Direct X - What??

[CookieMonster]

They say FS 2004 uses Direct X 9, and we all know that not all graphics cards support Direct X 9...

Two questions (please!)

1) What does direct X 9 do in FS 2004?

2) If poeple have a graphics card that does not support direct X 9, such as a Geforce 4, what will they be missing out on, if anything?

Thanks!

Cookie Monster
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[chasw]

Yes, this is just the sort of question I was hoping early reviews and previews might address, instead of the constant screenshots. We also await details of what, if anything, Hyperthreading brings to the party.

My guess is that, just as FS2002 shipped with DX8 but only used DX7 features, FS2004 ships with DX9 but only uses DX8. It's simply MS's way of making people who don't spend all their days logged on to forums or tuned in to techie sites upgrade their core software.

Chas

[CookieMonster]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-26-03 AT 12:35PM (EDT)[p]I was hoping Andrew Herd might have mentioned it in his article. He did mention that the game would run fine on a Geforce 3, but made no mention of any new Direct X features.

Taking a look at the system requirements for FS2004:

Computer/Processor 450 MHz CPU
Operating System Windows 98/ME, 2000, XP
Memory Windows 98/ME - 64 MB
Windows 2000/ XP - 128 MB
Hard Disk 1.8 GB
Display 8 MB Video Card - Direct X9 or better.


There it is, "Direct X9 or better."

And from Microsoft's Web Site on DirectX 9:

"DirectX 9.0 includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX 9.0 APIs. This release also resolves an issue with DirectX 9.0 where some multiplayer games or MSN Messenger may not work correctly. A number of minor bugs were also resolved."


Anyone know why Direct X 8.1 just won't do for FS2004?

Cookie Monster
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[Bigshot]

That's my single biggest reservation about FS2004. I'm currently running DX8.1 with DX8 drivers on my 9700 Pro. I bought it before DX9 was available. Everything single thing that I throw at it runs flawlessly with outstanding performance and outstanding visuals. Guess maybe the best thing to do is to set a restore point in XP cause I've read all kinds of horror stories about DX9.* . Last thing I want to do is mess up my perfectly tuned system that runs not only my flight sims, but my space sims and racing sims perfectly. Guess I'll have to take the leap sooner or later. Just prefer it to be later. MS wants me to fix something that's not broke and there are no DX9 games out yet that I'm aware of.

[lnuss]

In their system requirements, MS lists:

# DirectX 9 or later (included with Microsoft Flight Simulator: A Century of Flight)
# Video card: 8 MB/3D with DirectX 7.0 or later drivers

Apparently DX9 has provision for earlier cards. I'm running DX9 on a GeForce 2 with FS2002 and it works just fine. My best guess would be that earlier cards will be used to their full capabilities, but those with the latest cards will have more work offloaded to the GPU than those with older cards.

So apparently you'll need DX9 for the programming interfaces, but you don't need the latest graphics cards. I'm sure MS is fully aware that their customers don't all have the latest and greatest, and they build backward compatibility in to their software, both DX and FS.

[HR]
Larry N.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3dd4657454c071bd.jpg

[mgroves]

I've had directX 9 on my system since it came out. No problems with GF4600Ti & Win XP. Direct X has always been backwards compatible.

Mike.

[kc10]

>Display 8 MB Video Card - Direct X9 or better>

That's incorrect. As mentioned above,the vid card requirement is DX7 or higher.
I don't think you can buy an 8MB DX9 card anyway,can you? :7

P4 2.4/533FSB
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KC
Ft Lauderdale,Florida

[The_Association]

Umm, I believe what he meant was that you will need DirectX 9 installed on your system for FS2004 to run and not that you will need a fully DirectX 9 compatible video card, as you seem to think he said.

Tim Kotula
KDTW/KPTK/KPLN

**New System Specs Coming Soon**

Proud to be 100% modern music free since 1994

[lnuss]

Apparently FS2004 is a DX9 game, though MS says a card with DX7 drivers is adequate. DX9 is backward compatible, and it works very well with FS2002 (I don't do other games).

[HR]
Larry N.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3dd4657454c071bd.jpg

[sharpeassoc]

Hi Bigshot

I installed NASCAR 2003 this past weekend apparently it requires DX9 as it installs it from the disc & says it's required. I am not sure but I could swear that the installation of DX9 actually improved FS2002 performance.

Specs:

3.06G
P-4
WinXP
1G ram
G4 Ti4600 AGP
G4 MX400 PCI
G4 MX400 PCI (2)
240 G HD
21" Hitachi
2-19" Viewsonics

I have high hopes for FS2004 as I currently run FS2002 maxed out on three monitors and it's smooth as silk.

Good luck,

Don

[Lou_Betti]

Let me add...

While I have had no video issues with FS2004 and my relatively new machine, we did need to upgrade the gauge sounds (you know, the switch clicks, gyro sounds, etc.) in our Archer and Cardinal products so that they would work correctly, and comply with the standards for DX 9.

When you install FS2004 it WILL insist that you install DX9, so we had to keep up with this.

Example: With DX9, a gauge sound, such as switch "click", would play only once, and after that, no other gauge sounds would play.
This was with gauge sounds programmed to DX8 standards (FS2002).

So, these are the sort of things that require developers to upgrade their products for each new version of the sim. It's not just changes in the sim itself. In fact, the majority of our upgrades are due to DX9, not due to changes within the sim.

I'm not complaining, just informing. :-)

Regards,
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