New To Fsx

[Guest venustus01]

I thought I'd take the plunge and install FSX.Bought the gold edition.Bought myself a new external hard drive and installed the software.I must say it looks great.I have been an ardent fs9 fan for many years.(My internal drive is almost full of Fs9 related software.)I have to admit however that eye candy wise fsx looks WAY better,even with the default settings.I will still keep fs9 however as I have invested a lot of money in it.Can people please advise on must have tweaks/addons for FSX.Both freeware/payware.Thanks in advance.

[Art_P 6]

I suppose it depends on how you use FSX and where you fly, but in the US and Europe Ultimate Terrain X is my pick for the first purchase to correct coastlines, roads and urban landclass. In Australia, it may be a whole different matter with the addons available for there.

[Sekstifire 10]

I recommend this site for automatically tweaking your config. It should increase your framerate quite a bit, at least it did to my setuphttp://www.venetubo.com/fsx.htmlAlso, I see that youre from Australia, if you fly a bunch down there you probably want to check out OrbX exceptional landclass/ general scenery packages. They have a complete set for Australia AFAIK. http://fullterrain.com/

[Guest venustus01]

Thanks for the link.There is an option called vsync fix.Should I tick that.I normally ran fs9 without vsync.I usually fly in the US/Europe

[Guest jahman]

A. Utilities

1. FSUIPC4
2. LINDA - LUA for Complex Aircraft
3. Venetubo's fsx.cfg teaks
4. NickN's PC set-up guide
5. HI-FI Sim Active Sky Evolution Weather Engine
6. REXX Cloud Textures
7. AIVLASOFT Electronic Flight Bag
8. TrackIR
9. EZCA Moving Camera (for VC)
10. Ultimate Traffic 2 RW AI
11. VOX ATC
12. TOPCAT T/O and Landing Performance Calculator

B. Aircraft

1. PMDG B-737NGX
2. PMDG B-744
3. A2A B-377
4. A2A B-17

C. Elevation Mesh

1. FS Global 2010 Elevation Map
2. FS Global Ultimate Americas
3. FS Global Ultimate Europe/Africa

D. Landclass

1. UTX USA
2. UTX Canada
3. UTX Alaska
4. UTX Europe

E. Ground Textures

1. GEX USA/Candad/Alaska
2. GEX Europe
3. GEX Africa/Middle East
4. GEX Tropics

F. Scenery

1. ORBX Australia
2. ORBX Pacific NW
3. ORBX Northern Rockies
4. ORBX Central Rockies

G. Photo Real

1. MegaSceneryEarth California State Complete
2. Newport Scenery (Hawaiian islands)
3. Aerosoft (Gibraltar, Balearics, Dutch Harbor)

That should keep you busy and out of trouble for a while... Cheers,- jahman.

[Guest venustus01]

Thanks so much jahman!!

[Sekstifire 10]

Thanks for the link.There is an option called vsync fix.Should I tick that.I normally ran fs9 without vsync....

Its up to you. If youre not bothered by tearing then you should not use vsync. Personally I keep vsync off

[Guest jahman]

Thanks so much jahman!!

You're welcome!Cheers,- jahman.

[Guest venustus01]

Guys, thanks for the advice.Cheers.

[oldbear 33]

DimiYou've had some great suggestions there, but my advice is don't go overboard with tweaking for tweaking's sake.I believe that less is more with FSX. I have used ******* Bojote's cfg online tool and I'm sure it helps, but nothing beats keeping your PC and FSX installation as clean as possible. And you're right. FSX looks very good straight out of the box.I try to keep to just a few good quality addons - my system can't run high levels of traffic or autogen anyway.Currently I've got Horizon UK photoscenery, Europe UTX, a few UK2000 and Aerosoft airports and Active Sky Evolution.I only have three planes - the Flight1 Islander, Aerosoft Airbus X and the PMDG 737NGX.That's it, and FSX runs smooth as silk.Whatever you go for, spend more time flying and less time tweaking and collecting addons.. Have fun!Ian

[SQUAWKIDENT 3]

Hi welcome to the wonderful world of FSX!First thing...always make a backup copy of your fsx.cfg file. Then you can happily try tweaks without the risk of ruining your sim experience.I did have all the recommended tweaks in a cfg file but after removing it and restarting FSX with a fresh cfg all is running beautifully. So beware of "tips and tweaks" and always keep a "virgin" cfg file to compare performance. You may be surprised.RegardsAdam

[Guest venustus01]

Guys thanks for the advice.This is why I love these forums!!!Ps.Can someone post the essential sections of their cfg so I can compare notes.The ones relating to performance/stability.

