Goodbye DX10, hello DX9

[Guest]

After being quite happy with SP2 and DX10 I decided to do some DX9 - DX10 comparison tests, mainly because I read here and there performance could be better under DX9, depending on a few settings, of course.After testing for an hour or two I have to say I am back to DX9... Why? Because it constantly performs 25 to 30% better than DX10 (in my case anyway)! And when you know that fps usually hangs around the critical point in FSX (above 20 is okay, below is not), 25 to 30% is A LOT...!!! To me flying above KLAX with 20 fps is a lot better than 14 fps!One MAJOR benefit is that DX9 does NOT give me those hickups/short freezes, that got on my nerves lately (as I've posted elsewhere they began to spoil the realism of it all, as small a detail this may seem). It's really very nice being able to fly SMOOTH. DX10 was smooth too, but having hickups about every 10 seconds really spoils it.One thing I noticed that is BETTER under DX9 is some sort of 'noise' effect that DX10 seems to add. One of my tests was above KLAX, looking out of the window. With DX10 there was 'noise' all over the ground! It shimmered and 'moved' constantly. With DX9 the ground was steady and clear, which I liked a LOT more, I have to say!Now maybe this has something to do with a non-FSX settings (I have a 8800GTX btw), but anyway, the difference is very clear and it's something I like a lot more with DX9!Another I like is that I can use Progressive taxi again with DX9... I really, really missed that with DX10!Okay, I have to say water looks somehow better with DX10, but then again, it also often seems too blue and tropical. DX9 water is more dirty. Okay, so I can't use bloom anymore, because that does affect DX9 fps. But although bloom is nice, it's not something I really need.Okay, so I don't have VC-shadows anymore. Well, I never liked those jagged shadows, so I won't miss them at all.All in all the pro's are a lot more important to me than the cons. So I am back to DX9. Which is quite a shame because I bought a DX10 ready computer in january this year... So far DX10 has brought me NOTHING at all. Really NOTHING. The only good thing about the new (now old) computer is that it's a great computer and it can run DX9 without blinking. But I really think that everything would be even better if I'd stuck to XP... But well, who knows, maybe one day DX10 will pay off at last. But I have my doubts...Anyway, SP2 is great, awesome and super. Let me make that clear! I can run with autogen at Extremely dense and still get smooth fps, and to me that was all I wanted. I love autogen. FSX looks awesome now and runs fine under DX9 and I am happy with it. ;)

[sargeski 16]

I agree with your statements 100%. I too have stayed with DX9 for the the above mentioned reasons.The "noise" effect is due to Vsynch which cannot be enabled under DX10. Vsynch works great under DX9 though.Would have liked to use my DX10 hardware as well...oh well I'm happy with DX9 anyways. ;)

[Guest Lone ranger]

J Van E, What's your computer specs? I'm getting ready to build up a new system, thinking about going with Intel Q6600 Quad Core, 4 gig of system ram, and a 512 meg nVidia 8600GT.

[Guest]

MSI P965 Platinum motherboard, E6600 CPU (dual core), 8800GTX, 2 Gb ram. In the places where I want to fly, I get an average of 20-30 (usually not too close too big cities: I like Norway with the Nordic scenery). I have to say though that I have low traffic (airliners are even off: I mainly fly GA (default Cessna, RealAir SF260) so I don't care for too much AI) and I have clouds also pretty low (I usually fly with almost clear skies!). Setting traffic to the default high really makes a difference too. I also just turned aircraft shadows off (I always fly from the VC and haradly ever use chase cams or whatever). So my settings may be regarded quite low for some, but as I said: I am an autogen-lover and nothing beats Extremely dense autogen (and water high 2x) with smooth fps! :)

[Guest]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah noooooooooo, this can't be true...!!! :( I just found out that flying with DX9 introduced my tree-problem again... Whenever I fly above lot's of trees fps drops big time... Earlier todat I mainly tested around cities, because they are the most heavy usually. So this means that above trees everything is turned around, and even worse... Where I get 30 fps with DX10 above trees, DX9 only gives me 18...!!! **** There is always something spoiling things when it comes to FS... Apparently DX10 does something very positive with the trees! I really don't know what, but the difference is big...So here I am after a day of testing. Nothing wiser and not knowing what to do now. I think I'll go and plat another game now. One that works great out of the box.

