But there already is a sim made for today's hardware- Xplane 10. It runs slick on my pc. But hang on, it might be because it's not hobbled by other addons for weather, AI, textures. And don't forget, the optimization is yet to start.

Exactly, if you are smart about it you can get good frame rates and still enjoy many of the new features such as HDR and the new weather. I'm running on a 2.66GHz core2duo + 9600GT on 64bit Linux I get about 25-30 fps with HDR off and 18-24 with it on around KSEA. In my case I keep the trees set to populated, textures set to high, draw distance set to high, and water reflections set to none ... but in exchange I can run with objects and roads set to extreme and I can run HDR with atmospheric scatter and FXAA enabled.

Yes C, it's very flexible. Mine runs 20 planes and nice clouds, and HDR within reason. Does this look like its turned down?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwyoIcVcz98

Ha you gotta do a video with hueyies flying to Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries :D

Yes C, it's very flexible. Mine runs 20 planes and nice clouds, and HDR within reason. Does this look like its turned down?

What's that "within reason" and is that also in VC? What are the FPS in that video? Nice video, BTW!If you can run it just fine today with all that turned on I don't know what the developer meant with "future hardware in mind".

Ha you gotta do a video with hueyies flying to Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries :D

Noted :-)

What's that "within reason" and is that also in VC? What are the FPS in that video? Nice video, BTW!If you can run it just fine today with all that turned on I don't know what the developer meant with "future hardware in mind".

Thanks! I had a ball with that. Within reason, for my pc, means I can have HDR on at night all the time, but during day I have to 'put up with' only 18fps in the 747 on takeoff at KSEA. That's coz I have pretty high objects settings. A newer pc, early next yr with a pcie 3 config, might already max it out- highest shadow settings are pretty amazing but I don't like 8fps! Check out my YouTube channel, I did a vid with 20 stampes and fps was 25! Haven't tried it in the middle of city though. Fps for the delivery vid was even better, only 10 b52s..

Check out my YouTube channel, I did a vid with 20 stamped and fps was 25! Haven't tried it in the middle of city though

Subscribed! I also made a few videos (3), you're also welcome to check them out But are FSX All I wanted to say was that I was a bit worried when the developer said they are using this "MS style" approach with future hardware in mind. I guess XPX right now is already way better than was FSX when released (considering performance).

Great! I'll check yours out later. I too was worried that they'd set the performance bar too high, but as everyone is saying, it's already quite good. I can even run the CRJ-200 with good frames. The real test will be with even more detailed scenery with higher res textures, as KSEA is actually pretty basic/efficient scenery. But it's certainly better than fsx 5 or more yrs ago. But xplane still has lots to improve, like more terrain textures and some of those craaaazzzy roads/bridges. Localized autogen, more cityscapes, the Legobrick airports, but it's more content than the sim tech. They really have left us with a whole world to build upon and explore.

I did 4 quick xml exports around 7:00pm EST -- but I did notice that the area was looking more populated today than the last time I looked at it (which was about a week ago).@Geofa - Google's 3d Warehouse content is not free for redistribution outside of their services11.4 Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, without Google’s prior authorization, you may not: (i) aggregate Content obtained from Google Services for redistribution (http://sketchup.goog...n/3dwh/tos.html)It would be great if we could collect their models and distribute it as a package, but unfortunately their terms of service strictly forbids this.

Yes-but it is free for an individual. Again-a program like Tileproxy which would allow an end user to download an place into the sim would be the way to go.

Onya Carrotroot! I was just telling Benny the same thing, that Seattle's not too bad. How many hrs ago did you run OSM2xp to get that? Cos Ben and I were feverishly doing some more CBD OSM updates about 3hrs ago :-). The more the merrier, it will make the CBD even busier.

Can you elaborate on what it is you are referring to here? CBD OSM updates?I get the OSM - Open Street Maps, but what is CBD? Is there anything that other users can do to "assist" the process as well? While my region of the world has good street mapping coverage in OSM, there are essentially no buildings defined. Are building definitions required to make OSM2xp remotely useful?This is probably a hijack of the thread, but I'm going to get in while the gettin's good.... I'm still looking for justification to invest money into XPlane, and the urban scenery trainwreck that XP10 is in its current form is really blocking me from placing my order. If there is something that I (*or any other interested parties) can do to help lay a good foundation?-Greg

... but what is CBD?

Central Business District aka Downtown.

Central Business District aka Downtown.

Oh. CBD = Seattle specifically. I thought it was a broader based term for something else. Gotcha.-Greg

Yes-but it is free for an individual. Again-a program like Tileproxy which would allow an end user to download an place into the sim would be the way to go.

You have to be careful using crawl programs like Tileproxy, as the act of using them to access google's data constitutes an automated means -- even if it is using the Google API -- could be considered a violation of their terms of service. This is the reason why Tileproxy users get banned from time to time, it's because they violated one of these sections of the Terms of Service (TOS) http://www.google.co...terms_maps.html:2(a) access or use the Products or any Content through any technology or means other than those provided in the Products, or through other explicitly authorized means Google may designate (such as through the Google Maps/Google Earth APIs);2(e) use the Products in a manner that gives you or any other person access to mass downloads or bulk feeds of any Content, including but not limited to numerical latitude or longitude coordinates, imagery, and visible map data;3(j) use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other device to retrieve or index any portion of the Google services or Content, or collect information about users for any unauthorized purpose;Also here is the specific TOS language for 3D Warehouse:5.3 You agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Google, unless you have been specifically allowed to do so in a separate agreement with Google. You specifically agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services through any automated means (including use of scripts or web crawlers) and shall ensure that you comply with the instructions set out in any robots.txt file present on the Services. (http://sketchup.goog...n/3dwh/tos.html)Yes, you are certainly allowed to manually download and convert their objects for private use, however you can't have an automated process which retrieves this data in bulk. The TOS is very clear on this.Whether or not people give a flying hoot about this is a different story ...

Yes-am aware of that.

Can you elaborate on what it is you are referring to here? CBD OSM updates?I get the OSM - Open Street Maps, but what is CBD? Is there anything that other users can do to "assist" the process as well? While my region of the world has good street mapping coverage in OSM, there are essentially no buildings defined. Are building definitions required to make OSM2xp remotely useful?This is probably a hijack of the thread, but I'm going to get in while the gettin's good.... I'm still looking for justification to invest money into XPlane, and the urban scenery trainwreck that XP10 is in its current form is really blocking me from placing my order. If there is something that I (*or any other interested parties) can do to help lay a good foundation?-Greg

Just woke up here in oz, sorry!By CBD update I mean users going into the OSM website, and editing the map (very carefully, remember its used by the whole world- you'll get booted off If u cause errors). That way, each time you run OSM2xp, it picks up more mapping data. So yes, anyone can help, or pick your own Central Business District to update