"So, yes, Direct10 will be the FPS holy grail, not multiple CPUs". You're right about the multiple CPU's but wrong about DX10. FSX is still a CPU-bound process and anyone expecting DX10 to be a "holy grail" is going to be sorely disappointed.Doug

Just trying to figure out how you know for sure that the 2nd demo accuratley reflects the release version.Would you kindly share your source for this info please?Thanks,Craig

wingnut,You know this as a fact, correct? Could it be that demo 2 was PROGRAMMED weeks ago and could have no relationship to the released version?Just wondering,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development Team Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/AirSource Member: http://www.air-source.us/FSEconomy Member:http://www.fseconomy.com/

> You're right about the multiple CPU's but wrong about DX10. FSX is still a CPU-bound process and anyone > expecting DX10 to be a "holy grail" is going to be sorely disappointed.No I think guys like you when you see the speed will be rushing out to buy them in a few months :-lol

I installed it on my ancient machine, but unfortunately forgot to write down my settings from demo no. 1. I put the sliders back to where I thought they were but there seems to be a significant drop in FPS. I played around with the settings a bit but didn't identify any major improvement. Do you need to restart FSX for slider changes to truely take affect?I restarted and set every slider full left. My FPS was running mostly in the 90's, but peaking over 100 and dipping into the high 70's. Needless to say, everything looks like c**p, but it sure is smooth!!Systematically I am working thru the sliders, one at a time...and already the appearance is starting to look better and my FPS is in the 60's still. I think if we approach this in an organized fashion we will figure out what is hitting the frame rate so hard before the final version is released. At this point I believe it is possible to reach a reasonable compromise on performance AND appearance even on a clunker like mine.Possibly the secret is to start at the bottom and work your way up?P4-2.0GHz - 400 FSU1 MB memoryNvidia 6800GT

Does the CRJ have the glass reflection like it did in the previous demo? It wasn't in the beta.Does the Lear have the glass reflections? It didn't in the beta.Thx

That's the best way to do it, start low and find the sweet area that comprimises visual appeal and smoothness. My old 2.2 ghz athlon seems to be handling things fairly well with the 6600 GT. I stay smooth, no blurries, locked at 15 with settings maxed except detail radius to small. The autogen must be off as it drops to 6 fps near the Juliana forest at sparse. Considering I have AA set to 4x and checked on in FS, AS set to 8x, max global etc... etc.... I run between 12 and 15 over the ocean with 2.high set. Smooth as silk and no blurries for the most part. Way better than expected.I'm not sure what is happening to the high end systems and I realize flying over a city in the final version will kill me, but flying around Juliana is really amazing with everything maxed and the ocean is a true work of art at max settings.Ian.

Ian:Are you controlling AA and AF with the Nvidia control panel...or do you have it set for application controlled?

There's no magic here Craig. The RTM version was cut weeks ago. It could, in fact, be that the second demo is newer code than the RTM version (but I doubt it). The ACES team have already confirmed that the sim is CPU-bound. That being the case there is no possibility that the final version is going to be any different. Read the ACES team blogs and draw your own conclusions, but believe me, there isn't going to be any real difference.DougEdited 'cause I can't spell

I doubt it.

Haven't tried the CRJ yet, but the Learjet definitely has the glass reflections, and they look oh so sweet!The reflections in general look light-years ahead of what's in FS9, especially from the metallic surfaces.The light bloom effect combined with the self-shadowing is also incredible, and really adds another dimension to the look of the sim.I did however find some strange graphic clitches such as the ground shadow occassionally flashing red and also being able to see the nav lights etc through the aircraft.James

> You know this as a fact, correct? Could it be that demo 2 was PROGRAMMED weeks ago and could > have no relationship to the released version?No thats a logical assumption. As we know the final build was completed a couple of weeks ago. Thats gives them a couple of weeks for someone to make the new demo with the final build code. It would be kind of crazy to start working on the 2nd demo right at the end of the project and just before the final build dont ya think ;)

Archtx,Adam from Aces said at the AVSIM conference that they reworked the code so any extra CPU cycles (based on a locked FPS setting, not unlimited) would be given to the texture rendering engine and therefore, people would see a slight decrease in FPS for identical slider settings. This change was made following the release of demo1 and the public beta.So you and the others here mentioning a decrease in FPS are just seeing the effects of CPU cycles that used to go to FPS now going to texture rendering. This also explains why people are saying the blurries are much better with demo2 compared to demo1.Bruce

I believe, that if you are going to max all the sliders, that your fps are being affected by the fact that you now have full automobile and other traffic with all textures. Taking off from the default airport in the new demo, the slider that had the biggest impact on performance for my computer was NOT the autogen slider, but rather the autombile slider (AI aircraft were turned off, I didn't even bother to check that, and water was at 1X).Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

Well for me, the biggest issues seem to be autogen and traffic.As said previously, I started at the bottom (all sliders full left) and worked up.I hope some others will try this method as I only have the one machine to test it.To not get into too much detail, I basically adjusted everything the way I wanted it except for autogen (full left) and traffic (full left). At this point, everything looks pretty good and my FPS is still bouncing around in the 60's and 70's. PLEASE read my computer specs!I started cranking in traffic and the worse was the automobiles. They start and stop and really hit my frame rates. Mosst of the time the frame rate was OK, but I was getting some stutters. The airport vehicles and AI planes didn't seem to have much impact. (I have a couple of FS9 DC-3's for AI). However the boats did seem to hurt me.The leisure boats more than ships...maybe just by shear number. Too bad, I like seeing those boats cruise around.Lastly, I started adding autogen. This was for me the most sensitive issue. I finally found a point where I was still able to maintain a smooth 15 or better frame rate.I think ultimately, until I have better hardware, I will set up various setting configurations so that I can sometimes enjoy VFR scenery, but switch to a "performance mode" before landing, when I need to keep the FPS up. It may be that the only difference for me is turning the autogen off before landing.HArdware:P-4 2.0GHz 400FSB1 GB memoryEVGA 6800 GT - 256 MB (latest drivers)Final Settings:1152 X 864 X 32Target Frame Rate - UnlimitedGlobal Texture Resolution - Very HighAdvanced Animation - checkFilter - AnisotropicAA - checkedAircraft: (Ultralite)3-D Virtual CockpitHigh Resolution 3-D checkedaircraft casts shadows on ground -checkedPS. 2-D cockpit severely reduced frame rates (!?)Scenery:LOD-LargeMesh Complexity: 100Mesh Resolution - 1mTexture Resolution - 1 mWater Effects - high 1.xland detail - checkedScenery complexity - SparseAutogen Density - NormalGround Scenery Shadows - CheckedSpecial Effects Details-HighWeather:Cloud Draw - 100mThermal Visualization - noneDetailed Clouds - CheckedCloud Coverage Density - HighTraffic:Airline - 100%GA - 100%Airport Vehicles - MaxRoad- 0%Ships - 100%Leisure Boats - 0%Sorry for the long post...but hope it might keep some people from giving up too quick. This is a low end machine by current standards, and at above settings I am getting in the mid 20's FPS dipping to the teens when panning toward heavy autogen...but still smooth.