I once told a girlfriend about flight simming and she said "what's the point!". Years later she was impressed when I sent her some pics of me landing the F! Mustang at her local airport.Cheersjja

I thank you for reading this four-part novel on what I think of FSX.

Well Benjamin thanks for sharing and great to read.In general I think it's all about passion for aviation and the feeling of being there and that's is or can be different for people.But nothing is wrong just enjoy the stuff never understood the comparison topics between VS and VS lolIt's all about what you enjoy and a great community and respect for each other onions and to help each other to get the most out of our beloved hobby :-)Have fun guys that's all about it :-)

My point is NO KIDDING flight simulator is neat. Of course we think it is neat, thus the reason why we are here. If we didn't think it was neat we wouldn't be members of a Flight Simulator forum.Most of my friends think I am CRAZY for sitting in front of my PC for hours at a time watching the PFD while doing a trans Atlantic. Sure they see the yoke here in the office and are curious but that is fleeting and they get bored real quick after a few touch and goes (or crashes). Then, I always get the "the crash gfx are terrible" and I inform them that it is a "flight" simulator, not an air crash simulator and then they ask to play MOH....We are a rare breed fellas (and gals). Us "flight simmers".......not many on here would say that flight simming sucks or FSX or FS9 or whatever...It's all about the simulation of flight is it not?

I recognize what you are saying. My friends are exactly the same and they often respond with surprise when I say that I do 7-hour flights over the Atlantic and that I frequently do not speed up time. They always look me with that crazed look... Kind of funny.However, I think there is a subtle difference here in what you are saying and what I am saying. First and foremost, I'm not talking about simming in general, nor am I talking about flight simulator in general. My OP is very specific in that it's only about FSX and FSX's capabilities, which brings me to the my point: it's not about whether you think FSX is neat, but whether you realize it. The first is like thinking a rockband is neat because their music is okay or whatever. The second is like understanding the music, seeing how individual notes (ATC, AI, scenery, weather engine, moving vehciles, etc) create chords (a cloud-filled sky, a busy airport, city scenery, roads with cars) which together create a certain atmosphere that sets the entire tone of the song (your flight in FSX). So sure we all think FSX is neat in one way or the other, but do we profoundly think FSX is neat due to all the stuff that's in it, and all that it is capable of, or simply because it's the newest version of MSFS? See, I think it's often the latter, which is why I also say this: instead of disliking FSX for what it doesn't do, we're better of liking for what it does do, which really is a lot.André: One thing is for sure for as far as I'm concerned, a great part of my enjoyment comes from the LDS767. Can't thank you and the others enough for your combined effort on that plane, and the recent gauge update that was posted as beta.

BenjaminGreat article - I have 3 installs (all licensed) of FSX depending on what product I am reviewing and do find that the vanilla FSX SP2 install is stable and at the automatic settings it performs very well indeed. The third party add-ons do transform FSX into something outstanding but can also cause problems we have never even thought of.It would be interesting (if you are running Win 7/Vista) to see what the Reliability Monitor recorded for those 5/10 min black screens - if anything. This is a great in-built tool that records any reportable issues right back to when you first installed the OS.Thanks again for sharing your experiences.RegardsPeterH

Sam: No, not really. I suspect WoAI, however. That said, I'm not done installing all my addons. Of all addons I have installed, the only ones that remains untested are those that come with the addon manager (FSDT airports, Flightbeam KSFO and QW757). I seriously hope the addon manager isn't to blame, or I will have lost the ability to use over 100 euros of software, at the least. My reasons for suspecting WoAI? Because some of the planes have weird texture loading. I noticed that some models, when over 1 mile away from them, simply lose their textures. Seems like a symptom to me. Plus, I have already seen the effect of corrupt repaints on FS performance. In FS2004 I had a corrupt repaint for the PMDG 747, which caused FS2004 to crash much in the same way that FSX crashed in the past few months.

Ben,If you have your WOAI installed you may want to run the ACA 2007 Lite tool. It will scan your aircraft folders, both user and AI a/c, for errors in the aircraft.cfg files, then display the errors in a log for you to see. This tool has proven to be very useful in finding problems that I would never have seen by myself, especially useful in finding problems with AI texture assignments. It works for FS9 and FSX.Here are the links:Documentationhttp://aifs2.pvdveen.net/?page_id=11Download pagehttp://aifs2.pvdveen.net/?page_id=5On the subject of FSDT and addon manager, even if it proves that your issues stem from that, I would have no doubt that Umberto over on his forum will go to great lengths to help you get it fixed and you wont end up wasting all the money you spent on their products.Regards and best of luck.

