Fsx - What Are The 'must' Haves?

[George W 3]

I have eventually relented!! Having posted threads on this forum before in which I said that I was going to skip FSX and Vista and wait until the next generation of both, I have now ordered my new computer which should be more than capable of running FSX at a good speed, based on Mathijs's 'What hardware to buy' thread.

OK - so I am a late entrant into the FSX world. What I would appreciate is any feedback on the 'must' haves for FSX.

Aerosoft, I know have some great FSX products, some of which I will be buying. What is the status with their F16 which I seem to recall was being 'promoted' many moons ago but has not yet taken off?

FSNavigator which I used all the time in FS2004 has not moved into the FSX arena. Is there a comparable product for FSX?

What utilities are worth considering?

PMDG I see have the 747 and are developing the 737 - both wonderful products for me in FS 2004. What other aircraft (of all types) are out there and worth considering.

All comments and suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[James A 39]

I have eventually relented!! Having posted threads on this forum before in which I said that I was going to skip FSX and Vista and wait until the next generation of both, I have now ordered my new computer which should be more than capable of running FSX at a good speed, based on Mathijs's 'What hardware to buy' thread.

OK - so I am a late entrant into the FSX world. What I would appreciate is any feedback on the 'must' haves for FSX.

Aerosoft, I know have some great FSX products, some of which I will be buying. What is the status with their F16 which I seem to recall was being 'promoted' many moons ago but has not yet taken off?

FSNavigator which I used all the time in FS2004 has not moved into the FSX arena. Is there a comparable product for FSX?

What utilities are worth considering?

PMDG I see have the 747 and are developing the 737 - both wonderful products for me in FS 2004. What other aircraft (of all types) are out there and worth considering.

All comments and suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Hi Goerge,

FSX Deluxe

Expansion Pack

Seahawk & Jayhawk X (if you are into Helicopters) Has a shipyard tool for placing ships anywhere you like which works in conjunction with google earth.

VFR London

Horison's VFR Generation X v2 Scenery Pack (there's 3 for the UK at present, Scotland is a work in progress)

FSCommander X (not as good as FSNav but it grows on you) Can be used on the same pc or networked.

FSMap - Moving map which I think is brilliant if you do a lot of VFR and you can also add Enroute charts to. Again, on the same pc or networked.

FSEarth by Luciano Napolitano which has google earth working in FSX on either the same or networked pc.

Just a few of the top of my head at the moment.

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

I have eventually relented!! Having posted threads on this forum before in which I said that I was going to skip FSX and Vista and wait until the next generation of both, I have now ordered my new computer which should be more than capable of running FSX at a good speed, based on Mathijs's 'What hardware to buy' thread.

OK - so I am a late entrant into the FSX world. What I would appreciate is any feedback on the 'must' haves for FSX.

Aerosoft, I know have some great FSX products, some of which I will be buying. What is the status with their F16 which I seem to recall was being 'promoted' many moons ago but has not yet taken off?

FSNavigator which I used all the time in FS2004 has not moved into the FSX arena. Is there a comparable product for FSX?

What utilities are worth considering?

PMDG I see have the 747 and are developing the 737 - both wonderful products for me in FS 2004. What other aircraft (of all types) are out there and worth considering.

All comments and suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

3 weeks max on the F-16 and that is looking at it pessimistic.

[George W 3]

3 weeks max on the F-16 and that is looking at it pessimistic.

James A - Many thanks for your suggestions

Mathijs - looks like my timing to get a new computer is impeccable with the arrival of the F16 within 3 weeks - good timing with Christmas on the horizon!!

[Snave 466]

a2a 377. The absolute pinnacle in piston-engined complexity so far in flight sim. Ever. If a passenger in first class farts, you smell it in the cockpit. Almost.

Mesh. Even the basic FSX textures come alive with more detailed mesh, good as the defaults are (38m for much of North America, 76m for most of the ROTW). But buy carefully - no need to buy 76m for somewhere already covered by default at that, or better, detail.

Active Sky X/Graphics. FSX weather generation still Stone Age compared to this. Either X Graphics or Flight Environment X to provide better cloud and sky scapes.

Unlike some, I wouldn't recommend jumping on the replacement ground texture bandwagon as FSX has a problem if you're a global flyer - Most of the variety in the texture tiles are USA-driven, and the ROTW still relies on those, mixed with just a few replacements and alternatives. This creates a problem with compatibility if you change ANY of the texture sets - Ground Environment X still has no Europe or ROTW textures, so there's little point in buying the US textures until the whole package is complete, unless you only fly in the `States.

Ultimate Terrain X - still good after all these years and the same principles in FS9 apply to the FSX product - but at a fps cost.

One huge alternative is to go DahnUnder. Just check out the Orbx products and see why flying the Antipodes might be the future for FS...

[Colin H 1]

Agree with Snave; Flight Environment X (FEX) or X Graphics is a must. I prefer FEX, but it's purely down to personal taste.

If heavy metal's your thing, try the PMDG 747X and/or (depending on your wallet!) the Level D 767. I've found the 747 much more demanding on the system so tend to lean towards the 767. Depends on your rig.

On the smaller scale, all RealAir offerings are a must for me, with the Spitfire package being a particular highlight. For military hardware look no further than the forthcoming Aerosoft F-16.

[mk83 7]

If you want to fly over a decently realistic terrain in Europe or the USA in autumn or winter replacement textures are a must have. Central Europe just doesn't look like a brownish burned out wasteland in any season. I am using Adam Mills freeware packages (available at Avsim) for the US and Europe. They are just recolored default textures and does not look out of place anywhere in the world. At least I haven't found any oddities in New Zealand, Africa or elsewhere. But there are now also commercial packages that cover the whole world, like Aimé Leclercq "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD".

[George W 3]

Is Ultimate Terrain the one to go for? Any views?

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

Is Ultimate Terrain the one to go for? Any views?

Keep in mind that for the most areas where our customers fly the default mesh of FSX is about as detailed as you can find. It is not for me to name products, but replacing a mesh that MS bought and included in FSX for a mesh that you buy and comes from another source but is about the same makes little sense.

There IS better mesh available, even for Western Europe and the USA, but a lot of products really only start to make sense in outer Mongolia and dark Africa where the default mesh of FSX is not very good. Even worse, when the product makes interpolated fake detailed mesh it can mess up other addons. Our Lukla X has the best mesh that is available, but many mesh addon's take priority because they use interpolated data that seems more detailed. So you end up with a scenery where the mesh we included is not seen and you see fake data.

[Marc W. 0]

Keep in mind that for the most areas where our customers fly the default mesh of FSX is about as detailed as you can find. It is not for me to name products, but replacing a mesh that MS bought and included in FSX for a mesh that you buy and comes from another source but is about the same makes little sense.

There IS better mesh available, even for Western Europe and the USA, but a lot of products really only start to make sense in outer Mongolia and dark Africa where the default mesh of FSX is not very good. Even worse, when the product makes interpolated fake detailed mesh it can mess up other addons. Our Lukla X has the best mesh that is available, but many mesh addon's take priority because they use interpolated data that seems more detailed. So you end up with a scenery where the mesh we included is not seen and you see fake data.

... but Ultimate Terrain doesn't come with mesh (only to clarify, as you quoted the UT post) !

[George W 3]

Gents

Many thanks for the comments and clarification

[darem 106]

Mesh addons can be a problem even in remote parts of the world :-) - I have seen too many airports that are sunk in a crater or high on top of a mesa after applying a mesh - which isn't the fault of the mesh, really, but that of FSX. It can be so bad that you can't land or start from this airport anymore.