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Questions about iFly 737

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I would like to know in what way this plane differs from the PMDG 737NGX. Also I have seen that there is a FS9 version of iFly 737. That leads to the question if the FSX version is a portover or native FSX? That would be important with regard to performence. Is FSX native 737NGX performing better than iFly 737? One difference I'm already aware of is that iFly is less expensive than PMDG.

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I would like to know in what way this plane differs from the PMDG 737NGX. Also I have seen that there is a FS9 version of iFly 737. That leads to the question if the FSX version is a portover or native FSX? That would be important with regard to performence. Is FSX native 737NGX performing better than iFly 737? One difference I'm already aware of is that iFly is less expensive than PMDG.

 

I own both the Ifly and the PMDG...

 

I only fly the PMDG now if that answers anything for you.

 

There is some major differences, one of them being the HUD on the PMDG is collimated so it's velocity vector works. The graphics and cockpit lighting is supierior on the PMDG. I had some issues on the IFLY that may be fixed now with the feature pack. Such as you could not control the panel lighting, I had a few approaches in dusk where I had a hard time reading the gauges. I also had problems where the knobs on the MCP would turn to blobs..

 

Both are very good planes, but the pmdg is a more detailed sim

 

Ohh one last thing.. As far as performance I found both of them to be about the same on framerates..


Mike Avallone

9900k@5.0,Corsair H115i cooler,ASUS 2080TI,GSkill 32GB pc3600 ram, 2 WD black NVME ssd drives, ASUS maximus hero MB

 

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The main difference is that the PMDG one simulates stuff 'under the hood' more realistically (i.e. all the systems are realistically interlinked), which is of interest when you want to explore the aircraft beyond the basic normal procedures (i.e. minutia is simulated to the degree that if blow a light bulb here or there, it'll affect the overall voltage used). As noted above, the collimated HGS on the PMDG NG is its showpiece from a visual standpoint (and also from a usability standpoint), whereas the iFly HGS is present, but is not collimated, so slightly less usable. Thus that is a fairly major plus for the PMDG aircraft, since the HGS is a major system found on the vast majority of real-world 737 NGs.

 

In short, if you want to get as close to total realism as one can reasonably expect an airliner to be on a desktop PC simulator, and if if anything less than full on rivet-counting super realism is not going to be enough for you, then you will want the PMDG 737.

 

Having said that, the iFly one has its merits too, for one thing it is cheaper and includes more variants at that lower price. But beyond these more obvious differences, you should not be fooled into thinking that because it does not simulate things as deeply as the PMDG one, that it is not worthy of consideration, because it is, and especially for another pertinent reason where FSX is concerned, that being that it uses a bit less memory than the PMDG one (which is understandable, because the PMDG one is simulating more stuff beyond the obvious things you can see). But the lower overhead means the iFly leaves a bit more room for other stuff to run alongside it, so if you have all kinds of other add-ons running at the same time, i.e. things like EFBs, REX, Radar Contact, MCE, FS2Crew etc, etc, then you might like the fact that the iFly one is putting a bit less strain on your computer, which means you can echew some deeper systems realism for some performance gain - you pays your money and takes your choice.

 

Because I am a big fan of the 737, I have both the iFly and the PMDG 737 NGs, and depending on what I want to do, I will use them both for their relative merits. If I want mega-total realism, then I'll fire up the PMDG bird, whereas if I want to run craploads of additional stuff such as Air Hauler and numerous other add-ons, I'll favour the iFly for its lower overhead.

 

Of course there is a very obvious solution to deciding which one you want; you can try out the iFly one first and see if you are happy with what it offers, and if not, get a refund if it does not float your boat, since it is sold through Flight 1's website, where they offer a similar guarantee on all the stuff they sell. Although to be fair, if you did that, you might then never see what the PMDG one offers. So personally, I would recommend both of them rather than one alone, for the above reasons which make it worth having the pair, although if you did buy only one, I don't think you'd be disappointed with either of them so long as you know what your own criteria is where systems fidelity is concerned.

