Right. Having integrated with a variety of DIS and HLA systems, I'm familiar with simulations where blue death is a serious thing.
This is gamedev.net, though :-)

binding a new texture is slowest

In my experience, binding a new shader with a different input stream signature is more expensive than binding a texture with the same size and format as the previous texture.
But, probably a different forum for that discussion :-)

In my experience, binding a new shader with a different input stream signature is more expensive than binding a texture with the same size and format as the previous texture.
But, probably a different forum for that discussion :-)

i have yet to get seriously into shader's - i know! i'm lazy! but i haven't had a desperate need yet. so far, a little alpha blending for clouds and flames, and some 2 stage texture blending for snow cover, along with optimized state changes has gotten me by. as for later versions of directx, i defer to your greater experience. but as you say, a good topic for another forum.