>>That's pretty much what's occurring now seems to me. And it's>avoided by having FS11 just never load up that non-SDK>aircraft in the first place. I think that would be a net positive. Don't even let it load non-compliant mdl's or bgl's...We essentially have that right now with gauges...the old FS98 C gauges don't load in FSX anymore.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

While it sure is 'technically' possible to create an entire airport with the FSX SDK. Artistically/visually it will be far inferior to those created with the FS2002 SDK. Very few users will prefer default ground, runways & taxiways over custom created groundwork. Hope you now realise that Phil because the only party responsible for pushing/ forcing things in that direction is Microsoft. Sure we could just shutup & use the FSX SDK & marvel at all the default goodies we can quickly slap down. Development times would be a fraction of those airports using the older sdk. We could ship more products & make more money. Slap on a SP2 compliant badge. Wahoo.What

The issue is not about selling out at all. It is about being adult, being responsible, and doing the right thing.I already acknowledged to Martin the limitations of the current SDK for airport designers. Yes, to sell an FSX-compliant airport today one has to remove a feature used in previous SDKs. And that is something we will be looking at for FS11. However, it is also time to accept that fact and move along, since this been true for 15 months now. To mitigate that, I do not believe a full exploration of what is possible for airports in FSX has been done so who knows if something new and cool is not possible? If all the time that has been spent waxing lyrical about spilled milk was instead invested in the same sort of cleverness the community has shown in the past, who knows what could be done.I respect the position of not wanting to sell something less and not doing so, and being in the position to make that sort of call is a nice place to be. And that is certainly a far better position to take than the position of taking content that is known to have issues on the platform and selling it as compatible and then claiming it is the platform that is the issue and not the content. Which is fair to the consumer how? There are a lot of things in SP2 that are of real benefit to the consumer across all aspects of the sim. So to take those benefits away for custom runway textures seems like a few hairs on the tail claiming it should wag the dog to me.I also think there is a business demand for custom airports even without custom runway textures. Maybe that omission lowers the price somewhat but there are lots of other things that can get done. Some one is going to fill that demand, regardless if the current circumstances violate the artistic integrity of some designers or challenge the business ethics of others. It is just going to take a little while.

> And that is something we will be looking at for FS11.Thats the part I love, thank you Phil. Vacation is better then permanent retirement :)

I do have a problem understanding one thing. If you are using SP1 without problems, then why go to SP2?It has been said ad nauseam on this and other forums by several people that the reason some items are broken is that these were not created with the FSX SDK but were mods to previous (FS9 SDK) models.I have a modest system by todays standard, but I don't seem to experience the problems that you encounter. At some risk of provoking an attack, I would suggest that it is you that is in danger of being labelled recalcitrant.Cheers and hopefully your FS issues can be sorted.Chris Porter:-outtaPerthWestern AustraliaIntel Core 2 Duo E6700ASUS P5N32-E SLI Deluxe Motherboard4GB Corsair VS DDR2 667Mhz RAMInno3D 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 590MHz VideoASUS MW221u 21" Wide Screen LCD2 x 320Gb WD SATA DrivesCreative X-Fi Platinum Sound Lian Li PC-B20B Aluminium Black CaseMS Vista Ultimate OEMCH FlightSim Yoke USBCH Pro Pedals USBCH Throttle Quadrant USBTrackIR 4 Pro and Track ClipMSFS FSX Deluxe Edition Full install at 1400x960x32Check out my 5th Around the World flight with MS FSX at http://members.iinet.com.au/~portercbp/fly...W_05/index.html

I'm sure theres a market for default airports. I've seen much worst sell over the years. I'm not sure what features SP2 added for the better tho. Certainly nothing of any worth in my camp. As a user, the lack of aircraft shadows with 10miles vis was a gem.We've have been asking for simple static ground polygons to be supported for 15 months. FSX still has no alternative for them. Why ACES have been so stubborn &/or unable to provide FSX SDK ground polys is shocking unbelievable to me. We can have Giraffes walking around with mesh deformation & IK , but some dumb static low poly flat ground is like curing cancer. Why? You can defend this definite step backwards as much as you like but it certainly looks like a unfortunate oversight for Microsoft, developers & the users.

For anyone who flies at night, the fix to the 2 aircraft models means no more "ghost ships" taxi-ing or flying by. MP got quite a few fixes. A bit more perf work. /3G marking the fsx.exe to help alleviate OOM. My blog post is a good place to start with what is there for the XP/DX9 user separate from DX10. So there is goodness in SP2 for everyone; regardless of what airport they are flying out of.SP2 does not change the fact that FSX did not support FS9 style ground polys. 3PDs need to accept that. Sure, it was a step backwards. And one we will look at for the next release. I am admitting that, so that doesn't feel like defending to me. :-).So when can we move on? And live with what we do have?

Ok Phil. Thanks.Guess I'll sit it out till FS11 & just create content. Will FSX-SDK 3dsmax shaders be usable in FS11?

I understand this is a not a great message, and appreciate that we have not made life easy for airport developers. Unknown what the content story for FS11 is exactly, it is way too early.However, it is guaranteed that the story starts from using the FSX-SDK, eg no other content will even get looked at for being loaded, having converters, etc.

Thanks again Phil. In previous conversations we (and perhaps other devs) often got the idea that you were completely satisfied with the current "airport SDK". That this will be revisited for FS11 is all I needed to hear.