All right. I have it installed. Now I know why some people's pics don't look that great. They're running FTX Global (and FSX)in DX9! It looks a hell of a lot better in DX10, faster frame rates too, except for one thing: the FTX lads forgot to work out a bug in this supposedly DX10 compatible software. There are little black squares standing up like tiny billboards all over the landscape. I think they represent lights.

Please don't say "play in DX9." DX9 looks so much poorer than DX10 Preview, and the frame rate is so much slower. FPS-wise, it's the difference between a Dachsund (DX9)and a Greyhound (DX10).

I've supported the lads up to this point. I even purchased England, Scotland, and Wales to add to the list in my signature below. There are no problems with any of the regional packages in DX10. They've goofed with Global. Please patch this thing! I can't fly in fuzzy, slow DX9!

UPDATE: Okay, I went on the FTX support forums. Seems they've got a temporary workaround (no lights at night) while they work on a fix. The lads at ORBX realize many of us fans only fly in DX10 because DX9 has significantly poorer graphics and framerates than DX10 Preview, so they are working on a permanent fix. This is good news!

Wrong forum to complain in.



Also, I finally gave the all patched up DX10 a try. Didn't like it, went back to DX9.

Yeah I haven't tried FSX DX10 since the great SimHQ FSX DX10 arguments of 2010, tried it back then and was not impressed with all the flickering airports etc.

I will have to give it another try to see if some of the recent DX10 patches on AVSIM have made it better.

Personally not interested in FSGlobal until the landclass improvements are available too, I fly in ORBX region land most of the time anyhow and they will have NorthernCA region out soon.

Your PC isn't up to it, then.

His PC is up to running DX9 and DX10 is supposed to give better frame rates

The famous DX9 vs DX10 preview mode argument...


Works great for some, not so much for others as has well been discussed here...

Things have changed since then. There is a set of new shaders that fixes the issues with DX10. Now if your hardware can handle it and your addons are made to be DX10 compatible, FSX should run and look better than in DX9.

See here
http://stevesfsxanalysis.wordpress.com/

or go to AVSIM and look for "DX10 Shader Fixers" by Steve Parsons.

[edit:]I see now that you already mentioned these fixes

Cool will check it out Johan217 good to know the new fixes are working better.

Listen to Johan! Told you so!

My PC is like a mofo'in pair of J79s. Can push a brick like a RA-5 to mach 2.0, so it can just as well push the lighter F-4 to mach 2.23.

Despite all the fixes, some bugs with DX10 remain, like missing tooltips in full screen, some remaining bugs with a/c lights and pickiness with texture formats and that's what has put me off.
To be fair, it seemed a bit smoother though and I got two, three more FPS at ORD, JFK or LAX to boot (lots of AI).

Sounds like your PC is better than mine. Seriously, though, without any tweaks at all, I've routinely gotten 2 and sometimes 3 times the FPS in DX10 vs. DX9. For one thing, I never lot frames at a certain number. Always unlimited. Example: When I got 7 Fps flying 500 feet over Manhattan (with Manhattan X and sliders to the right) in DX9, I got 19-23 FPS with DX10. It's not even close. Plus, graphics are noticeably superior with DX10 checked, especially the water graphics. Not even close.

I realize for whatever reason some are not getting significantly better FPS with DX10 and that's a puzzle. I'm glad I don't have that problem.

Even with the DX10 fixes there are too many texture memory issues (flickering textures) and compatibility issues with addons that I have decided I can do without. I have an issue with the state the DX10 preview was left in by MS when the ACES ship was sunk. No matter how much modding goes into it, the thing is broken as far as I am concerned.

Interesting poll at AVSIM:

Nope. You probably have at least a F110 in comparison.


I'm still stuck at a Q series CPU and 4GB RAM, but both are overclocked to the max and running beautifully.




Cockpit shadows.



Hardware? Drivers?

Question: Is FTX Global graphically better than or worse than GEX + UTX in DX9/DX10?

Uh.... WHAT? Beside some ok cockpit shadowing, DX10 sucks - no FSAA, no FSAF...

I guess it's your rig that isn't up to running FSX DX9 maxed-out with FSAA and FSAF.... much better that the jaggy buggy half-developed non-optimized DX10 mode.... lol...

IMO better, that said I only can comment on GEX Europe. But you can and should keep UTX, as FTX makes use of the better LandClasses of UTX. This is for DX9, too many hassles with DX10, so I can`t comment on it.

Thanks. It does look pretty in the screen caps I've seen so far, and $100 for whole world coverage seems like a fair price for that kind of quality.

That's not true. You'll have to use FSX's built-in AA, but you can have it enhanced with the right settings in the video card drivers.

I revisited DX10 with the most recent fixes (followed HowTo on AVSIM) and it is way better than the last time I tried, but for some reason I get some weird screen tearing and not much of a framerate improvement... the flickering and jaggies are indeed fixed though

So back to DX9 for now (jealous of those of you that seem to run it well easily)... will try to tweak DX10 again some other time.

I try not to spend more time tweaking FSX than flying and that new Twin Otter Extended is so awesome that I want to fly...