 

Al


Alan Bradbury

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The main difference is that the PMDG one simulates stuff 'under the hood' more realistically (i.e. all the systems are realistically interlinked), which is of interest when you want to explore the aircraft beyond the basic normal procedures (i.e. minutia is simulated to the degree that if blow a light bulb here or there, it'll affect the overall voltage used). As noted above, the collimated HGS on the PMDG NG is its showpiece from a visual standpoint (and also from a usability standpoint), whereas the iFly HGS is present, but is not collimated, so slightly less usable. Thus that is a fairly major plus for the PMDG aircraft, since the HGS is a major system found on the vast majority of real-world 737 NGs.

 

In short, if you want to get as close to total realism as one can reasonably expect an airliner to be on a desktop PC simulator, and if if anything less than full on rivet-counting super realism is not going to be enough for you, then you will want the PMDG 737.

 

Having said that, the iFly one has its merits too, for one thing it is cheaper and includes more variants at that lower price. But beyond these more obvious differences, you should not be fooled into thinking that because it does not simulate things as deeply as the PMDG one, that it is not worthy of consideration, because it is, and especially for another pertinent reason where FSX is concerned, that being that it uses a bit less memory than the PMDG one (which is understandable, because the PMDG one is simulating more stuff beyond the obvious things you can see). But the lower overhead means the iFly leaves a bit more room for other stuff to run alongside it, so if you have all kinds of other add-ons running at the same time, i.e. things like EFBs, REX, Radar Contact, MCE, FS2Crew etc, etc, then you might like the fact that the iFly one is putting a bit less strain on your computer, which means you can echew some deeper systems realism for some performance gain - you pays your money and takes your choice.

 

Because I am a big fan of the 737, I have both the iFly and the PMDG 737 NGs, and depending on what I want to do, I will use them both for their relative merits. If I want mega-total realism, then I'll fire up the PMDG bird, whereas if I want to run craploads of additional stuff such as Air Hauler and numerous other add-ons, I'll favour the iFly for its lower overhead.

 

Of course there is a very obvious solution to deciding which one you want; you can try out the iFly one first and see if you are happy with what it offers, and if not, get a refund if it does not float your boat, since it is sold through Flight 1's website, where they offer a similar guarantee on all the stuff they sell. Although to be fair, if you did that, you might then never see what the PMDG one offers. So personally, I would recommend both of them rather than one alone, for the above reasons which make it worth having the pair, although if you did buy only one, I don't think you'd be disappointed with either of them so long as you know what your own criteria is where systems fidelity is concerned.

 

Al

 

Al, I agree with your post.. but don't you think there is quite a difference in the graphics? It was enough of a difference that when I loaded the NGX the first time I was like "WOW" and that was right after flying the IFLY. Plus from what I understand the IFLY still does not have fully controllable lighting for the VC? I may be wrong on that.. If I had the ifly installed I would download the feature pack and try the lighting.

 

One thing I liked better on the IFLY is it's 2d panel.. I don't fly in 2d but if the OP is a pit builder or a 2d flyer then i think the IFLY plane is a great choice for him...


Mike Avallone

9900k@5.0,Corsair H115i cooler,ASUS 2080TI,GSkill 32GB pc3600 ram, 2 WD black NVME ssd drives, ASUS maximus hero MB

 

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I fly both and like both ...a lot.

I fly both in FSX.

I fly iFly in FS9.1.


Best Regards,

Vaughan Martell - PP-ASEL KDTW

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Also I have seen that there is a FS9 version of iFly 737. That leads to the question if the FSX version is a portover or native FSX?

 

The FSX version of the iFly is FSX native, and FS9 version textures are not 100% compatible (just incase anyone's curious.)

 

If you buy the iFly you get...

 

737-600

737-700

737-800

737-900

737-BBJ

737-BBJ2

737-BBJ3

 

Each type has models for eybrows, no eyebrows, winglets, no winglets, etc. All this comes at the expense of simulation depth, the iFly is very good at portraying the 737NG family, it just doesn't go into the level of detail that PMDG does.

 

With the PMDG you get...

 

737-800

737-800WL

737-900

737-900WL

 

The winglet versions have their own aircraft.cfg to make full use of the performance diferences of the aircraft, for the higher price tag PMDG offers indepth simutaion of aircraft systems to a near professional level (closest you can get without a cockpit simulator.)

 

PMDG offers an expansion pack for the 737 NGX, with that you get...

 

737-600

737-700

737-700WL

 

All with the same attention to detail as the 800/900.

 

Oh, while the NGX doesn't ship with eyebrows I've seen liveries that have 'painted' them on rather well and the VC textures are altered to make them useable in cockpit.

