I run FS global 2010 at max settings. It's a great product with a lot of detail and very few errors. I occasionally get a mountain pop, but it works.

I read this thread because my old machine went belly up and 'm getting a new system. I have used FS Global '09 and I now have FS Global ultimate for the America's and Europe. I do a lot of VFR in light twins and I love it but I wanted to check to see if this would be a good time to switch to genesis or some other. After reading all the posts here I'm sticking with Global and getting ultimate for Asia and Oceania as well.<br /><br />For those who fly the world, especially at low altitude, and do not have a good mesh product, it makes a world of difference in your enjoyment of our hobby!<br /><br />Thanks to all who contributed to the discussion and helped with my decision.

I've been using FS Genesis for many many years but to be perfectly honest the last couple of years I started to dislike the product line more and more. Not really because of the product itself but more because of all "advertising" which in 95% was the developer more or less begging people to buy his products so he could pay his bills. If my memory serves me I think on a couple of occasions he not only asked people to buy his products but even asked people to support his future business by making donations.

 

I don't want to come out as a cold person but when someone running a business start begging his/her customers for their money and bringing in lots of personal stuff into the picture like bills that need to get paid to keep the house warm for the family I think you've gone too far.

 

So...when I a couple of months ago felt it was time to renew my FSX a bit I started to get some totally new products but also replaced some and FSGenesis was one of them which was replaced by FS Global Ultimate. I do all my flying all over Europe and although I haven't done any side by side comparisons since I no longer have any FS Genesis mesh installed I do find the mesh and in particular the mountains etc looking more realistic with FS Global Ultimate compared to FS Genesis.

 

So, at this time I would recommend FS Global Ultimate which I believe is the current "Rolls Royce" for FSX mesh but also because of the other reasons mentioned.

One more thing I would like to add, at the same time I replaced FS Genesis with FS Global Ultimate I also bought a new scenery landclass from SceneryTech and that also was a real improvement especially in certain areas. I already had UTX but learned these two products complimented each other very well and I'm very happy with that purchase! Made my FSX looking better than ever before and at a very low cost since the SceneryTech product wasn't expensive at all.

 

So...to have a really nice and realistically looking FSX I would say best thing you can do is using:

 

- FS Global Ultimate for mesh

 

- UTX in combination with SceneryTech for landclass

 

- GEX (or maybe soon to come FTX Global) for textures

 

Then of course there are photo realistic scenery for some areas but I think that is very much a personal thing what kind of look you prefer and since they are two completely different ways texturing the ground in FSX they both have their pros and cons.

 

I know this is an old thread, but just wanted to jump in here and reveal something that no one is mentioning concerning terrain resolution.

 

It's hard-coded into the terrain engine that the higher the resolution, the shorter the visual range. Conversely, the lower the resolution, the longer the visual range. Once you get up past 10m resolution the visual range is really so short that you will see no difference except on the ground. By the time you get 2.4m resolution, the visual range isn't much more half a mile or so.

 

So while 2m resolution will take up enormous amounts of disk space, the visual benefit is is extremely short, almost to the point of being senseless unless you're using Walk Simulator.

 

Just sayin . . .