Phil, do you think FSX will gain in popularity

[Guest jwflowers]

Phil,First, I wish to thank you for your participation on these forums and all the hard work you've put into the product. I'm fortunate to have a good computer to run FSX with decent framerates. However, I'm concerned by the lack of community support and addons at the moment for the product. Hopefully, SP1 will fix some of the performace problems that has plagued many, but will FSX go the way of FS2000, or will it slowly replace FS9 as the new standard?Thanks for any comments,John

[McCrash 3]

Yes! The add-ons will start coming out more often a while after the patch release.

[Guest]

I certainly hope so because it is DRY out there.________________________________________________________________________________________________Intel D975XBX2 'Bad Axe 2' | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.20Ghz | 2 GB Super Talent DDR2 800 | Big Typhoon VX | eVGA 8800GTS @ 565/900 | Seagate 2x320GB SATA RAID-0 | OCZ GameXStream 700W | Creative X-Fi | Silverstone TJ-09BW | Matrox Triplehead Setup

[PhilTaylor 45]

Certainly the performance issues are the main reason SP1 exists. So yes we hope to make that better.As to why add-ons are not available, I think they are coming. I see new aircraft with interesting features like the new B-17, the TreesX add-on, the UK2000Scenery airports, the new landclass. More is coming. I think the time lag is due to how big a change FSX is. So the add-ons will accumulate. While we may hope what you ask is the outcome of SP1, its really you the community that will make that happen ( or not ).

[Guest jwflowers]

Thanks again for your comments! I really hope that this engine will prove to be capable of scaling to other markets such as train sims and combat sims. It would be great for one gigantic world with different simulations coexisting!Later,John

[OwenHewitt 0]

>I think the time lag is due to how big a change FSX is. So the add-ons will accumulate.You've hit the nail on the head, Phil. There is an incredible amount of changes that have occurred from the previous two versions to what is now in FSX. Namely with regards to model development, we now have double the texture creations to wrestle (with spec and bump maps, each with alpha characteristics that must be worked as well). Converting older projects is taking quite a substantial amount of time. But bear with us 3rd party guys, we are working dilligently!!Best,Owen

[dlhusk 0]

>Certainly the performance issues are the main reason SP1>exists. So yes we hope to make that better.Thanks Again, Phil for all the work and feedback. I have been flying MS Flight Sims since the very first up to FSX and it has been amazing to see the transformation. I for one am very happy with FSX as it is, I have reinstalled, tried tweaks, etc but I just reinstalled fresh and am just flying now with default settings and am enjoying it. Since I never finished all the missions before (got side tracked with tweaks and FPS trials). I have now resolved to leave FSX alone till the SP1 comes out and finish the missions.I challenge anyone to spend only $75.00 for anything and have more fun than with FSX!!!!!!! I have a brother that flies to Barbados and spends lots of money but I can do it in FSX and save a bundle. I know I live a dull life :-(Best Wishes on FSX SP1.....Danny

[duckbilled 310]

Sure, there has been a lot of changes - more than I can understand. Has anyone been able to overcome the round earth issues that many of the payware scenery developers complained about?

[PhilTaylor 45]

See my blog post on this from 2/20.

[spilok 1,132]

Phil,Can we "confidently add" things like TreesX and various planes, scenery, land class, etc., and not be concerned about whether the SP1 will conflict?That is, does the update require a relatively Virginal FSX, or can we just go about our addon business, and SP1 will be able to be added without incident?Do you know what I mean? Hopefully, I'm being clear on this point because I've seen it discussed on this forum.

[AWACS 12]

>>You've hit the nail on the head, Phil. There is an incredible amount of changes that have occurred from the previous two versions to what is now in FSX. Namely with regards to model development, we now have double the texture creations to wrestle (with spec and bump maps, each with alpha characteristics that must be worked as well). Converting older projects is taking quite a substantial amount of time. But bear with us 3rd party guys, we are working dilligently!!Best,Owen MS FS MVP<

[duckbilled 310]

>See my blog post on this from 2/20.Thanks. I read it and I can't say that I understood very much but I think I got the picture. One question though - what qualifies as a "long runway"?

[n4gix 4,947]

>You've hit the nail on the head, Phil. There is an incredible>amount of changes that have occurred from the previous two>versions to what is now in FSX. Namely with regards to model>development, we now have double the texture creations to>wrestle (with spec and bump maps, each with alpha>characteristics that must be worked as well). Converting>older projects is taking quite a substantial amount of time. >But bear with us 3rd party guys, we are working dilligently!!Not to mention trying to figure out why the same techniques for FSX Materials work perfectly on one model and cause most of the exterior model to be invisible on another! :-bang I hope more folks will come to recognize that the differences between modeling for FS9 and FSX are legion! :-smile12

[DougMatthews 0]

>Phil,>Can we "confidently add" things like TreesX and various>planes, scenery, land class, etc., and not be concerned about>whether the SP1 will conflict?>That is, does the update require a relatively Virginal FSX, or>can we just go about our addon business, and SP1 will be able>to be added without incident?>Do you know what I mean? Hopefully, I'm being clear on this>point because I've seen it discussed on this forum.>SP1 installation requires that the default FSX files are where the RTM installer put them, and that the files are in the same state that they were originally in.So, if you've installed add-ons that do not modify the default files, chances are you'll be just fine.If you've applied some of the various tweaks to the default files, you've got to un-tweak (or re-install FSX). This is unfortunate, but the way our current patch technology works requires that the files be in their original state. For those who are concerned about the activation limit, worst case should be you might need to activate by phone.-Doug

[duckbilled 310]

Would it be too much to ask for the installer to have a readme that details the files that are modified by SP1?