What FSX-DX10 should have looked like

[DadJokeCinema 145]

>Ok, here's a topic I'm qualified to comment on.>>As both a career Windows developer with plenty of relevant>experience (C++/C#, DirectX, etc), an XBox 360 owner who has>finished Ace Combat 6, and an FAA licensed commercial pilot>....>>Yes, the graphics are fantastic in Ace Combat 6. Some of the>best I've ever seen in a game.>>But there is absolutely no comparison between Ace Combat 6 and>Microsoft Flight Simulator. Ace Combat is an arcade game. A>game. >>Just think of what Flight Simulator is capable of compared to>this game:>>- Entire planet is modeled "on the fly" from accurate source>data in real time>- Aircraft feature realistic cockpits (both 2D and 3D) with>fully accurate gauges>- The entire thing is customizable... gauges, aircraft>animates, AI routes, weather, auto-gen... it goes on and on>- Realistic round earth model, no artificial "boundaries"...>(the fact that you can go into orbit and look down on the>planet says enough)>>There is no need to go on with this topic anymore. This is>about as "apples and oranges" as you are going to get.The funny thing is that qualified and intelligent people have been saying this exact thing for like four months now, and it doesn't matter.It's like playing tennis against a brick wall.

[n4gix 4,947]

>The funny thing is that qualified and intelligent people have>been saying this exact thing for like four months now, and it>doesn't matter.>>It's like playing tennis against a brick wall.That last sentence pretty well sums up what goes on in any arcade game.. ;)Flight sim is like playing tennis on the Great Plains...I know what you mean though. At times I feel like talking to my hand would be more productive... :-beerchug

[LAdamson 240]

>I beg to differ. I am hugely enjoying the much improved>textures, lightning, clouds etc. in FSX and would never>contemplate going back to FS9. And I only fly heavy iron at>FL350. The above is all true, even at FL350. Not as much headroom for complexity as FS9, but still looks much better...........most of the time!L.Adamson

[DadJokeCinema 145]

I think the ultimate method for headroom would be to build your own graphics engine that pushes your machine to the limits, and then write a simconnect program to pull data from a second computer running fsx at a super low setting, so that it can concentrate on AI, consistent perf, etc, and the main computer is just churning out volumetric clouds and sharp textures.

[Guest h9000]

>The funny thing is that qualified and intelligent people have been >saying this exact thing for like four months now, and it doesn't >matter.They have been saying that, but they have never used any convincing argumentation to support it, in this forum or anywhere else. Furthermore, many qualified and intelligent people have said the opposite, too.OK, the development of FSX involves some difficulties that do not exist in other video games. But this is no good excuse for bad graphics, blurry textures and low frame rate. I could understand a slight drop in frame rate, compared to an equivalent rendering in an arcade game, but not up to this point.>- Entire planet is modeled "on the fly" from accurate source>data in real timeI don't understand this statement. I would be interested if you could develop. >- Aircraft feature realistic cockpits (both 2D and 3D) with>fully accurate gaugesNot more detailed than many objects in any other recent video game. Accurate, yes, but this has nothing to do with image quality and frame rate. Anyway, FSX is just as slow and ugly when you completely remove the cockpit.>- The entire thing is customizable... gauges, aircraft>animates, AI routes, weather, auto-gen... it goes on and onThe fact that these things are customizable has, again, nothing to do with rendering speed and quality.>- Realistic round earth model, no artificial "boundaries"...>(the fact that you can go into orbit and look down on the>planet says enough)Simulator or video game, this is nonsense to spend CPU time rendering things that are not seen or should not be seen on the screen.

[Mike T 208]

Fair enough. Let's see a screenshot at FL350 with the "much improved textures, lightning, clouds, etc" as if it is as good as you say, I'll make the switch today! I haven't seen it, so if I'm missing out then that is most certainly a good thing! FSX is on my HD and I have ActiveSky X and textures.Mind you, I also require 100% AI airport traffic, and high fidelity airports at most major airports in the US and in Europe...at the very least and of course, a high fidelity (no 2D panel simple jobs are going to cut it) B737NG and B777-200 since I only fly Continental Airline routes. I haven't been paying much attention to MSFS X for the last year so if all of this stuff is available then I'm going to kick myself!But if all that is not available its okay if the textures at altitude look that much better as you illustrate, I'm in!!!Regards,Mike T.

