Closest FSX scenery add-on to Flight in terms of pricing, style and locale (i.e. Pacific islands, tropical, about 14 quid, very pretty but good on frame rates) would be Aerosoft's Tahiti X (aka the French Polynesian Islands). That's a really nice add on for FSX, it's great on frame rates and there are plenty of islands to explore, although some of the distances between islands can be pretty hefty. Still with the FSX Grumman or the Beaver, you've got two ideal aircraft for whizzing around that part of the world. The Grumman Goose is in fact one of the nicest FSX aeroplanes, and if you look online, you can find some free HD upgrade textures for it, which make it even better.

 

http://en.shop.aeros...category=Flight Simulation&s_design=DEFAULT

 

Note that you can also buy that from Just Flight, and when you do that, you get reward points (172 reward points for buying Tahiti X), which you can use to discount any following purchases from Just Flight. Their reward points system is great, since if you store your points from a few purchases up, you can lump them all together and get things for almost no money at all every once in a while:

 

http://justflight.com/product/tahiti-x

 

Incidentally, Just Flight also have a Mitsubishi A6M 'Zero' with a virtual cockpit, and that is definitely better than the one in Flight, for obvious reasons. A2A have an F4U Corsair which is excellent too, and they have a P40 as well, so if you are missing those Flight warbirds, now you can have them all with cockpits.

 

But before you go mad spending all your money on those, here's one recommendation which I definitely think you should consider, and that's A2A AccuFeel add on for FSX, which makes any aeroplane you have in FSX, either default, freeware or payware, vastly improved, and it's only a tenner too:

 

http://www.a2asimula...66d66065365b1e5

 

Al

Closest FSX scenery add-on to Flight in terms of pricing, style and locale (i.e. Pacific islands, tropical, about 14 quid, very pretty but good on frame rates) would be Aerosoft's Tahiti X (aka the French Polynesian Islands). That's a really nice add on for FSX, it's great on frame rates and there are plenty of islands to explore, although some of the distances between islands can be pretty hefty. Still with the FSX Grumman or the Beaver, you've got two ideal aircraft for whizzing around that part of the world. The Grumman Goose is in fact one of the nicest FSX aeroplanes, and if you look online, you can find some free HD upgrade textures for it, which make it even better.

 

http://en.shop.aeros...category=Flight Simulation&s_design=DEFAULT

 

Note that you can also buy that from Just Flight, and when you do that, you get reward points (172 reward points for buying Tahiti X), which you can use to discount any following purchases from Just Flight. Their reward points system is great, since if you store your points from a few purchases up, you can lump them all together and get things for almost no money at all every once in a while:

 

http://justflight.com/product/tahiti-x

 

Incidentally, Just Flight also have a Mitsubishi A6M 'Zero' with a virtual cockpit, and that is definitely better than the one in Flight, for obvious reasons. A2A have an F4U Corsair which is excellent too, and they have a P40 as well, so if you are missing those Flight warbirds, now you can have them all with cockpits.

 

But before you go mad spending all your money on those, here's one recommendation which I definitely think you should consider, and that's A2A AccuFeel add on for FSX, which makes any aeroplane you have in FSX, either default, freeware or payware, vastly improved, and it's only a tenner too:

 

http://www.a2asimula...66d66065365b1e5

 

Al

 

Thanks for the info. I'm not a fan of any of the warbirds in Flight TBH, well, maybe the P51. The only WW II aircraft that I am really interested in (read willing to buy) are the DeHavilland Mosquito, the B29, and my all time favorite WW II bird, the P38. As you can see, I have a thing for multi-engine aircraft :).

 

I think I phrased my question incorrectly though. When I mentioned Flight, I was really referring to the quality of the textures, etc., and not the actual locations. I will definitely check out your suggestions though.

