This is a companion thread to my "What are we giving up by moving from Flight to FSX."

 

So what do we get by switching from Flight to FSX?

 

1. We're getting the entire globe. You can fly from anywhere to anywhere, in pretty much any aircraft you can imagine.

2. We're getting real world weather, which gives us rational variable weather anywhere we fly. We can also set weather parameters to our liking. While Flight had some incredible weather effects, they weren't as well integrated as they could have been.

3. While every Flight airport in Hawaii was 'high definition', there are 41 such airports in FSX in the Deluxe edition. There are also a similar number of high definition cities. Alaska did not get quite the same treatment Hawaii did, and it's unlikely that future DLC areas would have gotten as much attention as Hawaii did.

3. Complete working instruments. This includes such things as an outside air temperature gauge and working GPS with complete database. We've also got a variety of autopilots. Some of the engine gauges don't work right without a few tweaks, even on payware aircraft, but they can be made to work.

4. Customization is possible. This can be anything from a simple aircraft or airport/scenery tweak to complete downloadable aircraft and scenery. If something isn't right, we can fix it ourselves or find someone who already did. This includes innumerable downloadable aircraft, both payware and freeware.

5. Lots of third party addons in addition to aircraft and scenery. Weather replacements, graphics replacements, flight planners, special controllers, the works.

6. Simulated life. There are other aircraft in the air and at the airports, there are cars on major roads, there is an ATC system to guide you through it all. The ATC is especially important if you're using real world weather, as Flight Following will keep you informed about barometer changes. There are leasure boats on the water, about the only thing I really missed in Flight.

 

There is probably a lot more, but I have to take a phone call and wanted to get this started.

 

Hook

I have several hundred hours logged in FSX and thoroughly enjoyed it, for me though I just can't seem to get motivated to get back into it just yet. And it does look good on my sysem, with FS Genesis Mesh, REX2, UTX, and GEX, and AccuFeel.

 

For civilian flying, it is still Flight for me - for now. But I am starting to get more into my other combat sims now as well. Perhaps when the fall and winter get here and I have a lot more available time on the weekends, I will get back into FSX - maybe. I just do not feel an attraction to it at this time.

 

It does sadden me to see folks leaving Flight already, but certainly can understand knowing what we know - I guess that cloud hanging over it now just diminishes the excitement for many. Even this forum has really started to lessen in participation by members, which saddens me as well, I assume because they are leaving Flight now.

As I posted on the other thread, YES FLIGHT is FLIGHT, what else? It is, for me - THE SIM!

 

My other sim is now X-plane10 :-), although I tried to get back to FSX.... I am really enjoying X-Plane10, in terms of installation/tweaking it is very close to FLIGHT, or even easier in install part, multiplatform, and a fully featured simulation that allows it's users to push their imagination creating airships of various types. For rotary wing it is also an excellent simulator, and I do like helos :-)

I have several hundred hours logged in FSX and thoroughly enjoyed it, for me though I just can't seem to get motivated to get back into it just yet.

 

Well... I had to try FSX with TrackIR to see how it worked. Flew around home a bit, then made a flight plan for a longer flight. Then another, and another... and along the way realized how much I was missing in Flight, and how much I missed FSX.

 

With the possible awards running out, and problems with the daily aerocaches, I may be doing a lot more flying in FSX these days.

 

Hook

To continue the list:

 

7. Helicopters. I do love flying helicopters. Even the default ones in FSX. But the Dodosim 206 Jetranger is much nicer.

8. Sailplanes. This is as close to pure flying as you can get. Add CumumusX for real world thermals and ridge lift and I'm in heaven.

9. Airliners. I don't fly these myself, but a lot of people really like them.

 

Hook

8. Sailplanes. This is as close to pure flying as you can get. Add CumumusX for real world thermals and ridge lift and I'm in heaven.

