I bought X plane 9 some time ago and uninstalled it the reason being, I didn't quite understand certain things that weren't mentioned in the instruction manual, such as, how do you know where you are in the X plane world? Also, how to stop the planes from rocking back and forth on the runway. My other confusion was trying to set up my joystick, in FSX, its automatic, but in XP9 it seems like each individual button has to be programmed, and that can be tedious to me. Is there a way to set up the joystick by somehow importing all of my FSX settings into this flight simulator? I do not intend to give up using FSX, just have a different flying experience.

Hello !To know where you are, you can use the menu and display the map, or select the airport where you want to start from. But the best is to prepare your flights with tools like RouteFinder or GoodWay.Your aircraft is rocking back and forth on the runway ? When does this happen ? During take-off ? Did you trim your aircraft ?Yes you have to set up your joystick. There's no import tool for settings from other simulators. You may loose a few minutes, but you'll be able to set all the buttons like you want. Best regards and happy flying. :(

when you first start up, and the default plane and runway, the aircraft seems to be bouncing from wheel to wheel, with only the engine running, and I am not moving the aircraft at all

Strange... Did you update X-Plane to the latest release ? Today the stable release is 9.55rc3:http://www.x-plane.com/pg_downloads.html

I would like to know how the quality of freeware is for x plane vs payware, I do not intend to spend any money on add ons for this.

That's a very non-supportive, and I must say, arrogant thing to say.People criticize the lack of high quality add ons for x-plane but expect high quality freeware. Add ons are very time consuming.As with anything, you get what you pay for. Pay nothing and you get low quality.It's totally your prerogative to choose not to pay for any add ons, but comparing freeware to payware just takes a little common sense.If you want to see what's available, go to x-plane.orgGoran

One last question, I set up the joystick with the basics, throttle, yaw, flaps. Am I forgetting something if my plane is not getting off the ground?

Did you release your parking brakes (default key is "B") ? :( About freeware and payware, you can find some reviews here:http://xplane10.wordpress.com/I just hope you'll change your mind. You can find very good freeware add-ons, but spending a few bucks on excellent payware add-ons is worth the price, especially if you want quality and choice.Did you use FS9 or FSX without any payware add-on ?

Max, dontcha just love it when people ask questions, the questions get answered and they don't even respond with a "thx"?Some people really amaze me!Goran

Also, how to stop the planes from rocking back and forth on the runway.

Go to the "Settings"->"Operations & Warnings" menu and increase the "flight models per frame" value to 2 or 3.Marco

The default FMS is only for basic LNAV:http://wiki.x-plane.com/Chapter_6:_Navigation,_Autopilots,_and_Flying_on_Instruments#Flying_an_FMS_Planhttp://home.earthlink.net/~x-plane/FAQ-Using-FMS.htmlIf you want more features like SID/STAR and named airways, VNAV, you need add-ons:vasFMC: http://www.vas-project.org/UFMC: http://ufmc.eadt.eu/Universal_FMC/Universal_FMC.htmlx737 FMC: http://ufmc.eadt.eu/Universal_FMC/x737_FMC.htmlXFMC: http://xfmc.fsx-online.com/...Happy flying ! :(

