Hey guys,

 

I am an avid FS9 simmer but I recently upgraded almost all of my hardware and had to reinstall everything. It literally took me over 25 hours of just installing and setting up the sim... That doesn't include the time tweaking the .cfg. Anyways, after all of this, I can't get my sim to look like it did before, mainly the blurries. So I got thinking of FSX, and that's why I'm poking my head in here. Before I get going to far, my system specs are:

Asus P8P67-M PRO

8GB DDR3 RAM

nVidia GeForce GTX 560 1GB

intel i5-2500k

 

I've youtube'd these specs for FSX and the results looked pretty good. The biggest thing holding me back from FSX is the amount of $$$ I've spent on FS9 addons over the years:

 

 

PAYWARE:

FsGenesis USA 76m

FsGenesis USA 19m

FsGenesis The Rockies 38m

FsGenesis The West Coast38m

FsGenesis Buffer Mesh 153m

FSGENESIS CANADA        76m

FSGENESIS ALBERTA       19m

FSGENESIS B.C.          19m

FSGENESIS CANADA PLAINS 38m

FSGENESIS CANADA CORDIL 38m

Ultimate Terrain USA

Ground environment

AS 6.5

REX

FSCaptain

FSDT KLAS

FSDT KDFW

FSDT KLAX

FSDT Hawaii V1

FSDT Hawaii V2

FSDT KFLL

FSDT KJFK

FlyTampa KBOS

FlyTampa KSEA

FlyTampa KSAN

FlyTampa KMDW

FlyTampa TNCM

FlyTampa HongKong

FlightBeam KSFO

FlightZone KPDX

canUK CYYC

ImagineSim KDEN

ImagineSim KSJC

ImagineSim KATL

 

 

AIRCRAFT:

----------------

DreamFleet 727

PMDG 744

PMDG MD-11

PMDG 1900C

Level D 767

iFly 736/737/738/739/BBJ/BBJ2/BBJ3

Wilco A318/A319/A320/A321

Wilco E170/E190

EagleSoft Citation X

Flight1 ATR 72

Carenado Piper Cherokee

Carenado 208B Grand Caravan

Carenado 337 SkyMaster

Carenado 210 Centurion

Embraer Phenom 100

Leonardo Maddog 2010 Pro

 

-----------------

TSS Sounds 737 727 767 A320 ATR MD11

AES 55 credits

TOPCAT

FS2CREW Voice iFly

FS2Crew Voice PMDG 747

FS2CREW Voice MD80

FSCAPTAIN

 

 

How many (besides FSDT) of these addons can be used for FSX too? 

 

The other question/concern I have is the amount of tweaks to FSX to get it stable. Oh the horror stories I've heard about the stability of FSX. Just googling around FSX problems, it looks like a HUGE mountain I would have to climb just to get FSX running smooth and stable. Are there any good posts that pretty much have all the tweaks you'll need in one thread? 

 

And the last question (that I can think of): I have 2 HDD's, one specifically for Windows 7 OS, nothing more. The other is for FS only. If I install and use both FSX and FS9 on just the one HDD, there shouldn't be any issues, correct? I think I know the answer to this one, but I just want to make sure.

 

Anyways, I hope I can eventually get both FS9 and FSX running extremely nice with your help!

Thanks a million!

 

Kyle

That's quite a list of products you are asking our membership to check out to see if it has been upgraded for FSX or is a FS9 product that is compatible with FSX.  Most of the products that were upgraded to FSX can be bought for a cheaper price than buying the full version.  Almost all products from FS9 are not fully compatible with FSX but may still work.  There's a Flight One product called Addon_Converter_X which converts fs9 textures on the fly but still it doesn't convert everything.  It only converts the stuff while you are flying and everything will revert back to FS9 once that session is completed.  It has a demo so you can see if that will make your fs9 product work.  Ground Environment for FS9 is not compatible as it replaces the default textures.

 

Here's a very good guide on installing FSX - http://support.precisionmanuals.com/KB/a87/how-to-uninstall-and-reinstall-fsx.aspx.

 

Pinned at the top of this forum (and others) is an excellent Software and Hardware Guide for FSX which discusses tweaks, software, and hardware recommendations.

 

Best regards,

Jim

Kyle,

 

Your system should run FSX acceptably if you're willing to compromise with your FSX settings and carefully OC your CPU.

 

The best experience I can share is to start with a clean FSX + Acceleration + Win 7 64 install. Then back it up in a safe place, just in case you ever want to go back.

 

Then consider these as FSX Essentials.

 

1) REX Essentials + Opus Weather Generator

2) GEX/UTX/Mesh. (This will soon be replaced by FTX Global)

3) AI Program: My Traffic 2013 or UT2

4) ATC Program: (Free Editvoicepack) or buy (PFE)

5) Flight Planner: FS Build or FS Commander. You can also check out Electronic Flight Bag

6) ORBX Regions and airports. Perfect for VFR flying.

7) Airports: Check out FlyTampa, FSDT, Flightbeam, and Simwings.

8) Photo sceneries: If this is what you like.

9) Planes: I only install what I use. Beaver, RV7, Lancair, Duke, F1 Mustang, 737NGX, A2A P51 Civilian, Lotus L-39. 

10) Utilities: GSX, FSUIPC, GNS 530, AccuFeel, etc.

 

Some FS9 devs do offer the free versions for FSX, some don't.

 

In order to run FSX acceptably I suggest that you put Win 7 64 in one drive and FSX in a separate drive. SSD is better and faster than traditional drives.

