Hello everyone, I just joined AVSIM after being away for at least 17yrs. I was an avid panel and scenery designer in the 90's and the deaths of my father and then my brother had changed my life priorities that pushed me into another direction. I am excited to get back into Flight Sim's and I have no idea what is out there or what new sims are on the horizon so any help or suggestions will be appreciated. I know I have a lot of reading to do but please if you have any suggestions feel free to post them.

What are the current sims available?

How do they differ.

How are the graphics, are they better than what was normal in the 1990's?

 

Thanks again for all that reply....

 

Nick

"Nicksort"  

Oh boy... You'll be surprised, there is airplanes whom are 99% replica of the real thing these days. And airplanes, airports, make you feel like you're in the real sim!

 

If your computer is a bit old, FS9

 

Otherwise, FSX and prepar 3D

Welcome back!

You didn't missed much, and to be honest I think you are back at the right time. Plenty of options, add ons, somebody would say too much, but in my opinion power of choice is the main reason I stick to FSX (Microsoft Flight Simulator X).

 

Yes, I mentioned FSX. For me it is still the best choice, because you can find countless add ons for it and at some point make it a brilliant ultra realistic sim. It's still 32bit application, but if you switch to DX10 mode with DX10 Scenery Fixer, and avoid to be greedy with extreme settings, you'll be fine, and at the end you'll find a smile on your face at the end of every flight.

Second option is X-Plane, current version is 10.xx. It's a very good sim, slightly better physics than in FSX, but it lacks add ons and generally good support. But in the last few months it gets some good support also from various developers, so in a year or so we could get the best sim yet.

You have also Prepar3D 2.0, which is a FSX on steroids, or for some people FSX on hemoroids. Lockheed Martin bought entire FSX platform, and continues to work on it, but it is still full of issues. I'm keeping an eye on it (bought it), it has also enormous potential to be next big sim .

 

Also you can check FlightGear! Freeware flight sim, also it progresses good. If you are not ready to spend big bucks on various add ons, check this freeware marble.

 

That's it for now. I can write for hours regarding above mentioned sims, add ons and stuff.

Cheers

 

 

Even Mr. Burns is happy with the choice.

Welcome back! 17 years has been a long time.

 

First of all, you need to post the specifications of your computer so we can recommend the best flight simulator for you. There are plenty of choices available depending on your hardware and what you want to do.

Hi Nick,

 

Welcome back! Simming is a much different (better) place than it was back then.

 

There are three big sims out right now. Xplane-10, Microsoft Flight Sim. X, and Lockheed Martin's PrePar3d. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the add-on markets for them are constantly growing and improving.

 

Flight Sim. X (FSX) is the last sim created under Microsoft's name. Released in 2006, Microsoft fired the entire ACES team and hasn't since made a substantial and successful attempt at re-entering the flight sim market. As it's an 8 year platform, the add-ons available are countless, from scenery to airplanes to weather utilities that will dynamically download weather from the internet and inject it into your sim. The price has gone down to about 30 bucks now, and decent hardware is finally catching up with the engine, but performance can still be a hassle.

 

PrePar3d (P3D) is, to put it simply, the reincarnation of FSX. A few years after Microsoft fired the ACES team, they sold the rights to the core FSX engine to Lockheed Martin. Released last November, the newest version of P3D is far more optimized than FSX is, and runs much smoother with a few tweaks. Most add-ons for FSX run in P3D very well, and a migrator tool makes installation into P3D very easy for FSX add-ons. A little more expensive than FSX, it's totally worth it IMO.

 

X-plane is not my forte, but it is a different sim graphics-wise and flight model-wise than FSX/P3D. The Add-on market is growing, but smaller than the FSX/P3D market.

 

The graphics, regardless of what sim, are amazing! Take a stroll to the Screen Shots Forum here to see what I'm talking about:http://forum.avsim.net/forum/147-the-avsim-screen-shots-forum/

 

Lastly, welcome back again! While I'm pretty young, and wasn't into simming until a few years back, it's great to see people come back to simming after a 10-15 year break.

