directx 10 preview mode

[hughbutcher 5]

Hi,I have recently returned to FS after a long period.I reinstalled FSX,SP1 and SP2.I have W7/64, 4 GB of memory and a moderate graphics card (512 MBs)If I run FSX without Direct X 'preview' i get reasonable performance at 15fps - in an intense scenery area (no autogen)When I turn on DX10 preview there are lots of stutters and pauses with the frame rate dropping to as low as 3 fps.Two questions:a) Does Direct X preview add anything to scenery/cockpit resilution?:( If so, would getting a better graphics card - 1GB of memory say - be likely to improve frame rates?Thanks for any help

[7107delicious 0]

Yeah, pretty much like so, probably due to FSX having to load more polygons to load each aircraft. Dave.

[Guest wims]

DirectX 10 preview adds alot of unstability and will almost certainly cause crash to desktop errors. I'd stay away from that. Its horribly implemented

[aceridgey 330]

DirectX 10 preview adds alot of unstability and will almost certainly cause crash to desktop errors. I'd stay away from that. Its horribly implemented

agreeed!

[slip-stream 5]

I have no choice, as there is a DX9 bug in the nvidia driver in 3D surround mode ATM. However, I have no stability problems at all, apart from some of my addon Airports / runways look terrible. Apart from that all is fine in DX10 mode.

[Arklight1 140]

DirectX 10 preview adds alot of unstability and will almost certainly cause crash to desktop errors. I'd stay away from that. Its horribly implemented

Not in my experience. I didn't have any CTDs with DX10 Preview at all.

[fullmetal02 23]

DX10 is hit and miss. I think that's why Bojote and Nickn tune with DX9. Using preview causes lots of issues that normally are not present in 9. If you are looking for better performance tune your system. If you are looking for better textures buy Rex2 or another addon.My $.02

[Guest firehawk44]

DirectX 10 preview adds alot of unstability and will almost certainly cause crash to desktop errors. I'd stay away from that. Its horribly implemented

Uh, where did you get this info? DX10 preview has a couple of bugs but unstability is not one of them and "almost certainly cause crash to destop errors" is not an issue either. That statement is so wrong it brings chills down my spine and causes my BP to increase considerably! Please do not post if you have nothing constructive to state. Do some research first. In fact, FPS increase when DX10 is implemented. That's a well-known fact. There are some incompatibilities with some textures, like runways where you'll see some flashing/tearing and sometimes, old textures, like those from earlier versions of FSX will not appear on FS9 made aircraft. The taxi to gate arrows will not show up too and sometimes buildings will be missing. The OP has a system problem if he is getting low FPS with DX10 preview enabled. Maybe he doesn't have the latest DX10 installed? This is the first time ever I have heard of anyone getting low FPS with DX10 preview enabled. His fps w/DX10 disabled is not very good either. DX10 preview was not completely programmed for FSX by the ACES Team and they admit that fact. They had to get SP2 and Acceleration out to the FS community and figured they could do more with it in later upgrades. Unfortunately, Microsoft eliminated the ACES Team and they were not able to continue with the programming or issue updates. DX10 makes more things look realistic. For instance, you have aircraft cockpit shadows from the sun giving you more immersion into the sim. Now, why is the OP having an issue with DX10 preview? I don't know what he really means by stutters and pauses. Is this the tearing of the runways with bad textures. If it is stuttering, he needs to change the negative LOD bias from allow to clamp in the video card display settings FOR FSX. That will eliminate or reduce the stuttering. He should also reduce his scenery sliders, AI sliders, and weather sliders. I suspect he has everything pushed over to the right and that will make any sim stutter and pause. Even the individuals who have the most powerful PC's with the latest graphic cards and CPU's occasionally complain about stuttering and pauses (and even CTD's!) and they have everything pushed over to the right. It all depends mostly on the aircraft and the scenery loaded. If it's not the default aircraft/scenery, there could be issues with the addon or commercial stuff. Overclocking will cause this problem too making the computer system unstable. Here's an excellent link on the implementation of Acceleration and DX10 - http://iblueyonder.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/the-final-word-on-fsx-and-dx10/ . It should help you understand more fully the implementation and issues.Best regards,Jim

[Guest wims]

I had ctds happening to me daily, not to mention display driver crashes, before I switched back to DX9 again, so I thought it might be worth mentioning that spending time on getting a good framerate with DX10 could be a waste of time, if it induced CTDs.

[fullmetal02 23]

FPS is the only upside to dx10. Crashes, bsods, stutters, and this is with lower settings. I have the latest and greatest and dx10 never works. I can run a 14 hr flight in dx9 mode without crashes, and 6 hrs in dx 10 max (with crashes et al). Dx9 is what fsx was rendered in. Dx10 simply is not stable enough for prime time!I wish dx10 worked, it just doesn't for me on long hauls with complex aircraft. I suspect others have experienced the same thing.The author of that article recommends dx9. Sorry, it's not building the case for a positive experience with dx10.I wish I had someone tell me to ditch dx10. It would have saved valuable time...

