SP2

[G-HEVN]

In his UK2000 support forum, Gary Summons has made a statement that his 'Extreme' series airports (Bristol, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow...) are broken under SP2. Although he doesn't say what is broken, claiming such details are embargoed by the NDA.

Are there any such issues with the RealNZ sceneries? Will there need to be an SP2 update?

Thanks

[toprob]

I'll be very interested to see what issues they are having. He may be talking about DX10 problems. My scenery will be compatible with FSX DX9, but I have no plans to issue any fixes for FSX DX10. However future releases (that is, anything produced from now on) will use the SP2 SDK where possible, which may mean full DX10 compatibility -- but I will not be testing it. Even if I eventually upgrade to DX10 capability (DX10 card and Vista) then I would still not be too keen to run FSX in DX10 mode -- perhaps 90% of addons will be incompatible.

The short answer, then, is no there won't be any need for further patching. I covered this is some more detail on my website last week.

I have been running SP2 (via Acceleration) for a couple of weeks now, with no real problems. The good news is that this FINALLY means that FSX is finished:)

[scon]

Thats good to know,

Does SP2 have any performance gain?? Not that you really need it after SP1

[toprob]

QUOTE (scon @ Oct 19 2007, 06:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats good to know,

Does SP2 have any performance gain?? Not that you really need it after SP1

Only if you go the DX10 route. With DX9 it looks better (shadows are improved) but I haven't noticed any performance boost.

[toprob]

Well, I certainly spoke too soon. My initial testing was done with the final Acceleration beta, with only a cursory look at my current project using the RTM version. Unfortunately my current project doesn't include custom trees, so I didn't notice that all my trees are broken. This is a serious problem, although fixable. I have no idea how long it'll take to patch for this, but it will mean either changing the way I design my trees, or replacing them with 'default' trees.
What is the problem?
My trees, which I've always been rather proud of, as they 'complete' a number of my sceneries, are simply a single plane with a picture of a tree on it. The bits which don't make up the tree -- like the sky behind -- are masked out using the alpha channel, and the texture is saved in its simplest form -- DXT1, with a single-bit transparency. The tree model is then 'tweaked' to rotate to the user, so that it is always visible as you fly around it.
However, to tweak the code, I need to use the FS2004 gamepack, as you can't tweak FSX models. This worked with the FSX RTM, and SP1, but the DXT1 transparency of 'legacy' -- i.e. pre-FSX -- objects is now broken. To redo this in FSX, I can no longer rotate to the user, so I'll look at the normal FSX method of a couple of crossed planes, with a top plane stuck on as well. This gives nice trees if they are symetrical, but for my 'character' macrocarpa it isn't ideal.

[G-HEVN]

That's useful to know.

I'm using the FS2002 gamepack tweak with gmax for ground polys in my own scenery; do you know if SP2 causes any problems there? (I don't have it, and 'acceleration' won't be available here until next month)

Cheers
Tim

[Charl]

QUOTE (toprob @ Oct 24 2007, 01:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, I certainly spoke too soon. My initial testing was done with the final Acceleration beta, with only a cursory look at my current project using the RTM version. Unfortunately my current project doesn't include custom trees, so I didn't notice that all my trees are broken. This is a serious problem, although fixable.

The gentleman in charge of Aces and FSX, 'Taildragger' Mike, has formally handed in his resignation. You can read it here on his blog;
https://blogs.msdn.com/tdragger/arch...-the-fish.aspx

Here's some serious advice: think about getting involved in some other work.
Microsoft Corporation is not the friend of the addon community, there's a chance you will starve.

[toprob]

QUOTE (Charl @ Oct 27 2007, 11:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The gentleman in charge of Aces and FSX, 'Taildragger' Mike, has formally handed in his resignation. You can read it here on his blog;
https://blogs.msdn.com/tdragger/arch...-the-fish.aspx

Here's some serious advice: think about getting involved in some other work.
Microsoft Corporation is not the friend of the addon community, there's a chance you will starve.

Starving is what keeps me lean. My plan was always to review my position at the end of this financial year. I admit I am dreading that, and I try not to even think about it in the meantime.
By the way, I got a laugh out of Taildragger's halo experience ("Fight finished"). After my son and I both finished it separately on Heroic, we decided to tackle it co-operatively on Legendary. Our conversations were surprising similar to Mike's...

[jastheace]

just one more reason i am going to stay with fs9 i think,

[G-HEVN]

MS certainly seem to have dropped the ball with FSX, and their 'service packs' only seem to make things worse. I'm not considering going back to FS9 yet (although it is still on my PC and not in danger of being uninstalled). I certainly don't intend to install SP2 or 'Deceleration' though.