[Guest TransCon]

I have a question. If you have a PC that comes with Vista 32bit Home Ed and a DX10 card how do you downgrade back to DX9?I have a 7950GT 512MB card that will blow the 8500GT card that comes with the Vista box out of the water. But if I remove the 8500GT and install the 7950GT how do I get it to run DX9?

[PhilTaylor 45]

just install the hardware and the proper driver, the OS and the DX runtime will sort it all out for you.

[n4gix 4,947]

>I have a question. >>If you have a PC that comes with Vista 32bit Home Ed and a>DX10 card how do you downgrade back to DX9?Just untick the bloody "DX10 Preview" box, close FSX, restart it and you will be running in "DX9 mode..."This is not rocket science... ;)

[Guest Knikolaes]

>>Just untick the bloody "DX10 Preview" box, close FSX, restart>it and you will be running in "DX9 mode...">>This is not rocket science... ;)> Apparently it is for me :-( I do not have such a check box in my FS and everyone keeps telling me "it's there" because I installed Acceleration and SP2. If anyone can enlighten me where this supposed checkbox is, I'd be delighted. My card is not even a DX10 card so I really do not need my sim trying to run a DX that the card cannot recognize.I've checked all pages of my display settings area and cannot find this checkbox.

[russellj 2]

If your card is not DX10 capable, the check box is not displayed and you are running DX9.RegardsRussell Jourdain (ANZ007/ZK-RHJ)

[sargeski 16]

> Apparently it is for me :-( I do not have such a check box>in my FS and everyone keeps telling me "it's there" because I>installed Acceleration and SP2. If anyone can enlighten me>where this supposed checkbox is, I'd be delighted. My card is>not even a DX10 card so I really do not need my sim trying to>run a DX that the card cannot recognize.>>I've checked all pages of my display settings area and cannot>find this checkbox.Your video card is not DX10 compliant, hence you have no "bloody" DX10 preview box to uncheck. ;)You are running uder DX9.

[Comanche 417]

The DX10 preview is only for Vista users. If your running XP, or if you do not have a DX10 video card, the check box will not be there.In order to run DX10 preview you must have all of the following1. DX10 video card2. Windows vista 32 or 64bit3. SP2 or Acceleration installedIf any one of these are missing, you will not have the DX10 preview option listed.Ive tried DX10 preview and although I like the water, just about everything else, looks and runs better with DX9. Shimering taxy and runway textures plus long pauses when switching views are killing DX10 for me. However, I will say that DX10 seems to run a little smoother as long as I dont change view. Bloom seems to work a lot better after SP2 with or without DX10 .Ive read that a lot of these issues are driver related and may be fixed in new driver updates somewhere down the road. I will keep trying DX10 each time new drivers are posted.Hope this helps.Rob

[Guest Knikolaes]

Ah so i am NOT losing my mind. Okay :-)Aye I am running Vista, and windows THINKS I am running DX10 (not sure why it says that) but I thank you for the answers. Now I can stop looking for something I thought I was missing :-)

[PhilTaylor 45]

If you are translating what DXDiag says is the highest level of DX installed on your machine, as shown by the data contained on the 1st tab of DXDiag, you misunderstand DXDiag.The front tab of DXDiag is informative only. That is what Windows thinks you *have installed*.Go to the Graphics tab, and what versions does it let you test and what versions pass the test? That is what Windows thinks your hardware *can run*.Now it is up to each app to detect what the hardware *can run* and then instantiate an instance of a graphics engine *to use* the hardware. Even that doesnt mean you are *actually using* that version of DX. Since most of the previous versions of DX are available, there is nothing to stop an application from using DX7, for instance, on your DX9 hardware.Vista itself uses DX9.Ex or DX9.L to render the desktop, the windows, and the other UI elements. Thus on Vista DX9 *is always* being used. XP uses GDI, and thus does not get full benefit from the video card like Vista does.

[Guest Knikolaes]

Thanks, Phil. That actually explains a lot. I appreciate the explanation as I always wondered exactly how that worked. I am great at graphic design -- never was good at windows LOL.