Great read Benjamin. Sometimes it's too easy to get pessimistic with FSX; I've also run into that dreaded black screen problem but everything sounds like its running correctly, which on my computer usually ends with FSX crashing. So annoying. That being said, I'm still amazed, that every so often, I end up in a situation while flying where everything just comes together in the most remarkable and realistic ways, and I get a sense of truly flying. Those instances make it all worth it to me and I usually walk away from the computer thinking, Wow! Totally worth it! :( Seth

Thralni, for me each sim brings it's own thing to the table. I use FSX for G/A flying, FS9 for my big iron stuff and IL-2 1946 for my combat simming (and Lo-Mac for my Modern combat simming). Each has their own thing that knocks my socks off.As for add on stuff, for me it add's even more to the immersion of the simming. Heck I even turn the lights off here in the office on night flights!! I also always have a dog as my F/O (pictured)..... :(

Thralni, for me each sim brings it's own thing to the table. I use FSX for G/A flying, FS9 for my big iron stuff and IL-2 1946 for my combat simming (and Lo-Mac for my Modern combat simming). Each has their own thing that knocks my socks off.As for add on stuff, for me it add's even more to the immersion of the simming. Heck I even turn the lights off here in the office on night flights!! I also always have a dog as my F/O (pictured)..... :(

Cute dog you got there! Forgot the race's name, but it's supposed to be the smartest race there is I think.cmpbellsjc: Thanks for the links! I still have the WoAI aircraft on my computer, so I might as well use the tool and see what happens. No harm in trying.Seth: Exactly what I'm talking about. Keep up the good work!

André: One thing is for sure for as far as I'm concerned, a great part of my enjoyment comes from the LDS767. Can't thank you and the others enough for your combined effort on that plane, and the recent gauge update that was posted as beta.

Well thank you Benjamin but as for the 767 we are both customers lol and I was contributing free of charge to my fellow simmers out there ;-)As for the 757 I joined the team and get the change to work on the aviation dream from myself :-)Have a staggering amount of hours into this one and it will change how you look to simulating a 757 complex airliner close to real life on all fields based on the latest techniques and programs available.It just takes an amazing amount of time to get all those little details right :-)But for me this is also a wonderful journey and learning experience from the other side of the hobby (passion for the brush and 3D) and FSX besides RLW flying.

Well thank you Benjamin but as for the 767 we are both customers lol and I was contributing free of charge to my fellow simmers out there ;-)As for the 757 I joined the team and get the change to work on the aviation dream from myself :-)Have a staggering amount of hours into this one and it will change how you look to simulating a 757 complex airliner close to real life on all fields based on the latest techniques and programs available.It just takes an amazing amount of time to get all those little details right :-)But for me this is also a wonderful journey and learning experience from the other side of the hobby (passion for the brush and 3D) and FSX besides RLW flying.

Ah, I thought you were a member of the team all along. Doesn't mean I do not appreciate your work, though Also nice to hear about the 757! What can I say? I'm hoping it will be released sometime soon, like all of those waiting for it. I have been waiting for a good follow-up on the LDS767, which, despite its age, still is my favorite airliner. Why? Well, for the reason I now also appreciate FSX: everything comes together to create an immersive and joyful flight, even if the graphics are outdated. The systems, sounds and FDE do all the work. And, I must say, the exterior model is beautiful, even after all this time. I rarely go into a wingview during landing, but in the LDS767 I do it all the time. Looking at those virtual engines reminds me of so many landings into Israel's Ben Gurion... Memories of good times I suppose.I can't refrain from asking this, I really can't... How big is the chance that a VC shot is posted some time in the near future? I guess ziltch, but, ya know, you can always ask...And now I'm off flying my Delta 767 from KORD to KSTL. FSX is still very much functional, and ever since I remembered to disable the additional animations of the MTX AI (calling jetways and such), FPS have gone through the roof. Life is good

Ah, I thought you were a member of the team all along. Doesn't mean I do not appreciate your work, though Also nice to hear about the 757! What can I say? I'm hoping it will be released sometime soon, like all of those waiting for it. I have been waiting for a good follow-up on the LDS767, which, despite its age, still is my favorite airliner. Why? Well, for the reason I now also appreciate FSX: everything comes together to create an immersive and joyful flight, even if the graphics are outdated. The systems, sounds and FDE do all the work. And, I must say, the exterior model is beautiful, even after all this time. I rarely go into a wingview during landing, but in the LDS767 I do it all the time. Looking at those virtual engines reminds me of so many landings into Israel's Ben Gurion... Memories of good times I suppose.I can't refrain from asking this, I really can't... How big is the chance that a VC shot is posted some time in the near future? I guess ziltch, but, ya know, you can always ask...And now I'm off flying my Delta 767 from KORD to KSTL. FSX is still very much functional, and ever since I remembered to disable the additional animations of the MTX AI (calling jetways and such), FPS have gone through the roof. Life is good

Well Benjamin the 767 was from way back and in all those years there changed a lot regarding development stuff and tools and knowledge.So the 757 will be very different stuff and comes close to a complex 757 airliner...The 767 VC update that was child play compared the level I'm now at ;-) As for previews well time will tell...

Well Benjamin the 767 was from way back and in all those years there changed a lot regarding development stuff and tools and knowledge.So the 757 will be very different stuff and comes close to a complex 757 airliner...The 767 VC update that was child play compared the level I'm now at ;-) As for previews well time will tell...

With every post, anticipation grows. Thanks for your kind response!

Small update: For as far as I see, the excessive FSX load times and GUI slowness comes from lots of photoscenery. After adding MegaScenery, FSX's GUI became much and much slower. NL2000v4 didn't help, of course... So that's one issue down. I haven't had the black-screen-after-going-in-and-out-of-the-sim-problem anymore, so I indeed think that was due to WoAI. At least that's what I currently hope...