if you like turboprops, you can't go wrong with the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400. Absolutely my favorite plane to fly in FSX.

 

The Plane I use for FSX can be downloaded here:

 

http://www.flightsim...ts&cm=LISTFILES

 

Place the aircraft folder into the main folder or the SimObjects/Airplanes folder(can't remember which) and remember to place the files in the sound and effects folder into their respective folders in the FSX folder.

 

The only reason why I linked to flightsim.com was because the plane wasn't available on avsim's library, so that's why I linked to a different library (forgive me :) )

 

Here's a link to the history and specifications of the Dash 8:

 

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php?106-Search-Results&cm=LISTFILES

If you're using only the freeware, it doesn't automatically activate the scenery after installation. I don't know if you've tried doing this yet, but if you go to Settings, then on the right Scenery Library, then Add Area, navigate to the ORBX folder, then the folder starting with FTX_, then open the folder of the airport you want to install, and click "OK." If you're using Windows 7, you'll have to click on the white space in the box below the list of folders after clicking "OK." You can repeat this for each airport.

 

I did that and I still had an issue. I re-installed FSX (not a big deal as I had only 2 add-on's) and the Orbx scenery works great now.

I purchased my first payware plane yesterday, a FlightSim Developmers P-38 Lightening. Purchase and installation was a breeze and after a little hiccup with one of the versions (there are 8 in the package), it was golden. I actually purchased that aircraft after reading a review on Avsim :) . So far, I love flying it, had an especially great time weaving through the Grand Canyon with it. Its beautifully rendered and sounds like the real thing, at least based on comparison with Youtube videos of the P-38. I'm toying with the idea of buying their Piaggio Avanti as soon as I am comfortable that everything in the VC is functional.

I'd probably not buy it... it's not FSX native... in a nutshell FS9 planes usually perform much worse that planes modeled per the FSX SDK. I'd get the RealAir Turbine Duke or Carenado King Air before you went that route. Also, Flight1's PC12 is fairly dated but native FSX and cruises quick.

I'd probably not buy it... it's not FSX native... in a nutshell FS9 planes usually perform much worse that planes modeled per the FSX SDK. I'd get the RealAir Turbine Duke or Carenado King Air before you went that route. Also, Flight1's PC12 is fairly dated but native FSX and cruises quick.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll take a look at both options. I would dearly love to find a good Avanti for FSX though.

I'd probably not buy it... it's not FSX native... in a nutshell FS9 planes usually perform much worse that planes modeled per the FSX SDK. I'd get the RealAir Turbine Duke or Carenado King Air before you went that route. Also, Flight1's PC12 is fairly dated but native FSX and cruises quick.

 

Took your advice and purchased the RealAir Duke combo (Piston and Turbo). I do think they are worth the money for the detailed cockpit where pretty much everything works. I had a little issue trying to start the the first time as the manual mentioned "Fuel Levers" but I could not find their location in the manual. After finding them eventually, I took off and flew around Opa Locka and North Perry Airport in South Florida. While not as fast the FSX King Air 350, it is much more responsive and is definitely more fun to fly. My only real issue with right now is that the sound of the props don't seem to be related to the position of the throttle as it is with the King Air. Whether that is how it is in RL or something off in FSX, I don't know.

 

Any suggestions for business jets? I like the Lear but would like something a little faster and a little bigger, say along the lines of a G5, with a fully functioning cockpit :).

You won't find a G5. Gulfstream Aerospace are very snotty about letting anyone model it for Flight Simulator, in fact notoriously so in the flight sim world, even going to the extent of sending letters out from lawyers telling commercial FS developers to stop what they were doing when one or two attempts to model a Gulfstream were commenced. As far as I know, the only payware Gulfstream you can get for FSX is the Abacus Publishing model of a G3, and you won't like it, as it has a very poor VC, even by FS 2002 standards, so trust me, I do mean very poor.

 

Comparable aircraft would be stuff such as the Bombardier Global Express and the Dassault Falcon. There are one or two freebie Falcons and Global Expresses for FSX, but they are freebies, so not stunning to be honest, although not bad for what they are. I'm pretty sure there are no fantastic payware ones.

 

So, that leaves you with either one of Eaglesoft's aircraft, such as their Raytheon Premier 1, Beechjet 400, or one of several Citation variants they make (since Bizjets are pretty much their speciality), or the Extreme Prototypes LearJet 23. There are one or two other payware private jets kicking about, for example Wilco make a few, of varying quality, but those I mentioned are probably the better choices. Flight 1 make a very good Citation Mustang, but it is the Mustang variant of course, which, good as it is, is hardly comparable to a G5 in either size or performance. So, you are probably going to have to settle for one of the high end Citations I should think, since the Extreme Prototypes Lear 23, good as it is, like the real 23, is not great on range.

 

Either that or a BBJ 737 or something along those lines.

 

Al

You won't find a G5. Gulfstream Aerospace are very snotty about letting anyone model it for Flight Simulator, in fact notoriously so in the flight sim world, even going to the extent of sending letters out from lawyers telling commercial FS developers to stop what they were doing when one or two attempts to model a Gulfstream were commenced. As far as I know, the only payware Gulfstream you can get for FSX is the Abacus Publishing model of a G3, and you won't like it, as it has a very poor VC, even by FS 2002 standards, so trust me, I do mean very poor.

 

Comparable aircraft would be stuff such as the Bombardier Global Express and the Dassault Falcon. There are one or two freebie Falcons and Global Expresses for FSX, but they are freebies, so not stunning to be honest, although not bad for what they are. I'm pretty sure there are no fantastic payware ones.