 

Good choice! Use Aerosoft DiscusX! with it ;-)

 

Together with Realair's SF260, Flight1's PC-12, ATR-52 and Leveld767, these were the reasons I really tried to get back and stay with FSX Gold.... It didn't work, probably because my system is still not the best to run it (?)

The promise of Flight kept me from purchasing FSX add-ons as i waited for it's introduction. I added the Hawaiian kit to Flight and felt that my FS9 (way loaded with stuff) still looked better. So in the end I lost time waiting for Flight that could have been spent enjoyably in FSX with the quality third party add-ons that Flight locked out. Now it's time to build a new computer and dust off my FSX dvd... and help out the hardworking Add-on Artists!

Use Aerosoft DiscusX! with it ;-)

 

That was going to be my next purchase, next time I got into flying sailplanes. I had to tweak the heck out of the default DG808S to get it to fly right. It's not perfect, but a lot closer to what I wanted. I did add the instrumentation from the SOAR DG808S, which I liked a lot better than the flight model for that aircraft. :)

 

So in the end I lost time waiting for Flight that could have been spent enjoyably in FSX with the quality third party add-ons that Flight locked out.

 

You haven't lost anything. All the addons are still there and available. I don't consider my time with Flight wasted, as I did learn a lot and had a lot of fun.

 

---

 

Just to make sure, this thread is not in any way intended to bash Flight. What Flight did, it did very well indeed. And actually, I expected to see almost all of the above list in Flight in 2 to 5 years. It's too bad we won't get the chance to see it now.

 

Hook

My short list:

 

Any A2A aircraft. The flight and engine modelling doesn't get better than these.

 

PMDG, enough said.

 

Orbx Scenery.

 

RealityXP GNS Gauges.

 

WAAS approaches and complex Instrument Flying.

 

AUTOPILOT!

 

Better controller compatibility.

 

FSUIPC

 

AI and ATC

 

Real Environment Xtreme textures and real-world weather.

 

FS Commander, and/or Aivlasoft EFB use for navigation and flight planning.

 

 

Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk 2

My short list:

 

- More sophisticated airplanes (I love my F33 Bonanza with a GNS430 and a realistic autopilot)

 

- More scenery choices (Nice to fly around in the Pacific North West where I live)

 

- No MS Live to contend with... Removed it from my system, Gamertag, Xbox MS points, and all

 

- A choice of vendors to buy from (RealAir, Carenado, Flight1, Orbx.. need I say more?)

I reinstalled FSX last weekend and spent the week since tweaking, installing old basic add-ons (mainly GEX/UTX), and tweaking some more. Having found acceptable performance, I've been able to spend the last couple of days just flying around and seeing what I've missed, and what I've lost.

 

I've also, for the first time, been trying out some new high-end add-ons...

 

Installing ORBX PNW led instantly to adding ORBX PF as well. Surprisingly, to me, I'm getting just as good sustained framerates (20-30 fps, no noticeable stutters) over ORBX scenery as the standard areas with GEX/UTX, and the autogen popping is less obvious as well. I'm going to be hitting ORBX up every time I want new scenery, I think, because it is gorgeous. I don't think I can justify the prices for adding the individual enhanced airports, though. The Rockies will be my next scenery, I'm sure. Probably NZ too, eventually. It's too bad FSX sucks so bad at rendering cliffs, though.

 

Rather than going back to old standby REX, after reading so much about AS2012, I had to see it in action... just, wow. I love the Wx engine (especially the historical data, as I sim mostly at night but prefer daytime flying), and tons of graphical customizing options. I've found a combination of cloud/water settings that look right to me... better than Flight's for sure, other than where the low-hanging clouds intersect the terrain. Flight still handles that better. I do love having the correct weather for that day rather than just themes, while retaining the ability to load a day with the conditions I want if the real weather today isn't suitable. The voice ATIS replacement is a nice touch, and boy, have I missed that in Flight.