[Guest venustus01]

The " tweaks" i have used so far are:1.The bojote "automated" tweak.2 His "shader mod 3" tweak.Anything else that I should be looking at as a minimum?.Thanks.

[Tom Wright 438]

My favourite add on recommendations:REX Overdrive - completely transforms the whole experience. Amazing clouds, amazing skies, amazing water sets and effects. All fully customizable with an easy interface. Weather engine which runs of real world weather. Absolute must have for everyone IMO FSWC - FS Water Configurator. Complements REX water giving even more customization and fine tuning to the wave effects and colour tones. Takes some playing around with but produces some mind blowing realistic effects. And it's free!Shade - a recent release, adds a whole load of customization options to the lighting/shadows in the sim. Gives a whole new perception of terrain undulation, and cockpit shadowing affected by your direction relative to the sun. I now use it instead of ENB Series as I find it more reliable and at no FPS hit. Very reasonably priced too under $10.Orbx FTX - Now onto scenery. Some of the best around IMO. They currently cover the whole of Australia and parts of Northern USA/Canadian border with ultra high resolution landclass and thousands of high detail accurately placed 3D autogen. The results are incredible. Adding to that they also produce a growing number of airports, complete with moving people and sound effects. These add a whole new level of immersion. Get PNW and a couple of airports and you'll never want to leave that region! It's that good!Horizon VFR Gen X - Now to my neck of the woods (the UK). Photographic scenery that covers the whole of England, Wales and Scotland in various packages. Now onto version 3 which is even higher resolution and includes some 3D buildings (not many).UK2000 - Airports to complement the Gen X scenery above. VFR Airfields are mass airfield packages that cover every single airport in England and Wales. They won't blow you away with their detail (certainly not compared to the Orbx airports), but they are nice and certainly a far cry away from the default stuff. In addition to these there are the Xtreme airports which are much higher detail versions of the larger commerical airports (Heathrow, Gatwick etc). Well worth it if you like flying in the UK.Earth Simulations - last but by no means least on the scenery front, this small Isle of Wight based company have developed some astounding scenery products. Scenery for the Channel Islands (Alderney, Guernsey, Herm and Sark, with Jersey to follow soon) and the Isles of Scilly, with the Isle of Man in development too. All super high resolution photo scenery combined with custom-made, high detail, accurately placed 3D autogen. Really amazing scenery, particularly their latest one, Guernsey, though it is a bit of a frame rate killer because of the huge amount of 3D autogen in it. Highly recommend. Also not to forget their product, Treescapes. A set of three products which complement the aforementioned Gen X photo scenery, by populating it with accurately placed 3D trees. Reduces the 'flat world' feel you get with photo scenery and is well worth it if you have that product.Aircraft - won't got into too much depth because I know i've rambled a bit, but these are my favourites:Carenado PA28s - Anything by Carenado really, I have their Archer II and Arrow IV. Great visual models, sounds a flight dynamics, and easy to fly.Flight1 BN2 Islander - Fantastic aircraft, amazing sounds, great model, great VC. Still easy to fly and it's a twin so a bit more fun! Very good STOL performance so great for those little island airfields!Aerosoft DA20 Katana 4X - Last one i'm going to mention, is this fabulous aircraft. Probably the most comprehensive simulation of a light aircraft i've ever seen. So detailed it requires servicing and regular maintenance, washing, bits fall off it if you don't look after it! Really is incredible and well worth a look.And of course everyone's heard of PMDG, and particularly their latest NGX. Another must have, amazing. There's also the Flight Sim Labs Concorde X, just as detailed and a truly great rendition of a true classic.I'm getting too carried away so i'll stop! With regard to tweaking, do try ******* Altuve's automated online tool as posted above. It did speed things up for me. Aside from that I wouldn't fiddle too much, don't become too obsessed, it'll take over your life!Regards,Tom

[Guest venustus01]

Thanks Tom.PsI really do like the FSWC,but according to bojote it is not compatible with his shader mod?