Pe11e - "You didn't missed much"  ???

C'mon, are u serious ?, 17 years back flight sim was more or less same as nowadays ??

:shok: - u made my day.

 

Welcome back Nick.

To be more up to date pls. visit

 

www.qwsim.com

www.flytampa.org

www.precisionmanuals.com

www.prepar3d.com

www.fullterrain.com

www.rexdirectexperience.com

 

...just for the begining

Thank you everyone....

As far as my system

 

i7-3770K 3.50GHz

32.0GB ram

Windows 7 64 bit

R7970 video card 3gb ram

 

What other info do you need to know?

Pe11e - "You didn't missed much"  ???

C'mon, are u serious ?, 17 years back flight sim was more or less same as nowadays ??

:shok: - u made my day.

 

Welcome back Nick.

To be more up to date pls. visit

 

www.qwsim.com

www.flytampa.org

www.precisionmanuals.com

www.prepar3d.com

www.fullterrain.com

www.rexdirectexperience.com

 

...just for the begining

 

 

Difference between Flight Simulator 1.0 and FSX can't be described that easy. It's huge and generally unbelievable difference. I wrote "You didn't missed much" to make the situation easier, and not like he was in a 17 year old coma. He missed much of course, but he doesn't have to check FS9, FS2002, older versions of X-Plane, etc, to catch up. He can easily catch up with one sneak peak to one modern FSX installation.

Thank you everyone....

As far as my system

 

i7-3770K 3.50GHz

32.0GB ram

Windows 7 64 bit

R7970 video card 3gb ram

 

What other info do you need to know?

This should run everything at high to semi-max settings. Tweaking is a big part of FSX, so you will need to read up on that, and they're are quite a few software/hardware guides for FSX.

 

My best word of advice? Set a budget for add-ons, the buying craze gets way too expensive way too fast.

 

If I could ask a question, what kind of flying did you do? Airliners? Or more General Aviation?

I agree with Pe11e and Wendall

 

As to what add-on aircraft you can rely on, this is my list:

 

- PMDG (all of their products, specially the new 777 and the 737 NGX)

- Level-D Systems: Their 767-300 is a bit old (2005), but to me it's still one of the best payware aircraft ever made for FS. We are still waiting for them to release a 757 (been waiting for many years, but they keep saying it will be released and I believe them).

- Milviz: Are proving to release quality military aircraft and a great Boeing 737-200 for FSX

- Carenado (all of their products): General aviation aircraft

- Digital Aviation: Special mention for the Piper Cheyenne

- A2A: Have the best Cessna 172 available for FSX

- Majestic's Dash 8 is said to be excellent too (haven't tried it myself)

 

 

For X-Plane we got:

 

- JRollon Planes and their CRJ-200

- Flight Factor and their Boeing 757 and 777 (released under the name of Ramzzess)

- IXEG: An amazing 737 Classic is to be released shortly.

 

 

As of add-on sceneries/airports

 

- Real Environment Xtreme, I put it on the top of this list because it's the first thing you want to have. Absolutely essential. 

- FSGlobal 2010: Adds detailed global mesh (something X-Plane 10 does out of the box)

- Flight One: In general, almost everything with the "Flight One" label on it is good quality, not only aircrafts but scenery as well: You might want to check Ultimate Terrain and Ground Environment which complement themselves adding realistic landclass and textures.

 

- The "Mega Airport" series by Aerosoft.

- FlyTampa airports

- FSDreamTeam airports

 

 

Final note: I recommend you go on and try both FSX and X-Plane 10 (didn't mention Prepar3D cause that's FSX to me). Don't restrict yourself to only one. I use both because they complement each other. Check my comparison videos here and see how both simulators add something different: 

Thank you everyone....