Think I found the my first airplane purchase:

 

I've been in-love with the Piaggio P180 ever since I first saw one many years ago:

 

 

I'll be purchasing it as soon as I get FSX installed and working from:

http://www.wilcopub....004/category/4/

 

Is there anything I need to look out for when purchasing 3rd party content for FSX?

deHavilland Mossie for FSX. This is quite nice incidentally, and the expansion packs for it are good too (I bought all of em, has things like the bomb aimer's station and working guns etc), add the (excellent) Captain Sim Weapon for FSX add-on to it and you can drop bomb and fire guns and rockets with it too LOL:

 

http://justflight.com/product/mosquito-download

 

If you want visuals a'la'Flight for scenery, then you probably ought to look at Orbx and the stuff they make. I think most people would agree they are the ones whose stuff could best rival what you see in Flight.

 

Al

deHavilland Mossie for FSX. This is quite nice incidentally, and the expansion packs for it are good too (I bought all of em, has things like the bomb aimer's station and working guns etc), add the (excellent) Captain Sim Weapon for FSX add-on to it and you can drop bomb and fire guns and rockets with it too LOL:

 

http://justflight.co...squito-download

 

If you want visuals a'la'Flight for scenery, then you probably ought to look at Orbx and the stuff they make. I think most people would agree they are the ones whose stuff could best rival what you see in Flight.

 

Al

 

Thanks for the info. I will look up Orbx.

Yup, read the Avsim reviews (and ones on other sites) and check out the customer reviews of products at places such as FS Pilot Shop, Flight Sim Store and Simmarket - they can be quite enlightening on anything you might have in mind, and are the places most likely to say if someone thinks something is crap. Check the Avsim Bargain Hunter's Shack forum and also keep an eye on Flight Sim deal of the Day. Links for all that stuff below, including the Avsim review of the Avanti:

 

http://www.avsim.com...lco/Avanti.html

 

http://forum.avsim.n...ion=pages&id=19

 

http://www.flightsimdealoftheday.com/

 

http://forum.avsim.n...-hunters-shack/

 

http://www.flightsimstore.com/

 

http://secure.simmar...default-en.html

 

http://www.fspilotshop.com/

 

Also, if you buy any downloads for FSX, make sure you back up both the installation file and the Serial number and any other info required for installation in a text file (usually just copying the entire confirmation email text into a notepad file is good enough). Back them up on a different drive from your main C drive, and preferably on another drive as well, because unlike with MS Flight, your purchases are not always stored online with the place you bought the thing from, although in the case of Wilco, they actually are, but don't place all your trust in that. That way if you have a disaster with hard disks crashing, you will avoid a lot of heartbreak, and trust me, I'm speaking from bitter experience here LOL

 

That's actually one of the plus points of Simmarket and Just Flight too by the way, they also store your entire purchase history as well, so you can redownload things from them which you bought literally years ago, although again, keeping a back up of your stuff from them is also not a bad idea. External drives are cheap to buy, get two of em and make back up folders on them both. You can't be too careful, even Avsim itself was nearly destroyed by a server hack back in 2009, and came close to losing its entire file library. Don't put off doing this 'till another day', or you will be sorry.

 

Al

Just got my copy in the mail have started the install process. This should be interesting...

Alrighty, ran into a problem after installing the Acceleration pack. When FSX was started, I received an error 1-80004005 after installing FSX on Win 7 64-bit. A search on the forum turned up a link to the following topic on Microsoft's website. It worked like a charm.

 

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-gaming/error-code-1-80004005/e830c10e-7fe4-4146-81c1-36585ac638d2

Well, so long as it is sorted. Now it's time to kick the tires and light the fires I presume?

 

Al

Absolutely. I was happy to see Jamaican airports in flight so first order of business is to depart Norman Manley and land at Donald Sangster. Should be fun. :)

I quickly browsed through the thread, and I noticed most of things got answered. I saw someone suggested me, so if you have any performance problems, I suggest you click on the link in my sig: it's a guide to understanding how tweaks for FSX work, a tweaking guide of a sort...

 

You are running a laptop, I think I saw it mentioned somewhere? That is surely not the best hardware, but as long as you can make it work, it's fine in my book!