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The FSX version of the iFly is FSX native, and FS9 version textures are not 100% compatible (just incase anyone's curious.)

 

If you buy the iFly you get...

 

737-600

737-700

737-800

737-900

737-BBJ

737-BBJ2

737-BBJ3

 

Each type has models for eybrows, no eyebrows, winglets, no winglets, etc. All this comes at the expense of simulation depth, the iFly is very good at portraying the 737NG family, it just doesn't go into the level of detail that PMDG does.

 

With the PMDG you get...

 

737-800

737-800WL

737-900

737-900WL

 

The winglet versions have their own aircraft.cfg to make full use of the performance diferences of the aircraft, for the higher price tag PMDG offers indepth simutaion of aircraft systems to a near professional level (closest you can get without a cockpit simulator.)

 

PMDG offers an expansion pack for the 737 NGX, with that you get...

 

737-600

737-700

737-700WL

 

All with the same attention to detail as the 800/900.

 

Oh, while the NGX doesn't ship with eyebrows I've seen liveries that have 'painted' them on rather well and the VC textures are altered to make them useable in cockpit.

 

From these posts it seems like the PMDG clearly is the better product because of better graphics and deeper system simulation. I first thought they were more equal. Still I hesitate $70 is very expensive for an addon plane even if it is the best. That's more than a full price newly released game.

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Oh, while the NGX doesn't ship with eyebrows I've seen liveries that have 'painted' them on rather well and the VC textures are altered to make them useable in cockpit.

 

Yes, it ships with eyebrows. They are contolled via the config manager and they work as far as being able to see thru them, so they are not a painted on feature.


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From these posts it seems like the PMDG clearly is the better product because of better graphics and deeper system simulation. I first thought they were more equal. Still I hesitate $70 is very expensive for an addon plane even if it is the best. That's more than a full price newly released game.

 

I know the price is steep but it's the best there is out there right now.. I don't know enough about the real plane to explain why it's worth it , all I know is they even got quirks that the real plane has in it, such as when you slam the throttles forward too fast on the 800's the master caution will light up and you will get a warning for the overwing exits. there is many others too..


Mike Avallone

9900k@5.0,Corsair H115i cooler,ASUS 2080TI,GSkill 32GB pc3600 ram, 2 WD black NVME ssd drives, ASUS maximus hero MB

 

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"Still I hesitate $70 is very expensive for an addon plane"

 

Well, you knew this prior to your first post.

 

So, back to iFly then. Lower initial + upgrade price for iFly FS9 and FSX.

 

Then you can purchase the PMDG NGX later.


Best Regards,

Vaughan Martell - PP-ASEL KDTW

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One thing I noticed with the IFly 737 since the feature pack, is performance has dropped. Before the FP I was getting a little higher frames than the NGX, now it actually is about 3 fps less, which is really noticeable on my system, which is not really high powered by today's system standards. (E6850, 3Ghz, GTX460).


Thanks

Tom

My Youtube Videos!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tf51d

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Tom,

 

What was your FPS before and after the FP?


Best Regards,

Vaughan Martell - PP-ASEL KDTW

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For example here's a comparison of the NGX vs the IFly w/FP at KLAX with no traffic. You can see there is a marked difference, and is in fact worse then even I stated above. (The numbers I stated in the earlier post was with Traffic)

 

 

 

 


Thanks

Tom

My Youtube Videos!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tf51d

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Hello

Strange the difference between systems, I get exactly the same frames between the PMDG and i-fly at KLAX

29.7-9 fps, note I have my frames locked at 30 and it is bumping against that constraint constantly with either addon.

 

 

 

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One thing I noticed with the IFly 737 since the feature pack, is performance has dropped. Before the FP I was getting a little higher frames than the NGX, now it actually is about 3 fps less, which is really noticeable on my system, which is not really high powered by today's system standards. (E6850, 3Ghz, GTX460).

 

Performence is one thing that concerns me somewhat. I don't wan't to spend $70 and find out that it can only give me a stuttering low fps experience. On the other habd I have heard that performence is unusually good for such a complex addon plane. Still it must be smooth on my system which is

AMD Phenom II X4 3.4 GHz

4 Gb PC6400 RAM

NVIDIA GTS250 1 Gb Videocard

Win 7 x64 Home Premium

Dedicated SSD for FSX

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