As far as my system

 

i7-3770K 3.50GHz

32.0GB ram

Windows 7 64 bit

R7970 video card 3gb ram

 

What other info do you need to know?

 

Those are some great specs! You'll be able to run any simulator you want.

 

The easiest way to get back is try Flight Simulator X, the latest simulator from Microsoft, released in 2006. It's an old and unsupported, but stable platform. Very easy to jump in, and has a massive amount of add-ons available. With the right add-ons, it will bare no resemblance to what you get with default content.

 

Prepar3D 2.0 is the continuation of that platform. It's the same source code, but it has been updated by Lockheed Martin to newer standards and can take better advantage of modern hardware. Right now it has some outstanding issues, but the upcoming 2.2 update will fix most of them. The best thing about it is that it's a platform in constant development that still receives support from the developers, and isn't locked to 2006 code.

 

X-Plane 10 is an alternative that has the same advantage with the above, it still receives support and development. In some areas it is much better than FSX/P3D, but in other areas it's really behind. Many feel that this is the best simulator out there, for others it doesn't fulfil their needs. At least there's a demo you can download and see for yourself. It's a little harder to get in compared to FSX/P3D because of its UI.

 

And then there are platforms like aeroflyFS, FlightGear and Outerra that show plenty of potential but they're still really underdeveloped, so if you want a full flight simulation package, pick one of the previous choices. There's a demo for FSX which shows you the basics but isn't indicative of the performance and quality the retail product has (and add-ons can make it much better).

Hello everyone, I just joined AVSIM after being away for at least 17yrs. I was an avid panel and scenery designer in the 90's and the deaths of my father and then my brother had changed my life priorities that pushed me into another direction. I am excited to get back into Flight Sim's and I have no idea what is out there or what new sims are on the horizon so any help or suggestions will be appreciated. I know I have a lot of reading to do but please if you have any suggestions feel free to post them.

What are the current sims available?

How do they differ.

How are the graphics, are they better than what was normal in the 1990's?

 

Thanks again for all that reply....

 

Nick

"Nicksort"

 

Like what was said above please tell us your specs (EDIT I see your specs but I'll still give you my assessment of all options):

 

There are actually four choices on the market right now that will give you the best bank for your buck:

 

P3D v2.2 - This to me is the best option to get as this is an actively developed project that is still being refined by the developers. Lockheed Martin is working directly with our add-on developers and listening to users to make this platform the best it can be. Most FSX add-ons work in P3D but it's best to only install official add-ons into the sim to avoid problems. Seeing that the code is fluid right now limit unsupported FSX add-ons until the code stabilizes. What I mean here is P3D v2 is not FSX and there are a few things that don't cross over well but going into the future full support for most add-ons will be made available and P3D hands down will give you a better experience than the other options out there (X-Plane being the exception as it's uncertain where this sim will be in years to come as it's still evolving).

 

FSX - This is a sim that had allot of performance problems since it's release. Everyone's system is different but work will have to be done on your part to figure out the sweet spot with your setup. Get your IT hat out for this option. The selling point of P3D v2 is all this hacking will be none existant when the final build is completed. X-Plane as well is easier to get into than FSX. FSX has allot of add-ons but still not on the volume of FS9. What you will find with FSX is more of a payware add-on market versus a freeware market. All the top quality add-ons are for FSX and the sim can look absolutely stunning if setup right. It's only rival is the newer incarnation of it P3D which as time goes by will eclipse FSX in the looks department. Comparing default to default P3D already surpasses it which it should being it's newer. Even by today's standard you need a beefy machine for FSX. Stay away from Windows 8 as that will cut down on the aggravation with getting this sim to work right. We all know Windows 7 64Bit so for any option mentioned here it's the best bang for your buck.

