Except...............new & exceptional products are still coming out all the time for FSX. It's not like it's a an old sim with no help from the outside. Just as X-Plane is a base sim, that needs plenty of 3rd party help...............the same still works for FSX.

 

Sure they are. But they're slowing down. I've had no less than 4 developers (the 4th was this morning) ask me to convert their add ons for X Plane and 2 developers ask me questions on where to start to make a flight model. And that was just in the past 2 weeks.

But, by all means, continue supporting FSX. It's quite obvious that not even 3rd party dev's can sustain a 6 year old, unsupported platform for very much longer.

Would you continue using a "brick" cell phone from the 80's just because it's "sentimental", or you going to eventually move to smart phones?

You can only wash and wax a car for so long before it starts to fade.

But, I definitely admire your patriotism, Larry.

Hello

Everything is coming to Xplane, or so we keep being told,we keep waiting but when is it ever going to happen.

When will we have a robust atc system

When will we have airports rather than just runways.

When will we see actual seasons and regional waterclasses.

 

There is a huge amount of promise with XP10 but so far that's all it is, promises.

It is far from being a fully rounded flight sim at the moment, I do not doubt that given time it will gain the features that it misses at the moment.

As soon as it does I will be all over it.

 

 

Sure they are. But they're slowing down. I've had no less than 4 developers (the 4th was this morning) ask me to convert their add ons for X Plane and 2 developers ask me questions on where to start to make a flight model. And that was just in the past 2 weeks.

But, by all means, continue supporting FSX. It's quite obvious that not even 3rd party dev's can sustain a 6 year old, unsupported platform for very much longer.

Would you continue using a "brick" cell phone from the 80's just because it's "sentimental", or you going to eventually move to smart phones?

You can only wash and wax a car for so long before it starts to fade.

But, I definitely admire your patriotism, Larry.

 

If the add ins for FSX are "slowing down" I eagerly await for Xplane add ins to "speed up" to the current FSX level both in quantity and quality.

 

Despite this, I haven't even booted up FSX in the last 6 months-Xplane overall just more of my interest-that is till The Milviz b55 based on my rw aircraft comes out for FSX-then it will be difficult.

To the original poster. Whether or not you buy is fully dependent upon what you find important in a flight simulator. Of all the things that appealed to me in x-plane, it was the smoothness of flight and the instruments...and given that one little criteria, X-Plane was good enough for me back in version 3.6 when there were no textures. I would suggest that you make a list of what you like most about a flight simulator and then find out how x-plane handles those areas. Certainly a good number of flight simmers enjoy the "whole experience" and want it all and those are the toughest to satisfy; however, you might find that of all the things x-plane does better than MSFS...and there are a few...one of those things might be enough to allow you to "tolerate" the other shortcomings until such time as they will be filled...and make no mistake...they will be filled in time. Everybody is jumping on the x-plane bandwagon..and not just here in this forum...I mean magazines, developers, etc.....if the the community wants a thriving flight sim product, FSX isn't it anymore and the community NEEDS to get behind a simulator and this will help spur the growth. The sooner the better. It doesn't take much to see that x-plane is the front runner in future flight sim potential.

 

Tom Kyler

Laminar

IXEG www.ixeg.net

I can't confirm those overly enthusiastic "buy it, immediately" comments.

 

If you have an ATI GPU - don't buy it right now ! I have an i7/2xATI5870 System which runs FSX in high dense addon scenery with high end aircraft addons and HD cloud textures in real world weather with multiple cloud layers (that opposing to X-plane actually look like clouds) and addon ATC and hardly ever get below 30FPS (where i capped FPS), running rock stable!

In X-plane I'm getting abysmal performance, even when switching off all the graphical goodies. In the Carenado F33A and the payware DC-3 I'm getting roughly 10-15 FPS - which means it's just unusable. LR promised to add performance improvements to the next update - we'll see.

