:-hmmm This is indeed good news. I have a question for Phil and the forum to consider regarding the SP1 installation.Given the very large number of tweaks (texture, .cfg and .ini mods, autogen deletions or mods, etc.), will these have to be "backed-out" prior to SP1? Will a total reload of FSX be required? Or will the SP1 installation be compatible with the nyriad tweaks? I don't have a clue myself. Think about it.Thanks and here to a better FSX experience in the near future,Todd Rauppius

I already stated it has to be a clean FSX RTM install. Cfg tweaks ok, file changes like the texture tweak are not.

What about Light Bloom? Is it still going to kill half of the frames?

Light bloom, Water 2.x, and Shadows all require an additional pass each. There is no way around that. When you render a 2nd time, it takes twice as long.We can only reduce the time for the initial pass. That both reduces the cost of each additional pass, and provides some extra time all the way round.

Phil, Do products like FS Genesis North American Terrain Mesh and Cloud 9 U.S. and Europe all of which I use, qualify as texture changes that have to be backed out? I hope not. These 2 products have enhanced my FSX experience considerably.

First, this is all a guess as I havent done an install with them.But in general we think well-behaved add-ons that dont touch FSX content files should be ok.Its really the tweaks that modify content, like the texture one, that absolutely have to be backed out.

Wonder if I'm the only one who noticed that we have about 20 responses to Phil's message and NOT ONE of them is complaining about something or saying that it's not enough, etc.Son of a gun!:)Visit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/

It's a first, maybe optimism is taking over. :) SP1 sounds like it is shaping up nicely.Ian.

> Light bloom, Water 2.x, and Shadows all require an additional pass each. Iiiiiiinteresting.Although I always thought that bloom and water took a separate pass, I didn't think that they all required their OWN INDIVIDUAL second pass. I thought it was just a single "second pass" as opposed to an additional one for each. This certainly helps with tweaking, as it could open the door for folks to enable specific "second-pass" features knowing what has to be done! Great info to know!-Greg

Phil (or anyone who knows), how large will the SP1 download be?

Approx. 250 MB

Phil,Looking ahead with single core CPU's being phased out and multi-cores being forcasted to be priced very affordably, can you say anything about what the team has learned about coding for multi-core and it relation to future possibilites?Since different application are coded and designed so differently, what I mean is, does FS have a chance to really benefit from multi-core based on the limited time you and ACES has had with this new technology? Have the ACES Team just started breaking the ice or does it seem that FS is just not one of those applications that based on all its elements will ever get near the potential multi-core CPU offer?

>is an encouraging sign), do you now feel confident, with at>least a high end system and video card, that FSX will now have>the much needed headroom in performance to support PMDG, LDS,>or CS level of detail?>Thank YouProbably doesn't want to go there, which is wise.If I had to guesstimate, I would say that the hardware needed for that is about 6-8 months away....and that's assuming we get a little boost from SP1.It all depends on the hardware, but at least SP1 appears to put us on a better set of train tracks.What I'm thinking (assuming all pans out) is that these next gen quad's that will come out here in the next 6 months, will give us a minimal level of overhead with the super-advanced add-ons like PDMG.I say minimal because as you are well aware, performance is all in the eye of the beholder--some are well satisfied with less. Others demand more.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

>Wonder if I'm the only one who noticed that we have about 20>responses to Phil's message and NOT ONE of them is complaining>about something or saying that it's not enough, etc.Well, you notice a couple of the biggest naysayers are conspicuously absent from this thread.Once SP1 is out, I'm positive there will *still* be some who are not satisfied. You can't please em all.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

Oh, well. I always thought Light Bloom is a 2D process. In fact, all the info I got on the internet about Light Bloom indicates that it is a 2D process. Why does FSX have to go through an addictional pass?