 

Download the latest drivers and the latest Inspector and set it conservatively. Aviod high AA and SGSS. (Use 8xSQ, 8anis, instead.)

 

FSX should also be set conservatively. Lock fps to 30, lower AI to 25%, keep cars at 10%, set AG and Scenery complexity to dense, water to High 2x (when using BP=0), and cloud visibility at 60 miles, and use cloud resolutions of 1024.

 

Your CFG also needs some tweaking. Avoid LOD settings above 4.5. This can cause OOM errors and doesn't really help sharpen textures. Better, faster hardware and FSX tweaking is the key to sharper textures.

 

Check out this thread: http://www.simforums.com/forums/different-scenarios-different-settings-thats-how_topic41798.html

 

Here are some popular fsx.cfg tweaks that I use successfully:

 

[JOBSCHEDULER]
AffinityMask=14

 

[bufferPools]
UsePools=0

 

[Main]
FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.15

 

[GRAPHICS]
HIGHMEMFIX=1

 

With a little patience you can learn what it takes to have a smooth FSX experience.

 

Have fun.

 

Jose

You may need to Download NVIDIA inspector and tweak your graphics settings. Also, if your I5 2500K isn't overclocked already you need to because that particular CPU is tailor made for it and will increase Fsx performance more than anything else

 

2) GEX/UTX/Mesh. (This will soon be replaced by FTX Global)

 

As far as I know FTX Global includes only textures like GEX does, so it won't replace mesh products at lest. Not sure if it's compatible with UTX or not.

Thanks for the quick replies! I am wanting to run FSX beyond just acceptable, something like this: http://youtu.be/ajwUd9hyYTM which that user is actually running slightly less specs than I am. I'm overclocking as we speak. I had to reinstall EVERY thing (pain in the butt!) just this last week and so it is a fresh install of windows 7 64bit and will install FSX on the 2nd HDD. As for the acceleration pack, is that highly recommended? I bought FSX discs waaay back when it first came out and haven't bought anything FSX related since (besides REX). As you can see, I have a heck of a list of addons for FS9, which is what makes it hard to give up. But, if I can get FSX to run stable and look like the video I linked, it *may* be worth it.

As far as I know FTX Global includes only textures like GEX does, so it won't replace mesh products at lest. Not sure if it's compatible with UTX or not.

JV posted pics that show compatability with UTX.

 

One thing that should NOT be overlooked is that initially FTX will NOT replace UTX, Landclass, or Mesh, but there will be constant updates to the Landclass, etc.

 

JV, also stated that there will be a new technology for FTX Global and 3D lighting has been improved.

_hi,

 

_{acceleration pack is not necessary, but then you need to install sp2 (diff is a couple of fighter planes)}

_{When you will install it: turn off UAC,windows defender and av.}

_{Install it outside any program files folder and get the latest fsuipc version (free or registered)}

 

_{good luck}

 

_John

 

How many (besides FSDT) of these addons can be used for FSX too? 

 

The good news is that all the FlyTampa and Flightbeam products have FSX versions available for free since you bought the FS9 versions. You can't actually use the  FS9 versions in FSX, so you will have to re-download all the FSDT, Flightbeam, and FlyTampa versions for FSX. A little work, but nice not to have to repurchase all that stuff again. The only downside is that most of your a/c like the PMDG stuff you will have to purchase the FSX versions of.

 

The good news is that all the FlyTampa and Flightbeam products have FSX versions available for free since you bought the FS9 versions. You can't actually use the  FS9 versions in FSX, so you will have to re-download all the FSDT, Flightbeam, and FlyTampa versions for FSX. A little work, but nice not to have to repurchase all that stuff again. The only downside is that most of your a/c like the PMDG stuff you will have to purchase the FSX versions of.

 

Great!! That is good news!

 

Certainly got a hill to climb! I installed a lot of my scenery into FSX now, and going to follow the AVSIM FSX guide. That looks pretty in depth!

 

I'm going to wait for my CPU cooler to arrive before overclocking as I kept failing the stress tests. At stock settings, I can get about 20fps at FSDT KLAX with FSX settings maxed. Although I can tell there is a fair amount of tweaking to do to get the scenery to look better. I really hope with a 4.5Ghz i5 I'll be able to run FSX with all these addons like a charm! 

 

Thanks for the help so far, guys! It's going to take me a loooong time to get FSX running with all these tweaks.

Ok so here is what I've got accomplished in my mission to switch to FSX... I have my CPU stable at 4.5 and I have tweaked the .cfg to Word Not Allowed's suggestions. The sim ran very nice with all default settings maxed. So I went ahead and installed everything into FSX that I had. I also picked up Orbx Pacific NW, GEX, and ASE. Now to my next question, what are the best payware addons YOU guys have and would suggest? 

 

On my wishlist I have:

Accu-Feel, PMDG MD-11X, UTX, Orbx KJAC, RealAir Duke, FsCommander, and am looking for a good Las Vegas scenery. Not the airport, but the best product that depicts the city well for flying into and out of Vegas. 

 

There are probably some good ones I have not listed (like the NGX) and if so, please throw out your suggestions! (Thank DJJose for yours!)

 

Thanks!

Kyle

Good luck on your endeavors! Compromises have to be made with fsx settings on a CPU screaming @ 5 Ghz.. You should get very acceptable results though. My 3770K @ 4.5 Ghz and all settings per Word Not Allowed's guide allow over 30 fps in almost all situations. I say almost. Don't expect to be able to achieve 30 fps in EGLL with the PMDG NGX with all the sliders maxed though (yes AI, Road traffic, and autogen too).