OK, perhaps this is more an impression of various add-ons...! I’m new to sim, having only flown Infinite Flight for a year and FSX for a couple of days as I test my set-ups and installs. I’ve been waiting for this since I was about 15 and have always been jealous of you guys, so when I had the opportunity (I’m now 46!) I decided to invest in the best PC and a big stash of scenery I knew I would use. With the PC I bought I was confident I could max out all settings and enjoy the flight.

 

I’ve flown in my area twice (Real Life), and taken the controls, on one flight taking off and landing (though the pilot lined up and operated rudder, flaps and throttle...). The last was very recently with my wife’s uncle, and I so wanted to replicate that flight.

 

I did the flight earlier today, using REX’s real weather and it replicated the cool blue skies, the sunset and purple western haze. I took off from EGNY, Linley Hill which is beautifully rendered, even the wooden picnic benches are rendered where I ate a bacon butty before my flight with my wife’s uncle. After I took off I climbed to the same altitude as my RL flight and made the same turns. Now I’m using Horizon’s VFR scenery and it looked identical. What is more I have installed Northern England Landmarks and by Geoff Smith and Ray Porter’s FSX Power add-on.  As I climbed to 3,000 ft I saw the very same view, the sun on the Humber River, the  lights of the city of Hull, the windfarm close to Bridlington, and as I flew over the headland out across Bridlington Bay, I say the two white 3D shapes of the lighthouses, the modern one from 1812 and the older one from the 1600s. Even better someone, either Geoff or the pewople at Horizon had created 3D models of the only apartment block in Bridlington, Ebor Flats at the harbour, as well as the huge grain silos at Muntons Malt Factory. I was gobsmacked by the entire verisimilitude of the whole experience. As with the real flight I orbited the headland then dashed back to EGNY for a safe landing before the sun set. Fantastic.

 

I am suitably impressed! I’ve soaked up alot on this forum over many weeks, though I’ve posted rarely, so thank you to everyone who has been dead positive and helpful (Flog, hamoody, z06z33, Desk Pilot 518 and others). I’m glad I persisted, at one point I was going to throw in the towel, my home PC wouldn’t play FSX, the PC I bought to replace was on the cheap and had Shader graphics incompatibilities, my next FSX install refused the registration process... total nightmare.

 

Now I have the UK in VFR, with airports and 4 megascenery airports, I’m ready to start flying.

 

I’ve been all over the UK and with a map, a GPS and a compass I can find my way around, touch down at remote farm strips and view family holiday spots as well as ancient monuments (like famous barrow mounds and Roman sites like Hadrian’s Wall) from the air. One of my jobs is a writer of Roman military history books!

 

So. I’m in. Prepar3D is here. But I’m with FSX for the next few years anyway. I hope there will still be some of you guys to talk to in six months or so.... or maybe six weeks. Who knows where I might have flown by then

FSX can certainly help relive some real world flights and trips, especially with great scenery and addons.  It can be a great hobby providing you are very patient and persevere through the quirks and the learning process.  Glad you are enjoying it.

"...relive some real world flights..."

 

I did the reverse.  We were planning our first trip to Oahu, Hawaii, so I spent many hours in the sim flying over photoscenery of Oahu.  And I flew gliders out of Bill Womack's version of Dillingham airfield. 

 

When our family finally arrived in Oahu, the experience was very eery.  I knew where everything was, as though I had been there numerous times.  I was pointing out the sights to our family as if I had grown up in the place.  We drove to Dillingham field (I didn't need a map) and went for a glider ride.  Everything was identical to the sim, even the place where they rented the gliders. 

We'll be here a Looooooong time. Regardless of other sims. Nothings dethroned FSX yet.

Nice post, Mithras - good to hear you have everything running as you want. I only have ORBX England, but I'm tempted to replicate your flight just to see (some?) of what you describe.

Nice post, Mithras - good to hear you have everything running as you want. I only have ORBX England, but I'm tempted to replicate your flight just to see (some?) of what you describe.

Thanks Portia. I had to go with the photoreal scenery, there is nothing like (for me) flying over the landscape and peering ahead to try to identify a particular hill, or headland or town or main road.

 

When I fly airliners around the workd much later on, my priorities will be a lot different I expect. But for now I have plenty of flight plans in mind.

Well I should be good for all those landmarks, it would only specific structures (like the apartment block and lighthouses you mentioned) that I may not find. Still, I'm interested in having a putt around EGNY now just to see what I can see. What was your 'weapon of choice' for your flight?

FSX can certainly help relive some real world flights and trips, especially with great scenery and addons.  It can be a great hobby providing you are very patient and persevere through the quirks and the learning process.  Glad you are enjoying it.

Its almost for retired or semi retired folks ... BTW count me there...

Nice to hear Mithras! May you have 100s of hours of fun!

I'm preferring the Cessna Caravan at the moment, one is based at the airfield close by and it drops parachutists. But it also has power so I can quickly gain altitude and check out new scenery patches and installs.

 

Plus it makes a great noise on take-off!

 

One thing has started to trouble me however, during flights everthings runs smoothly. But in the FSX menus, selecting planes, etc, I have started to find FSX freezing and having to be restarted.... I can't think why, is it the fact I have REX running, or several GB of addons? Or is it an iffy aircraft download? :?

Try downloading this file and placing into your FSX folder.

 

http://www.search-dll.com/dll-files/download/uiautomationcore.dll.html

 

Regards,

Nick

I'm on FSX since it was released, before that all versions of MSFS and I am also an X-plane 10 user, and have bought and understand the potential of P3Dv2, but presently I have what I call the most stable and performant install of MSFS I ever had - FSX in DX10 mode using the DX10 Fixer. It's a trully unique experience of smoothnes, stability and graphical quality.

 

With the weather injector I am using already, and a few great aircraft add-ons, PMDG NGX, T7, Aerosoft AXE, Twotter X Extended and Discus X!, A2A C172 and P51D and RealAir Duke v2, I couldn't be better.

 

FSX will certainly continue to be one of my preferred flightsims!, and I hope the same happens with you, because, it is still the widest coverage of what a simmer ( civil flight simmer ) can ask for...

Thanks Portia. I had to go with the photoreal scenery, there is nothing like (for me) flying over the landscape and peering ahead to try to identify a particular hill, or headland or town or main road.

When I fly airliners around the workd much later on, my priorities will be a lot different I expect. But for now I have plenty of flight plans in mind.

Glad to see you are coming a long and starting to enjoy FSX!

You can get some of the ORBX regions now for dirt cheap and that is worth mentioning.

You defiantly don't want to pass up ORBX PNW for $13 USD! Then add the two free airports for that region! KHQM is something that must be experienced! Just out for the 3d night lights in this region that can be switched off(really kill fps).

Plus try out there Free Iceland Demo.

 

For $20 you can get the entire AU and then add all the free add on Airports!

 

If you want to do the some real VFR flying I would suggest A2A cub with accusim! Quite an amazing plane that will teach big respect for crosswinds, open country, and flying at 75 kts max! (The float version is great too and included).

 

Also the A2A C172 is a must have and the one to get if you only want to buy one of them, but I would suggest both.

 

B.

 

Ps, FSX does not like it if you mess with the menu bar during a flight. Hence one of the reasons for the crash.

I have been considering buying ONE good plane that I'd use alot. I thought I'd wait a bit to see what kind of style I preferred first. The A2A C172 sounds good though. THe cub looks nice, but don;'t you get frustrated with the plodding speed? :0

 

I'll check out ORBX...

Hello Mithras,

 

whereabouts in the UK are you, East Anglia?

 

thanks,

Lewis