It's been since FS98 that I've been out of simming. Now, I want to be back. After much tossing and turning about whether to go with FSX or FS2004, reading threads about both, watching videos, etc., I have finally decided to go with FS2004. My decision is partly based in economics (using my current setup if possible), and partly because FS2004 seems more predictable in terms of performance. Comparing the two, I personally didn't see such a huge difference between the two in terms of scenery quality. Now, I do see a difference, don't get me wrong, but not enough to make me spend the money for stuff that not having won't make me lose sleep at night.My main uses will be for actual simming - mostly flying shorter regional routes for a VA, and maybe doing occasional instrument approach practices with GA aircraft (simply because I like the technical aspects of charts and what-not). I do like nice scenery and as much realism as practical but I don't need top of the line, best appearance. I do desire good flight modeling, and accurate simming when doing VA stuff. Basically I want to have fun w/o going completely broke.Here's my computer:iMac 2.66 GHz Core Duo, 2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics card , and WIndows XP installed via Boot Camp ..... What do you think?Scenery add-ons I would like:REX 2.0Ultimate terrain Ground Environment Pro (or 2006 if not much difference)Maybe a few airport scenery add-onsSeems the combination above makes FS2004 look sweet from what I have read. Agree?Aircraft I would like:PMDG 1900D (with reality XP Jetline 2 guages and GPS 530W added) - this setup seems to get good reviewsA good CRJ 200 add-on (any recomended? Posky vs. Wilco?) with good panel (if one exists) - there doesn't seem to be much out there on the CRJ's but a lot of VA's use them. What do most FS2004 people use? Is the Skydeck CRJ panel a nice panel add-on?Feelthere ERJ and E-jets addonsMaybe the iFly 737 and airbus 320 (which airbus add-on is best?)Perhaps dreamfleet Bonanza A36Any add-ons I'm missing? FSIUPC necessary (what is this exactly)?I would probably get the Saitek yoke and throttle quadrant, but no rudders right now (I have an 18-month old). That being said, is there any way to set up a single throttle quadrant for use with a turboprop like the PMDG 1900D? I figure you can use one throttle to control 2 props and 1 condition lever to do the same. Anyone doing this? I know It's not completely realistic, but I won't lose sleep over it. Or is this no recommended? Maybe later I can add a second quadrant. Since I won't be getting rudder pedals yet, what's the best way to set up rudder control?A lot here, I know, but thanks to everyone in advance. I look forward to being back in the air!!Todd Harrell

It's been since FS98 that I've been out of simming. Now, I want to be back. After much tossing and turning about whether to go with FSX or FS2004, reading threads about both, watching videos, etc., I have finally decided to go with FS2004. My decision is partly based in economics (using my current setup if possible), and partly because FS2004 seems more predictable in terms of performance. Comparing the two, I personally didn't see such a huge difference between the two in terms of scenery quality. Now, I do see a difference, don't get me wrong, but not enough to make me spend the money for stuff that not having won't make me lose sleep at night.My main uses will be for actual simming - mostly flying shorter regional routes for a VA, and maybe doing occasional instrument approach practices with GA aircraft (simply because I like the technical aspects of charts and what-not). I do like nice scenery and as much realism as practical but I don't need top of the line, best appearance. I do desire good flight modeling, and accurate simming when doing VA stuff. Basically I want to have fun w/o going completely broke.Here's my computer:iMac 2.66 GHz Core Duo, 2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics card , and WIndows XP installed via Boot Camp ..... What do you think?Scenery add-ons I would like:REX 2.0Ultimate terrain Ground Environment Pro (or 2006 if not much difference)Maybe a few airport scenery add-onsSeems the combination above makes FS2004 look sweet from what I have read. Agree?Aircraft I would like:PMDG 1900D (with reality XP Jetline 2 guages and GPS 530W added) - this setup seems to get good reviewsA good CRJ 200 add-on (any recomended? Posky vs. Wilco?) with good panel (if one exists) - there doesn't seem to be much out there on the CRJ's but a lot of VA's use them. What do most FS2004 people use? Is the Skydeck CRJ panel a nice panel add-on?Feelthere ERJ and E-jets addonsMaybe the iFly 737 and airbus 320 (which airbus add-on is best?)Perhaps dreamfleet Bonanza A36Any add-ons I'm missing? FSIUPC necessary (what is this exactly)?I would probably get the Saitek yoke and throttle quadrant, but no rudders right now (I have an 18-month old). That being said, is there any way to set up a single throttle quadrant for use with a turboprop like the PMDG 1900D? I figure you can use one throttle to control 2 props and 1 condition lever to do the same. Anyone doing this? I know It's not completely realistic, but I won't lose sleep over it. Or is this no recommended? Maybe later I can add a second quadrant. Since I won't be getting rudder pedals yet, what's the best way to set up rudder control?A lot here, I know, but thanks to everyone in advance. I look forward to being back in the air!!Todd Harrell

Hi Todd,For my part with your rig you would probably be happier with FS9. FSX is still problematic even after 5 years on any rig under 3GHz and with less than 4Gb RAM. It looks great but any add-ons come at a cost. If you are very computer literate and understand the workings of FSX you will still have your work cut out getting FSX to perform on that rig. Whatever your FSX set up it would have to be much more limited than an equivalent FS9 set up.The add on planes you mentioned all run on FS9: B1900D - FS9 - Has been modded for FSX but is not an official release. I have the Jet line 2 gauges which improve it no end.CRJ 200 - The Wilco one for FS 9 has been modded for FSX but is not great. Its a pretty old model now and a bit flakeyERJ/E Jets work on both but are native FS9iFly is currently FS9 only and is frankly unmissable, no idea what A320 you want but choice is a bit limited at the moment. Wilco airbus v1 is not great but probably the easiest for you and it runs on both. Dreamfleet Bonanza A36 is only FS9 as far as I know (?) its very good and comes with smooth RXP gaugesWith Rex and some of the more recent add ons FS9 can be stunning. There's loads of advice online to help you optimize performance. I still use it after 6 years even though my FSX works fairly well most of the time. Ensure you look at Nick Needhams's installation advice. A dedicated partitiion is advisable.Use Hi Fi Simulation's Active Sky Evolution - I cant be without that. OK I know REX has a weather engine but I don t use it. Also Ground Environment Pro II v 2.1 (not 2006) is essential to improve ground textures. In effect my FS9 has none of its original components left.I use Saitek X52 and Saitek Rudder Pedals which work v well with FSX and FS9. If you want to program a separate throttle quadrant you will need a registered verion of Peter Dowson's FSUIPC. This is an advanced programmable control interface for Flight Sim which is accessed from within the sim through which you can for example specify individual programmed behaviour of your game controllers. You probably would not have come across that in FS98. Rudder Contral works on the Z (twist) axis of the X52 Joystick.Hope this helps, its late and Im tired and I am sure I have forgotten some things....Ray

Yea, I will definitely go with FS2004 with my current rig. But do you think the Mac is good enough to do what I want to do? Or am I wasting my time?Thanks for your reply.

Yea, I will definitely go with FS2004 with my current rig. But do you think the Mac is good enough to do what I want to do? Or am I wasting my time?

I think your iMac is more than good enough for what you want to do.Best regards from Colombia,Luis Miguel

If I set to a separate partition for fs9, how big should I make it? Would an external hard drive work as well?Thanks for all the tips and advice!

We could take a look through your FS9.CFG file too and see if we can help you out with some tweaks there man.Up to you. Post it and we'll see what can be done. Let us know your system specs too.Paul.

Thanks for your willingness to help, guys.I just received my copy of FS2004 and am ready to install it. My system spec are in my first post on this thread. I have 167 GB available on my hard drive. It's not a lot of space but I don't plan to download a ton of aircraft just yet. I do plan to add Ground Environment Pro and Ultimate Terrain, and maybe a couple of airports (Denver, Dulles).I just installed Windows XP via boot camp and it works fine (and running VRC w/o problems).Should I just install FS2004 after booting into Windows, or should I make a separate partition on my hard drive? If I do make a separate partition, how do I do this?Todd

Hi,Just install after booting into Windows.

It's best on the base partition because it's closest to center of the disk where mechanical access is fastest.Making an extra partition puts it farther away so that's why it's not recommended for best disk access speed.

And give this thread a read through. Its been helping most that tried it. So let us know how you get along with it.http://forum.avsim.net/topic/329728-possible-new-tweak-for-fs9/Thanks.Paul.

Thanks for the link, Paul. Just loaded FS2004 and it looks quite good and smooth. Everything maxed in settings. Distant terrain seems a little blurry so maybe that tweak you posted will help?I plan to add Ultimate Terrain and GE Pro. Should I make that tweak after I install those?Any more tweaks recommended?Also what screen resolution is best for iMac? I have a 20 inch screen. I'm guessing one of the 1280 x____x 32 would be best? So far so good!Todd

Todd let us know on your results after trying out the changes in the link I posted.Also for your resolution for your screen - from all I hear it's best to run FS at the same resolution as your desktop is set at and preferably the highest resolution your video card will allow.For example if you can make your desktop 1650 X 1080 X 32 then run FS9 at the same resolutionThanks.Paul.So glad this is helping people out - finally able to let people know of something that benefits them even if I wasn't the original finder/creator of the tweak.If we keep the discussion going we may find more and more things to tweak and we'll be flying high.

there's a service pack for it from microsoft if you haven't done that yet.

there's a service pack for it from microsoft if you haven't done that yet.

Service Pack for what? Fs9? It's the FS 9.1 update.

I can't find my fs9.cfg file. I can access the FS9 folder but there is no fs9.cfg file. I did find the terrain file. I have WIndows XP on Boot Camp.The scenery looks good but it looks a little 'jittery.' Any way to correct this? I haven't installed Ult Terrain or GE ProII yet.Todd