 

There are many things I like about X-Plane, and I certainly think there is a great potential for this platform in the future. But for the time being it has still lot's of problems and unfinished areas (performance, ATC, AI Traffic, seasons,weather, scenery).

 

Tierborn made the right suggestion - download the demo and play around with it. You can fly 15mins in each session which is pretty long actually to try out things. And then make the decision to buy now or wait for a couple of updates to get it in a more mature state.

 

10 - 15fps? Thats weird. I dont see that sort of performance penalty. I have a similar (but older) system with an i7 920 running at 2.66ghz with an ATI 4870, it was cutting edge at the time {sigh}. But even with these specs and keeping clouds to a minimum and with vehicle traffic off completely, with the LES DC3 and the CRJ200 i get 30fps, it sometimes dips to around 25fps and sometimes a little lower, but never much lower than 19fps. But its pretty rock solid for me. I suppose just like FSX, XPX needs a little (or a lot??) tweaking to get the most out of it. I agree with getting the demo and giving that a try first. But i'm having a blast with it myself, there are occasions (many times in my opinion) where the simulator can look absolutely stunning, but so can FSX too.

 

Cheers

 

Rhydian

 

It's not a question on whether you should, but rather a question of when you'll buy XPX. Try the demo first, what do you have to lose?

DEMO DEMO DEMO!!!

 

Whether you are convinced that there are lots of missing or incomplete features, or you are sold on the idea that there are only small fractions which need tidying up... get the demo! It is an up-to-the-minute updated version of the core of X-Plane 10, and it should give you a good sense of what you will get in the retail version.

 

You will get a sense of how the game performs on your computer, get a feel for the commentaries which are shared on the forums, and get a chance to wrap your head around the differences between your current sim and the X-Plane series.... all for free!

But, by all means, continue supporting FSX. It's quite obvious that not even 3rd party dev's can sustain a 6 year old, unsupported platform for very much longer.

 

And, please tell me why......it can't be sustained for quite a while longer

 

3rd party developers have been coming up with new innovations for years......to apply to the basic FSX platform. FSX isn't like a pond or well thats about to dry up. In the meantime, scenery & aircraft just get better.

 

As I've said previously. Let XP10 stand on it's own feet, for it's own merits. The excuse that FSX is about dead, is a very poor and unfounded one.

 

L.Adamson

Blaze, can you elaborate more on this "Atmosphere" subject? What exactly do you miss, what do you find wrong/incomplete, etc...

 

Wow I posted then went to work, this thread really took off but Mad Dog pretty much nailed what I was going to say. I'm mitigating some of this by doing alot of night flying on Vatsim. I have to admit that the reason i really got on the XP bandwagon is just like TK said...

It doesn't take much to see that x-plane is the front runner in future flight sim potential.

And, please tell me why......it can't be sustained for quite a while longer

 

3rd party developers have been coming up with new innovations for years......to apply to the basic FSX platform. FSX isn't like a pond or well thats about to dry up. In the meantime, scenery & aircraft just get better.

 

As I've said previously. Let XP10 stand on it's own feet, for it's own merits. The excuse that FSX is about dead, is a very poor and unfounded one.

 

L.Adamson

 

Depends what you mean by "a while longer..."

I don't really want to get involved in yet another FSX vs X Plane discussion.

No one is stopping you from keeping FSX. As long as you get what you want out of it, that's all that matters, right?

I don't really want to get involved in yet another FSX vs X Plane discussion.

 

 

Me neither. I'm just sitting, reading Avsim on my smart phone........and then you write this:

 

"Do yourself a favor, get X Plane. It's obvious FSX is showing its age, and Flight is, well, Flight. I think we all know the inevitable."

 

And then of course, I'm forced to walk to the computer room, to once again respond.

 

No.............FSX isn't showing it's age. Unlike, people who usually get older, fatter, and uglier........FSX just gets a total refreshing makeover with addons such as Orbix.

 

This is what X-Plane needs. More third party scenery, that just isn't a collection of generic buildings. I really do feel that someday, it will be here.