 

X-Plane - Here's a sim that can be made to look outstanding. It doesn't have half the scenery/aircraft options of FSX but it's growing and has come into it's own. Unless Bill Gates get's back in the game the two efforts to watch in the future will be X-Plane and P3D. This sim covers the globe but doesn't have the global detail of FSX/FS9/P3D. Default in areas not covered by 3rd party development is not going to look as good as they look in the other options. A big killer for me in XP10's current state is lack of real world weather and properly modeled ATC/AI (you can look this up but in short Air Traffic Control and realistically modeled airliner/GA routes and interaction). You are in a sudo lonely world with X-Plane but the whole globe is covered.

 

FS9 - To many this sim is no longer a contender but for those on a budget it's an amazing option still today. You not only have a wealth of payware options that are quite good but a freeware market with almost anything you can ask for as far as scenery locations and aircraft. Most developers cut their teeth on this sim. Here you can have a modest system by today's standards and have a platform that can rival FSX visually. The add-ons needed to make FS9 look it's best are REX, Flight1's Ground Environment Pro, ENB Bloom effect, and Zinertech's Water. From there the skies the limit. FS9 has 10 times more add-ons than FSX and X-Plane combined when counting Freeware and Payware. Activesky Evolution is the best weather program you can buy for this sim. Many still use this sim today which is a testimate to it's quality released over 10 years ago. Getting this sim up and running is painless and very easy. It's all but install and go... Feng posted some great shots of what FS9 can do (you can look him up in the forums). If you'd like I can post some shots if you'd like to see what this sim can do today.

 

Look around at screenshots for all these various options. Depending on your time and budget one of these sims should work.

You'll need a good Yoke/Peddles setup and CH Products has the best bang for buck option out there. For whatever option you choose there's help in these forums and other FS related sites. Take care and good luck with your choice...

Wow so much to read and learn, I just thought this would be easy to get back into a seat and begin flying once again.

 

I want to thank all of you for your advice and suggestions, it is overwhelming and appreciated. 

 

Wendell asked
"If I could ask a question, what kind of flying did you do? Airliners? Or more General Aviation?"          

 

I loved flying Heavy Airliners from airport to airport, short to long distance, in varying degrees of weather. 

I also loved the short commute in a JS31 or 41.

I loved flying Heavy Airliners from airport to airport, short to long distance, in varying degrees of weather. 

I also loved the short commute in a JS31 or 41.

Awesome! So there's plenty of options for you.

>PMDGs stuff is cream of the crop. 737, 777, 747, MD11, and a JS41. I think you'll love them all if you're into deep systems: http://precisionmanuals.com/

 

>Another choice, although some of us might disagree, is Captain Sim. They have a 757/767 that is decent and fun, and a brand new L1011 that is their best release yet. Just read up and be cautious, as their products usually have buggy moments at times. Also, if you're thinking about buying a 777, the PMDG option is just better in every aspect. http://captainsim.com/

 

>Majestic Software's Dash-8-Q400 is the state-of-the-art turboprop on the market right now. http://majesticsoftware.com/mjc8q400/

 

>If you're into Airbus', Aerosoft has the Aerosoft Airbus X, which is a great medium-complexity A320/321 package. http://www.aerosoft.com/cgi-local/us/iboshop.cgi?showd,,12065

 

>Almost forgot, the Coolsky DC-9-30 is an extraordinary package for it's value, and if you like old-school radio navigation, it's the aircraft for you. http://coolsky.no/index.php/dc-9-classic

 

>And, if you aren't as picky about graphics as some, the Level-D 767 is THE 767 offering for FSX and FS9. While I've never used it, some people swear by it. Available here: http://www.leveldsim.com/sevensix_home.asp

>Another choice, although some of us might disagree, is Captain Sim. They have a 757/767 that is decent and fun

 

I wouldn't bother with CS 75/76 having the Level-D 767 around. Is a much more solid product. The virtual cockpit is a bit old by today's standards, but systems and flight model work just like the real plane. Can't say the same about CS.