DX10 Fixer Performance

[UKJim 502]

Hi, 

 

So after a recent post about scenery blurries, it was mentioned that DX10 could help. I tried simply setting DX10 in FSX and that worked but the usual story happened - black sections, missing textures and so forth. 

 

I looked at a review on Mutley's about Steve's DX10 fixer and how it can sort these issues as well as a possible performance increase.

 

So, how good is this? Are all the cool kids using this these days? I don't want to up my settings or anything like that I just want my scenery to be handled better.

 

I was also looking into P3D and seeing if that performs better than FSX - did not really get an answer but the general feel is it is only a slight increase. If that is the case then I will not consider purchasing P3D as I am happy with FSX if performance is pretty much the same.

 

My machine is a bit of a dinosaur so maybe it could just be I am due an upgrade but obviously checking the avenues

 

Cheers,

 

Jim 

[Gunner 69]

   The DX10 fixer repairs everything what is possible to fix in FSX, regarding the DX10 part. Meaning the black boxes around light bulbs, missing bridges, fences, and so on. As far as i know it can have some (very rare) issues with some very old ported Fs9 models. But if you have an ATI card, you will still have problems because of the water textures. That comes from the ATI driver and there is no fix for it (tbh i didn't tried it lately). Some people managed to get it working by reducing the water details and reflections to minimum. I see you have a HD 5670. If you want DX10, best thing you can do - switch it to an nVidia card and Steve's DX10 fixer.

 

  Edit: Performance is much better in DX10 prev mode, and it looks better too.

[UKJim 502]

Ok so I have been tinkering with the standard dx10 mode and some config settings too - I get shimmering and flickering which I believe fixer sorts out. I do not get any water issues tho? Probably because I already have my water on low settings.

I bought some more uk2000 scenery and reinstalled genx too - running with my tweaks in dx10 mode I get no blurring and looks good. Looks like I will be buying the fixer lol. Still deciding

[Gunner 69]

The flickering taxi and runways are definitely fixed by the Steve's soft. The issues with the ATI drivers are coming up with the newest versions...if you have an older (and working) ATI driver, that might work.

[UKJim 502]

Well all in all I am satisfied with the fixer (yes I bought it) - but the only issue which to me is a big one; two of my UK2000 airport scenery are flickering One of them is fine. 

 

This is not just the runways; it is the entire area that it sits on - it almost looks like the terrain below is seeping through. Not spikes though so that's good. 

 

I am not sure if it is DX10 causing it though as I ran out of time to experiment last night; a quick google found me at the UK2000 site where people with the same scenery also mentioned the same issue. They recommended using textures from v2 of the scenery and not v3 (or something like that). 

 

I will obviously be trying this first and hopefully will all fix itself. 

 

The one good thing is my GenX photo scenery is crisp and no blurries - just unfortunate that the airports are giving grief.

 

Hopefully Steve will work on some fixes for AMD devices, at least making it stable to run without flickering. 

 

I'll be sure to post here of any findings I make

 

Cheers,

Jim

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

Hi Jim!

 

Many developers have issued patches for their airports to make them DX10 compatible, so if you're having problems with a specific airport it's always worth (as you have already done with UK2000) checking that developer's web site and/or support forum to see what's available.

 

Unfortunately, FSX does run more readily on NVidia cards than ATI, so it's true that there is not as much support for ATI users with all sorts of add-ons, the Fixer included. On the positive side, though, using ATI means that you don't have to mess about with Inspector settings.  

 

But as with all technically advanced add-ons, the Fixer isn't a simple plug-in-and-go solution, you do need to be prepared to do a bit of work if you're to get it optimised for your particular setup.

 

I'm afraid you probably need to read the Fixer's manual for the version you have, at some stage. All of it.  <sigh>  It's a long read, I know, however somewhere in there you will probably find the answer to most questions, although with so many settings to tweak it may take you a while.

 

But the Fixer's manual certainly doesn't answer all questions, and so I have a couple of additional suggestions for you, which you might want to try first   :—

 

Although it's over a year old, the AVSIM guide has a few generically sensible thing to say: http://forum.avsim.net/files/file/41-basic-fsx-p3d-configuration-guide/ (click the green Download button), (although it only contains a few outline recommendations regarding DX10).

