November 8, 201312 yr Ever since buying and applying UrbanMaxx , and with a great North Bay, Ontario, Canada custom scenery pack from the .org download site, I can't seem to stop flying in this part of Ontario. It is rendered so absolutely beautifully, with SimHeaven's OSM for North America, and there is so MUCH TO SEE and enjoy! For instance, after having taken off from the Trout Lake Water Drome (btw....absolute detail...you can spend 20 minutes just idling off shore and enjoying the depth of the Trout Lake creation, the docks, planes, boats; sail and powered, the taxi in and out buoys that are needed to be followed in real life....shallow shoals, etc..) , if you head out West, with a fly over of the downtown of North Bay, towards the center of the actual Bay...you will see a sandbar way out there. Well, fly towards it at low altitude, (cause you are going to land at a point....) and as you approach, see what easter egg is there....THEN.....bank left, and head towards the island that you will see in the distance. As you near it, you will see buildings and get as close as you want....then land, and water taxi around the island. What you will find...is probably a penal island colony (I didn't know that Ontario had a prison institution out in the Bay like Alcatraz!!!!! You will see that there is a very, very tall fence system completely surrounding the buildings and obviously keeping whatever 'bad boys'...locked up. I mean...this out scale fence has massive height. I can only imagine because unlike Alcatraz, there would be no natural wildlife to impede a summer month escape swim to the shore, although it is quite a distance, and you'd probably be detected way before you could make shore..lol. Check it out. I don't know if it is part of the North Bay, Ontario scenery download pack, or not....but what a hoot in the many, many easter eggs that seem to very much populate Xplane 10.253b and fabulous scenery and airports, from so many talented, and most generous patrons and users. Xplane...can NOT be beat by any other flight simulation platform for two most powerful highlights and feature sets: 1. Night flying environment. Even FSXG (which I rave about...) can't touch it for immersion and level of realism in terrain fly over,... 2. Water operation and viewing of ANY KIND! Nothing comes close to rendering water, waves, sparkle, sun and moon reflective characteristics, and water physics playing upon the pontoons, etc. There is no simulator out there at present to even come close. I am blown away with this aspect alone. So VERY realistic. I've flown many times in my neighbor's amphib up to my sister's lakeside home (he is three properties' down from them) and while I have never been in control (no ratings....) I can tell from the feel of the take-off and landing, that my Carenado Bush Amphib is spot on when being in contact with XPlane water bodies. It is SO WONDERFUL....and adds to my 'really being there' moments. So..friends, check out North Bay, Ontario, Canada, with SimHeaven North America OSM, and the fabulous package for North Bay, from off of the .org. Fly around with the highest settings you can handle...and oh....the latest nVidia driver suite 331.65 is a KILLER version. Great clarity, and stutter free, whether in Xplane, or FSX. This is the best driver suite I have ever used for flight simming. It is also of the family that will allow you to run a G-sync monitor when available later on this year. You all have a great day or night, depending on what part of this planet you call home.... Post Edit: If you want night time excellence and a night environment (as you'd see with lights from cities, towns, villages...) you need to pick up the most reasonable costing UrbanMaxx 3D, and run the developer's (PPP.win, the second texture choice of the three) texture pack downloaded from off of his product site.. The virtual 'realness' is the best I have ever seen in a flight simulator. FSX/ORBX doesn't even come close to how you feel so truly there, above the night city-scape. That's with UrbanMaxx and PPP, of course! Man...you are SO THERE! I can't wait for John's v3.0 )))))) I wonder if Xplane 10.30 will add even further visual assets to heighten the immersion factor? We'll have to wait, I guess to answer that...... Mitch
November 8, 201312 yr Mitch, it is always rewarding to read your posts :-) Thanks! Yes, I can only understand your enthusiasm with how great X-Plane 10 is and how better it is becoming from day to day. The last two weeks were prone in great add-ons for me. UrbanMAXX Extreme, teh Felis An-24, and now the JarDesigns Airbus NEO. I am also becoming more and more a fan of the FF WL 777, and look forward to get the new 757! Yesterday, while testing the NEO, I had one of the best simulator sessions in my life, on an approach to LPPT rw 21, a coupled one, under bad weather ( marginal VFR), cros-winds, at dusk! Whow, the scenery, even the default clouds not at 25% puff settings look amazing, and the smotthness and quality of the flight model, provided me with an unforgetable experience :-) Flying gliders since 1980 Flightsimming since 1992 AMD Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, GPU Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB, 1 TB and 500 GB nvme2 SSD drives, HP 27" 60Hz LED monitor @ 1920x1080, T16000, Hotas from old X52 Pro, Saitek Combat Rudder Pro (2010 model)
November 8, 201312 yr Hi Guys, Can Xplane be installed to drive D, or does it have to go to desk top, which I presume means C drive? Cheers, Mal... Mal Walsh
November 8, 201312 yr Author Hi Guys, Can Xplane be installed to drive D, or does it have to go to desk top, which I presume means C drive? Cheers, Mal... As I understand it, it can be installed anywhere, on any medium, as it only runs from its own folder, and not having its files spread all over your sub system folders like FSX. Have fun, man....because you will! Thumb's up.....
