Does FS9 indeed perform better on Win 7 or should one run it on Win XP for which it was designed ? Trevor

I'd go with Windows 7 64Bit if I were you. The thing about FS9 and FSX is the more resources you can throw at these sims the better. 32Bit in this day and age is a huge bottleneck on moderate hardware let alone high end. Everything is going 64Bit which makes using 7 less painless than a 64bit version of the past. Have the latest OS in the context of 7 has advantages outside of FS as well. I wouldn't bother with XP64bit unless there were serious problems running FS9 in 7 which is not the case. There's a few odd things that happen with FS9 in W7 (like the new way of adding new scenery or making sure you don't install FS in Program Files) but for the most part it's a stable OS for FS9.

Been away from the hobby for a long while now, but from reading around, Windows 7 will result in making some add-ons not work correctly. Saw something about the MD-11 from PMDG having a problem with menu access in Win 7. I'd check around before making any decisions based on what add-ons you plan on using. FS9 might work great in Windows 7, but if certain add-ons won't work, then... I know the Garmin GPS from RXP won't work, so if I were gonna rebuild myself, I'd go with XP. Had a few add-ons with those GPS installed.

I have an old CH yoke and throttle set which plugs into a gameport interface. There is no support for gameport devices in Windows 7, even if you could find an interface card to plug into a modern machine. At least in XP you can get an adapter to plug the device into a USB port, although it may not have the full functionality it did with the original gameport. I just bought a new machine last month, and I installed XP so I wouldn't have to replace my yoke and pedals. It runs just fine.

The only add-ons that don't work (and I have most of them all) are Dreamfleet's birds bundled with RealityXP gauges. That's about it... It would be nice if RealityXP updated their Dreamfleet gauges to work in Windows 7 64bit but that hasn’t happed yet. I can still use the A36 but I have to disable all the RealityXP entries in the 'panel.cfg'. As far as the CH Yoke and Throttles I have the USB versions which work great. I have TrackIR which doesn't have an issue either. As far as accessing third party menus like PMDG's all one has to do is switch to Window'ed mode and they work. You'll have a problem in full screen mode. The same thing with the main menu before flight. In full screen mode if you switch out of FS9 to the desktop you'll have a problem getting back into FS9 (not an issue if you’re already in the sim). Now if you go into the 'Choose an Aircraft' option (for example) and hit the Windows key to return to desktop you have no problem jumping back into FS9. There's little things here and there with FS9 and Windows 7 that only require work arounds. Your dealing with a new OS and an eight year old piece of software that in all intents and purposes we're lucky the thing even works in Windows 7. The gains you get from a fully supported 64Bit OS far outweigh the little workarounds you'll have to get used to. Once again the only show stopper is RealityXP's gauges in the Dreamfleet birds...

The only add-ons that don't work (and I have most of them all) are Dreamfleet's birds bundled with RealityXP gauges. That's about it... It would be nice if RealityXP updated their Dreamfleet gauges to work in Windows 7 64bit but that hasn’t happed yet. I can still use the A36 but I have to disable all the RealityXP entries in the 'panel.cfg'. As far as the CH Yoke and Throttles I have the USB versions which work great. I have TrackIR which doesn't have an issue either. As far as accessing third party menus like PMDG's all one has to do is switch to Window'ed mode and they work. You'll have a problem in full screen mode. The same thing with the main menu before flight. In full screen mode if you switch out of FS9 to the desktop you'll have a problem getting back into FS9 (not an issue if you’re already in the sim). Now if you go into the 'Choose an Aircraft' option (for example) and hit the Windows key to return to desktop you have no problem jumping back into FS9. There's little things here and there with FS9 and Windows 7 that only require work arounds. Your dealing with a new OS and an eight year old piece of software that in all intents and purposes we're lucky the thing even works in Windows 7. The gains you get from a fully supported 64Bit OS far outweigh the little workarounds you'll have to get used to. Once again the only show stopper is RealityXP's gauges in the Dreamfleet birds...

RXP isn't going to update the Dreamfleet gauges because DF is, to all intents and purposes, out of business as a development team. Paul Golding continues development work on an FSX B727 but that's it. However, the new RXP WAAS gps's drop right in to the DF planes with a simple renaming of the old entries in the panel configs... DJ

RXP isn't going to update the Dreamfleet gauges because DF is, to all intents and purposes, out of business as a development team. Paul Golding continues development work on an FSX B727 but that's it. However, the new RXP WAAS gps's drop right in to the DF planes with a simple renaming of the old entries in the panel configs... DJ

Yeah - wish Lou would stop spending all his time flying his new C210 Centurian and get back to Dreamfleet...:) He's very active over at the AOPA forums... Regards,Scott

Yeah - wish Lou would stop spending all his time flying his new C210 Centurian and get back to Dreamfleet...:) He's very active over at the AOPA forums... Regards,Scott

I think Lou is done with FS; I do think that he could have had the courtesy to say so, rather than leaving new buyers in the lurch for any support other than what other users give on the DF forum. DJ

I think Lou is done with FS; I do think that he could have had the courtesy to say so, rather than leaving new buyers in the lurch for any support other than what other users give on the DF forum. DJ

Last I heard (straight from him) he's not done with FS just life in general taking up his time.

Last I heard (straight from him) he's not done with FS just life in general taking up his time.

It's been some time now... As I noted, he walked off and left his users in the lurch for all except ad hoc support and his stuff is still up for sale with no notice as to the lack of support. If he's too busy to support his products, he can make an announcement to that effect on his support forum - that should take less than 5 minutes of his time. I also am an AOPA member and aware that he has plenty of time to be on the forums over there. DJ

Personally, I think the AXP fiasco had something to do with it. After Airliner XP went defunct he pushed out a couple projects (GAs) in short order, which were probably being worked on before most of us knew AXP was a done deal. After that he just disappeared. The timing just seemed suspect to me. He was really hands off after AXP became a problem in the community with delays and talk of "broken promises". Even with the GAs (one or two I think) that came out after we all knew AXP wasn't gonna happen, he was fairly quiet. I'll admit I was pretty irritated with that whole AXP deal and the lack of explanation. Maybe Lou was mad too. For all we know the guy who disappeared never provided a good reason. That plane would've been a masterpiece for sure. Nothing would compare.Either way, I love(d) the DF GA aircraft and related planes he helped bring to the sim, so I'm sorry he decided to go.