I am posting this in the hope that I will either learn enough to correct my initial impressions of X-Plane; or save others $29.00 +++ that the program costs. I used the demo for about a week before deciding to go complete (or what I thought was complete) program. The demo ran well on my machine and I was very impressed the the mountain scenery. I should have been more skeptical about the Cirrus TheJet that was the default aircraft. I was also impressed with the documanetation that was available as a download. So far, so good. Then....the package arrived with the six disks thatcomprise the software. After a very long time of loading the disks and getting the joystick programmed with some basic roll,pitch yaw, brakes and view commands, I fired up and took off. Hey, where are all of the cool airport buildings? And that terrain looks like itwas painted with watercolors. Beyond a couple of miles....nothing but fog. So I upped the slider settings a notch above the defaults; and its pretty much the same stuff, only very jerky performance....nothing the the creamy smooth demo. Then I went throught the default aircraft. Give me a break! There might have been four or five decent, but not impressive useable ircraft. The balance looked like bad AI planes from MSFS, with stick landing gear and polygon fuselages. This was a weekend so I sent off a note to the "official" website for x-plane, which I later found out is just a publisher and has nothing to do with content. They just take your money. I asked them what was up and she replied that there are not any airport buildings supplied with the software. That is all aftermarket payware, as are the planes that they used in their videos and within the context of their website. The kicker is that they give no refunds, or as she said it,"We offer no satisfaction gurantee or refunds". I'm sure that most of you guys are pretty satisfied with this software; otherwise you wouldn't be posting here. I could be dead wrong about this, but I'm feeling like I was basically scammed by the maker of this program. I have had probably ten different simming programs over the years since MS started with wireframe polygons. Only one of them was extremely disappointing to me...CFS3, and the rest were good to great.So, X-plane fan boys, this is your chance to redeem Austin whats-his-name. Am I totally screwed up?

I am posting this in the hope that I will either learn enough to correct my initial impressions of X-Plane; or save others $29.00 +++ that the program costs. I used the demo for about a week before deciding to go complete (or what I thought was complete) program. The demo ran well on my machine and I was very impressed the the mountain scenery. I should have been more skeptical about the Cirrus TheJet that was the default aircraft. I was also impressed with the documanetation that was available as a download. So far, so good. Then....the package arrived with the six disks thatcomprise the software. After a very long time of loading the disks and getting the joystick programmed with some basic roll,pitch yaw, brakes and view commands, I fired up and took off. Hey, where are all of the cool airport buildings? And that terrain looks like itwas painted with watercolors. Beyond a couple of miles....nothing but fog. So I upped the slider settings a notch above the defaults; and its pretty much the same stuff, only very jerky performance....nothing the the creamy smooth demo. Then I went throught the default aircraft. Give me a break! There might have been four or five decent, but not impressive useable ircraft. The balance looked like bad AI planes from MSFS, with stick landing gear and polygon fuselages. This was a weekend so I sent off a note to the "official" website for x-plane, which I later found out is just a publisher and has nothing to do with content. They just take your money. I asked them what was up and she replied that there are not any airport buildings supplied with the software. That is all aftermarket payware, as are the planes that they used in their videos and within the context of their website. The kicker is that they give no refunds, or as she said it,"We offer no satisfaction gurantee or refunds". I'm sure that most of you guys are pretty satisfied with this software; otherwise you wouldn't be posting here. I could be dead wrong about this, but I'm feeling like I was basically scammed by the maker of this program. I have had probably ten different simming programs over the years since MS started with wireframe polygons. Only one of them was extremely disappointing to me...CFS3, and the rest were good to great.So, X-plane fan boys, this is your chance to redeem Austin whats-his-name. Am I totally screwed up?

Last time I flew a default aircraft for MSFS was FS98. Just like MSFS, not many people fly the default aircraft in x plane.If you want scenery, you can use FS2XPlane to convert FS9 and FSX scenery. Download the program from here. Yes it is free. Not to mention all the free scenery and aircraft available from x-plane.orgIf you are getting fog, your hardware is on the low end or your settings are too high. I have noticed that your post was curt and it's obvious you're upset.We cannot help you if you don't give us some specs. We're not a bunch of support people. We're a bunch of x plane users. Using an aggressive tone won't get you too far. And expecting us to redeem Austins work is not really what we do.Whats in your computer? Hardware specs?Provide a screenshot of your settings.Don't expect the default add ons to be better than payware offerings. It's never going to happen for ANY simulator. Anyway, start by giving us your PC specs and we'll take it from there.Goran

