top 10 must have utilities/scenery

[dfish 1]

Hi, just wanted your opinion on the must have software for FSX, I've used FS9 for a decade so I know AS, UT, GE, etc. THX

[FloG 148]

Utilites you might want to take a look at are REX (for sky/cloud/airport ground textures), AS or Opus for weather and A2A's AccuFeel. That little program improves your immersion by adding things like shaking effects when you're close to stall or maximum speed, wind sounds etc.

 

For sceneries it depends on what type of flying you enjoy most, and where you tend to fly:

For VFR you can't really go wrong with ORBX, they got demo versions form Australia (Tasmania, I think) and PNW as well as loads of fantastic freeware airfields. While their addons are also quite nice for ailiner flying, you'll get the best when operating low and slow, especially in North America.

If you're more the airliner guy, there's a lot of nice airports, such as Fly Tampa's products (actually they are widely regarded as some of the best scenery designers for FSX, e.g. Saint Martin, Hong Kong Kai Tak and Dubai, which are actually more than just the airports, and performance is top!). Other top developers are FSDreamteam(always try their demo version first, as some of their products can be frame eaters!), 29Palms (published by Aerosoft) and SimWings(also published by Aerosoft).

On a sidenote: When you are looking at Aerosoft products, I'd recommend you to always search for reviews and/or opinions on the forums, as some of their sceneries are not quite as good as some others (but you probably know that already from FS9).

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

Some addons are really disputed or can be substituted by similar ones. As a general rule: Check to carry over as many of your FS9 utilities as possible - you know them and, chances are, you like them.

 

One that's rather unique for commercial transport flying is FS Captain. (Works in FS9, as well.)

[1mikel151 71]

It really is subjective and depends on what type of flying you do. Myself, I don't have UT or GEX, don't like them so they are not must haves. I would say ORBX for scenery as i have most NA regions, but the more i fly for real and the more time I spend with photoscenery, the more I use ORBX less because of how dark the textures are. I've had Tongass Fjords from day one and can't imagine not having it. FSGenesis mesh is great. Earthsimulations do some amazing work also. I don't ever fly the tubeliners so I have no big hub addons. Accufeel from A2A

 

As for utlities, I couldn't live without SbuilderX, Instant scenery and ADE, LOL.

 

Since addons are what cause performance issues in FS I am very selective of what i add to the sim.

[Q_flyer 766]

Yes very subjective.

My essential utilities would be;-

• FSUIPC Registered
• OpusFSX
• Accu-Feel
• (Hardware: TrackIR) ... couldn't fly without it
• Reality XP 430 WAAS or 530 WAAS (only if you're a serious GA flyer)

Scenery is even more subjective.

I used to live and breath Orbx stuff but the more that's been released, somehow the less convincing I've found it, especially after my own country was released and I found it far from accurate in representing the scale of towns and cities.... I'm not 'dissing' the Orbx stuff, I'm just off it a little at the moment... (also due to conflicts and issues with other sceneries).

At the moment I'm loving high quality photoscenery like Horizon VFR UK (awesome, especially with Treescapes), MegaScenery Earth, and even better than those two; the unbelievably amazing FREE NL2000, which is ultra high quality photoscenery, along with 3D objects, autogen and airports for The Netherlands.......... all for FREE!

For bigger airports, FlyTampa, UK2000, and Aerosoft are the best in my opinion.

Good luck and have fun!

[captain420 3,099]

Whats a good TrackIR that will work with both FSX and X-Plane 10 on both Windows and Mac platform?

[Q_flyer 766]

Whats a good TrackIR that will work with both FSX and X-Plane 10 on both Windows and Mac platform?

 

Not sure I understand the question.

 

There's only 1 TrackIR, as it's a brand name.  Check it out here:-

 

UK / Europe:

 

http://www.flightstore.co.uk/pilot-supplies-c1/torches-c179/track-ir-5-p2503?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=natural-point-track-ir-5-sm1508&utm_campaign=product+listing+ads#2793

 

US / Rest of World:

 

http://www.amazon.com/TrackIr-Premium-Head-Tracking-Gaming-Pc/dp/B0029M6VKA