I've actually noticed that bump mapping is used extensively in FSX. Is it possible that bump mapping contributes quite a lot to the slowdown in FPS within the FSX World, thereby making it appear as though equivalent scenery in FSX results in a lower FPS than in FS9?If that's the case would disabling all bump mapping in FSX dramatically improve performance?I would like to experiment with this. Is there a simple way to disable all bump mapping (and other shaders that aren't necessary) from the sim?Thanks in advance.James

Couldn't that be done by changing the shaders? I tried to even delete the bump and didn't noticed any frame increase only transparent buildings. So my only idea are shader and change the way textures are done but I don't know enought.Jos

Don't think you can easily remove bumpmapping (it would be like removing the effects from the water - you would need an explicit switch put there by the dev team)On the pther hand, bump mapping has been standard since DX8, so unless you have a very old card, the overhead in FPS is probably pretty small. (as far as I can tell, only the aircraft are bumpmapped anyway, nit the terrain)

I know that the runways are bumpmapped. If you look at it in the morning, then midday, then afternoon, you notice a shift in the bump shadows.I believe many of the buildings are as well, and cars and airport traffic. I just can't help getting the feeling that the bumpmapping is incurring an overhead. Maybe I'm wrong if MS can correct me.James

The effect is going to be variable based on what's in the scene. Since bumpmapping is a per-pixel shader effect the impact will depend on how many pixels needing to be bumped are the on the screen. For example, if you zoom in on an aircraft (that uses bumpmapping for the rivets, etc.) until it fills the screen the impact could be quite larger. In general, though, the impact is quite small, especially since very few things in FS are bumpmapped (only the aircraft, runways, and significant scenery objects--most buildings have no bump.)