Phil says this:FSX-SP2 DX10 The features we do have are:1) VC shadows2) HDR Bloom3) Water enhancements4) Efficiency improvements via more Autogen batching, more efficient shaders, and a more efficient method of generating bloom.So with DX10 I will get better autogen batching! Cool! That's at least ONE thing to be happy about.But... then Brian Smith, Development Lead | Acceleration, ACES, posts this...:The new autogen batching work exists for both dx9 and dx10, so that is a perf gain that works for everybody. It is only valuable with autogen content designed to take advantage of it (like some of the new scenery work we did around Istanbul and Tempelhof), though.So... this batching thing doesn't give me, as a 8800GTX owner, any EXTRA improvement over DX9 and, even worse, this isn't an overall improvement but only works with 'autogen content designed to take advantage of it'!?!?!?!?! So all I get for all my invested money is slightly better bloom and water plus VC shadows...?

yes, thats it

What? dont tell me that you actually expected a miraculous increase in fps with this patch?meh , you should be thankful you now have shadows (if you can turn them on that is)my advice, sell your FSX copy and spend what you get on more fs9 addonsyou wont regret it

I think... Phil mentioned solutions for blurries?For me, that was the biggest grip since SP1. IF it fixes the blurries. Its worth $30. I have spend building RAID 0 on a 10,000RPM to get rid of blurries. The hardware option is much more expensive one.Manny

Of course, keeping in mind before another firestorm that the update will also free.Ian.

It seems that this update will not even be worth the download for a Windows XP user.And it does not quite convince me to invest in DX10 hardware and Vista.Alex

30$ is a little money if u get f-18 without FPS loss, and that SP2 is free of charge if u dont want acceleration.

I only talked about SP2. The Acceleration package can be still worth the money.Alex

ok, alex

>and that SP2 is free of charge if u dont want acceleration.Yeah, but probably you've got to wait two months before you can get it for free...

what, do we have wait longer to get SP2 if we are not willing to buy acceleration. that is like forcing people to buy acceleration. well i like acceration pack and its not expensive, so i am buying it.good luck to everybody who will not buy acceleration pack, bad marketing anyone?

Related to SP2, but not the specific subject of this thread:If vendors are to continue supporting FS9 (as appears to be the case), as well as FSX, and FSX (after SP2/Acceleration) now branches into DX9 and DX10 versions, I wonder how those of us running FSX on XP (therefore DX9) will fare? I imagine that building and maintaining product for FS9/FSX concurrently is bad enough, so I can't image that vendors would also support DX9 and DX10 branches of FSX as well. Bruce.

Given what I said about DX9 being the main codepath, I dont believe there will be a real issue for 3rd parties re DX10. Re-exporting the aircraft model using the SP2 SDK with the "vc shadows" choice checked gets that feature, and it doesnt hurt anything under DX9. But that is really the only authoring choice there is for DX10. So wrt DX10 this is much ado about nothing.

This was just me not having enough room to get everything in my post; it was already quite long. Yes DX9 will see some benefit from the Autogen work,just like DX9 does with the shadow quality improvements for exterior shadows ( that I did include in my missive ). Without the water and bloom perf updates; the DX9 perf lift is not as uniform as with DX10 when all the features are enabled at the same time.

Thanks Phil.And like others here I appreciate your candid and honest responses to questions about the future of FSX.Bruce.