Hi guys,

I have been out the FSX game for almost two years now and would like to get back into it and was hoping you could suggest a few things for me. I have tried to comb thru the reviews and forums and got a bit overwhelmed. I sim in the US west and northwest US of flights about 1-3 hours. I have a mid to high end pc and I will purchase addons this week. I do have some of the better addons (PMDG, ect...) but am not a big fan of post mod install heavy tweaking. I am looking for your ideas on the following;

 

1. Suggested Airbus product (not too concerned about the external model, just good 3d flightdeck and reasonable systems, no 380's)?

 

 

2. Suggested AI traffic addon (single package, good frames, easy install)?

 

 

3 Suggested terrain upgrade addons (if you think its worth it)?

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Hi Mike,

 

Personally I do not fly any Airbus' so unfortunately I cannot advise you there, although I hear that Aerosoft's Airbus X is OKAY if you're looking for something reasonably complex, but they don't compare to PMDG's NGX from what I understand.

 

AI traffic wise there are many packages that you can use. A popular one is World of AI (It's Free!) but does take some effort to get working correctly, especially with FSX. I currently use Just Flight's Traffic 360 which I really like and have no problems with. I also understand that Ultimate Traffic 2 is a brilliant package as the flight plans are a little more realistic (if that's what you desire).

 

With regards to terrain upgrades; I am a massive fan of ORBX's stuff. It is exceptional stuff, although their packages for the the W/NW of the USA only stretch down as far as Wyoming (ish). Anyhow, I'd still suggest you check them out. It's money VERY well spent, especially now they've introduced the 'classic' collection.

 

I hope that's of some sort of help,

 

Alenia1 B)

UT2 for the traffic. UT2 does a great job of populating fsx with many different planes. The other great thing, is that it runs outside of fsx, so you can install fs9 traffic without loosing the traffic.

 

ORBX for the scenery. There addons are fantastic.

Orbx Pacific Northwest, and their (free!!) AI pack for the area. Can't comment on the Airbus as I don't have one.

 

Mike

Traffic: UT2 if you want to experience realistic populations and routes. I've heard My Traffic is pretty good if you simply want to set how much traffic in your current area, regardless of realistic scheduling and air routing.

 

Terrain: if you fly VFR and want better visual terrain cues, Ultimate Terrain X will increase the accuracy of tile placement, river and shoreline borders, much more secondary roads (with nice amount of car traffic and night time lighting). Makes terminal regions on IFR flights nicer too of course.

 

My #1 addon is TrackIR, my #2 addon is Active Sky 2012 (in case you are open to suggestion)

 

Cheers

My recommendation is Ultimage Terrain and Fscene and Mytraffic 2013, which is what I have. I can't compare with other similar addons I don't have. REX is good for weather, but I don't use it much unless I want to fly through weather, because it is a hard hitter on frame rates. These are all easy to install and to use. Mytraffic is easy to modify the number of planes in the area, but modifying the schedules looks complicated, so I only adjust the number of planes using the FSX traffic menu. With the same setting, a medium-sized airport might give you a landing or takeoff every fifteen minutes, whereas a busy airport like Los Angeles with the same traffic setting could give you one every minute.

 

Henri

1. I have the Airbus X Extended, and I find it okay. As others have said, it's no PMDG, but still it is a good plane, reasonably complex and great visuals. However there still are some bugs, probably the most prominent of which is the totally miscalculated top of descent. If you want better systems fidelity you should wait for FSL's Airbus to come.

 

2. I have MyTraffic 5.4, which has the most various aircraft models - from pax and cargo planes to GA as well as military planes and helicopters. The choppers behave a bit odd, though, more like STOL aircraft. I really like it, as it probably is the most comprehensive traffic addon, and it is not as FPS heavy on my computer as Ultimate Traffic 2 is. For a more comprehensive discussion about the AI traffic discussion please use the search function or the following thread:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/398880-ultimate-traffic-2-my-traffic-x-trafficx-whats-your-favorite/

 

3. ORBX is what I recommend, but that's better for low and slow action than for airliner flying, and it's kind of addictive. But they are one of the greatest scenery developers out there. If you're looking for some great photo sceneries with high detail meshes, BlueSkyScenery might be for you. They develop great freeware photosceneries, currently mainly for the South West US, and daytime only, but it sure looks very nice!

 

Regards,

Flo

UT2 does a great job of populating fsx with many different planes. The other great thing, is that it runs outside of fsx

Seriously? So it can be run from another PC, possibly lightening the load on FSX?

Or do you mean it doesnt run within the same application, thus not eating up the valuable 4GB limit for FSX?

I have no clue if it can run on a totally separate pc. What I meant, is that the program is not affected by the fsx traffic settings, therefore you can run your favorite fs9 packages with UT2 in fsx.