteam is lazy or anything. The world's a big place and you can't expect to get top of the line details everywhere, out of the box.Obviously Microsoft would want to showcase areas which will be more detailed in the end product, rather than those which won't (not even 12 months from now). It's simple marketing 101 :)My point is - the screenshots look nice, but I've seen many posts in this thread alone where people are drawing way too far-fetched conclusions from them. I'm sure MANY things will improve over the months, but that doesn't mean you're going to get this level of (mesh / autogen / road network) detail everywhere in the world (of FSX).EDIT:In this spot I commented about the lone screenshot on AVSim showing cars on one of the roads (about how they were bitmaps and not 3D) - this stil holds true, but apparently SimFlight has a screenshot showing 3D traffic. So my comment is now moot and removed ;)

The rain looks that way because the screenshot has been taken with an extreme Field of View. This is similar to the "fish-eye" effect of a wide camera lens.You can see the same effect being used in some of the glider shots; the FOV has been increased to add more "pow" to the screenshot ;)