[hughbutcher 5]

Uh, where did you get this info? DX10 preview has a couple of bugs but unstability is not one of them and "almost certainly cause crash to destop errors" is not an issue either. That statement is so wrong it brings chills down my spine and causes my BP to increase considerably! Please do not post if you have nothing constructive to state. Do some research first. In fact, FPS increase when DX10 is implemented. That's a well-known fact. There are some incompatibilities with some textures, like runways where you'll see some flashing/tearing and sometimes, old textures, like those from earlier versions of FSX will not appear on FS9 made aircraft. The taxi to gate arrows will not show up too and sometimes buildings will be missing. The OP has a system problem if he is getting low FPS with DX10 preview enabled. Maybe he doesn't have the latest DX10 installed? This is the first time ever I have heard of anyone getting low FPS with DX10 preview enabled. His fps w/DX10 disabled is not very good either. DX10 preview was not completely programmed for FSX by the ACES Team and they admit that fact. They had to get SP2 and Acceleration out to the FS community and figured they could do more with it in later upgrades. Unfortunately, Microsoft eliminated the ACES Team and they were not able to continue with the programming or issue updates. DX10 makes more things look realistic. For instance, you have aircraft cockpit shadows from the sun giving you more immersion into the sim. Now, why is the OP having an issue with DX10 preview? I don't know what he really means by stutters and pauses. Is this the tearing of the runways with bad textures. If it is stuttering, he needs to change the negative LOD bias from allow to clamp in the video card display settings FOR FSX. That will eliminate or reduce the stuttering. He should also reduce his scenery sliders, AI sliders, and weather sliders. I suspect he has everything pushed over to the right and that will make any sim stutter and pause. Even the individuals who have the most powerful PC's with the latest graphic cards and CPU's occasionally complain about stuttering and pauses (and even CTD's!) and they have everything pushed over to the right. It all depends mostly on the aircraft and the scenery loaded. If it's not the default aircraft/scenery, there could be issues with the addon or commercial stuff. Overclocking will cause this problem too making the computer system unstable. Here's an excellent link on the implementation of Acceleration and DX10 - http://iblueyonder.w...n-fsx-and-dx10/ . It should help you understand more fully the implementation and issues.Best regards,Jim

Hi Jim.thanks for the informative reply. I have sliders well to the left and standard aircraft. Only add-on is NZ scenery. By 'stutters' and 'pauses' I mean fps dropping to about 3, or a complete freezing of the display for 2 or 3 seconds. I will follow up on the 'negative LOD bias from allow to clamp' on the video card once I figure out how to do this! Will also check your reference site. Can I ask whether Acceleration provides a performance boost over SP2?. Also, would improving my grpahcis card (has a Windows Exp of 3.6 if that helps) make a difference?Thanks again for your commentsPS What does 'OP' stand for?

[Guest wims]

OP = original poster (thread starter)

[aceridgey 330]

In my experience,DX10 caused fps to lower considerably[makes sence]

[Mike T 208]

Hi,I have recently returned to FS after a long period.I reinstalled FSX,SP1 and SP2.I have W7/64, 4 GB of memory and a moderate graphics card (512 MBs)If I run FSX without Direct X 'preview' i get reasonable performance at 15fps - in an intense scenery area (no autogen)When I turn on DX10 preview there are lots of stutters and pauses with the frame rate dropping to as low as 3 fps.Two questions:a) Does Direct X preview add anything to scenery/cockpit resilution?:( If so, would getting a better graphics card - 1GB of memory say - be likely to improve frame rates?Thanks for any help

DX10 preview, for the most part, is more trouble than its worth. I have to agree that with DX10 off my performance is now very comparable to FS9 in the vast majority of cases. With DX10 on I watch my frame rates drop and the sim turn into a jagged, blurry mess. So, as is always the case with FSX there are no FACTS that pertain to everyone since every system is different and what works for one absolutely does NOT work for everyone else.DX10 preview also introduces great features like texture bleeding and missing textures in many add-ons which are not specifically developed with DX10 preview in mind. Antialiasing is another issue which makes running DX10 preview often look worse than DX9! Keep in mind also that DX10 was introduced as an afterthought to FSX even though it was supposed to be the marquis showpiece for DX10 and Vista (ironic isn't it). After the "magic screenies" Aces lost face and gave us a DX10 preview but Aces was shut down before anything else came of it and the majority of developers don't take it into account even on the newest releases.SO, unless you NEED to run DX10, there is no advantage to using it and it introduces many more issues than it solves.

[Guest firehawk44]

Hi Jim.Can I ask whether Acceleration provides a performance boost over SP2?. Also, would improving my grpahcis card (has a Windows Exp of 3.6 if that helps) make a difference?Thanks again for your commentsPS What does 'OP' stand for?

SP2 is the free FSX upgrade but is coded so you cannot use the aircraft, missions, scenery, etc., that came with the payware, Acceleration. Acceleration has SP2 and was released before the free SP2. There should be no difference performance wise. The Aces Team wanted to make sure everyone got the upgrade without having to purchase Acceleration. If you have a freezing of the display, this indicates to me memory starving. Since you have XP and, I assume, the 32 bit version, did you engage the /3GB switch? If not, this is what is causing your freezing, stutters, etc. I suggest you go to NickN's excellent article on setting up fsx and tuning it at the following link: http://www.simforums.com/forums/topic29041.html . This link will tell you how to engage the /3GB switch. If you have the 64 bit version, disregard as the 64 bit version has better memory management but read NickN's article anyway for possible solutions to your situation. Also, did you defrag your system after installing FSX and all addon's? If not, you need to as the FSX installation program throws files all over your hard drive. It is absolutely unbelievable as to how much defragging occurs once FSX is first installed (you can get a freeware defragging utility off the Internet which shows your hard drive and where files are located on it; the default defragging utility that comes with Windows does not show you this information). I hope this information helps! Best regards,JimEdit: Disregard my comments regarding the /3GB switch. I see now you have the 64 bit version with Windows 7. Sorry! Still read NickN's guide! I saw that comment you made about having a Windows Exp (Experience) of 3.6 and mistook your abbreviations as Windows XP. Again, you have something seriously wrong with your system if you are getting single digit frames with DX10 preview enabled and your sliders are not turned on fully to the right!Edit again: With your system specs as you posted originally, you should be getting much, much higher FPS. 15 FPS is not very good at all. I would further suggest you delete your fsx.cfg, restart FSX and let the config rebuild and see if that fixes the problem.