Hi Phil!...People with the Nvidia 7950 (so DX9 card) and Vista Ultimate 32bit can install the Sp2 and get an improovement also if of corse minimum (code optimization....)??Andy

Cool, thanks Phil. So let me get this all strait. you are at the 3rd stage were you have all Dx9 features working in DX10 with a 17% increase already. You still have not implimented any DX10-specific feature work yet - so when you impliment the DX10 features there is a good chance it could bring up performace even more? perhaps even up to 400%? Or do you think the DX10 features will hurt performace? basically, have you completed all performace related work?

My understanding is that it's more of an "either / or" situation. In fact, I seem to remember Phil or someone from the devteam mentioning this some time back (but don't take my word for it - Phil will know it better than I can).While DX10 allows for "bigger and better" graphics, it doesn't mean those bigger and better visuals come free. If you choose to go for the "bigger and better" approach (aka. "either"), you're also going to need better hardware - there's supposedly a lot of stuff in DX10 that the first-gen DX10 cards won't be able to fully utilize since they're simply not powerful enough (but then again, that's how it always goes with new software and hardware).The other option is to take a visually less ambitious approach (aka. "or") and instead make use of the improved efficiency (whatever that may be - I'm not one to believe the rather grandiose numbers presented here and there) of DX10 and improved performance of DX10 hardware. This means things will look marginally better than DX9, but you can hope to get better performance. How much better is anybody's guess. Phil's quoting 17% right now with DX9-style visuals, but that's probably from an unoptimized build. I would not expect 400% increase, though. That's daydreaming.Oh, there is of course a third option - a balance between the two. The problem there is that people who still haven't realized they're not going to get "magic screenshot" -style graphics (the Photoshopped "it might look something like this" pictures) will be extremely disappointed when things don't look as good as they were expecting. At the same time those who were hoping for "400% performance increases" will feel equally disappointed.My guess is that the DX10 update will be liked by those who are expecting moderate increases in performance and visuals, because that's what you can reasonably expect. And if somehow, someway Aces manage to pull a DX10 rabbit out of their hat there's simply more to like :) Those who don't expect a miracle are rarely disappointed.

Phil,Things are looking good! BTW I understood from the blog that both screenshots were supposed to be the same.Now, I haven't nagged and complained for a while in the forums about the FS9 photo scenery texture loading/blurry issues on SP1 (we bashed that one to death a while ago) but I really hope that this is one of the bug fixes in SP2...Rgds,JC

"Well, I am going on 3 weeks of vacation starting August 14th, and we will not be fully baked by then..."Ya, if it takes you longer than 3 weeks to get fully baked, you just aren't trying hard enough!:-beerchug

Mr Taylor, Would you please comment on the truthfulness of the stories currently circulating that suggest the new DX10.1 version of DirectX won't work with DX10 hardware - such as the GeForce 8800 or the Radeon 2900 series of graphics cards? It is being suggested that the 10.1 revision will require completely new hardware for support, as well Vista SP1 and developer implementation.Surely this cannot be true?NC

I mean that on the date I start the vacation 8/14, the features wont be done. And that by when I get back, 9/4, they should be far enough to tell what feature is in and what feature wont make the cut.

As I said in the post, we are considering a small set of DX9 improvements.

I meant the features wont be done, eg baked, when I leave. So I couldnt make my original date to disclose features of mid-August. I dont like to break my promises, hence the explanation.

DX10 features are in-flight, but no DX10 performance work has happened yet.400% is unlikely.but yes, there is a performance feature in the mix. it still remains to be seen if it makes the cut, eg is done enough to keep.

I believe the point is subtler than that.To get access to the 10.1 features ( which iirc is either finer-grained scheduling/interruptability and lower level virtual paging control for virtual texturing or both ) you will need 10.1 hw.just like 9.0c runs on 9 hw but without access to the 2.0a or 2.0b shader models defined after 9.0, 10.1 will run on 10.0 hw. you just wont get access to the new features. its physically impossible to add new features to a chip already on a board, but that doesnt mean the new runtime wont run at all. for that matter, the 9.0 runtime ran on 8.x hw, just with access to only the 1.x shader models.

>I believe the point is subtler than that.>>To get access to the 10.1 features ( which iirc is either>finer-grained scheduling/interruptability and lower level>virtual paging control for virtual texturing or both ) you>will need 10.1 hw.>>just like 9.0c runs on 9 hw but without access to the 2.0a or>2.0b shader models defined after 9.0, 10.1 will run on 10.0>hw. you just wont get access to the new features. >>its physically impossible to add new features to a chip>already on a board, but that doesnt mean the new runtime wont>run at all. for that matter, the 9.0 runtime ran on 8.x hw,>just with access to only the 1.x shader models.>Sounds to me like someone figured out a way to force more expensive hardware upgrades.If I recall, IBM tried this once... once. Anyone remember PS2? ;)

Wow, I kinda feel sorry for those that ran out and spent hundreds on these new DX10 boards, only to be told they won't be able to access some of newer features of DX10. Is it any wonder some of these companies are hesitant to invest serious time and effort in newer drivers for Vista............ Regards, KendallDell 8400 3.2 GHZ H.T.3GB 533 DDR2X800XT 256MB/Catalyst driver - 7.1's6x AA/16x HQ A/FDiamond Xtreme/Logitech X-530'sDual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905CH Yoke/Pedals - Saitek Throttle

Thanks for the update on the DX10 progress. I understand the milestone was reached where parity with DX9 has been achieved. Congrats on reaching this point. :-beerchug Now I guess we're all looking forward to seeing what graphical advances DX10 can bestow upon FSX when the next set of screenshots becomes available at that time.I'm also pleased to see the performance boost evident in the higher FPS recorded in the DX10 shot.Looking at both the DX9 and DX10 shots carefully, it seems that the DX10 shot has less autogen trees when compared with the DX9 shot. Can this be verified, and does this partly account for the higher FPS?

>I meant the features wont be done, eg baked, when I leave. So>I couldnt make my original date to disclose features of>mid-August. I dont like to break my promises, hence the>explanation.They were pullin your leg, they meant, that you might get "baked" on your vacation. (assuming you go to some place with a lot of sun).RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian