The FS9 vs FSX debate is a big one and not one that I wish to start off.But recently I was thinking and to be honest, I can't ever see myself ceasing to be satisfied with what I do in FS9.I've spent a hell of a lot of money over the years on scenery, aircraft and various other add-on products to enjoy this hobby, and I'm now at a point where I have most of my favourite destinations in good quality thanks to add-on scenery, together with almost every commercial aircraft that I'm interested in. Okay there are varying degrees of quality on these add-ons, but I'm pretty much there.I only ever fly commercial airliners, not being very interested in general aviation. Thanks to the products I own I can fly any Airbus other than the A300/A310 and A380 and any Boeing from the 737-777. Add to that the MD-11, Embraer E170/190 and ATR 72-500 and I have a huge variety of choice when it comes to what metal I fly.The one think that would really make it complete for me is a top quality 777 for FS9. Other than that there is pretty much nothing else I crave for my sim. It would be nice to have a great A380 but I mostly do 1-4 hour flights anyway so that, and even the 777 would probably only get very little use in comparison to the other types I fly.So I'm a very happy simmer. I can see me being satisfied with this sim for a LONG time yet. Long live FS9!

It's just only the ATC that makes me boring sometimes. I'm looking foward to Radar Contact 5.Talk about VATSIM, because of many reasons it doesn't co-operate with my flying style :(

It's just only the ATC that makes me boring sometimes. I'm looking foward to Radar Contact 5.Talk about VATSIM, because of many reasons it doesn't co-operate with my flying style :(

Well I've recently ordered Pro Flight Emulator which I have heard good things about with regards to enhancing the default ATC. Look forward to trying it out when it comes!

The FS9 vs FSX debate is a big one and not one that I wish to start off.But recently I was thinking and to be honest, I can't ever see myself ceasing to be satisfied with what I do in FS9.I've spent a hell of a lot of money over the years on scenery, aircraft and various other add-on products to enjoy this hobby, and I'm now at a point where I have most of my favourite destinations in good quality thanks to add-on scenery, together with almost every commercial aircraft that I'm interested in. Okay there are varying degrees of quality on these add-ons, but I'm pretty much there.I only ever fly commercial airliners, not being very interested in general aviation. Thanks to the products I own I can fly any Airbus other than the A300/A310 and A380 and any Boeing from the 737-777. Add to that the MD-11, Embraer E170/190 and ATR 72-500 and I have a huge variety of choice when it comes to what metal I fly.The one think that would really make it complete for me is a top quality 777 for FS9. Other than that there is pretty much nothing else I crave for my sim. It would be nice to have a great A380 but I mostly do 1-4 hour flights anyway so that, and even the 777 would probably only get very little use in comparison to the other types I fly.So I'm a very happy simmer. I can see me being satisfied with this sim for a LONG time yet. Long live FS9!

HiI agree completely! Like you I have spent a hell of a lot of money over the years on payware addons for FS9, to produce a quality simulation which certainly satisfies me and performs very well on my system. I think that most of us who have not converted to FSX and stayed with FS9 have done so for that reason, as FS9 was the first simulation that allowed us to approach reality with a huge amount of increasingly good quality addons being developed. I have FSX but rarely fly on it, but comparing the two, the quality of my scenery on FS9 using all the various enhancements is certainly approaching that of FSX, while giving very good frame rates on my relatively aging system. So another very happy simmer here who is going to stick with FS9 for the foreseeable future!By the way, there is apparently an A380 being developed for FS9 by a group called Next Level Simulations and hopefully it will be better quality than the existing payware A380s (which shouldn't be difficult as, in my opinion, the existing A380 payware is pathetic!)Bill_{Windows XP Pro SP2; Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0Ghz CPU; Arctic Cool 7Pro; ASUS P5N-E-SLI Motherboard;4GB Corsair 800Mhz DDR2 RAM; 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX Dual VGA Graphics card;2x 500GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive; 650W (2 x 12V) PSU; 2 x 1000GB + 1 x 150GB Western Digital External Hard Drive; CH Pro Yoke and PedalsAll helping to power 292GB of fs9!}

I have both FS9 and FSX but I un installed FSX and use FS9. Like you guys I spent a lot of money on FS9 and I feel like all that money would be wasted if I switch to FSX. Plus there is A LOT of payware stuff (especially airport scenery) I have not gotten yet. So for me even though my FS9 runs and looks good now it can still be improved.

Well I've recently ordered Pro Flight Emulator which I have heard good things about with regards to enhancing the default ATC. Look forward to trying it out when it comes!

Be prepared for a steep learning curve! But it's worth it.vololiberista

I have both FS9 and FSX but I un installed FSX and use FS9. Like you guys I spent a lot of money on FS9 and I feel like all that money would be wasted if I switch to FSX. Plus there is A LOT of payware stuff (especially airport scenery) I have not gotten yet. So for me even though my FS9 runs and looks good now it can still be improved.

That's something I'd like to ask you about, uninstalling FSX (personal reasons only, no hatred here) - I've heard that doing so can mess up ones FS9 set up. Is that true or am I just getting all confused again? Any advice much appreciated.

That's something I'd like to ask you about, uninstalling FSX (personal reasons only, no hatred here) - I've heard that doing so can mess up ones FS9 set up. Is that true or am I just getting all confused again? Any advice much appreciated.

I have had to set the path to FS9 again but this is easy if you use the tool from Flight 1. I have also had occasions when some of my payware has asked again for activation. This all depends on your FS9 setup of course. :(

A very good question. I would say the answer is "yes," but the real question for me is "when." The simple answer is when a new flight simulator offers enough innovative improvements over FS9. From the user point of view, with enough add-ons, one can make FS9 look and feel "almost" like FSX, while still experiencing FS9 performance. And it seems, again from the user point of view, that the FSX improvements are mostly visual. It is typical to see folks summarizing it by saying that while one can now see wet runways, one still gets the same ATC and weather. And this makes me wonder if MS fielded FSX as such because backwards compatibility. For example, with these I'm-staying-with-FS9 threads, is MS hearing that we demand backwards compatibility because our heavy investment in FS9, and is that backwards compatibility getting in the way of innovation? I'm sure most FS9 users would agree that the real desire is to let add-on developers know that there's still an FS9 community willing to purchase quality add-ons. While some developers state the numbers don't justify the investment, some are and will continue developing for FS9. Is it only the prospective sales that drive some devs towards FSX. I understand that from the developer point of view, it's easier to develop add-ons for FSX than for FS9. Note that MS did provide data on how to interface with FSX, where before that the only thing apparently available was FSUIPC (and thank Peter tremendously for that). Good thread, good discussion. Dave Vega

I used to fly FS2K2, and I was happy with that. I'm not into "investing" any more in my simming. It is what it is. I've got a very old computer, a yoke and pedals, and that's fine. I had lost my whole setup in a disk crash and just walked away, but I got the itch again and brought FS2K2 to life once more. I found FS9 online for cheap money and upgraded. I've been slowly adding freeware and tweaking the AI, and I'm satisfied with it. FS9 runs just as well, if not better, than FS2K2 on my machine.Microsoft always seems to develop software for the next generation of computers. Sure, they've all got top-of-the-line, maxed-out machines on their desktops, but most of us don't get a lease-refresh every year at home like they do. So, when they design a sim that brings their systems to their knees, what do you suppose happens to ours?Going beyond FS9 would be a major expense in hardware and time. For what, wet runways?

That's something I'd like to ask you about, uninstalling FSX (personal reasons only, no hatred here) - I've heard that doing so can mess up ones FS9 set up. Is that true or am I just getting all confused again? Any advice much appreciated.

Back in January I got a new computer. I installed FSX on to it and used it for a while. Then when I went back to FS9 I re installed it on to the new computer. I never had FS9 and FSX installed at the same time.

Some interesting points here. For me, I can't see there being a time in the future where switching to FSX would be remotely economical based on the money I've put into FS9. I think so far all in all it would cost me in excess of £2k to switch with hardware and addons. It's a lot to pay for some visual improvements!

Let me change the question to a statement. I will cease to be satisfied with FS9 when ... . Would it be when either a different version of FS, or a different simulator has BLANK, and if so, what would x be? It is clear that some would post they will stay with FS9, regardless. For the rest, what would BLANK be? I would hope to see not just another list of features, but what would be strong enough to make one no longer satisfied with FS9. Regards,Dave Vega

Good change there David.For me its not so simple, what I do know is that future FS titles will never be the same again and until the format is known it is very difficult to say.I go into the Flight forum a few times, and hope that some things I read will never materialise in the next version. The slightest mention of the word LIVE and XBOX has me running for cover :(

FS9 will probably go down in history as one of the most well loved flying simulations of all time!!Like everyone else here, I was an avid FS9 simmer for about 5 solid years. Unfortunatley at that time I didn't have a good enough computer that let me run it full out, but none the less, I enjoyed it all the same. Plus I enjoyed the abundent amount of freeware available for download.It wasn't until I got the PMDG 737 and FlyTampa's St. Maarten package that really got me hooked. I still remember the first time flying around TNCM and how amazed I was by that scenery. Then once I added the PMDG 737 to the mix I was in a whole new world. I remember when FSX was announced. The forums were buzzing again, kind of like they are now with Flight on the horizon, although it seemed like FSX caused more of a stir then, than Flight is causing now. I still remember downloading the FSX demo and installing it only to find that it just about locked up my computer at the time :( Once I had that wonderful experience, I was convinced that I would NEVER get FSX, or at least not until I was the owner of a super computer.Finally built a new rig for FS9 in '08 and was eager to reload and experience FS9 to its fullest. I was all set to go with FS9 again until another fellow convinced me to give FSX another shot. After some resistance I decide to give it a shot and I ended up sticking with it and have been one of the "few" lucky ones, or so it seems, who somehow ended up with just the right combination of elements to run it with no problems and at a farily high level. Luckly, I had never spent that much on FS9 addons so switching for me wasn't financially a big committment to start over. I will say though, in the early days of FSX I did miss a lot of my FS9 sceneries and it really hasn't been until the last year or so that the 3PDs have finally started turning out a lot of nice addons for it.In a way it's too bad that FSX didn't end up being as user and equipment friendly as FS9 did. I mean you can pretty much install FS9 on any newer computer, load it with all kinds of scenery , AI, and user a/c and just about everyone can run it full out with minimal tweaks. Same can't be said for FSX. I've seen people with twice the computer I have, still struggle to get it to even work right or get 1/2 the FPS I get. Frankly, the only thing about FSX that I like more than FS9 is the ability to render higher res ground textures and I like the water a little more. Had it not been for that, I never would have switched in the first place, or if someone had found a way to crack some FS9 code that allowed it to render higher res ground texture, I would have stayed.Overall though, FS9 to this day has held up well considering how many years its been out. Every once in a while I will go into my backup drive and take a look at some old FS9 screen shots I took. Even this many years later when I see those pics, I can still remember the actual flight that I took them, and in some cases remember what the day was like that I took them.I think that for many of us old timers who have been in this hobby for a long time, even those of us who dont use FS9 anymore, we will always have fond memories of it, I know I will. Good times FS9 was and still is..good times!!