18.11 - according this news:

https://www.flightsimulator.com/october-28th-2021-development-update/

I hope it will bring more fps in VR mode too :) !

It was mention by the developers before that it is unlikely to experience higher fps with DX12 (system depended).

31 minutes ago, YoYo said:

I hope it will bring more fps in VR mode too 🙂 !

It probably won't bring higher FPS.  From what I understand, they are just switching to DirectX 12 using a wrapper.  They are not directly accessing the DirectX 12 call libraries, but using the wrapper to indirectly call DirectX 12.  The FPS gains will be when they start making direct calls to the DirectX 12 library, which will be in a future update.

No this is proper DX12 on PC.

The wrapper is on X-Box.

Unless I missed something during the Q&A.

Edited October 29, 20214 yr by Tuskin38

What will it bring, better graphics? At long as they don't reduce the fps, I am fine.

At first DX12 will bring more issues to the users - it works closer to the GPU, so now it's up to the developers to implement hardware-specific stuff that previously was handled by DX11 and the graphics driver. It's a lot more likely that there are going to be issues with rendering and stability that are very specific to a single series of GPUs, making it a lot harder to test and fix. That's why we're entering an open beta phase with the release of the GOTY edition.

I don't know why so many people expect DX12 to be a miracle cure for all their fps issues when Asobo made it very clear that we shouldn't expect performance improvements from it, or very minor ones at best.

DX12 is important in the long run because it lays the groundwork for the implementation of new features and further optimisations, I'm sure at some point the transition will pay off. Just don't get your hopes up right now.

Edited October 29, 20214 yr by pstrub

Don't expect a huge FPS boost in VR at all....

Not expecting a lot from what I've read, but it should be possible to improve the clouds and lighting. Not sure if this will be addressed in the update or whether it will need further work down the line.

Given the hard limit imposed on VRAM by Direct X 12, it is to be hoped that Asobo have come up with a way to keep the VRAM usage below the capabilities of the graphics card. It is only too easy to overdo the settings in P3D v5 with the resulting crash that does not take place in P3D v4 and Direct X 11.
Diect X 12 is certainly not (yet?) the holy grail that some seem to think that it is, though it does seem to be more forgiving in Windows 11.

Edited October 29, 20214 yr by Reader

So what are the benefits of direct x 12?

I think the issues with scenery loading/unloading that "popped up" with SU5 made it abundantly clear that all the tools required for memory management of VRAM are already there in MSFS. It's a matter of fine tuning these for the requirements of DX12 in order to avoid GPU out of memory errors. While I'm totally expecting a couple of issues to come with the release of DX12, I don't think the memory issues that plagued P3D will be among them. 

As to the benefits of DX12: it's required for raytracing, and it allows further optimisations of multi-threading in rendering down the road. And I'm not sure, but I think it's a requirement for DLSS.

2 hours ago, pstrub said:

At first DX12 will bring more issues to the users - it works closer to the GPU, so now it's up to the developers to implement hardware-specific stuff that previously was handled by DX11 and the graphics driver. It's a lot more likely that there are going to be issues with rendering and stability that are very specific to a single series of GPUs, making it a lot harder to test and fix. That's why we're entering an open beta phase with the release of the GOTY edition.

I don't know why so many people expect DX12 to be a miracle cure for all their fps issues when Asobo made it very clear that we shouldn't expect performance improvements from it, or very minor ones at best.

DX12 is important in the long run because it lays the groundwork for the implementation of new features and further optimisations, I'm sure at some point the transition will pay off. Just don't get your hopes up right now.

Right...for P3D, it did improve FPS for many, BUT...lots of users (including myself) then started getting OUT OF Graphics (on card) RAM memory lock ups and crashes, as you 'clicked featured up'.  With the 5.2 version they got a pretty good handle on that..(experience) and mostly have put that to bed for most all P3D users.  So, as you say...there might be some real 'bitc****' happening in the forum, until one or two SU's further on.  We'll have to see...

Edited October 29, 20214 yr by Sesquashtoo

22 minutes ago, abranpuko said:

So what are the benefits of direct x 12?

From my understanding, DirectX 12 allows "lower level access" to the graphics card.  In software development terms, "lower level access" means the software developer has more control of how the hardware behaves, but the software developer also spends much more time writing the software, if they use low level calls.

For example, if you can write in assembly, you have precise control of every instruction sent to the CPU.  Nobody writes in assembly though because it takes forever to even do the most basic things.  Having said that, some games that need to be super optimized may do certain parts of their function calls in assembly.  But only a very small faction of calls.  If you write a modern game entirely in assembly like MSFS, it would take you probably thousands of years to complete it.  You'll be dead and the software development team will be dead before the game is even completed.

In the same way, DirectX 12 offers "lower level access" for game developers to the graphics card.  But game developers need to take the time to take advantage of it.

Also, I believe DLSS is something that DirectX 12 offers for Nvidia card users.  Asobo said they would look into DLSS (but they didn't promise they would implement it, probably because AMD card users won't benefit from it).

Edited October 29, 20214 yr by abrams_tank

As long as we don't get a performance decrease, I'm fine with it.

Will we have an option to continue using DX11, or will the use of DX12 be enforced?  My GPU only has 6 GB of Vram, which is just enough for most scenarios on high settings. As the general experience with P3Dv5 has shown, DX12 will likely increase the Vram usage and lead to out of memory errors if it's more than the GPU can handle. Does anyone know?