FSX (ESP) graphics engine being rewritten for TS2

[MatthewS 761]

No one thought this was interesting? Crikey :)

[mhlarsen 2]

Matthew,If we get an SP3 update that gives me 4x present framerate, then I would be very interested ;-)

[Highmike 68]

I think people find it interesting, Matthew. Your getting plenty of views here. I for one am really looking forward to seeing TS2. I don't care how well it will run on my machine. I just think that with FSX looking so good for me its going to be a really good glimpse of what FS11 could be like. As for ESP, well who knows where the world of simulation might end?Mike.

[byork 2,258]

Quote:"I also did work to take advantage of some of the new instancing technology, and continue to tune that. It gave nearly a x4 increase in framerate, so we are definitely making great improvements."I think people are just a bit skeptical. I remember the same sort of things were said about DirectX 10 in the beginning.So I'll believe it when I see it.Cheers,Bryan

[tfm 169]

Quote: "I'll believe it when I see it."Exactly. We all want to read positive things about the future of Flight Sim so there's a danger of getting carried.Obviously the headline point about the linked thread is the implication of a 4x improvement in framerates. I'm not sure that this equates to a promise of an overall 4x improvement even for the Train Simulator. But even if that's what it implies for the Train Simulator, I feel still less sure that it implies anything comparable for Flight Sim. We all know that Flight Sim still depends heavily on the CPU for its graphics. But MS have done quite a lot already to farm stuff out to the GPU in a way which might not have happened (yet) for the Train Simulator. In other words, the Train Sim may have yet more catching up to do on this front than Flight Sim.On the other hand, it is encouraging to read further confirmation that MS are trying to introduce more threads into the new "core" of this line of products. I have previously voiced my own doubts about how completely they'll be able to do this within a single iteration of Flight Sim, given the technical difficulty of the task. My suspicion is that they'll only give the "separate thread" treatment to a few of the easier tasks, not necessarily the ones that would give the biggest FPS gain. Being a naturally miserable old so and so - and knowing that MS always need to keep something in reserve for future releases - I remain of this view. Basically, I think we'll have to wait for FS12 or FS13 to see new programming techniques bringing really big jumps in performance per clock cycle - and by that time, I imagine, new features will have crept into the programme, placing system resources under new levels of pressure. In other words, I think that an application as complex and organic as Flight Sim will always be hungry for raw CPU speed in the end.But we live in hope: perhaps, after all, FS11 will hit the sweet spot with a good balance between features and system resources. Tim

[Guest tcable]

Since they are gutting most if not all of the legacy code in the engine, then I can buy it. Even with all of the current optimizations (SP1, SP2) for FSX there is still a large amount of legacy code in there. Honestly, I really like the DX10 preview code- save for the warts- texturing and lack of progressive taxi. On my current system (Q6600, 3870 video), it runs very well- better than I expected. I tend to run DX9 most of the time though due to my add-in AI.I'm willing to bet that the engine for TS2 is as near a 'plug in' item as possible considering that release is still over a year out, and that further, the ESX engine will evolve further still by the time FS11 hits in 2010 or 11. By then, who knows?

[ahuimanu 50]

Well it could be worse - they are working it. Rather than dying off, the franchise (ACES stuff - trains, ESP, MSFS) seems to be healthy and moving forward.Everyone learned quite a bit from the ramp up, introduction, evolution and maturity of FSX. I sincerely hope that the SDK and SDK tools are becoming more rationalized - I think improvements in this area (especially facilitating organically what developers normally go outside of the boundaries of the SDK to achieve) will also improve the MSFS experience. Let's face it, FSX is pretty awesome out of the box with a mid-range machine if that is all you are going to do with the sim - #### around with the Cessna for a few minutes and then go back to your console game. However, the serious enthusiasts, those that bother to sign up and places like AVSIM, download some freeware and buy add-ons, use the sim with 3rd party add-ons.Giving the add-on development community, FREEWARE and payware guys alike, a more rationalized and streamlined set of tools will really improve the consistency in quality of product. To start with, it would be nice to have a wider variety of modeling tools supported. I realize gMax was free (and is a great tool), but gMax is dead. I am an adult so I won't be stealing the $3500 modeling tool which the SDK supports, so that leaves me with few choices. Perhaps gMax will be given life support through the next version, but gMax is long in the tooth. What we need is a utility to take a garden-variety .x file and add the SDK stuff to it, regardless of how/where the .x file was made. Or, perhaps even better, would be to support a modeling tool which is organic to the sim in the way that Plane-maker is organic to X-plane.In any case, I am excited about TS and what it holds for the future of MSFS. I liked the original TS and have high hopes for TS2.Thank you for the head's up on this info.

[McCrash 3]

Sure does explain a lot!

[PhilTaylor 45]

rational and polite skepticism is fair.instancing did give quite a boost to that specific feature, which if you read up on instancing makes sense.while it is fair to say without a lot more work that won't translate to a 4x overall FPS boost, it is also fair to say we are doing a lot of work on the engine and right now performance is in the top 2 features so it is not an afterthought.so when Trains2 ships in 2009, that will represent 1 increment of that work. and then when FS11 ships in 2010 or so, it will contain a 2nd increment of work.

[SlowFlyer 78]

Thanks for the info and the link.I am always interested in hearing any new info concerning the next FS. Waiting a few more years is going to be hard for me. BTW, I wouldn't equate a lack of posts to indicate a lack of interest. I think the above info was very concise and clear that a lot of "questions" or "comments" aren't really needed.I am enjoying fsx with the "newer" PC I have. And to no one but me, although I don't like being "disappointed", I would rather be overly excited about the next fsx, then to be too "realistic" or "show me when it's out", and thus, missing out on feeling like a kid on the day before Christmas" feeling, imho.

[N400QW 205]

Thanks Phil. Good info:-)

[aerdt 0]

"One of the main reasons that FSX had so many issues is that the graphics engine was originally made for software rendering."That is very good news! I actually had to chuckle at that comment, because software-based rendering is technology from, what, 1999? I assume that most modern games take full advantage of GPU/HW-based rendering, which is finally a good indicator why the GPU in the past FS releases didn't make a whole lot of difference in terms of performance and why FS9/X performs relatively poorly on modern hardware.I think everyone kinda knew that already, but it's good to hear a confirmation from the source - for the first time.Very good news for FS11 (and TS2) indeed. Thanks for sharing.Pat

[bkircher 0]

These are the kinds of comments that I really like hearing. Of courese it seems like these sort of comments were made before the release of FSX, so I will keep a level base here, but also hope that this really translates into the new sim.

[MatthewS 761]

>it is also fair to say we>are doing a lot of work on the engine and right now>performance is in the top 2 features so it is not an>afterthought.>Thanks Phil!Can you give us a clue what the other top feature is? :)Better lighting maybe even ray tracing support (ie Larrabee)?

[pilotpm 0]

Hi ,and why no update for current FSX.Can`t belive it is impossible..........cheersMario