November 8, 201312 yr Cheers Mate, Had Xplane 10 for over 18 months, uninstalled after a few weeks, could,t get into it, might give it another go now it's 64 bit! Mal... Mal Walsh
November 8, 201312 yr Author Mitch, it is always rewarding to read your posts :-) Thanks! Yes, I can only understand your enthusiasm with how great X-Plane 10 is and how better it is becoming from day to day. The last two weeks were prone in great add-ons for me. UrbanMAXX Extreme, teh Felis An-24, and now the JarDesigns Airbus NEO. I am also becoming more and more a fan of the FF WL 777, and look forward to get the new 757! Yesterday, while testing the NEO, I had one of the best simulator sessions in my life, on an approach to LPPT rw 21, a coupled one, under bad weather ( marginal VFR), cros-winds, at dusk! Whow, the scenery, even the default clouds not at 25% puff settings look amazing, and the smotthness and quality of the flight model, provided me with an unforgetable experience :-) Hello Jcomm! Yes, I'm having a blast...and so happy that owning Xplane, is not merely 'doubling up' on flight simulators. It is so different from FSX, and on so many levels. I truly feel that a enthusiast is loosing out by not owning the both of them, as well as most of us already owning and enjoying FS9. I thank you so much for taking the time last week, to post about UrbanMaxx 3D. This one little gem'ster has muted my most major obstacle and 'gripe' with using XPlane. It takes that really great street/house texture...you know the one...that Xplane without UrbanMaxx plops down here and there....not too real, to be kind about it......and then picks up the ball with that texture, and builds actual city, town, or village rural and urban true neighborhoods. Man...it LOOKS like people are truly living there...and in fact...this is the best texture house/street out there. This is actually Xplane's own texture...but UrbanMaxx....runs with it...and runs with it...it does! I am now most pleased to fly where ever, and actually feel that I am flying over reality. Great little gem, John (the developer)...and I can't imagine why Laminar could not come up with what you did....although their not doing so....is helping you pay the bills! LOL Jcomm, to date, I have been using Xplane mostly as light G.A. air frames, in cross-country VFR (some IFR) point to point, and again...major use of Xplane's best-of-the-best water skill and operations. I can't get enough of that use..... I might check out picking up some Xplane heavy iron...and do trans continental. With things looking good now, below the wing....that might truly be another growing experience. Appreciate your posts...and reading them, keeps me informed, lol! Mitch Plane looks stupid suspended over Chicago.....better get back into her and enjoy the soon-to-be Xplane dawn spectacular.... !
November 8, 201312 yr Cheers Mate, Had Xplane 10 for over 18 months, uninstalled after a few weeks, could,t get into it, might give it another go now it's 64 bit! Mal... Bought it more than 1 yr ago, loved it, then hated it, uninstalled, reinstalled, uninstalled...- REINSTALLED!!! Left debris - pieces of FSX, DCS World, Aerofly FS, MS FLIGHT in my mind... I remember those great sims with lot's of good memories certainly, but I am finally getting close to all I could ask from a civil flightsim, with X-Plane 10 and the excellent add-ons made available at an increasing rate... Definitely the future IS in X-Plane 10 for me.. ( then most probably 11, 12 ....) Flying gliders since 1980 Flightsimming since 1992 AMD Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, GPU Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB, 1 TB and 500 GB nvme2 SSD drives, HP 27" 60Hz LED monitor @ 1920x1080, T16000, Hotas from old X52 Pro, Saitek Combat Rudder Pro (2010 model)
November 8, 201312 yr Author Bought it more than 1 yr ago, loved it, then hated it, uninstalled, reinstalled, uninstalled...- REINSTALLED!!! Left debris - pieces of FSX, DCS World, Aerofly FS, MS FLIGHT in my mind... I remember those great sims with lot's of good memories certainly, but I am finally getting close to all I could ask from a civil flightsim, with X-Plane 10 and the excellent add-ons made available at an increasing rate... Definitely the future IS in X-Plane 10 for me.. ( then most probably 11, 12 ....) +1
November 8, 201312 yr Author Never knew that Xplane has such a great night time bloom effect. With real weather tonight, and a full moon, you should see the misty glow around that orb, and how it is reflecting from your view-of-sight across water bodies. Never knew this feature and visual was there.... If you can...fire Xplane up in the next few moments of this post time stamp and see for yourself what great moon created graphics are in play at night. It keeps getting better and better, LOL!
