Hey Jsapair,
Good questions that I will attempt to answer for you.
"And then there's the AddOnX tool issue. Some say you need it, some say you don't, but we all have our biases one way or the other it seems."
Not a bias issue with me; it's a plain fact!
Let's start here. From post #2 by one of the most knowledgeable people in the DX10 tech support world, which will put the Addon Converterx issue to bed once and for all:
http://forum.avsim.net/topic/433879-thinking-of-doing-a-second-attempt-switching-from-dx9-dx10/"Regarding AddonConverterX - it's not needed anymore, as the Fixer does all that it did, plus correcting the somewhat crippled DX10 functionality and adding features to correct deficient and erroneous objects(i.e devs who use old tech and tools when creating FSX objects), while also making obsolescent objects work again!"
"I guess my first question is why convert the bitmaps in the first place."
Converting .bmp textures to .dds makes occasional incompatible textures compatible with DX10. I don't understand - or care - why some textures show in DX9 and not in DX10. All I know is that incompatible ones can be easily converted to display in DX10.
"Secondly, if you convert all those files to dds can you revert back to DX9 using the dds files? (not that I foresee doing that.)"
Yes.
"My DX10 seems to work fine using the bmp files...am I going to see quality upgrade enough to convert?"
It isn't a matter of quality, unless you consider whether or not being able to see all scenery objects a matter of quality. It has nothing to do with smoothness, frame rates, etc. Strictly being to see and enjoy scenery as it was designed by their author.
"With all of the scenery folders that I, and most of us have that sounds like a daunting task, but, not in your esteemed opinion obviously."
You don't have to go through all of your scenery folders per se. You do need to go through all of your required RTMM library's texture folders. The required libraries are, as you know, are listed in the scenery section. It can most likely be taken care of in under an hour's time, give or take.
"I'm way beyond the Legacy collection, been at this a few years now."
The only reason I mentioned that particular set of legacy files is because a "Woody's Pier Sections" object found in "Mesa Lake" doesn't display in DX10 unless converted. I brought it up because it is easy to see before and after conversion results. Same thing with the snowdrift in the RTMM scenery tester scenery. Fire up the scenery tester and see if the snowdrift shows up in DX10. If it doesn't, then conversion will take care of it. Trust me!!
(Addon Converter X) "Is it actually converting bmp to dds and by unchecking it you are reversing the conversion? This is where the confusion comes in on my part. "
ACX alters some texture characteristics - I don't know what or how - and then stores them in a cache file on your hard drive. When you execute FSX it has to load them for use each and every time; that's why your FSX load times are much longer.
"Is that convxml the way to go if you're going to convert and if so, do you dump the AddonX first? Revert it back to normal or something?"
I disabled ACX and then ran everything through Convimx. It can be easily disabled without deleting it. Do it like this:
Navigate to C:\Users\YOUR NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX
Locate a file called "dll.xml"
Open it in notepad
Find a section that looks like this:
<Launch.Addon>
<Name>AddonConverterX</Name>
<Disabled>false</Disabled>
<ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
<Path>J:\Addon Converter X\AddonConverterX.dll</Path>
Change:
<Disabled>false</Disabled>
To:
<Disabled>true</Disabled>
Save the file.
That's all you need to do. If for some reason you want to use it again, just change that line back to how it was.
ACX is also a tool that can be used for other purposes. Read an overview here:
http://www.avsim.com/pages/0409/Flightsimtools/ACX.htmFWIW, here's the author's description of ACX. (Note the word "most" and "many" is used several times.)
"Addon Converter X is a plugin for FSX that makes many add-on aircraft and sceneries developed for FS2004 compatible with FSX SP2 and FSX Acceleration Pack.
Many existing aircraft and sceneries suffer display problems with these FSX versions, such as missing textures or missing scenery objects in the DirectX 10 mode. Addon Converter X resolves many of these problems on the fly, thus allowing you to enjoy thousands of sceneries and aircraft developed for previous Flight Simulator versions with FSX."
I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to ask more.
Steve