I've been playing around with MS Flight since it was released and decided to order FSX as (1) I hate planes without VC and (2) I love multi-engine aircraft.

 

Any suggestions and what I should do first after its installed?

Check out some great free or payware addons!

 

Also, don't forget to install the service packs.

Check out some great free or payware addons!

 

Also, don't forget to install the service packs.

 

Right. Are there other service packs that are not included in FSX Gold?

http://fullterrain.com/

http://www.precisionmanuals.com/

http://www.carenado....ortal/index.php

http://www.irissimulations.com/

http://www.flytampa.org/

http://www.aerosoft.com/

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/

http://qwsim.com/index.php/home

http://www.pafs.wf/

http://www.captainsim.com/

 

and lots more.

 

FSX Gold includes all the service packs.

LOL, welcome to the world's most expensive PC hobby. It's worth it though!

Right after it is installed, I'd check out some of the included missions and flight lessons. There's a lot of cool stuff in the default FSX, and so doing that will give you an opportunity to see what kind of stuff you like best. If you then find you like perhaps the airliners, or maybe the helicopters or whatever, then you could look at some of the relevant additions you could get for those areas of interest, both free and payware. But even with no other fancy stuff installed, FSX offers a lot of fun and entertainment, so be sure to check it all out.

 

Some of the very complex and realistic additions you can get for FSX, such as for example, PMDG's Boeing 737, or A2A's Spitfire, or DodoSim's Bell 206 JetRanger, can be a bit overwhelming, so make sure you know what it is you like first, and when you know that, people on these forums will be more than happy to offer suggestions of what else you might want to look out for and try. There are no shortage of sceneries, aircraft, utilities and other gizmos out there for FSX to empty your bank account by purshasing, but also remember that there's a lot of great free stuff to be had too.

 

One website certainly worth keeping an eye on if you are looking to buy things, is this place, since it has a different discounted bargain every day...

 

http://www.flightsimdealoftheday.com/

 

Al

The first thing I would do after installing FSX and the service packs is to tune my computer to run FSX. Have a look here

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/369500-adaptive-vsync-30fps-new-levels-of-smoothness-in-fs9x/

http://www.simforums.com/forums/different-scenarios-different-settings-thats-how_topic41798.html

^ +1

You're going to have to play around and tune your computer to be able to run FSX the way you'd probably want to, but once you get it, you'll be good to go!

definately start with the basic tutorials and then do some lessons.

First thing is see how your performance is. If you are able to run at high settings fluidly, then just enjoy the default for awhile and get to know the sim first. One of the biggest downfalls of FSX is people tend to install all kinds of addons which are what takes away from performance more than anything. It's why Flight works so well, MS controls what is in game.

 

One option is running in DX10 mode. It was never really a finished option, but many like myself enjoy it for the shadows in the cockpit, the nicer looking water and for me increased performance. There are a few drawbacks depending on where you fly and what addons you have, some texture flickering at times, and older FS9 addons don't work well with it.

 

If you like flying in real time weather, get a weather generator, it will greatly enhance the weather and give you better performance..

 

Give us more specifics on what kind of flying you like and we'll give better suggestions

Wow, I didn't expect all these responses. Thanks a bunch for all the suggestions, I'd definitely tackle configuring my PC first so I can figure out how high to run the settings without affecting performance. I don't have any specific kind of flying I like the most though trying to achieve a specific objective in missions is always enjoyable. I do like playing with multi-engine aircraft and I also like random weather changes for the challenge. The primary reason for biting the bullet and buying FSX was the limited flight area and the lack of cockpits for a number of aircraft. I'm hoping I won't be disappointed with the graphics in FSX as Flight renders scenery nicely indeed. I'm looking forward to Alaska. Would you say scenery in FSX is better, worse, or just different from Flight?

 

BTW, the hardware I'm running it on is a Lenovo laptop with an Intel i5 quad-core @ 1.8GHz, 12GB of RAM, and an nVidia Quadra FX-880 GPU with 2GB of video RAM.

* First get "Acceleration"

* Install the ******* fix: http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html

* check out some missions.

* Install some ORBX freeware demo sceneries: http://fullterrain.com/product_demos.html

 

Can't actually remember any decent freeware planes anymore, I've become too much of a payware junkie.

Isn't Acceleration part of the 'GOLD" pack ?

Isn't Acceleration part of the 'GOLD" pack ?

 

"Flight Simulator Gold Edition includes the Deluxe Edition and the Acceleration Expansion Pack in one bundle." Microsoft

Hey and also if your only using a keyboard and a mouse to control your aircraft. I VERY much recommend using an xbox 360 controller. Controlling that airplane on the ground and in the air will be WAY easier.