 

The RealAir Legacy is everything everyone said, and more. I've never flown anything with this kind of performance, but the flight model seems plausible. It doesn't quite make me feel like I'm sitting there in the seat the way Flight does, but it comes close. Close enough that I will live with it, considering the truly comprehensive cockpit functionality. It sure is nice being able to set the autopilot while I fold, unfold, and refold my paper charts! The custom sounds are good, but I think Flight also has an edge here. Overall, though... best FSX plane I've used, by a good margin.

 

Of course, it's also disappointing, each time I start FSX, because Flight could have had all this and more if simply given time to mature and expand, and on top of it's own improvements.

 

Well for me it was back to FS9. I would say I am getting about the same level of performance with FS9 as I was getting with Flight.

 

The main benefits for me are being able to fly in New Zealand again and with a much wider choice of aircraft to choose from.

 

I just installed Godzone Real New Zealand Auckland City, which recently changed from payware to freeware, Yet another benefit of using an older sim.

 

I will pop back to Flight now and then just to do a spin in the Maule which is so much better than the Maule I have in FS9.

 

Like many I am dissapointed that Flight did not last but, there again, at the rate they were going it was going to take for ever to provide all of the content we are used to having. And we don't even know if that was their intention.

Installing ORBX PNW led instantly to adding ORBX PF as well. Surprisingly, to me, I'm getting just as good sustained framerates (20-30 fps, no noticeable stutters) over ORBX scenery as the standard areas with GEX/UTX, and the autogen popping is less obvious as well.

 

Remember that topic in which we talked about autogen and that I said the popup in FSX wasn't bad at all and that I found it even better then in Flight? So apparently that was due to Orbx indeed.

 

After going back to FSX there were a few things that made me go 'Ah yes... missed that...!':

 

- the absolutely incredible amount of 'DLC' (called addons for FSX )

- configurable weather

- ATC (default FSX ATC might be not too good but it's better then nothing)

- AI (GA but also cars on the ground)

- being able to search/select airports by ICAO code or name

- being able to plan a flight

 

This seems a short list but there is a lot more. However, all that has to do with my first point above: addons. Addons add so much more to FSX that I really missed in Flight!

- awesome planes in which EVERYTHING works as it should (my favorite plane by far right now is the RealAir Legacy which on its own not only gives COMPLETE systems (it's nice being able to set the mixture properly again and to have an AP) but also great sounds and FD).

- great detailed scenery (I only fly in Orbx NA so having the entire world is NOT something I missed in Flight)

- REX (which I only use for specific textures)

- RXP GNS 530: compare THAT to the Icon GPS...!

- Plan-G flightplanner

 

Right now I am still creating my own weather but I will be installing ASE shortly which makes weather even more great. And I am also considerng getting Air Hauler as a Job board replacement although I am afraid flying will become too much of a real job then...

 

All in all I found out that there FSX offers me FAR more then Flight did (see the other topic to see what I liked in Flight). In case you wonder why the heck I completely went for Flight then: well, that mainly was for the promise Flight held... It could have been great... but as it is now FSX is my favorite sim by far... (and it still kinda hurts having to say that...).

RXP GNS 530

 

Planning to get it for X-Plane10 as well. It is even easier to use there, as a plugin - no panel editing required :-)

 

Unfortunately even the tweak from "Venetubo" didn't bring smoothness to my FSX Gold install... After a few days and using the Flight1 PC-12, or the Leveld767, default weather with thunderstorms on an approach to Lisbon's LPPT, the fps got back down to 7fps :-( A shame.... or maybe not because otherwise I could be trying to tweak it now instead of flying FLIGHT and X-plane10, both smoothly on my PC. I know it's not a great machine ([email protected]) but still not that bad....

Unfortunately even the tweak from "Venetubo" didn't bring smoothness to my FSX Gold install...

 

I know it's not a great machine ([email protected]) but still not that bad....

 

Overclocked, it would be. My i7-2600K performed poorly at the stock 3.4GHz, but at 4.4 it does much better. FSX is simply starved for CPU-cycles, so anything you add there offers noticeable improvements.