 

But do have a look at the current version (v1.08a, at the time of writing) of the "DX10 HowTo" guide, which you can download from here: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nzfsim.org%2Findex.php%3Fdsp%3Ddload%26fname%3DDX10_HowTo.pdf&ei=QRzbVNbVOpfiapb6gOAM&usg=AFQjCNH-taBPGz1ZR2cGrh3RCYHxsE7GrQ&bvm=bv.85761416,d.d2s   I suggest this particularly because it contains a section about ATI and setting up CCC which you may find especially helpful.

 

No one said this stuff was going to be easy, I guess!  

 

Good luck,

 

Bruce

a.k.a. brian747

 

 

[UKJim 502]

Thanks Brian, I have read the manual straight after install as I did not want to jump in right away; performed all the suggested things in there like switching to DX10 and choosing the steve profile for an example. Applied all the effects and tweaks in each menu option too. 

 

I read up on what each item does and most of which the default/steve setup fixes for me - a lot of it was to regarding shadows and I don't currently use shadows so not applicable for me.

 

Even without the fixer I did not have many issues anyway in selecting DX10 preview mod in FSX - the one issue I had was there painted arrows on some of the airports where not aligned and strange - the fixer sorted that out. 

 

I have been forever tweaking FSX so to continue on this new path is not so bad for me - in good time I am sure it will work and look amazing - already though I have noticed a bit of a performance increase which is good. Just a shame about the flickering at UK2000 airports; without this it would be perfect for me

 

Reading up there is a setting in the UK2000 airport config that says 'FSX Coded Ground Polygons' and this could be the cause of the flickering. At work at the moment so will test next time I am on. Hopefully this fixes that - fingers crossed!!!

 

After sorting out UK2000; I will be heading over the pond to PNW and trying the DX10 fixer on Orbx scenery - from my previous experience without the fixer, the lights were black and that was about it - so hopefully the lights will be fixed (which I believe they have).

 

Brian - I will take a look at those guides tonight; I have followed similar guides too but it can all only help. 

 

Thanks

 

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

Hi Jim!

 

> "I have followed similar guides too..."

 

I can imagine.     I feel for you, my friend! So have we all, I guess. It's all a part of keeping ourselves vlying in FSX — somehow! But since I don't use an ATI card any more I was hoping especially that the two pages in the last link I provided might be of some help.

 

I like the sound of the coded ground polygons tweak for UK2000, which seems to have potential.

 

As far as Orbx goes, I have a full house in terms of Global / Vector / OpenLC, and the lights seem fine to me. (Although since you're using a very different graphics card, I suppose it isn't really possible to draw any conclusions from my experience).

 

All I can say is that I haven't vlown in DX9 for a very long time, and I hope you will eventually feel the same (especially since you will hopefully find an improvement in your VAS usage which will enable you to successfully complete long vlights using complex aircraft with complex airports as your destination).

 

Cheers,

 

Bruce

a.k.a. brian747

 

[UKJim 502]

Already seen an improvement in stability and fps which just makes matters worse because of the tiny issues I am seeing; just makes me want DX10 to work properly even more.

 

All in good time as they say. 

[UKJim 502]

Ok so the polygon setting helped but did not remove all shimmering.

Next steps:

Update to latest patches uk2000 scenery.

Setup exactly to the how to guide.

Change buffer pools to 0.

All these done one at a time to see if any changes happen.

If all above fails then I am going to revert to older versions of uk2000 scenery and check that.

[UKJim 502]

Done all tweaks and some above - Bristol is shimmering but Birmingham and East Mids does not. I installed the demo version of version 2 (not 3 what I bought) no shimmering.

Sent an email to uk2000 support to help me activate v2 instead of 3 - other people have same issue even with dx9 andbno resolution. I would be happy with v2 for now.

Terrain and smoothness is top notch at the moment I even turned on the shadows for a bit lol - p3d sucks lol joke

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

Well done, Jim: I'm sure you're going to get there. :-)

By coincidence, an old friend of mine has recently bought the Fixer (he was very sceptical about it for a long time, I have to admit), and has just mailed me to say how delighted he is that at the end of a long flight he now has well over 1Gb of VAS free (previously he was running out, and getting a CTD, at his destination).

You may have to work at it, but it's well worth the effort, IMHO.

Cheers,

B.