In the meantime, I don't take this whole FSX versus X-Plane thing as serious as you may think. It's probably because X-Plane has now become more of a serious simulator..... than past verions, in which, it was "marketing" that pretended X-Plane as being a serious contender.

 

L.Adamson

Sure they are. But they're slowing down. I've had no less than 4 developers (the 4th was this morning) ask me to convert their add ons for X Plane and 2 developers ask me questions on where to start to make a flight model. And that was just in the past 2 weeks.

 

Just because developers are looking to also develop for XP10, doesn't mean they are dropping support for FSX! Their just expanding their audience as any good company would. Look at Carenado for instance, while they are porting their current products to XP10 they are still developing new ones for FSX. Name me one FS2004/FSX developer that has told you their moving all their resources to XP10 and dropping FS2004/FSX support.

I never said they are dropping support "now" or moving all their resources to X Plane "now", but it's obvious that some time "soon", FSX will have reached its use-by date (interpret "soon" however you like). It's been that way for software since software was invented.

Carenado are migrating to X Plane for a reason. Aerosoft are migrating to X Plane for a reason. The 4 developers that I have spoken to are migrating to X Plane for a reason.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know, no developer is supporting FS9 anymore. If I am wrong, I can certainly say that not all developers are supporting FS9 anymore. The same will happen for FSX eventually. If ACES are re-contracted to "upgrade" or enhance FSX ins some fashion (like taking all of Flights optimizations and putting them into FSX) then you'd have an FS-XI. It's a shame that didn't happen and I really mean that. I find myself flying in FS9 more than FSX.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know, no developer is supporting FS9 anymore.

 

You are wrong about FS9 support, there are a number of developers that still develop for that support and develop for that platform, many in unison with FSX. True there are also a number that have moved on to FSX and dropped FS9 like PMDG. but there is a huge difference here. FSX was a platform that mirrored and in many cases exceeds the capabilities of it's predecessor FS2004, the same can not be said currently for XP10. One it's a totally different platform, and it doesn't have the features that current FS2004/FSX users will demand. A more robust ATC system, that can handle the amount of traffic and real world schedules we get with FSX. If you look at the AVSIM demographic surveys you'll see the majority of users fly heavy medal these days. XP10 is a good GA sim, but it still has a lot to prove in this area. This is just my opinion but the biggest issue for me is it's scenery. Yes it good resolution, but it doesn't look like the real world. That's going to be hard for FSX users to swallow that come from using scenery from ORBX or even Ultimate Terrain. Then there is the lack of real world landmarks. When I'm flying over a City, I want to feel I'm actually over it. That feeling just isn't there with XP10. XP also needs better weather generators, the default clouds just look like puffs of smoke, and makes everything look too dark. Some of the 3rd party clouds look much better. It really needs something like Active Sky. REX is good, but it's sort of in between even for FSX. They rewrote the whole code for their new "Essential" package, which sounds really good. It remains to be seen how good though, I'm sure they'll use it for XP as well at some point. (There's one developer that is still producing FSX as well as XP product) Does XP have the potential to overtake FSX? Possibly if it or 3rd party fills in the missing gaps, especially with complex system heavy medal aircraft, and improved ATC, but that is going to take a couple of years if not more, if it does at all, judging by what Austin said yesterday, it doesn't seem he's in any hurry to address the ATC issue anytime soon. That may be ok for the XP fan club, but I don't think you're going to get the FS fan club to agree that easily. So it may happen, but not as fast as you think. Then there is Prepar3D which if the political issues get ironed out and FSX 3rd party developers start developing for it, at a price point similar to FSX, It may leave XP behind, because it would be a very easy port to that platform fom FSX, so it can catch up really fast. Most 3rd party products already work with it whether legally or not.

With my older system, windows xp 32 bit, I have been unable to get the fps in X-plane with the same graphical quality as I am able to achieve with FSX.