Hello everyone,

 

I just re-discovered my dusty boxed edition of Microsoft FSX Gold, with some expansion pack included. I remember playing this a long time ago, but got frustrated with my graphic card at the time; the poor thing couldn't handle it.

 

I heard that Microsoft gave up on Flight Simulator years ago, and I am happy to see there is still a small community of people using it. I have a few questions I thought someone could answer.

 

1. I now have a much more powerful computer with an Nvidia GTX 760 graphics card. What kind of performance can I expect?

 

2. I have Windows 8. Am I in for a world of hurt when I install it?

 

3. Did most people jump to X-Plane?

 

4. Is anyone still developing things for it? I remember wanting to collect scenery, and maybe even build some myself.

 

Thanks for your help,

Steve

Hi Steve, and welcome to the Avsim forums.

 

I don't imagine your graphics card will have any problems with FSX, but CPU and memory and disk access also have a lot of work to do, keeping track of everything, juggling communication between applications (bound to happen if you're intending to expand...), fetching the next scenery files, tracking AI, handling sound files (which obviously have to happen in realtime) so you might want to give a fuller spec for your PC.

 

I'm still quite happy with FS9 on XP. Plenty of developers are still increasing the volume of addons for FS9, both freeware and payware, so I don't expect the FSX market will tail off for some time yet.

 

As far as jumping ship goes, I'm intermittently curious about X-Plane and Prepar3d, but having invested such a lot of time and effort (and money) in FS9, and having it running nicely, I'm not really inclined to change things. I imagine a lot of other folk feel the same way. The flight simming community is pretty big so whatever sim + addons you opt for, you'll have plenty of company.

 

Best regards,

Dave

Thanks Dave,

 

What is Prepar3d? I never heard of that. Do you run FS9 and FSX, or just FS9?

Hi.

Prepar3d is a simulator made by Lockheed Martin. I think it was (is?) developed for professional training but I suppose there's a smaller version available for home use. There is a handful of P3d forums here, in a block just below the Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums.

 

I don't use FSX - I think my PC would just give up and laugh, but... it's in my list of things to get, just after getting a new PC. There's a long running argument between FS9 and FSX adherents but since I'm using Flight Unlimited as well (1995 vintage) I see no reason for sticking to only one, other than time and money constraints.

 

I know you're not new to flight simming but you might consider posting a question in the Newcomers' forum, asking for a quick comparison of available sims. The only drawback with doing that is the chance of the answers descending into a flame war... still, that forum is monitored pretty closely. If anyone accuses you of being incendiary, just point them in the direction of this post!

 

... * ...

 

Just under my avatar there's a clickable bit called 'My PC... my simulator... about me'. If you wish, you can fill those in for yourself by clicking the down arrow by your name at the top of the page, choosing 'My Profile' and clicking the 'Edit my profile' button a little way down the right of the screen.

 

Cheers,
D

Hi - I'm also still running FS9.  I used to run FS2002, and had it very customized, but that computer crashed and I just gave up.  A couple of years ago, yet another computer bit the dust, and I decided to buy one that would actually support the sim.  I picked up a copy of FS9 in a bargain bin and started using it.

 

I already had a yoke and pedals, but they were the old Gameport variety.  After some research, I concluded that I needed to keep XP to use the yoke and pedals, so I did.  I've got no problem with that, as Microsoft's newer OS offerings provide nothing I use that I can't get with XP.

 

I'm happy with FS9.  I browse the new Library files every day, and often find something worth downloading and installing.  Of course, the Library also has a reasonable search function, too, and there is a long history of uploaded sceneries and aircraft still available.

 

And, when the box comes up and asks for a contribution, sometimes I click on that, too.  Our hosts have maintained this site for a long, long time, and it's nice help them out once in a while.

Thanks for everyone's help. I see a theme regarding FS9, but why is it so popular? Is it simply performance, or are there other reasons?

 

Thanks,

Steve

Here's my two cents worth: FSX, because of archaic coding, cannot take too much advantage of modern hardware and memory so you can expect crashes here and there and ALOT time needed for fine-tuning.

 

Lockheed Martin has taken the ore code from Microsoft to develop Prepar3D, now at version 2, to make it better capable to handle GPU load - but still has its limitations.

 

X-Plane 10 is the most up-to-date as far as code and runs smoother and potentially better graphically. But the drawback there is the limited add-ons (though growing somewhat stronger), crappy traffic and worst ATC.

 

I have all three and sort of leaning towards Prepar3D. 

Thanks tamsini. Great review of all three. I just installed FSX, and it seems to be working fine. I am surprised that it runs 1920x1080, anti-aliased, but still looks like crap. Maybe it is time for some add-ons.

 

Where's my wallet.