jeffpn
Well-known member
I was disappointed to find out that RF6 will still be using DirectX9.0c that G3, G4 and G5 all used. According to what I researched today, DirectX9.0c was released in August of 2004, more than 7 years ago. KE used to keep up with DirectX releases. I remember the first AddOns discs having DirectX7 installation files, and DirectX8 on the later discs. Then after DirectX9.0c came out, KE stopped keeping up with it.
Windows Vista uses DirectX10, and Windows 7 uses DirectX11. It is a common misconception to new users that they don't need to install DirectX9.0c as prompted, thinking that having DirectX10 or 11 is sufficient. Microsoft dropped a couple files from DirectX when they released DirectX10. Real Flight requires those files that are no longer present in DirectX10 or 11. If you don't install DirectX9.0c from the RF disc, you will not have those files. RF will run poorly, or not at all.
I was also surprised to read Jim Bourke's post that RF6 will run slightly better than G5.5. That tells me that RF6 has been dumbed down. Is this about keeping Windows XP users happy? XP was released in October 2001, ten years ago! That's forever for a computer. It's time to leave XP users behind.
When I got G2, my computer did not run RF at all. I built a new one. When I bought G3, I wasn't satisfied with the performance of my G2 computer. I built another one. I also built one for G4. I did not build one for G5. Now it looks like I could go back to my G3 computer to run G6. I'm not saying that I think that RF should only run on the highest-end machines. But it should be noticeably different. There are so many graphics variables in RF that can be disabled to run RF on lower quality machines. Why is the new version of RF produced at the expense of eye candy? Is KE positioning itself to release RF on an iPad?
I have had my share of graphics issues starting with the release of G5.1. My machine would not start RF if it was in full screen mode. When a few others had similar problems, I played my part in KE's patch to address the issues. The fix that KE released isn't perfect. I can't export or import in full screen. There are other anomolies, too. I can't help but think that this has something to do with KE forcing an old version of DirectX to run on Vista or 7. Are there conflicts going on? I'm no programmer, I don't know. But it sure seems that way.
I would really like to see RF take advantage of the latest DirectX, and maybe even OpenGL. I know it's too late for RF6, but I'd like to see KE go this way in the future. How do you feel about it?
Windows Vista uses DirectX10, and Windows 7 uses DirectX11. It is a common misconception to new users that they don't need to install DirectX9.0c as prompted, thinking that having DirectX10 or 11 is sufficient. Microsoft dropped a couple files from DirectX when they released DirectX10. Real Flight requires those files that are no longer present in DirectX10 or 11. If you don't install DirectX9.0c from the RF disc, you will not have those files. RF will run poorly, or not at all.
I was also surprised to read Jim Bourke's post that RF6 will run slightly better than G5.5. That tells me that RF6 has been dumbed down. Is this about keeping Windows XP users happy? XP was released in October 2001, ten years ago! That's forever for a computer. It's time to leave XP users behind.
When I got G2, my computer did not run RF at all. I built a new one. When I bought G3, I wasn't satisfied with the performance of my G2 computer. I built another one. I also built one for G4. I did not build one for G5. Now it looks like I could go back to my G3 computer to run G6. I'm not saying that I think that RF should only run on the highest-end machines. But it should be noticeably different. There are so many graphics variables in RF that can be disabled to run RF on lower quality machines. Why is the new version of RF produced at the expense of eye candy? Is KE positioning itself to release RF on an iPad?
I have had my share of graphics issues starting with the release of G5.1. My machine would not start RF if it was in full screen mode. When a few others had similar problems, I played my part in KE's patch to address the issues. The fix that KE released isn't perfect. I can't export or import in full screen. There are other anomolies, too. I can't help but think that this has something to do with KE forcing an old version of DirectX to run on Vista or 7. Are there conflicts going on? I'm no programmer, I don't know. But it sure seems that way.
I would really like to see RF take advantage of the latest DirectX, and maybe even OpenGL. I know it's too late for RF6, but I'd like to see KE go this way in the future. How do you feel about it?