My top ten favoritesGEX in combination with UTXORBX regions & airportsREXFSGlobal and latest FSGlobalUltimat together wit AFMHiFi ASE and AS2012 respectivelyUT2 and MyTrafficX 5.xFlyTampa scenery (all!)FSDT airports (most)Aerosoft airports (EDDM, LOWI, PAKT)Accu-FeelHarry

EZDOCK make every aircraft come to life.A2A Accu-Sim is there anything like it? NoPMDG 737 Simply the best there has ever beenThen all must haves are REX2, RV-7, UTX Euro, UK2000 Airports. Orbx for low and slow.

Wow, tough question! The addon that had the biggest impact on me, eh? There's a multitude of addons that had a hguge impact on my flying and enjoyment of flying in MSFS. However, f I'd have to choose the single one addon that had the greatest impact, it would be...Saitek Yoke, TQs and Rudder pedals.These "addons" provided the biggest leap in my enjoyment of flying aircraft in MSFS. To be honest, to me, much of flying is the actual handling of the controls. Whether I fly the PMDG737NGX, LDS767 or PMDG747 of course makes a difference too, but the transition from a simple joystick to a full suite of aircraft controls, to me is a much bigger difference. The landing at Kai Tak was never the same afterward: much more thrilling!Of course, other addons also had a big impact on my flying:- The PMDG 747 was the firts plane I learned to actually fly and understand. Due to this plane, it is that I cna fly other Boeing aircraft also.- The LDS767 was always the plane I enjoyed to fly the most.- The PMDG 737NGX is pretty much the best plane I have flown in MSFS, so how couldn't it have had an impact? With the great visuals, the terrific simulation, it provides a sense of realism that coupled with the Saitek hardware gives huge enjoyment to both hectic and calm landings.- FSUIPC made setting up the Saitek hardware easy.

I know its hardware as opposed to software - but for me the biggest most important addition to my FSX setup has been TrackIR5. I literally can't imagine how I ever flew without it.Without counting Add-on planes, software wise in order of importance I'd have to say; REX, FSBUILD, PLAN-G and TOPCAT!Aircraft wise I just have a few short words - PMDG. A2A. FSLABS.

Good to hear what people wouldn't live without. I guess I have some purchases to make. :)I have a confession: I like FSPassengers... There, I said it!It really keeps me on the edge. It isn't a very good add-on, especially when running it with PMDG, but it makes me want to please the a**es in the back, so I taxi, take off, and land really carefully. Booze them up and serve food and a movie. Guess I'm born to please.Everyone is raving about the TrackIR. I bought one about a year ago, tried it, and it went in the drawer where all other computer junk ends up. I couldn't operate buttons and knobs with the mouse w/o moving my head. Am I missing something important here???

Everyone is raving about the TrackIR. I bought one about a year ago, tried it, and it went in the drawer where all other computer junk ends up. I couldn't operate buttons and knobs with the mouse w/o moving my head. Am I missing something important here???

I guess so, yes: there is a "pause" button. Bind it to a convewnient key on your joystick, and use it to stop your head movement from making interacting with the VC impossible. Works for me :)Al;though I must confess I use my TrackIR hardly because of the bad FPS in FSX. Did use it rather fanatically in other, combat sims, where the FPS was better. Was a blast to use, always :)

Everyone is raving about the TrackIR. I bought one about a year ago, tried it, and it went in the drawer where all other computer junk ends up. I couldn't operate buttons and knobs with the mouse w/o moving my head. Am I missing something important here???

Yes, you're missing out big time. If you don't have the patience to get past the hour or so of adjustment time, you lose big style. TIR is as important as a joystick or yoke, once you've adjusted. And as Thralni said, you simply use the pause button, to pause TIR while you press your buttons in your cockpit.PS.... I get zero FPS hit from using TrackIR is FSX, and I've never heard of anyone else getting noticible hits either. It has a tiny memory draw in use. Sounds like something else was going wrong there Thralni to explain the FPS issue you were seeing. I am on a i7 now but even with a lor end Core2Duo at 2.4Ghz and only 2MB of RAM on Win XP, I saw no FPS hit with TrackIR.