Hello !This happens often. People try the demo and think all the default airports are looking like Innsbruck Kranebitten (LOWI). That's not true, in X-Plane, LOWI is the only airport where you have buildings. Other airports have only runways and taxiways. If you want to find sceneries, just look here:Free sceneries from X-Plane.org: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=30718Free sceneries for France: http://www.xpfr.org/Free sceneries for Africa: http://xpafrica.blogspot.com/Free photo sceneries for Europe: http://zonephoto.x-plane.fr/Free sceneries for Australia: http://web.me.com/broberts03/Scenery/Scenery/Scenery.htmlPayware sceneries for North America: http://www.scenery4xp.com/Payware photo sceneries for USA: http://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=24...And as Goran said, you can convert most FS2004 sceneries using FS2XPlane. Sometimes you have some editing work after the conversion.Now the fog. If the demo runs fine, X-Plane will also run fine. You have to be careful with your settings. Here's a page you must read:http://wiki.x-plane.com/Setting_Up_X-Plane_for_Best_PerformanceIf you see the fog, it can be your local weather, but sometimes it's X-Plane trying to render at least 19 FPS and you don't have the hardware for your settings. Also don't forget to update X-Plane. When you download the demo, it's always the latest version. But when you buy the DVDs, it can be a early version 9.00.You want nice planes ? Read this blog and you'll find reviews:http://xplane10.wordpress.com/You can also find reviews on AVSIM:http://www.avsim.com/pages/0909/Xplane/MU2.htmhttp://www.avsim.com/pages/0710/XPlane2/Falco.htmOr you can also build your own aircraft... start with the tutorials here:http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showforum=72But the only "official" X-Plane website is here:http://www.x-plane.com/Best regards.

Is there a Tileproxy equivalent for Xplane?Thanks.

Hello !This happens often. People try the demo and think all the default airports are looking like Innsbruck Kranebitten (LOWI). That's not true, in X-Plane, LOWI is the only airport where you have buildings. Other airports have only runways and taxiways. If you want to find sceneries, just look here:Free sceneries from X-Plane.org: http://forums.x-plan...showtopic=30718Free sceneries for France: http://www.xpfr.org/Free sceneries for Africa: http://xpafrica.blogspot.com/Free photo sceneries for Europe: http://zonephoto.x-plane.fr/Free sceneries for Australia: http://web.me.com/br...ry/Scenery.htmlPayware sceneries for North America: http://www.scenery4xp.com/Payware photo sceneries for USA: http://www.x-aviatio...ex.php?cPath=24...And as Goran said, you can convert most FS2004 sceneries using FS2XPlane. Sometimes you have some editing work after the conversion.Now the fog. If the demo runs fine, X-Plane will also run fine. You have to be careful with your settings. Here's a page you must read:http://wiki.x-plane....est_PerformanceIf you see the fog, it can be your local weather, but sometimes it's X-Plane trying to render at least 19 FPS and you don't have the hardware for your settings. Also don't forget to update X-Plane. When you download the demo, it's always the latest version. But when you buy the DVDs, it can be a early version 9.00.You want nice planes ? Read this blog and you'll find reviews:http://xplane10.wordpress.com/You can also find reviews on AVSIM:http://www.avsim.com.../Xplane/MU2.htmhttp://www.avsim.com...lane2/Falco.htmOr you can also build your own aircraft... start with the tutorials here:http://forums.x-plan...hp?showforum=72But the only "official" X-Plane website is here:http://www.x-plane.com/Best regards.

Thanks guys for those very helpful replies and suggestions. It sounds like you have some success with X-Plane. I thought I had done enough research to head down this road, but apparently I didn't do my homework. Here's my bottom line and final comments on the subject:I'm sticking with the MS sims since I have years invested in them and don't care to start over. I got sucked in and shame on me. The price tag should have been the tip-off. Happy landings.

I've used and still do have MSFS installed plus now have x-planes on my Mac.The quality of graphics with x-planes on my Mac is really good, When using MSFS on windows using bootcamp I do noticed the ground is more blury, it maybe a driver issue but do have the latest drivers.I also enjoyed a few apps on my iPad that works well with x-planes on my MBPRay