Allrighty then. The point is obviously lost if the answer is that the consumers I'm carefully describing - those who don't know about or visit AvSim or other internet websites including FSInsider - will become informed through some form of miosis or whatever due to all the news and discussion which will be taking place on the internet websites and forums they aren't visiting.The thought is spurred by example of casual forum members here and elsewhere that are asking even this week "What is this SP1?". If FSX sold over a million copies as I've read, I suspect that the various FS website and FSInsider readers total far less than that, so it's a lot of potential folks left out in the cold. Of course we hobbyists and power users are all safe because we'll get ours when it's ready, but I'm posing a question out of empathy for the "new folks" and of interest for the general 'offline' community, not just my own gratification. Hope that spells it out better, and why I mentioned some kind of update notification that would be harder to not be aware of such as - possibly - Windows Update (non-critical) updates for installed components or somesuch.Just spitballin' here and not to critique or micro-manage Microsoft and ACES procedures. Simply thinking of the 'other guy' including those who may have shelved FSX and would like to know about this. Thanks for listening.

I believe people eventually find out as long as they have access to the internet, although many may not instantly recognize an update has been released they may peruse a patch website or see it posted on a forum.I do agree it would be nice to have a "check for updates" button in the GUI as I'm seeing more of this type of functionality in more and more software including many fsaddons, but disagree that a windows update would be prudent as it's not system related software.And don't forget about the registration process. I get email notifications concerning news and updates for most products I register for so hopefully MS will do the same with FS.Ian.

Hello All, Well . . . . obviously, my source was wrong on his timing of the release. And with further questioning he is NOT a beta tester, it's the old, 'friend, of a friend'. Yeah, ok, so much for believing gossip. On the point of someone breaking a NDA, I too have been a beta tester for quite a few projects, and I WOULD NOT break any NDA which I agreed to. You just don't do that if you desire any creditability. However, on this point, I was just passing along what was told to me by another, and now knowing that it wasn't worth the time to type the message on the forum, I should have known better. Please excuse my post to being overly excited about the SP1 release and nothing more.Which, by the way, like everyone else, is hoping that it will cure my ills with FSX.Lastly, hats off to the ACES crew for all thier hard work on solving our problems with what will become a milestone in FS releases.Best to all, Clay

I hope people won't be disappointed that it might not magically solve all niggles and problems, although we all like a good moan!

I hope the final test went/goes well today.

Imagine if the SP1 includes a night light texture fix, now that would be amazing.

Improves performance (Frame rates) and fixes bugs.

Its a couple days final test pass. All I can commit to at this time is "next week".I assure you, I am as tired of saying that as you are of hearing it :-).So far,nothing to force a binary rebuild and add a day. And the time is..."next week" :-).

Thanks Phil. I'm assuming that a binary rebuild is bad and that we don't want one of those to happen!

Couple days test pass, uh? Hmmmm, I wonder if ACES works on the weekend? lol

>Couple days test pass, uh? Hmmmm, I wonder if ACES works on>the weekend? lolIs the process automated at all?

Mid week if all goes well apparently.:-)

What bugs do you want fixed?I would be happy if the fps is improved a bit, water graphics improved and night lights fixed on default aircraft (I miss making night landings) and the instant replay function improved so the gears retract on takeoff.

If they can make the lobby not suck, that'll be great :DAlthough I have to note that I've been experimenting with PeerGuardian lately and seen promising results. It seems that if I select a server in FSX lobby, start connecting to it and instantly enable PeerGuardian (which in this case blocks traffic from and to Gamespy's / IGN's servers), I'm actually able to CONNECT to the host and fly with others (which is the exact opposite of what happens if I don't block IGN traffic).It seems to indicate that something in the way FSX communicates with IGN's servers causes unexpected disconnects and failures. When the two can't talk, the problems go away.I would of course like to get an official fix to this problem, as the PeerGuardian workaround means my friends list won't work and interestingly enough, text chat is inaccessible aswell (even while flying). I thought it was handled by the host, but apparently not. Voice comms are unaffected.

anyone read latest blog posts ?(1) Approximate download size = 210MB - thats quite a patch(2) *** Everyone but low end machines ( our ridiculous min-spec ) should see the 20%. Better machines should see more, maybe up to 40% in some cases - but overall we are being conservative still with our estimates. ***so the higher end the PC the HIGHER the increase in % frame-rates - WOOT !Mark.