I have so many addons, I want to shed the non value added addons so that I can keep my FPS to reasonable level. I used to pile on addons and bring my system to its knees and then I quit FSX in frustration. I want to avoid this with my new build. I want to only have stuff that really add value and judiciously remove items if the price (FPS) is high.

 

Please exclude Aircrafts and airport addons from this list/discussion since these do not affect the entire FSX and I can choose individually based on its performance and decide to add them or not.

 

 

 

I am talking about things that affect the whole FSX like UTX for example. I generally do not fly over default scenery in FSX. I prefer Megascenery or Orbx like sceneries

 

I think, I need the following for sure.

 

1. REX for water and sky/clouds (I don't care for their default airport runway and taxiway replacement textures etc)

 

2) UTX. I need their accurate road (for road traffic) and more importantly their street lights. These streetlights show up even over photosceneries and when their roadways are accurate, they really look good during dusk and night time. UTX has a penalty in FPS I believe... so is there a way to do only roads and street lights from UTX and avoid everything else? If I remember right, I can disable many of their items in scenery add on menu in FSX.

 

3) F1 UT traffic II. This take a heavy load...but I cannot avoid this for the most part. I just have to use their sliders back and forth and manage the density.

 

4) Megascenery/other photscenery addons - Does not adversely affect FPS..so this is a low hanging fruit.

 

5) Orbx for selective areas (This is again is by geography so can manage this)

 

6) Terrain Mesh Add ons. I am using FSgenesis (What other options are there? in terms of depth and breath)

 

What else am I missing here? Are there other addons that enchances FSX that I am overlooking here?

 

Manny

#2 and #6 are the same thing, so I would swap one for GEX to cover your non ORBX or Megascenery areas. I would also recommend AS2012 for weather, although you can use REX for that if you prefer. You might want to consider FS TimeKeeper because it keeps the FSX time/clock accurate, and some sort of landclass product like SceneryTech or FSGenesis.

I would opt for Active Sky 2012 instead of Rex. Better weather engine and the graphics are on par with REX.

 

FS Global 2010 or FS Global Utlimate

 

GEX Textures.

If you already own REX, Do not buy AS12 just yet, wait until rex essentials is released and then make your mind up.

REX and registered copy of Fsuipc works wonders.....PMDG NGX is a must have...

#2 and #6 are the same thing,

 

I meant to say mesh.. I've corrected it.

 

:)

 

Manny

 

I have Active Sky too. Currently I use both..Active Sky and REX. I was thinking if I really needed AS and what FPS price do I pay for it. IF there is no FPS loss, then I'll keep Active Sky for weather (REX for textures). I prefer REX textures.

 

 

I believe AS works on a remote PC..if so I can offload that onto a different PC

 

GEX textures... Hmmm.... I don't have this. Not sure if I would need it at all... if I am trying to fly either with photoscenery or Orbx. But does this affect FPS in any way? IF there is no FPS cost, then I should consider GEX.

 

I also have FS Altitude for the whole of US and Europe. This is low resolution photo scenery for high alitiude flying. I like this for airliner flying across the US and Europe...but, I don't like when flying around Islands like the carribeans since this takes over in terms of priorty even when I have better scenereis like Fly Tampa's Princess Juliana. When I descend, the higher resolution sceneries comes into play ofcourse...but I want those "holes" even at high alititude. If I can remove those individual files from FS Altitude then I may decide to keep it. This is my only gripe with FS Altitide.. if I have a better scenery for an area, FS Altitude should leave that alone and FS alititude should only work for covering up default. Not sure how that is technically possible. I have tried layering it just above default and yet it doesn't seem to work that way.

 

Manny

REX essentials is looking like its going to be released very shortly, This evening/tomorrow.. Might not have to wait for long to make the decision.

Using UTX night street lighting is a major FPS killer. I doubt that disabling all other UTX features will this help very much. Car traffic is another FPS killer, especially when coupled with UTX's extended car traffic. I avoid using both of these features for this reason, though an urban low 'n' slow flight at night with UTX car traffic enabled is quite a nice experience. GEX ground textures products are on my essentials list for not only do they look a lot better than the default, they are tuned to be less of an autogen strain on FSX.

What else am I missing here? Are there other addons that enchances FSX that I am overlooking here?

 

Manny

There's only one global and "essential" addon for MSFS IMO: FSUIPC.

For FS98, FS2000, FS2002, FS2004 and FSX.

 

All the rest is "nice-to-have", depending on what your interrest is in MSFS.

Again, IMHO ...

 

Rob

Yeah I have

There's only one global and "essential" addon for MSFS IMO: FSUIPC.

For FS98, FS2000, FS2002, FS2004 and FSX.

 

All the rest is "nice-to-have", depending on what your interrest is in MSFS.

Again, IMHO ...

 

Rob

 

Yeah FSUIPC is absolutely essential as an utility..Maybe I should have mentioned that. For me, FSUIPC is an extension of FSX or a patch. I don't even consider it as a typical add on like those others in the list.

Yeah FSUIPC is absolutely essential..Maybe I should have mentioned that. For me, FSUIPC is an extension of FSX. I don't even consider it as a typical add on like those others in the list.

That's why I mentioned it as the *only* "essential" addon.

Heck, many other addons, which have their roots in FS2004 or earlier, simply wouldn't exist without FSUIPC.

So what's essential depends on one's interrests; personally, I don't care about products like REX / UTX / ActiveSky and terrain meshes/textures, since MY interrest in FSX is in flightdynamics and aircraft systems.

Again, just my opinion :)

 

Cheers, Rob