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Darhawk

TOP 5 ADD ONS

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Hello all,I have been flying since FS2002 and I am a member of Vatsim and belong to a virtual airline, but I never spent money on Payware planes , utillities or scenery/weather. In fact I have never really invested time looking at payware items, because I just thought newer version of Flight Sim ( I now and have known better)would be released into the future and wouldn't need to. Since I just bought a new computer and it is stellar with great performance of both, I have been bitten with the bug. I bought my first payware plane, the Carenado Mooney and now I need help...I want to buy some more add-ons. I only want a few to start. I want to buy some awesome scenery ( I mostly fly in USA )and a great weather program and even a few more planes ( which have me confused, since there are so many to choose from). I happened upon the ORBX website and it has had me looking into upgrading my FS9, since it's only for FSX which is a bummer. I also used to have a demo or freeware version of Active Sky, back when it was brand new years ago and that was nice, but I don't know if there is anything newer or better. I do own FSX and really enjoy the more life like scale of the mountains when Bush flying and enjoy the more realistic layout of the airports. I just fly more in FS9 than FSX.So my question is what are the TOP 5 ITEMS that are a must must for FS9 to make the environment more life like? This also can include planes ( always love a great Prop, I just need a killer twin). Could you please not use acronyms, so I know what programs names really are. This will be a great help to me and other newbies. I did do a search first just so ya'll know - Thanks in advance!

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When your not flying on VATSIM consider the product in my tag :)I use FSGlobal 2008 for almost complete wordlwide mesh to get that terrain in better shape.I prefer regional flying emulating actual airlines. I got the schedules from Ultimate Traffic 2007 payware. You can add what's missing from the freeware World of AI traffic downloads. I use when not on props the PMDG 600/700/800/900 models. I especially like routes that take me over the Alps and into Spain.My European sceneries come from Aerosoft or freeware. There are sales on now for older Aerosoft scenery suites and US collections from Fly-Tampa ("US Airports") from the Aerosoft shop. For the US get Fly-Tampa's freeware KBOS wityh its update from here:http://flytampa.org/downloads.htmlAerosoft is back to releasing new FS9 scenery.I use FS Build for a flight planner and it links to Active Sky 6.5 for fuel planning. I download the AS archived weather for the ZULU time of the flight, much more realistic due to differences between daytime and nighttime weather effects. AS also creates vertical drafts according to your terrain mesh and the effect varies on the altitude distance above terrain. You'll get appropriate bumps on final.Distributed from flight1.com, I use FSPanel Studio to modify freeware aircraft panels with freeware or paid gauges. Gauges can be imported between aircraft (freeware).

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Hi,If you are going to use both FS04 and FSX, one purchase of Active Sky Advanced will supply you with weather for both.Wow, the free Active Sky was sure a long time ago!

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Thanks for the replies so far, I appreciate them. Another question is what is REX? Is Rex a add-on to Active Sky ( < the acronym is ASA, correct?) Does the Peter Dowson FSUIPC 3.96 inable the TCAS system for flying through Vatsim and SQBox?

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Goto your FS9/modules folder. See if FSUIPC.dll is in there. If so, right click on it. Left click on properties then click the versions tab.I do not know if REX includes the registration mechanism for applications that use it. Either way it is the same download. Get the latest release from here as it may fix some things:http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.htmlIt comes with an install exe format that should overwrite any older FSUIPC and place your documentation it. It should find your FS9 location but if it is not correct it will eventually give you the opportunity to manually enter your path. If REX does not include an application license then to use you will have to purchase a user registration key as noted on that same page.REX comes in FS9 and FSX versions and has a weather engine, connected flight planner, etc., plus ground and sky texture sets. Unlike ASA I don't think there is any provision for fuel planning in connecting with FSBuild's planner if that is of interest. I also think it has been upgraded to get archived weather data.ASA I believe is sky textures only besides its powerful weather engine. It had some early glitches that a couple of service packs have been advised of straightening it out. It also loads the flight plan as does REX but does not display it visually. It does generate weather reports along your line of flight particular surface METARS and Winds Aloft that can be printed out along with a navlog that can be printed with flight level data and summing up an average wind vector. As stated it also provides weather for FSBuild and I think one other planner for fuel calculations. I use the earlier Active Sky 6.5 which supports these features. With ASA you can choose to use ASA textures or just the weather engine. If using AS graphics just choose the weather influenced cloud sets.ASA also lets you use third party textures. One of those might just be a free set from the same REX developer called Real Environment Pro and is available from the REX support forum index. I don't know if those are weather/season influenced automatically or you have to set it.http://www2.hifisim.com/node/3 is where you get ASA and earlier product information. You might wish to consider AS 6.5 if CPU load is of consideration. I don't know about CPU loads from REX.

Thanks for the replies so far, I appreciate them. Another question is what is REX? Is Rex a add-on to Active Sky ( < the acronym is ASA, correct?) Also how do I know if I have; FSUIPC 3.75 or later for use with FS9, as the recommend requirement.

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Ok well I just bought & added the new version of FSUIPC. Now on to the next phase...Weather.I guess ASA and REX are the top choices. I am still deciding, but the fact that ASA, is valid for both Sims, is a great offering.Also that Piper Seneca from Carenado looks awfully tasty! I am still stuck on Scenery though, as to what is offered as the Best for FS9. I have been reading a lot this weekend and still trying to clear my head as which one to purchase. I am still trying to find a good TCAS alert system as well, for flying on Vatsim...Is this something that is availible?

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