[Geofa 108]

I think the ground textures in both sims look pretty boring/not that great at that altitude-but Fex clouds along with an asx real weather download improve the sky environment incredibly. I haven't seen such real sky's yet in any flight sim.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpgForum Moderatorhttp://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

[DadJokeCinema 145]

>I think the ultimate method for headroom would be to build>your own graphics engine that pushes your machine to the>limits, and then write a simconnect program to pull data from>a second computer running fsx at a super low setting, so that>it can concentrate on AI, consistent perf, etc, and the main>computer is just churning out volumetric clouds and sharp>textures.You know, the more I think about this, the more I want to try it as a project for my graphics classes.

[Mike T 208]

Thanks Geofa. That's what I was afraid of. I was really hoping for a 'big' improvement at altitude vs FS9. Like I said, I really haven't fired FSX up in about a year but I guess with GEX coming out eventually there may be something there that will really kick it up a notch. I agree that both are pretty boring at altitude but GE for FS9 does make a big difference vs the miserable default textures.Real Sky isn't an improvement over FE for FS9, IMHO of course...but I can't comment on the FSX version. I don't have FEX for FSX but from the screenshots I've seen the cloud and sky look phenomenal and a definite improvement even vs even their wonderful FS9 clouds. I do have ASX and ASX Textures and they are pretty good but, again IMHO, Pete and company have placed themselves on top of the cloud and sky texture heap.I'm starting to build my new Quad Core Extreme system next month so I will see how FSX performance is on the absolute latest hardware before making a commitment in investing any $$$ in FSX. I think my only issue now is that if the latest QX processor with the fastest DX10.1 card can't allow FSX to be utilized with all settings on high, its going to be another 2 years before I build another system which would put us in the ballpark for FS11 to be coming down the pike. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that FSX will finally become a viable title for me.

[Geofa 108]

Yeah-I am doing the new system thing 2-but not the ultimate. It will be interesting to see the difference from my 4 year old pIv3.2-but I am only going to a dual core and the new 8800gt card.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpgForum Moderatorhttp://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

[Mike T 208]

GeofaI'm going to beef up as much as I can afford to and build and tweak her myself but I think I'm going to go with the fastest ATI DX10.1 card I can find (when they become available). I've seen the absolute disaster that Nvidia has made with Vista drivers. It has been an ongoing thing with them so I am not at all surprised that Aces has specifically found issues with FSX SP2 and their drivers. That's not to say that ATI's drivers haven't had their share of issues, but throughout the last year of Vista, ATI has been the lesser of two evils. Heck, even Creative Labs hasn't finalized their sound drivers. Quite frankly I think FSX got caught up in this whole Vista transitional mess and Aces unfortunately had to reap the whirlwind. Ah well, then there's Windows Vienna on the horizon right which probably will be ready not too long after FS11, LOL. And you VOLUNTEERED to be forum moderator?! :-lolAs it stands now, I have no doubt that my dissatification with FSX performace is probably due to large part to Vista. But as it stands now, since every other title is really running smoothly, I don't want to go back to XP SP2. So I will be building my new machine with performace in mind and if FSX can run smoothly that would be an added bonus. But for now, for the first time in over 15 years of simming, I'm building my new rig with the big picture in mind and not specifically for MSFS since the hardware doesn't yet exist to max display sliders, autogen and AI traffic in FSX...and that's okay too. I have reseved to enjoy FSX when I can and with what it can offer, with what is currently available. Anything less would just set myself up for unneccessary disappointment. Good to chat with ya!Regards,Mike T.

[dmaher 0]

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[Guest abulaafia]

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[Palebushman 0]

>Yeah-I am doing the new system thing 2-but not the ultimate.>It will be interesting to see the difference from my 4 year>old pIv3.2-but I am only going to a dual core and the new>8800gt card.>http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg>Forum Moderator>http://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/Did the same as you are doing Geof and the results have been spectacular. Saw all the gripes with Vista though, so I stuck with my XP Pro, best saving I ever made.FSX, with SP1 and Acceleration/SP2 seem to enjoy their own partition on a separate hard drive, on my rig, and the extra RAM and 8800GTS provide ample muscle for the Dual Core to do its thing.Okay, it may not be 100% realism, but then to have that kind of perfection, one would need to spend considerably more than most of us simmers, I suspect, could afford, and I for one don't have the space to install a hydraulic mounted real-world cockpit.But I'm sure you will be more than pleased with the results your new rig will provide for you.

[Mike T 208]

Hi!Question for you. Did you have FS9 with FE, GE, AS6 and Ultimate Terrain? The reason I'm asking is because my FS9 setup looks better than that and maybe you didn't have the above addons to compare too?Most DEFININETLY don't want to go through the FS9 vs FSX thing. Just my observation.Now at lower levels where the FSX 1m textures come into play, there is simply no addon that can make FS9 look as beautiful. Regards,Mike T.