Starting from Scratch

[Lukemeister 0]

Hi all

 

The PMDG 737 NGX and FSX have been sitting on my hard drive for one or two years now.

 

I really would like to simulate Ryanair operations from the UK to mainland Europe.

 

Can you guys give me a shopping list of what to buy? things like the best sceneries, ATC and weather, route planners, things that add to the FS experience etc.

 

 

Your advice is highly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

[ckyliu 1,749]

I'd steer clear of ORBX personally, as it messes the scenery up outside of England. If you want UK scenery I'd consider looking at Horizon VFR Generation X Photoscenery and Treescapes, it's an expensive combo but it does look nice.

 

Ground Environment X Europe (textures)
Ultimate Terrain X Europe (landclass)

FS Global 2010 or 2012 Europe (mesh)

UK2000 Xtreme Airports (these are available in a free version too)

ActiveSky 2010 (weather)
Real Environment Xtreme Essentials Overdrive (sky, clouds, airport environment)

Ground Services X (pushback and ground handling services)

FS2Crew NGX (first officer)

 

For flight planning I usually just use one of the routing databases available, if you want landing and takeoff calculations for you then get TOPCAT. ATC is best on the multiplayer networks VATSIM or IVAO (you can use Radar Contact if you prefer to be offline)

[FloG 148]

I wouldn't recommend ORBX for airliner flying, since it's more aiming at low and slow GA flyers, you'd probably miss half of the fun of it, besides IMO ORBX EU is not as good as NA.

Also, don't buy anything from Aerosoft without proper prior research, they don't actually develop that much themselves, but hire various teams with their current projects, which has led to significant differences in quality and performance. You can buy anything from them, if it was done by the SimWings team (except maybe London Heathrow, becauess that one a. has a rather bad performance, b. is available in a more up to date version by UK2000 and c. is currently being re-worked), and the 29Palms sceneries. Other nice and good sceneries published by Aerosoft are Innsbruck and Munich, as well as the German airports series (alhtough some of those airports are quite old). I'd recommend you to be very careful about buying any other major airports from them, as some of them, such as Paris CDG or Schiphol, because they tend to turn your flight into a slideshow.

UK2000, as mentioned above, is definitely a good choice, and they offer free demo versions of their sceneries. FlyTampa's Vienna and Athens are great addons, too.

Regarding textures, I'd recommend REX, those textures are a really huge improvement over default.

For route planning, you could try the deom version of FlightSim Commander.

[Lukemeister 0]

Thank you chaps. Sorry for my delayed reply.

 

 

I shall have a look at Generation X for scenery.

 

I haven't delved into the FS scene for a fair while now... Are there any PMDG standard models of the Airbus A319? When I left FS the best we had was WilcoPub.

 

Cheers

[Q_flyer 766]

The best A32X at the moment (in my opinion) is the Aerosoft Airbus X A320/A321 (was previously known as the "Airbus X Extended".

 

Some people like the BBS A320.

 

Although I personally much prefer the Aerosoft to the BBS, both are almost certainly better now, than the ancient Wilco/feelThere Airbuses.

 

No PMDG Airbuses I'm afraid, and unlikely to be any! :smile:

[FloG 148]

 

 

Are there any PMDG standard models of the Airbus A319?

PMDG standard definitely not, but I like the current Aerosoft Airbus X (guess I'll have to get used to AAX instead of AXE - what a bad acronym anyways :rolleyes: ), and if they keep on their work, I'm pretty sure that with the upcoming A318/A319 expansion it will be even better- if you don't mind the lack of abnormal prcedures.

 

The FSL A32x will most llikely be up to par with PMDG (quality-wise), but that one's still under development, so I guess the AAX is probably the best one at the moment.

[MDF86 123]

The trouble with Ryanair is that they fly to a lot of secondary airports in big destinations that don't have payware scenaries. Personally I hate flying in or out of a default airport.

