For more info sake, just thought I'd point to similar thread I started few days ago has a few more listings.... Best mods that greatly enhance the game

FSX+REX+GEX+UTX+GSX+Active Sky+TrackIR+EZDOK+NGX+FS2Crew(hopefully soon)+FSPax=theultimatecombinationformeomg...I just realized how much money I spent

Just curious, of the addons listed, how would they be sorted for priority of importance for best 'game changer' to FSX or 'wow factor' improvement of FSX?

ASE2012, ORBIX stuff or GEX/UTX.

My personal opinions...PMDG for the bigger aircraft you want to fly. Carenado for the smaller ones.Orbx for the location you want to fly - if Orbx don't cover it, then get GEX/UTXAS2012 for the air you want to fly in.Aerosoft/FlyTampa for the airports you want to fly from and to.Widescreen HD monitor to see what your doing. -- This was the single biggest improvement for me!

I'm interested in it all, but mesh enhancements intrigue me. It would seem that along with land class and texture improvements they would have the potential to significantly enhance the visuals, but their relative lack of enthusiastic supporters tends to make me believe the price outweighs the improvement.

Yeah, I too would of thought meshes would be a must have if you own a texture pack of some kind.

Yeah, I too would of thought meshes would be a must have if you own a texture pack of some kind.

I always find meshes a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they certainly do improve the look of scenery. On the other hand though, they can also spoil the look of the scenery by 'placing' some airports on plateaus. Now I appreciate that the mesh is not to blame per se, but still an issue nonetheless.RegardsGary

That makes perfect sense; I've seen some mesh packages that claim to have largely eliminated that issue, and provide a tool to correct the rest, but like everything else with fsx, I suppose it's a compromise - do I want to spend all of my time getting things "just right," or do I want to fly? The screenshots I've seen of mesh enhancements haven't impressed me that much. I figure if I'm flying heavies, I will be at altitude most of the time, and the mesh improvements won't make much of a difference. And if I'm going to fly ga for sightseeing, I'll probably get scenery enhancements for specific areas like ORBX, in addition to the aforementioned UTX, etc.

Personally I would rate scenery improvments over mesh improvements any day. Yes, mesh does significantly improve default scenery, but after using Orbx, or even GEX/UTX, why would you want to use default scenery anyway?

Once again, I must re-iterate my thanks to everyone; one of the things I enjoy about the flight sim community is the ready willingness of so many people to offer their advice to assist their fellow simmers, as opposed to, say, a typical "gaming" community where the members are typically more concerned with showing their won superiority vis a vis their fellow members. As an aside, I gave everyone a "thumbs up" on their posts. If you haven't noticed, Avsim has begun handing out "reputation points." While I understand the rationale behind the concept, I was annoyed to see I had a "negative" reputation, based solely on a sarcastic comment I made about people complaining about the timing of the the PMDG 737 NGX SP1c release; I found their complaints to be petty, and thankless, and pointed that out in a manner that was admittedly derisive in tone. Ironically, several of the posts complaining received "thumbs-up" (none were negative), while I was thumbs down. So contributing to a topic by complaining is a positive contribution, and telling the complainers in a colorful manner that their complaints are childish is a "negative." It demonstrates the problem with non-random sampling, online user "reviews," etc...Usually the majority of people that utilize these tools tend to be on the "negative" side of things, while those who are generally content don't bother because, well, they're content, not upset or bothered, exemplified by the fact that every contribution to this topic, except for this one, has been in one way or another positive, yet until now, none had received a "thumbs up."

Personally I would rate scenery improvments over mesh improvements any day. Yes, mesh does significantly improve default scenery, but after using Orbx, or even GEX/UTX, why would you want to use default scenery anyway?

GEX/UTX/FS genesis or FS global are completely different, GEX replaces default FS buildings and things, UTX moves around roads and everything to put them in place (in addition to adding beaches) to make for more accurate VFR flying and FS global/genesis replaces the mesh of the flight simulator, how the geographics look, the earth essentially.Each one works together separately, but together they work in unison to create an awesome looking simulator.