I know it's been out awhile now but I just download the demo again ( first time I downloaded back when it came out for some reason it would not work right) and did a few quick flights out of ksea and this is what I thought of it...

 

 

 

I loved it!!! Did not take me long to setup my yoke, rudders and quad... got my track ir working but it needs some fiddling with fine tune. Flying at night was stunning, for the first time in flight sim it really looked like night time. I had the settings up pretty high and had HDR on and the performance was good on my machine. Another thing I loved was how the runways are not perfectly flat..

 

I am buying it and I will get some add-on planes for it. The IXEG 737 looks really good, so does the 777.. I am goign to check out some GA stuff too. Hopefully the MS add-on community gets behind X-plane.. It's the future.

I am buying it and I will get some add-on planes for it. The IXEG 737 looks really good, so does the 777.. I am goign to check out some GA stuff too. Hopefully the MS add-on community gets behind X-plane.. It's the future.

 

I'm still mulling over whether I should dive in and buy it; I also did a few flights on the demo the other week and was very impressed. Those add-ons look great and I really want to get it for Peter Hagar's A380 as there still aren't any decent Airbus aircraft around for FSX, even though there are a few in development XP already has them now. Since I currently fly the PMDG 737 NGX mostly on FSX I've been waiting around for their 777 to come out, but might have to check out the 777 on XP10 now.

I believe one of the best reasond to invest in X-plane is that it is a very active project, with it's problems of course, but also a myriad of things being worked daily by their Dev Team. Another point for X-plane is that one can actually contact / exchange information / ideas with the devs... something difficult to find this days...

 

Some 3pd are already turning their attention towards X-Plane, including PMDG (I'm not a PMDG user btw, and I prefer GA/gliders/helicopters to heavy metal :-))

 

OSM2XP is a great project too, and the default scenery / landclass in x-plane is rather good already, even if I miss the seasons....

 

Please do not judge the aircraft by the default C172. The new versions of the baron and C90 are feeling better/good now, but the C172 is still very weak....

Get some freeware stuff for instance at x-plane.org. I would recommend for a start:

 

- The Fokker F-27

- both Zenith aircraft from here

 

 

Also, please take your time to properly configure/adapt your input hardware to the simulator, playing with axis dampening/stability augmentation, because it doesn't mean, by any way, your'e cheating when using this settings - I simply use it until I feel the inputs are translating to what I find acceptable based on my RL experience (well, with gliders only...)

This is my opinion only, others may see this differently.

 

If you fly the big stuff between Aerosoft's custom airports and 3rd party add-ons with a higher end rig you'll probably love it. If you want to fly GA with the default scenery you may be disappointed. I see a lot of potential for my type of enjoyment with this product but the effort and research I have to invest to get there is not what I expected and I thought I had read it all. I didn't, if I had I would have waited.

 

I won't say don't get it. My recommendation is to read and find the stuff that is not said or has been glossed over in the reviews and fan sites. Right now Xp10 is in beta and it will be a while for the new aircraft and scenery to reach maturity.

 

I have a list of negatives and frustrations as long as my arm as to why i should wipe this thing from my drive. Yet, after all that I'm installing the latest beta on a nice clean pc as I write this.

 

 

Edit: Just installed with the latest beta and installed the new default opening sequence, quite an improvement. My list has shortened.

Some 3pd are already turning their attention towards X-Plane, including PMDG (I'm not a PMDG user btw, and I prefer GA/gliders/helicopters to heavy metal :-))

 

Yes I did see a post in the PMDG forum a while back about their interest in X-Plane and MS's stance towards 3rd-party devs relating to Flight etc. It makes sense especially since MS have abandoned future support for FSX or for any FS platform for that matter.

 

From your experience does X-Plane simulate weather out-of-the-box more realistically than FSX? So far I've only tried it with the default clear conditions that it had set. It seems to me like you have to invest in various extras such as this in FSX to make it more realistic and am curious to know if X-Plane does a far better job on it's own as it is.

From your experience does X-Plane simulate weather out-of-the-box more realistically than FSX? So far I've only tried it with the default clear conditions that it had set. It seems to me like you have to invest in various extras such as this in FSX to make it more realistic and am curious to know if X-Plane does a far better job on it's own as it is.

 

The clouds graphics, just as they are right now, can disappoint you, but this is not weather physics... Other than that I find the default overall feeling of various weather conditions in X-Plane closer to real than in FSX. Turbulence effects, forms of precipitation, icing, thermals, ridge lift, even if not perfect, are all very acceptable and not included by default in FSX or included with limitations (thermals), requiring 3pd product for enhancement. Yet, x-plane's weather settings pretty much resemble what I have in ELITE v8, and you can only define 3 layers of wind/turbulence/clouds/etc... while in FSX you have potentially much more layers, winds aloft, etc....

 

No simulator at present models the temperature side of the well known "from high to low look out bellow" - just the pressure side of this rule is modeled, meaning that there is no way of setting pressure variation with altitude deviating from ISA. The same applies to temperature, and X-Plane not even includes dew point (while in FSX it is included but useless anyway...).

Did not take me long to setup my yoke, rudders and quad...