 

So, that leaves you with either one of Eaglesoft's aircraft, such as their Raytheon Premier 1, Beechjet 400, or one of several Citation variants they make (since Bizjets are pretty much their speciality), or the Extreme Prototypes LearJet 23. There are one or two other payware private jets kicking about, for example Wilco make a few, of varying quality, but those I mentioned are probably the better choices. Flight 1 make a very good Citation Mustang, but it is the Mustang variant of course, which, good as it is, is hardly comparable to a G5 in either size or performance. So, you are probably going to have to settle for one of the high end Citations I should think, since the Extreme Prototypes Lear 23, good as it is, like the real 23, is not great on range.

 

Either that or a BBJ 737 or something along those lines.

 

Al

 

Thanks for your response. Based on the reviews on Avsim, the Eaglesoft Citation X and the Beech 400A look like exactly what I want. I'll purchase them tomorrow. Having a ball flying the turbo Duke now though :) .

 

This is getting expensive......

Yup, it's fun to buy new toys for FSX, but just make sure you spend more time flying than buying.

 

Al

Yup, it's fun to buy new toys for FSX, but just make sure you spend more time flying than buying.

 

Al

 

Quite so. I'm also thinking of buying the Reality-XP GPS add-on as well. Trying to figure out how this whole replacement GPS thing works and how to replace or add to aircraft in Flight.

The sound changes with the prop angle...

The Reality XP GNS 430 and 530 are simulations of the real ones, as opposed to the default GPS, where it is basically a bit of a look alike with some of the functionality. To get one in your FSX aeroplanes, the Reality XP comes with an installer which will make it a 2D pop up panel for any aeroplane you like, but some FSX payware add-ons build in the option for you to have it install it in the VC, replacing the default FSX GPS they have put in there for those who do not have the Reality XP GPS gauge, for example, Aerosoft's Diamond Katana can do that via simply clicking an option.

 

But like pretty much every gauge in FSX, either on a 2D panel or as part of the 3D VC, you can swap them around. You do that by changing entries in the Panel config file, which can be edited with a simple text editor. For example, here is one of the gauges in the default Cessna 172 as it appears in the panel config file, in this case, the Cessna's altimeter:

 

gauge00=Cessna!Altimeter, 346,167, 79, 79

 

Now if I opened up the default FSX Boeing 737-800's panel config file and looked at this line:

 

gauge16=B737_800!clock, 424,896,105,105

 

And then copied this bit:

 

B737_800!clock

 

which is the name of the gauge that is the 737's clock, and then pasted it into this line:

 

gauge00=Cessna!Altimeter, 346,167, 79, 79

 

to change it to this:

 

gauge00=B737_800!clock, 346,167, 79, 79

 

and then the saved the change, the Cessna would then have the Boeing 737-800's clock displaying where it originally would have had the altimeter. That's basically how you screw around with panels and VCs to change stuff, and when you have something like the Reality XP GNS 430, that means you can copy the name of that gauge, and then paste it where the default GPS appears, and you'll have the Reality XP GNS 430 in your cockpit instead of the default GPS, so you don't actually need to use the RXP's installer, you can do it manually.

 

The figures you see after the name of the gauge on those lines I stuck in this post, relate to the position and size of the gauge, so you can effectively scale gauges to fit and shunt their position about a bit on the panel, although there are some limitations on how you can fit things, since they effectively fit into a hole on the panel where the old gauge was, so you need a suitably sized hole for any gauge you want to change, much like changing an instrument on a real aeroplane's panel would be limited by having the room to fit it and a hole in the panel to fit it into.

 

Al

Right, so I've purchased the Eaglesoft Citation X 2.0 Extreme and BeechJet 400. The Citation is definitely what I was looking for. Lots of toys to play with or get myself in trouble with. I had an initial challenge getting the Citation to install as it stopped at 13% on the file "NavData.dll". A quick email to support (responded in less than 30 minutes) got me to reboot to safe mode and install there. This worked and I was up and running shortly after. I had no issues installing the BeechJet.

 

My next challenge is to purchase a license for FSUIPC4. This is proving to be a challenge as simMarket does not appear to accept payment using Visa giftcards. I am currently waiting on their support to confirm this. I had used that same gift card to purchase the Eaglesoft products so I know it works.

 

My initial impression of the Citation is "wow". The exterior is lovely with lots of great details, as is the interior. The cockpit is exactly what I was looking for. Very clear gauges and displays and it needs lots of things done to get it started and ready for flight. The manuals are very detailed and definitely require reading to get the most out of it. I eventually got it going for a short hop and it handled nicely. Only real issues so far is the steep learning curve in terms of systems/complexity compared to other aircraft I have in FSX and the inability to get more than 80% throttle. I suspect this has to do with the lack of FSUIPC4. Hopefully simMarket will get back to me soon with a possible solution.

 

Is the FSUIPC4 license available from any other website, preferably in the US?

What you might be able to do, is pay via Paypal if you transfer some credit off the gift card to the Paypal balance, since you can use Paypal to buy from Simmarket. A bit tedious, but it might work.

 

Can't say I've ever tried that, but it's an idea.

 

Al

What you might be able to do, is pay via Paypal if you transfer some credit off the gift card to the Paypal balance, since you can use Paypal to buy from Simmarket. A bit tedious, but it might work.

 

Can't say I've ever tried that, but it's an idea.

 

Al

 

I'll try that.