 

Oh btw. my suggestion fully goes to PMDG - I love their products and they really make close to life products. Furthermore many terrains products, incl. ORBX, FSDreamTeam, UTX, GEX, Megascenery make really very fine terrain products. As for mesh, a thing you shouldn't omit, FSGenesis, FSGlobal, take your pick... as long as it's global.

 

I think you should decide if you are flying short hops or long hops, in that case take a correct addon... just picking them out of the stack can prove tedious. For example, if you are running short hops, ORBX PNW or similar might be interesting, as it's made for low-medium slow, not highflyer... and if you would prefer a 747 or 737, then ORBX is of no importance, then a mesh, a global texture coverage, UTX for detailed coastlines, rivers, streets is way more important. Also if a high flyer, might think of two airports you are flying from and to, then put addons on these.

 

Anyway, good luck and if you have performane troubles, feel free to post in hardware forums and PM me to take a look!

I quickly browsed through the thread, and I noticed most of things got answered. I saw someone suggested me, so if you have any performance problems, I suggest you click on the link in my sig: it's a guide to understanding how tweaks for FSX work, a tweaking guide of a sort...

 

You are running a laptop, I think I saw it mentioned somewhere? That is surely not the best hardware, but as long as you can make it work, it's fine in my book!

 

Oh btw. my suggestion fully goes to PMDG - I love their products and they really make close to life products. Furthermore many terrains products, incl. ORBX, FSDreamTeam, UTX, GEX, Megascenery make really very fine terrain products. As for mesh, a thing you shouldn't omit, FSGenesis, FSGlobal, take your pick... as long as it's global.

 

I think you should decide if you are flying short hops or long hops, in that case take a correct addon... just picking them out of the stack can prove tedious. For example, if you are running short hops, ORBX PNW or similar might be interesting, as it's made for low-medium slow, not highflyer... and if you would prefer a 747 or 737, then ORBX is of no importance, then a mesh, a global texture coverage, UTX for detailed coastlines, rivers, streets is way more important. Also if a high flyer, might think of two airports you are flying from and to, then put addons on these.

 

Anyway, good luck and if you have performane troubles, feel free to post in hardware forums and PM me to take a look!

 

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely check out your suggestions for scenery. I have no clue what kind of flying I will be doing. I just did a short hop across Jamaica and am now in the middle of a flight from Montego Bay to Fort Lauderdale to get a feel for the game. I'll figure out my preferences over the next couple of weeks.

 

 

I have no clue what kind of flying I will be doing.

 

Exactly for that reason hold off buying terrain scenery, until you do. I know that I can't stand low and slow, I like tubeliners, their high-tech stuff and lots of buttons. Maybe, if I fly low and slow, then something totally simple, like A2A Cub or something. It's the reason why I own all FSDT airports, some UK2000, many over Europe etc. And am a member of virtual airlines - something you should definitely look up with time (if you decide liners and regionals are for you), including online flying (VATSIM). It's something you can do for free, with basic FSX.

 

 

Exactly for that reason hold off buying terrain scenery, until you do. I know that I can't stand low and slow, I like tubeliners, their high-tech stuff and lots of buttons. Maybe, if I fly low and slow, then something totally simple, like A2A Cub or something. It's the reason why I own all FSDT airports, some UK2000, many over Europe etc. And am a member of virtual airlines - something you should definitely look up with time (if you decide liners and regionals are for you), including online flying (VATSIM). It's something you can do for free, with basic FSX.

 

I love multi-engine aircraft, preferably turbo-props and jets and I do love cockpits with lots of screens and buttons to get me in trouble :). I like the Lear as its pretty small and I'm pretty comfortable with it after many hours flying it in the demo. I want to add a few more business jets, preferaby with more cockpit functionality like a working flight computer, at some point but I'll continue playing around with what's there first to see what annoys me the most and what I want the most and go from there.

If you like turboprops, check out Carenado's Piper Meridian Jetprop, and King Air C90. They have both a King Air 200 and TBM 850 in development. They are all payware, but you won't find better GA aircraft. Eaglesoft Development Group has a very nice Citation X, and they have a Citation XLS in development.

 

Todd