 

This seems to be the case with most people. I'm genuinely baffled by the few X-Plane critics who claim that it took them hours to configure their controllers.

For me XP10 was a waste of $80. Go for Prepar3d which is a more stable upgraded version of FSX.

For me XP10 was a waste of $80. Go for Prepar3d which is a more stable upgraded version of FSX.

 

Whow! Isn't diversity a great thing in this World :-)

 

Go for it Isis! The main idea is that you feel ok with it!!! I'm sure Prepar3d has also a LOT to offer :-)

I'm miffed at why u would state that one should buy Xplane because fsx is not being actively developed. Ur comparison is flawed in this respect...a comparison must be between Xplane and Prepar3d in this respect. LM are now the owners and developers for ESP ( precursor to fsx) software and I can assure u, they certainly are "actively developing" it!

 

I choose a simulator based on it's operational merits in the "now" not 3-5 years down the track when it might actually improve!

 

I'm interested in Xplane mainly because I really like the idea of being less restricted in creating objects for the sim...for example aircraft. It's the stuffing around one has to do in order to get a aircraft into fsx that I really have a problem with! It seems like unless I use gmax (which isn't being actively developed) I can't get my designs into fsx. I can't afford $4k for 3dsmax, and blender doesn't have any export scripts for fsx.

I believe one of the best reasond to invest in X-plane is that it is a very active project

 

This is both a strength and a liability. From various postings I've read from Robert Randazzo at PMDG and Mathijs Kok at Aerosoft, it's true that both companies are looking at X-Plane for possible future development. However they've also both stated that the X-Plane platform may still be too much of a moving target for them to invest in major a/c and scenery projects that will have to be tuned and re-tuned and tuned yet again as things break with each new update. I know that pain. I was into X-Plane with both feet from versions 4 thru 9. The frustration of aircraft going belly-up every time Austin tweaked this or changed that or added some other thing was tough to endure, and after 12 years I packed it up and moved on.

 

Anything that will improve X-Plane for its users is a good thing. But my question is whether Austin, who has worked pretty much in a vacuum from others with large financial stakes in the program, will be able to work cooperatively with heavy hitters like the two mentioned above so that major addons don't require fixing each time Austin on a whim goes into the X-Plane code and starts slicing and dicing. I guess time will tell.

To JCOMM.........

 

I saw your comment about the Felis YAK40 and wondered how it was doing in XPX for you? Anything not working in 10?

Thinking of getting it.

 

I've been playing (again) with 10, and in many ways it is better than FSX, and in some is lags behind. I enjoy both!

My main reason for sticking with XPX is the simple fact it is worldwide, all inclusive, and is being steadily worked on by it's developers. Therefore I would like to remain current with it and see where all the many updates take us.

 

YAK40?

 

Thank you.

 

Keep the dirty side down.

 

Jerry - retired real pilot (Army; airline; bush, private owner.)

To JCOMM.........

 

 

Hi Jerry, just saw your post now before leaving to work... sorry :-/

 

Maybe better than my words this aircraft review at xplaneBlog will be very informative:

 

http://xsimreviews.com/2011/03/25/a-quick-look-around-feliss-yak40/

 

And yes it is worth the buy ;-)

I like X-Plane! For me it's much more stable, smooth and easy to manage than FSX ever was! I also found configuring my Saitek yoke and rudder pedals (on a Mac too I might add, which lacks official Saitek drivers) an absolute breeze. I was initially disappointed graphics wise, but since I discovered OSM2XP and a number of photo sceneries and combined them I am constantly being wowed! It's remarkably easy to do, and it's mostly free! I also think the weather, visibility and cloud formations are much more realistic looking than FSX out of the box. Certainly flying over Oahu using RealScenery and OSM2XP, in the Carenado Caravan and with real weather set, climbing through the cloud layers I really got a 'pinch me I'm there feeling'!

 

I disagree with the comments on Prepar3d. I was disapponted. I bought it and found it to be little different to FSX. It was still just as slow, maybe a bit more stable.

Yes, that's sort of my path to.

 

There are still things to solve, features to add/request for, but there's a very active team behind...

 

One aspect that was irritating me was the effect of crosswinds on, say, the default C172. As soon as I released the parking brake the aircraft weathercocked into the wind. I sort of solved it playing with some of the gear parameters in Plane Maker, and adjusted it t what I find to be acceptable and non-compromising regarding takeoff/landing runs.

 

 

 

I like X-Plane! For me it's much more stable, smooth and easy to manage than FSX ever was! I also found configuring my Saitek yoke and rudder pedals (on a Mac too I might add, which lacks official Saitek drivers) an absolute breeze. I was initially disappointed graphics wise, but since I discovered OSM2XP and a number of photo sceneries and combined them I am constantly being wowed! It's remarkably easy to do, and it's mostly free! I also think the weather, visibility and cloud formations are much more realistic looking than FSX out of the box. Certainly flying over Oahu using RealScenery and OSM2XP, in the Carenado Caravan and with real weather set, climbing through the cloud layers I really got a 'pinch me I'm there feeling'!

 

I disagree with the comments on Prepar3d. I was disapponted. I bought it and found it to be little different to FSX. It was still just as slow, maybe a bit more stable.