Recommended Add ons Uk & Europe for a returning simmer

[Wogga 0]

I have decided after a four year break I have decided to give FSX another go. I have pretty much decided on the hardware which will be a ASUS N56vz laptop with i7 and dedicated graphics.

 

As for software things have moved on considerably so what can you recommend for mainly UK and Europe. I will leave crossing the pond till I get going.

 

I will probably be asking for utopia I.e. good frame rates and good eye candy.

 

Catching up I would like few passenger aircraft B737, Airbus?

 

Some quality airfields?

 

Scenery I have tried vfr but wasn't too impressed any other recommendations? ORBX?

 

Rex is it worth it or does it drain resources?

 

Traffic? I'd like some realistic aircraft on the ground any suggestions?

 

And how do I get all that ATC chatter?

 

A big list but I am sure looking a postings and videos on YouTube a lot is possible.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

Regards

 

Pete spotting in North West England.

[mosteen 111]

You would like the UK2000 airports, great quality and low impact, and NGX is a must. I personally use FSGlobal, UTX and GEX for the whole world, and I add good payware airports for destinations I know I will frequent often on routes for my VA.

[Boeing or not going 578]

You're not going to get good framerates with lots of eyecandy using a laptop. Prepare to be disappointed.

[Wogga 0]

B747-400 if I can get near this I would be happy, this was done on the laptop I am considering.

 

 

 

You are correct my expectations are high but I guess I can compromise.

[mosteen 111]

You have to tweak your setup as good as possible and pull down your sliders.

 

Personally I would not run FS on a laptop if I was not absolutely forced to, but I'm sure you'll be fine as long as you keep your expectations down.

[Wogga 0]

Thanks Mosteen, the idea for the laptop is whilst I am away each week but yes I will be prepared to be disappointed. Uk2000 Manchester is on my list but I will streamline my add ons to suit good visuals.

 

I must research the cfg tweaking as well.

[klamal 283]

NGX of course!!! That goes without saying I think when you mention 737 especially. Airbus X Extended I've heard is pretty good for the Airbus. The new Majestic Q400 sounds awesome as well. I don't have either of the last two but am seriously considering the Q400.

 

Anyway, UK2000 airports are great as was stated already. FSDreamteam has Geneva(LSGG) which performs great on my system. They also have Zurich(LSZH) too but that is harder on the system than LSGG. If you like the Scandanavian area, then Oslo(ENGM), Copenhagen(EKCH), Stockholm Arlanda(ESSA), Helsinki(EFHK) and Stavenger(ENZV) are all good and perform well on my system. Just google the airport code with "fax" after it and one of the top hits should point you in the right direction to buy them as I can't remember if they are all Aerosoft products or not(don't think so). I also just got Palma de Mallorca(LEPA) recently and that is good too. It has photo-real scenery for the whole island and the airport is nice too. There is even autogen for 2/3 or 3/4 of the island as well.

 

FSGenesis for terrain mesh is great. Ultimate Terrain X for Europe and Ground Environment X for Europe are also must haves since it sounds like you aren't a big fan of photo real. I've heard very mixed reviews about the Orbx stuff for England. I guess it's not up to the quality as their other offerings? Don't know though as I don't own any of their stuff.

 

OpusFSX is IMO the best weather engine out there. That with either REX or Active Sky's textures(I currently have AS2012 for textures) will make the weather look awesome. There are free textures too but I forget what they're called right now.

 

I use Ultimate Traffic 2 and really don't have any problems on my system with that either. However, I don't run with my settings maxed out either so take that for what it's worth. UT2 will give you accurate airline traffic according to their actual time tables.

 

ATC - ProATC X is getting there from what I hear(still waiting to take the jump to that once they start interacting with AI). For me, I use Radar Contact 4. They have canned ATC chatter you can add if you really want that(I don't have it on). RC4 will talk to/interact with AI to some degree but they don't provide ground instructions at all for you or AI.

 

Hope that helps.

[Rocky_53 1,602]

Some good suggestions here, but I'm afraid I agree with what was said earlier, if you want to run some of the latest addons then you'll have to invest in some good kit, unless like you say, you're happy to compromise. BTW, I would be very careful about buying a new rig based on observations of a video. There are a number of techniques available to ensure video capturing does not stutter, the main one I understand is for the sim to run at 15fps and then the recorded video is then doubled up in the editing so to give the impression of a smoother picture. I also noticed there were very few vehicles and of course no clouds, one of the biggest killers of performance on any rig.