Yes, you're missing out big time. If you don't have the patience to get past the hour or so of adjustment time, you lose big style. TIR is as important as a joystick or yoke, once you've adjusted. And as Thralni said, you simply use the pause button, to pause TIR while you press your buttons in your cockpit.

Okki..I guess i'll dig it up and give it another try. So many people can't be all wrong.I do feel a little silly wearing a baseball cap though...but I'll get used to it :)

I forgotPMDG JS41AS 2012

PS.... I get zero FPS hit from using TrackIR is FSX, and I've never heard of anyone else getting noticible hits either. It has a tiny memory draw in use. Sounds like something else was going wrong there Thralni to explain the FPS issue you were seeing. I am on a i7 now but even with a lor end Core2Duo at 2.4Ghz and only 2MB of RAM on Win XP, I saw no FPS hit with TrackIR.

You misunderstand. my FPS in FSX is not good enough to use TrackIR. Not because TrackIR gives you low FPS, but because to use TrackIR in an enjoying way, your FPS must be rather good, or the view will stutter in a rather painful-to-watch manner everytime you turn your head, especially because your head movement is rather rapid compared to using a POV hat mounted on your joystcik/yoke.

EZDOCKOrbxRV-7

Okki..I guess i'll dig it up and give it another try. So many people can't be all wrong.I do feel a little silly wearing a baseball cap though...but I'll get used to it :)

Lol! .......baseball caps are a thing of the past with TrackIR now mate; it's just a device that clips on the left side of your headset/headphones. The constraint however is that you do have to wear headphones, in the same way that you used to have to wear the baseball cap! ............ if you just have the basic clip version (that goes with the baseball cap approach), it's really worth upgrading to the Track Clip Pro (headset thing), as it's an active device, rather than a passive device like the basic track clip = performs much much better. :(

You misunderstand. my FPS in FSX is not good enough to use TrackIR. Not because TrackIR gives you low FPS, but because to use TrackIR in an enjoying way, your FPS must be rather good, or the view will stutter in a rather painful-to-watch manner everytime you turn your head, especially because your head movement is rather rapid compared to using a POV hat mounted on your joystcik/yoke.

Mmmm, TrackIR is not dependent on a powerful PC. 3 years ago I was using it with a Pentium 4, with 512Mb RAM and a 256Mb GPU! ..... it doesn't have a large CPU or GPU footprint, regardless of what it's being used on. Over on the OMSI forums there are guys using TIR on lap tops with very low specs. Sure, there performance doesn't increase lol!, but it doesn't reduce either.

Ha! FSnavigator.. I used that all the time with FS9 and was disappointed it didn't work with FSX. Used it all the time to get a quick overview of the destination airport and it's runways setup. (im not someoen who prints out charts etc lol)Here's my list:- pmdg 737/747, made me realize how detailed/real simming should/could be.- pmdg 737 NGX, again- REX- FSpassengerX. Adds some immersion for me, and some realism with flaps breaking down, gears breaking etc etc. Also the flightlog helps you stay sharp- vRoute - using it for all routing-work- Aerosoft airports - awesomeUnfortunately I've never really had a high-end PC so had to cut back on the addons - with REX + pmdgNGX + addon airport my laptop is already struggling.. :( no UTX, UT2, GEX etc for me)

FSNavigator - flight planner, moving map, autopilot 'extraordinaire' - sorely missed in FSX.Pete Dowson's indispensable FSUIPC/WideFS.And because I am an AI junkie, Lee Swordy's AFCAD now superceded by ADE9X (Jon Masterson et al). For the same reason, Thomas Molitor's AI Traffic Mover.SBuild for tweaking sceneries and even creating a few.Milton Shupe's Dash 7 (soon to be re-released in an even better version), AC500, Beechcraft G18 - in fact all of his superb freeware aircraft.Ernie Alston's ISG gauges.Project Fokker's F70/100 series.Active Sky weather.World of Aviation AI

I use the following every time and I would miss any one of them:

PMDG NGX...it's all I fly anymore

FS2Crew NGX

EZDOK

Ultimate Traffic 2

Radar Contact

Active Sky Evolution

FSUIPC registered plus LINDA to make my X52 pro work the way I want it to

Ground Services X

FS Commander

 

Never used much graphic enhancements but I'm always tempted by airport add-ons more than the other stuff.