 

But if you're willing to mix it up and not stick just to Ryanair routes there are some great European sceneries.

 

Personally I think Orbx England is a must. I don't fly VFR at all but couldn't imagine not using it now. Flytampa Vienna and Athens are great, and all of the UK2000 Xtreme airports are superb and blend brilliantly with Orbx England.

 

With the Airbus, wait until the Flight Sim Labs A320 is out. All indications are that it will be on a par with PMDG in terms of depth of simulation and the visuals look stunning from what I've seen. Release date though is as yet unknown.

[Lukemeister 0]

I'm tempted to go for the Aerosoft Airbus X. I have the PMDG 737NGX obviously but it's a bit too in depth for me.

 

I like to use the FMC for horizontal navigation, and adjust my altitudes manually and manually set up the ILS etc, would this be possible with the Airbus X or are there endless checklists similar to PMDG (not a bad thing may I add, i'm just short of time and patience :lol: ).

 

 

Thanks again everyone.

[bonchie 2,305]

Wait 2 weeks until Orbx releases FTX Global.

Let some people get their hands on it and see if it really does (as the preview pics suggest) revolutionize FSX graphically.

It should do what Ground Environment X does but much better quality along with revamped autogen (resized, textured, and they are adding classes) and trees. Plus they are going to release a landclass program (global landclass no less) to go with it (I think using Open Street map data, which is great for Europe especially). This would rid you of needing to buy Ultimate Terrain Europe, etc.

If FTX Global + their new global landclass does everything well enough (it should for airliner ops) then buying FTX Englad/EU might be pointless as well.

Basically, what I'm saying is in the next month or so a ton could change with what's best to buy for FSX, so save your money up and see what happens.

With whats coming, you may end up spending less to get much more + you'll have it globally vs. just buying a bunch of Europe specific products.

Things I feel like you can go ahead and buy with no risk of something better coming along anytime soon:

Real Enviornment X or Active Sky 2012 - you need some kind of weather + texture program
Ground Environment X - not a must IMO, I don't have it, but it addds another level of realism on the ground
FS Global 2010 - another not must IMO if you are needing to save money but if you have it mesh can add a lot to the experience.

Payware airports - UK2000 for England, Aerosoft has good mainland EU stuff.

[FloG 148]

 

 

I like to use the FMC for horizontal navigation, and adjust my altitudes manually and manually set up the ILS etc, would this be possible with the Airbus X or are there endless checklists similar to PMDG (not a bad thing may I add, i'm just short of time and patience :lol: ).

I found it quite simple to manage. Of course you'll have to enter some thing like your route into the FMS, but that's not so difficult at all, do it once or twice, and you can do without the manual. Genrally speaking, an Airbus is probably easier to get used to than a Boeing, because the philosophy behind it is to keep it very simple, so that the pilots can actually concentrate on flying.

It's actually that simple that for an engine start you just need to have the APU running (2 switches to on, wait till the APU's available), switch on APU bleed air (third switch) and then just flip the ignition switch to the right, and then open the fuel valves. Finally, ignition back to normal, APU off, and off you go. See, that's not even ten steps (I might have forgotten one or two, but still...) - it is that simple!

[Kaboki 437]

 

 

I'd steer clear of ORBX personally, as it messes the scenery up outside of England.

 

Haven't messed up any of my sceneries, and with FTX Global around the corner that will remove the need for FTX Central I can't see any good reason for not getting Orbx EU. I hear people say Orbx is only good for low and slow but I think it looks just as good from flightlevel 30.

 

Right now Im flying from Aerosoft Gibraltar X to Madeira X With FTX Central set to EU and UTX active and can't see any issues. Only thing missing now is FTX Global textures and I'm in heaven :rolleyes: So far the only problem I had is the autogen issue with the Santorini scenery wich could have been fixed the way 29Palms did with Skiathos and Mykonos if the devs would have cared.