[FloG 148]

Definitely UK2000, they also offer demos, so you can see how much an impact their airports really have on your computer. Btw, I run FSX on a laptop myself, and I don't see any problems with it - except for cooling in summer, that can be quite hard - and I can run FSX at rather high settings, you'll just have to experiment a bit, what settings influence FSP more. Also Aerosoft have some really great sceneries like the Balearics, Gibraltar, Munich or Innsbruck (one of my absolute favorites) as well as their Greek islands series, the latest of which, Skiathos, seems to be released today! Another recommendation is FlyTampa Vienna (and actually all of their sceneries, pity they didn't do any other airports of Europe).

 

For VFR flying ORBX is definitely among the best, but I'D highly recommend to take their NA series for that, you simply have a bigger choice of regions and airfields as well as a stunning scenery in comparison to the rather "flat and boring" ENG - the NA products are simply the best ones! I know that when you'Re from Europe you might be a bit "scared" fo going VFR in the US, where you don't have a clue where you are, because you're not familiar with the area at all, but if you take some charts (e.g. from http://skyvector.com) you will enjoy flying quite quickly.

 

Regarding the aircraft, you might also want to give the iFly 737 a try, which is a bit less of a systems sim, but still it has at least all the things for everyday flight, and with Flight1's 30-day-money-back policy you can try it and in case you donät like it you can return it without loss. I have the iFly myself, because I'm afraid the PMDG might be a bit too taxing for my laptop, but your specs seem to be a bit higher, so it will probably work better on your system.

The Aerosoft AXE is most likely the best Airbus sim out there at the moment, but it only simulates the pilot's everyday work - i.e. no emergencies, PNF's side does not have seperate displays, they just mirror the pilot's settings.

Another great one, though I have not have enough time to really fly it too often, is the Majestic Dash 8-Q400, which I'd say is one of the benchmark addons for upcoming addons...

On a sidenote for GA: You can have something for every purpose - from rather fast planes like the Realair Legacy and the Carenado Skymaster to workhorses like the Carenado Caravan (and maybe the Aerosoft Twin Otter Extended, whcih is currently under development) and finally to the really slow, but still stunning A2A J3 Cub (with Accusim).

 

For AI traffic, there are various options, best would probably be to refer to some other threads to get some opinions, as that is usually a discussion that kinda leads nowhere, because it seems to be very much dependent on your personal machine and setup, which one works best.

Some links to such topics:

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

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/394764-ut2-traffic-360-or-mytraffic-2013/?hl=mytraffic

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/390566-which-ai-traffic-software/?hl=mytraffic

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/390073-what-is-the-best-ai-traffic-addon-available-today/?hl=mytraffic

 

Regards,

Flo

[Tom Wright 438]

For the UK, combine VFR Gen X photo scenery with UK2000 airports and Earth Simulations TreeScapes for the most immersive experience. Also consider Earth Simulations Channel Islands and Isles of Scilly which are excellent sceneries.

 

Aircraft wise, for UK regional flights consider the BN2 Islander and the new Q400.

[Wogga 0]

Thanks for the comprehensive responses re software, I feel slightly deflated about the laptop situation though. I thought 4 yers on the hardware had advanced sufficient enough to get a good result from FSX? Has anybody calculated at what processor speed you need to get FSX and add ons running maxed out, or is that another 4 years away?

 

Thanks again gang.

[Q_flyer 766]

For the UK, combine VFR Gen X photo scenery with UK2000 airports and Earth Simulations TreeScapes for the most immersive experience. Also consider Earth Simulations Channel Islands and Isles of Scilly which are excellent sceneries.

+1

 

This is the way I go too, for the UK (with + all UK2000 'Xtreme' Airports too). I did buy Orbx EU England but wasn't overly impressed, so switched back to the above setup.

 

For continental Europe, look at the FlyTampa releases (Vienna etc) plus Aerosoft do dozens of airports for Europe. Also look at FSDT / Cloud 9.

 

Best Airliners: Majestic Dash 8-Q400, Aerosoft Airbus X A320/A321, and of course, the venerable PMDG NGX.

 

Welcome back, and have fun!

[Wogga 0]

Thanks again gang, and there was me thinking ORBX England was the way to go.

 

Any thoughts on REX or is that a processor drain too far?

[Q_flyer 766]

REX is beautiful, but may not be right for your system, "out of the box".

 

It needs quite a bit of tweaking and setting up, but will give you unbeatable skies when set up correctly!

[Spook 96]

Please dont buy a laptop for fsx.