November 8, 201312 yr Moon - yes, I had that experience yesterday... My only grip with X-Plane 10 ( but I already forgot about it, because it isn't really important right now... ) is the fact that it's Moon phases have nothing to do with reality :-( Flying gliders since 1980 Flightsimming since 1992 AMD Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, GPU Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB, 1 TB and 500 GB nvme2 SSD drives, HP 27" 60Hz LED monitor @ 1920x1080, T16000, Hotas from old X52 Pro, Saitek Combat Rudder Pro (2010 model)
November 8, 201312 yr Author Moon - yes, I had that experience yesterday... My only grip with X-Plane 10 ( but I already forgot about it, because it isn't really important right now... ) is the fact that it's Moon phases have nothing to do with reality :-( Oh really? I didn't know of that. That aside, that big 'ole harvest moon is sure no sore on the eyes... That bloom was a heck of a lot more realistic than FSX's version. It wasn't 'painted' like it has susbstance, but rather etheral...just emanated around it. Looked good...really good. I did a triple-take on that one...lol. BTW, Jcomm, did you manage a peek at that lil' Alcatraz out in the Bay? Here's a test....what was sitting offshore south from the sandbar? You only get one answer...lol......
November 8, 201312 yr Bought it more than 1 yr ago, loved it, then hated it, uninstalled, reinstalled, uninstalled...- REINSTALLED!!! Left debris - pieces of FSX, DCS World, Aerofly FS, MS FLIGHT in my mind... I remember those great sims with lot's of good memories certainly, but I am finally getting close to all I could ask from a civil flightsim, with X-Plane 10 and the excellent add-ons made available at an increasing rate... Definitely the future IS in X-Plane 10 for me.. ( then most probably 11, 12 ....) +2
November 8, 201312 yr with a great North Bay, Ontario, Canada custom scenery pack from the .org download site Could you provide the link? Do I just search for North Bay, Ontario, Canada? Thanks Vu Pham i7-13700K 5.2 GHz OC, 64 GB RAM, RTX5090, SSD for Sim, SSD for system. MSFS2020, XP-12, DCS
November 8, 201312 yr Author Could you provide the link? Do I just search for North Bay, Ontario, Canada? Thanks If you download and install...when taking off from CYYB, make sure you fly over Trout Lake, which is directly below the airport mountaintop. That is where you will find that fabulous Water Airdrome and marina. Here's the link at the .org: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=12706 You can also do a .org search in the Scenery Downloads for: Ontario as your search. It will bring up a lot of great stuff for Xplane. To have the whole area....look up all the 1Q's and download and install the whole set. You will then have weeks of Ontario to explore! Also make sure you download and install the 1Q completion set. All can be found at the .org Very important that you also have SimHeaven's North America OSM! It will make your mid Ontario flights over the forests, just awesome.
November 8, 201312 yr Oh really? I didn't know of that. That aside, that big 'ole harvest moon is sure no sore on the eyes... That bloom was a heck of a lot more realistic than FSX's version. It wasn't 'painted' like it has susbstance, but rather etheral...just emanated around it. Looked good...really good. I did a triple-take on that one...lol. BTW, Jcomm, did you manage a peek at that lil' Alcatraz out in the Bay? Here's a test....what was sitting offshore south from the sandbar? You only get one answer...lol...... I'll try to glimpse it latter today, when at home, and if I get an available PC slot :-) Flying gliders since 1980 Flightsimming since 1992 AMD Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, GPU Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB, 1 TB and 500 GB nvme2 SSD drives, HP 27" 60Hz LED monitor @ 1920x1080, T16000, Hotas from old X52 Pro, Saitek Combat Rudder Pro (2010 model)
Create an account or sign in to comment